mammals
laelaps | December 23, 2007
Wolves have always had a bad reputation, often being cast as bloodthirsty villains despite their relatively shy demeanor when humans are around. Indeed, of all the large carnivores present in North America, wolves are among the least threatening, and people generally have more to fear from moose than from any carnivore in the United States. Still, wolves (and even coyotes) are not as shy about dogs as they are about people, and it seems that there has been a rash of attacks on dogs in recent weeks in Alaska. A recent report in the Anchorage Daily News provides a review of recent incidents,…
grrlscientist | December 22, 2007tags: researchblogging.org, giraffe species, Giraffa camelopardalis, speciation, evolution, conservation, molecular phylogeny
West African giraffe, currently Giraffa camelopardalis peralta.
Image: Wikipedia (Creative Commons) [larger view]
How many species of giraffes are there? Well, it may surprise you to learn this, but some people have actually thought about this throughout the decades, and they decided that there is only one species, Giraffa camelopardalis. However, a paper published today in BMC Biology convincingly demonstrates that giraffes are actually comprised of at least six…
laelaps | December 21, 2007
The Spectacled Bear (Tremarctos ornatus) is usually identified by light-colored markings on its face and chest that sometimes cause the bear to look like it has glasses on, although not in this individual (which, to be honest, bears something of a resemblance to Jeremy Irons). Naturally occurring along the Andes mountain range in South America, these bears live near rain forests and make use of the rich variety of resources there (from roots to carrion). Unfortunately, these bears are not only victims of Traditional Chinese Medicine, their gall bladders being especially prized, but they are…
laelaps | December 20, 2007
Deer are not the sort of animal you would normally expect to have fangs, but some of them actually do. Well, the males do, anyway. The Common Muntjac (Muntiacus muntjak, pictured above) is one such minuscule cervid, although the genus Muntiacus contains about ten species and many subspecies within each of the ten. The Musk Deer (Moschus sp.) is larger and the males of that species have even larger canines, but they belong to their own family (the Moschidae) and are not "true" deer. Speaking of muntjacs, though, as Darren notes in a recent post the Chinese Muntjac (Muntiacus reevesi) was…
laelaps | December 15, 2007
Everyone knows that "A" is for "Aardvark" (unless you'd prefer the scientific name Orycteropus afer, in which case "O" is for "Orycteropus"), but that's all most people seem to know about this animal. It almost looks like two people were having a fight over a pig, pulling at both ends in some sort of "Just-so" story that ended up with the creation of the first Aardvark, but the animals pictured above have nothing to do with pigs at all. Indeed, Aardvarks belong to their own order, Tubulidentata, within the Afrotheria, seemingly being a very old lineage that has not changed very much through…
laelaps | December 12, 2007
The Sloth Bear (Melursus ursinus) is quite unusual, indeed; up until two years ago I had never even heard of this nocturnal bear from India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. It is a bit mysterious why this bear is called the "Sloth Bear," however, although it does resemble anteaters (another member of the Xenarthra) in some of its habits. Sloth Bears do eat a variety of foods including meat and fruit, but some of their primary food sources are social insect nests like those of bees and termites, this bear sometimes being known as the "honey bear" because of its affinity for the sticky stuff. These…
laelaps | December 11, 2007
This photograph of a Maned Wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus) unfortunately looks as if it were taken in someone's yard, but these South American canids are fascinating all the same. I will tread lightly here as Anne-Marie is the expert round these parts, but there is at least one interesting story to tell about these animals. Like many other canids they mark their territory with urine, urine that has a very distinctive smell (like hops or marijuana) in the case of the Maned Wolf. So close is the scent that the police once were looking for who was smoking pot at the Rotterdam Zoo only to discover…
laelaps | December 6, 2007
There are few creatures that are as charming as otters; their lithe forms are amusingly awkward on land but incredibly graceful in the water, and they are always a joy to behold. Their energetic playfulness makes them difficult to photograph, however, although this particular North American River Otter (Lontra canadensis) at the National Zoo stayed still long enough to allow for a few portraits. While not endangered over its entire range, the otter has been hunted out of some areas for its soft yet thick coat, which helps keep in warm during its amphibious pursuits, sometimes fetching…
laelaps | December 4, 2007
These three Reticulated Giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis reticulata) were very intent on getting a free handout, and all lined up for this shot. Chances are that if you see a giraffe at a zoo, it's a Reticulated Giraffe, and out of these three the male is the darker, knobbly giraffe to the far right and the other two are females. There was also a young juvenile in this enclosure, and every year many zoos announce the birth of a new baby giraffe as they are very easy to breed in captivity. While I don't know of any specific breeding programs, the ease at which these animals breed in captivity…
laelaps | December 3, 2007
"What is that thing?" "Says here it's a bearcat." "Well which is it, a bear or a cat?." "I don't know, it's just weird." Short conversations such as this seem to pop up every few minutes around the Binturong (Arctictis binturong) enclosure at the Bronx Zoo's "Jungle World" exhibit, many people not knowing what to make of the hairy black creature sleeping on its platform. Even the popular name "bearcat" is confusing as the Binturong in neither bear (Family Ursidae) nor cat (Family), instead belonging to the Family Viverridae, which includes civets and genets. Binturongs are also nocturnal,…
grrlscientist | December 2, 2007tags: eastern gray squirrel, Sciurus carolinensis, mammals, Image of the Day
Eastern Gray Squirrel, Sciurus carolinensis, in Central Park, NYC.
Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George. [wallpaper size].
The photographer writes; I watched this Gray Squirrel dig out an acorn and proceed to gnaw away at it. There was nothing particularly unusual about that. Only after I downloaded the image did I notice the mud all over its meal. The animal made no observable effort to clean the acorn and I imagine that a considerable portion of it must have been ingested. Judging by how enthusiastically the…
laelaps | November 29, 2007
I had some amount of difficulty finding information about this animal, Blastocerus, because the plaque describing it at the AMNH called it "Blastoceros" and that was the name I attempted to look up. Once I learned of the mistake, though, much more information became available, although it was not quite what I expected. Many of the fossils I photograph and share here are of extinct representatives of animals, but Blastocerus is still around and the species Blastocerus dichotomus is a South American animal known as the Marsh Deer. Previously this deer ranged all over the South American…
laelaps | November 28, 2007
When we speak of "animal intelligence" chimpanzees and other primates often first come to mind, rats and pigeons used in lab tests coming in at a close second. If we just leave it with those examples, however, we ignore many animals that are highly intelligent but that aren't so easy to study or run tests on, the African Bush Elephant (Loxodonta africana) being one such creature (although we know all extant elephants to be highly intelligent, as well). While there might not be truth to "an elephant never forgets," they life in complex social groups and communicate with other elephants over…
laelaps | November 27, 2007Every once in a while the infamous "Mother of the Year" hoax appears in my inbox, the one in which it's claimed that a mother tiger who had lost he cubs instead took in some piglets as substitute children. While the truth behind the photographs is awfully sad, it seems credible because sometimes animals do look after babies that don't belong to their own species, and today one of the other great bloggers on this site, GrrlScientist, shared the following video of a crow (among the most intelligent of birds) caring for an orphaned kitten (here's a shorter version, minus Alan Thicke);
This…
laelaps | November 23, 2007
There is a wide diversity of machairodont sabercats in the fossil record, but the genus Smilodon is undoubtedly the celebrity of the group. Indeed, Smilodon seems to set the bar for other saber-toothed predators in the popular media, the carnivore being synonymous with the La Brea Tar Pits (even though the Dire Wolf [Canis dirus] is more numerous at the famous predator trap). This is not terribly surprising, though; the remains of Smilodon are plentiful, the skeleton can be fully reconstructed, and its enlarged canines make it look terrifyingly fierce, making it the Pleistocene mammalian…
laelaps | November 20, 2007
The answer is probably readily apparent, but I thought that I'd put this picture up without identifying it straight away. What do you think it's from? I have no doubt most people will get it right, but ithis image reminds me one of the most interesting mechanisms for evolutionary change for another species.
laelaps | November 16, 2007
The Giant Anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) is one of my all-time favorite animals, and anytime I get to see one up close is a treat. Perhaps my affinity to them stems from the fact that they are simply so bizarre, the long tubular jaw, huge claws, and bushy tail making these animals seem like they were assembled from leftover parts in a creation myth. Ant-eating seems to have been a lucrative niche, though, as Pangolins (Manis sp.) are convergent with Myrmecophaga in having no teeth in their jaw, large claws to rip into ant/termite nests, and a long sticky tongue. Such similar morphology…
laelaps | November 14, 2007
Up until a few years ago I had never seen a Snow Leopard (Panthera uncia) in captivity, but the Bronx Zoo has had great success in keeping the big cats as well as breeding them. In addition to taking in "Leo," a male Snow Leopard on loan from Pakistan, on June 7, 2006 the adult female Mei Mei gave birth to two females, one of which is pictured above. In fact, over 80 snow leopard cubs have been born at WCS zoos so far, the group expanding their snow leopard habitats with a new exhibit at the Central Park Zoo due to open in 2009. Snow Leopards are still threatened in the wild, however, and as…
jlynch | November 13, 2007They "get drunk all the time. It is becoming really dangerous. We need to stop making alcohol available to them."
They, in this case, are not worthless socialites and Hollywood starlets, but elephants in northeastern India, and the speaker is none other than Paris Hilton, who went on to comment that "It is just so sad."
That sound you just heard? My irony meter exploding.
In any case, between the rampaging monkeys and the elephants, India sounds like a madhouse!
Update: Apparently not.
laelaps | November 11, 2007
Climate Audit tied the far superior Bad Astronomy Blog for "Best Science Blog" this year, and the above photograph illustrates all I have to say to those who deny the reality of anthropogenic climate change.