Animalgamation

[animalgamation]

Some more random endangered animals

[animalgamation]

Drawings of some critically endangered species.  You can visit http://www.iucnredlist.org/ for animals in danger of extinction.

[animalgamation]

Monotremes are an order of a mammal known for laying eggs, rather than giving live birth.  The order includes only five living species, one being the platypus and the other four being different types of echidna, all found in Australia and New Guinea.

While the platypus lays its eggs in a burrow and cares for its young there, the echidna keeps its eggs in a pouch.  The eggs hatch and the young will remain there inside the pouch until they start growing spines. 

All male monotremes have spurs on their hind legs, only the platypus' is venomous.  The platypus uses theirs to fight with other males during mating season.  The spurs on the echidna appear to have no real use.

[animalgamation]

I wasn't going to do anything for April Fool's until I stumbled upon the lynx thing on accident while looking up something about animal symbolism for lynxes.

[animalgamation]

Drew some corvids this time.  So here's some little corvidae facts:

In general, corvids are considered highly intelligent and are sometimes known by the nickname of 'feathered apes' because of this.

The Eurasian Magpie was shown to recognise itself in a mirror during the mirror test for self awareness.

Western Scrub Jays keep numerous caches of food, and seem to recall where each cache is.  Additionally, studies show the birds also move food around to different caches, and do so more often if they know other birds have seen where their cache is.

Some corvids have shown the ability to use tools.  In the wild, the New Caledonian Crow make hooks from branches to reach grub inside trees.  In studies other species have also shown the ability to use tools to solve puzzles in order to reach food.  Some wild crows in cities at times also drop nuts in crosswalks so cars will crack the nuts for them, and then wait for traffic to stop so they can eat safely.

Crows have shown that they can recognize and remember specific people, reacting negatively towards researchers who have caught and banded them, and sometimes even teaching other crows who are unfamiliar with the researcher banding them to react in the same manner.  Some crows are also aware of certain human social cues, for instance they may only fly off if a person's gaze is directed at the crow.  In a study Jackdaws were also able to follow human eye movement and pointing gestures.

[theurbanfoxwatcher]

Every year large numbers of fox cubs are rescued by well-meaning people who assume seeing a cub on it’s own means it has been orphaned. This is not true! Once the cubs are old enough to come above ground the vixen will lay away from them for most of the day to avoid drawing attention to the den. She will return to them once it’s safe to do so, and in the majority of cases cubs are best left where they are. Cubs cared for in captivity have a much lower chance of survival after release than cubs who grew up in the wild. Statistically these rescued cubs have a life expectancy after release of only 90 days.  

Only remove cubs as a last resort, if you know for sure the mother has died or if they appear starving, dehydrated, ill, injured or are in immediate danger. If you are at all unsure then monitor the cubs at the den over a period of a few days. If they remain bright, active and look well fed then you can be assured that they are being cared for. If in doubt leave well alone!

If you do come across genuine orphans then never try to care for them yourself. Raising fox cubs is a very difficult job that requires expert care to ensure the cubs get the correct nutrition and don’t become habituated to humans. The ultimate goal of raising orphaned cubs is always to get them back to the wild. 

If the cubs are past the weaning stage (from May onward) and you know for sure the mother has died then if possible it is always better to leave food at the den daily rather then taking them into captive care. It’s likely the father and other family members will still be bringing them food and they will have a much better chance of survival if they grow up in the wild. This should continue until July when the cubs will become fully independent. Only if their condition starts to deteriorate should you then contact a wildlife rehab. 

Guidelines on the rescue and rehabilitation of fox cubs

The Fox Project 

National Fox Welfare Society 

Please share this to get the word out! 

[animalgamation]

[animalgamation]

Canids, are mammals from the family canidae.  The family is generally divided into wolf/dog-like, fox-like, and basal/monotype (such as the bat eared fox), sometimes with another category for South American canids like the maned wolf.

The domestic dog, recently classified as a subspecies of the grey wolf was estimated to have been domesticated as early as around 30,000 years ago.  Some species, such as the dingo, originally thought to be unique species are also now currently thought to be a grey wolf subspecies and were probably descended from ancient dogs.

Many canids are in danger of extinction, some with only hundreds lefts in their population due to habitat loss and poaching.  In addition, they are also often accused of being a danger to livestock and wrongfully killed because of this. 

[animalgamation]

The lemur is a type of primate found only on the island of Madagascar.  There are currently about 100 species of lemurs alive today, and 90% of those species are considered endangered. 

The fat-tailed dwarf lemur is the only primate known to hibernate.  They survive off stores of fat kept in their tails during this time.  Since the temperature is warm year round the lemur has no need to control its body temperature like other hibernating mammals.

The smallest lemur is the pygmy mouse lemur which weighs only about 2 ounces and measures around 2 and 1/2 inches long (though it’s tail is twice that length).

Some species of extinct giant lemurs are estimated to have weighed upwards of 100 pounds.  Today the largest living lemur is the Indri, which weighs around 20 pounds.

[animalgamation]

Male bowerbirds attract mates by carefully building a  bower and then decorating it with various found objects.  Different bowerbirds have different tastes in aesthetics, and satin bowerbirds have a particular affinity for the colour blue.  Some bowerbirds will even use chewed up berries as a sort of paint for their bower.

Many birds of paradise have elaborate mating rituals, including dancing displays.  They will even prepare their own little area for dancing, making sure it looks good and cleaning up any debris.

Male hooded seals have the ability to inflate their nasal septums which they use as both a display of aggression to ward off other males and as a way to attract female seals.

There are no males among some whiptail lizard species.  Instead the lizards reproduce through parthenogenesis (reproduction without fertilization).  The lizards still go through mating rituals, switching between ‘top’ or ‘bottom’ roles.

[animalgamation]

Here's the WNS thing I was working on.

Links: Areas where WNS has been found: http://www.whitenosesyndrome.org/resources/map Decontamination procedure for caving equipment: http://www.whitenosesyndrome.org/topics/decontamination Links to check out for additional info: http://www.whitenosesyndrome.org http://batcon.org/ http://www.caves.org/WNS/

[animalgamation]

Just wanted to let you know that this animals facts and drawings blog makes me really excited. Bats are my favorite animal so you picked a good first post. But I'm looking forward to learning more about animals. It's a really cool idea! :)

Thank you!  Bats are one of my favs too, so I figured that was a good way to start off.  For right now I'm gonna try to have a longer drawing + facts post up about once a week or every other week interspersed with quick little factoid type drawings.

[animalgamation]

I decided to draw a bunch of bats while I was drawing a thing about white nose syndrome.  Also, here are some random bat facts:

With over 1,200 total species, bats (order: Chiroptera) make up more than one-fifth of all total mammal species

Bats help out in many different ways.  An individual insectivorous bat eats thousands of insects a night (pregnant and nursing bats often eat the equivalent of their own body weight or more),  and it's estimated in the US alone they save the agriculture industry billions of dollars (low estimate of $3.7 billion and high estimates of over $50 billion) a year in pest control services. 

Nectivorous bats (bats that feed on nectar) are needed to help pollinate plants that have night-blooming flowers.

Fruit bats are very good at seed dispersal and helping with forest regeneration.  They are especially needed in areas where rainforests have been clear-cut since bats, unlike many forest birds, will fly across the open spaces.

In short bats are awesome. Be nice to bats.

[animalgamation]

I'm almost done with coding.  So, hi!  this is partially a test post so I can make sure the blog contents look ok.  I will have a picture up in a little bit.  Any requests for animal drawings can go into my ask box.  I'll figure specifics out a bit later but I do want to do occasional just facts about certain animals, or weird/not well known animal facts.  But mostly I want to try to focus on human animal interactions in the environment and making little poster type drawings on problems facing animals right now and what people can do to help.  I also might try to have theme days to post a drawing/photo/facts about certain animals.  Like 'snake sunday' or 'weasel wednesday.'  I'm not sure, I'm open to any suggestions.