Archives for : animals

Feral February Episode 6 – Stamp of approval

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 secretary bird!

The secretary bird of Africa is, at first glance, an oddity. It has a body similar to birds of prey (also known as raptors, such as eagles, falcons and condors), but the legs of a stork or crane. These birds can reach over 4 feet tall with a wingspan of over 6 feet or 1 and 2 metres respectively, making them one of the largest raptors in the world.

Secretary bird.

Secretary bird. Photo courtesy of Yoky. Source.

Unlike other birds of prey, secretary birds spend most of their time on land, hunting large insects, small mammals, frogs and snakes. They also hunt in small family groups or monogamous pairs, helping each other hunt for food.

The secretary bird hunts by stamping on vegetation to draw out potential prey. Once exposed, the bird will employ its unique hunting strategies to capture its prey – it will either run they prey item down to quickly bite and swallow it whole, or the bird will stomp on the prey with its powerful legs, stunning it long enough to injure and eat it.

As well, if a fire breaks out in its habitat, the secretary bird waits on the edge of the flames and picks off small animals that try to escape the heat.

Your daily dose of trivia:

The origin of their name, secretary bird, is not well-known. The research I have done seems to indicate that it was once thought that it came from the birds resemblance to a secretary with multiple quill pens stuck behind the ears. Others say that it actually derives from the Arabic word saqr-et-tair, which means ‘hunter-bird.’

What do you think?

Secretary_Bird_with_open_beak

Photo courtesy of Keven Law. Source.

Feral February Episode 5 – Going stag

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 stag beetle!

There are over 1,000 species of stag beetle on the planet that live in woodlots and forests, and their eggs are laid on decaying tree stumps or roots, with the larvae staying there for years until they mature.

Adult stag beetles vastly differ in size from one-quarter to 3 and one-quarter of an inch (0.5 – 8.5 cm long), with the males much larger than the females. The males are extremely imposing creatures – with enlarged mandibles that resemble the antlers of male deer (stags) – that they use in mating displays and combat with other males, which led to their name. Female stag beetles, while smaller, have more powerful jaws than the male and can bite if provoked.

Stag beetle.

Stag beetle. Photo courtesy of the Natural History Museum. Source.

 

These animals an extremely useful in the natural wood cycle of the forest, as their larvae help digest and recycle old wood while they grow into adults. The biggest danger to the stag beetle is from humans removing dead trees from the forest ecosystem for their own uses, simultaneously removing both their habitat and food source.

Daily trivia:

People believed that, once the adult stag beetles emerge, they do not feed for months, until they mate and pass away. Thanks to worldwide beetle studies, it is now believed that they substitute the wood they ate as larvae with nectar and tree sap as adults.

Here is an extra little bit of Friday trivia:

In Germany, due to the stag beetle’s association with the Norse god Thor (the god of thunder), there was a myth that if you placed a stag beetle on your head, it would protect you from being struck by lightning

Feral February Episode 4 – The jaws that bite

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 alligator snapping turtle!

The alligator snapping turtle is the heaviest freshwater turtle that exists today, with the average male clocking in at 175 pounds and being the size of a large serving plate (the females weigh around 50 pounds and are significantly smaller). However, since they continue to grow throughout their lives, some males have weighed over 220 pounds!

Alligator snapping turtles are clearly identified by their large heads and the three rows of protruding spiked scales on their shells. They are found in the southwestern United States, but due to habitat loss, being hunted for their meat and being used for the exotic animal trade, their numbers have been decreasing, so they’re listed as a threatened species.

Alligator snapping turtle

Alligator snapping turtle. Photo courtesy of Gary M. Stolz/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Source.

 

These animals, like the Gaboon viper featured in a previous post, alligator snapping turtles are ambush predators, but they also scavenge at night. Unlike the Gaboon viper, instead of sitting and waiting for a prey item to come by chance, this animal opens its jaws and wriggles a small, pink, wormlike structure on the floor of its mouth to attract fish. Once fish or other prey approach the “lure,” the alligator snapping turtle (like its namesake) delivers a powerful bite – powerful enough to sever a broom handle or a human finger.

Daily dose of trivia:

I once had a run-in with an alligator snapping turtle when I was the “nature guy” at an overnight camp. I got called that someone saw a snapping turtle under the swimming dock, so I went with a friend and captured it. If you ever need to pick up an alligator snapping turtle, practice extreme caution, as their bite is extremely dangerous. To hold them safely, you grab the shell – both behind its head and at the back by its tail – so it cannot bite you because of its large head. After a few days in my care, where he ate copious amounts of fish, I relocated him to a nice river away from the camp.

Feral February Episode 3 – Quick as a whip

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 Booted racquet-tail!

The animal featured today in Feral February is an iridescent green hummingbird located in South America that has one extremely notable feature – can you spot it?

Booted raquet-tail (Ocreatus underwoodii)

Booted racquet-tail (Ocreatus underwoodii). Photo courtesy of Joseph C. Boone. Source.

 

The male booted racquet-tail has two extremely elongated feathers emerging from its tail, which end in shapes that resemble racquets (like you would use for badminton or squash), hence the name. Like most splendidly adorned birds, these additions are not for camouflage, to help itself feed or protect itself from predators – but to help it court a female. The male racquet-tail holds up its leg feathers during mating, and quickly flicks them up and down to produce a sound similar to a whip cracking.

Like other hummingbirds, the racquet-tail makes a distinct humming noise while in flight, flapping its wings repeatedly to stay aloft. You can listen to sounds the booted racquet-tail makes, including mating calls, calls during foraging to keep in contact with one another, the humming sound they make while in-flight, and more here.

Daily dose of trivia:

Did you know that most hummingbirds let their body temperature fall to almost the temperature of the surrounding air at night? This state, called “torpid,” is because hummingbirds are so tiny, and require so much energy to keep their metabolism up, that if they tried to retain their normal body heat throughout the night, they would starve.

Feral February Episode 2 – The Venomous Gaboon Viper

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 Gaboon Viper!

The Gaboon viper is the heaviest venomous snake in Africa, weighing up to eight kilograms, as well as one of the biggest (the largest on record was two metres long, or six-and-a-half feet!). It also has the highest venom yield of any snake, but luckily, it is normally docile and easily identified thanks its triangular head with two horn-like projections on its snout.

The animal is commonly an ambush predator, relying on its excellent camouflage to sit and wait for prey to come to it (usually rodents, birds and small mammals), before striking quickly. Unlike most vipers, the Gaboon viper does not bite and release, allowing the prey to run away and die before the snake finds its way to the dead animal and eats its meal. This snake bites and hangs on to the prey item, waiting for it to die.

Gaboon viper

Gaboon viper. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. Source.

 

This animal is usually found on the rainforest floor in Africa, and if disturbed, may hiss in a deep and steady rhythm, slightly flattening the head to do so.

While a bite from the Gaboon viper can kill a human, the venom is not as potent as those from other snakes. Its venom is a combination of hemotoxic, which destroys red blood cells and prevents clotting, and cardiotoxic, which causes muscle damage to the heart. While bites are rare because of its docile nature, any bite is an emergency because so much venom comes with each bite that one from an average sized individual can kill.

And lastly, a bit of trivia:

The Gaboon viper has the largest fangs of any snake on the planet – up to 4 cm (almost two inches). Their fangs are also hinged, which fold into the roof of the mouth when closed. When the mouth opens, the fangs unfold outwards, ready to bite.

Feral February Episode 1 – The Wrinkly Walrus

The wrinkled walrus, with its burly mustache and long tusks, is commonly found around the Arctic, resting on land or ice floes in large groups of hundreds of individuals.

The most recognizable feature of the walrus are its tusks, which are overgrown canine teeth that can reach around a metre in length and weigh over 10 pounds. The tusks have a variety of uses, aside from territory defense and males protecting the females during the mating season. Researchers have observed walrus’ using their tusks to make holes in the ice and even help pull themselves out of the water.

Walrus

A walrus using its tusks to support itself while grabbing a breath from a hole in the ice. Photo courtesy of Eliezg via Wikimedia commons. Source

 

The whiskers of the walrus’ mustache, called mustacial vibrissae, are used to detect food, such as shellfish, sea snails, shrimp and more hidden in the depths. They can dive for over 25 minutes at a depth of over 80 metres. The prey is then excavated with its nose, accompanied by jets of water from the mouth, and sucked up like a vacuum cleaner.

And lastly, for the trivia buffs out there:

The male walrus possess an extra bone compared to the female, called a baculum (aka a penis bone), which is longer than half-a-metre in length, the largest of any land mammal!

New website, new challenge

Welcome to my new website!

I decided to move from my old Blogger blog (which thanks to technology will now automatically be re-directed here) since everything was too scattered on the internet and I wanted it in one convenient place. That said, it is still very much a work in progress, and if you have any suggestions in way to improve or change the website, please let me know either through a comment or the contact form located in the menu bar.

Now, on to some new business.

I am going to do something a little bit different in February – I’m going to create a series of theme posts every week day. Every day of the week there will be a new post on this website regarding my favourite things in the world: Animals.

I have countless books about animals in my possession, so I am going to use a random number generator, and randomly pick an animal in one of my many books to feature that day. Every animal is up for grabs, living or dead, and I will find something interesting about them.

The only exception will be that I will be going to the Science Online Together conference at the end of February, so I may not be able to get posts up on those days. But I will try!

Stay tuned next week for the beginning of “Feral February” – I hope you enjoy it.

Leopard

Leopard. Source