Cuttlefish

Did you know that a cuttlefish is not actually a fish? It's a mollusk! They are actually more closely related to snails then they are to fish. Like squids, octopi, and nauteluses, the cuttlefish is a cephalopod. Members of class cephalopoda have been dated back 500 million years!

There are currently 120 species of cuttlefish recognized, all of which live in shallow tropical and temperate waters around Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. Cuttlefish have a pretty interesting mechanism built in to their bodies: the cuttlebone. Made primarily of aragonite, these structures act as buoyancy mechanisms, enabling the cuttlefish to float at a steady, desirable level. The existence of this bone is also what prevents the cuttlefish from surviving at deep depths, as they will implode when there is too much pressure. Cuttlebones are very rich in calcium, and are often given to caged pets like parakeets and reptiles as supplements.

Cuttlefish have the ability to change their skin color in order to blend in with their surroundings. They do this with help from three special types of skin cells: chromatophores, iridophores, and leucophores, all of which reflect light in different ways to cause the camouflaged effect. With their stealthy camouflage in place they are  able to ambush their prey, which is caught using their eight arms and two tentacles, all of which possess a pad at the end which is covered in powerful suckers.Their diets consist of fish, crustaceans, and even other cuttlefish. They also make use of their color changing skills in mating displays and to hide from predators. Cuttlefish have one of the largest body size to brain ratios among invertebrates, and are considered to be one of the most intelligent of all invertebrates. Their cleverness and thinking skills are pretty astounding when you realize that many of their mollusk relatives don't even possess brains!

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Kakapo

Meet the world's heaviest, rarest, longest-lived parrot - the Kakapo. Found on only a few small islands off the coast of New Zealand, (sounds familiar?!?) they also have the distinction of being nocturnal and flightless. Oh, and there are only 123 of them alive. One hundred and twenty three. Because of their rarity and unique traits, an extensive conservation program has been underway. One of the major efforts of the program was to actually relocate the birds to those aforementioned small islands, because they were being preyed upon by feral cats and mustelids on the South Island (they went extinct on North Island by the 1920s)

Image from Kakapo Recovery Programme

Kakapo are pretty unique birds, though they are herbivores like most other parrots. Besides the natural, heavy and flightless traits, they are also the only flightless bird to take part in a lek mating system. The system entails a group of males coming together on high ridges and hilltops, with each males having its own bowl-shaped court. From that area, they will emit low sonic booms using an air sac in their chests that can carry up to 5km away. They will continue to produce these sounds for up to eight strait hours, sometimes emitting over 1000 in one night, and females will find them and mate with them. Male Kakapo do not in any way assist with chick rearing. After mating, they stay in their little bowls, booming and waiting for the next female to come along.

Because they cannot fly, Kakapo must find other ways to get around. They are excellent climbers, and can use their wings to slow them down when jumping. Another interesting tidbit is the fact that Kakapo may be the longest lived birds in existence. It is estimated they can live up to 90 years, though no one is sure. Since the recovery programs were begun in the 1980s, not a single bird discovered has died from old age, and many were already adults when they were found. They have very slow lifestyles; females don't start breeding till the age of six and chicks are only produced every few years.

The Kakapo Recovery Programme has been working to breed and sustain the existing population. They have spent years tracking down the remaining Kakapo and monitoring their activities. Because of the low numbers, inbreeding has been an issue and has caused high percentages of infertile eggs. The KRP has been doing genetic testing to maximize genetic diversity, and they have also been working with artificial insemination to increase the fertility of females (who tend to lay fertilized eggs more successfully if they mate more than once).

This is the best YouTube Video ever.

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Crocodile Monitor

New Guinea is an island of roughly 300,000 square miles, while the total surface area of the planet is about 57,000,000. That means New Guinea constitutes less than 1% of all the land on Earth, yet the island is home to nearly 10% of the planet's vertebrate species. Yesterday, new agencies around the world were abuzz with images of new species discovered in the Foja Mountains of New Guinea. These new creatures include the world's smallest wallaby, a black and white butterfly, a giant, woolly rat, and a long nose frog. While I would love to cover some of these fascinating new creatures, there simply isn't enough material out there yet, so instead I'm going to cover another one of New Guinea's interesting species, the Salvadori's or Crocodile Monitor.

Image from BioLib

When you think about huge lizards, you normally think of the Komodo Dragon, right? Well, the Crocodile Monitor and the Komodo share the same genus, Varanus, and can grow to very similar lengths. The largest recorded Croc was 12 feet long, though there have been unconfirmed rumors of individuals reaching growing even larger. Their tail can make up an disproportionate amount of their entire body length compared to other lizards. They definitely have the length of a Komodo, but they don't have the weight, as they reach only about 200lbs. Komodo Dragons can reach twice that number. 

Crocodile Monitors inhabit coastal areas of New Guinea, including swamps, mangroves and coastal rain forests. Sporting smooth scales colored black with white and yellow spots, they also have long sharp teeth which they use to hold on to its prey while climbing up and down trees. The Crocodile Monitor eats mostly small animals - birds, other reptiles, and rats. They are also quite fond of carrion. They also have an adaptation found in all monitors that allows them to breathe easier when running as compared to other lizard types. 

Crocodiles are not an endangered species, though their habitats have been threatened by deforestation, and their numbers have been jeopardized by hunting and collecting as pets.

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Ethiopian Wolf

Despite looking quite foxy, the Ethiopian Wolf (or Abyssinian Wolf, Abyssinian Fox, Ethiopian Jackal, etc) is actually.. A wolf. Canus simensis in fact. They are endemic to only a few small mountainous pockets in Ethiopia. This canine has become seriously endangered with the rise of high altitude agriculture, which brings with it humans and domestic dogs, which compete for food and carry disease. 

Image from the EWCP

The disease issue has been especially troubling in recent years, with 90 wolves dying of rabies in 2003, and 40 dying to distemper in 2008. Another rabies outbreak also hit in 2008. Vaccination campaigns have been underway in order to save the species, which numbers only around 500 individuals. This is especially alarming when one finds out that not only have these wolves never been bred in captivity, but there don't seem to be any in captivity in the first place. Those 500-ish wolves are the only ones we've got.

Ethipian wolves differ in many ways from their Grey and Red Wolf cousins. First off, they are much, much smaller. This is one of the reasons why they were for so long considered to be a fox or jackel. Where Grey Wolves can easily weight upwards of 80lbs, with red wolves a bit smaller, Ethiopian wolves rarely exceed 45lbs. They also differ in their diets and hunting techniques. Where Grey Wolves work cooperatively to take down large prey, the Ethiopian Wolf hunts alone, feeding of a diet that is over 95% small rodent. (Red Wolves also hunt alone, but cooperation has also been documented) They have been limited to such small meals because there are simply no large prey animals to be found in their high altitude habitat.

The Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Programme is working hard to protect this species by educating the locals, providing the aforementioned vaccinations, monitoring the number of individuals, preventing inbreeding with the domestic dog populations, and protecting their natural habitat. 

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Axolotl

Pronounced Axe-oh-lot-ul, this salamander is native to only one small are of Mexico, Lake Xochimilco. Axolotl's differentiate themselves from other salamanders in that they retain their tadpole-like characteristics throughout their entire lives, specifically the external gills and tail.

Axolotl's are almost extinct in the wild, because, like the previously featured Texas Blind Salamander, their habitat is being threatened. Due to their natural homes being right next to Mexico City, the 2nd most populated city in the world, their watery homes are being used up and polluted. Interestingly though, they are used extensively for scientific research, and are kept as pets in multiple countries, ensuring that the species won't ever become truly extinct for a very long time, if ever.

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Now, just why exactly are Axolotls being used for research? Because they can completely regrow their limbs! Unlike most creatures, who just have to deal with an arm being chomped off, the Axolotl can completely regrow it over time. They are also able to easily retrieve transplants from other specimens and receive full functionality from them. There is also documentation of them regrowing their vital organs, brain segments and spinal chord.

Also previously mentioned was their existence as household pets. I am no expert on their captivity requirements, so I'll just redirect to curious to Axolotl.org, which seems to know what they are talking about.

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Red Panda

Red Pandas don't look real. They look like muppets. Just watch this.

Too cute. So cute in fact that it won "World's Cutest Animal" in a contest held by the Houston Zoo. Just look at this entire photo gallery. Seriously.

Red Pandas were long though to be members of both the bear and raccoon families, but they are in fact the solo member of their very own taxonomic family, Ailuridae. This family in turn is a part of the super family Musteloidea, home to skunks, weasels, raccoons and otters, though nucleotide testing has shown that they are not especially close with any of those guys. Like the Tuatara, Red Pandas are considered by some to be living fossils. Their nearest fossil ancestors existed 3-4 million years ago and nothing else that is especially genetically similar to them still exists. It has been proposed that the red panda has existed for so long due to its remote habitat and solitary lifestyle. Members of the extinct Parailurus genus, one of the aforementioned fossil relatives, had a much larger habitat range, found in Europe, Asia, and North America.

Sleeping at the Milwaukee County Zoo

Red Pandas, like Giant Pandas, live off of a diet comprised mostly of bamboo, but they also consume fruits, mushrooms, bird eggs, small mammals and insects as well. Also like the Giant Panda, they are unable to digest cellulose, and as a result they must eat large quantities in order to meet their nutritional needs. Also like the Giant Panda, Red Pandas are solitary animals and usually only come together to breed. Interestingly, the Red Panda was the first panda documented by science, and is the origin of the word "panda" itself. Giant Pandas were discovered nearly 50 years later.

Red Pandas are a threatened species, with their numbers dwindling due to human encroachment, hunting, and deforestation. Conservations efforts have been made in many of their natural countries, and unlike those poor Giant Pandas, they seem to do very well breeding in captivity. And if you'd like to help out these absurdly cute little muppets, you can even "adopt" one!

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Osprey

Yesterday NASA launched Space Shuttle Atlantis for its final mission. And while I sadly do not have any extra-terrestrial lifeforms to report about, I can talk about one of the creatures that inhabits the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, a nature preserve that overlaps the Kennedy Space Center: The Osprey (Pandion haliaetus). NASA's image of the day yesterday was of a family of these fellows who nest just outside of the vehicle assemblage building.

Image from the US Forest Service

Ospreys are large raptors that can be found in either migratory or permanent residences on every continent save Antarctica. 99% of their diet consists of fish, and their have special pads on their feet to help them hold on to their prey over large distances. In order to catch their meals in the first place they will slowly fly over bodies of water, and then dive in feet first from heights of up to 120 feet. Once a fish is caught, they readjust it in their claws so that it is moving head first, making it more aerodynamic. They are also capable of lifting off after landing in the water, something that Bald Eagles cannot do. Unfortunately, Bald Eagles can be major jerks and not only prey on young osprey, but steal the adults' food right out of their claws.

Their genus name comes (like that of many others) from Greek mythology. Pandion was an Athenian king whose daughters were turned into birds while they were being pursued by an evil husband with an axe. They are also the namesake of the Boeing V-22 Osprey, a United States military aircraft that is able to take off and land like a helicopter.



Edit: Osprey Cam!

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