fauna

mothernaturenetwork: Here’s one of our favorite photos of all...

Sun, 19 May 2013 20:30:03 -0400

Here’s one of our favorite photos of all time.

A zookeeper dressed up in a giant panda suit carries panda cub Cao Gen at the Hetaoping Research and Conservation Center.

Scientists wear the panda suits to limit human interaction with the endangered bears, which are being left to fend for themselves in the new habitat so they can learn crucial survival skills and live in the wild without assistance.

animaltoday: Mud Salamander (Pseudotriton montanus...

Sun, 19 May 2013 03:07:36 -0400

animaltoday:

Mud Salamander (Pseudotriton montanus diastictus)

Sometimes called the eastern mud salamander, it is native to the southeastern United States. They like clear water and soft mud and debris to bury and hide in.

These salamanders lives change drastically from youth to adult. In their younger stages, they are a bright red or orange color, and eat anything their size or smaller in the water, including each other. As they grow, they open their diets to insects and mites on land. Adults will tend to be a darker, rusteir red with more spots. Females are generally larger than the males. They can grow up to about 6 inches. Females may not be sexually mature until 4 or 5 years.

These salamander are different from their close relatives, the red salamander. Unlike their cousins, the mud salamanders are stalkier, and they have black eyes instead of yellow.

Their numbers are rapidly decreasing and people are not able to do many studies on this species becuase they are difficult to find. Causes of critical endangerment are not verified, and are currently being investigated in areas with especially vulnerable populations like Virginia.

ID request here! I went to Brazil, and spotted this critter at...

Sat, 18 May 2013 17:00:04 -0400

ID request here!

I went to Brazil, and spotted this critter at Foz do Iguaçu. Any idea what it might be?

Thanks a bunch in advance!

Paxon’s awesome fucking ID skills:

Isn’t he adorable?! This is Azara’s agouti (Dasyprocta azarae), a large fruit/seed/nut eating rodent. The various agouti species are found throughout Central and South America in tropical forests.

Mount St. Helens - May 18, 1980 … at 8:32 a.m. Pacific...

Sat, 18 May 2013 16:55:12 -0400

Mount St. Helens - May 18, 1980

… at 8:32 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time, a magnitude 5.1 earthquake shook Mount St. Helens. The bulge and surrounding area slid away in a gigantic rockslide and debris avalanche, releasing pressure, and triggering a major pumice and ash eruption of the volcano. Thirteen-hundred feet (400 m) of the peak collapsed or blew outwards.

As a result, 24 square miles (62 sq km) of valley was filled by a debris avalanche, 250 square miles (650 sq km) of recreation, timber, and private lands were damaged by a lateral blast, and an estimated 200 million cubic yards (150 million cu m) of material was deposited directly by lahars (volcanic mudflows) into the river channels.

Sixty-one people were killed or are still missing. USGS Photograph taken on May 18, 1980, by Austin Post.

(via: US Geological Survey)

You know we’ll just end up fucking, right?

Sat, 18 May 2013 16:51:00 -0400

You know we’ll just end up fucking, right?

Malaysian Dead Leaf Mantis (Deroplatys lobata) acting all hard...

Sat, 18 May 2013 16:45:00 -0400

Malaysian Dead Leaf Mantis (Deroplatys lobata) acting all hard and ready to squab, Tapah Hills, Perak, Malaysia

(photo: Bernard DuPont)

I just got my first illustration tag, and I was like…

Sat, 18 May 2013 16:38:53 -0400

I just got my first illustration tag, and I was like…

Canada Lynx (Lynx canadensis) The Canada lynx is like a gray...

Sat, 18 May 2013 16:30:53 -0400

Canada Lynx (Lynx canadensis)

The Canada lynx is like a gray ghost of the north—elusive, evading human contact. It stands about 20 inches tall at the shoulder but weighs about 20 pounds—scarcely more than a large house cat. It is readily recognized by its long, black ear tufts; short, black-tipped tail; and large, rounded feet with furry pads, which permit it to walk on the snow’s surface.

Historically, the Canada lynx ranged from Alaska across Canada and into many of the northern U.S. states. In eastern states, it lived in a transition zone in which boreal coniferous forests yielded to deciduous forests. In the West, it preferred subalpine coniferous forests of mixed age. It would den and seek protection from severe weather in mature forests with downed logs but hunt for its primary prey, the snowshoe hare, in young forests with more open space…

(read more: National Wildlife Federation)

(photo: USFWS)

Any further sassss will result in a spanking!!!

Sat, 18 May 2013 16:24:09 -0400

Any further sassss will result in a spanking!!!

Mammals.

Sat, 18 May 2013 16:24:00 -0400

Mammals.

Palaeohatteria longicaudata … is an extinct basal...

Sat, 18 May 2013 16:19:29 -0400

Palaeohatteria longicaudata

… is an extinct basal sphenacodont synapsid reptile, known from the Early Permian period (Sakmarian stage) of the Saxony, Germany. Palaeohatteria is based on very young individuals including skulls and partial postcranial skeletons. Palaeohatteria was a fairly small synapsid, up to 60 cm in length and with a mass of about 3 kg…

(read more: Wikipedia) (illustration by Dmitry Bogdanov)

Dimetrodon milleri - a synapsid from the Early Permian of...

Sat, 18 May 2013 16:15:10 -0400

Dimetrodon milleri - a synapsid from the Early Permian of Texas

* a sphenacodont synapsid from well before the time of dinosaurs, so… not a motherfucking dinosaur!!!

(illustration by Dmitry Bogdanov)

Solenodonsaurus … is an extinct genus of Reptiliomorpha...

Sat, 18 May 2013 16:06:40 -0400

Solenodonsaurus

… is an extinct genus of Reptiliomorpha (reptile like amphibians), which lived about 320-305 million years ago. Classification is uncertain, but it was possibly an early reptile or an amphibian close to the diadectomorphs. Its remains were found in the Czech Republic. Its name means “single-tooth lizard”. Solenondosaurus measured about 45 cm.

The Solenodonsaurus show a curious mix of characters making it difficult to place phyllogentically. The teeth lack labyrinthodont folding of the enamel, and it skull is without the otic notch seen in other reptiliomorph amphibians…

(read more: Wikipedia) (illustration by Dmitry Bogdanov)

Dasyceps bucklandi - unusual temnospondyl from Early Permian of...

Sat, 18 May 2013 16:02:53 -0400

Dasyceps bucklandi - unusual temnospondyl from Early Permian of England.

(illustration by Dmitry Bogdanov)

Broiliellus … is an extinct genus of dissorophoid...

Sat, 18 May 2013 15:51:06 -0400

Broiliellus

… is an extinct genus of dissorophoid temnospondyl amphibian within the family Dissorophidae. Broiliellus is known from three species from the Early Permian…

(read more: Wikipedia) (illustration by Smokeybjb)

Stensioella heintzi was an enigmatic placoderm fish of arcane...

Sat, 18 May 2013 15:45:50 -0400

Stensioella heintzi was an enigmatic placoderm fish of arcane affinity. It is only known from the Lower Devonian Hunsrück slates of Germany, where the only specimens have been found.

In life, it was a blocky-looking fish that resembled either a squat, pug-nosed combination chimaera-stargazer, or an uncompressed Gemuendina (Gemuendina also happened to be its contemporary in Hunsrück), with broad, wing-like pectoral fins. Like Gemuendina, it had armor made up of a complex mosaic of tubercles.

It is tentatively placed within Placodermi as being among the most primitive of all placoderms, as from what can be discerned from the few whole specimens found, the shoulder joints of its armor appear to be very similar to other placoderms…

(read more: Wikipedia) (illustration by Apokryltaros)

unknown-endangered: What is coral bleaching? Coral bleaching is...

Sat, 18 May 2013 13:38:21 -0400

unknown-endangered:

What is coral bleaching?

Coral bleaching is a serious problem facing corals all over the world. It is a general stress response of corals, and is the result of several different factors, especially increasing sea temperature. This causes the zooxanthellae, or symbiotic algae that live with the coral, to be expelled. The coral becomes white or “bleached”, and is unable to obtain the nutrients it needs, as it relies on its photosynthetic zooxanthellae.

Increasing sea temperatures are the cause of mass bleaching, but the following threats are responsible for small-scale bleaching:

Decline in zooplankton, causing starvation.

Ocean acidification.

Bacterial infections.

Changes in ocean salinity.

The most severely affected coral reefs include the Great Barrier Reef, reefs in the Indian Ocean, around the Maldives, Seychelles, and Hawaii. Up to 90% of corals have been lost from these locations.

A huge range of sea life depends on coral reefs for survival, so the disappearance of the corals would have a dire effect on the oceans. In turn, this would impact on many people who rely on the sea for their food and livelihoods.

Photo: John Pascal.

animaltoday: Malagasy Giant Jumping Rat(Hypogeomys antimena) or...

Sat, 18 May 2013 13:37:37 -0400

animaltoday:

Malagasy Giant Jumping Rat(Hypogeomys antimena)

or “Votsota”

About the size of a rabbit, this rat is the largest rodent in Madagascar.

They have relatively short tails for their size, and despite their name, rarely jump. However when they do jump, they can reach heights of up to 3 feet, and only do so to avoid predators like boas and fossa. Their hind feet are large and adapted for jumping.

They live in burrows that can be up to 17 feet long. During the day they build and sleep in these burrows. At night they forage on fruits, seeds, vegetation and occasionally insects and bugs.

Due to habitat destruction and predation from introduced species, they are critically endangered. Some believe that it may become extinct in less than 30 years.

GOOD NEWS FOR ELEPHANTS: Gabon steps in to help protect...

Sat, 18 May 2013 13:17:09 -0400

GOOD NEWS FOR ELEPHANTS:

Gabon steps in to help protect elephants from ivory poaching at Central African Republic

by mongabay.com staff

Gabon has agreed to help battle poaching in protected areas in the Central African Republic following an elephant massacre at a renowned World Heritage site, reports the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).

According to the conservation group, Michel Djotodia, acting president of the Central African Republic (CAR) transitional government, and Gabon President Ali Bongo Ondimba met on May 14 to discuss a variety of issues, including the worsening ivory poaching situation in CAR. Earlier this month at least 26 elephants were killed at Dzanga Bai, a site that lies in CAR’s portion of Dzanga-Ndoki National Park and is famed for its high density of endangered forest elephants. The slaughter occurred after rangers abandoned their post due to violence in the area.

After the meeting, Gabon dispatched a group led by Mike Fay, a legendary conservationist who led an epic walk across the Congo rainforest in 1999-2000, to CAR to work with the government to secure Dzanga Bai and resume conservation activities. Conservation staff have now returned to the site, according to WCS…

(read more: Mongabay.com) (photo: Rhett A. Butler)

hesito: Vermilion River, Kootenay National Park, BC,...

Sat, 18 May 2013 12:44:00 -0400

hesito: Vermilion River, Kootenay National Park, BC, Canada

(photo by jspierry)