Back to the Office

The good folks over at NOAA gave us this one. It's a scorpion fish who has seen better days. I'm back from a week long vacation, and I feel a bit like this guy now that I have to return to the office.

Thanks, Brian.

Photo source: Paula Keener-Chavis, NOAA

Annual Chameleon

Researchers in Madagascar have determined that Labord's chameleon (Furcifer labordi) live for only about 4 - 5 months. They all hatch in November and die some time in March or April. They are an annual species whose population turns over every year.

Photo source: National Geographic





















The chameleon actually lives longer than that. But they spend 8 - 9 months inside the egg before emerging to eat, mate, and die. They have no juvenile stage. They skip straight from hatchling to adult. Though it would be nice to skip the teenage phase (for the parents at least), it wouldn't be so cool to have everyone I know, the entire species, die off en masse. But, c'est la vie.

I've known some people like this chameleon. They spend more time incubating than 'living', and by the time they are ready to get started, their time is almost up. On the other hand, I've also known people who have it together early on and are ready to carpe diem.

Thanks for the article, Ida.

Chow Time for Roaches

Jade, our resident invert breeder, has sent us a veritable panoply of roach photos. Enjoy.

Check out Terminix for more pictures of common household roaches.

First we have Orange spotted roaches (Blaptica dubia). The males have the wings, and the juveniles have the color. That leaves the ladies flightless and drab (not really--they've got a chic glossy brown thing going on).



















Next we've got your classic hisser (Gromomorphia portensia). As Jade says, "You can't go wrong with these guys." Hmm. Well. I've never tried to go right with them, so I wouldn't know.


















Last, but absolutely, definitely, by no means least, we have Turkistan Roaches (Blatta lataralis). In the trade these fast little vermin are known as 'red runners.' I would be known as a 'pasty-white runner' if I encountered a group of these in my cupboards.

Just in case any of you are wondering, these photos were all taken at meal time. Jade feeds his roaches dog food and bananas, which is better than lots of dogs and monkeys get for food.

What's in a Name

The triops is a hermaphroditic crustacean (males are very rare--a good thing for you misandrists), and is a temporary pond-dwellers. They lay eggs in these ponds, and when the ponds dry up, the eggs remain in a state of suspended animation until filled back up. Want a triops? Just take eggs and add water. Think sea monkeys.

Speaking of which, I'm surprised these critters haven't become a more popular novelty pet (they are sold as pets, but haven't caught on). I think it has to do with the name. Some clever marketer needs to come up with a better one. If you can name a shrimp a sea monkey, you can name a different crustacean just about anything you want.

Any ideas?

Thanks for the new pet, Kira.

Photo source: MyTriops.com

ROUS Seeking Mine

Mozambique is but one country littered with lethal mine fields. There have been many different methods developed to discover these mines, ranging from running mad-cow-diseased cattle over the fields to detonate the bombs to sacrificial child-soldiers to armored mine-clearing vehicles. But all such methods have significant flaws or limitations, or are just plain evil.

Enter the Giant Gambian Pouched Rat.

Photo source: Time.com
These rats are ideally suited to clearing land mines. They are intelligent, easy to train, easy to transport, cheap to feed, work well with any handler, and are resistant to tropical diseases (unlike dogs who weigh too much, get bored, and succumb to such diseases too readily). 36 such rats have already cleared the country of thousands of mines. Two rats can accomplish in one hour what a human de-miner would take two weeks to do.

How do they do it? They are trained to sniff out the TNT in the mines. As they scamper across the field, they sniff the ground. Once they catch a whiff of the explosive, they scratch at the ground. The rat's handler then clicks a remote, which signals the rat's collar to chirp, making the rat run back to the handler for food. The rats find the mines, but are too light to detonate them. They can be used again and again and seem to really enjoy the work.

I have a new found respect for vermin. Which reminds me: I need to give my brother a call.

The Globe Artichoke

The more I investigate the pangolin, the more fascinated I become. These walking pine cones are amazing creatures. They are the only mammal on the planet armored with keratin scales.

Photo source: Nigel J. Dennis / www.nhpa.co.uk















Photo source: CBC Radio As it Happens
Native to portions of Asia and Africa, the pangolin (of which there are eight species) gets its name from the Malay term "pengguling ("something that rolls up"). The pangolin rolls up into a ball when threatened, and those scales are not only tough, but they are also razor sharp (ergo the gloves).

The closest living relative isn't the anteater, though the pangolin is also called the scaly anteater. Rather, its closest living cousin is the carnivora (one of the best names ever given to an animal).

If you want to watch some endearing footage of one, check out this video. They walk bipedally.

Thanks for the photos and the video, Ida and Booge.

Triumphant Nubian Vulture

The Nubian, lappet-faced, or eared vulture has every right to gaze at the sky in contemplative triumph.

These Old World vultures are among the largest birds on the planet, with a wingspan of nine feet. Unlike many other vultures, these birds are not gregarious. They keep to themselves in mated pairs, with each pair dominating a large range of territory. This decreases the number of Nubians who show up at any given carcass, and keeps them from having to travel too far for food.

They have amazing eyesight and essentially no sense of smell. That's a good combo if you're dining on rotting meat.

Photo source: Frank Wouters

Octopus with a Rasta Hat

What kind of octopus wears a rasta hat? And why can't I be that diver?

Come on, you cephalopodophiles, identify this one for me. There are between 650-700 species of cephalopods in the world, roughly a third of which are octopi (octopuses, octopodes). Can you at least narrow it down?