Fun Fact: Tamaraw

Woo hoo, it’s that time again this week for fun fact Friday! A fun fact a week keeps the foolishness away. Today’s topic is tamaraw (Bubalus mindorensis).

This species is listed as Critically Endangered (CR) on IUCN Red List and on Appendix I of CITES. The major threats to this species are habitat loss and illegal hunting for human consumption. Now here are 5 fun facts you probably didn’t know about Bubalus mindorensis:

1. They are dwarf giants. It sounds like a paradox and it is. Tamaraw is also known as Mindoro dwarf buffalo, but despite of their mini size, they are still the largest mammal found within Philippine, their native country.

2. They always have time for make-up. Covered mostly in dark colored fur, light markings can be found above their eyes, forming ‘eyebrows’ and some individuals have white spots on their lower cheeks.

Source: philippine-animals-mammals.webs.com

3. They are shy but curious creatures. They rest in thick vegetation during the day and active at night to eat grasses, bamboo shoots, saplings and other vegetation. They were formerly diurnal but changed their active hours to avoid human encroachment and have become nocturnal. They are solitary and known to show aggressiveness towards other tamaraws. They are also said to charge their pursuer.

4. “V” is their favourite letter. One of striking features of tamaraw is their horns. They are V-shaped, growing from the forehead, has flat back surface and triangular base.

Source: news.mongabay.com

5. They cannot lie about their age. The age of a tamaraw can be seen from its horns. The horns grow longer relative to the length of the ears and broaden at the base. Hence, the horn’s length and thickness can be used to age them. Enjoy reading the fun facts? Do you have a favorite animal or any other animals that you would like me to write the fun facts about? Let me know by commenting below. Spread the info and have a nice weekend! 🙂

Fun Fact: Gharial

Woo hoo, it’s that time again this week for fun fact Friday! A fun fact a week keeps the foolishness away. Today’s topic is gharial (Gavialis gangeticus).

Source: animalsvariety.ru

This species is listed as Critically Endangered (CR) on IUCN Red List and on Appendix I of CITES. The major threats to this species are habitat loss and degradation due to dam construction and irrigation, and fishing which removes their diet resource and can accidentally kills them. Now here are 5 fun facts you probably didn’t know about Gavialis gangeticus:

1. Gharial is the only extant species from the family Gavialidae. They are closely related to false gharial (Tomistoma schlegelii) which is a member of the family Crocodylidae.

2. Their name, gharial, derives from the word ‘ghara’ which means Indian pot, a shape that resembles the male gharial nose’s shape.

Source: wikimedia.com

3. Among other crocodilian species, gharial is the biggest and the longest, measuring up to 6 m. They also have the narrowest snout which enables them to snatch fish underwater quickly.

4. Their weak legs are not able to support their body weight when they walk on land. This becomes a problem during dry season because unlike any other crocodilian species, gharial cannot walk far to find water.

5. Mother gharial does not transport their youngs in the mouth, but they stay together up to several months.

Source: animals.about.com

Enjoy reading the fun facts? Do you have a favorite animal or any other animals that you would like me to write the fun facts about? Let me know by commenting below. Spread the info and have a nice weekend! 🙂

Source:
http://www.arkive.org/gharial/gavialis-gangeticus/image-G114505.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gharial

Fun Fact: Forest Owlet

Woo hoo, it’s that time again this week for fun fact Friday! A fun fact a week keeps the foolishness away. Today’s topic is about forest owlet (Heteroglaux blewitti).

This species is listed as Critically Endangered (CR) on IUCN Red List and on Appendix I of II of CITES. The major threats to this species are forest destruction due to illegal logging for firewood and timber, encroachment for cultivation and settlements, overgrazing by cattle, and forest fire. Now here are 5 fun facts you probably didn’t know about Heteroglaux blewitti:

Two owlets at their nest hole.

1. Also known as Forest Owlet, Forest Spotted Owlet, Forest Little Owl due to their small body which measures only 23 cm length.

2. They are back from extinction. They were considered extinct before being rediscovered in 1997, 113 years after the last confirmed record. Before the rediscovery, they were only known from seven specimens collected during the 19th century.

3. They love sunlight and are not shy. Unlike most of its nocturnal (active during the night) relatives, forest owlet is diurnal (active during the day) and crepuscular (active during twilight hours), hunting preys in the morning and evening in open areas with low ground cover.

4. A kind of ‘big foot’ in the bird world. They have big disproportionate talons compared to their small body size. With their large and powerful talons, they have been known to take prey twice their size.

Source: edgeofexistence.org

5. They dislike their birthplace. It is thought that this owlet prefers subtropical and tropical dry deciduous forest. This is in contrast with most historic records of the species, which have come from moist deciduous forest or dense jungle.

Enjoy reading the fun facts? Do you have a favorite animal or any other animals that you would like me to write the fun facts about? Let me know by commenting below. Spread the info and have a nice weekend! 🙂

Fun Fact: Baiji

Woo hoo, it’s that time again this week for fun fact Friday! A fun fact a week keeps the foolishness away. Today’s topic is about Baiji (Lipotes vexillifer).

This species is listed as Critically Endangered (CR) on IUCN Red List and on Appendix II of CITES. The major threats to this species are exploitation, incidental interactions with fisheries and vessel traffic, and degradation of habitat by water pollution. Recently the scientists have declared that this species is functionally extinct, meaning too few potential breeding pairs remained to ensure the species’ survival, or in other words they are going to be extinct soon.

Photo by Stephen Leatherwood

Before they are extinct, here are 5 SAD (not fun) facts you probably didn’t know about Lipotes vexillifer:

1. Their genus, Lipotes, derives from the Greek for ‘left behind’, referring to its limited range.

2. Baiji dolphins apparently lived and flourished in the Yangtze for more than 19 million years before humans arrived on the scene.

3. It is the first species of cetacean (marine mammals) to become extinct as a result of human activity.

Photo by Stephen Leatherwood

4. A recent November-December 2006 international range-wide survey failed to find any surviving animals in the Yangtze. It was declared extinct in 2006 but was last seen in 2007.

5. Baiji often swim with finless porpoises (Neophocaena phocaenoides), the only other cetacean in the Yangtze River.

Isn’t it sad to see another species is going into extinction because of human? Do you have a favorite animal or any other animals that you would like me to write the fun facts about? Let me know by commenting below.

Further readings:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/08/070831-baiji-dolphin.html

http://www.edgeofexistence.org/mammals/species_info.php?id=1

http://www.arkive.org/baiji/lipotes-vexillifer/image-G143908.html#src=portletV3api

Fun Fact: Sunda Pangolin

Woo hoo, it’s that time again this week for fun fact Friday! A fun fact a week keeps the foolishness away. Today’s topic is about Sunda pangolin (Manis javanica).

This species is listed as Critically Endangered (CR) on IUCN Red List and on Appendix II of CITES. They are hunted mostly for human consumption and as traditional Chinese medicine. Now here are 5 fun facts you probably didn’t know about Manis javanica:

1. They don’t have to see any dentist. For you who hate dentist, you probably will envy this cute creature because they don’t have teeth. Their main diet is insect, with mostly ants and termites. Their stomach contains tiny stones to help with food digestion.

2. They have long attractive tongue. Their tongue is longer than their total body length and is sticky in order to attract ants.

Source: arkive.org

3. We should start biting our nails to keep us healthy. Their scale is composed of keratin, the same substance that builds our nail. They have same composition as reptile scale too. If their scale had medicinal properties, so did our nail. So why don’t we start biting our nails instead of killing them? Same fact applies for rhino horn.

4. They give pangolin-y back instead of piggy back. Mother pangolins carry their babies on their backs. Do you agree if I say it’s cuteness overload?

Source: telegraph.co.uk

5. They like to keep in shape only when they are in panic. They roll into a ball wen they are in danger. This safety mechanism is effective against predator, but not human! That’s why tonnes of pangolin are smuggled through the border every day, because they are an easy catch.

Source: pangolin.org

Enjoy reading the fun facts? Do you have a favorite animal or any other animals that you would like me to write the fun facts about? Let me know by commenting below. Spread the info and have a nice weekend! 🙂

6 Adorable Mammals with Unbelievably Ugly Babies

“All creatures are cute when they are babies, but it changes as they grow up, including you.”

That’s a very common reply from my dad every time I say (or scream) “Look at that baby animal! Sooo cute!” Well.. Let’s omit the “including you” from the quote and stick to the topic, shall we? Is it true that all babies are cute?Though most animals give birth to cute babies and turn ugly when they grow up, there are some complete opposite: these animals are born ugly but turn cute as they enter adulthood. They are unbelievably ugly that actually make them cute.

1. Baby Panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca)

Who may think this 120 kg black and white animals used to be a 100 grams pink creature when they were born?

Newborn panda cubs. Source: worthashare.com

Slowly shows its cuteness. Source: galleryhip.com

A full grown giant panda. Source: wikimedia.com

2. Baby wombat (Vombatidae)

Wombat is a native Australian wildlife. It’s one of my favorite animals when I was a kid. Why? Because they look so cute (with fur!) until recently I saw an ugly baby wombat picture. The baby in this picture is Leah now a famous web celebrity after being a subject of Reddit photoshop battle.

Leah the rescued baby wombat. Source: news.com.au

A full grown wombat. Source: altinawildlife.com

3. Baby stump-tailed macaque (Macaca arctoides)

All baby stump-tailed macaque is born with white hair and pink face, with a lot of wrinkles like an old human! Like my co-worker said “I can’t imagine what I would do if I gave birth to such an ugly baby. Maybe I’d scream and throw it away immediately.”

Wrinkly baby like Gollum in LOTR.

Mother and baby stump-tailed macaque. Don’t you think the mom is cuter?

4. Baby echidna (Tachyglossidae)

This unique animal, together with platypus, are the only egg-laying mammals still exist today. Adult echidna resembles a hedgehog with long pointy nose, even though their babies look very much different from that definition.

An adult echidna. Source: Newscom.

5. Baby aye aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis)

Believe or not, I can read your mind and the answer to your question is: yep, this is real. It’s not a fictional character from a horror movie. Even though I hope no reader gets any nightmare tonight.

Source: news.nationalgeographic.com

An adult aye aye. They’re cute, aye? Source: denverzoo.org

And last but not least… My favorite baby ever!

6. Baby Sumatran rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis)

Weighing ‘only’ 25-30 kg when they were born, Sumatran rhino calves have disproportionate head-body-leg ratio. Worse, their big head is horn-less. Who would think it’s a rhino when they don’t even have horns? As a reward for reading this article to end here’s a bonus of dad-son ugliness combination for you. To see how they look like now, don’t forget to befriend Andalas and Andatu on Facebook.

Baby Andalas when he was born in 2001.

Andalas has a son named Andatu, which was born in 2012. Watch Andatu’s video below.

Which one is the ugliest or the cutest, do you think? If you have other nominees for the list please let us know by commenting below.

Fun Fact: Pineapple Tortoise

Woo hoo, it’s that time again this week for fun fact Friday! A fun fact a week keeps the foolishness away. Today’s topic is about elongated tortoise (Indotestudo elongata).

This species is listed as Endangered (EN) on IUCN Red List and on Appendix II of CITES. They are hunted mostly for human consumption with China as the main market, and sold as illegal pets with USA as one of the main markets. Native to tropical countries, elongated tortoise has difficulties surviving in colder climate and requires a lot of attention and enclosure adjustments. Many exported tortoises do not survive and die within a few days after arrival because they are very prone to stress.

OK, enough for the boring info. Now here are 5 fun facts you probably didn’t know about Indotestudo elongata:

1. They are also known as pineapple tortoise. Their other names are: elongated tortoise, yellow tortoise, red-nosed tortoise. They have long, narrow shell, hence the name elongated tortoise. This shape, plus the yellow color of their shell, resembles pineapple, hence the name pineapple tortoise.

Looks quite real, isn’t it?

2. The females looove pedicure. The hind claws of the female are also markedly longer and more curved than those of the male. Some theories say longer claws of the females help them to dig nest to lay eggs during breeding season.

3. They blush when it comes to mating. Not only human, this tortoise is shy too when they are faced with opposite sex. They have pinkish hue on their cheeks (blushing!) and around their eyes during the breeding season.

His name is not Rudolph but he has red nose.

 4. They have love-hate relationship with water. They don’t swim but they love basking. Tortoise is not an aquatic reptile, but they need water especially in hot weather to bring their body temperature down. Basking is essential for reptiles and other cold blooded animals to maintain their body temperature.

5. They all have feminine side. Who says only ladies love flowers? Both male and female elongated tortoises loves hibiscus and morning glory as their food. Yes, they eat flowers! Their other favorites are the inner layer of banana stem and the flesh of prickly pear cactus. In the wild their diet mainly consists of fruits, vegetables, slugs, and worms.

Elongated tortoise loves hibiscus!

Enjoy reading the fun facts? Do you have a favorite animal or any other animals that you would like me to write the fun facts about? Let me know by commenting below. Spread the info and have a nice weekend! 🙂

Reference:

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/10824/0

http://www.arkive.org/elongated-tortoise/indotestudo-elongata/