Small but Deadly

The blue-ringed octopus is a tiny mollusk that has the power to kill 26 humans if it were so inclined. Luckily for us, they are no so inclined. This octopus lives in the Pacific and Indian oceans, mostly in the shallow, rocky reefs and tide pools. They get to about the size of a ping-pong ball, and like most cephalopods, have relatively short life spans of about 3-4 years.

Look at those vibrant blues!

But let’s talk about the thing that makes these creatures really cool: their potent neurotoxin. The blue-ringed octopus has the same venom of a pufferfish that they store in their salivary gland. For the most part, the venom is used for hunting. They eat all sorts of small marine animals like shrimp, crab, and small fish. They use their beak to crunch into the exoskeleton and flood the poor creature with tetrodotoxin, paralyzing it. This allows the octopus to munch on it at it’s leisure.

While the blue-ringed octopus is also deadly to humans, it’s unlikely to be an issue as they only attack if threatened. Meaning you really shouldn’t do what this picture shows:

Don’t try this at home kids!

If you are bitten by a blue-ringed octopus, please seek emergency care immediately. Unfortunately, since their beak is so small you might not realize you’ve been bitten until it’s too late. You will need respiratory support as the neurotoxin paralysis your diaphragm and stops your heart. Please be careful and respectful of the wild!

Blue Giants

We’re heading back to the oceans today to talk about the largest mammal on this beautiful planet. The Blue Whale (Balaenoptera musculus) can get up to 110 feet in length and weigh up to 200 tons. For reference, a school bus weighs around 14 tons. I have a hard time even imagining what this could look like.  Interestingly, they have a similar life span as humans, about 80-90 years.

Strangely, the largest animal on the planet eats some of the smallest. They eat krill, krill, and more krill. On a good day, they can eat FOUR TONS of krill. Just bonkers. Again, for reference, this is equivalent to eating the weight of an African elephant a day. Basically they take a huge gulp of water, squish the water through their baleen mouths, and keep the krill.

In general, these beautiful whales live alone or in a pair. Occasionally small groups. They live in all of the oceans except the Arctic, traveling around the world, ending up near the equator during winter. When they need to move, they can move up to 20 mph.

Even though they are fairly solitary creatures, their voice can carry across the ocean, keeping them in contact with their songs. They are, in fact, as loud as a jet engine.

Blue Whales mate about every 2-3 years and are pregnant for about a year. The calf drinks milk for about 6 months and is weaned off in time for the summer months.

In the 1900’s over 300,000 Blue Whale’s were killed to make whale oil. They still haven’t recovered from that atrocity and are listed as Endangered.  They became protected after the 1966 International Whaling Commission, but still have a long way to go. Their biggest dangers now are being hit by large ships, becoming entangled in fishing equipment, and general destruction of their habitat through toxins, plastic, and garbage.

Slow and Fuzzy

In honor of International Sloth Day I’ve decided to talk about, well, sloths!

More specifically the pygmy three-toed sloth. Because if you ever have a choice of pygmy, you should take it.

 

In general, sloths are classified into two main types: two-toed and three-toed. Pygmy three toed-sloths share that category with mane , pale-throated, and brown-throated sloths. Very descriptive names. While they may look more like monkeys, they are actually most closely related to armadillos and anteaters. Pygmy three-toed sloths grow to about 5-7 lbs in weight and about 20 inches long.

As everyone knows, sloths move slowly. They live in trees and for the most part stay there usually moving only about 40 yards a day. However, if threatened they can actually move pretty quick but it seriously depletes their system. They have an incredibly low metabolism that is the reason for their low body temperature of below 90F and slow movement. Oddly enough, they are pretty quick swimmers and sometimes drop from the trees directly into the water and can cover significantly more area. Pygmy sloths have a multi-chambered stomach that can also assist floating.

Sloths are in the most danger when on the ground. They do not move well there. Luckily, they don’t have to go down all that often, only leaving the trees to urinate and defecate and they only need to do that about once a week. I don’t think I’d want to be present for that weekly appointment.

As sloths spend most of their time hanging upside-down, their internal organs are actually arranged to handle this and not get squished, which is another reason why they don’t do well on the ground. So they are made to be upside down instead of right side up. Silly sloths.

One of my favorite things about them is that their thick fur grows it’s own algae in a (thought to be) symbiotic relationship. Look at that green fuzz. (Note: that is not a pygmy, but you get the point)

Now, sloths live in the tropical rain forests of Central and South America. However, pygmy three-toed sloths only live on a small island off the coat of Panama: La Isla Escudo de Veraguas, It is uninhabited, but has seasonal inhabitants that sometimes hunt the sloths and the island mangroves are also logged. Loss of habitat is the main contributor to the status of Critically Endangered for these sweet, slow animals. It is estimated that there are less that 50 pygmy sloths left in the wild.

If you’d like to do something for these gentle creatures, here are a couple of sites where you can learn more:

https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/sloth

https://www.edgeofexistence.org/projects/saving-pygmy-sloth-extinction/

Here’s some bonus pictures of when I went to visit a sloth sanctuary in Oregon. Here I learned that sloths are almost blind, which is another reason to move slowly since they can’t really see where they’re going. They get stressed very easily, which is why you should never get a sloth as a pet because when they get stressed they die. And I learned that they are the best.

 

The Armored Mammal

Today I’m heading back out of the water and moving to the African and Asian continents to talk about THE COOLEST little mammals: Pangolins.

Now there are two main groupings of pangolin species, the African and the Asian pangolins. Each of these have four different species and they are actually most closely related to cats, dogs, and bears. Depending on the species, they can range from about 3-70 lbs in weight and 45 inches to 4.5 feet in length. Quite the range.

Let’s talk about those awesome scales and that fantastic tongue.

The scales are actually made up of keratin. The same stuff that makes your hair and nails. But if you get your finger stuck between them and they curl up, it can shred your flesh. The Asian species also have bristles that grow up between the scales. The bottom of the animal does not have scales, but sparse fur.

The tongue is an extremely mobile, sticky, and long. It can be the same length as the body and head together. The tongue is also attached to the base of the ribs (what??) and when it retracts it goes into a sheath in it’s chest cavity.

In general, pangolins are solitary creatures and only come together to breed. Females tend to raise their young on their own, but sometimes the males stay behind until the young are independent. Babies are born with soft scales but they begin to harden at only two days old.

Sadly, all of the African species are listed as vulnerable, and all Asian species are either endangered or critically endangered. They have become known as the world’s most trafficked mammal. Their meat is a delicacy in many Asian countries and their scales are thought to have almost magical healing properties, none of which are actually true. Thankfully they have gotten a lot of press in the past few years, and several laws have gone into effect protecting them against illegal trade. Nevertheless, they are in danger and this incredible creature could soon be extinct throughout Asia.

Here are some great sites if you’d like to learn more or donate to protecting these unique mammals:

https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/pangolin

https://www.awf.org/wildlife-conservation/pangolin

https://www.savepangolins.org/pangolin-crisis-fund

Water Puppies

Happy World Animal Day!

Today is a day to celebrate all animals and how amazing they are. Originally it started as a way to bring awareness to endangered species and has evolved to simply celebrate animals in general.

In honor of World Animal Day I want to talk about a lovely mammal called the Ringed Seal.

Look at that cute little face!

So, ringed seals are some of the most abundant of the arctic seals and are part of the Phocidae family. They live in the Northern Hemisphere in the subpolar oceans. They live around the outer ring of the ice, but can move further in by burrowing breathing holes in the ice with the claws at the end of their flippers. They are some of the only creatures that can burrow through that thick of ice, and sometimes get kicked out of those breathing holes by whales and other marine animals. Polar bears also hunt them in these tubes, so they blow bubbles to the surface before they emerge to check that they aren’t there.

Ringed seals are the smallest of the arctic seals. But that still means they can reach 5 feet in length and over 270 pounds. Not particularly small in my opinion.

They are fairly solitary, basically only coming together on the ice to breed. They only have one pup (see! Water dog.) at a time and the mother keeps them protected in snow lairs.

Look at that cutie!

As far as animals living in the arctic, the ringed seal is doing pretty well but is still listed as threatened. Climate change and the shrinking of the polar ice caps gives them less stable land on which to rest, breed, and have their pups. Ocean pollution is also impacting them as well as hunting.

On World Animal Day, and really all of the days, please think about the impact of your choices and what you can do to support your fellow creatures!

Here’s one last picture of these guys, because I can’t get enough.

 

Venomous Polyps

Portugese Man-Of-War (Physalia physalis). Cool blue, purple, or pink looking blobs that pack a painful punch. I’ve heard about these guys for years but never really looked into them.

Did you know that they aren’t a singular organism, but actually several polyps working together?

Did you know that their tentacles can reach 165 feet?

Did you know they have little fishies that are only partially immune to them and live on the edge, swimming between their tentacles?

Because I certainly didn’t.

So let’s dive in!

As stated above, these creatures are made of four different colonies of polyps or zooids. The top bubbly part, the tentacles, the gastric system, and reproductive system. Alone, none of these would survive, but when they work together they make up this super cool animal. These are known as siphonophores.

On average, their tentacles grow to about 30 feet, but some of them just get real excited and grow over 160 feet. The tentacles have a powerful venom that paralyzes and kills small animals (rarely deadly to humans, but very painful!). Once an animal is caught, it is slowly moved up to the gastric polyps.

Portugese Man-of-Wars have no means of real movement, they simply ride the currents and winds. Sometimes they travel in groups of over 1,000, called legions. I wouldn’t want to be in their path when that happens. They live in warm areas of the oceans and can get beached fairly easily. Careful though, they are still venomous when beached on land. 

Amazingly, these guys may actually be increasing in number due to the warming of the oceans. They are not endangered, which is great!

If you want to learn more about them, National Geographic and Oceana.org are always great resources!

Giant Transparent Raviolis

Happy World Wildlife Day! Today is an important day for world conservation and was created by the UN to raise awareness. I hope you’ve done your part today.

I am going to celebrate World Wildlife Day by talking about the Giant Manta Ray. These guys are incredibly cool and unfortunately on the Endangered Species list. But I’ll get to that later.

Look at these weird transparent raviolis!

Originally there was thought to be only one species of manta, but that has recently changed and they have been divided up into Giant Manta Rays (Manta birostris) and Reef Manta Rays (Manta alfredi). Today I’ll talk about the Giant ones. The ones that can get up to 29 feet in width and weight up to 3,500 pounds. They also have a lifespan of about 40 years.

The Giant Manta Ray lives…everywhere. Well, everywhere warm at least. These are fairly solitary creatures that range across the entire ocean from tropical to temperate waters. They come close to the coast at times for feeding, but also have been known to dive to depths of about 1 kilometer, which is pretty crazy.

These creatures are also pretty rude and eat with their mouths open. But seriously. They eat plankton and swim around with their mouths wide open, using two fins on their face to funnel the food in through their gill rakers. Interestingly, I found an article today that suggests that Giant Mantas may also feed on small to medium sized fish when they go diving in the deep. Unfortunately, since they are such solitary creatures and have seen a pretty big population drop thanks to commercial fishing, pollution, and humans in general, we don’t actually have that much information about this and there has been no visual evidence to back up the claims of them eating these larger animals. It’s amazing how little we know about the ocean and those that live there.

As stated before, these magnificent animals are listed as “Threatened” on the Endangered Species list. It’s hard to say how many are left in the wild as we have so little data on them, they live in such a vast area, and generally like to keep to themselves. However, we know their population has been greatly threatened by commercial fishing and also trade for their gill rakers. The gill rakers are used in traditional medicine and are in high demand.

Here are a couple of good links for Manta conservation if you’re interested!

https://www.mantatrust.org/

Manta Ray Conservation Efforts

Also, here’s the link to that article about feeding if you were interested:

https://gizmodo.com/giant-manta-rays-are-more-badass-than-we-realized-1789519585

Baaaaaabyy Beluga

Welcome to today’s blog! Today I’m going to talk about “the canaries of the sea”, the beluga!

The beluga is one of the smaller whales, about 13-20 feet long. Known for it’s beautiful white skin, the beluga lives in mostly in the Arctic Ocean, camouflaging with the ice above. They do travel south during the winter and sometimes even travel up rivers if the eatin’ is good. Belugas (Delphinapterus leucas) are carnivores and known as “toothed” whales.

One of my favorite things about them is that the iconic bulge on their head is called a melon. It is the key to their echolocation. It is flexible and can move around, giving the beluga an ability to make expressions as well as a diverse range of noises to communicate. Belugas are social creatures, almost never being alone. They usually live in pods of around 10, but during the summer they can be found in groups of several hundreds.

While belugas are doing okay, their habitat is being compromised through global warming. The ice that provides them protecting is rapidly melting in the arctic. Also, as belugas as such social creatures, they rely heavily on being able to hear each other. Noise pollution is a growing issue in the Arctic with an increase of international shipping.

The World Wildlife Fund is trying to raise awareness of the dangers of noise pollution and shipping in the arctic. The bottom of this website has a few great links if you want to get more involved. https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/beluga

Jerboa: the Mini Kangaroo

Whelp, I already missed a day of blogging. Not the best track record, seeing as I only started 3 days ago. Ah well.

Today I’m moving away from the ocean and into the desert.

This adorable, jumpy fellow is called the Jerboa from the Dipodidae family.

There are 33 species of Jerboa. They live in the deserts of Asia, Eastern Europe, and Northern Africa. They’re mostly nocturnal, hanging out in burrows by day and scavenge for bugs, seeds, and plants by night.

Now for the cool part. These fellows are truly tiny, ranging from about 2-6 inches in length. Their tails, on the other hand, are between 3-10 inches long. Most impressively, these little critters can jump up to 10 feet in a single bound!

A few other random tidbits about them:

• Jerboa’s don’t drink any water. They get all of their water from food sources.
• Some species of Jerboa’s have ears that are 2/3 the length of their body.
• Their back legs are about 4x as long as their forelegs.
• The Jerboa can “run” up to 16 mph. Their running consist of rapid hopping rather than true running.

Long-eared Jerboa.

Several species of Jerboa are listed as threatened due to loss of habitation from humans.

The Truth Behind “Mr. Blobby”

Today’s post is going to be about the not-so-beautiful Blobfish.

Turns out, that iconic image of a Blobfish comes from one poor fellow pulled up in New Zealand in 2003. Lovingly dubbed “Mr. Blobby”, this mushy creature literally gave the Blobfish a bad image.

Poor Mr. Blobby.

When the Blobfish (Psychrolutes phrictus) is in it’s proper environment, I don’t know if you could call it cute, but it’s not nearly so mushy.

Blobfish like to live off the coast of Australia roughly 9,000 feet under the sea. For reference, Mount St. Helen’s is 8,366 feet tall. Most fish have swim bladders, but if the Blobfish had one of those at the pressures it lives in, it would literally vomit up their internal organs. So…I guess it should just stick with the jello skin and soft bones it has instead. In the depths, the pressure of the ocean holds the Blobfish’s shape together.

Look at him! Not so sad at the bottom of the ocean now is he?

While Mr. Blobby has turned into a pop culture icon, the reason he is known to the world is upsetting. He was caught in a trawl and dragged up. Bottom trawling is used for commercial fishing where they drag a giant net across the bottom of the ocean. Because these nets are so large, they catch a number of sea creatures that they do not mean to including turtles, sharks, dolphins, and in this case – Blobfish. They also scrape across the bottom of the sea floor and destroy habitats, seabeds, and coral.

If you are someone who eats seafood, this is a great link on how to buy seafood sustainably. It has amazing resources that are frequently updated so you can make good choices with your purchases.

https://www.seafoodwatch.org/