White-Throated Needletail

Hirundapus caudacutus

White-Throated Needletails are one of the largest Swifts in the world. They have thick bodies that are still very aerodynamic, and long, curved wings. Females and males look alike, with grey bodies and white throats and under-tail areas.
 
This Swift is remarkable because it has the fastest flapping flight speed of any bird. They can move as fast as 106mph (170km/h)! This amazing speed allows them to quickly hunt air-borne insects, and to travel their long migration routes.

White-Throated Needletails are migratory. They breed in Siberia, China, and Japan during May through September, and then begin to fly south towards Australia for the rest of the year. They often live in massive flocks while in Australia. Some can number in the thousands!

Despite being a common species, not much is known about their breeding patterns, though it is believed that mating takes place in mid-air.

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IUCN Status : Least Concern

Location : East Asia and Australia

Size : Body Length around 8in (21cm)

Classification : Phylum : Chordata -- Class : Aves -- Order : Apodiformes
Family : Apodidae -- Genus : Hirundapus -- Species : H. caudacutus

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Tiger Shark

Another year, another Shark Week. And as the yearly television festival of all things Shark draws to a close, we'll learn about one more of these awesome predators right here.

Galeocerdo cuvier

Tiger Sharks are one of the largest shark species, and can attain lengths of well over 10ft. They are found in tropical and subtropical oceans all around the world, but are not commonly seen.

The name given to these sharks derives from the banding pattern on their bodies. The coloring is more visible in juveniles, and fades as the sharks grow older.

Tiger Sharks are notorious scavengers and are incredibly opportunistic with their feeding. This has led them to be responsible for more attacks on humans than any shark but the Great White. Tiger Sharks are also not at all picky about what they eat (unlike the Great White), which makes them less likely to let go of their human victims and swim away.

New research also shows that Tiger Sharks take part in a practice called "Yo-Yo Diving." For a while scientists believed that this movement up and down water columns was to conserve energy, but new evidence is pointing to a different motivation: better foraging for food.

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IUCN Status : Near Threatened

Location : Tropical and Subtropical Oceans Worldwide

Size : Body Length around 14ft (4.3m)

Classification : Phylum : Chordata -- Class : Chondrichthyes -- Order : Carcharhiniformes
Family : Carcharhinidae -- Genus : Galeocerdo -- Species : G. cuvier

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Stag Moose

Stag Moose Reconstruction

Between 40,000 and 11,000 years ago, these huge deer roamed about North America. Stag Moose have been found in a handful of sites in and around the American Midwest, and more rarely further south and east.

When fossils were first uncovered in the early 19th century, scientists were confused about what this animal actually was. Was it a deer? An Elk? A Moose? Stag Moose were originally placed with the genus Cervus in 1825, and it wasn't until a near complete skeleton was found in 1885 that it was given its very own genus, Cervalces.

Stag Moose were large animals, typically a little bit taller then our modern Moose. They had Moose-like bodies, but deer-like heads and a pair of huge, irregularly pronged antlers.

It is believed that Stag Moose went extinct due to displacement. Moose had moved in to North America via the Bering Land Bridge around that time, and the competition probably played a part in the Stag Moose's decline.

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Status : Extinct for around 11,000 years

Location : North America

Size : Height up to 5ft (1.5m)

Classification : Phylum : Chordata -- Class : Mammalia -- Order : Artiodactyla
Family : Cervidae -- Genus : †Cervalces -- Species : †C. scotti

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Black-Crowned Night Heron

Nycticorax nicticorax

Black-Crowned Night Herons can be found in parts of nearly every continent. They live in a variety of wetland areas where they can feed on anything and everything that they can catch up. This includes fish, worms, bird, frogs, and even carrion.

Black-Crowned Night herons use their  long bills to hunt in a technique called "bill vibrating." They place it in the water, mouth open, and then open and close very very quickly in fast succession. The disturbance that this act creates can help lure prey.

These birds are very social, and will even interact frequently with other species of Heron and waterbird. It is believed that pairs are monogamous, and they will lay as many as seven eggs at a time. One really interesting tidbit is that these birds do not really seem to care if chicks are actually from their own nest. Parents will raise and care for lost chicks that are not their own.

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IUCN Status : Least Concern

Location : Worldwide

Size : Body Length 25in (60cm)

Classification : Phylum : Chordata -- Class : Aves -- Order : Ciconiiformes
Family : Ardeidae -- Genus : Nycticorax -- Species : N. nycticorax

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Muskellunge

The majestic Muskellunge is the largest member of the Pike family and can be found in North America, most notably in the Great Lakes area. This huge toothy animal is the state fish of Wisconsin, and it is there that the largest Musky was caught, weighing in at 69lbs, 11oz.

Esox masquinongy

Muskies are stealthy, solitary predators. They lurk about, almost motionless, and then strike at passing prey. They them impale the creature on their sharp pointy teeth, before turning them and swallowing. Interestingly, a Muskellunge is only able to grow to a size that reflects the size of available prey. If it lives in a location with other large fish, it can grow much longer than a Musky in an area with only very small fish to eat.

Muskellunge will eat just about anything. Ducks, rats, frogs, fish, even other, smaller muskies. Adult Muskellunge are preyed upon by large birds of prey and humans. Speaking of people, these fish are very desirable to fishermen. This is due to their large size, their elusive nature, and the overall challenge in trying to catch and reel one in.

There are a handful of Musky subspecies, and there are also hybrids like the Tiger Muskellunge, which are the byproduct of spawning between Muskellunge and Northern Pike. These sterile fish are sometimes stocked in bodies of water for sport fishing purposes.

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IUCN Status : Least Concern

Location : North America

Size : Length up to 5ft (1.5m), Weight up to 65lbs (30kg)

Classification : Phylum : Chordata -- Class : Actinopterygii -- Order : Esociformes
Family : Esocidae -- Genus : Esox -- Species : E. masquinongy

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Gastric-Brooding Frog

Gastric-Brooding Frog regurgitating her young

There were once two species of Gastric-Brooding Frog; two remarkable creatures with a unique trait that went extinct as recently as the 1980s. At the time of their disappearance both species had very limited ranges in Queensland, Australia. The exact cause of their extinction is not completely understood, but habitat loss, disease, and illness most assuredly played their parts. The last Gastric-Brooding Frog was seen in 1981, and unsuccessful searches have been carried out to locate them since them.

What makes Gastric-Brooding Frogs so special is that they were the only Frogs in the entire world that incubated their eggs inside the mother's stomach. That's right, after laying her eggs, and having them fertilized by a male, the female frog swallows them all. During the 6 to 7 week incubation period the female does not eat. This is what keeps her from completely digesting her offspring.

Also amazing is the fact that the offspring go through a complete metamorphosis at this time. They never live as Tadpoles in the outside world, having moved through that process in the mother's stomach. When she regurgitates them, the young frogs hop away on their own and have no further contact with their parent.

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IUCN Status : Extinct

Location : Australia

Size : Length up to 2in (5cm)

Classification : Phylum : Chordata -- Class : Amphibia -- Order : Anura
Family : Myobatrachidae -- Genus : Rheobatrachus -- Species : R. silus, R. vitellinus

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Yak

Domestic Yak

Yaks are an interesting animal to cover. Why? Because, like the Bactrian Camel, they are both wild and domesticated. Native to the high Himalayan Mountains, Yaks were domesticated around 3,000 of years ago, and these individuals make up a vast bulk of the overall population. The wild Yaks are becoming quite rare. Their population is decreasing and there are estimated to be around 10,000 remaining.

Domesticated Yaks are huge animals, with the largest males weighing close to 2,000lbs. Interestingly, the name "Yak" comes from a Tibetan word that refers to only males of the species, but its since come to be used for both sexes. Yaks are used for meat, milk, transportation, hair, and hides. Their dung is even used as fuel, which is fantastic in a high altitude area void of trees.

Yaks have some pretty cool physical attributes. For example, they have red blood cells that are half the size of those found in cattle... but they have 3 times as many. This helps them to carry oxygen easier in at high elevations. They also have very broad hooves that make traversing rough terrain a simple undertaking. Yaks need to travel far and wide to find food, as vegetation is quite scarce.

There are around 12 million domesticated Yaks found around the world, but a huge majority of those live on the Tibetan Plateau. Wild Yaks face threats of illegal hunting and habitat loss.

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IUCN Status : Vulnerable

Location : Central Asia

Size : Height up to 6.5ft (2m), Weight up to 1,800lbs (800kg)

Classification : Phylum : Chordata -- Class : Mammalia -- Order : Artiodactyla
Family : Bovidae -- Genus : Bos -- Species : B. grunniens

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