Organism of The Week

don't you think organisms are cool

[organisms-stealing-the-spotlight]

Post #32

The common name is Zebra Duiker and the scientific name is Cephalophus zebra. The taxonomic classification of the Zebra Duiker is: the Kingdom is Animalia; the Phylum is Chordata; the Class is Mammalia; the Order is Rodentia; the Family is Bathyergidae; the Genus is Heterocephalus; and the Species is Cephalophus zebra. The description of the Zebra Duiker is that it is a small antelope that is believed to be one of the earliest duiker species to have evolved. Zebra duikers have gold or red-brown coats with 12-16 distinctive zebra-like stripes, dark markings on their upper legs, and russet faces. Newborns appear darker because they are born with their stripes closer together. An adult can grow to 35 in in length, 45 cm in height, and 44 lb in weight. Their horns are short and round with sharp pointed tips. They are about 4.5 - 5.0 cm long in males, and half that in females. Female body size is larger than males, possibly due to long gestation periods. The environment is that Zebra Duikers live in lowland primary rainforests, particularly by clearings and along forest margins. They are most commonly found in forested areas of the midwestern parts of Africa. They can less commonly be found in hill and low-mountain forests.found primarily in Liberia, as well as the Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, and occasionally Guinea. The reproduction of the Zebra Duikers is that the gestation period is anywhere from 221 to 229 days and the female is receptive to mating about 10 days after parturition. The mother will only birth one calf at a time. The growth and development newborn can weigh from 1270 to 1550 g at birth. During the first ten days after birth, referred to as the lactation period, a newborn grows at a rate of about 94 g/day. After that, the growth rate decreases considerably. Females reach sexual maturity at 9–12 months of age and males reach sexual maturity at 12–18 months. The nutritional requirements for Zebra Duikers is that they are ruminants which feed primarily on fruit, foliage, and seeds. Though rare, there is evidence that they may eat rodents on occasion. Their reinforced nasal bones enable them crack open the hard exterior of certain fruits. A fun fact is that they are sometimes referred to as the banded duiker or striped-back duiker.

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Post #31

The common name of this organism is the Sarcastic Fringehead and the scientific name is Neoclinus blanchardi. The scientific classification of the Sarcastic Fringehead is as follows: the kingdom is Animalia; the phylum is Chordata; the class is Actinopterygii; the order is Perciformes; the family is Chaenopsidae; the genus is Neoclinus; and the species is Neoclinus blanchardi. The description of the Sarcastic Fringehead is that they are a small but ferocious breed of fish that has a large mouth and aggressive territorial behavior, for which it has been given its common name. When two fringeheads have a territorial battle, they wrestle by pressing their distended mouths against each other, as if they were kissing. This allows them to determine which is the larger fish, which establishes dominance. They can be up to 12 inches long, elongate and slender, and are mostly scaleless with great pectoral fins and reduced pelvic fins. The environment of the Sarcastic Fringehead is that they are found in a demersal, marine environment. They occupy depths ranging from three to sixty-one meters. Fringeheads can be found in a subtropical climate typically around 38* C. More specifically, Sarcastic Fringeheads can be found along the exposed coast of the Pacific Ocean. At times, they can be seen on the sand or the mud bottom below low tide. Typically, they occupy empty shells, abandoned holes and crevices. In some areas, they even take up residence in old cans and bottles. In fact, in the "beer bottle field" of Santa Monica Bay, nearly every bottle is a home to a Fringehead. The reproduction of the Sarcastic Fringeheads is that they generally spawn from January to August. They are oviparous creatures. The female lays her eggs in what is usually an abandoned burrow. It is then the task of the male to guard the nest that is attached to the wall of the shelter. The eggs are typically 0.9 to 1.5 mm in diameter. Each egg has an oil globule component as well as filaments by which they are attached both to the nest itself as well as to the other eggs. The growth and development of the Sarcastic Fringehead is that the eggs are guarded by the male until they hatch and then they do not reach sexual maturity for a couple of months after hatching. The nutritional requirements of the Sarcastic Fringeheads is that they are omnivores. They consume roughly 13.6 times their body weight per year. A fun fact is that, as suggested by their name, Sarcastic Fringeheads are extremely temperamental. They are fiercely territorial creatures that aggressively protect their homes from all intruders, regardless of size. The majority of the time, Sarcastic Fringeheads are at rest in their homes -- only their heads protrude. However, upon the first sign of danger, they will employ their enormous mouths and needlelike teeth for defense.

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Post #30

The common name is Dugong while the scientific name is Dugong dugon. The scientific classification of the Dugong is: the kingdom is Animalia; the phylum is Chordata; the class is Mammalia; the order is Sirenia; the family is Dugongidae; the genus is Dugong; and the species is Dugong dugon. A description of the Dugong is that it is a medium-sized marine mammal. Like all modern sirenians, the dugong has a fusiform body with no dorsal fin or hind limbs. The forelimbs or flippers are paddle-like. The dugong is easily distinguished from the manatees by its fluked, dolphin-like tail, but also possesses a unique skull and teeth. Its snout is sharply downturned, an adaptation for feeding in benthic seagrass communities. The molar teeth are simple and peg-like unlike the more elaborate molar dentition of manatees. The Dugong is largely dependent on seagrass communities for subsistence and is thus restricted to the coastal habitats which support seagrass meadows, with the largest dugong concentrations typically occurring in wide, shallow, protected areas such as bays, mangrove channels, the waters of large inshore islands and inter-reefal waters. The northern waters of Australia between Shark Bay and Moreton Bay are believed to be the dugong’s contemporary stronghold. The environment of Dugongs is that they are generally found in warm waters around the coast with large numbers concentrated in wide and shallow protected bays. The Dugong is the only strictly-marine herbivorous mammal, as all species of manatee utilise fresh water to some degree. Nonetheless, they can tolerate the brackish waters found in coastal wetlands, and large numbers are also found in wide and shallow mangrove channels and around leeward sides of large inshore islands, where seagrass beds are common. They have disappeared from the waters of Hong Kong, Mauritius, and Taiwan, as well as parts of Cambodia, Japan, the Philippines and Vietnam. Further disappearances are likely. The reproduction of the Dugong is that the time between births is unclear, with estimates ranging from 2 to 7 years. Mating behavior varies between populations located in different areas. In some populations, males will establish a territory which females in heat will visit. In these areas a male will try to impress the females while defending the area from other males, a practice known as lekking. In other areas many males will attempt to mate with the same female, sometimes inflicting injuries to the female or each other. During this the female will have copulated with multiple males, who will have fought to mount her from below. The growth and development of the Dugong is that as soon as the young is born the mother pushes it to the surface to take a breath. Newborns are already 4 feet long and weigh around 66 lb. Once born, they stay close to their mothers, possibly to make swimming easier. The calf nurses for 14–18 months, although it begins to eat seagrasses soon after birth. A calf will only leave its mother once it has matured. A dugong reaches sexual maturity between the ages of eight and eighteen, older than in most other mammals. The way that females know how a male has reached sexual maturity is by the eruption of tusks in the male since tusks erupt in males when testosterone levels reach a high enough level. The age when a female first gives birth is disputed, with some studies placing the age between ten and seventeen years, while others place it as early as six years. There is evidence that male dugongs lose fertility at older ages. Despite the longevity of the dugong, which may live for 50 years or more, females give birth only a few times during their life, and invest considerable parental care in their young. The nutritional requirements for the Dugongs is that, along with other sirenians, they are referred to as “sea cows” because their diet consists mainly of sea-grass. When eating they ingest the whole plant, including the roots, although when this is impossible they will feed on just the leaves. A wide variety of seagrass has been found in dugong stomach contents, and evidence exists they will eat algae when seagrass is scarce. Although almost completely herbivorous, they will occasionally eat invertebrates such as jellyfish, sea squirts, and shellfish. Dugongs in Moreton Bay, Australia, are omnivorous, feeding on invertebrates such as polychaetes or marine algae when the supply of their choice grasses decreases. A fun fact is that the Dugong has been listed as a species that is at risk of extinction.

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Post #29

The common name is desert grassland whiptail lizard and the scientific name is Aspidoscelis uniparens. The scientific classification is as follows: the Kingdom is animalia; the Phylum is chordata; the Class is reptilia; the Order is squamata; the Family is teiidae; the Genus is aspidoscelis; and the Species is Aspidoscelis uniparens. The description of the desert grassland whiptail lizard is that it is an all-female species of reptiles. The desert grassland whiptail lizard is a relatively small reptile, whose size ranges from 2¾ inches to 5¼ inches. Desert grassland whiptails are very long and slim, with a thin tail that is longer than their body length. Their distinct identifying feature are the six yellowish lines that run the length of their body. The majority of the whiptail’s body tends to be an olive or brown colour that fades to a faint blue or gray on their tail. Comparatively, an adolescent’s tail is a very bright and vibrant blue. Their bodies are lined with small coarse scales, which gradually get larger as they approach the tail. The scales on their bellies are much larger in size and are much smoother as well. The environment of the desert grassland whiptail is mostly deserts of southern to central Arizona and along the Rio Grande river in New Mexico. It is also found in the deserts of northern Mexico. Some have argued that the species’ range is expanding due to overgrazing. These reptiles reproduce by parthenogenesis. In this procees, eggs undergo a chromosome doubling after meiosis and developing into lizards without being fertilized. However, ovulation is enhanced by female-female courtship and “mating” (pseudo-copulation) rituals that resemble the behavior of closely related species that reproduce sexually.This process involves the alternation between male-typical and female-typical sexual behaviors, driven by progesterone, in both lizards; corresponding to the state of their partner. Diversity is maintained by combining sister chromosomes instead of pairing homologous chromosomes. Current studies suggest that the lizards may be able to distinguish between homologous and sister chromosomes. The lizard is a triploid unisexual species that reproduce asexually. This then produced a diploid unisexual, which backcrossed to inornata and produced triploid uniparens. The growth and development of these lizards is that females are sexually mature at about 60mm head and body length. They lay one-to-three clutches of eggs in the late spring or early summer (each clutch contains one-to-four eggs). Clutch size depends on the size of the female. The eggs incubate about two months before hatching. The nutritional requirements of these lizards are insects which are the primary diet. For the most part, they eat spiders, termites, antlions, beetles, and short-horned grasshoppers. Their dominant foods vary little over time. Research suggests that this may be because sexual variation was more evident; it may act to reduce intraspecific competition for food resources and may be associated with secondary sexual size dimorphism. A fun fact is that this all-female species of lizard originally resulted from the hybridization of two other species of whiptail: Texas spotted whiptail, and little striped whiptail.

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Post #28

The common name is Tardigrade while the scientific name is Hypsibius Dujardini. The scientific classification of the Tardigrade is: the Kingdom is Animalia; the Phylum is Tardigrada; the Class is Eutardigrada; the Order is Parachela; the Family is Hypsibiidae; the Genus is Hypsibius; and the Species is Hypsibius Dujardini. The description of the Tardigrade is that they are water-dwelling, eight-legged, segmented micro-animals. They are short and plump with four pairs of legs, each with four to eight claws also known as “disks”. The first three pairs of legs are directed ventrolaterally and are the primary means of locomotion (moving), while the fourth pair is directed posteriorly on the terminal segment of the trunk and is used primarily for grasping the substrate. The biggest adults may reach a body length of 1.5 mm, the smallest below 0.1 mm. Newly hatched tardigrades may be smaller than 0.05 mm.  The Tardigrades are notable for being perhaps the most durable of known organisms; they are able to survive extreme conditions that would be rapidly fatal to nearly all other known life forms. They can withstand temperature ranges from −458 °F or −272 °C to about 300 °F or 150 °C, pressures about six times greater than those found in the deepest ocean trenches, ionizing radiation at doses hundreds of times higher than the lethal dose for a human, and the vacuum of outer space. They can go without food or water for more than 30 years, drying out to the point where they are 3% or less water, only to rehydrate, forage, and reproduce. The environment of Tardigrades is commonly on lichens and mosses. Other environments are dunes, beaches, soil, and marine or freshwater sediments. Tardigrades may also be found on barnacles. They have been sighted from mountaintops to the deep sea, from tropical rain forests to the Antarctic. A reproduction description of the Tardigrades is that, although some species are parthenogenic, both males and females are usually present, each with a single gonad located above the intestine. Two ducts run from the testis in males, opening through a single pore in front of the anus. In contrast, females have a single duct opening either just above the anus or directly into the rectum, which thus forms a cloaca. Tardigrades are oviparous, and fertilization is usually external. Mating occurs during the molt with the eggs being laid inside the shed cuticle of the female and then covered with sperm. A few species have internal fertilization, with mating occurring before the female fully sheds her cuticle. In most cases, the eggs are left inside the shed cuticle to develop, but some species attach them to nearby substrate. The growth and development of the Tardigrades is that usually they are about 0.5 mm long when they are fully grown. The eggs hatch after no more than 14 days, with the young already possessing their full complement of adult cells. Growth to the adult size therefore occurs by enlargement of the individual cells (hypertrophy), rather than by cell division. Tardigrades may molt up to 12 times. The nutritional requirements of the Tardigrades is that they usually feed on plant cells, algae, and small invertebrates. A fun fact is that Johann August Ephraim Goeze originally named the Tardigrade kleiner Wasserbär, meaning ‘little water bear’ in German. The name Tardigrada means “slow walker” and was given by Lazzaro Spallanzani in 1776.

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Post #26

The common name of this species is Trump while the scientific name is Racist Extremist. The scientific classification of the Trump is as follows: the Kingdom is Animalia; the Phylum is Chordata; the Class is Mammalia; the Order is Primates; the Family is Hominidae; the Genus is Homo; and the Species is Racist Extremist. The Trump is very closely related to Homo Sapiens. The description of the Trump is that it resembles a gross yam. A terror yam. An overly ripe yam. Almost like the worst of all the yams that you buy for Thanksgiving. The Trump has an extended lump beneath its hair because of an extra part of its brain where all of its racist and extremist thoughts are brought into existence. The Toupee animal that rests on top of its head has a symbiotic relationship with it. The Toupee animal resembles an elderly cat hanging on to the last strings of life. The Toupee hates Megan Kelly and it feeds off of this terror yam. The Trumps’ ears are little yam stumps. The eyebrows of the Trumps resembles sun-bleached caterpillars. Its eyes look like what happens when you leave potatoes out in the sun and they fold in on themselves from becoming so dense, just little creases. The Trumps are very saggy creatures and they have the luster of a sweet potato. In my personal opinion, they look like someone murdered an Oompa Loompa. The Toupee animals come in two colors and that is winter hay or sick pass while the Trump itself always has a coloring resembling someone that stayed in the tanning bed for too long. The environment of the Trump is very unspecific and they can live just about anywhere but they build walls around their homes as a fear tactic and they also make other species build these said walls. The Trump reproduces through Mitosis though they sometimes attempt reproduction with its own spawns. The growth and development of the Trump is that the baby Trumplings come into this world through the process of Mitosis and they are kept underneath the Toupee (the creature with a symbiotic relationship with all Mother Trumps) for protection. The little Trumplings start out looking similar to orange naked mole rats that are all born with smaller Toupees that develop with them as they grow. All Trumplings start out their lives by pretending to be potatos until the point when they become the farmers most prized possesion then they precede to murder their master as well as the Mother Trump, much like some kind of icelandic fairytale. The nutritional requirements for the Trumps is the souls of all immigrants and also babies. Mother Trumps will eat the weakest of their Trumplings. A fun fact about the Trump is that all of them are particularly drawn to the color moist navy and like to cover their disgusting and saggy bodies with this color.

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Post #17

The common name is the Sumatran Rhinoceros and the scientific name is Dicerorhinus Sumatrensis. The taxonomic classification of the Sumatran Rhinoceros is as follows: Kingdom - Animalia; Phylum - Chordata; Class - Mammalia; Order - Perissodactyla; Family - Rhinocertidae; Genus - Dicerorhinus; Species - Dicerorhinus Sumatrensis. The description of the Sumatran Rhinoceros is that like the African species, it has two horns. The larger is the nasal horn and the posterior horn is much smaller, often little more than a knob. The larger nasal horn is also known as the anterior horn; the smaller posterior horn as the frontal horn. The horns are dark grey or black in color. The males have larger horns than the females, though the species is not otherwise sexually dimorphic. Two thick folds of skin encircle the body behind the front legs and before the hind legs. The rhino has a smaller fold of skin around its neck. Hair can range from dense (the most dense hair in young calves) to scarce, and is usually a reddish-brown. In the wild, this hair is hard to observe because the rhinos are often covered in mud. In captivity, however, the hair grows out and becomes much shaggier, likely because of less abrasion from walking through vegetation. The rhino has a patch of long hair around its ears and a thick clump of hair at the end of its tail.  The environment of the Sumatran Rhinoceros is both lowland and highland secondary rainforest, swamps, and cloud forests. It inhabits hilly areas close to water, particularly steep upper valleys with copious undergrowth. The Sumatran rhinoceros is fast and agile; it climbs mountains easily and comfortably traverses steep slopes and riverbanks. Sexual relationships begin with a courtship period characterized by increased vocalization, tail raising, urination, and increased physical contact, with both male and female using their snouts to bump the other in the head and genitals. The pattern of courtship is most similar to that of the black rhinoceros. Young Sumatran rhino males are often too aggressive with females, sometimes injuring and even killing them during the courtship. They have sexual reproduction. Females become sexually mature at the age of six to seven years, while males become sexually mature at about 10 years old. The gestation period is around 15–16 months. The calf, which typically weighs 40–60 kg, is weaned after about 15 months and stays with its mother for the first two to three years of its life. In the wild, the birth interval for this species is estimated to be four to five years; its natural offspring-rearing behavior is unstudied. The largest portion of the diet is tree saplings with a trunk diameter of 1–6 cm. The rhinoceros typically pushes these saplings over with its body, walking over the sapling without stepping on it, to eat the leaves. Many of the plant species the rhino consumes exist in only small portions, which indicates the rhino is frequently changing its diet and feeding in different locations. Salt licks are very important to the nutrition of the rhino. These licks can be small hot springs, seepages of salty water, or mud-volcanoes. A fun fact about the Sumatran Rhinoceros is that they are a mostly solitary creatures.

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Post #16

The common name is the Maned Wolf and the scientific name is Chrysocyon brachyurus. The description of the maned wolf is that it is tallest of the wild canids; its long legs are likely an adaptation to the tall grasslands of its native habitat. Fur of the maned wolf may be reddish brown to golden orange on the sides with long, black legs, and a distinctive black mane. The coat is marked further with a whitish tuft at the tip of the tail and a white marking beneath the throat. The mane is erectile, and, typically, is used to enlarge the wolf’s profile when threatened or when displaying aggression.The maned wolf also is known for the distinctive odor of its territory markings, which has earned it the nickname “skunk wolf.” The maned wolf is omnivorous. Its diet consists of small and medium-sized prey, including small mammals (typically rodents and rabbits), birds, and even fish, but a large portion of its diet is vegetable matter, including sugarcane, tubers, and fruit (especially the wolf apple, Solanum lycocarpum, a tomato-like fruit). Their reproduction season ranges from November to April. Gestation lasts 60 to 65 days and a litter may have from two to six black-furred pups. Pups are fully grown when one year old. During that first year, the pups are known to rely on their parents for food. The taxonomic classification of the Maned Wolf is as follows: Kingdom - Animalia; Phylum - Chordata; Class - Mammalia; Order - Carnivora; Family - Canidae; Genus - Caninae; Species - Chrysocyon brachyurus. The environment of the Maned Wolf is usually patches of grassland that have been cleared by fire, a place where scavenging rodents are usually exposed. A fun fact about the Maned Wolf is that it participates in many symbiotic relationships with other animals.

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i need extra credit haha (a second post just in case the other one doesn't work for extra credit) #asfasciencecellfie #cellfie

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post for a bonus on taxonomy quiz 1 (i made an earlier one but it was posted to an old tumblr account of mine by accident and i didnt notice)

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Post #30

The common name is Dugong while the scientific name is Dugong dugon. The scientific classification of the Dugong is: the kingdom is Animalia; the phylum is Chordata; the class is Mammalia; the order is Sirenia; the family is Dugongidae; the genus is Dugong; and the species is Dugong dugon. A description of the Dugong is that it is a medium-sized marine mammal. Like all modern sirenians, the dugong has a fusiform body with no dorsal fin or hind limbs. The forelimbs or flippers are paddle-like. The dugong is easily distinguished from the manatees by its fluked, dolphin-like tail, but also possesses a unique skull and teeth. Its snout is sharply downturned, an adaptation for feeding in benthic seagrass communities. The molar teeth are simple and peg-like unlike the more elaborate molar dentition of manatees. The Dugong is largely dependent on seagrass communities for subsistence and is thus restricted to the coastal habitats which support seagrass meadows, with the largest dugong concentrations typically occurring in wide, shallow, protected areas such as bays, mangrove channels, the waters of large inshore islands and inter-reefal waters. The northern waters of Australia between Shark Bay and Moreton Bay are believed to be the dugong's contemporary stronghold. The environment of Dugongs is that they are generally found in warm waters around the coast with large numbers concentrated in wide and shallow protected bays. The Dugong is the only strictly-marine herbivorous mammal, as all species of manatee utilise fresh water to some degree. Nonetheless, they can tolerate the brackish waters found in coastal wetlands, and large numbers are also found in wide and shallow mangrove channels and around leeward sides of large inshore islands, where seagrass beds are common. They have disappeared from the waters of Hong Kong, Mauritius, and Taiwan, as well as parts of Cambodia, Japan, the Philippines and Vietnam. Further disappearances are likely. The reproduction of the Dugong is that the time between births is unclear, with estimates ranging from 2 to 7 years. Mating behavior varies between populations located in different areas. In some populations, males will establish a territory which females in heat will visit. In these areas a male will try to impress the females while defending the area from other males, a practice known as lekking. In other areas many males will attempt to mate with the same female, sometimes inflicting injuries to the female or each other. During this the female will have copulated with multiple males, who will have fought to mount her from below. The growth and development of the Dugong is that as soon as the young is born the mother pushes it to the surface to take a breath. Newborns are already 4 feet long and weigh around 66 lb. Once born, they stay close to their mothers, possibly to make swimming easier. The calf nurses for 14–18 months, although it begins to eat seagrasses soon after birth. A calf will only leave its mother once it has matured. A dugong reaches sexual maturity between the ages of eight and eighteen, older than in most other mammals. The way that females know how a male has reached sexual maturity is by the eruption of tusks in the male since tusks erupt in males when testosterone levels reach a high enough level. The age when a female first gives birth is disputed, with some studies placing the age between ten and seventeen years, while others place it as early as six years. There is evidence that male dugongs lose fertility at older ages. Despite the longevity of the dugong, which may live for 50 years or more, females give birth only a few times during their life, and invest considerable parental care in their young. The nutritional requirements for the Dugongs is that, along with other sirenians, they are referred to as "sea cows" because their diet consists mainly of sea-grass. When eating they ingest the whole plant, including the roots, although when this is impossible they will feed on just the leaves. A wide variety of seagrass has been found in dugong stomach contents, and evidence exists they will eat algae when seagrass is scarce. Although almost completely herbivorous, they will occasionally eat invertebrates such as jellyfish, sea squirts, and shellfish. Dugongs in Moreton Bay, Australia, are omnivorous, feeding on invertebrates such as polychaetes or marine algae when the supply of their choice grasses decreases. A fun fact is that the Dugong has been listed as a species that is at risk of extinction.

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Post #29

The common name is desert grassland whiptail lizard and the scientific name is Aspidoscelis uniparens. The scientific classification is as follows: the Kingdom is animalia; the Phylum is chordata; the Class is reptilia; the Order is squamata; the Family is teiidae; the Genus is aspidoscelis; and the Species is Aspidoscelis uniparens. The description of the desert grassland whiptail lizard is that it is an all-female species of reptiles. The desert grassland whiptail lizard is a relatively small reptile, whose size ranges from 2¾ inches to 5¼ inches. Desert grassland whiptails are very long and slim, with a thin tail that is longer than their body length. Their distinct identifying feature are the six yellowish lines that run the length of their body. The majority of the whiptail's body tends to be an olive or brown colour that fades to a faint blue or gray on their tail. Comparatively, an adolescent's tail is a very bright and vibrant blue. Their bodies are lined with small coarse scales, which gradually get larger as they approach the tail. The scales on their bellies are much larger in size and are much smoother as well. The environment of the desert grassland whiptail is mostly deserts of southern to central Arizona and along the Rio Grande river in New Mexico. It is also found in the deserts of northern Mexico. Some have argued that the species' range is expanding due to overgrazing. These reptiles reproduce by parthenogenesis. In this procees, eggs undergo a chromosome doubling after meiosis and developing into lizards without being fertilized. However, ovulation is enhanced by female-female courtship and "mating" (pseudo-copulation) rituals that resemble the behavior of closely related species that reproduce sexually.This process involves the alternation between male-typical and female-typical sexual behaviors, driven by progesterone, in both lizards; corresponding to the state of their partner. Diversity is maintained by combining sister chromosomes instead of pairing homologous chromosomes. Current studies suggest that the lizards may be able to distinguish between homologous and sister chromosomes. The lizard is a triploid unisexual species that reproduce asexually. This then produced a diploid unisexual, which backcrossed to inornata and produced triploid uniparens. The growth and development of these lizards is that females are sexually mature at about 60mm head and body length. They lay one-to-three clutches of eggs in the late spring or early summer (each clutch contains one-to-four eggs). Clutch size depends on the size of the female. The eggs incubate about two months before hatching. The nutritional requirements of these lizards are insects which are the primary diet. For the most part, they eat spiders, termites, antlions, beetles, and short-horned grasshoppers. Their dominant foods vary little over time. Research suggests that this may be because sexual variation was more evident; it may act to reduce intraspecific competition for food resources and may be associated with secondary sexual size dimorphism. A fun fact is that this all-female species of lizard originally resulted from the hybridization of two other species of whiptail: Texas spotted whiptail, and little striped whiptail.

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Post #28

The common name is Tardigrade while the scientific name is Hypsibius Dujardini. The scientific classification of the Tardigrade is: the Kingdom is Animalia; the Phylum is Tardigrada; the Class is Eutardigrada; the Order is Parachela; the Family is Hypsibiidae; the Genus is Hypsibius; and the Species is Hypsibius Dujardini. The description of the Tardigrade is that they are water-dwelling, eight-legged, segmented micro-animals. They are short and plump with four pairs of legs, each with four to eight claws also known as "disks". The first three pairs of legs are directed ventrolaterally and are the primary means of locomotion (moving), while the fourth pair is directed posteriorly on the terminal segment of the trunk and is used primarily for grasping the substrate. The biggest adults may reach a body length of 1.5 mm, the smallest below 0.1 mm. Newly hatched tardigrades may be smaller than 0.05 mm.  The Tardigrades are notable for being perhaps the most durable of known organisms; they are able to survive extreme conditions that would be rapidly fatal to nearly all other known life forms. They can withstand temperature ranges from −458 °F or −272 °C to about 300 °F or 150 °C, pressures about six times greater than those found in the deepest ocean trenches, ionizing radiation at doses hundreds of times higher than the lethal dose for a human, and the vacuum of outer space. They can go without food or water for more than 30 years, drying out to the point where they are 3% or less water, only to rehydrate, forage, and reproduce. The environment of Tardigrades is commonly on lichens and mosses. Other environments are dunes, beaches, soil, and marine or freshwater sediments. Tardigrades may also be found on barnacles. They have been sighted from mountaintops to the deep sea, from tropical rain forests to the Antarctic. A reproduction description of the Tardigrades is that, although some species are parthenogenic, both males and females are usually present, each with a single gonad located above the intestine. Two ducts run from the testis in males, opening through a single pore in front of the anus. In contrast, females have a single duct opening either just above the anus or directly into the rectum, which thus forms a cloaca. Tardigrades are oviparous, and fertilization is usually external. Mating occurs during the molt with the eggs being laid inside the shed cuticle of the female and then covered with sperm. A few species have internal fertilization, with mating occurring before the female fully sheds her cuticle. In most cases, the eggs are left inside the shed cuticle to develop, but some species attach them to nearby substrate. The growth and development of the Tardigrades is that usually they are about 0.5 mm long when they are fully grown. The eggs hatch after no more than 14 days, with the young already possessing their full complement of adult cells. Growth to the adult size therefore occurs by enlargement of the individual cells (hypertrophy), rather than by cell division. Tardigrades may molt up to 12 times. The nutritional requirements of the Tardigrades is that they usually feed on plant cells, algae, and small invertebrates. A fun fact is that Johann August Ephraim Goeze originally named the Tardigrade kleiner Wasserbär, meaning 'little water bear' in German. The name Tardigrada means "slow walker" and was given by Lazzaro Spallanzani in 1776.

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Post #27

The common name of this animal is the Java Mouse-Deer and scientific name is Tragulus Javanicus. The scientific classification of this animal is as follows: the Kingdom is Animalia; the Phylum is Chordata; the Class is Mammalia; the Order is Artiodactyla; the Family is Tragulidae; the Genus is Tragulus; and the Species is Tragulus Javanicus. The description of the Java Mouse-Deer is that it possess a triangular-shaped head, an arched back, and a round body with elevated rear quarters. The thin, short legs which support the Java Mouse-Deer are about the diameter of a pencil. Although Java mouse-deer do not possess antlers or horns like regular deer, male Java mouse-deer have elongated, tusk-like upper canines which protrude downward from the upper jaw along the sides of their mouth. Males use these “tusks” to defend themselves and their mates against rivals. Females can be distinguished from males because they lack these prominent canines, and they are slightly smaller than the males. Java Mouse-Deer can furthermore be distinguished by their lack of upper incisors. The coat coloration of the Java mouse-deer is reddish-brown with a white underside. Pale white spots or vertical markings are also present on the animal’s neck. The Java Mouse-Deer prefers habitats of higher elevations and the tropical forest regions of Java, although it does appear at lower elevations sometimes. During the day, Java Mouse-Deer can be seen roaming in crown-gap areas with dense undergrowth of creeping bamboo, through which they make tunnels through the thick vegetation which lead to resting places and feeding areas. At night, the Java mouse-deer moves to higher and drier ridge areas. It has been argued that Java mouse-deer are an “edge” species, favoring areas of dense vegetation along riverbanks. Additionally, Java mouse-deer have been found to be more prevalent in logged areas than in the more mature forests, and their densities tended to decrease proportionately as the logged forests matured. The reproduction of the Java mouse-deer is that they are capable of breeding at any time during the year, and this has been observed during captivity. However, some sources have observed that the breeding season for the Java mouse-deer in nature occurs from November to December. Additionally, female mouse-deer have the potential to be pregnant throughout most of their adult life, and they are capable of conceiving 85–155 minutes after giving birth. The Java mouse-deer’s gestation period usually lasts 4.5 months, or 144 days. The growth and development of a Java Mouse- Deer is that typical litters consist of a single fawn, which resembles a miniature adult, although the tusk-like incisors prevalent in males are not visible in the young mouse-deer. Fawns are capable of eating solid food within two weeks, yet it takes around 12 weeks to completely wean the fawns. On average, it takes the young, both male and female, 5 months to reach sexual maturity. The nutritional requirements of the Java Mouse-Deer is that they are primarily herbivores, although in captivity they have been observed to eat insects as well as foliage. Their diet consists primarily of that which they find on the ground in the dense vegetation they inhabit, and they prefer the plants of the faster-growing gap species over the closed forest understory species, likely due to the increased richness of secondary protective compounds which the gap species provide.They are often classified as folivores, eating primarily leaves, shrubs, shoots, buds, and fungi, in addition to fruits which have fallen from trees. A fun fact is that, historically speaking, the mouse-deer has featured prominently in Malay and Indonesian folklore, where it is considered a wise creature.

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Post #26

The common name of this species is Trump while the scientific name is Racist Extremist. The scientific classification of the Trump is as follows: the Kingdom is Animalia; the Phylum is Chordata; the Class is Mammalia; the Order is Primates; the Family is Hominidae; the Genus is Homo; and the Species is Racist Extremist. The Trump is very closely related to Homo Sapiens. The description of the Trump is that it resembles a gross yam. A terror yam. An overly ripe yam. Almost like the worst of all the yams that you buy for Thanksgiving. The Trump has an extended lump beneath its hair because of an extra part of its brain where all of its racist and extremist thoughts are brought into existence. The Toupee animal that rests on top of its head has a symbiotic relationship with it. The Toupee animal resembles an elderly cat hanging on to the last strings of life. The Toupee hates Megan Kelly and it feeds off of this terror yam. The Trumps’ ears are little yam stumps. The eyebrows of the Trumps resembles sun-bleached caterpillars. Its eyes look like what happens when you leave potatoes out in the sun and they fold in on themselves from becoming so dense, just little creases. The Trumps are very saggy creatures and they have the luster of a sweet potato. In my personal opinion, they look like someone murdered an Oompa Loompa. The Toupee animals come in two colors and that is winter hay or sick pass while the Trump itself always has a coloring resembling someone that stayed in the tanning bed for too long. The environment of the Trump is very unspecific and they can live just about anywhere but they build walls around their homes as a fear tactic and they also make other species build these said walls. The Trump reproduces through Mitosis though they sometimes attempt reproduction with its own spawns. The growth and development of the Trump is that the baby Trumplings come into this world through the process of Mitosis and they are kept underneath the Toupee (the creature with a symbiotic relationship with all Mother Trumps) for protection. The little Trumplings start out looking similar to orange naked mole rats that are all born with smaller Toupees that develop with them as they grow. All Trumplings start out their lives by pretending to be potatos until the point when they become the farmers most prized possesion then they precede to murder their master as well as the Mother Trump, much like some kind of icelandic fairytale. The nutritional requirements for the Trumps is the souls of all immigrants and also babies. Mother Trumps will eat the weakest of their Trumplings. A fun fact about the Trump is that all of them are particularly drawn to the color moist navy and like to cover their disgusting and saggy bodies with this color.

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i need extra credit haha

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Post #25

The common name of this organism is Tarsier while the scientific name is Carlito Syrichta. The scientific classification of the Tarsier is as follows: the Kingdom is Animalia; the Phylum is Chordata; the Class is Mammalia; the Order is Primates; the Family is Tarsiidae; the Genus is Carlito; and the Species is Carlito Syrichta. The description of the Tarsier is that its eyes are fixed in its skull and thus they cannot turn in their sockets. Instead, a special adaptation in the neck allows its round head to be rotated 180°. Their eyes are disproportionately large, having the largest eye-to-body size ratio of all mammals. These huge eyes provide this nocturnal animal with excellent night vision. In bright light, the Tarsier's eyes can constrict until the pupil appears to be only a thin line. In darkness, the pupil can dilate and fill up almost the entire eye. The large membranous ears are mobile, appearing to be almost constantly moving, allowing the tarsier to hear any movement. The Tarsier has thin, rough fur which is colored gray to dark brown. The narrow tail, usually used for balance, is bald except for a tuft of hair at the end, and is about twice the body length. Its elongated "tarsus", or ankle bone, which gives the Tarsier its name, allows it to jump at least 3 m from tree to tree. Its long digits are tipped with rounded pads that allow the Tarsier to cling easily to trees and to grip almost any surface. The thumb is not truly opposable, but the first toe is. All of the digits have flattened nails, except for the second and third toes, which have sharp claws specialized for grooming. The environment of the Tariser are generally found the southeastern parts of the archipelago. Established populations are present primarily on the islands of Bohol, Samar, Leyte and Mindanao. It has also been found on various isolated islands within its known range, such as Maripipi Island, Siargao Island, Basilan Island, and Dinagat Island. The Tarsier's habitat is the second-growth, secondary forest, and primary forest forest. Its habitat also includes tropical rainforest with dense vegetation and trees that offer it protection such as tall grasses, bushes, and bamboo shoots. The reproduction of the Tarsier includes the fact that its pregnancy or gestation period lasts about 6 months. Mating season begins in April to May. The males deposit a mating plug in the female's vagina after intercourse. The female gives birth to one offspring per gestation.  The growth and development of the Tarsier is that the infant is born with hair and with its eyes open. The females carry their infants in their mouths. A newborn can already cling to branches and in less than a month after birth, it can start leaping. Newborns are breast-fed until 60 days after birth. After two years of age, the tarsier is able to take a mate. The nutritional requirements of the Tarsier include the fact that it is primarily insectivorous, its diet consists of insects, spiders, small crustaceans, and small vertebrates such as small lizards and birds. As predators, Tarsiers may help to structure insect communities. A fun fact is that the female Tarsier has multiple sets of breasts, but the only functional set is at the pectoralis. The other breasts are used as anchor points for the newborn tarsiers.