Animal A Day!

The Texas Blind Salamander lives in only one location in the entire world. Guess where. Texas! Specifically the Edwards Plateau region, ( #30 on the map ) and more specifically then that, in an aquifer under San Marcos. They require a very clean supply of water, which is being threatened by city growth and pollution. As such, they are listed as vulnerable on the IUCN red list , and the number of specimens in the wild is unknown. The Texas Blind Salamander lives underground in its aquifer, and as such has evolved to the point of not really needing eyes or skin pigmentation. Those evolved traits are found in many other cave dwelling creatures as well. They obviously live in water, and have large sets of red gills on the sides of their head in order to draw oxygen from it. They grow up to 5 inches in length. Overall they are considered to be the most advanced troglobitic (cave dwelling) species of salamander known. They do not have a set breeding season, as evidenced by observations of...

Alright, I had a different animal planned for today, but then a news story popped up that I simply could not ignore.... World's largest beaver dam. Located in a remote, basically inaccessible area of Alberta, Canada, this thing is almost 3,000 feet long and has likely been under construction for 40 years by multiple beaver families and generations. (Alberta is interestingly also the home of a 15 foot tall roadside beaver attraction!) Beavers had a guest role in one of my posts last week , which mentioned their importance to local ecosystems. Beavers build dams for food storage and protection, but there are several valuable side effects that go along with them just trying to get away from some coyotes. These dams help to prevent erosion, help develop new wetlands, mitigate the damage cause by floods, provide spawning sites for salmon and help to adsorb excess sediments. These are only a few of the long and short terms benefits provided by beaver dams, and its no wonder othe...

The two species of Tuatara, Sphenodon guntheri and Sphenodon punctatus are the only living members within the entire order of Sphenodontia. Way back in the day, I'm talking 200 million years back, members of this group flourished. But over time, all but these two species died out, leaving the other orders within the Reptilia class to far outnumber them not only in regards to species count, but in world domination as well. They are sometimes considered living fossils . Tuataras only live in one location in the entire world- New Zealand. Specifically, small islands off the coast of the larger two that are not heavy with predators. ( Though reintroduction efforts on the mainland have been ongoing ) They've been living as the last of their kind for nearly 60 million years, though molecular work has confirmed that changes have occurred in the past 200 million years, though they still retain many primitive characteristics. While they may look like lizards... they aren't. Like ...

I think we'll just start his post off with a video. Yup. That's what Harpy Eagles ( Harpia harpyja ) do. They soar above the treetops of the Amazon, and swoop in to grab unsuspecting sloths, monkeys, opossums, anteaters.... but sloths are apparently their favorites . They are one of the largest species of raptor in the world. Harpy Eagles are the only member of genus Harpia, so named after the Harpies, winged death spirits in Greek Mythology  that had eagle-like bodies and the heads of women. In the Jason and the Argonauts story, the Harpies tortured king Phineas by always snatching food out of his hands, leaving him perpetually hungry until Jason and his band relieved him. They resorted to similar snatching in The Aeneid , and were also said to have grabbed who people in other myths as well. In short, a very appropriate name for an eagle that makes its living grabbing tree dwellers while they are just doing their thing. Though it is the only member in its...

I'm cheating a bit with this one, since there are actually something around the ballpark of 15,000 species in the Buprestidae family, but hey, they are a really interesting group of insects! They range in size (from about 4-100mm) and habitat, but they all share the common characteristic of looking shiny. Scientists have been looking at the molecular structure of their every so shiny exoskeletons because they reflect, rather than absorb color. One specific species, the jewel scarab Chrysina gloriosa , can actually distinguish between circularly polarized and non polarized light , and reflect circularly polarized light off of their exoskeletons. This allows them to see each other, but keeps predators from seeing them. Only one other species (a type of shrimp) is known to be sensitive to this type of light. (CP light is what movies these days are using for 3D effects , we have to wear glasses cause humans lack the natural perception) And while we're on the topic of super n...

Today we have a very special animal of the day: My dog. It's his 2nd birthday! So far, he's broken two vacuums with his excessive hair, and he's claimed every single surface in the house as his own. But we love him, and so he (and more specifically, his breed) get the post for the day. Collies, as pretty much everyone knows, descend from the herding dogs of Scotland. Rough (and smooth) collies today get their distinctive looks through possible crossings between the local collies and  Borzois and Irish Setters back in the day. I can definitely see the Borzoi thing, they both have really long faces. Anyway, the aesthetic look changed when collies started to become the "it" dog to have, and years of selective breeding has distinguished it from other collie-types. Queen Victoria owned collies, and had their portraits painted numerous times, though those collies look far more like the border collie does today. Heck, one of those paintings is a dead ring...

Does anyone remember a game called Sim Safari ? Circa 1998? I sure do! That game taught me all about the wide wide world of African antelopes. And ever since I picked up that game so many years ago, the Bongo has been one of my all time favorites. Why the Bongo? Well, I'd be lying if I didn't mention their striking looks. That reddish brown coat! Those stripes! Those fabulous twisted horns! Their absolutely adorable calves! Plus, an anonymous source thinks they look like Cinnabons. But they are also the largest of all mountain antelopes, and one of the largest antelope species overall, with males capable of reaching 900lbs despite being only about 4 feet tall. They are also fairly unique in that both that males and females of the species sport those snazzy horns. And speaking of those horns, when Bongo's run (they are actually pretty darn fast) they flatten their head and horns back, which can cause bald patches on their backs from all the rubbing. The distinctive run is...