Happy New Year!

This coming year will be the Year of the Snake. These cute snakes are being sold at a market in Japan, which, as we've seen before, is a country that really appreciates its ugly animals.

Gator Claus is on his way!

Sick of cute animals in holiday outfits? Here, have an alligator instead. More on Buzzfeed. Happy Holidays!

Pugdorable!

 

Have broken my wrist and am a bit handicapped for blogging, but couldn't miss this baby echidna. Check it out:  Perth puggles leading the breeding program for Perth Zoo.

New species of skinny, bug-eyed snake

Headline from Scientific American - how could you need to know more to be thrilled? But go ahead and click if you do. Don't miss the links to photos of its cool relatives, but maybe don't scroll down too far unless you want to know a little too much about the horror of snake sex organs.

-Wombat (No Relation)

Ugly animals in the mainstream media

Check out this article about the new vultures at the National Zoo in the Washington Post.

Tired of turkey?

Why not try some of these? It's Urechis unicinctus, a marine spoon worm also known as the fat innkeeper worm, or, if that doesn't sound delicious enough, the penis fish. And you don't even have to cook it! In China you might find them in a stir-fry, but in Korea, it's eaten raw. A little salt and sesame oil and you're good to go, a nice light meal after all that heavy holiday fare.

These guys have an interesting cuisine of their own. They secrete their own slime net to catch particles of food. And they're hospitable, hence the "innkeeper" name: they share the tunnels they dig with small fish and other marine animals, which also eat their leftovers.

All in all, a perfect symbolic animal for this holiday, right?

Happy Thanksgiving!
-Wombat (No Relation)

Ugly Cuisine and Conservation

Poster for the Tokyo Bug-eating Festival. Wish I was there (but just to watch).

Also relevant to our interests is this article at the BBC: Are these animals too ugly to be saved?

Your Monday.... ugdorable?

OK, even I am not sure about this one... That is a baby tentacled snake, resting on the hand of one of my sometime colleagues at the National Zoo.  Tentacled snakes are aquatic (see some pictures of them in the water here) and spend their time hanging on by their tails to a branch and lolling about underwater looking uncannily like a dead branch. This clever method of disguise makes it easy for them to catch unsuspecting prey that swims by. Convenient for them, but less convenient for the keeper who is wondering how she would know if that dead-looking snake was actually dead.

-Wombat (No Relation)

Ugdorable baby weathers the storm

A little bit of good news: The New York Aquarium in Coney Island was flooded during Hurricane Sandy, with the entire facility reported to be under water. But staff remained to care for the animals, including orphaned baby walrus Mitik. The baby has had some health problems because of his history (you can read more of Mitik's backstory and see more photos, if you didn't before, at Zooborns) and what's described as his "around-the-clock" care was not interrupted.

We salute the staff's dedication to their ugly charge.

-Wombat (No Relation)

Happy Second International Sloth Day!

 

According to Foundation Aiunau, anyway. At my house every day is sloth day. 

 

Foot Long Daddy Long Legs!

Discovered in Laos!

Your Monday ugdorable

Orphaned baby walrus. From, as is often the case, Zooborns. Go read about it there, if your brain hasn't turned completely to mush.
-Wombat (No Relation)

Time to Plan your Outfit

I am just barely in time for International Cephalopod Awareness Days (October 8-12) so I thought my post should look forward to another holiday. Via Archie McPhee's Geyser of Awesome, here's a photo that asks the question: What ugly animal are you going to dress as for Halloween?

-Wombat (No Relation)

Your Monday Ugdorable

I swear this blog isn't going to become Sirenian Overload, but just one more - this photo of an orphaned Amazonian manatee that I think is the same one written about here, but whoever it is, isn't it the cutest thing you ever saw?

What I did on my summer vacation, contd.

Photographic proof that I petted a dugong!

And if you haven't had enough of my trip to Japan, read the article I wrote for the Associated Press.

Your Monday ugdorable

That's a baby tamandua hanging onto a big teddy bear at Reid Park Zoo, via Zooborns.

On the trail of a strange small mammal

I have been waiting to find time to post on this at length and it's just not happening, so you should all go and read this excellent article from the BBC about the Pyrenean desman, a small aquatic mammal described by the reporter as looking like "a strange mish-mash of creatures - part rat, part mole, part platypus," and furthermore:

It has a huge nose - like a miniature version of an elephant's trunk - framed with long whiskers and beady little eyes. Its front paws are tiny, but its back feet are huge - and webbed. It's topped off by a thick, scaly tail.

Nice! Even a scientist studying the little-known animal says "It really is one of Europe's strangest creatures."

-Wombat (No Relation)

My ugly animal travels

I just came back from a trip to Japan where of course I sought out many animals which are not conventionally attractive. The most exciting was this dugong, one of only a few in captivity in the whole world. She lives at the aquarium in Toba, about three hours from Tokyo, and her name is Serena. (You know, I am sure, that the family that includes the dugong and manatee is Sirenians, named after the mythical Sirens, based on the fact that sailors allegedly thought that dugongs were mermaids.)

It was particulary exciting because when my friend told a staff member that I had come all the way from America to see the dugong, she took me into the exhibit and let me touch it.

(Unfortunately, those pictures are on my friend's camera and I don't have them yet, so you'll just have to believe me for now.)

So, enjoy this video of a feasting dugong, and there will be some more animal news from my trip this week on my other blog.

-Wombat (No Relation)

Still time to order an ugly cake

That's a photo from the official website of International Vulture Awareness Day, which is September 1st. How are you planning to celebrate?

Ugly animal fiction

If you're looking for some end-of-summer reading, my mystery The Sloth's Eye has finally appeared as an ebook for Kindle and Nook. Reasonably priced compared to the hardcover, and full of animals that are not conventionally attractive and the people who love them!

You can read more about it at my website.
Please support your friendly ugly animal writer!
-Wombat (No Relation)