As far as ugly creatures go, in my book there is a definite winner--the aye-aye. I think it is the long fingers and huge eyes that creep me out the most. They live in the rainforest of Madagascar in nest made of twigs and leaves. These nests are giant balls with small a small opening as the entrance/exit. They only leave the nests at night to go look for food. When they do venture out of their nests they still spend most of their time in the trees looking for bugs under tree bark. Aye-ayes find these guys by using echolocation and are the only mammals known to do so. They also eat fruit and use their freakishly long fingers to scoop out the fleshy fruit insides.
In Madagascar they are thought to be bad luck (it apparently brings death) so there has never been a fight to protect them by the natives. They are now endangered and the government has finally protected them under the law. A strange thing about the aye-aye is that it seems to be unafraid of humans, even in the wild. They aren't usually a social animal and tend to live alone so it is unnatural for them to be so comfortable around other animals.
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/aye-aye/
I see wombats as some of the cutest looking animals on the planet. They are covered in soft brown fur and looked kind of like a puppy dog. I've once again chosen an animal that can only be found in Australia, I tend to like the animal species there I guess. Wombats like to burrow and since they are nocturnal they are usually only seen at night. Even then it isn't often that you can see one. Even most natives of Australia haven't seen a wombat in the wild. Not that I can say I've seen every North American animal in the wild, I don't suppose many people could. They live off of a diet of roots and grasses. I'd love too see one waddle past me with some root stuck in its teeth. Wombats also snore when they sleep, something most other animals don't do. If they are somewhere that they feel comfortable they have been known to sleep on their backs with their little feet up in the air. If it wasn't mean, dangerous, illegal, and I had the money, I would love to have a pet wombat. They don't have many natural predators but some larger carnivores will eat them if they can't find anything else. Most wombats die of starvation and loss of habitat.
They are very vocal creatures and have a wide range of sounds squeal, grunt, growl, cough, click, and hiss. Listen here. Wombats also love to play and have been seen in both the wild and in captivity playing together. There is even a comic book about wombats that can be found here. If you want to buy a shirt or other merchandise supporting the wombat you can get it here. Personally I want a "Wombat Fever" shirt.
http://www.wombania.com/wombats/
The life of a naked mole rat isn't very fun. Unless you are the Queen most of your life is spent digging. Since the Queen is also in charge of producing all the children, they don't even have to worry about their family. Each of their two front teeth can move independently for digging. They can actually control individual tooth movement. Digging keeps their teeth filed. In captivity the teeth sometimes have to be trimmed with nail cutters because they grow at such a rapid rate.
One thing I find very cute about these animals is how they love to share. They will share any bit of food with any other member of their colony and will sometimes bring back food they find especially for others (kind of like when i pick up a surprise slurpee from the 7-11 on my way home from work for my roommate). Another cool thing about naked mole rats that is kind of cool, but not quite as sweet, is what happens when one queen dies. All the other high ranking females have a fight to the death and the best woman wins.
Naked mole rats are pretty cool even if they aren't the cutest.
http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Publications/ZooGoer/2002/3/nakedmolerats.cfm
I've decided to do another request from my roommate. One of our favorite shows to watch is on the Disney Channel, laugh if you want. It's about two brothers called Phineas and Ferb who spend their summer building crazy contraptions. Their awesome pet, who doubles as a secret agent, is named Perry and he is a green platypus. The platypus(Ornithorhynchus Anatinus) is one of two animals that are considered monotremes, the other is the echidna. It is about the size of a small dog and has a thick waterproof fun covering its whole body and webbed feet that help propel it through the water. It has characteristics of both reptiles (lays eggs) and mammals (hair, warm blooded). When it dives underwater it can close its eyes,ears, and mouth all at the same time. It stores excess fat in its tail so a fat tail is a sign of a healthy platypus. It has a low body temperature so it is less affected by cold waters. They also have more hemoglobin in their red blood cells. This allows it to stay underwater longer than most mammals. The male platypus even has poisonous burs on its back feet. Personally I think the platypus is one of the most interesting creatures I've written about so far. They have so many hidden secrets that make them interesting. They keep gravel in their mouths to help break up food since they don't have teeth. The platypus can be found on the east coast of Australia. They have super dense fur, denser than the otter's and the polar bear's.
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/platypus.html
http://www.genevaschools.org/austinbg/class/gray/platypus/
The first thing most people think about when they hear tasmanian devil is the Loony Toon character more commonly known as Taz. He runs around in a tornado cloud of biting, slobbering, and crazy noises. As far as tasmanian devils go, that is a pretty accurate description of the real animal. If it gets in a situation in which it feels threatened or protective it will snap and completely go off on anyone or anything near. If food is its reason for fighting, they will usually fight to the death. It has a very scary growl that sounds almost maniacal. A video can be seen here. The look almost like a cross between a small dog and a baby bear. It is black and brown with a little white tuff on hair on its chest. It has a large head full of teeth that it isn't afraid to use. They store fat in their tail when they have had plenty to eat. They will eat anything they can kill and eat every bit of their prey. Tasmanian devils can only be found in Tasmania, a state in Australia. They dropped in numbers on the mainland due to dingos, being killed my farmers because they kill chickens, and a disease that creates tumors in their mouths and around their faces. They are considered prehistoric because fossils have been found of the almost exact creature of today thousands of years ago. Since they are nocturnal, they usually feed at night. This means that all of their snarling and fighting is going on in pitch black darkness in the eucalyptus forest. I know personally I would enjoy watching one from a distance, but coming out of nowhere in the middle of the night would scare me senseless. Although they may not be one of the sweetest animals, they are still one of God's creatures and should be taken care of. Even of the nastiest creatures should have an opportunity to survive.
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/tasmanian-devil.html
http://australian-animals.net/devil.htm
By request of my lovely roommate, I have decided to write this entry on alpacas. One thing most people know about alpacas is how valuable their wool is. The soft and luxurious wool isn't the only thing that make alpacas an amazing animal and a wonderful pet. One thing that makes alpacas an easy pet to take care of is the fact that they only use the bathroom in one or two places in the fields that they live in. This makes clean up easy. They also don't have horns or sharp teeth that could hurt you. Alpacas are usually gentle, but like most animals they have their own individual personalities. They can live upwards towards twenty years and aren't too big as far as farm animals go, they only get to be about 100-200 pounds. Since they chew their cud they don't require as much acreage as larger animals such as horses, up to 10 per acre (the usual rule for horses is 1 horse per acre).
The raising of alpacas is growing in the United States. More and more alpaca farms are popping up all over the place. The Inca civilization was the first group of people to domesticate the alpaca. 99 percent of all alpacas are found in South America. When the Spanish first discovered alpacas they didn't realize their value. England was the first country after the Spanish Conquests to rediscover alpaca wool. It is stronger and last longer than sheep's wool. Alpacas make great pets because of their friendly nature and easy profit. Any farm could greatly benefit from starting to raise alpacas.
http://www.alpacainfo.com
Since I've already written about the two kinds of animals living in my apartment, I decided to write a about the animal I have waiting at home in Southwest Virginia. One of my favorite parts of coming home is putting on my big rubber boots and running down to the barn. All I have to do is give a whistle and two of the most beautiful animals in the world perk up their ears and put their whole body of muscle into motion. There is one horse that is always in front. She is my baby and my very best friend. She is half Arabian and half Tennessee Walking Horse and 100% gorgeous. I throw my arms around her neck and she lays her head on my shoulder. We stay that way for a few minutes until she starts to fidget because she wants her ears scratched. By that time my father's horse, Ace decides that Mystic and I have had enough alone time. He walks right up and puts his snotty nose in my clean hair and tickles me with his lips. He wants a chin scratch and he leans into it until he starts looking ridiculously silly.
One thing about walking horses is a special gait or walk that they have called a rack. It is in between a walk and a run that is special to the walking horse. Mystic looks even more beautiful that usual when she is on a dirt road and racking. She is still young so she is still getting used to doing it correctly and really getting into to. Ace is older and he loves being able to do it. He gets so excited and lifts his feet up so high he almost kicks himself in the stomach. You can see a foal doing this gait here.
As if being hairy wasn't strange enough for a frog, it has one more thing that is actually like of creepy. When this frog feels threatened it breaks out it's claws. There is no opening in the frogs foot pads to allow for claws. Essentially, these frogs are like Wolverine from X-men. They have to break their own bones to allow these claws to break apart from their feet. They use these claws as a means of defense as well as a hunting mechanism. They sometimes uses them to kill small mammals and invertebrate for food. It isn't always the one eating though. It is hunted for food by the natives in the area where it lives.
This is one frog I would be happy looking at from a far distance.
http://weirdscience.ca/2008/06/02/hairy-frogs-have-an-unusual-defense/
http://www.wildanimalsonline.com/amphibians/hairyfrog.php
Fossa:
Not many people have heard of the Madagascar native, a mammal called the fossa. Although it is related to the mongoose, it looks nothing like it. At first scientists thought it was a type of cat because of its retractible claws and cat-like teeth. They live in the forest and jumps from tree to tree very quickly using its long prehensile tail. In fact, they move so quickly that it is hard to observe them in the wild. They are carnivorous,but have a large range of other animals they eat, pretty much anything they can kill, even wild pigs. Their number one choice of prey is the lemur. Their coat is reddish brown and have a face that looks like a small dog. They can grow to be up to 6 feet long from the tip of their nose to the very end of their tail. Adults usually weigh about 26 pounds and reach maturity at about 3 years old. They are awake during both the night and the day and like to live alone. Since they are only found in Madagascar they are endangered like most of the animals found there. Fossas have no living predators but humans living in the area see them as a threat because they often kill chickens and other small farm animals and hunt them. They can make many different sounds including a growl, a chirp, and a purr. You can hear these sounds here.
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/fossa/
Bunny:
The first time I went to Sylvia's Pet Store I saw the cutest bunny in the world. I decided then and there that he would be mine. I had no idea what I had decided. Like most people I expected a cute little fluffy ball that would love me and cuddle with me for hours. Rabbits are not puppies. Rabbits don't like to be held for long. They are ground animals and most of them prefer to stay there. Some rabbits like to be petted, but most would prefer a pat on the head and a carrot. Buster does love a good head massage and a back rub from time to time. When he is in a particularly good mood and we give him run of the house he likes to jump up as high as he can and do what is called a binky. Bunnies don't make a lot of noise, but Buster does a kind of growl to let me know he isn't in a good mood. He also thumps his hind leg to show that he is scared or excited. Rabbits don't make a good pet for small children. They can be mean and will scratch you, even if not on purpose. They also need to be held very carefully. They can break their backs while trying to escape from an incorrect hold. Rabbits are an animal that you really have to think about before purchasing. Don't make the same mistake I did, even though I love him.
I've decided to write about the two animals living in my apartment: a guinea pig and a rabbit. There are a lot of things people don't know about these two animals and how much work they are as pets.
Guinea Pigs:
Most are super cute, especially the ones with hair that is about medium length. When they are happy or excited they squeal with joy. It's cute to walk in your apartment and have someone squeak at you from the corner. They love to run around and hide in hidey-holes such as a box or tube. Pepper loves to play hide and seek with me. I pretend to ignore her and she slowly creeps up on me. Then I turn around quickly and she runs away and pretends it never happened. She really loves lettuce and goes crazy every time the refrigerator door opens or a bag crinkles. Pepper loves to sit on your lap on a towel and have her chin rubbed. She is really well trained and won't leave her towel when not in her cage. If she is being what we call "sassy" she will put her teeth on your finger very lightly to say she wants to be left alone. I've never been bitten, but my roommate has had some light chomps. are really fun pets but you have to give them plenty of attention and clean their cages often. Guinea pigs make a great starter pet or a pet for someone without a lot of space.
As someone who spent most of her childhood outside playing in the woods I've encountered many insects. I don't even remember how many times I've been spit, peed,pooped,or sprayed on by little critters. One insect that I am glad I've never picked up is the bombardier beetle Stenaptinus insignis. This insect's chemical spray burns. The chemical's held in its body have to be kept in separate chambers in the beetles abdomen until it feels attacked. The reason for this is that when the two chemicals mix they create an explosion. Essentially a bomb goes off in the beetle's butt. If the loud bang doesn't deter the attacker the beetle has a back up. The chemical not only irritates the skin, but burns it as well. The chemical reaches a temperature of 212 degrees Fahrenheit. The bombardier beetle has almost perfect aim.
Another interesting thing about this beetle is its ability to reach any part of it's own body in order to reach a predator. Its own body is immune to the chemical and it is neither irritated or burned. Scientist are baffled by this and have no clue what about the beetle keeps it safe from its own attack.
http://insects.about.com/od/coolandunusualinsects/a/bombdefenses.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/422599.stm
I'm sure everyone thinks of Napoleon Dynamite when they hear of a liger. In real life the animals may not by magical, but they do exist. What is the difference between the two? A liger is a cross between a male lion and a female tiger and the tigon is just the opposite. This cross doesn't occur in nature, all ligers and tigons were bred in captivity. (Tigers and lions don't live near each other in the wild). Usually these crossed animals are infertile and unable to breed, but very rarely a female will be able to reproduce and can create even weirder crosses.
Liger:
Ligers are some of the largest recorded cats in the world. They can be up to 12 ft tall when on their hind legs and weigh around a half a ton. They have light stripes as well as spots. The male liger can sometimes have a mane but it doesn't usually reach the length of a full bred tiger. They can generally make sounds that sound like a tiger or a lion or even a mixture of the two. Their face tends to be shaped like a tiger and the rest of their body like a lion.
Tigon:
Very few tigons exist in the world because of various problems. One problem is that the female tiger doesn't have enough room in her womb for the cubs and they are usually born stillborn or premature. If the cubs do survive the birth they are usually small and tend to get sick easily. They are the exact opposite of a liger. They have a lion shaped face with a small tiger body. Some males have a very very slight mane, but barely worth mentioning. Tigons can also make sounds of both the tiger and lion.
Very few of these crosses occur in zoos. Most zoos feel that it is unfair and unnatural, and I would have to agree. They are cool in theory, but it isn't very nice to the animals. They often can't reproduce, have a short lifespan, and are sickly while alive. The room taken up by these created animals could be used to help take in a endangered animal instead. I think God's work is just better left alone.
I recommend reading this article from the Breeze in order to fully understand my blog post. I volunteer at the SPCA about two times a week for a few hours each day. The Breeze printed an article that didn't quite sit right with me and I felt the need to comment. I left my comment on the Breeze website and felt that it should be shared here as well.
"As someone who has spent many hours at the Rockingham- Harrisonburg SPCA, I found this article heartbreaking. I’m curious if you have ever spent any time at the SPCA? As someone who gives their time to make sure these animals are taken care of and find the right home it is quite unnerving to hear my work being looked at negatively. Perhaps an article on how the SPCA works and what someone would actually find there is in order?
I came back to JMU from spring break to find many employees at the SPCA hurt and confused. I found it selfish how the SVSNC is so quick to put down the SPCA and their attempt at something good. I think both groups would want to encourage each other in their love of animals and the goal of finding new homes for these animals.
Until they have seen the hard work and love that goes into making sure everything can be done to relocate and take care of the animals brought to the SPCA, I don’t think they should be so adamant about tearing down the SPCA and their reputation. Turning animals needing homes into a competition is not at all amusing. I think the focus of the SVSNC should be more on the animals and not harming a fellow group with the same goals"
I came back to JMU from spring break to find many employees at the SPCA hurt and confused. I found it selfish how the SVSNC is so quick to put down the SPCA and their attempt at something good. I think both groups would want to encourage each other in their love of animals and the goal of finding new homes for these animals.
Until they have seen the hard work and love that goes into making sure everything can be done to relocate and take care of the animals brought to the SPCA, I don’t think they should be so adamant about tearing down the SPCA and their reputation. Turning animals needing homes into a competition is not at all amusing. I think the focus of the SVSNC should be more on the animals and not harming a fellow group with the same goals"
