Dead as Dodo

As we know that many animals have gone extinct.There were birds, mammals, reptiles etc. Here, birds are to be talked. Extinct birds were many and this blog is going to talk about a flightless, extinct bird which used to be in millions but all vanished at once. One with a peculiar shape of the beak - the dodo.

By BazzaDaRambler [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

It is known that dodo was a flightless bird used to inhabit the island of Mauritius. Coast birds, there were millions of their eggs and they were preyed upon by dogs, cats who came to the dodo's island. Thus,their eggs kept on declining so as their numbers, with hunting by humans. 

This went on and on.  And this bird had to say goodbye to planet earth when the last one was hunted.

Have you heard of Dodo museum! It's in Port Saint Louis, in Mauritius!

Misnomers - 2

Continuing on misnomers, the largest of all the living reptiles- the salt water crocodile again stumps people about the habitat it lives in.  

 Image courtesy of [by anankkml]
at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The salt water crocodile, prefers fresh-water habitats like rivers too in addition to coastal habitats. Its distribution  includes coastal areas and rivers of India, South-east Asia and Australia.

The mountain lion, as the name tells inhabits mountains a lot but its habitat range list is huge ranging from mountains to grasslands.

Image courtesy
of [by M- Pics]at
 FreeDigitalPhotos.net 

And of course, the most cuddliest mammals of Australia- the koalas are lovingly called as koala bears due to their appearance like bears, but are not bears by reality.
In fact, they are marsupials like kangaroos, wombats etc. but belong to their own family of marsupials i.e. of koalas.They too have gained a lot of popularity from people becoming the icons for Australia's wildlife along with kangaroos.

Misnomers - 1

Animal kingdom has its own share of misnomers, i.e. the name has nothing to do with the features of the species.

There are two species of African rhinos- the white rhinoceros and the black rhinoceros. You might think that their names are given because of their color. But that isn't the case but the shapes of their lips have earned these names.

Image courtesy of [by suwatpo]
at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Both share the characteristic of being gray in skin color,
The former (shown in pic) has a square-lip called 'wyd' (pronounced wide) in Afrikaans language, the origin of word 'white',  enabling it to only graze. The latter tends to have a lip like a hook enabling it to browse on plants and rarely graze gets the name black rhinoceros, again from native language.

Interestingly, the great Indian one horned rhinoceros knows both the arts -  browse and graze!

How do the big cats say?

The cat family is well known for boasting many features of its family members. Being divided into two groups- the big and small cats, this blog talks about big, wild cats and their means of communication. 

Image courtesy of [by James Barker]
at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Scientists classify wild cats into cats which can roar and those which can't. Those who can roar belong to genus Panthera like Panthera leo (Lion). Roaring (and growling) are  sounds associated with four cats - lion, leopard, jaguar and tiger. Out of which, lions and tigers of course roar menacingly, but there is a confusion regarding leopard and jaguar. Many state that the word roar is very carelessly used in case of these two wild cats.  These cats actually can bark and cough, but seldom roar. Along with roar, the other popular sounds among these four include- grunts, coughs,hisses,screams and meows.

Cheetahs,snow leopards and clouded leopards are not gifted with this magnificent vocal rendition. 

Not to forget, the big cats are also known to make other distinctive vocalizations like the tigers are known to make various other sounds like chuffing (prusten),woofing and nasal sound which comes while growling. The prusten is also found in snow leopards,jaguars and clouded leopards. The king of the beasts, the lion is known to emit puffs and woofs during close contacts.

A.k.a.'s in the animal kingdom

Hindu deity, Vishnu is known for having 1000 names.  Animal kingdom has some animals who take pride in having, if not 1000, multiple names.
 
Aardvark, Africa's ant-eater characterized by its long snout and spade like claws used for digging out burrows quickly and use them as a resting place and also as a place for feasting on ants and termites. Its etymology from Afrikaans suggests that its name means 'earth pig' giving.This strange looking creature has few other names like -

* Earth hog. 
* Ant bear.
* Cape anteater.

Wolverines thriving in the cold boreal northern forests have  appearance like a bear but boasting a longer tail.Their appearance and a trait of emitting foul smell has given many other names like-

* Skunk bear.
* Nasty cat.

Ocelot, the majestic small wild cat inhabiting the rain forests and swamps of tropical America is identified by its size.Due to its much similar appearance to a leopard it is called as-

* Painted leopard.
* Dwarf leopard.

Now comes the record holder for boasting 40 names in English language alone, more than any other  animal in the animal kingdom. It is actually the mountain lion, one of the  highest jumpers of the animal kingdom. To name a few -

* Puma.
* Cougar.
* Catamount.
* Mountain screamer.
* Mountain devil.
* Panther etc.

 Image courtesy of [by anankkml] at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The mountain lion, a wild cat only of the Western hemisphere (both the Americas), is smaller than lions and tigers but still ferocious predator. Also a multi-habitat animal known to inhabit varieties of habitats like forests (rain forests, colder forests etc.), deserts, canyon crevices, grasslands. In short, it prefers where there is undergrowth bush but avoids agricultural areas and others. 
 
Quite a smart animal, to attract so many names, isn't it?

 


  







 

Teams of predation

We most often see herbivores animals in groups. But, there are predators too who not only live but also hunt  in groups. That's why this blog is titled teams of predation.

Image courtesy of [ tratong] at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

• There are many predators who are impressive team players. Here are a few form different habitats-
• The king of the beasts- the mighty lion is an impressive team hunter as it is the only wild cat to lead social lives. Many strategies, tips & tricks are used to bring down preys of various sizes. Like - only one lioness is required to hunt a zebra but it takes two or entire team to bring down an adult buffalo or a giraffe.

• Even, the canids (dogs) also have many team hunters like wolves, African wild dogs and Dholes (Indian wild dogs).

• The aquatic ecosystem also boasts a popular predatory team of orcas (killer whales). As they are impressive predators. Each member is given a job of its own. Along with that, they use their powerful heads to toss their prey into the air and as it falls, its feasting time. Incidentally, they are the largest species of dolphins and use echolocation like them, however their echolocation also tells their prey's condition like whether is it injured. Smart! ain't it?

Hello hello 2

As the title states, it is a continuation of my earlier Hello hello blog and it was a request from my father's good friend who had loved reading Hello hello part-1, to write a second part mentioning about communication in aquatic creatures.

Image courtesy of puttsk at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

It is true that marine mammals posses excellent communication skills as it was also mentioned in the first part of this blog stating whales known to posses infra sound communication especially baleen whales (baleen whales are those that have bristle like teeth, remember the whale in which Dory & Marlin of Finding Nemo, end up inside of) which also includes rorquals  i.e. large ones like blue whales, humpback whales etc.

Apart from that, whales are known to communicate underwater with other sounds which are common in many animals  some of which travel for long distances. The purposes for such communication can be many, like, to stay in touch with the gam (group of whales is known as gam), to attract mates(courtship) etc.  For instance, Humpback whales are one of the vocal species known for emitting wide varieties of noises, such as howls, lows (akin to that of cattle), grunts ,groans, whistles etc. Right whales are known to emit trumpets,belches etc.

Image courtesy of tiverylucky at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Known to be the friendliest marine mammals, dolphins are no exception in possessing great communication skills like squeals, chirps, clicks, whistles etc. Click is a special sound that travels for large distances as it is used for echolocation i.e. to find their prey.

Image courtesy of criminalatt at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Sounds crazy to mention hippos in a blog of aquatic animals! well, they are partly land and partly water beasts, but the surprise is that hippos are more related to cetaceans ( whales and dolphins) than to other large terrestrial herbivores. Also, it will be good to mention that hippos are known to grunt, bellow and emit infra sound even when  underwater.