Animal A Day!

Juvenile To celebrate the 4th of July, and the fact that I just got back from South Carolina with more animal pictures than I know what to do with, we're going to talk about the American Alligator! There are only two extant species of Alligator, and the American is the largest. They live in freshwater swamps in the South Eastern United States and can grow up to 15 feet in length, though even larger specimens have been recorded. Alligators and other Crocodylians are very old species, with their ancestors appearing during the mesozoic era and surviving the great extinction that finished off the dinosaurs. American Alligators are opportunistic predators, and will eat just about anything. There have been documented human killings, and since the statistics began in 1948, there have been 20 killings in the state of Florida . While that number does seem a bit chilling, overall humans are not a major part of the Alligators' diet. They eat birds, reptiles, mammals, insects and ca...

Writing about extinct animals is always a challenge to me because in so many circumstances the information is just not there. We know about the creatures from fossils that are so often incomplete, or from unreliable sources in the case of the more recently extinct animals. The Baiji falls into neither of these categories, as its functional extinction was sadly announced only four year ago, in 2006. If there are still individuals out there, they would be the rarest mammals on earth. Image from Wildlife Extra Only a hundred years ago thousands of these freshwater dolphins, also known as Chinese River Dolphins, swam the length of the Yangtze. Industrialization and fishing practices have led to their fast decline, and in 2006 a six-week, multi-national expedition uncovered no specimens. Reports of an sighting  surfaced in 2007, but even if a handful of individuals remain, the population is unlikely to be sustainable. They have never been bred in captivity, though the Chinese gov...

Chlamyphorus truncatus  has to have one of the cutest names of any animal. Seriously. Pink. Fairy. Also known as the Pichiciego, it's the smallest of all the armadillos, measuring between 3 and 6 inches long. The Giant Armadillo , in contrast, can measure nearly 40 inches. Image from Creepy Animals Pink Fairy Armadillos are native to Argentina and prefer dry grasslands and sandy areas where the habitat is abundant in scrub brush and cacti. They are nocturnal creatures and wonderful little diggers . They live in burrows that often lie close to ant hills, one of their favorite types of prey. Other prey types include worms, snails, and some plant materials. Pink Fairy Armadillos spend most of their time underground, and will usually only eave their burrows when the ground becomes unbearably moist. They are wonderfully adapted to such a life, with long front claws and torpedo shaped bodies. Tunneling is accomplished by shoveling dirt under the body with the front feet,...

I was given a suggestion to write an article about a salamander. Not a specific salamander, just one of the 500 different species. So I chose this guy! Marbled Salamanders ( Ambystoma opacum )   are found throughout the Eastern United States, though you won't spot them too often. They are part of the genus Ambystoma , which is commonly known as the mole salamanders. They are nocturnal and spend most of their time hiding underneath things, hence the name. Marbled Salamanders can  be spotted during their breeding season, when they take part in some interesting activities . Image from Reio What are these activities? Well, the Marbled Salamander is pretty unique in that it doesn't actually lay its eggs underwater. After the males and females mate in the fall, the males disappear off into the wilderness while the females go and find a suitable location to lay her eggs. This area may be a tree, a ditch, anything... just as long as it will eventually  be...

I feel like I've been writing a lot about poison and neurotoxins lately, but hey, interesting! Pitohuis (pronounced pit-oo-eey) are the six species found within the genus Pitohui . (clever) They are all brightly colored songbirds endemic to New Guinea. They are also among the most toxic birds in the world. One species, the Hooded Pitohui ( Pitohui dichrous ) takes the top prize as the most poisonous bird on earth! (It is also interestingly the first poisonous bird ever discovered) Hooded Pitohui from Smithsonian Pitohuis do not actually produce their own poison. They consume beetles of the Choresine genus, who themselves produce high amounts of batrachotoxins (BTX), a type of neurotoxin. This is the same substance that makes Poison Dart Frogs so dangerous, and the word batrachotoxin itself comes from the Greek for "Frog" and "Poison." Anyway, after beetle consumption the toxin then finds its way into the skin and feathers of the Pitohuis, and serves to ...

The Portuguese Man Of War, found in the world's warm water oceans,  is a very interesting animal indeed. First off, it is not a jellyfish . Even though it may look like a Jellyfish, and sting like a Jellyfish, (more on that later) it is a siphonophore, an animal that is actually made up of multiple organisms working together. How does this work exactly? Well, the Man Of War consists of four distinct parts, a gas-filled bladder (the pneumatophore), the tentacles which can detect and capture prey, a polyp containing digestive organs, and a polyp for reproduction. Image from ImageQuest The Man Of War takes its name from part #1- the gas-filled bladder. This polyp rests atop the water and has a sail like appearance ala a Portuguese battleship. This polyp can reach up to a foot in length and extend 6 inches above the water. The Man of War is only able to float and has very little control over its movements, which is why they tend to wash up on shore. The other th...

The Binturong ( Arctictis binturong ) also has an equally awesome alternate common name, the Bearcat! However, it really isn't much of a bear OR a cat. While it is true that it is part of the Feliforma suborder, it is not a member of family Felidae. Binturongs are a part of their own family, Viverridae, which is shared with Civets, Linsangs, and Genets. There are six subspecies of Binturong, all of which have slight differences based upon location and habitat. Binturongs range in body size from 60-100cm in length, (not including their tail which has roughly the same length) and weigh between 20 and 30lbs. Binturongs are nocturnal animals native to the rain forests of South East Asia. The species range spans through several countries including China, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. They are tree dwelling mammals, and have fully prehensile tails that basically double their body length and can be used to cling to the trees or to grasp food. Binturongs are phe...