REUNION ISLAND DAY GECKO
Phelsuma Borbonica Borbonica
©ach_gecko
The Reunion Island day gecko is a subspecies of geckos. It is diurnal and lives in northern Réunion. It typically dwells on banana trees and feeds on insects and nectar.
This lizard belongs to the middle-sized day geckos. It can reach a total length of about 16 cm/6.6”. The colour can vary, depending on their specific population. The body colour is bluish green or dark green. The head has a yellowish colour, finely mottled with brown. On the back and tail there are brownish or red-brick coloured dots which form a network of reticulated bars. The read spots on the head and neck are smaller and denser than those on the back. The ventral surface is yellowish with brown marbling.
This species only inhabits northern part of Réunion. It was found at; Les Hauts du Brûlé, Les Hauts Mensiol, Morne de Patates à Durand, near Bois de Nèfles, Belle-Vue, La Bretagne, Beaumont les Hauts, near St.Marie and Les Hauts de la Perrière near St. Suzanne.
These day geckos feed on various insects and other invertebrates. They also like to lick soft, sweet fruit, pollen and nectar. Source
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CALIFORNIA QUAIL or VALLEY QUAIL
Callipepla californica
©Quality Quail
The California quail lives in grasslands, foothills, woodlands, canyons and at the edge of deserts. It likes areas with lots of brush. The California quail eats seeds, plant parts and sometimes. They feed in flocks in the early morning.
Males often compete for a mate. They mate with only one female. Females usually lay between 12-16 cream and brown speckled eggs. Their nest is a shallow hollow or scrape in the ground that is lined with grass. The female incubates the eggs for about three weeks. Both parents care for the chicks. The chicks leave the nest shortly after birth. They make their first attempts at flight when they are about 10 days old, and will fly when flushed but generally prefer to run for cover. As adults they roost in trees as a group. The California State Bird.
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DARWIN’S BARK SPIDER
Caerostris darwini
©Barcroft Media
Darwin’s bark spider, is a 3/4” (19mm) a type of orb spider, weaves webs that span rivers and lakes — one web reached 82 feet (25 meters) in length, giving the species the title of the world’s largest web spinner. The length of the webs allow the Darwin’s bark spider to capture insects (30 mayflies and dragonflies noted in one web) in a niche otherwise unexploited by spiders.
The silk of the species is also the strongest biomaterial ever encountered. The web is twice as resilient as the next strongest silk and 10 times tougher than Kevlar, the material used in bulletproof vests.
Scientists will continue to study the Darwin bark spider. Some researchers believe the spiders could one day benefit humans. They think the silk could be used to create artificial muscle tissue. Source
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GOLDEN EAGLE attacks a deer
Aquila chrysaetos
©Milan Krasula
With one set of talons grasping its back the outlook wasn’t good for this fawn as a golden eagle swooped in for the kill. But a split second later the deer managed to duck out of danger as it scrambled under a fence forcing the bird of prey to release it, and rise back up into the sky.
The dramatic scene which played out during an eagle hunt was captured by photographer Milan Krasula.Source
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My sister sent me a link to the following video this morning of an eagle dragging a goat off a cliff. Please Note: it is amazing but disturbing footage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4e2AINr0kJE
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10 Facts About Golden Eagles:
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JAPANESE HORNETS (Vespa mandarinia japonica) slaughter a hive
of EUROPEAN HONEY BEES (Apis mellifera)
@thedailywh.at published this video (via Kottke) this morning. I wanted to add a note.
In Japan, beekeepers often prefer Western honey bees because they are more productive than the endemic Japanese honey bees. However, these hornets will often prey on the bees.
The Bad News
Once a Japanese giant hornet has located a hive of European honey bees it leaves pheromone markers around it which attract nest mates. A single hornet can kill forty European honey bees in a minute and a group of 30 hornets can finish off an entire hive containing 30,000 bees in about three hours. The hornets not only kill the bees, but also dismember them. They return to their nest with the bee thoraxes which they feed to their own larvae. The hornets also gorge themselves on the bees’ honey.
The Good News
The native Japanese honey bee, has a defense against attacks of this manner. When a hornet approaches the hive. the bee workers emerge in an angry cloud-formation with some 500 individuals. They form a tight ball around the hornet and their vibrating wings increases the temperature forming a convection oven. Because bees can survive higher temperatures than the hornet, the latter dies.
It is a cautionary tale - of a native species over an introduced species.
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These hornets are large, but not particularly aggressive with humans, however being stung is extremely painful and requires hospital treatment. On average 40 people die every year of anaphylactic shock after having been stung.
Fact Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_giant_hornet
Other photos you may enjoy:
COMMON POTOO
Nyctibius griseus
©Aralcal / Julian Londono-Jaramillo
The Common Potoo, Grey Potoo or Lesser Potoo, is a nocturnal bird which breeds in tropical Central and South America — from Costa Rica to northern Argentina and northern Uruguay.
This potoo is a large cypselomorph bird related to the nightjars and frogmouths, but like other potoos it lacks the bristles around the mouth found in the true nightjars. It is 33–38 cm long and pale greyish to brown, finely patterned with black and buff, camouflaged to look like a log; this helps protect it from predators, and aids in its own camouflage when hunting. It has large orange eyes.
The Common Potoo can be located at night by the reflection of light from its eyes as it sits on a post, or by its haunting melancholic song, a BO-OU, BO-ou, bo-ou, bo-ou, bo-ou, bo-ou, bo-ou, bo-ou dropping in both pitch and volume.
It is a resident breeder in open woodlands and savannah, rarely occurring over 1,900 meters instead preferring the gallery forest-type environment around the Uruguayan-Brazilian border. Source
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fairy-wren: Common Potoo (Nyctibius griseus) - (photo by aralcal)
GERENUK
Litocranius walleri
©njwight - click through to nj’s blog on Tumblr
The diurnal gerenuk requires very little water, and may not drink at all during its life. The gerenuk is exclusively a browser. To reach leaves on taller trees, the gerenuk stands on its hind legs, resting its forelegs on the branches of the tree to steady itself. From this position, it plucks the tender leaves from the branches with its long upper lip and tongue. When a gerenuk sees a strange object, it freezes and hides behind a bush, looking over the cover with the help of its long neck. When startled, the gerenuk runs off in a crouched trot with its head held level with its body. Population densities average about 0.6 animals per square kilometer. Home range sizes vary from 1.5-3.5 square kilometers, with the edges overlapping. Mature males become territorial, marking their areas with urine, feces, and glandular secretions.
The smooth coat is a reddish fawn, with the underparts and front of neck being white. Along the back is a darker band or saddle, which reaches partly down the sides. The neck is long and slender - only 18-26 cm / 7-10 inches in diameter - and has led to the gerenuk’s name of ‘giraffe-gazelle’. The skinny body is supported by long, slender legs. The head is wedge-shaped and is somewhat flattened. There is a ring of white around the eye, and the ears are long and skinny.
Family group: Solitary or in single sex groups of up to 10 animals.
Diet: Leaves of bushes and trees, shoots, buds, fruits, and blossoms.
Main Predators: Cheetah, leopard, lion, Cape hunting dog, hyena.
Other posts with photos by njwight:
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Yes…these are my own ears.
PHILIPPINE FLYING LEMUR
Cynocephalus volans
© Sebastian / SudiaMirabilium.com
The Philippine Flying Lemur is endemic to the Philippines. Its population is concentrated in the Mindanao region and Bohol.
Although called a flying lemur, it cannot fly and is not a lemur. The Philippine Flying Lemur is one of the two living species of the order Dermoptera. The other species is the Sunda Flying Lemur.
An average Philippine Flying Lemur weighs about 1 to 1.7 kilograms and is 14 to 17 inches long. It has a wide head, small ears and big eyes. Its clawed feet are large and webbed for fast climbing and for gliding. Its 12-inch tail is connected to the forelimbs via a patagium. This membrane helps it glide distances of 100 meters or more, useful for finding food and escaping predators such as the Philippine Eagle. Its 34 teeth resemble those of a carnivore but the Philippine Flying Lemur eats mainly fruits, flowers and leaves. It is nocturnal and stays in hollow trees or clings on dense foliage during daytime. The female Philippine Flying Lemur usually gives birth to one young after a two-month gestation period. The young is helpless and attaches itself to its mother’s belly, in a pouch fashioned from the mother’s skin flaps.
The Philippine Flying Lemur has sharp teeth, it feeds on plant matter, and fruit. Their incisor teeth are very unique, they are almost like a tiny combs with twenty tines on each incisor tooth – their function remains unknown. They resemble marsupials in their breeding and gestation—in that the baby is born just after 60 days, and it is very tiny and undeveloped. It will be two years before the baby is ready to venture out on its own. Folding under her tail, also folds in some of the membrane used for flying and provides a protective pocket for the baby. It is not confirmed but the Philippine Flying Lemur could prove to be the ancestral link between Marsupial and Placental mammals.
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PALAWAN PEACOCK PHEASANT
Polyplectron napoleonis
©P. Stubbs photo
The male is the handsomest and most peacock-like member of the genus Polyplectron. It has an erectile crest, a white stripe over the eyes and highly iridescent metallic green and black plumage. The tail feathers are decorated with large blue-green ocelli, which may be spread fanlike in courtship displays. The female is smaller than the male. It has a dark brown plumage with a short crest and is whitish on the throat, cheeks and eyebrows.
Endemic to the Philippines, the Palawan Peacock-Pheasant is found in the humid forests of Palawan Island in the southern part of the Philippine archipelago. The female usually lays up to two eggs.
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People always ask me what animal I like best, and while I’d love to be cool and say King Cheetah, or Blue Whale, or even the wildly odd Turtle Frog - the truth is, I’m most strongly drawn to Galliformes. Peafowl, pheasants, partridge, quail, chickens and the like. I think that this bird is one of most beautiful in the family.
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SKELETONIZING LEAF BEETLE - Larvae
Trirhabda flavolimbata
©Marlin Harms
The larvae of this beetle, Trirhabda flavolimbata which is a beetle with a irridescent green shell. Both the photographer and Whatthebug.com report seeing hundreds of them feeding in the Coyote Brush (Baccharis pilularis) in the Western USA.
Source showing adult: http://www.whatsthatbug.com
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IRAWADDY DOLPHIN
Orcaella brevirostris
©Photo: EPA
In 2009, nearly 6,000 Irrawaddy dolphins, which are related to orcas or killer whales, were found living in freshwater regions of Bangladesh’s Sundarbans mangrove forest and the adjacent waters of the Bay of Bengal, the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society said.
Prior to this study – which the Wildlife Conservation Society news release said used rigorous scientific techniques – the largest known populations of Irrawaddy dolphins numbered in the low hundreds or less.
The news release did not say when the study was conducted but Bangladeshi researchers in the team said it was launched in 2004.
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Animalworld.tumblr.com was started on a whim — as a counterpoint to the standard Tumblr fare of puppies, kittens and cute animals — and as an attempt to show what other animals populate the planet. I was not expecting the blog to take off the way it has. Even with the attrition over these past few months (when there have been few posts), there are still over 7,300 people following this blog, and its gotten nearly 100,000 hits since August/Sept. I’ve learned a TREMENDOUS amount about the animal kingdom from moderating this blog, and I want to say thank you to those who have joined me on this journey.
The best of 2011 and a nice cross section of posts: (L to R, top to bottom)
January - Caracal
February - Royal Sea Star or Purple and Orange Sea Star
March - Spanish Moon Moth
April -Turquoise Browed Mot Mot
May -Cuban Land Snail - priotrochatella-stellata
June - Green Bottle Blue Tarantula
July - Jeweled Caterpillar
August - Blue Linckia or Blue Star
September - Pistol Shrimp
October - Hawksbill Sea Turtle riding a Jelly fish
November - Flashlight Fish
December - Dragonhead Caterpillar
PSEUDOSCORPION with eggs
Neobisium carcinoides
©Lukjonis/Lukas Jonaitis
Lukas writes: We don’t have very many exotic species of arthropods in Lithuania. But I’m still lucky, because the most exotic species are small like this pseudoscorpion. It is about 2-4mm in size. And it is difficult to photograph such a small creature which almost always moves… The most interesting thing that it was carrying eggs.
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Species of the Neobisiidae are widely distributed in Europe. The best known pseudoscorpion in northern Europe, Neobisium carcinoides, is frequent in a wide array of habitats. It is probably the pseudoscorpion with the most northernly distribution, and is the sole species found in natural habitats in Iceland and the Faroe islands.
Characters of family: Body length range from 1.0-6.0 mm (Beier 1963). Tergites undivided. Cephalothorax without transverse grooves, rectangular or roughly square. Carapace with one or two pairs of eyes, a few cave-dwelling species have none. A small, more or less triangular process on the front margin of the carapace (epistome) is present in most species. Chelicers large, about half the length of the carapace. Pedipalps smooth or partly granulate. Only fixed finger with poison apparatus. Teeth of pedipalpal fingers closely set and uniformly sized. All tarsi two-segmented. Using external characters to determine sex of specimens is difficult for members of this family.
Sources:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/38628972@N05/6100685150/ and
http://www.jorgenlissner.dk/pseudoscorpions.aspx
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DESERT GRASSLAND SCORPION
Paruroctonus utahensis
©Douglas Gaffin/University of Oklahoma
UV light shows the blue-green fluorescence of the animal’s exoskeleton. In normal light, the scorpion appears translucent.
Glowing Scorpion Exoskeletons May Be Giant Eyes
Scorpion bodies are studded with eyes, sometimes as many as twelve — and scientists may have found one more.
A scorpion’s entire exoskeleton may act as one giant light receptor, a full-body proto-eye that detects shadows cast by moonlight and starlight.
That’s still just a hypothesis, but it would help explain why they glow so brilliantly under ultraviolet light.
“It might be a sort of alarm that’s always going off until the scorpion finds shelter,” said biologist Douglas Gaffin of the University of Oklahoma. “Shade might turn down the alarm on that part of their body, so they preferentially move in that direction.”
No matter their color in daylight, be it jet-black or translucent, ultraviolet light makes pigments embedded in their exoskeletons emit photons.
That property is called fluorescence, and nobody knows quite why scorpions possess it. Suggested explanations include mating signals or evolutionary leftovers of natural sunscreen needed before they became nocturnal. Whatever the case, 430 million-year-old fossils of scorpion relatives called eurypterids suggest their fluorescence has been around for a very long time.
SPECTACLED FLYING FOX or SPECTACLED FRUIT BAT
Pteropus conspicillatus
©Steve Parish
The Spectacled Flying Fox is a megabat also known as the Spectacled Fruit Bat, lives in Australia’s north-eastern west regions of Queensland. It is also found in New Guinea
Spectacled Flying-foxes are forest dwellers and rainforests are their preferred habitat. They prefer to roost in the middle and upper canopy strata in the full sun. Colonies of the Spectacled Flying-fox can be found in rain forests, mangroves, and paperbark and eucalypt forests. No colony is known to be located more than 7 km from a rainforest.
They are considered vulnerable due to a significant decline in numbers as a result of loss of their prime feeding habitat and secluded camp sites.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectacled_Flying_Fox
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