I was having a tough time choosing an animal for today’s Wild Fact when I suddenly remembered talking about the Rusty Crayfish the other day. I thought this interesting and highly competitive Crayfish would be perfect for a Friday Fact.
The Rusty Crayfish isn’t your normal everyday crayfish. I am willing to bet that you if you gave a regular crayfish steroids that it would end up being like good ol’ Rusty. You see the Rusty Crayfish is large, very aggressive and spreading rapidly across North America. This invasive species is beginning to displace our regular, native crayfish here in Canada. Not only are these particular crayfish more aggressive but they also have bigger claws. Some scientists have found that fish will actually avoid eating the Rusty Crayfish in favour of the more docile, native ones. When working for the Province of Ontario I had heard reports of this mean crayfish actually putting up a fight with a Smallmouth Bass. This might be a new technique for fisherman, start using bait that attacks the fish.
So what do these big guys feed on? Well, they like your typical aquatic food such as snails, leeches, aquatic worms, plants, insects and of course small fish. Believe it or not the Rusty Crayfish will not only consume aquatic vegetation but they will also clip the plants at the base using their large claws. Researchers believe that this destruction of vegetation allows for greater population expansion. By removing vegetation they are reducing the amount of key habitat for juvenile sunfish. Therefore this leads to a reduction in sunfish populations which are a major predator on baby Rusties. If this theory is correct than I am absolutely impressed with Mother Nature right now. How incredible is it that a species is controlling their predators by removing their habitat? Hey, wait a minute! I am a Habitat Biologist whose job is to ensure “no net loss” of fish habitat. I wonder if I should charge the Rusty Crayfish for violating the Fisheries Act?
Rusty Crayfish Fast Fact – Just before the female crayfish lays her eggs she will develop white patches on the underside of her tail. These white patches are actually a mucus-like substance created during egg fertilization and development. If you ever find a Rusty Crayfish with white patches you will be able to dazzle your friends with this little bit knowledge.
Have a great weekend everyone! See you first thing Monday morning.
Well Wild Fact followers, I made it back after an incredible adventure flying around Kluane National Park. If you enjoy hiking, camping and just being around nature than I highly suggest taking a trip up to the Yukon to check out this National treasure. I am done promoting the beautiful scenery of Canada’s north for today so let’s move on to our Wild Fact. If you are a little squeamish about snakes than today’s fact may not be for you; however, I promise that the Burmese Python will keep you entertained for the next five minutes.
We can find the Burmese Python hanging out in the grassy marshes of Southeast Asia. They shouldn’t be too tough to find since they are among the largest snakes on earth. Make sure you are sitting for this next little tidbit of information. This particular snake is capable of reaching up to 7 m (23′) in length and can weigh up to 90 kg (200 lbs). I think accidentally stumbling upon a 200 lb snake would definitely startle me. For some reason I keep thinking about that movie, “Anaconda”.
The Burmese Python starts its life out slithering around the trees, which sounds safe for us, right? But as these snakes mature and become heavier they have a tough time climbing trees so they quickly become ground dwelling snakes. These giant snakes are also proficient swimmers as they are capable of staying submerged for up to 30 minutes. So let’s see, the trees, ground and now water is not safe from these massive snakes. Where else is there to go in Southeast Asia? Believe it or not their docile nature, quick growth rate and beautiful appearance makes these snakes very popular among pet owners. Personally, I think it is crazy to have a 200 lb snake that could easily crush you hanging around the house. But I guess I am just a little old fashioned like that. In all honesty the Burmese Python is not known to be aggressive and usually not a threat to humans. Although some pet handlers have suffered serious consequences from improperly treating and handling their pythons.
Burmese Python Fast Fact – The Burmese Python has about 400 sets of ribs and a very flexible spine. This obviously allows them to easily move without the use of legs.
That does it for today’s Fact on the Burmese Python. Have a great day everyone!
Can you believe it is Wednesday already? Well, actually it is still Sunday night as I am writing these posts ahead of time since I will be working in the field Monday and Tuesday. Wow this is weird since it feels as if you are in the future reading this Wild Fact. All right, I am done babbling. Can you tell that I am getting tired? Today’s futuristic Wild Fact will be on an interesting little mammal called the Hyrax. This is truly an unique mammal so sit back and enjoy.
The Hyrax, also known as a rock rabbit, is unlike any other animal which is why it gets classed in its very own special Order. Believe it or not the elephant is the nearest living relative of this peculiar animal. I know I don’t see it either. This relationship is in a weird, round about way since the hyrax, elephants and sea cows had a common ancestor way back when. Okay, so we know they are obscurely related to elephants but what else makes these animals so unique. You will soon see why the Hyrax is unlike any other animal.
The Hyrax is a small furry mammal that sort of resembles a large, pudgy hamster. They have no tail and stumpy toes with hoof-like nails. While we are talking about their toes I guess I should mention that they have four toes on their front feet but only three on their hind feet. You starting to see why they don’t fit in with other animals? Not yet, okay! Well the bottom of their feet also have a rubber-like texture which allows them to easily climb rock cliffs and trees. Unlike more advanced mammals the Hyrax has poor internal temperature regulation which means they have to rely on huddling together and basking in the sun to stay warm.
Photo by Yair rand
So let’s see, these animals have characteristics similar to rodents, rabbits, ungulates and reptiles. I think this is why they are in an Order all by themselves. I told you they were unique little creatures.
Hyrax Fast Fact – So now that you are impressed with the Hyrax you want to go and find one. Well you need to head over to Africa and the Middle East to catch a glimpse of these guys.
Well folks, that is all for today. I should be back to civilization by now so it will be a “live” Wild Fact tomorrow. Have a good one!
You may be a little confused today if you read the title of our Wild Fact and then looked at the picture. You are probably thinking to yourself that the picture looks more like a snake than a lizard. If you picked up on this than good for you but believe it or not the Glass Lizard is actually a lizard and not a snake. As you can imagine these animals are also referred to as Glass Snakes for obvious reasons. You might be questioning how it can be a lizard if it doesn’t have any legs. I guess we should address that issue right now, shouldn’t we?
The majority of Glass Lizard species have no legs, however, a few select species actually have very small stub-like legs. So how is it that we call them lizards instead of snakes? Well, the Glass Lizard still has the head of a lizard including movable eyelids and external ear openings. These distinct features puts them into the lizard category as opposed to the slippery, slithery snake category. I guess this is another example that illustrates that looks can indeed be deceiving.
The Head of the Glass Lizard
The Glass Lizard can get up to 1.2 m (4′) in length although two-thirds of this length is their tail. In previous reptile Wild Facts we have discussed that one of the main defense mechanisms for some lizards is to drop off part of their tail. The Glass Lizard is no exception and has the ability to easily break off sections of their long tail. This is actually how they get their name. Get it? Both glass and these lizards break easily? This is actually a pretty clever naming convention, for once. The coolest thing about this is the fact that the portion of the tail that breaks off remains mobile while the rest of the lizard stays motionless. Obviously this distracts the predator and allows the Glass Lizard to make an escape when the time is right. Unfortunately this cool defense mechanism requires a lot of energy to regenerate a new tail so it will often be smaller. I guess this is a good way to tell how often the Glass Lizard had to drop off its tail.
I guess that does it for the Glass Lizard. Make sure you check back here tomorrow for another crazy Wild Fact. Have a great day!
I hope everyone had a great weekend and is looking forward to another exciting week. Today’s Wild Fact is going out to my parents and the most beautiful niece in the world. You see they are planning on taking a trip to visit a local Alpaca farm. I thought it would be a good time to provide them with some information on these domesticated animals.
As I mentioned the Alpaca is a domesticated version of a South American camelid. Yes, a camelid is just a fancy way of saying members of the Camelidae family which includes camels (of course) and llamas among others. The Alpaca basically resembles a small llama in their appearance and are bred for their fiber. No, not like the All Bran type of fibre. Alpaca fiber is used for knitting and weaving blankets, sweaters, hats, gloves, etc. They are the perfect animal for creating all types of clothing since the Alpaca produces high quality and high quantities of fiber.
Amazingly the Alpaca has been domesticated for 1000′s of years and there are no known Alpaca’s living in the wild. Their closest relative is believed to be the Vicuna which resides in the high alpine areas of the Andes. Similar to their Vicuna relatives the Alpaca is a social herd animal that lives in family groups. Their group consists of a territorial “alpha” male, females and of course their young. When they need to warn their family group the Alpaca will make sharp, noisy inhalations that sound similar to donkey sounds. You know, the ol’ hee-haw!
Photo by Diligent Terrier
When faced with a predator the Alpaca herd will protect itself by kicking and spitting. It sounds like a similar defense that a 7 year old child has against bullies. Just so you know not all Alpacas will spit, however, they are all capable of doing so. The contents of this spit is usually their acidic stomach content, generally a green grassy mix. Occasionally, their spit will just simply be a mixture of air with a little bit of saliva. Personally, I would prefer to be hit with the latter mixture. Actually, I would prefer not to get spit on.
Alpaca Fast Fact – Most Alpacas do not like to be touched, however, some will tolerate being petted. For the most part many Alpacas will not take kindly to people touching their feet, lower legs and especially their abdomens. I recommend you use caution when you are hanging out with a group of Alpacas.
That is all for today folks. Mom, Dad and Taylor – I hope you have a great trip to the Alpaca farm.
Well it is the end of another week and I thought we would continue our South American tour through the weekend. Since we are done looking at the Giant Anteater I thought we could head to southwestern South America to learn about the Monito del Monte. Just so you have an idea of what you are in for today, this creature is also known as the Little Mountain Monkey, so you know it will be a fun Wild Fact.
The Monito del Monte is a not a monkey but rather a marsupial native to Chile and Argentina. Remember folks, marsupials are mammals that have their young mature inside of a nice, warm and comfy pouch (think about the kangaroo). This little mountain monkey is a nocturnal animal that uses it partially prehensile tail to live a full life in the trees. They like to feed on insects and other small invertebrates but will mix it up with fruit.
The Monito del Monte is often considered to be a living fossil since it is the last remaining member of an extinct lineage. Just how far does this lineage date back you ask? Well if the scientists did their estimates properly than this little mountain monkey is about 40 million years old. Now you see why they consider them to be a living fossil?
So I mentioned that these little rascals are marsupials so you can imagine they have an unique breeding behaviour. Well, it isn’t that different compared to other pouched animals. They will usually have a litter of 1 to 4 in the spring which mature in a fur-lined pouch. Once the babies are old enough to leave the pouch they will be nursed in a nest and carried on their mother’s back. The life of a baby Monito del Monte sounds pretty relaxing, doesn’t it?
Monito del Monte Fast Fact – It might be tough to tell from the picture but the Monito del Monte is about the size of a mouse. If we have to put a number on it I would say they can get up to about 13 cm (5″) in length. Did you realize that they were this small?
Well that does it for our short South American tour. Take tomorrow off and enjoy the sights and sounds. We fly home on Sunday! Have a great weekend!
Buckle up everyone because we are all taking a trip to South America. Well, I guess the readers that live in South America aren’t really going to get much of a trip but the rest of us, we will have a blast! So why the impromptu trip to South America? Obviously you didn’t read the title but we are going to learn about the largest Anteater species in the world which is aptly named the Giant Anteater, pretty clever eh? As mentioned the Giant Anteater is found in Central and South America from Nicaragua to northern Argentina.
My favourite attribute of the Giant Anteater is the fact that they are edentate animals. This is just a fancy, sciencey way of saying they have no teeth. It is kind of like your old Grandpa Joe, well not really since your Grandpa has teeth, they are just in a glass beside his bed. Don’t worry about the Giant Anteater though since they make up for their lack of teeth with an extremely long tongue. I know you are dying to know how long their tongue is, who wouldn’t be curious? The tongue of the Giant Anteater is approximately 2 feet long. They use this incredibly long tongue to lap up ants and termites all day. In fact they will usually consume about 35 000 ants and termites in a single day. The first question that popped into my head was “how is it even possible for a Giant Anteater to find and consume 35 000 ants per day?”
Photo by Mateus Hidalgo
Well, first of all the Giant Anteater has an incredible sense of smell, which is thought to be about 40 times greater than ours. They use this sense to locate a nice big mound of ants/termites (which isn’t very tough in South America) Once they find the mound they will use their sharp claws to tear it open. Now that they opened their dinner they will put their tongue in the hole and start eating as many ants/termites as possible. The Giant Anteater will only spend a minute or so at each mound since the ants generally fight back and begin stinging their attacker. Interestingly enough the key to being able to consume 35000 ants/termites every day lies with the fact that the Giant Anteater will not destroy the mound. Instead, he leaves it somewhat intact so he can continuously visit for a snack. Who would have thought that the Giant Anteater has figured out how to sustainably harvest their food but humans can’t?
Giant Anteater Fast Fact – The Giant Anteater is the largest of all anteater species and can weigh between 18 to 64 kg (40 – 140 lbs). Similarly, their bodies are approximately 1.2 m (3.6′) long while their tails can grow up to 1 m (3′). They are called Giants for a reason!
If you have about 5 minutes to spare than I highly recommend you watch the video clip below. It is from BBC’s Life of Mammals and does a great job showing you the life of the Giant Anteater. Even if you don’t have 5 minutes, I recommend you watch it since it is an incredible video clip.
I find it funny that the hardest part with writing these Wild Facts is coming up with the opening line for the post. I guess I am just not very “sharp” this evening. I am usually pretty good at small talk but after 200 and some facts it is getting difficult. What the heck am I going to come up with as I get closer to 1000? Maybe I should hire someone to write a bunch of ice-breaking opening statements. Any takers? . Well today we are going to look at another rodent. Come on you know you enjoyed yesterday’s rodent so why not learn about another one? We are going to look at the Indian Crested Porcupine. This particular porcupine is a member of the Old World Porcupines and can be found throughout the Middle East and Southern Asia.
The Indian Crested Porcupine can weigh up to 20 kg (44 lbs) and get as long as 1 metre (3′) so they are fairly big rodents. Much larger than our cute, little Dormouse which we saw yesterday. Generally you don’t want to mess with porcupines but you definitely don’t want to mess with the Indian Crested Porcupine. They are known to be extremely defensive and obviously have very sharp quills that can do some major damage. Their quills are the most distinctive feature so let’s take a second to learn a little more about them, shall we? The longest quills of the Indian Crested Porcupine can grow up to 1/3 of their body length. Of course I will do the math for you. This means that a 3′ long porcupine can have quills up to 1 foot long. YIKES! These longer quills have often been known to provide a fatal blow to the oncoming predator.
Photo by Krzysztof Kozlowski
Of course not all of their quills are this long but the shorter ones also play an important role in self-defense. The Indian Crested Porcupine is able to create a very loud rattling noise with the shorter quills. This is their attempt to be proactive and warn everyone in the area that they are coming through and don’t want to be messed with! Next time you are walking through the “rough” part of town just bring a baby rattle with you. Let me know how it works out! As a result of the dangerous quills only a few animals are brave enough to attack a Indian Crested Porcupine including tigers and leopards.
Indian Crested Porcupine Fast Fact – A male porcupine is called Boar while the female is called a Sow. A group of porcupines are known as, wait for it……… a “prickle”. I know! Finally a clever naming convention!
Today we are going to learn about a very cute rodent. Yes, I know that sounds odd to say but lots of rodents are cute such as beavers, voles and today’s animal, the Dormouse. The Dormouse is mostly found throughout Europe and is actually pretty small, even by rodent standards.
The Dormouse is only about 6 to 19 cm (2.4-7.5″) long and will weigh about 15 to 200 g (.53-7.1 oz). Personally, I think it is this small size and their furry tail that makes these rodents one of the cuter ones out there. The small stature of the Dormouse has its benefits as it allows them to easily move through dense vegetation without being noticed. This is important because they have numerous predators as a result of their small size. They are like a kid’s meal at the drive-thru, a perfect snack. The Dormouse has to be on the look out for terrestrial predators such as the fox, cats and weasels but also need to keep an eye on the sky as birds such as owls, eagles and falcons love feasting on the Dormouse.
Photo by Michael Hanselmann
Many small rodents choose to live throughout the winter in the subnivean layer, the small space between the ground and the snow, but the Dormouse, in my opinion is smarter than other rodents. They will simply hibernate for the cold winter months. This is something I have been wanting to do for quite awhile but haven’t figured out how……..yet! These cute little rodents will emerge in late spring and begin breeding as soon as possible. They will usually have 1 to 2 litters a year with about 3 to 5 babies per litter. When the babies are first born they are hairless and the eyes remain closed for about two weeks. As you can imagine many of the young will have a tough time making it to maturity as a result of the hungry predators mentioned earlier.
Dormouse Fast Fact - As a whole the Dormouse population appears to be healthy and stable, however, in parts of Europe there are concerns over a decline in the Dormouse population as a result of habitat loss. Ironically, a report was released in April of 2010 indicating that the Dormouse is one of 14 invasive species in Europe that are threatening the native wildlife populations and costing the Government billions in managing these non-native species. Other animals on this list include rabbits, gray squirrels, house mice, fallow deer, etc. I find it rather interesting to see the two sides to this story but then I am Wildlife Biologist so you would expect silly things like this to entertain me.
Thanks for checking out today’s Wild Fact. See you again real soon!
Welcome back to another fun and exciting week of Wild Facts. Today we are going to head to the tropical and sub-tropical oceans (although some do live in freshwater systems) to learn about one of the most poisonous creatures on earth. Of course we are going to explore the life of none other than the Puffer Fish, also known as the Blow Fish. I am sure most of us are familiar with this unique fish but let’s see what else we can learn.
The Puffer fish is a very slow and clumsy swimmer which makes them easy pickings for any potential predator. Instead of trying to out swim these fierce predators the Blow Fish has adapted a much more unique self defense mechanism. They have an elastic stomach and the ability to ingest large quantities of water in a short order of time. The result of this behaviour turns them into a large ball several times the size of their normal self. Naturally this makes it very difficult for a normal fish to consume the Puffer Fish. If a predator is “lucky” enough to actually consume the fish before it blows up into a ball it will pay a very costly price. As I mentioned the Blow Fish is one of the most poisonous animals on the planet. In fact they contain a poison called tetrodotoxin which is up to 1200 times more lethal than cyanide. If this doesn’t paint a clear enough picture than perhaps this little fact will. The Puffer Fish contains enough toxin to kill 30 humans and there is no known antidote. Of course, humans like to tempt fate so believe it or not the meat of the Puffer Fish is served as a delicacy in Japan called “fugu”. Personally, I wouldn’t recommend trying to eat one of these guys. In fact, I would probably just stay away from them completely but I guess I am just a big baby.
Inflated Puffer Fish
Puffer Fish Fast Fact – After the eggs of a Puffer Fish hatch, the young (called fry) are not fully developed. As a result they will form a hard protective shell around them. Eventually this shell will crack off and the fins and tail will develop. Once the Puffer Fish is big enough it will swim down and integrate itself with the rest of the community.
Well that is all I have on the deadly Puffer Fish. I hope you enjoyed today’s fact and I will see you back here tomorrow for Wild Fact #764.
Welcome to my ongoing project to provide you with 1000 Animal Facts. Every week-day I will provide a new and interesting animal fact counting down from 1000. My goal is to hopefully educate the young and old alike about the interesting adaptations of the animal kingdom. As well, I am hoping people will gain a greater appreciation of the animals we share earth with. If you have any questions, please feel free to use the Contact form or leave a comment.
. Well today we are going to look at another rodent. Come on you know you enjoyed yesterday’s rodent so why not learn about another one? We are going to look at the Indian Crested Porcupine. This particular porcupine is a member of the Old World Porcupines and can be found throughout the Middle East and Southern Asia.
