Ahh, life is sweet : Tetrapod Zoology

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Darren Naish is a science writer, technical editor and palaeozoologist (affiliated with the University of Portsmouth, UK) who mostly works on Cretaceous dinosaurs and pterosaurs. He also studies such things as the swimming abilities of giraffes and fossil marine reptiles. An avid interest in modern wildlife and conservation has resulted in many adventures in lizard-chasing, bird-watching and litter-collecting. I've been blogging since 2006 and a compilation of early Tet Zoo articles is now available in book form as Tetrapod Zoology Book One. Additional recent books include The Great Dinosaur Discoveries and Dinosaurs Life Size. For more biographical info go here. I can be contacted intermittently at eotyrannus (at) gmail dot com. PLEASE NOTE: I am now completely unable to keep up with email correspondence. I do my best to respond to all queries and requests, but please don't be offended if I fail to reply. I blog from and about conferences - please contact me for more info. Follow me on twitter: @TetZoo.

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« 2009, a year of Tet Zooery | Main | The death of Tetrapod Zoology »

Ahh, life is sweet

Category: frivolous nonsense • herpetology • mammalogy • ornithology
Posted on: January 27, 2010 6:13 AM, by Darren Naish

I have to take a break. I may be gone for some time... I may not. Here are some cool photos.

pelican_eats _pigeon_Jan-2010.jpg

Norbert-Rosing-photo-of-polar-bear-who-was-friends-with-dogs-Jan-2010.jpg

bald-eagle-attacks-swan-photographer-unidentified-but-not-hoax_Jan-2010.jpg

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From top to bottom:

Pelican swallows pigeon.

Python is trying to eat a wallaby.

Two Odocoileus deer in deep snow.

Polar bear making friends with a dog.

Bald eagle catches Bewick's swan in flight.

Posted by: Dartian | January 27, 2010 7:24 AM

Life may be sweet, but three out of five of these photos are scenes of predation. The pelican is eating that pigeon. The python is eating that kangaroo, and the trumpeter swan is being preyed upon by a bald eagle.

The Qimmiq dog (Inuit dog) and the polar bear are playing. This is a famous photo that appeared in National Geographic in the 90's. It's been filmed many times: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JE-Nyt4Bmi8

The North American deer (which are either Mule deer or white-tailed deer, it's hard to tell from the resolution of the photo) are in deep trouble. Not only can they not move around in the deep snow very well, they can't find food easily without expending lots of calories digging. Plus, it's very easy for predators to run them down in the deep snow, especially as they become weakened from lack of nutrition. This is the time when bobcats are likely to become successful deer predators.

I think only one of those photos is really a "life is sweet" moment, and that's the polar bear and dog.

Posted by: retrieverman | January 27, 2010 7:42 AM

Retrieverman: there may, or may not, be an implied irony in my choice of pictures and words. I leave you to decide.

Posted by: Darren Naish | January 27, 2010 7:45 AM

I think that's a Trumpeter swan. It's very big compared to the bald eagle, and its bill is entirely black, both top and bottom.

Bewiok's and other tundra swans are smaller, and they have yellow around the base of their bills.

1. Trumpeters: http://icor.uvic.ca/viwilds/img/wildlife/trumpeter-swan/mike-yip-aaaanov0721127tswans.jpg

2. Bewick's: http://www.birdwatchireland.ie/Portals/0/speciesprofiles_large/BEWICKS%20SWAN%2001%20%28M%20CARMODY%29_lge.PNG

Posted by: retrieverman | January 27, 2010 7:52 AM

No irony needed.

There is always a kind of sweetness in natural selection.

Posted by: retrieverman | January 27, 2010 8:01 AM

I agree. Evolution is sweet!

Posted by: randomnut | January 27, 2010 8:06 AM

Retrieverman:

the trumpeter swan

Yeah, on closer look that's what it seems to be (rather than a Bewick's/tundra swan). Thanks for the correction.

Posted by: Dartian | January 27, 2010 8:07 AM

Well, grab some relaxation, if that's what you're in need of. I thank you for the wonderful inspirations you've shared here.

Posted by: dmaas | January 27, 2010 8:50 AM

I have seen the python/wallaby picture before and wondered if it was "real".It absolutely fascinates me, from a distance!

Posted by: slugg | January 27, 2010 9:14 AM

Amazing pictures Darren, thanks for sharing!

As a relatively new subscriber to your RSS feed (but long time sporadic lurker) I do hope your break is a short one. I don't know how you professional scientists manage to keep up with the blogging, teaching AND groundbreaking research without burning out quickly. Keep up the good work. This is probably one of my absolutely favourite blogs of all time.

Posted by: Ubermoogle | January 27, 2010 9:22 AM

Hey, most of the predated probably have a higher sugar content than is typical for arrangements of non-life.

Posted by: Joel | January 27, 2010 9:31 AM

I live just a 20min drive from the lake where that Eagle vs Swan picture was taken In Terrace, British Columbia. It is indeed a Trumpeter swan, they over winter on the lake.

Posted by: Christopher Collinson | January 27, 2010 9:47 AM

Um, is that pelican actually eating a pigeon? And if so, is this an unique freak event? I thought they were highly specialized fish eaters ... never really thought of them as eating anything else.

Posted by: William Miller | January 27, 2010 10:22 AM

Footage of a Pelican eating pigeons:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNNl_uWmQXE

Posted by: retrieverman | January 27, 2010 10:28 AM

Don't stay away from blog-land too long if you can help it, reading tetzoo is good for my sanity (what's left of it anyway).

Posted by: Oll Lewis | January 27, 2010 11:41 AM

Good luck, Darren. I hope you are well, and will miss you in the downtime.

Posted by: acbarrentine | January 27, 2010 11:54 AM

Comment #2 (Retrieverman)

Yeah … definitely white-tailed deer. Mule deer have wider and deeper ears.

Posted by: deerhunter | January 27, 2010 12:42 PM

Take a break and Dig up some Bones along the Sea shores cliffs.

Posted by: Bob Michaels | January 27, 2010 12:58 PM

If Polar bears have started making freinds with husky's, I shuder to think what else is goign wrong with the world.

Posted by: Zach hawkins | January 27, 2010 1:40 PM

Take as long as you need - we'll be here when you come back.

Have nice days, and may you and yours be well.

Posted by: Anthony Docimo | January 27, 2010 2:40 PM

Best of wishes, Darren. Thank you so much for all of your work and contributions.

Posted by: Kevin Schreck | January 27, 2010 4:08 PM

darren naish i've been reading your blog since before you moved to science blogs and take lots of time off if you want i mean jiminy christmas you've done a lot of posts

Posted by: jake | January 27, 2010 8:28 PM

I hope you have a good break - I read this blog every day, and you will be missed.

Posted by: Robert | January 28, 2010 2:42 AM

No harm in taking a break to sort things out; it's obvious from the comments that people (including lurkers like myself) will continue to check in. Good luck with it all.

Posted by: pomposa | January 28, 2010 3:18 AM

A specific indentification of the python and its prey, anyone? I'm guessing it's an olive python Liasis olivaceus that has caught some rock wallaby Petrogale species.

Posted by: Dartian | January 28, 2010 7:02 AM

Nothing wrong with taking a break.

Sometimes we can become burned out when writing our blogs.

I know that I have been several times.

Posted by: retrieverman | January 28, 2010 11:32 AM

I doubt its burn-out so much as some new and hopefully
lucrative project. Good luck with what ever it is, Darren,
and not to worry, we'll be here when you get back. ( Unless
some red-eyed fiend gets us first.)

Posted by: craig york | January 28, 2010 1:26 PM

Reminded me of this: footage of turtle eating bird
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6x8Vx3wfPw&feature=related

Posted by: Derek R | January 28, 2010 3:20 PM

Dartian, you have the right python species and macropodid genus (rock wallabies all look the same to me). The gorgeously weathered stratigraphy would be highly unusual anywhere but the Kimberley or Pilbara regions of WA, but I can't be positive which of the two. Pilbara olives are geographically isolated and have been described as a subspecies L. olivaceus barroni, and stated (I think originally in the taxonomy paper by Laurie Smith) to reach 6 m in length, which would probably be bigger than any northern ones. The snake (about 4 m in this case, I think) is pulling hard, but will probably end up swallowing the thing close to water level, rather than dragging it up to a ledge first.

Also note that the genus-species combo was originally Liasis olivacea, showing that (like many of the other generic names coined by J.E. Gray) he intended it to be a feminine noun. Unfortunately, the only other gendered species-name in his original list was amethistinus, originally described in another (masculine) genus and not changed to agree by Gray. Whatever reasons have been given for supposing Liasis to be masculine are bogus, and apparently derive from ignorance of Latin and of Gray's other work; so I stick with olivacea. Go thou and do likewise.

Posted by: John Scanlon FCD | January 28, 2010 7:50 PM

Take your break in peace, Darren. When you come back, the event will be heralded far and wide, and your readership will return alacritously.

Posted by: Nathan Myers | January 29, 2010 4:02 PM

William Miller wrote:

Um, is that pelican actually eating a pigeon?

If it is, the pigeon seems to be taking it remarkably well...

Posted by: Dr. Nick | January 30, 2010 12:50 AM

John:

The gorgeously weathered stratigraphy would be highly unusual anywhere but the Kimberley or Pilbara regions of WA, but I can't be positive which of the two.

If it's Kimberley, the macropodid might be either a black-flanked rock wallaby Petrogale lateralis or a Rothschild's rock wallaby Petrogale rothschildi (although the dark-ish pelage colouration would seem to rule out the latter). If it's Pilbara, it's most likely a short-eared rock wallaby Petrogale brachyotis. But it's hard to tell for sure from that photo.

Posted by: Dartian | January 30, 2010 7:34 AM

Darren, don't be away too long (unless you _have_ to be). This is a wonderful blog and I check it several times a week. In the meantime I'll be starting on your dinosaur book that I received for Christmas.

Posted by: Rob | January 30, 2010 5:43 PM

I was kind of hoping that the pelican-pigeon thing was an attempt at some sort of two-stage intercontinental bird. But no.

The dog-polar bear match-up was interesting. Seems quite a few critters play cross-species at times. I've seen a deer and a rabbit playing. I wonder how the polar bear and the dog, or the deer and the bunny read one another's body language and know that playful socializing is in order.

Posted by: HalfMooner | January 31, 2010 8:09 PM

The full story behind the python wallaby picture: http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/cowsnake.asp

Posted by: Jura | January 31, 2010 10:14 PM

Thanks for the link to the Snopes page, Jura. According to the information there, the picture is indeed taken in the Kimberley region, and the snake is an olive python, as John Scanlon said. It is also stated that the macropodid is a wallaroo Macropus robustus (although confusingly, it is also called a wallaby a couple of times).

I enlarged the image on the Snopes page; the resolution is still not great, but enough to show that the macropodid is quite uniformly coloured; i.e., there are no obvious white stripes on the face, or (unlike what I first thought I could faintly see) on the shoulders or the flanks. Enlarging the picture also shows that the tail's blackness and apparent thickening toward the end, which was what initially suggested Petrogale to me, is probably only a watery distortion. The animal's rather short arms, largish ears and overall robustness also seem right for a wallaroo. Wallaroo it is, then (and, specifically, a northern wallaroo Macropus robustus woodwardii).

Posted by: Dartian | February 1, 2010 5:50 AM

Hope to see you back here soon again, Darren! I too have been reading your blog since before Scienceblogs and you have really rekindled my interest in animals; I’m grateful.

Posted by: JV | February 1, 2010 8:19 PM

If that's a wallaroo (one of those big, stocky, rock-haunting roos that I keep having 'yowie'-encounters with), the snake's even bigger than I thought. A 3 m Olive is marginal, safety-wise, for handling by a single person (if it gets round your neck and you can't find the tail to unwind it...). I've helped hold one that was about 4.5. Over 5 m, I probably wouldn't touch it.

Posted by: John Scanlon FCD | February 1, 2010 9:32 PM

I'm glad there's some bear/dog hope amongst the predation and snowing under. Thousands of people will be hoping that whatever's keeping you occupied elsewhere is neither unpleasant nor onerous.

It's not just the tetrapods that keep us coming back, it's the clever, exacting, entertaining man behind them.

Posted by: Neil | February 2, 2010 7:39 AM

that was really awesome post... that's great....

Posted by: petersteel | February 3, 2010 2:41 AM

Enjoy. Do what you need to do. I appreciate the effort you have been making to educate . Thanks.

Posted by: Blind Squirrel | February 4, 2010 12:54 AM

http://scienceblogs.com/notrocketscience/2010/02/the_renaissance_of_technicolour_dinosaurs_continues_and_the.php?utm_source=sbhomepage&utm_medium=link&utm_content=channellink

Posted by: mo | February 4, 2010 3:11 PM

Just written a blog post about green lizards in The UK, guess which blog was:
a) the best source of background info on the net
b) the only reference that wasn't a paper or book

In fact if it wasn't for a study in 2008 (the post was 2006) there probably would have been no point writing a post!

Its best stop for invasive animals/vert palaeo/tetrapod goodness on the net

Posted by: Neil p | February 4, 2010 4:42 PM

Thank you. We'll keep on reading and reareading your books in the interim.

Posted by: brook | February 4, 2010 7:30 PM

While patiently waiting for Darren to return, i have read a news scan by Michael Tennesen in the Feb 2010 issue of Scientific American entitled "Python Boom"
Big Snakes poised to change U.S ecosystems.

"It`s not just the Burmese Python, but the northern and southern african Pythons,reticulated pythons, Boa Constrictors and Four species of Anacondas"

Needless to say they are reproducing and have no natural enemies. Biologists belive that Tens of thousands are now in the Everglades

Posted by: Bob Michaels | February 8, 2010 6:16 PM

and have no natural enemies

...when they're grown up, which takes a while.

Posted by: David Marjanović | February 9, 2010 6:42 AM

Tetrapod Zoology

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Tetrapod Zoology backstory

The ones I participate in

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