Bower Birds

            Today I came across a bower bird nest and I think that I witnessed a mating display. I’m not quite sure though. Unfortunately, I did not have my camera with me so I wasn’t able to get any pictures. It was quite fascinating to watch.

The “nest” that I saw was not actually where the bower bird lives. The male bower bird creates it solely to impress the female. It’s made with sticks, leaves, nuts, dead bugs, garbage, and anything the male bower bird thinks will impress the female (preferrably shiny things). Then when a female bower bird arrives to check it out, the bower bird strutts his stuff and shows off as much as possible.

I managed to find a link to pictures of bower birds and I couldn’t believe what I found. http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/07/bowerbirds/laman-photography …read the caption of the second picture!

P.s. I go to James Cook University

Beautiful Birds of Brazil

While in Brazil I saw a multitude of birds. There were parakeets, hawks, owls, egrets, ibises, rheas (ostrich like birds), toucans, and my favorite, the macaws. Macaws are very large parrots that tend to be quite colorful. I saw two types while in the Brazilian Pantanal. The first was the blue hyacinth macaw, Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus, and the second was the red-and-green macaw, Ara chloropterus, which I originally mistook for the scarlet macaw due to the similar dominance of the color red in their feathers.

     To the left you can see two red-and-green macaws. These vibrantly colored birds were most commonly seen in pairs because they are monogamous, meaning they mate for life. 

     Here are two blue hyacinth macaws. They, like the red-and-green macaws, are also monogamous. Hyacinth macaws are the largest macaw species in the world, measuring 1 meter (3.3 feet) from head to tail! They usually lay two eggs at a time, but only normally reaches adulthood due to predation. Their natural predators are egg predators such as coatis, skunks, and most predominantly toucans. Once a bird has reached adulthood it can live up to almost 50 years.

     Sadly these blue hyacinth macaws are seriously endangered due to habitat destruction and the illegal pet trade. Habitat destruction is a serious issue when it comes to these birds because they tend to be extremely selective with the trees that they choose to nest in. Hyacinth macaws will only nest in manduvi trees that are at least 60 years old. This is because only manduvi trees that are 60 years or older can bear cavities large enough for these macaws.

     Luckily, there are conservation efforts in progress. One particularly important one is the Hyacinth Macaw Project. This project is occurring in the Brazilian Pantanal, a very critical area for the hyacinth macaw since 70% of the population resides in this region. Fieldworkers are educating locals as well as creating artificial nests to help the macaws. Their efforts along with those of the locals have greatly reduced the illegal trafficking of the birds. It looks like there may yet be hope for these beautiful creatures.

-I took these photos while in the Brazilian Pantanal. Click on them for a better view and let me know what you think-

References: http://www.eol.org/pages/1177958

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyacinth_Macaw

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-and-green_Macaw

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macaw
http://www.brazilmax.com/news.cfm/tborigem/pl_pantanal/id/7

Conservation Puzzle: Endangered hyacinth macaw depends on its nest predator for reproduction

Lonesome George

The Pinta Island Tortoise, Geochelone nigra abingdoni, is the rarest animal in the world. This lonely tortoise is the last member of it's species and has aptly, but most depressingly, been given the name of Lonesome George. Discovered in 1971 in the Galápagos, George is now between 60 and 90 years old and is in fairly good shape apart from his lack of friends. Scientists are doing their best to make the preservation of this most critically endangered species possible, but they have yet to succeed in their reproduction efforts. There is currently a $10,000 reward for the discovery of a female Pinta Island Tortoise. 

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lonesome_George

Moroccan Goats

No, this isn't just another cleverly photoshopped picture. These nimble Moroccan goats jump from branch to branch in this argan tree to graze on argan nuts. Normally you see this type of goat on near vertical cliffs in the mountains, but these goats have found another avenue for extreme climbing. Of course, they're doing it not for the adrenaline rush but for one of their favorite snacks. The habitat in which they live has a relatively limited amount of food, so the Moroccan goats have  adapted in order to survive.

     The Berbers, indigenous people of North Africa, also collect these nuts to extract oil from them. The oil is used for many things such as cosmetics and a healthy fatty acid. Unfortunately the tree is beginning to become over-harvested. This is a bad thing both for the goats and the Berber people.

References: http://webecoist.com/2008/08/19/the-incredible-tree-climbing-goats-of-morocco/

Alien Invasion!

These creatures look like something from outer space, but that couldn't be farther from where they dwell. These animals live in the deep, dark depths of the ocean. They are known as Bathynomus giganteus or by their common name, "Giant Isopod."These scary looking creatures can grow to about 2.5 feet long!

     Giant isopods are scavengers and survive by eating dead whales, fish and squid. They might also be predators of slow moving creatures such as sea cucumbers or sponges. However, they can survive for up to 8 weeks without food and when they do finally get to eat, they gorge themselves. They will literally eat to the point of immobility.

     Bathynomus giganteus are known to have been around for over 160 million years.

     Check out some more amazing pictures of these guys! It's pretty creepy stuff.   >> Click! <<

Immortality Exists

This animal may have discovered the fountain of youth. It has astonishingly defeated death! The turritopsis nutricula is able to revert back into a polyp stage, or immature stage, after having reached sexual maturity. The jellyfish uses a process called transdifferentiation in which one type of cell is transformed into another type of cell. What they do is very similar to what salamanders do when regrowing limbs. The only difference is that this jellyfish has figured out a way to regrow it's entire body. By doing this, it can feasibly live forever. Of course, they don't all live forever because they have many other things to worry about, such as predation and disease. Most of these jellyfish are actually killed before they are even able to use their special abilities.

These beautiful creatures can be found in every ocean around the globe in temperate to tropical environments. The jellyfish you see above is a medusa, or mature jellyfish, and is only about 7mm long. You can tell that it is in it's mature stage because of its large number of tentacles. Very young turritopsis nutricula have only about 8 tentacles, but as they grow into adulthood they can have as many as 90 tentacles!

With the power of immortality, these tiny jellyfish may be rapidly growing in number. Scientists wonder if their population will soon become out of control.

[2] Did You Know?

Long-nosed armadillos, genus Dasypus, always give birth to 4 identical offspring. The fertilized egg splits into quarters, producing four perfectly identical quadruplets. These armadillos are the only vertebrates known to exhibit this characteristic. One possible reason for this might be to encourage the offspring to be altruistic, or to help each other. The more likely reason however, would be to overcome the physical constraint in the female's reproductive system that only leaves space for one egg prior to implantation.