Friday 29 September 2006 Blue whale - the largest animal ever !

The blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) was hunted almost to extinction until hunting was outlawed in 1966, and today humans still disturb these beautiful underwater giants. With the increase of the noise from ships and military sonar, blue whales have a hard time communicating with each other. Read about it on National Geographic. Furthermore, they are threatened by illegal whaling, pollution and fishing nets. The world population is estimated between 3,000 and 4,000 (source). They are considered an endangered species. Yesterday i saw an episode of Genographic Project on National Geographic, about the evolution on whales. According to the Genographic project, all cetaceans descended from a wolf-like creature. But a little search on google shows a lot of different views, including the hippopotamus. Did you know adult blue whales are about the same size as a boeing 737 ?

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify the image of the skeleton of the blue whale shown above and the image of the boeing 737 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

one comment - Permanent Link

Wednesday 27 September 2006 Markhor - official animal of pakistan

The Markhor (Capra falconeri) is a goat-antilope from the himalayas where they graze at altitudes of 500 to 3500 meters high. Males are usually solitary and females gather in herds of about 9 individuals. Males can weigh from 80 to 110 kilograms, while the females only weigh around 32 to 50. Predators of the Markhor are wolves, the Himalayan lynx, snow leopards, panthers and golden eagles prey upon young markhors. They are prized among trophy hunters and used for the Asian medicine market. Markhors are declared an endangered species and the survival of the species is dependent upon conservation programs. The Markhor is the official animal of pakistan and means 'snake eater', although it is a strict herbivore.

Picture by F. Spangenberg, licensed under GFDL.

one comment - Permanent Link

Monday 25 September 2006 Order Diprotodontia

Diprodontia is a very diverse order of marsupials including the koala, kangaroos, possum, wallaby, and their relatives, about 130 species in total. They all live in Australasia and they are recognized by their second and third digits of the hind feet fully fused except for the claws. They have soft fur and a single pair of developed incisor teeth in the lower jaw (hence the name:di is two; proto is front; odontia is teeth), and sometimes an additional pair. When around 50,000 years ago the first humans arrived in Australia, some members of this order became extinct, with human activities such as hunting and setting fire to forests. In the order of Diprodontia several new mammal species have been discovered in the last 25 years, a rare occasion.

Some characteristic species in the order Diprodontia

• Koala
• Common brushtail possum
• Eastern Gray kangaroo
• Red-necked wallaby
• Sugar glider
  

Add your thoughts about this animal - Permanent Link

Sunday 24 September 2006 Greater Bilby

The Greater Bilby (Macrotis lagotis) is a marsupial, wearing its pouch backward to prevent any dirt coming in while digging. The other species in the genus Macrotis, the Lesser Bilby is extinct since the 1950s, because of fur trapping and the introduction of foxes and competition with introduced rabbits. The Greater Bilby is a nocturnal animal which live under the ground in burrows. Its diet consists of insects and their larvae which they search by digging small holes about 10 centimeters deep. They do not need to drink water as they get that from their food. Their numbers greatly declined because of the same reasons as the extinction of the Lesser Bilby. Bilbies have a long muzzle, characteristic to bandicoots and very long ears. There have been succesful reintroduction programs of the Bilby in Western and Southern Australia once rabbits, cats, and foxes are removed.

Links

Queensland government Environmental Protection Agency - Bilby

one comment - Permanent Link

Friday 22 September 2006 Coyote - slender brother of the wolf

The coyote (Canis latrans) can only be found in North America. Besides the raccoon, it is one of few animals that increased their population with human settlement. They are occupying territories formerly owned by wolves and are feeding on garbage in urban areas. Despite their underfed appearance, that is just the way they look, much smaller than the gray wolf, their close relative. Coyotes can hybridize with gray wolves and domestic dogs. Watch a movie on coyotes here.

Add your thoughts about this animal - Permanent Link

Thursday 21 September 2006 Ring-tailed mongoose

The Ring-tailed mongoose (Galidia elegans) is actually more related to the Fossa than it is related to a mongoose. As its name implies it has a tail colored with red and black rings. It lives in Madagascar, where it hunts on small mammals, fish, eggs, reptiles and invertebrates, and occasionally fruit and insects. It is very agile and a proficient climber. Over the past 10 years the ring-tailed mongoose population in Madagascar decreased by 20 %, mostly because of habitat destruction and competition with the Indian Civet and feral dogs and cats. It is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.

Add your thoughts about this animal - Permanent Link

Tuesday 19 September 2006 Sugar glider

The Sugar Glider (Petaurus breviceps) is a gliding possum and has about the size of a squirrel, living in Australia, New Guinea and Tasmania. They can glide up to 45 meters and they can bark as a squirrel also do. Sugar gliders are omnivorous and they are very fond of eucalyptus tree sap. They can fall into hybernation for a short period of time, when the weather in a particular area becomes too cold or there are long periods of food scarcity. Sugar gliders make excellent pets and there has been a recent boom in the American pet population of sugar gliders. Currently, the USDA's guidelines for owning and breeding sugar gliders in the United States varies from state to state. In captivity, sugar gliders can become 14 years of age.

Links

International sugar glider association

Image

Photograph by User:Dawson, licensed under Attribution ShareAlike License v. 2.5

two comments - Permanent Link

Monday 18 September 2006 Crab-eating macaque

The Crab eating macaque (Macaca fascicularis) lives in South-east Asia. It is also known for the fact that it is one of the monkey species flown into space. Despite its name, it practically is an omnivore and eats anything it can get its hands to. Its diet is composed of fruits and seeds by 60 - 90%. Where crab-eating macaques live close to humans, this omnivorous behavior will become a problem and the macaque is seen as a crop-raider and a litterer, pushing over garbage cans to look into them for food. The Crab-eating Macaque's native range is the widest of any monkey. Partly because the wild harvest of macaques for medical testing has ended, because these are captive-bred now... Depending on the source, they are "near threatened" or "Lower Risk - Not Threatened".

Image by Andrew Lih, licensed under ShareAlike 2.0.

Add your thoughts about this animal - Permanent Link

Thursday 14 September 2006 Meadow vole

The Meadow Vole (Microtus pennsylvanicus) is also called Field Mouse or Meadow Mouse. It is a member of the order Rodentia (rodents) and resembles a mouse, but with a stouter body, a shorter hairy tail, and smaller ears and eyes. The Meadow vole is the most widespread vole in the United States. They are hunted on by snakes, owls, hawks, falcons and various carnivores. Its size ranges from 12,8 to 19,5 centimeters. They are active all day, but most active during the night. They dig burrows to store food and give birth (litter size ranges from 2 to 9, with 6 / 7 on average). Meadow voles can be kept as pets.

two comments - Permanent Link

Wednesday 13 September 2006 Giant panda

The giant panda bear (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) is classified as a member of the family Ursidae (bears) and is native in Southern and Central China. Its diet consists almost completely on bamboo, although eggs, insects and fish act as necessary supplement of protein. Although it is a bear, it does not hybernate, just like other subtropical mammals. Because of habitat loss and low birthrate, the Giant Panda is an endangered species. They spend, on average, 12 hours a day eating bamboo. The problem with bamboo is that when the plants reach maturity, they give seeds and die all at once, forcing the panda to move to another area. When areas are disturbed by humans or cut off, the Giant Panda is in danger. Only about 1600 live in the wild, and estimates around 300 are living in zoos around the world. Until 1997, killing a Giant panda in China resulted in the death penalty (in 1997, the sentence was changed to 20 years of prison). Pandas can become 34 years of age in captivity. In the wild they usually become 14 to 20 years of age.

Photo by Aaron Logan, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 1.0.

one comment - Permanent Link

Monday 11 September 2006 Desert cottontail - quite the athlete

The Desert cottontail (Sylvilagus audubonii) is found mainly in arid regions, giving it the common name desert cottontail. This species is somewhat less productive than are others in the genus; desert cottontails produce only about 5 litters per year. Once startled, it may freeze, or run to hide. The Desert cottontail has more athletic ability than the others in its genus, Sylvilagus, having the ability to swim and to climb trees and brush piles.

Add your thoughts about this animal - Permanent Link

Friday 08 September 2006 Bumblee bat or hog-nosed bat

The Bumblebee Bat, or Kitti's Hog-nosed Bat, (Craseonycteris thonglongyai) is the worlds smallest mammal. This is when you define smallest as 'the smallest mammal by length' as opposed to 'the smallest mammal by weight'. Its length ranges from 2.9 to 3.3 centimeters and it weighs between 1.7 and 2 grams. It lives in Thailand in small holes or in crevices formed by stalactites in caves and is most active at dusk, where it flies above the bamboo and teak trees to feed on insects, either in flight or on the trees. Bumblebee bats were first discovered in 1973 by Kitti Thonglongya. Their major threat is deforestation by the teak logging industry.

Picture by Tim Menzies, licensed under GPL

Add your thoughts about this animal - Permanent Link

Wednesday 06 September 2006 Raccoon - recovering after the hunt

The common raccoon or Northern raccoon (procyon lotor) is the most common species of racoons living in North America, though extending from southern Canada to Panama. They were once heavily hunted for their fur, hunters trapping these cute animals to meet the demand for fur hats and coats. Now, they have adapted very well to human development, they learned how to use the sewer systems of big cities to move about unnoticed, and are becoming a pest for humans sometimes. In the night these opportunistics forage for food. It has the scientific name procyon lotor. Procyon means "before the dog" and Lotor means "the washer".

About the image
A raccoon (procyon lotor), photo taken 2004 by Bernard Landgraf
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this image under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "Text of the GNU Free Documentation License."

Add your thoughts about this animal - Permanent Link

Sunday 03 September 2006 Steller's sea cow

Steller's Sea Cow (Hydrodamalis gigas) is an extinct mammal from the order Sirenia in the animal kingdom, which also includes the manatee and dugong. It got its name from the man who discovered it, Georg Steller. The Steller's Sea Cow was hunted to extinction in the 18th century, only 30 years after its discovery. It was slaughtered for its meat and leather. It could way up to 11,000 kilograms. The Steller's sea cow did not have any teeth and did not need to, as it ate algae and sea grass. Herds included juveniles, as well as adult males and females. Juveniles were kept in the center of the herd to protect them. Steller (its discoverer) noted that the animal was monogamous and the pair bond was quite strong. He also noted that the sea cow could only be submerged for about four to five minutes. This makes the sea cow an easy target for hunters.

From wikipedia on the Steller's sea cow: "There are still sporadic reports of sea cow-like animals from the Bering area, the Arctic, and Greenland, so it has been suggested that small populations of the animal may have survived to the present day. This remains so far unproven."

The thumbnail of the Steller's sea cow is not quite clear, Click here for a larger version of the drawing of a Stellar's Sea Cow circa mid 18th century.

nine comments - Permanent Link