MacFarlane's Bear

Ursus inopinatus may have just been a hybrid between
a Grizzly Bear (pictured) and a Polar Bear

Today's animal is a confusing creature-- we don't really know if it actually ever existed!

The story goes that back in 1864, Inuit hunters killed a large, blonde bear and gave its skin to naturalist Robert Macfarlane. Macfarlane, not really knowing what the bear was, gave the skin to the Smithsonian Museum, where it sat collecting dust until 1911.

At that point in time, Dr. Clinton Hart Merriam dug the skin out of storage and studied it for the first time. Because the notes said that the bear lived outside of a Brown Bear's range, and because it didn't match up with a Polar Bear skin, Merriam declared the bear to be a new species-- Macfarlane's Bear.

But is it really a new species? If so, is it extinct? Is this bear a holdover from the Pleistocene times? Or is it just a Hybrid? Hybrids between Grizzly bears and Polar bears have been discovered, so perhaps this "new species" is really just a combination of two others. So far there has been no DNA testing done, so the hybrid theory remains just that.

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Status : Unknown
Location : North America
Size : Weight around 1,000lbs (453kg)
Classification : Phylum : Chordata -- Class : Mammalia -- Order : Carnivora
Family : Ursidae -- Genus : Ursus-- Species : U. inopinatus
Image :  Grizzle Bear Blog

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Eld's Deer

Panolia eldii

The Eld's Deer is an endangered mammal that lives in only three isolated populations in south and southeast Asia. These three groups are distinct enough to be considered different subspecies, and all three face dangers from hunting, habitat loss, and lack of genetic diversity.

Eld's Deer are sometimes called Brow-antlered Deer, and they have very slender bodies and large ears. Males also have distinctive curved antlers that are regrown each year.

Outside of the breeding season the Deer tend to be solitary. They feed on different grasses and wetland plants, and are active throughout the day. When it comes time to breed, the females will gather up into groups of up to 50, and males will compete with one another for breeding rights. The gestation period lasts about 8 months, and a single fawn is born.

Sadly, these deer aren't doing too well. They occur in a few protected areas, but there is inadequate funding to keep those locations safe, and insufficient manpower to deal with poaching. The deer are also so fragmented that inbreeding is common, which weakens the genetic diversity and causes health issues within the group.

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IUCN Status : Endangered
Location : Southeast Asia
Size : Height up to 50in (1.3m), Weight up to 380lbs (172kg)
Classification : Phylum : Chordata -- Class : Mammalia -- Order : Artiodactyla
Family : Cervidae -- Genus : Panolia-- Species : P. eldii
Image :  Raul654

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Obdurodon tharalkooschild

Obdurodon tharalkooschild

Some newly discovered fossils have been all the rage this week-- gigantic extinct Platypus! The modern Platypus is a strange enough creature, but this prehistoric version takes it to a new level!

As you may know, the Platypus is one of only a handful of living Monotremes-- primative mammals that lay eggs. It was long believed that the Platypus had a very direct evolutionary story, one with very minimal branches. Obdurodon tharalkooschild, which was found in North-west Queensland (an area absent of modern Platypuses) was over a meter long and had teeth.

In fact, it was the fossilized tooth that put this whole story together. Modern Platypuses have teeth only as infants. They lose them as they grow up and they are never replaced. O. tharalkooschild had incredbily large teeth that it kept it's entire life. It had a carnivorous diet and could've used its giant chompers to feed on turtles and lungfish.

A few other extinct Platypuses have been discovered over the years, but all had smaller, and fewer teeth as they got chronologically closer to the present. O. tharalkooschild, which lived between 15 adn 5 million years ago, bucks that trend, which is why scientists believe it was part of a different Platypus evolution branch!

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Status : Extinct, lived 15m-5m years ago
Location : Australia
Size : Length up to 3.3ft (1m)
Classification : Phylum : Chordata -- Class : Mammalia -- Order : Monotremata
Family : Ornithorhynchidae -- Genus : †Obdurodon -- Species : O. tharalkooschild
Image :  Peter Schouten

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New Zealand Grebe

Poliocephalus rufopectus

The New Zealand Grebe, or Weweia, is a small, dark waterbird found only on it's namesake islands.

These Grebe are wonderful swimmers, and are very well adapted to the water. They have movable webbed toes that are great for paddling, along with slim necks that allow them to dive underwater efficiently and find food. They feed on aquatic invertebrates, and can stay underwater for about half a minute.

New Zealand Grebes live near freshwater lakes, and do their nesting year round beside them. 2-3 eggs are laid at the time, and the offspring are precocial. After 2 months the chicks are completely independent from their parents.

Wierdly, the New Zealand Grebes went extinct from the South Island during the 1960s, and no one really knows why. Their population is currently stable, and the birds are protected. Monitoring and other measures are being taken to make sure the mysterious disappearance 50 years ago does not repeat itself.

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IUCN Status : Vulnerable
Location : New Zealand
Size : Length up to 28in (70cm)
Classification : Phylum : Chordata -- Class : Aves -- Order : Podicipediformes
Family : Podicipedidae -- Genus : Poliocephalus-- Species : P. rufopectus
Image :  Zoologist.ru

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Toxodon

Toxodon

A couple million years ago there were all sorts of gigantic mammals living in North and South America, including the Toxodon. This beat, which weighed over 3000lbs, and measured up to 9ft in length, inhabited the South American plains until about 10,000 years ago.

From its skeleton you might think that Toxodon was a Rhinoceros. But such is not the case. Amazingly, Toxodon belonged to a now completely extinct order called Notoungulata. All animals in that Order are examples of convergent evolution-- they looked and behaved the same as other creatures that they weren't related to at all!

Even though Toxodon and modern Rhinos weren't related, they still had a lot in common. They were very large, they had stout, powerful bodies, and they feed on leaves and other plants. Toxodon was even hunted by humans. Several fossils have been found with arrowheads in the vicinity, proving that these animals were prey for early humans. Hunting may have also played a major role in their extinction-- one theory on the decline of Megafauna is that human hunting wiped them all out!

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Status : Extinct, Lived 2.6million to 10,000 years ago
Location : South America
Size : Length up to 9ft (2.7m), Weight up to 3,300lbs (1500kg)

Classification : Phylum : Chordata -- Class : Mammalia -- Order : †Notoungulata
Family : †Toxodontidae -- Genus : †Toxodon

Image : Richard Owen

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Dark Sword-grass

Meet the Dark Sword-grass, a moth that can be found in temperate regions all around the world, and which also happens to be quite the pest while in its larval stage.

Many moth species stick to a specific plant-type while in their larval stage. Not so for this insect! They feed on grasses, weeds, fruits, grains, vegetables, and many, many other plants. Understandably, they can be quite the pest in agricultural areas. They like to feed on the crops near ground level, which can very quickly kill the plant!

As adults they are far less damaging-- they consume flower nectar. Their adult stage also has the interesting distinction of being one of the fastest flying insects! They can sustain ground speeds of 70mph!

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IUCN Status : Not Listed
Location : Worldwide
Size : Wingspan up to 5cm

Classification : Phylum : Arthropoda -- Class : Insecta -- Order : Lepidoptera
Family : Noctuidae -- Genus : Agrotis -- Species : A. ipsilon

Image : M. Virtala

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Julia Butterfly

The Julia Butterfly is an insect with a very large range that spreads from the southern United States all the way down to Brazil. They are residents in most of their range, though in the U.S. they sometimes move north to Midwestern states during the summer.

Both male and female Julia Butterflies are orange, though the males are more vibrant. They have a black border that runs around the edge of the wing, though the exact pattern varies with the subspecies.

You'll find Julia Butterflies living in grasslands and near forest edges. They are fast flyers, and as adults they scurry about in the daytime in search of both mates, and nectar to feed on. As caterpillars they consume Passion Vines.

Julia Butterflies are not listed by the IUCN, but they are abundant through most of their range. The population only really dips when it gets to the fringe areas.

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IUCN Status : Not Listed
Location : North and South America
Size : Wingspan up to 9cm

Classification : Phylum : Arthropoda -- Class : Insecta -- Order : Lepidoptera
Family : Nymphalidae -- Genus : Dryas -- Species : D. iulia

Image : A Machado

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