The Dodo Dome

Animals are QUITE GOOD. I've been using Tumblr to make little fact files about various animal species (and a few non-animals, too.) All photos are from INaturalist unless stated otherwise, and all suggestions that I'm actually a bunch of cormorants in a trench coat are lies and slander.

[dougdimmadodo]

Putty-Nosed Monkey (Cercopithecus nictitans)

Family: "Old World" Monkey Family (Cercopithecidae)

IUCN Conservation Status: Near Threatened

Named for the distinctive white blotch over its nose, the Putty-Nosed Monkey is a small species of guenon (a diverse group of monkeys native to Sub-Saharan Africa) found across western Africa from Ghana to as far south as the DOC. Each species of guenon exhibits unique facial markings, and as there are many regions in which multiple guenon species coexist (with at least 5 other guenons occurring within the Putty-Nosed Monkey's range) it has been suggested that these distinctive facial features may serve to aid guenons in distinguishing members of their own species from those of related species. Typically found in humid forests habitats and particularly associated with forest edges, Putty-Nosed Monkeys feed on fruit, flowers, seeds and smaller animals and live in relatively small groups consisting of a single adult male, a group of adult females and their young offspring. When active members of this species are highly vocal, and studies examining their vocalisations have not only suggested that they string together multiple shorter calls to convey information through longer, more complex "sentences", but have also suggested that all guenon species seem to understand the meaning of one anothers' calls, implying the existence of a sort of "universal guenon language."

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Image Source: A Putty-Nosed Monkey pictured near the Ogooué river in western Gabon, taken by iNaturalist user david_taylor.

[dougdimmadodo]

Fast Fauna Facts - Northern Fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis)

Family: Petrel Family (Procellariidae)

IUCN Conservation Status: Least Concern

Like its larger cousins the albatrosses the Northern Fulmar spends much of its life out at sea in northern Arctic, Atlantic and Pacific oceans, coming to land in order to breed. Members of this species are so adapted to life away from land that while easily capable of using their large, webbed feet to paddle along the ocean's surface or dive short distances in search of prey their legs are not strong enough to support their weight, forcing them to constantly sit or awkwardly shuffle around while nesting. While nomadic throughout most of the year Northern Fulmars always return to their home colony in the late spring in order to breed (with colonies being scattered around coastal regions of northern Asia, Europe and North America,) and re-unite with the same mate year-after-year to raise a single chick in a simple ditch-like nest. Both sexes work to incubate their egg and feed and protect their chick, and if threatened while on the nest both adults and chicks are able to spew a thick, sticky, foul-smelling oil to panic and ward off predators (adults will also spit a similar oil, derived from the fish, squids and free-swimming crustaceans they catch from near the oceans surface, into the mouths of their chicks in order to feed them.) Northern Fulmars develop slowly (reaching maturity at around 8-12 years old,) and are among the longest lived of all known birds, potentially surviving for over 50 years.

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Image Source: Here

[dougdimmadodo]

Fast Fauna Facts - Olive Ridley Sea Turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea)

Family: Typical Sea Turtle Family (Cheloniidae)

IUCN Conservation Status: Vulnerable

Among the most widely-distributed of the 7 living sea turtle species, Olive Ridley Sea Turtles can be found in tropical and subtropical waters all around the world. Feeding on fish, worms, squids and echinoderms, they locate and identify prey by smell; unique muscles surrounding their nostrils allow them to force water in and out of their nasal cavities without it entering their respiratory tract, letting them detect chemicals in the water without flooding their lungs. As in other sea turtles female Olive Ridleys mate in shallow coastal waters and crawl onto sandy beaches to burry their eggs beneath warm sand, and while they may travel considerable distances throughout their lives they will always return to the beach they hatched on to nest. Its been suggested that hatchlings of this species either remember the smell of the water and substrate around their home beach or that members of each population have an innate, inherited ability to identify their home beach's specific smell, and that this familiar smell may be what allows them to find their way back each breeding season!

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Image Source: Here

[dougdimmadodo]

Cool Zoology Stories of 2025

Happy New Year!!! Since 2021 I've been welcoming in each near year by rounding up some of the most interest and exciting zoology-related stories I've come across in the year before, and 2025 has left me spoiled for choice (see the end of this post for some honourable mentions.) Here are just a few of my favourite stories from the field of zoology in the past year.

A young Colossal Squid was caught on camera

Species Concerned: Colossal Squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni)

Source: Here and Here

Image Source (and video): Here

Despite its status as quite possibly the largest living invertebrate (growing to be over 4 meters/13 feet long and weighing over 500kg/1,100lbs) we know remarkably little about the Colossal Squid; it is believed to live at extreme depths throughout the world’s Southern Ocean, and while the discovery of the remains of dead individuals washed up on beaches or in the stomachs of Sperm Whales and seabirds have allowed us to gain some understanding of the squid’s anatomy (such as the presence of sharp hooks lining the suction cups on its feeding tentacles, which may aid it in catching fish) its inaccessible habitat means that much of its ecology and life cycle remains a mystery. In 2013 a team working with the Japanese broadcast company NHK reported filming the first and for many years only footage of a live colossal squid in its natural deep-sea habitat (providing insight into the sluggish manner in which it swims,) and in early 2025 another groundbreaking step was taken in documenting the lifestyle of this squishy deep-sea giant – a team from the Schmit Ocean Institute filmed what was eventually determined to be a live juvenile Colossal Squid swimming slowly through the southern Atlantic ocean!

The 2025 footage shows that the mantle of the juvenile (the muscular upper body in which most of a squid’s organs are held) was notably transparent, which provides interest insight into how Colossal Squids may mature; the Colossal Squid belongs to the glass squid family (Cranchiidae), many species of which have similarly partially or fully transparent bodies that make them harder for predators to spot in the partially-lit ocean levels they typically inhabit. Adult Colossal Squids have opaque, pigmented bodies, suggesting that members of this species are born with the transparent bodies typical of their family but slowly transition to their adult colouration as they grow larger and thus less vulnerable to predation. The juvenile was also filmed in relatively shallow water (600m) while adult Colossal Squids are believed to inhabit depths of over 2,000 meters, supporting a popular theory that young Colossal Squids live in shallower waters than their parents (possibly to feed on more abundant plankton or small fish found closer to the surface) and delve progressively deeper as they reach maturity. At approximately 30cm long its unknown how long it will take for this (relatively) little guy to reach full size (most squids are short-lived and mature in only a few years, leading to suggestions that Colossal Squids either exhibit unusual longevity or grow exceptional quickly,) but its discovery still has the potential to fill in significant gaps in our understanding of its species’ early life.

A goth bee made its scientific debut

Species Concerned: Lucifer Bee (Megachile lucifer)

Source: Here (Prendergast and Campbell's paper can be found here.)

Image Source: Here

While observing the flowers of a rare Northern Marianthus (Marianthus aquilonaris) during a 2019 survey of the Goldfields region of western Australia bee researcher Kit Prendergast observed a very unusual insect; a small, hairy, black-bodied bee with short, curved horns located between its compound eyes. Later expeditions allowed Prendergast to collect several more specimens of this unusual bee feeding on the flowers of blooming Mallee Wandoo trees (Eucalyptus livida), and in November of 2025 she alongside fellow apiologist Joshua Campbell published a paper describing these specimens as representing a new species, Megachile lucifer (later dubbed the Lucifer Bee in press releases announcing its discovery, named not just for the biblical devil but also after the 2016 TV series Lucifer, which Prendergast reports watching around the time that her discovery was made.)

Though much of the Lucifer Bee’sbiology remains a mystery for now, Prendergast and Campbell have already been able to make several interesting observations by examining captured specimens. The distinctive horns seen on the first individual observed are found only in females (with males being hornless, slightly smaller and paler in colour,) and may be used to wrestle with rival females for nesting ground (with females seemingly living alone, as opposed to in hives) or to push competitors off of flowers. Females also exhibit thick fur on the underside of their abdomens (a common trait of the Leafcutter Bee family, Megachilidae, which the species has been placed in), which may aid them in gathering pollen to feed their larvae as in other solitary bees. The name “Lucifer” translates literally to “light bringer”, which its discoverer has noted to be an appropriate double meaning; Australia’s native bees are poorly-studied and the Northern Marianthus on which the first documented Lucifer Bee was feeding is a rare plant believed to be in decline, leading Prendergast to express hope that the news of this species’ discovery, combined with its distinctive appearance, will help to shed light on the need to better understand the country’s native pollinators and the plants on which they rely.

The world's smallest snake is still out there

Species Concerned: Barbardos Threadsnake (Tetracheilostoma carlae)

Source: Here

Image Source: Here

Found primarily in forested regions of eastern Barbados, the Barbados Threadsnake is a very rare, very unusual, and very, very small snake; adults rarely exceed 10cm (3.9 inches) in length, making this species the smallest known snake species. Pushed to the brink of extinction by the loss of its forest habitat following the European colonisation of Barbados but extremely difficult to study due to its tiny size, the species has only been recorded a handful of times since being formerly described in the 1700s and was feared extinct due to a lack of sightings since the turn of the century. Those fears were dissuaded in March of 2025 when a team surveying forests across Barbados in an effort to identify and protect rare endemic reptile species discovered a Barbados Threadsnake curled up beneath a rock, marking the first recorded sighting of the species in nearly 20 years!

While the Barbados Threadsnake’s tiny size poses perhaps the most significant obstacle to recording individuals in the wild its biology only further complicates the matter; members of this species are fossorial (meaning they’re adapted to life underground, with their tiny bodies being well-suited to tunnelling through loose soil in search of ants, termites and other small insects on which to feed,) and even when spotted above the surface their dark brown colouration aids them in blending in with the soil and leaf litter around them. What’s more, they’re easily confused with the related Brahminy Blindsnake (Indotyphlops braminus), another tiny snake that has become established as an invasive species in Barbados (with the team responsible for this year’s Threadsnake sighting making an identification by using a microscope to compare the scale markings of their snake with those of a Blindsnake.) Subsequent surveys of the area in which the initial Barbados Threadsnake sighting occurred revealed a second individual living nearby, further suggesting that a population of these illusive little reptiles remains hidden somewhere in Barbados’ soil.

We may FINALLY know what a White Witch Moth caterpillar looks like

Species Concerned: White Witch Moth (Thysania agrippina)

Source: Quitmeyer's iNaturalist upload can be found here, info on the search for White Witch larvae was taken from here.

Image Source: Here

With a wingspan of over 28 cm, the White Witch Moth is one of the largest moths in the world. Its also one of the most widely distributed, having been recorded from as far north as Mexico to as far south as Uruguay. That makes it somewhat perplexing that the eggs, larvae and pupae of this species have never been formerly described; while a widely-circulated image produced by Maria Sibylla Merian (an entomologist and illustrator famed from producing accurate images of insects at different life stages, allowing her work to be used to identify species that undergo metamorphosis) depicts adult White Witches alongside a hairy black-and-green caterpillar modern entomologists have noted that the caterpillar in Merian’s image closely resembles that of a sphinx moth (Sphingidae) species, and so is unlikely to be that of a White Witch which belongs to the only distantly related underwing family (Erebidae.) A new caterpillar candidate came to light in 2025, when iNaturalist user Andrew Quitmeyer (under the username dinalab) uploaded several pictures of a large black-and-white caterpillar they had discovered in Panama’s Veraguas province and claimed to have successfully raised it until it developed into a mature White Witch Moth.

Though Quitmeyer’s observation is undeniably exciting, the mystery of the White Witch’s larval development is still far from solved; without any definitive records of what a White Witch caterpillar looks like visual identification of the larva pictured is impossible, and as Quitmeyer has yet to provide evidence supporting their identification beyond their claims of having raised the larva to maturity its likely too soon to say if their identification is correct. That being said, the comments on Quitmeyer’s initial iNaturalist post show that they have expressed interest in publishing their findings in the future. Citizen science has a great capacity to bridge gaps in more conventional species recording, and if Quitmeyer’s observation proves correct it would represent an exciting step forward in understanding this massive-yet-mysterious moth.

The Green Sea Turtle is no longer endangered!

Species Concerned: Green Sea Turtle (Chelonia mydas)

Source: Here (IUCN Red List page here)

Image Source: Here

Like the Giant Panda or Bornean Orangutan, the Green Sea Turtle (arguably the most well-known and iconic sea turtle species) is fairly famous as an example of a species in decline; poaching, marine pollution, changing ocean conditions and the destruction of coastal nesting sites have drastically reduced the species’ population over the last century, and for as long as records on Green Sea Turtle populations have been held by the IUCN red list (the branch of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature responsible for compiling information on species’ population trends in order to determine how great a risk of extinction they face) this species has been classified as endangered. Its longstanding imperiled status makes an update to the red list published in early 2025 all the more exciting; following over 40 years of conservation efforts the Green Sea Turtle’s red list status has been amended to Least Concern, the classification assigned to species at the lowest immediate risk of extinction!

Named not for its external colouration but for a layer of pale green fat found under its shell, the Green Sea Turtle is among the most widely-distributed of the 7 known sea turtle species (having been observed in the water surrounding over 100 countries, with over 80 countries containing beaches used by nesting females.) Its wide range has historically complicated its conservation, as while many countries have applied some degree of legal protection to adult turtles and their nests the tendency of Green Sea Turtle to cross borders, combined with the pressures facing all marine ecosystems in the face of a changing global climate, means that the protection of this species requires international cooperation between conservationists, policymakers and the communities with which the turtles coexist. While continued efforts will be needed to ensure Green Sea Turtle populations remain stable and to aid in the species’ continually recovery, the fact that we’ve gotten this far shows that, though the threats the world’s oceans face may seem insurmountable and hope towards conservation can be difficult to hold onto, even the most threatened species may not be beyond saving.

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In the interest of not making this already rather lengthy post even longer, here are a few honourable mentions you may also enjoy:

-A Kākāpō baby boom has been predicted

-A new study suggests spiders use their legs to smell

-A Humpback Anglerfish was caught on film

-A Night Parrot egg was discovered

-Spotted Estuary Sharks were found to communicate by clicking

Have a great new year :)

[dougdimmadodo]

Bug of the Week #007 - Seabird Tick (Ixodes uriae)

Family: Hard Tick Family (Ixodidae)

IUCN Conservation Status: Unassessed

As its name suggests, the Seabird Tick is a specialist parasite that feeds primarily on the blood of various marine birds (including gulls, penguins, auks, skuas and albatrosses, as well as some non-marine hosts such as starlings and ducks,) using a pair of powerful sharp-tipped jaws (chelicerae) to latch on to hosts while a tube-like structure between the jaws (the hypostome) extends into the host’s body to access its blood. Born as tiny six-legged larvae, members of this species feed just 2-3 times throughout their lives, swelling with blood before dropping from their host and taking shelter in rocky crags while they digest and grow; they take their first meal shortly after hatching to fuel their moult into a larger eight-limbed nymph and later take a second meal in order to develop into adulthood. After maturing females feed once more in order to amass the nutrients needed to produce eggs (although the short-lived males will never feed as adults, often lingering in seabird nests to mate with females after they drop from their hosts.) When not feeding Seabird Ticks have been observed huddling together in large groups, which may be an adaptation to resist attacks from predators and parasites of their own.

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Image Source: https://www.inaturalist.org/photos/100910972

[dougdimmadodo]

Shrew-Nosed Squirrel (Rhinosciurus laticaudatus)

Family: Squirrel Family (Sciuridae)

IUCN Conservation Status: Near Threatened

The only living species in the genus Rhinosciurus (literally translating to "nose squirrel") the Shrew-Nosed Squirrel is unusual among squirrel species in that has adapted to feed primarily on termites, beetles and other small terrestrial invertebrates, using its long, pointed snout to root through leaf litter and sniff out prey. Beyond the signature snoot this unusual diet has also led the internal anatomy of this species' mouth to become quite unlike that of other rodents; its upper incisors (usually large and durable in squirrels) have shrunk to the point of being possibly non-functional, and instead food is manipulated using a long tongue and sharp, slender lower incisors before being ground up by the tough rear molars. Native to densely forested regions of Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore, Shrew-Nosed Squirrels are rarely seen and often mistaken for tree shrews (small, slender-faced mammals related to primates) even when observations do occur; the resemblance is so strong that the Malay word "tupai" can mean both "squirrel" and "tree shrew."

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Image Source: Here

[dougdimmadodo]

Bug of the Week #006 - Ferruginous Bee-Grabber (Sicus ferrugineus)

Family: Thick-Headed Fly Family (Conopidae)

IUCN Conservation Status: Unassessed

Small flies with distinctive spiral-shaped abdomens, female Ferruginous Bee-Grabbers earn their species its name owing to their very odd egg-laying habits; members of this species tackle and cling on to bumblebees and some large mining bees in mid-air, using their flexible abdomens to attach sticky eggs to their abdomens. After hatching the larvae bore into the bee their mother attached them to and slowly eat them alive, overwintering inside their body and emerging the following year as a mature adult. A common but often overlooked fly found throughout much of Europe, adult Ferruginous Bee-Grabbers feed on nectar and are most common in sheltered, vegetated habitats such as hedgerows and grasslands.

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Image Source: Here

[dougdimmadodo]

Giant Emerald Pill Millipede (Zoosphaerium neptunus)

The largest of the pill millipedes, the Giant Emerald Pill Millipede can be easily distinguished from its relatives (including other large millipedes with which it shares its range) by the beautiful green colouration of its exoskeleton when reflecting light. Endemic to Madagascar, members of this species are found mainly in the humid forests on the north of the island where they feed on leaf litter and other forest detritus. Female Giant Emerald Pill Millipedes are significantly larger than males (potentially as large as an apple when in their defensive curled-up posture,) and smaller males compete for their attention using a pair of modified legs, known as telopods, to produce a gentle call through striation (similar to those produced by crickets and grasshoppers.) After receiving a parcel of gametes from a successful male (which the telopods are also used for) females lay over 1,000 eggs beneath damp forest detritus.

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Image Source: Here

[dougdimmadodo]

Bug of the Week #004 - Belted Springtail (Orchesella cincta)

Though anatomically similar to insects (with segmented exoskeletons, six limbs and prominent antennae) the over 6,000 species of springtails belong to a separate-but-related clade of invertebrates that differ from true insects in that their jaws are contained in a hollow cavity in the head, in contrast to all true insects which have external mouthparts. The Belted Springtail, named for the pale bands that run across its abdomen, can be considered an example of a fairly typical springtail; a tiny soil-dwelling invertebrate found in damp habitats across much of western Europe it is a hardy and extremely adaptable omnivore that feeds on algae, molds, bacteria and rotting organic matter, and by chewing relatively large pieces of organic material up into smaller ones it helps to speed up decomposition and return nutrients to the soil around it. Like many surface-dwelling springtail species (but unlike some relatives that live deeper underground) Belted Springtails have an odd fork-shaped “tail” called a furcula tucked underneath their abdomens, and when threatened they will strike this tail against the ground to launch their tiny bodies through the air at high speeds (hence the name “springtail.”)

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Photo Source: Here

[dougdimmadodo]

Bug of the Week #003 – Pruinose Squash Bee (Xenoglossa pruinosa)

Family: Honeybee Family (Apidae)

IUCN Conservation Status: Unassessed

Like other North American bees known as squash bees, the Pruinose Squash Bee is a highly specialised bee that feeds specifically on the pollen and nectar of squashes in the genus  Cucurbita, including Cucurbita pepo (the cultivated species of squash that gives us, among other important culinary gourds, pumpkins.) While their favourite flowers seem to be those of the wild Buffalo Gourd (Cucurbita foetidissima) members of this species will also readily feed from the flowers of cultivated Cucurbita species and as such play a major role in facilitating the growth of butternut squashes, courgettes/zucchinis, pumpkins and marrows, among many other widely-farmed gourds (although they seem generally uninterested in the flowers of gourds of other genera, such as Cucumis (muskmelons and cucumbers) and Citrullus (watermelons).) Widespread across North America and found in most regions where Cucurbita species are present, Pruinose Squash Bees are often seen gathering in large numbers around flowers when feeding but do not live in the cooperative colonies seen in other bee species; females construct simple burrows near the bases of squash plants in which they store food and lay eggs, while the short-lived males spend most of their lives perched in squash flowers attempting to court passing females.

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Image Source: Here

Bonus Fun Fact- "Pruinose" means "frosted", and refers to the white setae ("fur") on these little guys' underside!

[dougdimmadodo]

Bug of the Week #002 - Foxglove Pug (Eupithecia pulchellata)

Family: Geometer Moth Family (Geometridae)

IUCN Conservation Status: Unassessed

A small, colourful moth found across much of temperate Europe, the Foxglove Pug lays its eggs exclusively on the leaves of foxgloves (Digitalis spp.). Upon hatching the pale green larvae largely ignore their hosts’ leaves and instead burrow into their sizeable cup-shaped flowers, using silk secreted from organs in their mouths to seal the opening of a host flower shut and feeding on the seeds or organs within while the petals shelter them from predators and harsh weather. As winter approaches and their host foxglove begins to die back the mature larvae will leave their floral dens and burrow underground to pupate, emerging as adults in the following summer.

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Image Sources: Here and here.

[dougdimmadodo]

Bug of the Week #001 – Great Raft Spider (Dolomedes plantarius)

Family: Raft Spider Family (Dolomedidae)

IUCN Conservation Status: Vulnerable

A very large, very rare species of Spider, the Great Raft Spider is semi-aquatic; found in peat-rich wetlands and marshes, members of this species rest on the side of pools with their front legs dipped below the surface and use long sensory hairs to feel for vibrations in the water. Upon detecting a suitable vibration a Great Raft Spider will stretch out its legs (which are lined with water-repellent hairs) in order to disperse its weight and then glide across the water without breaking the surface tension, catching drowning or aquatic insects and even tadpoles and small fish in its large fangs as it glides by. Males of this species will also use vibrations to notify nearby females of their presence, tapping the water near them in a gentle rhythm as they approach in hopes that their much larger peers will recognise them as partners as opposed to food. Great Raft Spiders are sensitive to water pollution and rely on aquatic plants to shelter from predators and protect their eggs, so as human activity has degraded or destroyed many of the wetland pools they would naturally inhabit this species has become increasingly rare across its former European range. However, increased protection of wetlands in many regions, combined with the introduction of new individuals raised in captivity to boost existing populations, mean that these aquatic arachnids may have a chance of recovering their former numbers going forward.

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Image Source: Here

[dougdimmadodo]

Blue-Naped Chlorophonia (Chlorophonia cyanea)

Family: Fringillidae (Finch Family)

IUCN Conservation Status: Least Concern

A small, colourful, seed-eating finch species, the Blue-Naped Chlorophonia has a patchy distribution across much of South America but is often quite common in areas where it is present. Most common in humid forests, members of this species build dome-shaped nests in sheltered cliff faces or vegetation-covered crevices; both parents work to incubate their small, speckled eggs and feed and defend their chicks, doing the latter by storing seeds and small fruits in their crops and regurgitating them into their chicks' mouths. All Blue-Naped Chlorophonias exhibit the same striking green, yellow and blue colouration, but females are generally slightly duller than males with smaller blue patches.

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Image Source: Here

[dougdimmadodo]

Sheltopusik (Pseudopus apodus)

Family: Slowworm Family (Anguidae)

IUCN Conservation Status: Least Concern

Though snake-like in appearance, the Sheltopusik is actually one of several species of lizards that has developed a long, slender and seemingly limbless bodies (although on close inspection they do possess two tiny hindlimbs) in order to move through underground burrows and other tight spaces; key traits that distinguish these lizards from true snakes include the presence of eyelids and external ear holes, wide tongues with no forked endings and the absence of enlarged scales on the belly, limiting their ability to generate friction and meaning they struggle to slither across smooth surfaces. Found mainly in warm, dry grasslands in central Asia and southeastern Europe, Sheltopusiks are carnivorous but lack the ability to envenomate or constrict their prey, instead subduing insects, snails and small vertebrates using their powerful jaws lined with broad, rounded teeth. Members of this species also use their jaws to defend themselves when threatened, but in extreme cases when this fails to deter an attacker they may shed their tail, which can then continue to break into smaller pieces after separating from the body (this "fracturing" has led some to refer to the Sheltopusik and its relatives as "Glass Lizards".)

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Image Source: Here

[dougdimmadodo]

Zanzibar Red Colobus (Piliocolobus kirkii)

Family: "Old World" Monkey Family (Cercopithecidae)

IUCN Conservation Status: Endangered

Easily distinguished from related species by the erect crest of white hair on their heads which may serve a role in visual communication, Zanzibar Red Colobuses are found only in the Zanzibar archipelago and are most abundant on the archipelago's largest island, Unguja (although smaller populations are also present on the neighbouring islands of Vundwe and Uzi.) Found mainly in mangrove swamps and damp coastal forests, members of this species live in large mixed-sex groups and spend most of their lives in the trees; like other colobus species their tails have become massively elongated to act as a counter-balance against their bodies while perching, and their fingers and toes have become long and hooked to aid them in grasping branches while their thumbs have degraded to the point of being barely visible. Unusually among monkeys the diets of Zanzibar Red Colobuses consist primarily of leaves and unripe fruits (both of which are hard-to-digest and packed with defensive toxins,) which has led them to develop large four-chambered stomachs capable of fermenting tough plant matter with the assistance of mutualistic microorganisms in a digestive system that is uncannily similar to that of ruminants like sheep and cows. The challenging diets of Zanzibar Red Colobuses may also explain a well-documented phenomenon in which troops descend from the canopy following forest fires and swallow charcoal; it is thought that the charcoal may absorb some of the defensive chemicals found in the plants they eat, allowing them to be flushed from the body and facilitating easier digestion.

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Image Source: Here

[dougdimmadodo]

Malleefowl (Leipoa ocellata)

Family: Megapode Family (Megapodiidae)

IUCN Conservation Status: Vulnerable

Found mainly in the dry scrublands of western Australia the Malleefowl is notable for being one of the only birds in which adults neither care for their chicks nor offload the burden of parental care on another species through brood parasitism; female Malleefowl lay their eggs in elaborate sandy mounds created by males, and while males may briefly linger to protect these mounds from predators and rivals they will have left long before their chicks have hatched. Without the protection of the parents Malleefowl chicks must grow up quickly, and after a lengthy incubation period of up to 8 weeks the chicks emerge from their eggs with a full coat of feathers and surprisingly powerful legs and wings that allow them to run within just hours of hatching and fly within days. Malleefowl nest mounds may be up to a meter tall and consist of a hole filled with rotting vegetation which males will deliberately expose to rain before covering it with a layer of sand; females lay their eggs in the vegetation layer, and as the damp vegetation around them ferments under the sand the eggs are sealed within a hot, humid and relatively safe environment as they develop - essentially, a low-tech all-natural incubator!

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Image Source: Here

[dougdimmadodo]

Cool Zoology Stories of 2024

Happy new year! As we head into 2025, here's a few fun zoology highlights from the last year.

The Iberian Lynx is no longer endgangered

Species Concerned: Iberian Lynx (Lynx pardinus)

Source: Here

Image Source: Here

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is the organisation responsible for compiling information on the size and trends seen in species’ wild populations and assigning them a “conservation status” based on how threatened they are determine to be. There are three increasingly concerning categories a species may be sorted into (vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered, in that order,) and while species may be classified as increasingly threatened if their populations continue to decline they can also be raised to a less threatened category should their population increase. In the summer of 2024, the IUCN made an exciting announcement; based on an assessment carried out throughout 2023 the Iberian Lynx (the most threatened of the four lynx species, and among the world’s rarest wildcats) had done just that, being upgraded to vulnerable from endangered!

Easily distinguished from other lynxes by it’s the distinctive pair of “beard-like” fur tufts on its chin, the Iberian Lynx, as its name suggests, is found only in the southern Iberian Peninsula which stretches across Spain and Portugal. Its already small range has shrunk further due to rapid declines in its primary prey, the European Rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus), further aggravated by habitat loss, disease outbreaks, conflict with humans and the addition genetic pressures that species with small populations experience. By 2001 the species’ population had declined to as few 62 adults, but since then intensive efforts to increase the populations of European Rabbits, protect remaining Iberian Lynx populations, introduce captive-bred individuals and encourage land owners to reduce impacts on any lynx populations on their land has allowed for a steady increase – as of 2023 the population was believed to have risen to 648 adults, and members of this species have returned to long-vacant regions of their former range! While the Iberian Lynx remains threatened and continued efforts are needed to maintain these increases, the species’ new conservation status shows that these efforts are working, and that there may yet be hope for this beardy big cat’s future.

Big News on Baby Sharks!

Species Concerned: Great White Shark (Carcharodon carcharias)

Source: Here

Image Source: Here

Despite its large size, near-cosmopolitan distribution and status as easily one of the most famous and recognisable fish on earth, there’s a lot we don’t know about the Great White Shark. In particular, there are some major gaps in our understandings of the mating habits of adult Great Whites, and in the early development of their pups. This year, however, progress was made in filling some of these gaps; in April an article published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science described activity within a “creche” of young (1-6 year old) Great Whites off the coast of California, demonstrating that (among other things) they moved between deeper and shallower coastal waters throughout the day and seemed to carefully position themselves within the water column in order to maintain a healthy body temperature and thereby facilitate growth and development (unlike many fish adult Great White Sharks are able to regulate their body temperature through metabolic activity much like mammals can, but it seems that younger individuals have a reduced ability to do so and are more reliant on environmental conditions to regulate their body temperatures. This is particularly exciting as an article published this January to another journal, Environmental Biology of Fishes critically examined footage recorded by wildlife photographer TheMalibuaArtist of a small, round-featured Great White Shark off also found near California’s coast that had an odd, pale film attached to its skin and concluded that (while it is possible that the film is the result of some previously undocumented disease or mutation) it may represent the first ever video footage of a newborn Great White Shark, with the film being debris that attached to the potential pup during live birth. The Great White Shark, despite its dreaded reputation, is itself classified as vulnerable by the IUCN, so gaining greater understanding of how members of these species live in their earliest years may prove invaluable in protecting wider populations!

The 200th Anniversary of the First Dinosaur Getting Named

Species Concerned: Megalosaurus (Megalosaurus bucklandii)

Source: Here

Image Source (excluding some...minor additions): Here

On February 20th 1824 the geologist and palaeontologist William Buckland became the first person to give a formal scientific name to a (non-avian) dinosaur, describing a set 160 million year old reptile-like bones found in Oxfordshire, England as “Megalosaurus”, which can be translated literally to “big lizard” (though is more often translated as the more dignified-sounding “great lizard.”) This means that this February marked the 200th anniversary of Megalosaurus getting its name and, in some ways, the beginning humanity’s long-standing love of and obsession with dinosaurs.

Based on the incomplete remains that had been discovered Buckland originally imagined Megalosaurus as being an enormous, slow-moving, lizard-like animal (kind of like an iguana crossed with an elephant.) However, further studies into the fossils of Megalosaurus and of numerous anatomically similar and therefore likely related animals have since demonstrated that it was a large, likely relatively fast-moving carnivorous biped, and a relative of modern birds (which, like Megalosaurus, are therapods.) Megalosaurus lived in what is now northern Europe throughout the mid-Jurassic period, while its closest relatives, the Megalosaurids, could also be found across Africa, Asia and North America and survived until the very end of the Jurassic. 17 years after Megalosaurus got its name it, alongside the early cretaceous ankylosaur Hylaeosaurus and the iconic spiky-thumbed ornithopod Iguanadon (all still imagined to be iguana-like at the time) would be recognised as relatives of one another based on similar anatomical features, becoming the first three genera to be classified as part of the clade that today contains all dinosaurs, the Dinosauria.

The Golden-Crested Helmetshrike was Photographed for the First Time

Species Concerned: Golden-Crested Helmetshrike (Prionops alberti)

Source: Here

Image Source: Here

Between December 2023 and January 2024 a collaborative team of researchers from the Democratic Republic of Congo and the USA set out to document the wildlife living in the Itombwe mountain region of South Kivu, DOC. Records of the species present in an around Itombwe are limited and every observation made during the trip was valuable, but perhaps the most exciting was the several sightings of the Yellow-Crested Helmetshrike, marking the first time this species has been formerly recorded in nearly 20 years and allowing for it to be photographed for the first time ever!

While several potential sightings have been reported elsewhere in central Africa, the Golden-Crested Helmetshrike is believed to be endemic to the DOC, making its home mainly in humid forests at high altitudes. Immediately distinguished from other birds in their range by the titular crests of bright yellow feathers that runs across their heads, members of this species live in small flocks and are extremely agile in flight, using their agility to hunt airborne insects. A lack of internationally available documented sightings of this species since the early 2000s had led to fears of its potential extinction, but as at least 18 individuals were sighted during the team’s expedition the species is now known not only to be surviving, but potentially to be more abundant within its home range than previously thought!

Frogs and Wolves got in on Pollination

Species Concerned: Izecksohn's Brazilian Tree Frog (Xenohyla truncata) and Ethiopian Wolf (Canis simensis)

Sources: Here and Here

Image Sources: Here and Here

Insects are by far the most important pollinators on earth (with some 80% of plants relying on insect-based pollination to reproduce,) but there are also many important vertebrate pollinators (most notably nectar-drinking bats and birds.) Pollinating vertebrates are important not only to wild plants but also to crops, wit mangos, durians and bananas all relying heavily on vertebrates to spread their pollen. 2024 saw two surprising new additions to the list of potential vertebrate pollinators; the unusual Izecksohn's Brazilian Tree Frog and the endangered Ethiopian Wolf!

Found only in Rio de Janiero, Brazil, Izecksohn's Brazilian Tree Frog is unusual among frogs in that while almost all frogs are carnivorous members of this species prominently feed on fruit and nectar. Like other nectar-feeding animals, as they move between flowers they carry pollen with them, making them the only known amphibian pollinators. The Ethiopian Wolf, native to high-altitude regions of Ethiopia, is among the rarest wild dogs on earth and has typically been thought of as a strict carnivore. In November of 2024, however, members of this species were recorded feeding on the flowers of the Red Hot Poker Plant (Kniphofia foliosa), transferring pollen on their muzzles in the process. While further studies are needed to determine quite how important either species is in pollination, it still suggests that the number of pollinating vertebrate species in the world may be greater than previously thought!

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Have a great new year!