Tag Archive | endangered animals

Parrot or Fish?

Nov10

Image from Wikipedia

 

The parrot fish is not a bird

Image by Wild Horizon

It cannot fly. T’would be absurd

To say it could. It cannot speak 

But still, its mouth is like a beak

 

Its beak is formed from bony jaw

The strangest mouth you ever saw

It chews on coral close at hand

And when it’s done, it poops out sand

 

Photo credit: © Ken Marks

It keeps the coral algae-free

And lives thus symbiotically

The coral thrives; the fish gets fat

So both can benefit from that

 

At night he makes a sleeping bag

Of slimy slime that doesn’t sag

Inside this sack he’s safe and sound 

From predators that swim around   

 

His scales are bright as feathers rare

But parrot fish can’t fly through air

A different name might be preferred

Since this bright parrot’s not a bird

— Ruth Gilmore Ingulsrud

From BBC Earth

Of course it’s a fish. But it is called a parrotfish since it is so colorful and has a very cute beak-like mouth. This “beak” is actually exposed bone and not true teeth. It uses that hard mouth to eat the algae off of the hard coral on which it grows. Parrotfish help to keep coral reefs healthy by eating excess algae. Overfishing removes too many parrotfish from a reef and the health of the ecosystem suffers.

Because a parrotfish scrapes off some of the coral as it cleans, the ground up coral limestone passes through the parrotfish’s body and is pooped out. A large parrotfish can poop out over 800 pounds of sand per year!

Parrotfish are also fascinating because of the way that they can change from female to male. Some parrotfish remain female for their entire lives, but others, as they get older, change from female to male. And as they change, their colors change becoming brighter and more vivid with beautiful markings.

The sleeping habits of some parrotfish are a wonder to see. Before settling down for the night, the parrotfish burps out a slimy mucus sleeping sack which completely covers the fish. This keeps predators, or bigger fish who might like to eat the parrotfish, from smelling their nighttime snack. They swim right by the sack of slime, not knowing that the parrotfish is hiding inside.

The parrotfish is an amazing creature. You can thank the parrotfish for being beautiful, and industrious and interesting as all get out. But you can especially thank the parrotfish for those white, sandy beaches on which we play. Yes, parrotfish poop does contribute to that silky smooth, ground-up limestone sand that is so much fun to dig in. Here’s a silly song by Robert Sams for the BLUE Ocean Film Festival (in 2 versions!) to help you thank the parrotfish:

Eternally Jellified

Jul31

Do you want to live forever?  

Do you think it could be done?

Where might mortals find the magic

To ensure immortal fun?

 

Take a look deep in the ocean 

Where the jellyfishes form  

For one tiny bell-like jelly

Living backwards is the norm

 

One immortal little jelly

Can grow up and then grow down

It becomes once more a polyp

If it senses it might drown  

 

If you want to live life over

There’s one way to have your wish

Swim on back to your beginning 

And become a jellyfish

 

— Ruth Gilmore Ingulsrud

 

The immortal jellyfish or “turritopsis dohrnii” as it is known by its scientific name, is the only living creature capable of transforming back into its infant or polyp state. Because it can reverse its life cycle in this way, it is essentially immortal. It is a tiny jelly, growing up to only 4.5 mm or .18 inches in width and height.

If the jelly, in its adult form, is threatened with death by starvation or dangerous change in its environment (a change in the saltiness of the ocean, for example) or even if its delicate bell-like body structure is cut or damaged, it can immediately start to change. The bell and tentacles of the adult jelly disintegrate and it becomes a tiny round polyp, a baby version of itself, again.

From the polyp stage, it can once more develop into a mature, free-swimming immortal jellyfish. This process can happen again and again. In fact, this tiny jelly can be reborn indefinitely.

These jellyfish are hard to raise in captivity, but there is one scientist who has succeeded in keeping a group of jellyfish alive for more than eleven cycles of rebirth. The scientist’s name is Shin Kubota from Kyoto University. He loves his jellyfish so much that he has even written several songs about them. Here is Shin singing one of his “Immortal Jellyfish” songs. — Listen —

Scientists are now looking into ways in which this unique creature might help humans heal from serious injuries or be able to regenerate healthy tissue. The tiny turritopsis dohrnii is, indeed, an amazing beloved beast.

 

Squeaking By

Apr27

Behold the famous Squeaker Frog

Whom we all thought was lost and gone

He last was seen in sixty-two

Then disappeared without a clue

 

But Squeak was hiding, tucked away 

In caverns of Zimbabwe 

This arthroleptis troglodyte

Hid in the dark, just out of sight

 

The tiny frog played hide and seek

Till one day seekers heard a squeak 

Into a cave they tracked the sound

The vanished frog was finally found

 

It happens faster than you think

How critter species go extinct

A fact no human can deny:

This little frog has just squeaked by

— Ruth Gilmore Ingulsrud

The arthroleptis troglodyte, or “Cave Squeaker,” had hopped off the radar in 1962 and was thought to have gone extinct. Then, in 2017, a scientist heard the distinctive squeaking call of the tiny frog, and found a living specimen in the Chimanimani Mountains of Zimbabwe. Since then, several frogs have been collected to breed more and finally release them into the wild again. This critically endangered frog might be able to make a comeback.

The Squeaker is not a “true frog” in that it hatches out of its egg, not as a tadpole, but as a tiny frog. The tadpole stage happens inside the egg before hatching occurs. The eggs must be laid in a damp place, but this species of frog does not need standing water in which to live through a tadpole phase of development.

Luckily this tiny frog has scientists on its side, working to make sure it does not completely disappear from the earth. To learn more about the Squeaker Frog, click here on the “Red List” which keeps track of endangered species. You may see that the list has not yet been updated to reflect this recent rediscovery of the Squeaker.

Snubbed and Blue

Mar4

 

Don’t snub me ‘cause my face is blue

From: elelur.com

I’d rather look like me than you

I sport a golden, flowing cape

My long tail shows I’m not an ape

 

I live up high among the trees

If I could talk, I’d speak Chinese

I like tree lichen for a snack

My meals are plants; they don’t attack

 

My canines might be sharp and long

From: WildWondersofChina.com

They grow for show; don’t get me wrong

I’ll use my teeth for self defense

And show them off if I get tense

 

But mostly I just like to cuddle

To survive, we monkeys huddle

Days are short and nights are cold

It helps to have some friends to hold

 

My bluish face and lack of nose  

Is from the coldness, I suppose

And if you lived where my kind do

You’d probably have a blue face too

 

— Ruth Gilmore Ingulsrud

 

The Snub-Nosed Sichuan monkey is a unique creature that lives in the remote and mountainous regions of central and southwestern China. It is also called the “Blue-Cheeked Monkey” and the “Chinese Golden Monkey.” No other primate can survive such extreme temperatures. Scientists are not sure why this monkey’s face is blue… it’s not really because of the cold. But the adaptation of no protruding nasal bone structures resulting in its snub-nosed appearance, might prevent this little guy from getting a frost-bitten nose. There’s no nose for the frost to bite!

The Snub-Nosed Golden Monkey also has thick fur for insulation, and it has a habit of cuddling in groups when it is cold or threatened by predators with the babies in the middle of the huddle for warmth and protection. They are usually gentle creatures who eat plants, including lichen which comprise a large portion of their diet. Those long canine teeth are for expressing bravado or fear; they do not mean that it is a carnivore. They will defend their territories against other bands of monkeys and can use their teeth to fight off predators such as wolves, foxes, weasels and raptors.

These fascinating beloved beasts are in danger of disappearing altogether as their habitat disappears and, despite protections, they are hunted illegally for their meat and fur. One group of these monkeys, the Hubei golden snub-nosed monkeys, have only 1,000 to 2,000 members left.

There is an old Chinese legend about a warrior monkey named Sun Wukong who had supernatural powers. If attacked, Sun Wukong could create an army by turning each of his long guard hairs into an powerful warrior, a clone of himself. Unfortunately, these little creatures cannot actually clone themselves and their numbers continue to dwindle. They need our help and protection.

The Nature Conservancy is one group that is working to save populations of the rare snub-nosed monkeys. A determined and dedicated biologist, Long Yongcheng, worked for many long years, with help from the Nature Conservancy, to save these monkeys. He succeeded in getting areas of forest set aside for habitat reserved for the snub-nosed monkeys. One person can make a difference in saving an entire species.

The Saiga Saga

Feb14

Photo by Tim Flach

How can this be?

You can’t be true!

How could a beast

turn out like you?

 

Your horns are ridged

and pointy too

Your trunk-like nose

divides in two!

 

You stand at only

two feet high

A child could look you

in the eye

 

You’re kin to cow

iflscience.com

and buffalo

You live on plains

where no trees grow

 

You’re native to

Mongolia

and prone to

melancholia

 

There are so few

saigaresourcecentre.com

dear saiga left

If you were gone

we’d be bereft

 

We all should recognize

your worth

An ancient treasure

of the earth

 

The saiga is a diminutive critter about the size of a small goat with distinctive horns and a highly unusual face. It has a nose like no other; long, inflatable nostrils that appear to be a sort of double-trunk. This nose serves a very important purpose. It filters out the dust which always seems to blow about in its western Mongolian native habitat, and when temperatures drop to below zero, the spacious nose pre-warms the air before it reaches the saiga’s lungs.

It is an herbivore and eats plants; lichens, sagebrush, grasses and bushes. They are ruminants, which means that they bring partially digested plant matter back up into their mouths to chew it again. This is called “chewing their cud” and it helps them get as many nutrients and energy as possible out of the plant matter that they eat.

This critically endangered animal has suffered a series of alarming die-offs in the past few years. In one terrible year, in 2015, over 200,000 saiga dropped dead. Scientist discovered that the cause of death was a bacteria, called “Pasturella” was the cause. With normal temperatures, this bacteria, which lives in the large noses of the saiga, is not a problem, but global warming has increased temperatures in the saiga range and that has proved deadly to the poor little animal. A hot, wet climate with the presence of this bacteria causes internal toxins to form and the saiga drown in their own internal fluids. More info at: The Atlantic  and also at: blueplanetbiomes.org

While the saiga are hunted by wolves, foxes and birds of prey, like the Golden Eagle, the biggest threat to the saiga is humans and the global warming that is caused by human activity.

Hopefully, saiga populations will be able to bounce back. These animals can reproduce from a young age and a mother saiga often gives birth to twins. They are ancient critters that roamed across the earth during the Pleistocene or Ice Age period. The saiga survived while the wooly mammoth and saber-tooted tiger died out. We hope this little wonder will be around for generations to come. It is indeed an ancient treasure of the earth.

 

From theatlantic.com

 

Photo Ark

Feb26
Joel Sartore's Mahogany Glider

Mahogany Glider

Modern day digital Noah and conservationist, Joel Sartore, is documenting the astounding beauty and variety of the world of beasts. “When we save species,” he wisely observes, “we are saving ourselves.” He has worked for many years as a freelance photographer for National Geographic magazine and has a knack of capturing the vibrancy of life in each creature that he captures on film.

His beautiful animal images have been projected with light on a grand scale against famous landmarks such as the Vatican in Rome, and the Empire State Building in New York.

A Sumatran tiger is projected onto the Vatican in an effort to raise awareness for the extinction crisis.

“My goal is to photograph as many of the world’s captive species as I can before time runs out” states Joel. “I’m at about 3,500 now, and just getting started. I work mostly at zoos and aquariums, today’s keepers of the kingdom. Many species would already be gone without their heroic captive-breeding efforts.”

His beautiful and informative book, “Rare: Portraits of America’s Endangered Species,” attempts to give a voice to the disappearing beloved beasts of our time. There is still hope, Sartore explains, but we need to act now before these animals disappear forever.

rare-book-cover