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

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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