Thursday 26 January 2012
Pale-throated Three-toed Sloth - Sloth without Ears
The pale-throated three-toed sloth (
Bradypus tridactylus) has a round but blunt head, small eyes, a slightly pointed nose but does not have visible ears, but it can hear. It lives a solitary life high up in the treetops of South American rainforests from Northern
Argentina to Southern
Honduras.
This sloth is not considered endangered, but needs Crecopia trees to survive. If the rainforest is destroyed, the chances are high that the pale-throated three-toed sloth will go extinct. Keeping it in captivity is difficult. Although slow and reliant on trees, the pale-throated three-toed sloth is far from helpless. Its three huge claws on each forepaw, which can grow up to 2.5 inches (6.35 centimeters) long, can defend itself against
jaguars and
ocelots. It is also an excellent swimmer.
Physical Appearance
Pale-throated three-toed sloths do have pale-colored throats. Their heads are shades of brown, the noses black, and their main body hair are in shades or grey, black and dark brown. However, many adults sport patches of dark green because algae grow in its shaggy fur and the sloth does not remove it. The green shades help it to blend in with the tree leaves in which it lives and feeds. Males have a bright yellow or orange splotch on their backs. Females have two prominent breasts in between their forelimbs.
Adults weigh anywhere from 4.95 to 12.1 pounds (2.25 to 5.5 kilograms). The bear-shaped long body grows to a length of 22 to 23.6 inches (56 to 60 centimeters) and sports a small, hard to see tail only 2.36 to 2.76 inches (6 to 7 centimeters) long.
Life Cycle
Pale-throated three-toed sloths breed year round. After a gestation of 141 days, the female gives birth to a single baby. The female does all of the work caring for the youngsters. She nurses the baby for one month, and then feeds the baby Crecopia leaves, twigs and buds from her own lips. She will care for the baby until it is about 9 months old, then it goes off on its own.
How slow are sloths?
It takes about one month for it to travel one mile. Sloth metabolisms are so slow that it only needs to urinate and defecate once a week. The sloth does this on the forest floor and then goes back up into the canopy. With luck, the sloth can live 12 years, although one pale-throated three-toed sloth in captivity lived to be 31.
Picture of the Pale-throated Three-toed Sloth in a rehabilitation center in Costa Rica by Connor Lee. A very young two toed sloth, in a cardboard box, is being hand fed in the righthand background. The cardboard boxes all have towels or blankets in them and are used as beds for the sloths being rehabilitated. Picture licensed under GFDL and under the
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Wednesday 25 January 2012
Gerp’s Mouse Lemur - Primate Discovered in 2012
The Gerp’s mouse lemur (
Microcebus gerbi) is a tiny, rare primate that lives only in the forests of the eastern part of the island of
Madagascar. Because this species is so new to scientists and biologists, not much is known about them, except that they are nocturnal and they prefer to keep in the lowland section of the forests. Just why they prefer these areas is still unknown.
It is unknown how many are alive, what they eat or what predators eat them (besides humans). Their forests are being cut down for timber and agriculture. The particular area where this new lemur was discovered is not under national protection. We may never learn much about the Gerp’s mouse lemur if its habitat is destroyed.
The Discovery
This long-hidden species was discovered by a group of German researchers in 2012. The name “Gerp” is an acronym for the research organization’s station base, Groupe D’Etude et de Rechurche sur les Primates de Madagascar. The group first arrived in Madagascar in 2008 and first thought the creature now known as the Gerp’s mouse lemur was just a variation of another mouse lemur species.
Several lemurs captured in the Sahafina Forest, skin samples taken and released back into the forest. Its skin samples, along with samples of other lemurs in the area, went to a European lab to have the DNA sequenced. It took years to decode the DNA, but when the results were in, the team knew that they had discovered a new lemur species.
General Description
The adult Gerp’s mouse lemur is only as large as a pet hamster. Adults weigh a mere 2 to 2.5 ounces (60 to 70 grams). But it’s not the smallest mouse lemur in Madagascar. That honor goes to the mountain-dwelling Goodman’s mouse lemur, which weighs a mere 1.55 ounces (44 grams.) Like other lemurs, it has huge eyes in proportion to its head; a pointed pink nose and bat-shaped, mobile ears. The huge eyes and prominent ears help the tiny mammal maneuver in the dark.
The tail, at a whopping 5.77 inches (146.5 millimeters.) is longer than its body and hand-like paws containing six claw-like fingers. The Gerp’s mouse lemur is colored like a Syrian or golden hamster with a sandy brown body and white under parts. The fur is thick, short and dense, with longer hairs on the tail tip, which the lemur holds at rest in a hook shape.
Picture of the gerp's mouse lemur by Blanchard Randrianambinina, licensed under the
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
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Tuesday 24 January 2012
The Blue Poison Dart Frog - Pretty and Poisonous
The blue poison dart frog (
Dendrobates azureus) flaunts its rich sapphire-blue coloring as a warning to predators that it will make a very unpleasant, possibly deadly meal. While poison dart frogs can be found in a number of different parts of Central and South America, this particular species occurs only in the southernmost area of
Suriname, near its border with
Brazil. This frog is also known as Okopipi, which is what the native Indians in Suriname call it.
The
Dendrobates family of frogs produces a toxin known as pumiliotoxin. Although a person might infer from this frog’s common name its toxins were used in the manufacturing of poisonous darts by native tribes, only the secretions of three other species of poison dart frogs were actually ever used in that manner, and
Dendrobates azureus was not one of them.
The blue poison dart frog is a striking-looking frog. Its upper body is a vivid sky blue that is liberally sprinkled with black and dark blue spots. Its four limbs and underside are a darker hue. Blue poison dart frogs typically weigh about 3 grams or approximately 0.11 ounces, and are typically 3 to 4.50 centimeters in length or 1.18 to 1.77 inches. It is believed that these amphibians can live up to between six to nine years in the wild.
The blue poison dart frog lives only in a few isolated rainforest islands that occur in Suriname’s otherwise dry Sipaliwini savannah area. This frog needs to live near a source of water, such as a stream. They are diurnal, meaning that they are active during the day, and are typically solitary, except during breeding season.
In the wild, these frogs feed on a variety of insects, including ants, spiders, termites and caterpillars; many of which contain toxic compounds. As the frog ingests its prey’s poisons, they are absorbed into its skin. Because of this reason, poison blue dart frogs raised in captivity and fed a diet of crickets and fruit flies do not produce toxins.
Unfortunately for the blue poison dart frog, being poisonous doesn’t mean that it can live a predator-free life. Some large spiders and snakes enjoy dining on these little amphibians. This frog is particularly vulnerable in its tadpole stage, where it may fall prey to snakes and dragonfly larvae.
Because this frog occurs in remote areas, its exact numbers are not known, but its IUCN status is vulnerable, and it is also currently listed as Appendix II of Cites, mainly due to its limited and unique habitat.
Picture of the blue poison dart frog by Wildfeuer, licensed under GFDL and
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