Archives for : animals

Feral February Episode 17 – Basking in second place

Posted by :David Manly On : February 25, 2014
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Throughout the month of February, which I am calling “Feral February,” I am going to do something a little bit different – I’m going to create a series of theme posts every week day about my favourite things in the world: Animals.

Today’s animal is the basking shark.

There are normal-sized fish, then there are “big” fish, like the whale shark, which can grow over 40 feet (or 12 metres) long! While the whale shark is the undisputed big fish in the sea, being the second largest living fish is nothing to sneeze at – and that honour belongs to the basking shark, which clocks in at around 33 feet (or 10 metres) and can weigh over 8,000 pounds.

Basking shark .Photo courtesy of Greg Skomal / NOAA Fisheries Service. Source.

Basking shark .Photo courtesy of Greg Skomal / NOAA Fisheries Service. Source.

 

The basking shark, like the whale shark, eats plankton as it slowly travels the world’s oceans, opening its mouth to filter them out of the water. It is easily identified due to its massive size, conical snout and gills that are so large they extend around the top and bottom of its head. As water moves through the enlarged gill slits, gill rakers (bristle-like structures) trap the plankton for the shark to swallow in huge amounts.

The basking shark is completely harmless to people and often feeds near the surface of the water, seemingly basking in the sun as it does so, even lazily rolling upside down in the water, which gave rise to its name.

Daily dose of trivia:

Unlike the whale shark, the basking shark does not actively draw in water using suction to filter out plankton. Instead, and a the incredible fast speed of approximately three miles per hour, the basking shark simply opens its mouth and swims, letting its prey come to it. At this speed, the average basking shark filters 2,000 tonnes of water per hour through its mouth and gills.

**It is sad to report that this will be my last Feral February post, as I am heading to North Carolina for the Science Online conference tomorrow, but I want to thank everyone for reading, sharing and enjoying them. And please, if you liked them, please let me know and perhaps I’ll do it again. March is just around the corner, and “Mammal March” does have a nice ring to it.**

Feral February Episode 16 – The bird that thinks it is a cow

Posted by :David Manly On : February 24, 2014
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Throughout the month of February, which I am calling “Feral February,” I am going to do something a little bit different – I’m going to create a series of theme posts every week day about my favourite things in the world: Animals.

Today’s animal is the hoatzin.

The hoatzin is not as flashy as the other birds found in the Amazon, like the toucans or macaws, but every animal has its unique quirks and adaptations – and the hoatzin is no exception.

This bizarre-looking bird has a rather funky mohawk crest along its head, a neon-blue face, red eyes, large wings and a fan-shaped tail. Its feathers are brown, black and cream coloured, giving it the appearance of a very oddly put together bird.

Hoatzin. Photo courtesy of E. B. Pivorun. Source.

Hoatzin. Photo courtesy of E. B. Pivorun. Source.

The small bird, roughly the size of a small turkey, dwells in the trees and swamps of the Amazonian river basin, and feeds almost entirely on leaves. Few species of birds can accomplish this, due to the gastrointestinal requirements needed to extract nutrition from plant matter. But thanks to its large stomach, it digests leaves like cows feed on grass. The hoatzin is also known as the “stink bird” because it gives off a distinct manure-like smell, created from the leaves it eats and how it digests them – using bacteria in their stomach like a cow.

Because of the space needed in their bodies for a huge stomach and crop to help digest the leaves, their flight muscles are small for a bird their size and have difficulty flying even short distances. To compensate, hoatzin live in groups of up to a dozen animals, but groups as large as 40 do occur.

Daily dose of trivia:

Hoatzin chicks have tiny claws at the end of their wings, similar to that of Archaeopteryx, that are used to climb through vegetation. Nests are over water, so that the young, if there is danger, can dive into the water, swim to safety and use their wing claws to climb a tree and make their way back to the nest.

Also, no one is sure where the hoatzin belongs taxonomically. It has wing claws as a chick like Archaeopteryx, looks like a pheasant, has similar traits to the cuckoo and more. So, for now, they have their own organizational family called Opisthocomidae (meaning “those with long hair behind” in Greek).

Feral February Episode 15 – All for one and one for all

Posted by :David Manly On : February 21, 2014
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Throughout the month of February, which I am calling “Feral February,” I am going to do something a little bit different – I’m going to create a series of theme posts every week day about my favourite things in the world: Animals.

Today’s animal is the Portuguese man-of-war.

Jellyfish have an easily identifiable shape – large bell-shaped bodies with long tentacles hanging down that are used for feeding. But, like most animals, everything that looks similar may not always be.

Take the Portuguese man-of-war.

Portuguese man-of-war. Photo courtesy of Biusch. Source.

Portuguese man-of-war. Photo courtesy of Biusch. Source.

 

Looks like a jellyfish, doesn’t it? But it isn’t. And, strictly speaking, it isn’t even one animal, but multiple.

The Portuguese man-of-war is a siphonophore, an animal made up of a colony of organisms working together. There are four separate groups of animals called polyps that make up the man-of-war: the gas-filled bladder at the top, the tentacles, the digestive organisms and the reproductive organisms. All four are so dependent on one another that, while separate animals, they cannot survive without each other.

Unlike jellyfish, the man-of-war cannot move itself, but relies on the wind and ocean currents to carry it across the tropical and temperate seas of the world. Its long and thin tentacles that trail underneath the bladder can extend up to 165 feet (50 meters), and used to paralyze and kill fish and other small creatures. Each tentacle is covered with numerous venom-filled nematocysts, like jellyfish and sea anemones, which are extremely painful, but rarely deadly. And if you find a dead man-of-war washed up on a beach, DO NOT TOUCH IT. Even dead ones can still sting.

Daily dose of trivia:

The man-of-war’s name comes from the unique shape of the gas-filled bladder, which sits above the water like a sail, which resembles an old Portuguese warship at full sail. The bladder can also be deflated in the event of bad weather or other threats and submerge for a brief time.

Feral February Episode 14 – The killing shrike

Posted by :David Manly On : February 20, 2014
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Throughout the month of February, which I am calling “Feral February,” I am going to do something a little bit different – I’m going to create a series of theme posts every week day about my favourite things in the world: Animals.

Today’s animal is the shrike.

I have had many discussions over the years about which animals I like better than others, and while I like them all, everyone has their favourites – even me. And as fascinating as birds are, they aren’t my favourites, except for condors, vultures and other birds of prey (like eagles, falcons, etc.). But then I found out about shrikes.

Shrikes are small-to medium-sized birds (averaging 12 inches or 30cm in length) that don’t look like anything beyond your normal perching bird, like finches, warblers and the like. But they have a catch, and their hooked bill gives the first hint, with its toothlike point at the end of the upper part. They also possess strong legs and incredibly sharp claws, which mean they are predators.

Shrikes hunt insects, small lizards, birds and rodents like any other predators, but it is what they do afterwards that is so extraordinary. If the prey is too big to eat in one bite, several shrike species will transport the prey to a larder (a place to store food) made up of thorns or barbed wire, which they will then use to impale their prey. This allows the bird to secure the prey and rip it into manageable pieces, giving rise to the nickname “butcher bird” that all shrikes have.

A great grey shrike with an impaled mouse. Photo courtesy of Marek Szczepanek. Source.

A great grey shrike with an impaled mouse. Photo courtesy of Marek Szczepanek. Source.

 

Most shrikes live in Europe, Africa and Asia, with two species occurring in North America – the great grey and loggerhead shrikes – and during courtship; the male will perform a mating dance, which includes mimicking skewering prey on thorns.

Daily dose of trivia:

Some shrikes, like the great grey shrike, impale insects that have noxious chemicals inside. Eating such an insect or animal would make the bird sick and leave it open to predation itself, or even death. However, the shrike leaves the prey impaled for a few days, allowing the chemicals inside the dead animal to degrade enough that the meat becomes safe to eat. The great grey shrike has even been observed attacking poisonous toads and skinning them in order to protect the meat from becoming contaminated by the toxic skin secretions.

Feral February Episode 13 – The ghastly gharial

Posted by :David Manly On : February 19, 2014
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Throughout the month of February, which I am calling “Feral February,” I am going to do something a little bit different – I’m going to create a series of theme posts every week day about my favourite things in the world: Animals.

Today’s animal is the gharial.

Crocodiles and alligators are known all over the world as some of the largest reptiles currently on the planet, but the gharial, a close relative of crocodiles and alligators, is one of the biggest.

A gharial. Photo courtesy of Michel Gunther/Biosphoto and ARKive. Source.

A gharial. Photo courtesy of Michel Gunther/Biosphoto and ARKive. Source.

 

The gharial, found in northern India, is an extremely large and slender crocodile relative that is instantly recognizable thanks to its extremely unusual and narrow snout, ideally suited for catching fast-moving fish. They do so by silently waiting in the water for fish to swim by, then whipping their snout sideways to catch the fish in their very sharp teeth, before swallowing whole and head-first.

An adult gharial can reach up to 23 feet long (or 7 metres), but unlike its crocodile and alligator relatives, it has webbed feet and its legs are relatively weak. In fact, adult gharials are unable to raise their body above the ground on land.

The gharial is currently listed as critically endangered primarily due to hunting, fishing and habitat loss due to construction in its native range. The International Union for Conservation of Nature estimates that there has been a 96 – 98 percent decrease in the gharial population since the 1940s, with an estimated number of less than 235 individuals recorded in 2006.

Daily dose of trivia:

Male gharials have a large bulbous growth at the end of their nose, presumably used to attract females during the mating season by producing sounds and bubbles. The name, gharial, is a derivation of the Indian word ‘ghara,’ which means pot, and is what the bulbous growth resembles.

Feral February Episode 11 – Lucky as a horseshoe

Posted by :David Manly On : February 17, 2014
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Throughout the month of February, which I am calling “Feral February,” I am going to do something a little bit different – I’m going to create a series of theme posts every week day about my favourite things in the world: Animals.

Today’s animal is the horseshoe crab.

Horseshoe crabs, also known as king crabs, are not actually crabs – they are more closely related to spiders than lobsters. These animals, which can reach the size of a large serving dish (60 cm or 23.5 inches), are the only living members of a group of animals that first popped up in the fossil record approximately 450 million years ago! They are some of the oldest and most successful animals on Earth.

Horseshoe crab. Photo courtesy of Malcolm Schuyl/ARKive. Source.

Horseshoe crab. Photo courtesy of Malcolm Schuyl/ARKive. Source.

The horseshoe crab is easily identified by its name sake, a thick horseshoe-shaped shell that covers its head and thorax. It also has ten legs, spines on the abdomen, a long tail and nine eyes: two simple eyes at the front, a pair of compound eyes on either side and several light receptors near the tail. These animals are also scavengers, looking for food in the mud and sediment, like mollusks, worms, etc. The food is found using the first few pairs of legs, then transferred to their mouth, located in the middle of their abdomen, attached to the legs.

One of the most fascinating things about the horseshoe crab is its value to humans, specifically medical advances.

The horseshoe crab has blue blood because, unlike us, it does not use hemoglobin to carry oxygen, but hemocyanin, which contains copper and makes the blood blue. Scientists found out around 60 years ago that when horseshoe crab blood was exposed to bacteria, it immediately clotted in order to prevent an infection. In the years since, the purified clotting compound has become the standard screening test for bacterial contamination of a substance. A litre of the purified compound, called limulus amebocyte lysate, sells for approximately $15,000.

Daily dose of trivia:

The tail of the horseshoe crab, which looks extremely intimidating and used for defense, is actually harmless. Called the “telson,” the horseshoe crab uses it to flip over if it ever finds itself upside-down.

Feral February Episode 10 – An amphibious Valentine’s Day

Posted by :David Manly On : February 14, 2014
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Throughout the month of February, which I am calling “Feral February,” I am going to do something a little bit different – I’m going to create a series of theme posts every week day about my favourite things in the world: Animals.

Today’s animal is the Surniam toad.

In honour of Valentine’s Day, I figured I would highlight an animal with one of the most bizarre mating and breeding practices I have ever come across. There are many animals throughout the animal kingdom with odd  behaviours to attract a mate, like the bizarre displays of the birds of Paradise, the parasitic male angler fish (which latches onto a female and dissolves into nothing more than a pair of testes), the hermaphroditic flatworms that use their penises to fence one another, with the loser being stabbed and inseminated by the winner, and there are countless others. But today’s focus is on the Surinam toad, where the female gives everything, even the skin off her back, to keep her young safe.

The Surinam toad has a grey flat body with a triangle-shaped head, which help camouflage it among leaf litter and muddy water. It also has small eyes, no teeth and no tongue, but has a highly developed sense organ along its side to detect vibrations in the water, small tentacle-like projections on the ends of its fingers to detect food, eyes on the top of its head to see above the surface and the ability to draw in prey using suction.

Surinam toad. Photo courtesy of helixblue. Source.

Surinam toad. Photo courtesy of helixblue. Source.

 

But the mating and breeding practices of the Surinam toad are what turn an odd-looking amphibian into a sight to behold.

When a male and female Surinam toad mate, the male latches on to the female and they somersault in the water. As they do so, the female releases an egg, the male fertilizes it, and the egg lands on the female’s back, where her skin  grows and encapsulates it. When the whole process is complete, the female can have up to 100 fertilized eggs in her back, which develop into young after a few months. Then, like something out of a science fiction movie, the young squeeze and wriggle their way out of their mother’s back.

Now that’s love.

Daily dose of trivia:

The unusual matting and breeding practices wasn’t enough? Take a look at the video below and let me know.

Feral February Episode 9 – The bigger to eat you with

Posted by :David Manly On : February 13, 2014
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Throughout the month of February, which I am calling “Feral February,” I am going to do something a little bit different – I’m going to create a series of theme posts every week day about my favourite things in the world: Animals.

Today’s animal is the gulper eel!

Today’s featured animal is an eel that probably does not resemble any other animal you have seen before. This rarely studied animal (due to its fragile body and deep-sea preference) averages one metre in length (or 39 inches) with huge jaws filled with tiny teeth, very small eyes, and a long body that gradually tapers into an extremely thin tail.

Gulper eel. Photo courtesy of Bruce Robison. Source.

Gulper eel. Photo courtesy of Bruce Robison. Source.

 

The gulper eel’s large jaws can open extremely wide to swallow prey almost as large as itself, and its stomach can expand to accommodate whatever it eats. It is also known as the “pelican eel” because its lower jaw has a pouch similar to that of a pelican, but it is not known if it uses it in a similar fashion (to store fish and other prey for later consumption).

Unlike its fearsome appearance suggests, most species of gulper eels that have been found only have small crustaceans in their stomachs, not large fish. Therefore, its large mouth might be an adaptation to eat a wide variety of smaller prey, instead of one large meal.

Daily dose of trivia:

With such an unusual body shape, the gulper eel is not an active hunter. Researchers believe that instead, the eel uses the bioluminescent organ at the end of its tail to attract prey and lure it into its waiting mouth. They also do not have pelvic fins, swim bladders, or scales. Their muscle segments have a “V-shape”, while other fish have “W-shaped” muscle segments.

Feral February Episode 8 – You’re a monster!

Posted by :David Manly On : February 12, 2014
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Throughout the month of February, which I am calling “Feral February,” I am going to do something a little bit different – I’m going to create a series of theme posts every week day about my favourite things in the world: Animals.

Today’s animal is the Gila monster!

The Gila (pronounced HEE-luh) monster is the largest lizard in North America, with a length of over two feet and weighing over five pounds. It is also one of the most easily identifiable, thanks to its bumpy skin with black bands interspersed with bright yellow, pink or orange bands – which serve to warn potential predators that it is poisonous.

Gila monster. Source.

Gila monster. Photo courtesy of Tim Flach. Source.

 

One of only a few poisonous lizards in the world, Gila monsters live in the southwestern United States in desert habitats, where they hide in burrows to escape the worst of the heat. Their venom is neurotoxic, which means it blocks nerve impulses to muscles, causing paralysis. However, while getting bit by a Gila monster would hurt, the worst part would be getting them to let go, as their venom is not lethal to adults so they hold on and chew their venom into the victim.

Gilas are relatively slow-moving lizards, which hunt small mammals and the eggs of various birds, including quails and doves, as well as those of other lizards.

Daily dose of trivia:

Gila monsters have really big tails that get smaller in the winter and bigger in the spring and summer. This is because, like the hump of a camel, it is where the lizard stores its fat. In fact, because Gilas move so slowly and are not very active, they can go months between meals!

Feral February Episode 7 – Keeping one jump ahead

Posted by :David Manly On : February 11, 2014
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Throughout the month of February, which I am calling “Feral February,” I am going to do something a little bit different – I’m going to create a series of theme posts every week day about my favourite things in the world: Animals.

Today’s animal is Merriam’s kangaroo rat!

Rats and other rodents get a bit of a bad rap, especially the ones found around the house. But those are only one or two species of rats, and there are many more rodents found around the world – including the beaver, hamster, and lemming.

Merriam’s kangaroo rat, named after famed American zoologist and naturalist Clinton Hart Merriam, is only a few inches in length, with a long tufted tail that can easily be as long, if not longer, than the length of the body. It also possesses large back legs and feet, like the kangaroo that it was partially named after, that propel it across the sand of the southwestern United States at great speed. But unlike other rodents, which run, Merriam kangaroo rats hop and jump, just like a kangaroo, and use their tail for balance.

Merriam's kangaroo rat. Source.

Merriam’s kangaroo rat. Photo courtesy of Baiken. Source.

Most kangaroo rats, and Merriam’s is no exception, are nocturnal. Because of their small size, they tend to avoid the heat of the day and hunt for seeds in darkness.

Within their cheeks, they have pouches used to store food while they are out gathering, returning to their burrow every so often to eat a little and save the rest for later.

These animals also maintain extremely complex burrows systems, with multiple entrances/exits, so that protection from predators is never too far away while out gathering food. These burrows are also well-organized, with separate chambers for babies, sleeping, and food storage.

Daily dose of trivia:

Merriam’s kangaroo rats can jump as far as six feet, and thanks to their tails, can even change direction in mid-air, as the tail acts as a rudder to help steer the animal.