Ampelosaurus

Ampelosaurus atacis

Ampelosaurus is one incredible looking Dinosaur. Not only are they members of the gigantically long Sauropod group, but they also had armor on their backs!

Ampelosaurus wasn't as long, or even as long-necked as some of its Sauropod relatives, but at 50ft in length they were far from tiny. They bony plates on the back are called osteoderms, and they grow from the dermal layers of the skin. Ankylosaurus and Stegosaurus are two other Dinosaurs famous for their Osteoderms.

This Dinosaur is also pretty distinct because its fossils have been found more-or-less complete. Typically, Titanosaurs (the very large sauropods that lived in the Late Cretaceous) have to be reconstructed using only a handful of found remains. Ampelosaurus has provided us with dozens of fossils, including a skeleton that is very close to complete! They are one of the best known Dinosaurs in Europe.

Ampelosaurus ("Vineyard Lizard") lived between 70 and 65 million years ago, at the very end of the Dinosaurs' reign. They stomped around what is now Europe, and most of their fossils have been recovered from the Marnes Rouges Inférieures Formation in France. They were first uncovered near a Vineyard, hence the name's translation.

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Status : Extinct for 70 million years

Location : Europe
Size : Length up to 50ft (15m)

Classification : Phylum : Chordata -- Superorder : Dinosauria -- Order : Saurischia
Infraorder : Sauropoda -- Genus : Ampelosaurus -- Species : A. atacis

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Midas Cichlid

Amphilophus citrinellus

Many of the other Cichlids that we've talked about up to this point live in the African Rift Valley. Today's species is a bit different, and actually hails from the other side of the world-- the San Juan River and nearby waters in Central America.

The Midas Cichlid, as it is often called in the aquatics trade, is a large, hardy freshwater fish that is actually a pretty popular pet, due to their size and coloration. In nature, males have much larger humps than females, though they are only especially large during the breeding season. Those same humps remain year round in captive individuals.

Midas Cichlids are not at all picky about what they eat. In the wild they consume plants, invertebrates, and small fish. In captivity they have a similar diet, and will readily consume vegetation, as well as live and frozen creatures.

One interesting quirk that I discovered is that these fish really like to redecorate! If you keep a Midas Cichlid as a pet, don't put them in a tank with decor that can be easy moved around. The fish will dig up substrate, dislodge plants, and even knock around water heaters and filters!

Keep in mind though, Midas Cichlids can be very aggressive. This behavior is less pronounced when they have more space, so a big aquarium is a must.

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IUCN Status : Not Listed

Location : Central America
Size : Length up to 30in (75cm)

Classification : Phylum : Chordata -- Class : Actinopterygii -- Order : Perciformes
Family : Cichlidae -- Genus : Amphilophus -- Species : A. citrinellus

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Japanese Badger

Meles anakuma

Why it's that day of the year again. Happy Badger day! (We actually could go for another eight years before running out of Badgers to talk about...)

Last year we talked about the internet-famous Honey Badger, and the year before we learned about my beloved American Badger, but this year we'll be discussing one of the lesser known Badgers, the Japanese Badger!

Japanese Badgers belong to a different subfamily from the previously featured Badgers, and are close relatives of the yet-to-be-discussed European and Asian Badgers. As you can probably guess, they are endemic to Japan, and their island dwelling lifestyle has left them slightly smaller than their continental cousins. It is hypothesized that their ancestors entered Japan from the Korean Peninsula, which would explain why the species has not been found on the northernmost island, Hokkaido.

You can identify the Japanese Badger by their grey-brown hair and chocolate colored facial stripes that are similar to those found in the European and Asian Badgers, but are a bit less pronounced. They have tiny ears, short tails, and large, powerful feet with non-retractable claws for digging expertise.

One thing I found rather interesting is that Japanese Badgers have a polygynandrous breeding system. This means that both the males and the females will mate with multiple partners throughout the year. Unlike their close European cousins, they do not even form pair bonds to rear the offspring-- females do that duty alone. They actually will mate at all times of the year, but the females are luckily able to delay implantation so that her cubs are only born during the favorable spring season. Another fun fact? Female offspring will stay with their mothers for up to 14 months, but males will hang around for more than two years! Outside of mother/offspring groups the Japanese Badgers are solitary, more so than other Badger species.

Though they are currently listed as being of Least Concern, the Japanese Badger population has been on the decline for the last 30 years or so. Habitat loss has been a big factor, as is the spread of invasive Raccoons who compete for food and breeding sites.

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IUCN Status : Least Concern

Location : Japan
Size : Length up to 30in (75cm)

Classification : Phylum : Chordata -- Class : Mammalia -- Order : Carnivora
Family : Mustelidae -- Genus : Meles -- Species : M. anakuma

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Meganeuropsis

Meganeuropsis

A while back we learned about Meganeura, a genus of gigantic Dragonflies that lived around 300 million years ago, back when the oxygen levels were higher and the earth could support insects of tremendous size.

So, it should not come as a shock that there were other huge Dragonflies out there, aside from Meganeura. Enter Meganeuropsis, a genus containing two species that rival the previously mentioned insects in size. (It's also important to note that the two genera occupied different areas. Meganerua in what is now Europe, and Meganeuropsis in the middle United States.)

The two known species are M. permiana and M. americana. They were uncovered in Kansas and Oklahoma respectively, back in 1937 and 1940. M. permiana  may be the largest insect ever, even bigger than the Meganeura species.

Unfortunately, it can be hard to tell just how large these insects were able to get, since the fossils had to have very specific conditions in order to stay preserved, and because the parts themselves were so delicate. In short, it is very rare to find these parts intact, so it can be difficult to determine overall size. The largest preserved wing so far  demonstrates a nearly 2.5ft wingspan (the fossil currently resides at Harvard).

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Status : Extinct for 250 million years
Location : North America
Size : Length up to 17in (43cm), Wingspan up to 28in (71cm)

Classification : Phylum : Arthropoda -- Class : Insecta -- Order : †Meganisoptera
Family : Meganeuridae -- Genus : Meganeuropsis

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Gold Tegu

Tupinambis teguixin

Tegus are large, omnivorous lizards that inhabit South America. They essentially fill the same niche that the Monitor lizards fill in Asia and Africa. Though the two lizard types look similar and do the same jobs, they are not closely related (go convergent evolution!)

The Gold Tegu is one of the seven species of Tegu. They live in the northern parts of South America, inhabiting tropical forests. They have powerful legs, a very thick tail, and can reach lengths of up to 3ft. They are also sometimes referred to as "Black Tegus," due to their gold and black stripes.

Gold Tegus feed on a wide variety of things, from insects, to small reptiles and mammals, to fruits. They can live up to 20 years, and are sometimes kept as pets, though there are other Tegu species that are more suitable. They tend of be more aggressive than their close cousins, but can become relatively tame with proper handling.

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IUCN Status : Least Concern
Location : South America
Size : Length up to 3ft (90cm)

Classification : Phylum : Chordata -- Class : Reptilia -- Order : Squamata
Family : Teiidae -- Genus : Tupinambis -- Species : T. teguixin

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Sivatherium

Sivatherium

Today there are only two living members of the Giraffe family-- the Giraffe itself, and the mysterious mountain-dwelling Okapi. But there were other Giraffes in the past, even as recently as 8,000 years ago!

Today's animal, Sivatherium, is one of those ancient Giraffes. Members of this genus (meaning "Shiva's Beast") lived in Africa and South Asia between 5 million 8,000 years ago. They had bodies similar to Okapis, but where taller and more heavily built. They also had huge, moose-like horns, along with having the small ossicones that the modern Giraffids have. They had very thick, powerful necks in order to hold up those heavy skulls.

One really cool thing that I learned was that human-drawn pictures of the Sivatherium have been found in the Sahara. This means that the animals were quite recent, but it also may unfortunately suggest that hunting was a major cause of their extinction (like many other megafauna of the time).

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Status : Extinct for 8,000 years
Location : Africa, South Asia
Size : Height up to 7.4ft (2.2m)

Classification : Phylum : Chordata -- Class : Mammalia -- Order : Artiodactyla
Family : Giraffidae -- Subfamily : †Sivatheriinae -- Genus : †Sivatherium

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Blackspotted Puffer

Arothron nigropunctatus

We've talked about Pufferfish more generally in the past, getting a quick overview of the 121 different members of the Tetradontidae family, but today we'll cover one of these brilliantly colored fish more specifically.

Meet the Blackspotted Puffer, a species that can grow to about 1ft in length that lives in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. They also happen to be popular in aquariums due to their friendly looking faces and general lack of agression (though they have some intense care requirements).

Blackspotted Puffers can come in a variety of different colors, including yellow, white, and blue. They always have their namesake black spots, regardless of their overall color. Like all Puffers, they can inflate their bodies to a large size in order to ward off predators.The Puffers themselves are predators in their own right. They feed on Corals, Crustaceans, and various types of Mollusk.

And have I mentioned that these fish are toxic? Eating them can actually cause death!

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IUCN Status : Not Listed
Location : Indian and Pacific Oceans
Size : Length up to 1ft (32cm)

Classification : Phylum : Chordata -- Class : Actinopterygii -- Order : Tetraodontiformes
Family : Tetraodontidae -- Genus : Arothron -- Species : A. nigropunctatus

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