mammals
laelaps | November 10, 2007
One of the three male Cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) at the Philadelphia Zoo. While many cats are known for their solitary habits, cheetahs can be quite social (although they do not possess the some sort of social system seen in Lions [Panthera leo]). In the wild males often will form coalitions of two, three, or even four individuals, often being brothers from the same litter. Outside males can be accepted into a coalition, but more often than not the groups are made of brothers, a coalition being much more likely to gain a territory of its own than a single individual. I could be wrong as I…
laelaps | November 9, 2007
The quintessential sabercat may be Smilodon, but it's importance in terms of our own evolution pales in comparison to another sabercat that hominins shared the landscape with in Africa and Europe: Megantereon. Various hypotheses have been put forward about the relationship of our early ancestors and the extinct cats that they probably often encountered, ranging from providing hominins with a surplus of meat (the logic being that the large canines would have prevented the sabercats from eating much of their kills) to being predators of hominins to even forming a symbiotic relationship with…
laelaps | November 8, 2007
Wolves are among my favorite carnivores, but they're often shy even in zoo settings, making them difficult to photograph. During my visit to the National Zoo this past spring, however, this Mexican Wolf (Canis lupus baileyi) came down to get a drink from the pool at the edge of the enclosure, allowing me to snap a few photos. Not everyone likes wolves as much as I do, though, and the Mexican Wolf is currently critically endangered with only about 200 individuals left in the wild. As with other wolves, this subspecies (ranging from Mexico across the southwestern U.S. and as far north as…
laelaps | November 7, 2007
Today's photo, like yesterday's, was taken at the Philadelphia Zoo, and I was fortunate enough to be able to catch the Hippos (Hippopotamus amphibius) as they were entering the water. I'm sure everyone has heard of their aggressiveness via television documentaries and other sources, but few have heard of the fact that hippos sometimes consume flesh. While hippos occasionally nibble on or play with carcasses in African waterways, in severe drought conditions they sometimes kill prey (as in one account of an impala running into the water to avoid Wild Dogs, only to be killed and consumed by…
laelaps | November 6, 2007
The Fishing Cat (Prionailurus viverrinus) is a very interesting Indonesian species of felid that doesn't seem to mind getting wet. Living on the margins of rivers, swamps, and smaller bodies of water, these cats often swim and (as their name implies) are quite fond of freshly-caught fish. Indeed, they've become more adapted to this type of habitat and lifestyle than other cats that are just occasional visitors to the riverbank, developing larger inter-digital webs than other cats to help it get a grip on muddy surfaces (the other branch of the Carnivora, the canids, includes the Bush Dog of…
laelaps | November 5, 2007
The American Black Bear (Ursus americanus) is so common in northern New Jersey that many people don't need to go to a zoo in order to see one. Although there have been occasional sightings of the animals in New Brunswick, I've only once seen a Black Bear in the wild, a large individual that quickly ran off through the forest as soon as I saw it. Still, the Black Bear population in New Jersey exponentially increased in a very short period of time, many state conservation and wildlife agencies coming under fire for supporting or not supporting a bear hunt (at least one official left their…
laelaps | November 3, 2007
Today's photo is of a Lesser Tree Shrew (Tupaia minor), sitting still for a split second allowing me to get a somewhat blurry shot. I wasn't initially thinking of putting this one up today, but I thought it would be a topical choice given a new study in Scienceout this week that suggests Colugos (Family Cynocephalidae) may be more closely related to primates than Tree Shrews (Order Scandentia). Using partial genomic data from both groups (plus primates), the research team found that the colugos were more closely related to primates than the tree shrews, although we have yet to see if this…
laelaps | November 2, 2007
Polar Bears (Ursus maritimus) have always been favorite animals at zoos and aquariums, but the current problem of anthropogenic global climate change has popularized them further by making them extinction's poster species. While many documentaries show the loss of ice as one of the primary factors that is threatening the bears, the overall rise in temperatures is having a more subtle (but widespread) impact on the unevenly distributed populations of bears. Polar bears have adapted to cold climate so effectively that they do not do well when temperatures exceeding 50 degrees Fahrenheit, and…
grrlscientist | October 31, 2007
A fossilized brown hyena, Hyaena brunnea,
which lived in Europe 1.8 million years ago. [Larger view].
An amazing fossil find in the Andalusian savannah in southeast Spain has revealed that a large variety of animal species lived together in that region during the boundary between the Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs, 1.8 million years ago. This discovery has so far yielded a remarkable somorgasbord of fossilized remains from at least 24 large mammal species, eight small mammal species, two reptile species and one bird species.
The fossilized remains, found at Fonelas, Spain, were from…
laelaps | October 30, 2007
Most of the wildlife photographs I feature here were taken at zoos, but every once in a while I get a chance to photograph some indigenous creatures, White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) being the only relatively large mammal in the area. In fact, New Jersey has an overabundance of the deer, and it's strange to drive late at night and not see at least one along the side of the road (or even trying to cross it). While there were always deer here, they owe much of their population growth in the last 200 years to human development of land, especially the clearing of forests for lawns or…
laelaps | October 29, 2007
There are some animals that seem to exist in a bit of taxonomic confusion (at least in the literature; I don't think zebras lose sleep over their species names), the Plains Zebra being one of these. The animals pictured above are from the Philadelphia Zoo and listed as being members of the species Equus burchellii, but recent work appears to show that this most common of Zebra species should really be called Equus quagga. Burchell's Zebra, then, is relegated to the status of a subspecies with the name Equus quagga burchellii, itself taking precedence over the subspecies Equus quagga…
laelaps | October 28, 2007
This is Cali and Summer, two California Sea Lions (Zalophus californianus) at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. Both rescued from wild populations (Summer was abandoned by her mother and Cali's mother died soon after Cali was botn), the two were raised by human keepers and so require a lot of care. They still play with each other nearly constantly, however, this shot taken during a sort of "King of the Rock" game.
laelaps | October 27, 2007
The interplay of light and shadow on yesterday's Photo of the Day (Amphicyon) reminding me of another photo I recently took of a far more benign creature, the Black and Rufous Elephant Shrew (Rhynchocyon petersi). I had never seen or heard of these animals until a little more than a year ago, but there is an entire family of Elephant Shrews (the Macroscelididae) constituting at least four genera of about 15 species. Their appearance has caused their taxonomic affinities to shift quite a bit since the time of their discovery, but genetic evidence has grouped them within the Superorder…
laelaps | October 24, 2007I was planning on putting up one of my patented mega-posts this evening, but unfortunately I just don't have it in me at the moment. It's based on a presentation I made today involving scavenging and early hominids, and while I'm sure some of you will be able to make the right connections (especially if you're familiar with the work of a certain Rutgers alum) here's a video of a certain behavior exhibited by one of my most favorite big cats, the Leopard (Panthera pardus), that'll prominently figure in tomorrow's discussion;
laelaps | October 24, 2007
I have never heard sounds come out of a dog like the kind that I've heard out of a pack of excited African Wild Dogs (Lycaon pictus), the individual pictured above being a member of a large group kept at the WCS-run Bronx Zoo. While their species once ranged over 39 countries and their numbers were estimated as being as high as 500,000, today there are only 3,000-6,000 individuals left in a handful of countries, pressure from predator competition, disease, and killing by farmers/livestock owners make life very hard for these unique dogs. Indeed, they differ from all other known canids in…
laelaps | October 23, 2007
A male Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis) at the Philadelphia Zoo. To the best of my knowledge this animal is not involved in any breeding or conservation programs.
According to LiveScience, a female Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis) was captured, examined, and released by WCS workers this week. The leopards, being among the most endangered of big cats and estimated to number less than 40 individuals in the wild, are most likely inbreeding to continue their population, a problem that could have devastating long-term repercussions. While it is not clear whether the problem is…
laelaps | October 23, 2007
Yesterday's photographic subject, the cougar (Puma concolor), has plenty of common names by which it is known by (some of which are better than others), and the White Nosed Coati (Nasua narica) is another mammal that is known by many other monikers. Pizote, Antoon, and Harrington all sound more like the names of places rather than a long-nosed member of the Family Procyonidae (which also includes raccoons, the Kinkajou, and Olingos), but that is precisely what they are. One should also be mindful that there is at least one other species of coati, distinct from the Pizote, being known as the…
laelaps | October 22, 2007
Cougars (Puma concolor), while currently ranging from Canada to the Andes Mountains in South America, still inhabit only part of their former range. Before European colonization, the big cats ranged from coast-to-coast in the U.S., the eastern populations being wiped out with the exception of a small population in Florida. Some have suggested that the cats may eventually make a comeback and reclaim their previous ranges, potential sightings popping up every now and again in Pennsylvania and other states, but by and large if you want to see a cougar and live on the east coast of the U.S. you…
laelaps | October 21, 2007
Yesterday's photo of Tai Shan received so many positive responses I thought I would put another one up. Getting these shots could be a little difficult at times, however, (warning: bad pun ahead) as it was definitely pandemonium around the enclosure when the young bear came out. His parents Mei Xiang and Tian Tian certainly didn't get as much attention, but they also were not as active or curious as their offspring. If you want to look in on the pandas yourself the National Zoo has a Panda Cam that will allow you to do so.
laelaps | October 20, 2007
As I mentioned in the description of yesterday's "Photo of the Day," when I visited the National Zoo I wanted to make sure I got there especially early, and this Giant Panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) cub is part of the reason. Any exhibit that holds a giant panda, especially a baby one, is going to get swamped by visitors so I wanted to make sure I had a chance to get some decent shots (although I didn't know that the pandas would not be let out until 10 AM so I had a bit of waiting to do). This particular individual is a 2 year old male named Tai Shan, the offspring of Mei Xiang (the mother…