Dimetrodon

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Look at that picture to the right. What do you think that guy is? If you're thinking a Dinosaur, you'd actually be wrong. That guy over there is a Dimetrodon, an animal belonging to the genus of the same name that actually predated the Dinosaurs by 40 million years.

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Dimetrodons are actually more closely related to mammals than they are to reptiles. They are synapsids, tetrapods with one hole in the skull located closely behind each eye. Mammals are also synapsids, while animals like birds and reptiles are saurapsids. Synapsids were dominant creatures during the Permain period (299-251 million years ago), and the Dimetrodons in particular were apex predators. The name actually refers to the fact that they have two types of teeth, canines as well as sheering teeth.

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Dimetrodons are perhaps best known for the massive sails on their backs. This sail is actually made from spines that grow directly from the vertebrae. No one really knows for sure what the purpose of these sails was, but one theory is that they helped to regulate temperature. Dimetrodons were also pretty big for tetrapods of their day, with some species growing up to 13ft (4m).

Unfortunately, the Permian period met a disastrous end. Around 251 million years ago the largest mass extinction ever took place, wiping out 90% of all marine life and 70% of all land animals. Dimetrodons did not make it (in fact, they were already gone 30 million years before that-- around 280 million years ago), but some other synapsids did, including our very own distant relatives!

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American Goldfinch

Male (right) and Female (left)

Sorry for the completely last post today. I'm snowed in and everything is white, so today I felt like writing about an animal with some color: the American Goldfinch. As their name might suggest, there songbirds are native to North America, and can be found throughout at varying points of the year. Some populations remain in place year round, while others are migratory, moving between Canada and the Northern USA, down to the South and Mexico. They are found in brushy, mostly open habitats.

Both male and female Goldfinches are yellow, though the males are far more vibrant, especially during the breeding season. They are the only finch species to molt twice a year, and breed relatively late for a songbird.

American Goldfinches are notable for their very strict vegetarian diet. While many bird species feed on the occasional insect, Goldfinches eat exclusively seeds. This has an interesting affect on the Brown-Headed Cowbird. These birds sometimes lay eggs in Goldfinch nests, but the hatchlings are unable to survive due to the all-seed diet the Finches provide for their young.

Goldfinches are not a threatened species. They have a massive range spanning some 5 million square miles (about 8 million square km).

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Chan's Megastick

Phobaeticus chani is a Phasmid, a type of insect that mimics its surroundings by looking a lot like a stick. This particular species, found in the treetop canopies of Borneo, is one of the longest. Only three specimens have ever been collected, but the longest, a female, has a body length of 14in (37.5cm). When you toss the legs in there, it reaches 22.5in (56.7cm).

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Chan's Megastick (named for it's discoverer, Datuk Chan Chew Lun) is also notable for its strange eggs, which have wing-like flaps on the cases to help them float and disperse.

This entry is a short one, unfortunately, because so very little is actually known about this amazing insect. Its habitat is so high up that they are extremely difficult to locate, and with the loss of rainforest areas, who known how many other species like this will never actually be discovered?

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Little Penguin

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As the name might suggest, Little Penguins (Eudyptula minor) are the smallest penguin species in the world. They stand 17in tall, and weigh only 2lbs. This is quite a difference when compared to the Emperor Penguin, the world's largest. They stand 48in and can weigh up to 90lbs! Little Penguins are found in New Zealand and Australia, where they are also referred to as Fairy Penguins (for their tiny size) and Blue Penguins (for the color of their plumage.)

 Little Penguins are a slate-blue color, with a bright white belly. The males and females look exactly the same, though the males are sometimes a tad bit larger. Juveniles also look a great deal like their parents. Little Penguins are nocturnal carnivores, and hunt fish, squid, and crustaceans, making dives of around 60feet that last less than a minute.

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Little penguins are monogamous over many seasons, and will typically only find a new mate if their previous one dies. They also form a strong attachment to specific nesting sites, and will return to those sites year after year. Two eggs are usually laid, and both parents will care and feed for thir young, who are raised in burrows. Chicks fledge after 8 weeks, and reach full maturity by three or four years old. Chicks also have a tendency to nest near the areas where they themselves where hatched and raised. A very small number actually disperse to farther sites as adults.

 Little Penguins are not threatened, but their numbers have been affected by introduced predators like dogs, cats, and weasels. Cars and vehicular deaths have also hurt their populations in some areas.

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Giant Isopod

Of the nine members of the genus Bathynomus, B. giganteus is the largest. These crustaceans, closely related to shrimp, look like something out of science fiction, but they are in fact real, living creatures that crawl around in the deep sea of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Giant Isopods live at depths of over 2,000 feet and can grow to nearly a foot and a half in length!

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Like the Giant Squid and the Giant Tube Worm, Giant Isopods are an example of deep sea gigantism, which causes animals on the sea floor to grow far larger than their near-surface counterparts. One thought on why this happens is that the large size helps compensate for the huge amount of water pressure that is placed on the creatures by their deep habitat. Giant Isopods have a rigid exoskeleton that also lets them roll up into a ball to avoid danger.

Giant Isopods are opportunistic, carnivorous feeders, and they have to be! They live in an area where food is scarce, and so they will gorge on whatever they can find. This often includes parts of dead fish and larger marine creatures, and it is believed that they may also hunt slow moving deep sea dwellers as well. They are also capable of surviving for weeks without food, and adaptation that helps them to survive.

Another adaptation comes in the form of their reproductive habits. Giant Isopods lay eggs, rather large ones in fact, and these eggs are incubated in a pouch created by the female. When the eggs hatch, the young have already bypassed the entire larval stage, and look like tiny versions of the adults. This helps them to survive easier early in life.

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Japanese Macaque

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When you think of primates, you probably think of tropical environments, or at least warm weather climates. Such is not always the case for the Japanese Macaque, the northernmost non-human primate in the entire world. They inhabit three of the four large islands of Japan, (all but Hokkaido) and not only do they live far north latitude-wise, but they also live in elevations of up to 9,600 feet. Of course, it should be noted that in the lower elevation, southern areas of their range, the temperatures do get to be sub-tropical. But other population live in absolutely frigid conditions, making the climate range of the population as a whole very diverse.

Even though their tails are very short, Japanese Macaques (Macaca fuscata) are classified as monkeys. In fact, one of their other common names is "Snow Monkey." In the winter months, the cold-weather Macaques save energy by moving less and sunning themselves. Some tribes even locate hot springs in order to stay warm, though the monkeys are very picky about who gets to bath and where. They live in very rigid, hierarchical communities that can number up to 100 individuals.

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One really interesting tidbit about these communities is that they pass information along between their members. It is by this spreading of information that hot springs where discovered as a source of warmth. One notable Macaque, a female named Imo, learned how to clean and flavor sweet potatoes in salt water, and passed that information along as well. Young Macaques have even learned how to roll snowballs, a behavior that servers no purpose other than for having fun.

Japanese Macaques are diurnal and omnivorous. They are known to consume 213 species of plant, making them very non-picky eaters. Macaques themselves are preyed upon by Feral Dogs, Raptors, and Raccoon Dogs. While the monkeys have been killed by humans, they are listed as being of Least Concern with a stable population trend.

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Pelican Eel

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Pelican Eel, Umbrella Mouth Eel, Gulper Eel, Eurypharynx pelecanoides, no matter what you call it, this is one strange looking animal. Pelican Eels are so named because of their absolutely gigantic mouths. They are found in rather deep waters, between 3,000 and 26,000 feet, of both tropical and subtropical waters around the world.

Pelican Eels can grow up to a meter in length, with a large portion of that taken up by its massive head. Their mouths have hinged jaws that would allow them to eat fish much larger than themselves. Their stomachs stretch as well, though interestingly, they have very small teeth. This, combined with found stomach contents, demonstrates that Pelican Eels primarily eat small crustaceans.

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Another rather interesting part of their body is the long, whip-like tail. Pelican Eels have long tails that are tipped with bioluminescent photophores. It is believed that these serve a purpose to lure prey in the dark, deep water.

Not much else is really known about these strange fish. They live so far down that we only really get to study specimens that get accidentally caught by fishermen. They have need been evaluated by IUCN.

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