Bo, a 55-day-old baby Echidna known as a puggle, rests in the hands of veterinary nurse Annabelle Sehlmeier at Taronga Zoo in Sydney November 1, 2012. The puggle was bought to the zoo after being found by itself on a walking track north of Sydney and will be fed by hand until it is weaned at about six months of age.
(via: The Atlantic) (photo: Reuters/Tim Wimborne)
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Giant Golden Mole - Chrysochloris trevelyani [now Chrysospalax trevelyani]
If there were ever a mammal worthy of being given the common name of “Blorp”, this would be it. But no, they get to be called the “giant golden mole”, despite not being all that giant, or all that golden. I’m still calling them Blorps.
These pudgers are ancient, mostly-desert-dwelling Gondwanan creatures which are remarkably well adapted to climates with significant thermal shifts. During times of extreme heat or cold, their bodies can go into a state of torpor, almost stalling their basal metabolism rate, and completely turning off their internal thermoregulation until the temperature returns to a more amicable range.
The family of golden moles, Chrysochloridae, is not related to the “true moles” (Talpidae), but get their common name from their similar appearance, which developed through convergent evolution. Most scientists agree that the golden moles are more closely related to hedgehogs and shrews than to true moles, though some theories group them with the tenrecs. Until full genetic profiles are established for the Insectivoridae, we probably won’t have a definitive answer.
Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 1875.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/56ecf1cb7533c04d7a5c2c61b7a434bd/tumblr_mf8gsmMyHl1qk931ho1_r1_500.jpg)
Giant Golden Mole - Chrysochloris trevelyani [now Chrysospalax trevelyani]
If there were ever a mammal worthy of being given the common name of “Blorp”, this would be it. But no, they get to be called the “giant golden mole”, despite not being all that giant, or all that golden. I’m still calling them Blorps.
These pudgers are ancient, mostly-desert-dwelling Gondwanan creatures which are remarkably well adapted to climates with significant thermal shifts. During times of extreme heat or cold, their bodies can go into a state of torpor, almost stalling their basal metabolism rate, and completely turning off their internal thermoregulation until the temperature returns to a more amicable range.
The family of golden moles, Chrysochloridae, is not related to the “true moles” (Talpidae), but get their common name from their similar appearance, which developed through convergent evolution. Most scientists agree that the golden moles are more closely related to hedgehogs and shrews than to true moles, though some theories group them with the tenrecs. Until full genetic profiles are established for the Insectivoridae, we probably won’t have a definitive answer.
Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 1875.
RHINO ROUNDUP
Biggest eco-story of the year: the war on rhinos waged by criminals (from Texas and Ireland among other places) and the nation-states that protect them, especially Vietnam and China. Excellent NYT report on rhino horn smuggling by Jeffrey Gettleman, who also files on the desperate measures being taken (by former poachers among others) to protect elephants from a similar fate in Kenya, where an influx of Chinese nationals has been tied to a spike in poaching. In a second wave of colonization—and exploitation—there are now over a million Chinese working in countries across Africa, building roads, bridges, dams, and other heavy infrastructure.
Gettleman’s piece highlights the work of the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy and the Northern Rangelands Trust, a consortium of 19 communities in Kenya banding together to restore land and wildlife while building ecotourism. Thanks to Anna Maria Lolangwaso, a Samburu teacher and founder of a wildlife club at the Gir Gir primary school who I met at Archer’s Post, a village in the heart of the NRT, I know there are people in that remote village who are devoted to conservation and the economy it can build: Read my analysis of the Kenyan conservancy movement in Rewilding the World.
News on rhinos isn’t all bad: The International Rhino Foundation points out “5 Things You’ve Never Seen Before,” including the birth of Andatu, the first Sumatran rhino born at the Rhino Sanctuary there (Andatu has his own Facebook page), and the return of greater one-horned rhino to India’s Manas National Park.
Photo: Joao Silva, New York Times
european bee-eaters
First Recorded Loss of an Emperor Penguin Colony in the Recent Period of Antarctic Regional Warming: Implications for Other Colonies
A PLOS ONE journal article on how climate change eliminated a penguin colony in Antarctica. The researchers show that shifts in air, ocean, and ice temperatures conspired against the birds’ long-term survival instincts. Emperor Penguins are slow to adapt to swiftly changing weather patterns. Several alternatives are also explored. For example, researchers checked if the colony expired due to increased tourism or some sort of avian disease. The alternatives were ruled out (generally). Interestingly, the researchers despair that they can no longer study the penguin colony because it is lost…
Abstract
In 1948, a small colony of emperor penguins Aptenodytes forsteri was discovered breeding on Emperor Island (67° 51′ 52″ S, 68° 42′ 20″ W), in the Dion Islands, close to the West Antarctic Peninsula (Stonehouse 1952). When discovered, the colony comprised approximately 150 breeding pairs; these numbers were maintained until 1970, after which time the colony showed a continuous decline. By 1999 there were fewer than 20 pairs, and in 2009 high-resolution aerial photography revealed no remaining trace of the colony. Here we relate the decline and loss of the Emperor Island colony to a well-documented rise in local mean annual air temperature and coincident decline in seasonal sea ice duration. The loss of this colony provides empirical support for recent studies (Barbraud & Weimerskirch 2001; Jenouvrier et al 2005, 2009; Ainley et al 2010; Barber-Meyer et al 2005) that have highlighted the vulnerability of emperor penguins to changes in sea ice duration and distribution. These studies suggest that continued climate change is likely to impact upon future breeding success and colony viability for this species. Furthermore, a recent circumpolar study by Fretwell & Trathan (2009) highlighted those Antarctic coastal regions where colonies appear most vulnerable to such changes. Here we examine which other colonies might be at risk, discussing various ecological factors, some previously unexplored, that may also contribute to future declines. The implications of this are important for future modelling work and for understanding which colonies actually are most vulnerable.
Expansive US drought is highlight in @NOAAncdc November climate roundup. More @dotearth.
“A Psychotic Predator”
This is 832F, the alpha female of Yellowstone’s Lamar Canyon pack, who was legally shot earlier this month, outside park boundaries.
Among a number of radio-collared wolves killed since Wyoming removed endangered-species status from the species, the female was recently compared to “a psychotic predator stalking Central Park and slitting the throats of unwary visitors” by the president of the Montana Shooting Sports Association.
Photo: Doug McLaughlin
Lawsuit Filed to Reform Mexican Wolf Program
AP reports that the Center for Biological Diversity filed suit yesterday to force the US Fish & Wildlife Service to reform the languishing effort to restore the highly-endangered Mexican gray wolf to the wild. For more on the background of this story, see Yale Environment 360.
Costa’s Hummingbird (Calypte costae) male, Visitor’s Center, Anza Borrego Desert State Park, Borrego Springs, CA, USA
(photo: Alan D. Wilson)
Rufous-crested Coquette (Lophornis d. delattrei) male, Amazonia Lodge, Peru
(photo: Claudio Dias Timm)
Remembering Ken Saro-Wiwa
Seventeen years ago this month, Ken Saro-Wiwa, a Nigerian environmental activist who protested peacefully against pollution wrought by Shell in the Niger Delta, was hanged along with eight others by the military government. Join over 700,000 others in urging the Nigerian National Assembly to fine Shell $5 billion for human-rights abuses: Sign the Avaaz petition to make Shell pay.
Instant Egghead - Are We Facing the Sixth Mass Extinction?
According to the United Nations, we are losing about 200 species per day—a thousand times the normal background rate of extinction. How does this stack up to previous mass extinctions? Scientific American editor Fred Guterl explains.
We’re losing species at an alarming rate. Here’s a look at how that compares to previous mass extinctions. Unlike those extinctions of the past, we have evolved enough to do something about species conservation today.
Mexican Wolves vs. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
For more on the story behind this photo—a child posing in one of the wolf-proof shelters erected by predator-phobic parents in New Mexico—see my latest at Yale Environment 360: For Wolves on the Brink, A Hobbled Recovery.
