Animal of the Week March 3, 2015 — weasel on a woodpecker

The most amazing picture I've ever seen.

This week's animal is a double-header (quite literally for a few moments): Mustela nivalis (weasel) and Picus viridis (green woodpecker). Martin Le-May was out with his camera in Hornchurch County Park in east London when he witnessed this amazing sight—and more importantly captured it on camera.

Although it looks like the weasel and the woodpecker are joined in their purpose, zooming off on some vital mission of life and death. What's probably happening is that the weasel pounced on the woodpecker hoping to have it for its lunch, but unaccustomed to how hard green woodpeckers are (they usually eat small rodents and rabbits) the weasel was lifted in the air as the bird took flight. The woopecker eventually landed and managed to shake off its hungry passenger.

Weasels, or if you're outside the UK 'least weasels', are the smallest members of the mustelid family (the largest in the family being sea otters and wolverines) and in fact the smallest carnivore—weighing between 30 g for the smallest females and 250 g for a really fat constipated male after lunch (that's 1 ounce to 8 ounces in old money). But they are also double-hard bastards, frequently taking out animals much bigger than they are including rats and rabbits.

Green woodpeckers are the largest woodpeckers found in the UK. Contrary to what you might think they don't peck at trees to find food, rather green woodpeckers feed mostly on ants on the ground. Green woodpeckers do hollow out next holes in dead wood, but they also drum on trees to advertise their presence to rivals for territory and to attract mates. They are a common sight in the parks of London, but don't look up in the trees to see them, look to the ground. They might be confused with the similarly sized parakeets, although have shorter tails, are less noisy, and have a bright red cap to set them apart. An old folk name for the green woodpecker was the 'yaffle'—and Professor Yaffle from Bagpuss was a carved green woodpecker.

I've only seen three weasels in my life.

Not been a great many AOTWs of late, but I can't not have this mentioned on the blog in some way. Perhaps it's the jetlag, but I can't recall ever having felt so happy as when I first saw the image posted here (even though I had been forced to hold my nose and click on a Daily Mail link to see it). I do think it might be the most amazing picture I have ever seen.

Animal of the Decade -- marking 10 years of erratic animals of the week with one of the most terrifying animals ever

Hard to imagine that it's 10 years since I first emailed my friend Lucy on what must have been a busy day at work about an unusual animal I had been reading about on the internet, the solenodon. A few weeks later and a new species of macaque hit the news...and for the next 3 years animal of the week was a pretty regular feature, first Lucy forwarded it to a couple of friends, and then I started sending it to more and more people, who signed up their friends. It was a mailout then. At its peak over 250 people were on the mailing list—and only a few people got pissed off.

As time went on, the world changed. A blog seemed more sensible than a mailout. My MSc in evolutionary biology at the Natural History Museum seemed, ironically, to rob me of my fervour for disseminating animal info. And the pressures of freelance work, love, life, and generally being a louche gad-about got in the way. But I keep it up occasionally for some amusement—and I also do AOTW every once in a while.

Of the 230 odd posts, the most viewed AOTW is the starling from February 2013, which is pleasing as it was based on personal experience. The next most viewed was in defense of the shoebill. My personal favourite is probably the mountain beaver because it contains a pun referencing an art critic.



This week, as it's Hallowe'en, I thought I'd post this video of an animal featured on Wonders of the Monsoon, and excellent BBC series about the wildlife of countries affected by the monsoon. Mimobdella buettikofer (giant red leech), lives on Mount Kinabalu, the highest mountain in Borneo, it's not a blood sucking leech, rather it feeds on the giant blue earthworms (Pheretima darnleiensis) that also live on Borneo's highest peak. There's not really a great deal to add to the video... so yeah, have a look, and sweet dreams.

Animal of the Week September 22, 2014 -- World Rhino Day: a primer

White winos

After almost 10 years of Animal of the Week (admittedly often not weekly), it's a bit of a surprise to me that I have never featured a rhino. So in one fell swoop, I'll do the whole lot, in honour of world rhino day!

What is a rhino?
Rhinoceroses are represented by five species alive today. They are odd-toed ungulates (hoofed mammals). Their closest living relatives are the other odd-toed ungulates—horses and tapirs. More distantly they are related to the even-toed ungulates including cows, camels, hippos, and whales (yes whales, but that's another story).

African rhinos

Black rhinos

Two species, the white rhino (Ceratotherium simum) and black rhino (Diceros bicornis) are found in Africa. The largest of all rhinos, white rhinos are animals of grassland, with broad mouths designed for cropping grass at ground level (the 'white' in their names is a misinterpretation of the Afrikaans word for 'wide', in reference to their lips). The wide, square lip of white rhinos contrasts with the hooked lips of black rhinos designed for browsing shrubs, taller grasses, and low trees.

Indian rhino

Asian rhinos
Three species are found in Asia. The largest and most numerous Asian species is the Indian rhino (Rhinoceros unicornis), the smallest and hairiest of all the rhinos is the Sumatran rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis), and the one in the middle, but the most endangered mammal species in the world is the Javan rhino (Rhinoceros sondaicus).






I thought rhinos were all extinct now

A Javan rhino (seen better days)

The northern subspecies of the white rhino, the west African species of the black rhino, continental representatives of the Javan rhino...all gone. There are about 15 000 white rhinos left in southern and eastern Africa. They outnumber representatives of all other species put together: about 5000 each of the black and Indian rhinos, and just a couple of hundred Sumatran rhinos. As few as 40 Javan rhinos remain on the western tip of Java...the last remnant of a species that once had a range extending from Pakistan, to China, to Java. All species experienced massive declines in recent centuries as firearms and transport meant that poachers could capitalise on the east Asian penchant for rhino-horn in traditional 'medicine'.

Horn, what is it good for?
Absolutely nothing. Rhino horn is made of the same stuff as fingernails and hair...so any claims of medical benefit are utter bunk. If rhino horn was good for you in anyway, you could achieve an equal benefit from chewing on your fingernails...so it's certainly not good for your nerves.

A matter of style
In The Lancet style guide, there is a picture of a Sumatran rhino with the instruction that it should always be referred to as the hairiest of all the rhinos on first mention...it's been there for a decade now...perhaps it's older than animal of the week.

 

Animal of the Week September 17, 2014 -- Scotland decides

NB: some of the tenses and phrasing in the following need thoughtful amendment.

Amid the ongoing debates about Scottish independence, one thing not many people seem to care much about is that come Friday morning, if a Yes vote for a new country is returned, the UK will lose its only endemic vertebrate species: Loxia scotica (Scottish crossbill). No other mammal, bird, reptile, or amphibian is found solely in the UK, and the Scottish crossbill is found only in the Caledonian forest, well north of the border.

Picture: RSPB.

As their name suggests, Scottish crossbills are Scottish and have crossed bills, in which the tips of the top and bottom curve to opposite sides. Crossbills use their peculiar beaks to extract seed from the cones conifers such as pines and larches. The red and the parrot crossbills can also be found in the UK (including England), but they are also found sur le continent.

Hard to distinguish from related species, the best way to tell the crossbills apart is by their call—it was the recognition of the distinct vocalisations of Scottish crossbills (a metallic jip) that confirmed them as a distinct species as recently as 2006.

So, it's not just the currency, taxation, health systems, national identity, etc affected by the #indyref #scotlanddecides referendum, it's also whether the UK loses its only endemic species. Not that I really care either way: as long as an independent Scotland looks after its crossbills, as it has done so far, I'm good.

Happy voting everyone. I hope it all works out well whatever you decide. x

Animal of the Week September 9, 2014 -- a whole new...

Well, maybe it's a phylum, but the people who have described this week's animal of the week, two species in the new genus Dendrogramma (in the new family Dendrogrammatidae), aren't so bold as to create such a high level taxon. But if the suspicion that these organisms are most closely related to species thought to have gone extinct 540 million years ago is borne out, we'll have to change how we think about the history of life on earth...a bit.

They do look like mushrooms. © 2014 Just et al

The two species were found during examination of specimens connected from the deep sea continental slope of Australia in 1986, but have only now just been described fully in a paper published in PLoS One. Superficially they look like mushrooms, but the specimens available show they have a skin and a gut separated by jelly like material.

Unfortunately the preparation of the specimens in pure strong alcohol means that genetic material no longer exists for phylogenetic analysis. Later drying out and preparation with pure alcohol led to shrinkage and more changes in the physical structure, hampering further investigations. More specimens will be needed to see where these organisms hang on the tree of life. (Fortunately, I've got a birth certificate so while I have been prepared in copious amounts of alcohol [and possibly formalin in my most desperate moments] my position on the tree of life is well established.)

The researchers note similarities with the Ediacaran (or Vendian) fauna, ancient extinct organisms known from some of the oldest fossils that were thought to represent failed early experiments in the animal kingdom. If these new species are related to those animals, our understanding that they all died out will have to be rethought.

On divisions of life
A phylum is a group of organisms with a basic body plan that are distinct from other phylums. For example, humans are joined in the phylum Chordata with fish, frogs, birds, dinosaurs and sea squirts, all because at some point in their lifecycle they possess a tail with notochord backbone. Discovery of new species is remarkable enough, genera pretty special, families thoroughly exciting and any higher level distinction incredibly rare in this day and age...but who knows what else is out there.

Mnemonic for recalling the divisions of life
King Philip can only find green socks
Kingdom (eg, animal), phylum (eg, chordates), class (eg, mammals), order (eg, carnivores), family (eg, cats), genus (eg, big cats), species (eg, tiger)

Animal of the week Sept 2, 2014 -- Geeeecccckkkkkoooooosssss iiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnn ssssssspppppppppaaaaaaaacccccccceeeeee

Luke J. Harmon - Harmon LJ—wikicommons

When Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon, and he pondered his place in the universe, one question dominated his thoughts: I wonder if geckos could breed in zero gravity. This week's animal has been all over the news this past couple of days, because finally it looked like we might have the answer to Neil's question. It's Phelsuma ornata (Mauritius ornate day gecko).

These small brightly coloured geckos originate on the tropical Indian Ocean island of Mauritius, they scurry around the treetops by daytime hunting insects and avoiding predators in the tropical sunshine.

Five geckos were blasted into space on my birthday, July 15, aboard the Russian Foton-M Satellite as part of an experiment to investigate the great mystery of whether geckos are able to reproduce under zero-gravity conditions.

The satellite returned to earth in the small hours of Tuesday morning. Unfathomable excitement turned to crushing disappointment when the satellite was recovered and the geckos hadn't reproduced at all. In fact, all five had died. Died some time ago, as they had started to desiccate and mummify. It's possible that the lizard died of cold...average daily celcius temperatures in Mauritius are in the mid 20s...in space, it's colder.

What a loss to science.

Animal of the week August 25, 2014 -- The rarest duck in the world

Still more common than animal of the week, this week's animal is maybe the rarest bird in the world. It's Aythya innotata (Madagascar pochard), a diving duck from Madagascar. Diving ducks, like pochards, scaups, and tufted ducks, obtain food by diving beneath the surface and picking food off the bottom of waterbodies; dabbling ducks, such as mallards and wigeon, glean food from the surface.

This critically endangered waterfowl was, for 15 years from 1991, thought to be extinct. It had vanished from its last known home on Lake Alaotra in central Madagascar, and surveys up to the early 2000s turned up a duck...or didn't. But in 2006, a small flock was found at Lake Matsaborimena in northern Madagascar. The Durrell Wildlife Trust, Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, and the Peregrine Fund, along with Madagascan partners set up conservation efforts including a breeding programme, now there are 25 birds in the wild and 80 in captivity.

Things are looking up, but the ducks will need a new home. The lake where those in the wild live now is a poor habitat for them, when chicks reach an age when they should start to be able to feed themselves they find the steep sided lake too deep to dive—up to 96% of chicks die before reaching adulthood.

So, the conservation groups are now scoping out possible new homes where they might reintroduce captive birds. But before they can they'll have to sort out the habitat, look into controlling introduced mammals and fish species that might eat the chicks, and engage with locals to make sure that farming practices and fishing techniques allow reintroduced birds to thrive.

On the EDGE list of all bird species, Madagascar pochards are number 568/9993. They aren't as high as former AOTW the giant ibis, because although they are fewer in number (100 vs 200) they are less evolutionarily distinct: other closely related species of diving ducks in the same genus are common and unthreatened, such as the common pochard (9825), canvas back (9826), and greater and lesser scaups (9829 and 98
30).