Which creature is a land animal closely related to marine mammals, carries its own pharmacy in its skin, and is the latest social media star?
The Hippopotamus!
Credit: Amer Kalam, via Unsplash.
Baby hippos are having a moment on social media. From Mr. Mars Potato Jones and his mother Posie at Tanganiyka Wildlife Park in Kansas to Moo Deng at Thailand’s Khao Kheow Open Zoo, hippos are some of the latest online animal celebrities. Inspired by Tania Roa’s 2021 Featured Creature on the hippo, we’re revisiting these fascinating ecosystem engineers.
River Horse
Despite their resemblance to large water pigs or even cows, hippopotamuses are named from the ancient Greek meaning for “river horse.” Their closest living relatives are cetaceans—whales, dolphins, and porpoises—forming the clade Whippomorpha within even-toed ungulates (artiodactyls). Genetic studies reveal shared DNA sequences unique to hippos and cetaceans, confirming they diverged from a common ancestor around 52–47 million years ago in the Eocene. Fossil evidence traces hippos to anthracotheres, semiaquatic artiodactyls from the late Eocene (~40 million years ago), with the hippopotamid lineage solidifying in the late Miocene (~7.4 million years ago) via forms like Epirigenys and Bothriogenys. This makes hippos the end of Africa’s longest terrestrial cetartiodactyl lineage, while cetaceans took to full oceans. While they make look like descendants of sauropsid dinosaurs, they evolved post-extinction (after 66 million years ago) from synapsid-mammal stock. They do have a distant Triassic cousin, the giant synapsid Lisowicia bojani (208 million years ago), a 9-ton, hippo-like herbivore that rivaled early dinosaurs in size.
Credit: Martie Bloem, via Unsplash
Who Needs Walgreens?
While hippos have thin, hairless skin prone to cracking in sub-Saharan sun, they’ve adapted over time and developed specialized mucous glands that secrete a viscous, oily-red-orange fluid that acts as a built-in sunscreen. Often mislabeled as “blood sweat,” the secretion starts off colorless and oxides into a reddish hipposudoric acid and orange norhipposudoric acid, both non-benzenoid aromatics derived from homogentistic acid. These pigments create a UV absorbent, retain moisture, and exhibit antibiotic activity against bacteria like Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli. This “built-in pharmacy” evolved for hyper-arid protection, hinting at bio-inspired human antimicrobials.
Hippos spend about 16 hours daily submerged in order to thermoregulate and have adapted sophisticated sensory awareness capabilities. Their eyes, nostrils, and ears remain above water, while their jawbones detect hydro-vibrations under the surface. This 360° awareness enables them to communicate with other hippos and maintain contact with their pod, detect predators and threats, and navigate murky waters with low visibility.
Hippos can hold their breath underwater for approximately 5 minutes, keeping their nostrils and ears sealed against the water. They don’t technically swim; their pachyosteosclerotic (ultra-dense) bones prevent buoyancy, so they “hop” along riverbeds, walking in depths up to 5m despite their 3-ton mass. Nocturnal grazers, hippos act as ecosystem engineers, consuming short grass, and defecating massive dung loads directly into waterways. Their waste delivers nitrogen, phosphorus, and silica, often at 10x higher concentrations than the surrounding grasslands. The silica boost alone fuels diatom algae blooms that support entire food webs!
Credit: Andreas Vonlanthen via Unsplash
Hippos at Risk
Hippopotamuses were once found throughout more than half of the African continent. Unfortunately, they are now classified as Vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature due primarily to habitat loss and poaching, with population declines ranging from 10,000-18,000 since 2008.
Climate-driven droughts are exacerbating loss of hippo habitats, causing literal downstream ecosystem impacts from the reduction in nutrient cycling. Without hippo dung delivering concentrated nitrogen, phosphorus, and silica to rivers, diatom algae blooms collapse, slashing fish biomass by up to 88% and disrupting food webs.
An adult male elephant seal lounging at Point Reyes National Seashore, California Image copyright, Sienna Weinstein, 2026.
What animal’s nose doubles as a megaphone and a built-in water recycler?
The Elephant Seal!
An adult male elephant seal lounging at Point Reyes National Seashore, California Image copyright, Sienna Weinstein, 2026.
This week, we visit coastal California with Sienna Weinstein.
Blubbery monarch Crowned with scars and briny roar, Tide bows at his chest.
As I finalize today’s Featured Creature, I am vacationing in the Silicon Valley of California. I recently explored Point Reyes National Seashore to take in the natural beauty of the area, and, more importantly, visit the iconic residents of this nature preserve: the northern elephant seals. By the time I arrived, breeding had concluded and the adult females had left the beach to feed. All that remained were groups of weaned pups and a few adult males.
Two Species, One Recognizable Appearance
There are two species of elephant seal: the northern and southern elephant seal. When not foraging for food in the open ocean, northern elephant seals, which are smaller than their southern cousins, are native to the Pacific coast of Canada, the United States, and Mexico’s Baja California. Southern elephant seals forage in the southern Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans. They form breeding colonies across the Valdés Peninsula of Argentina, various sub-Antarctic islands—primarily South Georgia, Macquarie, Heard, and Kerguelen, and even extend to the Antarctic pack ice. The southern species has also been spotted visiting the coasts of mainland Australia and New Zealand.
Sexual dimorphism is extreme among elephant seals: males (bulls) weigh up to 10 times more than females (cows), and have a prominent proboscis reminiscent of an elephant’s trunk, hence their name. This nose is used in producing extremely loud roaring sounds, especially during the breeding season. More importantly, however, the nose acts as a kind of rebreather, as it is filled with cavities that reabsorb moisture from their exhalations. This is critical during breeding season when the seals do not leave the beach to feed, and must conserve body moisture, as there is no incoming water source.
Elephant seals are much larger than other seals. Southern elephant seal bulls typically reach a length of 16 feet (5 m), and a weight of 7,000 pounds (3,000 kg); some exceptionally large males may reach up to 20 feet (6 m) in length, and weigh 9,000 pounds (4,000 kg); cows typically measure about 10 feet (3 m) and weigh 2,000 pounds (900 kg). Northern elephant seal bulls reach a length of 14 to 16 feet (4.3 to 4.8 m), and the heaviest of them weigh about 5,500 pounds (2,500 kg). Newborns can weigh 79 pounds (36 kg), and reach lengths up to 4 feet (122 cm).
Despite their massive size, elephant seals move easily in the water. Their bodies are covered in blubber, which helps keep them warm and reduces drag when swimming. Their limbs are small, making them more streamlined in the water, and their hind flippers have a large surface area, which helps propel them through the water. Unfortunately, their reduced limb size makes movement difficult while on land. This marks a difference with eared seals (Family Otariidae, those who have an outer ear, unlike true seals like the elephant seal, Family Phocidae), who are able to turn their hind flippers forward to assist with walking.
A cluster of weaned elephant seal pups sun bathing at Point Reyes National Seashore, California. Image copyright, Sienna Weinstein, 2026.
Land Ho!: Battling and Breeding
In addition to an annual visit to land in order to molt their fur, the only other time elephant seals come ashore is to breed and birth the next generation. The breeding season for the northern elephant seal runs from December through March, while the breeding season for the southern elephant seal runs from September through November. Males haul out to the rookery first, and females arrive later, heavily pregnant with pups which had been conceived nearly a year prior. Females give birth to a single pup a few days after arriving at the rookery, and pups feed on their mother’s milk for a month, while she doesn’t eat—living off of reserves in her blubber. During the last week of lactating, females go into estrus and the adults work on creating the next generation. Once weaned, the pups spend the next ten weeks learning how to swim and dive.
Males use a dominance hierarchy primarily based upon size, secondarily based upon age, and to some extent, upon previous experience. The alpha males establish harems of 40 to 50 females per individual. Outside of these groups, two to three beta bulls will roam around sections of the alpha’s territory, helping the alpha by preventing other males from accessing the females. Males will use their large proboscisses to vocally threaten others, and typically, this is enough to deter rivals. Should a confrontation occur, males will engage in shoving and battering fights. These fights can be bloody, but usually don’t result in fatalities. During this time of constant breeding and fending off of rivals, males, like females, can lose up to a third of their body weight! After breeding, females retreat back into the water, with the adult males following them. The numbers of adults on the beach continues to dwindle, leaving the weaned pups to practice the skills they need for survival.
Bouncing Back from a Historic Hunting Past
Historically, both subspecies of elephant seal were hunted by humans, who used their blubber to make oil until protections were enacted in the twentieth century. Today, both subspecies are listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.
Compared with the northern elephant seal, southern elephant seals currently face few threats and conflicts, as they live far from human population centers, and have minimal interactions with commercial fisheries. Northern elephant seals, meanwhile, face greater potential for entanglement in fishing gear and collisions with boats. Both species, however, face non-direct human-caused threats, such as pollution, habitat degradation, and climate change. Intensive fishing could deplete prey stocks, and climate change may negatively impact prey populations as well as change marine habitats, especially for the southern subspecies. In addition, southern elephant seals which haul out at mainland sites could come into contact with domestic and wild animals, and potentially be exposed to a variety of diseases, such as morbilliviruses.
Ultimately, while both subspecies continue to bounce back after historic population declines, further monitoring of and actions to mitigate long term threats, including climate change and habitat degradation should continue in order that this enormous seal species survives in an ever-changing world.
Sienna Weinstein is a wildlife photographer, zoologist, and lifelong advocate for the conservation of wildlife across the globe. She earned her B.S. in Zoology from the University of Vermont, followed by a M.S. degree in Environmental Studies with a concentration in Conservation Biology from Antioch University New England. While earning her Bachelor’s degree, Sienna participated in a study abroad program in South Africa and Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), taking part in fieldwork involving species abundance and diversity in the southern African ecosystem. She is also an official member of the Upsilon Tau chapter of the Beta Beta Beta National Biological Honor Society.
Deciding at the end of her academic career that she wanted to grow her natural creativity and hobby of photography into something more, Sienna dedicated herself to the field of wildlife conservation communication as a means to promote the conservation of wildlife. Her photography has been credited by organizations including The Nature Conservancy, Zoo New England, and the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute. She was also an invited reviewer of an elephant ethology lesson plan for Picture Perfect STEM Lessons (May 2017) by NSTA Press. Along with writing for Bio4Climate, she is also a volunteer writer for the New England Primate Conservancy. In her free time, she enjoys playing video games, watching wildlife documentaries, photographing nature and wildlife, and posting her work on her LinkedIn profile. She hopes to create a more professional portfolio in the near future.
An adult Coquerel’s sifaka photographed in Madagascar's Ankarafantsika National Park Image credit: Allan Hopkins via Flickr (CC-BY-NC-ND)
What animal gained fame in a 1990s children’s TV show, and whose leaping abilities bring to mind a graceful human dancer?
The Coquerel’s sifaka (Propithecus coquereli)!
An adult Coquerel’s sifaka photographed in Madagascar’s Ankarafantsika National Park Image credit: Allan Hopkins via Flickr (CC-BY-NC-ND)
One of the shows, which I fondly recall growing up in the 1990’s was a live-action/animated children’s series titled Zoboomafoo. Created and hosted by zoologists and wildlife filmmakers, the Kratt Brothers (Chris and Martin Kratt), the show featured a talking Coquerel’s sifaka lemur named Zoboomafoo, who for the most part, was puppeteered, but in certain shots, was played by the “famous” lemur Jovian. Jovan’s appearance and his characteristic forward-facing bipedal bounds on the ground with his arms outstretched to the sides, made him a sight to behold, and his species leapt to the top among my favorite group of primates, the lemurs.
Cliché, but True: LEAPING LEMURS!
Native to the dry northwestern forests of Madagascar, the Coquerel’s sifaka, like other sifaka species, are distinguished from other lemur species by the way they move around their habitat: vertical clinging and leaping. Maintaining a vertical posture, sifakas leap from tree to tree using their long, powerful back legs, which can easily propel them distances up to 33 feet (10 m)! This unique motion isn’t limited to arboreal movement, however. Like their close cousin, the Verreaux’s sifaka, stretching their arms to the sides for balance, Coquerel’s sifakas move on open ground between areas of trees using bipedal hops. Unlike the former species, which bound sideways and cross their legs one in front of the other, the latter species bounds forward like a kangaroo, leaning in the direction of its jump to achieve forward momentum. In either case, these ground bounds evoke a human dancer! What’s more, the Coquerel’s sifaka has the amazing ability to leap to and across spiny trees and precisely place its hands and feet so that it won’t hurt itself on the cactus-like spines.
Girl Power!
Like most lemur species, the Coquerel’s sifaka is matriarchal–females hold a dominant status above males, they have preferential access to food and other resources, and they exhibit a polyandrous mating system, in which females mate with multiple males. Unlike other animal species which exhibit polyandry primarily to increase the chances for successful fertilization, polyandry among Coquerel’s sifakas is thought to be advantageous because when exact paternity is not known among the males of a group, the likelihood of infanticide among the potential fathers decreases.
Mouths: Useful for Munching, Vocalizing, and Cleaning
The Coquerel’s sifaka spends 30%-40% of the day foraging, especially during the morning, midday, and evening hours. They are herbivorous, with a diet that varies by season. In the dry season, they feed on mature leaves and buds, while in the wet season, immature leaves, flowers, fruit, bark, and dead wood are on the menu. Their diet contains a lot of fiber, so in order to aid in digestion, they have an enlarged cecum coupled with an extremely long colon. Thanks to each family group constantly moving around their home range, when releasing waste material as dung, Coquerel’s sifakas aid in seed dispersion of plant species throughout their forested habitat.
The Coquerel’s sifaka uses a wide variety of communication methods to relay messages about potential danger, territorial boundaries, and mood, among others. Among the most famous of their signals are their vocal signals. The word “shifaka” is a Malagasy name that comes from the lemurs’ characteristic “shif-auk” sound. The first syllable is a low growl that “bubbles” in the throat, and the second is a clicking sound like an amplified hiccup. The “shih-fak” call is used to warn fellow group members of a potential ground predator, or to threaten enemies and intruders, as all sifaka species are territorial. Contact calls used when family groups are traveling include soft grunts and growls. If a sifaka is separated from the group, it may emit a long, loud wail to find fellow members.
Coquerel’s sifakas have also been observed using visual signals to communicate as well. One of these is a rapid backward jerking of the head, which is a threatening action which may accompany the “shih-fak” call. They also rely heavily on scent for communication. Males typically scent-mark using a gland in their throats, which they will rub back and forth along branches. Females are more likely to scent-mark with anogenital glands. Despite the observance of scent-marking by researchers, it is not entirely clear what information is conveyed in these scents besides marking territory.
Like all lemurs, cleanliness is a must. Not only do Coquerel’s sifakas use what’s known as a toothcomb to occasionally scrape fruit off of a pit, but even more, they use this specialized dental structure consisting of a group of front teeth to groom one another. Like with other primates, grooming is a social activity that strengthens the bond between group members.
Many Conservation Threats, and Much Needed Collaboration
Like many other lemurs, the Coquerel’s sifaka have been studied extensively to help scientists learn about the evolutionary history of primates, including humans. They have been the subject of those researching the evolution of color vision, paternal care, matriarchal primate societies, and causes of speciation.
Unfortunately, 98% of lemur species (103 out of 107 listed on the IUCN’s Red List) are threatened with extinction, and of these, 31% of species (33 in total) are listed as Critically Endangered, including the Coquerel’s sifaka. The biggest threats facing the Coquerel’s sifaka are hunting for both local food and the pet trade, as well as habitat destruction in the form of slash-and-burn agriculture and annual burning to create new pasture for human livestock. Charcoal enterprises occurring in their “corner” of Madagascar are another habitat-destroyer of the already restricted distribution of this lemur species. Traditional beliefs placed major taboos on sifaka hunting, but new immigrants coming into the region in search of income are changing these beliefs through cultural erosion.
The Coquerel’s sifaka is listed in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), an international agreement between governments whose goal is to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild plants and animals doesn’t threaten their survival. Coquerel’s sifakas are found in three protected areas in Madagascar: Ankarafantsika National Park, Anjiamangirana Protected Area, and Anjajavy Reserve. Unfortunately, habitat loss and hunting still pose threats in the former two locations.
Issues regarding Madagascar’s poverty have limited conservation efforts, especially when considering the need to burn down forest portions for economic gain and farmland. For this reason, it is critical to note that until the people of Madagascar can prosper, it will be difficult for the island’s unique wildlife to do the same. For this reason, the Wildlife Conservation Society has been collaborating with local communities to improve agricultural methods, develop businesses focused on sustainable resources, and modernize the local economies.
In addition, the American Journal of Primatology published a study in 2014 which recommended community-based conservation actions geared towards preserving forest connectivity, enacting alternative methods of charcoal production, logging, and grass fires, minimizing poaching, and collaborating with local authorities and researchers to ensure long-term monitoring of Coquerel’s sifakas in Ankarafantsika National Park.
With time and collaboration, hopefully the people and the truly unique wildlife of Madagascar will bounce back, and the Coquerel’s sifaka can continue to leap within the island’s northwestern dry forests for decades to come.
Sienna Weinstein is a wildlife photographer, zoologist, and lifelong advocate for the conservation of wildlife across the globe. She earned her B.S. in Zoology from the University of Vermont, followed by a M.S. degree in Environmental Studies with a concentration in Conservation Biology from Antioch University New England. While earning her Bachelor’s degree, Sienna participated in a study abroad program in South Africa and Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), taking part in fieldwork involving species abundance and diversity in the southern African ecosystem. She is also an official member of the Upsilon Tau chapter of the Beta Beta Beta National Biological Honor Society.
Deciding at the end of her academic career that she wanted to grow her natural creativity and hobby of photography into something more, Sienna dedicated herself to the field of wildlife conservation communication as a means to promote the conservation of wildlife. Her photography has been credited by organizations including The Nature Conservancy, Zoo New England, and the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute. She was also an invited reviewer of an elephant ethology lesson plan for Picture Perfect STEM Lessons (May 2017) by NSTA Press. Along with writing for Bio4Climate, she is also a volunteer writer for the New England Primate Conservancy. In her free time, she enjoys playing video games, watching wildlife documentaries, photographing nature and wildlife, and posting her work on her LinkedIn profile. She hopes to create a more professional portfolio in the near future.
A Temminck’s ground pangolin photographed in Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique Image credit: Bart Wursten via iNaturalist (CC-BY-NC)
What animal is covered in scales made from the same material as our hair and nails, can extend its tongue as much as 16 inches (40 cm), and is sadly, the most trafficked in the world?
The pangolin (Order Pholidota)!
A Temminck’s ground pangolin photographed in Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique Image credit: Bart Wursten via iNaturalist (CC-BY-NC)
After recently attending an interactive webinar entitled “Back from the Brink: How the Giant Pangolin is Catalysing Forest Recovery” hosted by The Pangolin Project (TPP), this week’s author Sienna Weinstein felt it was a sacred duty of sorts to create a Featured Creature profile on this iconic symbol of endangered species. I send my thanks to speaker Ebony Ellen Escalona and TPP for allowing me to attend such an informative, incredible event, featuring phenomenal photographs, as well as data relating to the impact of conservation actions aimed at protecting the giant pangolin on the biodiversity and recovery of Kenya’s Nyekweri Forest.
An Armor-Plated, Awkward-Gaited, Awe-Inspiring Animal
Eight species found in Africa and Asia make up the members of a truly unique-looking mammal known as the pangolin. Also known as “scaly anteaters,” “walking pinecones,” and “artichokes with tails,” pangolins are the only mammal covered in tough, overlapping scales made of keratin—the same material that makes up rhino horns, and our hair and nails. Making up about 20 percent of a pangolin’s body weight, their scales become a defense shield when they curl into a ball of protection against predators such as lions, leopards, and tigers. As another predatory defense mechanism, Pangolins can emit a noxious-smelling chemical from anal glands, similar to a skunk’s spray.
Pangolins have short legs with sharp claws, which they use not only for climbing, but for digging into ant and termite mounds. They lack teeth, but like anteaters, they possess a long, sticky tongue which in larger species, can extend up to 16 inches (40 cm) in order to lap up their favorite foodstuffs: termites, ants, and their larvae. Despite some similarities to anteaters, and possessing traits which may remind an observer of armadillos, one of the closest living relatives of pangolins is actually the mongoose!
8 Species With Wildly Different Habits
Most pangolins are nocturnal, with the only exception being the long-tailed pangolin, also known as the African black-bellied pangolin. There are also differences regarding where exactly certain species of pangolins live and sleep. All pangolin species search for food and water at ground level, but some species are arboreal, living in tree hollows. Ground-dwelling pangolin species dig tunnels to a depth of 11 feet (3.5 m) for shelter. Some species of pangolin, such as the tree pangolin (also known as the white-bellied pangolin), are rather acrobatic–using their strong prehensile tails to hang from branches and strip away bark from the trunk, exposing the insect nests inside.
Pangolin species even differ in their appearance while walking! Some walk with their front claws bent under the foot pad (although they use the entire foot pad on their rear limbs). Ground-based pangolins stand on their hind legs for some behaviors, such as surveying their surroundings or reaching higher objects, and may walk a few steps bipedally. Arboreal pangolins use bipedal movement less frequently, in comparison, and typically, in brief and unstable strides on the ground when moving between trees. Truly, after all of these fascinating facts, you could think pangolins are an alien species!
A Keystone Species
Pangolins are considered a keystone species–one that plays a crucial role in maintaining the health and diversity of their native ecosystems, as their actions significantly impact the environment and other species. Through their consumption of ants, termites, and their larvae, pangolins prevent these insects from overwhelming local vegetation, protecting both forests and human crops. Their digging abilities help to turn over the soil, aerating it and cycling nutrients, which is vital for plant growth and ecosystem regeneration, especially after fires. Abandoned pangolin burrows also provide homes for other species. Overall, pangolins physically reshape their environment which supports overall biodiversity, impacting both plant and animal communities.
A pair of endangered white-bellied pangolins rescued at a fish market in Epe, Nigeria by St. Mark, a veterinarian and conservationist Image credit: Adedotun Ajibade via iNaturalist (CC-BY-NC)
A Tragic Tale of Trafficking
Pangolins are one of the, if not the, most trafficked animals in the world despite international bans on the trade. While their plated armor protects them from natural predators, it doesn’t protect against their biggest threat: humans. Pangolins are in high demand in China and Vietnam, as their scales are believed to have medicinal properties (such as curing cancer or asthma) in traditional medicine.
For scale (no pun intended), one study found that between August 2000 and July 2019, [the equivalent of] at least 895,000 pangolins were trafficked internationally.[1]
Pangolin meat is also considered a delicacy in these countries, and a sought-after bushmeat in West and Central Africa. Spiritual beliefs regarding the power of pangolins are not just limited to East Asia, however. Pangolins and their body parts are used for a wide variety of medicinal and “fortunetelling” purposes in parts of Africa as well, promising wealth and a suitable partner, along with other tempting promises.[2][3] Finally, habitat change through deforestation, land conversion for agriculture, and urbanization, all pose ongoing risks to pangolin survival.
What Can be Done?
In July 2014, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature Species Survival Commission (IUCN SSC) Pangolin Specialist Group launched a global action plan to conserve pangolins, dubbed “Scaling up Pangolin Conservation”. This action plan aims to improve all aspects of pangolin conservation, with an added emphasis on combating pangolin poaching and trafficking while educating communities on the species’ importance. Another potential approach to fighting not only pangolin trafficking, but general wildlife trafficking as well, consists of the strategy of “following the money” rather than “the animal”, which aims to disrupt smugglers’ profits by interrupting money flows. Combatting deforestation is also a must in order to ensure the pangolin’s survival. These are just a few mentions, but there are plenty of conservation actions needed should these truly unique and endearing little animals shape ecosystems, slurp up insects, and ultimately, survive, for decades to come.
Sienna Weinstein is a wildlife photographer, zoologist, and lifelong advocate for the conservation of wildlife across the globe. She earned her B.S. in Zoology from the University of Vermont, followed by a M.S. degree in Environmental Studies with a concentration in Conservation Biology from Antioch University New England. While earning her Bachelor’s degree, Sienna participated in a study abroad program in South Africa and Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), taking part in fieldwork involving species abundance and diversity in the southern African ecosystem. She is also an official member of the Upsilon Tau chapter of the Beta Beta Beta National Biological Honor Society.
Deciding at the end of her academic career that she wanted to grow her natural creativity and hobby of photography into something more, Sienna dedicated herself to the field of wildlife conservation communication as a means to promote the conservation of wildlife. Her photography has been credited by organizations including The Nature Conservancy, Zoo New England, and the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute. She was also an invited reviewer of an elephant ethology lesson plan for Picture Perfect STEM Lessons (May 2017) by NSTA Press. Along with writing for Bio4Climate, she is also a volunteer writer for the New England Primate Conservancy. In her free time, she enjoys playing video games, watching wildlife documentaries, photographing nature and wildlife, and posting her work on her LinkedIn profile. She hopes to create a more professional portfolio in the near future.
PanAmericana 2017 - the image was taken on an overlanding travel from Ushuaia to Anchorage - taken by Thomas Fuhrmann, SnowmanStudios - see more pictures on / mehr Aufnahmen auf www.snowmanstudios.de
What animal travels over 100 miles for food and, due to warming temperatures, is suffering from insomnia?
Observing the scene from a large boulder at the water’s edge, the silence is disrupted by a faint clanging in the bushes as an unnatural rustling sounds from my campsite. Enraptured by the unfurling of clouds across the jagged landscape, I don’t see the creature until it emerges from a cluster of pines, pattering along a neighboring stretch of bedrock. The Black Bear is only 20 feet away when it dips into the water, head bobbing as the creature paddles to the other side of the lake. When it reaches the opposing shore, I release a breath I didn’t know I was holding, and watch as it pulls itself out of the water and crawls onto the green grass. The bear blends in with the darkness and disappears into the night.
It was the last night of a seven-day backpacking trip in Kings Canyon National Park in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California. We were staying at a campsite by Emerald Lake. After the bear encounter, I later returned to my campsite, only to find my bear barrels, designed to securely store food and other smellable items, scattered about – a reminder of the bear’s presence, and the complicated relationship between our species.
Photo by Adrianna Drindak
The Black Bear, also known as the American Black Bear, is found throughout North America, from the rugged Arctic regions of Alaska and Canada to parts of northern Mexico. In search of food, these creatures will travel up to 100 miles outside their territories, with their food availability often differing depending on the season. As omnivores, Black Bears consume both plants and other animals. Black bears help the growth of plants, such as berries, because the seeds are able to exit their digestive track and germinate – with the added benefit of fertile soil.
In the Pacific Northwest, Black Bears are well-known for their consumption of salmon. After catching and consuming salmon, Black Bears will often leave the carcasses at the edges of the stream or river, in an area known as the riparian zone. The salmon release nitrogen into the soil, which is then absorbed by large plant species. There is evidence that the nutrients from the salmon, created as a result of their predator-prey relationship with Black Bears, increase the overall health and well-being of the forest ecosystems in these areas.
In many areas, Black Bear food availability is being impacted by climate change. Recently, a group of researchers from the University of Nevada, Reno aimed to better understand how bear behavior has changed over time, especially the tension between human centers and Black Bear habitats. The group found that temperature swings in the early spring are devastating Black Bear food supply, resulting in bears seeking out food sources in human-centered areas. According to Dr. Kelley Stewart, who is leading the project, “The plants start growing and flowering with an early spring warm-up, and then there’s a late-season frost that takes them all out. It especially affects berries and the harder things like acorns, pine nuts and other things that nature normally provides for bears.” This decrease in food supply is leading to another negative outcome: Black Bears entering human settlements in search of food.
With increased human-bear interactions, bear mortality rises. While in part a result of lacking food resources, scavenging in human-dominated areas can result in the bears getting hit by cars or being euthanized. In June of 2024, Sierra County, California reported the first Black Bear-caused human mortality in recorded California history. Researchers have connected late frosts in early spring causing twice as many lethal removals of Black Bears compared to years without these cold snaps. When bears seek out the food of humans, they get used to trash and other attractants as a viable food source, therefore increasing their proximity to human centers. When bears become habituated to these environments, and human food, they are often labelled as “dangerous” and are euthanized.
There are communities working to repair this relationship between Black Bears and human-occupied places. The Boulder Bear Coalition was founded in 2014 and aims to educate the Boulder, Colorado residents on “proactively reducing attractants and enhancing deterrents.” Their methods focus on targeting the root of the issue, such as securing trash and providing resources so residents can implement strategies that keep bears and people safe. But the question remains that if Black Bears are seeking out human food in response to limited sustenance availability, do these actions solve the fundamental problem of our changing climate?
Climate change not only threatens Black Bear food supplies, but also their hibernation patterns. During the winter, Black Bears enter a state of decreased heart rate and dormancy known as hibernation, which is a response to colder temperatures. In preparation for hibernation, bears partake in excessive eating habits, otherwise known as hyperphagia. This increase in food intake helps build up body mass for the long winter months. However, with warming winters, bears are not sleeping for as long as they used to. According to a recent study, the length of bear hibernation could decrease by 19 to 39 days by 2050. With a shorter hibernation period, Black Bears will be threatened by limited food supply during the winter months. Which only becomes more complicated by the availability of human-caused waste and attractants – therefore resulting in further conflict and bear euthanizations.
It was our last night in the alpine zone. We reached our destination, Moose Lake, in the early afternoon, and had the rest of the day to enjoy our last night at elevation. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a sleek figure meander along the shore. The shape of the creature slowly came into focus. There was a Black Bear wandering only twenty feet away from our campsite, scrambling along the rock edge, looking blissfully serene as it glanced back and forth to the shore ahead and the crystal clear water. Barely looking our way, the bear prodded into the distance, its body ebbing and flowing with the gently lapping shoreline. It continued along the water’s edge before disappearing on the far side of the lake.
My experiences in the California backcountry have shown that mutual respect between our species is possible – and has the power to be a beautiful relationship. In the face of climate change, we must learn to co-exist and compromise with care and empathy in our ever-evolving landscape.
Adrianna Drindak is a rising senior at Dartmouth College studying Environmental Earth Sciences and Environmental Studies. Prior to interning at Bio4Climate, she worked as a field technician studying ovenbirds at Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest and as a laboratory technician in an ecology lab. Adrianna is currently an undergraduate researcher in the Quaternary Geology Lab at Dartmouth, with a specific focus on documenting climate history and past glaciations in the northeast region of the United States. This summer, Adrianna is looking forward to applying her science background to an outreach role, and is excited to brainstorm ways to make science more accessible. In her free time, Adrianna enjoys reading, baking gluten free treats, hiking, and backpacking.
The car lurches forward, bouncing down the sandy two track. Birds roll and dive in a frenzy, gorging on the mosquitoes and grasshoppers before dusk slips away. Slowly, the shrubby landscape blurs into darkness.
I glance to the left and the car lurches as it whacks a pothole at full force. I slam on the brakes and whip my head around. There it is, a dog shaped creature standing stock still. I squint my eyes the way my grandma does when she is trying to read something on her phone. Looking harder, I realize it is an African Wild Dog!
Slowly my eyes adjust as the camo-patterned canine starts to amble. Then, another one bounds his way into eyesight. Oh, there’s another one! Soon enough, I’m surrounded by the entire pack.
I’ve stumbled upon an incredible moment: their evening ritual.
As the last light fades, the sociable pack has all found themselves back to their denning area. The hunting party returns, the pups are out making life difficult for mom, and the air is filled with the high-pitched yelps from a rambunctious pair of subadults. It’s a party of sorts. A pre-bed social hour for the pack.
I stay until the silhouettes fade into darkness, until the joyful yips are engulfed by the stillness of Botswana’s wetlands.
Figure 1. A pack of African Wild Dogs By Bart Swanson (Bkswanson) – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0
Social Structure
These “painted dogs” are not your average pack animal. In fact, they put many animals to shame with their complexity, cohesion, and altruism.
Unlike the gray wolf —their North American cousin— fighting within the pack is almost non-existent. They still retain a hierarchy, but it is reinforced by social aspects beyond physical dominance. It is a hierarchy dictated through physical postures, yelps, and even sneezes! They can hit high notes with their yips that Bono could not imagine. They can smile wider than you would ever guess possible. And, just like a dog pestering you at the dinner table, they have the muscles responsible for “puppy eyes.”
More than just complex, African Wild Dogs are cohesive and altruistic. Sick and old dogs are taken care of. In the case of injured dogs, one member of the pack assumes the role of “doctor,” cleaning and guarding the injured dog while it recovers.
The pack cohesion especially shines with the pups. African Wild Dog pups are cared for by the entire pack, and during hunts the alpha mom enlists a subordinate dog as “babysitter.” This babysitter stands on alert for danger and ensures pups are safe, even if it comes at the cost of chasing away the danger.
Figure 2. African Wild Dog pups are extremely vulnerable to other predators. Source: New York Times, Brett Kuxhausen/Gorongosa Media
Hunting
While the “babysitter” works tirelessly back at the den, the hunting squad is on the move.
Because African Wild Dogs do not scavenge their prey, they move across large distances to find suitable targets. These targets are most often different species of medium-sized antelope, but they will target animals as large as wildebeest and zebra.
Once they find their victim, the pack works as a team to relentlessly run it down. As a pack they each take a turn at the lead, and with exceptional communication often end successfully. In fact, 80% of African Wild Dog hunts end successfully! When compared to a pride of lions, who only succeed 30% of the time, one realizes how exceptional these hunters are.
But what makes them such exceptional hunters? Alone they are these small and skinny dogs, who look far too cute to be such lethal predators. But as a pack, they are one of the scariest things on the landscape. The cohesion and communication of the pack is their secret weapon. The nighttime routine I witnessed is just one of many trust building moments within the pack, and that trust helps them survive.
Threats
Survival is quickly becoming more and more difficult for the African Wild Dog. A pack mentality might help protect the dogs from an annoyed lion, but not an angry farmer with a rifle. The pack might protect their injured, but high speed collisions only injure more of them.
Once upon a time the African Wild Dog was found from the Kalahari to Kilimanjaro, from the southernmost tip of Africa to northern reaches of Egypt.
Unfortunately, in the past century, African Wild Dog numbers have plummeted. African Wild Dogs need vast home ranges covering hundreds of square miles, and as human encroachment has resulted in massive losses in habitat, they have not been able to survive in smaller protected areas like many other threatened creatures.
This human presence has led to two major impacts: human-wildlife conflict and increased competition with larger predators. African Wild Dogs were often the victim of indiscriminate slaughter by farmers in their habitat. Often, fueled by other predators killing livestock. In Zimbabwe alone, during the 5-year period 1956-1961, at least 2674 dogs were killed. To put that into perspective, fewer than 7000 African Wild Dogs remain today. As the African Wild Dogs learned to avoid human danger, they found themselves more and more concentrated on protected lands. These protected areas contain high densities of larger predators, which pose another massive risk to their young.
While human encroachment is an issue, the lethal issue is how communities resolve human-wildlife conflicts. In a tale as old as time, we need to work with community members to prevent predator mortalities. As hard as it seems, communities are not going to uproot themselves, and conservationists —especially those across the world like myself— should not expect them to do so.
Nonetheless, further conservation efforts with communities are needed for the survival of the African Wild Dog. Compromises must be made to prevent African Wild Dog mortalities. Conservationists must protect corridors to connect further fragmenting populations of these expressive, considerate, and exceptional creatures. In doing so, many other species would benefit from the same corridors!
The threats facing African Wild Dogs might seem far removed from our day to day lives. But, the symptoms of their dire situation could not be more universal.
Think about the animals in your backyard. Think about the wolves, bears, mountain lions, and coyotes that are victims of human-wildlife conflict. While very few species are in such a dire situation as the African Wild Dog, I implore you to think critically about the effects human-wildlife conflicts have on predators. Think about what you and your community could do to minimize those conflicts, and how we can best conserve the incredible biodiversity we celebrate every day.
Cyrus Kiely is an undergraduate at Dartmouth College, studying Quantitative Social Science and Environmental Studies. He is an avid skier, hunter, and lifelong outdoorsman with a passion for biodiversity conservation. His experiences growing up in Montana, combined with environmentally focused opportunities abroad in Mongolia and Namibia, have shaped his commitment to fighting environmental challenges. Particularly the importance of large landscape conservation in the face of rapid development.
An especially prolific cactus digs its spines through my kneepad. Wincing in pain, I peer through the thicket of bramble… My heart sinks.
Three hundred yards out, a cloud of dust rises from the dry Montana ground, stirred up by North America’s speediest land animal: The Pronghorn. At 50 miles-per-hour, the herd crests the hill, disappearing as quickly as they entered my field of vision. I groan in frustration, begrudgingly picking the cactus spines out of my knees.
I crash through the remaining bramble to find myself surrounded by a mosaic of small, heart-shaped indentations, a telltale sign of the “speed goats” themselves. The herd’s tracks bob and weave through the sagebrush, slowly converging in their hasty escape.
I make my way up the hill, tensing with anticipation.
The horizon drops, and I look out into a field of gold. Wheat stubble extends for miles in every direction, broken up only by farmhouses, service roads, and the faintest lines of barbed wire fences.
Among this hegemony, a unified clump of brown and white races across the landscape. After a mere two minutes, the Pronghorn and I are now separated by a mile of gold.
A really fast patch of brown in a field of gold. (Photo Credit: Path of the Pronghorn — NFWF)
There is no simple introduction for this charismatic creature. The Pronghorn is a story of unmatched speed, of a creature evolved to outsprint even the fastest predators. To understand why, we have to go way back…During the Pleistocene epoch (2.5 million to 16,000 years ago), North America was home to Miracinonyx, North America’s cheetah species. Over eons, the Miracinonyx and Pronghorn were locked in a race of sorts, a competition to outrun the other. Over thousands of years, the two species pushed each other to go faster, to maximize their bodies for the art of sprinting. Scientists describe the phenomenon as “an evolutionary arms race,” a label for these constantly escalating adaptations.
A forgotten evolutionary arms race (Photo Credit: Blue Line American Cheetah — Rayan)
But, like any good drama, there is a plot twist. The Miracinonyx went extinct, and the Pronghorn no longer had anything to give it a good chase. On the flip side, nothing could catch it. So, the Pronghorn continued to flourish on the prairie, sprinting through sage brush, munching on bushes, and taunting predators who couldn’t run fast enough. This strategy worked for thousands of years, and besides the tough winters, life was good for the Pronghorn. Unfortunately their speed came at a cost: the Pronghorn never learned how to jump.
You might wonder, why does this matter today? Why does a prairie creature need to be able to jump? Four reasons: four strands of barbed wire fencing.
The American west is crisscrossed with fences, dividing property lines; ranches from farms, state land from private land. Barbed wire fence is one of the landscape’s constants: a dependable division of land.
When a Pronghorn meets one of these fences, it can be a battle to the death. As they try to duck under the bottom strand of barbed wire, the hide on their back is commonly scraped off by the barb, causing issues like infection and frostbite. Even worse, Pronghorn find themselves entangled in these fences beyond escape, sentenced to a cruel and unusual punishment for the Pronghorn: a stationary death.
For an animal that loves to run as much as the Pronghorn, these four strands hit hard.
Uh oh!Fence! (Photo Credits: 1. Out West — Joe Wilkins, 2.The Great Migration: the Path of the Pronghorn — Vance Martin)
So, how do we coexist with and protect a creature built for openness in an increasingly divided landscape? The first steps are surprisingly simple.
A study from the Alberta Conservation Association (ACA) experimented with different strategies that either raised the strand height or got rid of the barbs, one way or another.
Many of these strategies come at the cost of the landowner. Fence work is expensive, it’s time intensive, and downright frustrating. But, ACA found one time-efficient and inexpensive strategy that stood out: carabiners!
By clipping the bottom wire to the one above it, ranchers create just enough space for a pronghorn to slide under safely, without losing the barrier they need for their cattle. A low cost and time efficient first step. While an elevated bottom strand may not look like much, for a Pronghorn it could turn an obstacle into a doorway. With enough doorways, entire migration corridors stay intact, mortalities plummet, and Pronghorn thrive.
For the Pronghorn, strategies of mitigating harm are out there. Yet, there are so many places they haven’t been implemented; where we need to take that first step.
If we take enough of these first steps, I will be able to stand in that same prairie with our next generation. I will hear the squeal of excitement a young hunter makes as they proudly discover a trail of hoofmarks. I will give an annoyed “Shush! It’s right there!” as a Pronghorn ambles in the pre-dawn light. If we’re so lucky, simple acts like a carabiner could bridge generations, in awe of that patch of brown racing through a field of gold.
Cyrus Kiely is an undergraduate at Dartmouth College, studying Quantitative Social Science and Environmental Studies. He is an avid skier, hunter, and lifelong outdoorsman with a passion for biodiversity conservation. His experiences growing up in Montana, combined with environmentally focused opportunities abroad in Mongolia and Namibia ,have shaped his commitment to fighting environmental challenges. Particularly the importance of large landscape conservation in the face of rapid development.
Can you name a carnivore that eats no meat, has a pseudo opposable thumb, but is not a primate?
Meet the Giant Panda!
Bei Bei, a then subadult panda at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo, Washington, D.C., 2018 (Image credit: Sienna Weinstein)
In the summer of 2018, I took on a photography and videography internship at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington, D.C. to do what I love: take photos of animals. Photographing animals is more than just shooting images. For me, it’s promoting the natural beauty of animal species that may or may not be in danger of becoming extinct. I feel that photography is a medium that can be used to promote the conservation of wildlife worldwide. And what better example than one of the National Zoo’s most famous residents, the giant panda?
Eat, Sleep, Poop, Repeat
A symbol of China and the mission of wildlife conservation alike, the giant panda needs minimal introduction. The rarest of all bear species, the solitary giant panda is native to just a few mountain ranges in south central China where it spends up to 16 hours a day munching and crunching on one particular food: bamboo. When it comes to sleep, pandas take short, incremental naps between meals, typically lasting two to four hours for a total of 8-12 hours per day. Though this may sound like an idyllic lifestyle, there’s one major catch: bamboo is a poor source of nutrients.
Evolution is a slow process, and the giant panda’s digestive system hasn’t evolved to support their low protein, high cellulose diet. As a result, they only digest about 17% of the bamboo they eat. Pandas spend the majority of their days eating between 26 to 84 pounds of bamboo in order to secure sufficient nutrients. This also means that the giant panda defecates more than 100 times a day!
Despite their leafy diet (of which 99% is bamboo), giant pandas are still classified as carnivores, as they have a short digestive tract with gut bacteria more similar to those of other carnivores rather than herbivores. Luckily, evolution has provided them with one advantageous adaptation to assist with their bamboo obsession: a pseudo-thumb (an elongated wrist bone) on each paw, designed to help them manipulate and maintain a sturdy grip on the bamboo.
Unlike other bears, pandas neither store fat nor hibernate as bamboo doesn’t provide enough nutrients to sustain hibernation. Since they need to search for food year-round, pandas move to lower elevations during the winter for warmth and more plentiful bamboo than can be found at higher elevations. When warmer temperatures return in spring and summer, the pandas migrate back to the higher elevations to cool down and allow the bamboo in lower regions of the forest time to grow and recover. This unique (for a bear) feeding pattern influences the animal’s black and white coloration!
But how? Well, the types of habitats the panda travels through in its endless quest for food vary between elevations, from snowy mountains above, to tropical forests down below. The white areas of fur serve as camouflage in the snow, while the black legs, arms, and band across the back connecting the forelimbs help the panda hide in the shade of the forest. Their black and white coloration serves another purpose as well: communication. Pandas are solitary, and only meet for breeding. Their communication primarily consists of scent-based cues such as urine. Scientists at the University of California Davis, however, determined that a panda’s black ears are likely used to signal ferocity, while their dark eye patches may enable them to recognize distinct individuals.[1][2]
Bei Bei doing what he does best: Eating bamboo. Note the pseudo-thumb visible on his right paw. (Image credit: Sienna Weinstein)
A Cute Keystone Species and Conservation Success Story
The panda plays a crucial role in maintaining the health and diversity of their native ecosystems, as their actions significantly impact the environment and other species. As they lumber, climb, and even swim within the bamboo forests of China, plant and tree seeds often attach to their fur and get deposited in scattered locations. This, along with the large quantities of bamboo seeds that get deposited from their feces during their travels, assists in spreading the growth of native vegetation, which in turn enhances the overall health of the forest ecosystem. It also helps that, like any other fertilizer, panda poop enriches the soil with helpful nutrients and promotes plant growth.
Their voracious appetite for fast-growing bamboo has a surprising benefit: it prevents forests from becoming overgrown with bamboo and inhospitable for other species that share the panda’s home. Like the black and white yin-yang symbol, the panda is a black and white representation of balance between the abundance of bamboo in their native forests with the damage caused by humans. This balance is important in a historical context, as the panda’s current range is highly fragmented due to centuries of human encroachment and habitat loss at lower elevations. Exacerbated by human activity and climate change, habitat loss and fragmentation remains the primary threat facing pandas today.
Luckily, the panda has one indisputable advantage: their cuteness. Their fluffy, round appearance and affinity for lounging around while eating bamboo makes them an adorable, captivating species to fawn over on TV screens and local zoos alike. Their resulting popularity has extended to their becoming an ambassador species for conservation worldwide, including as the iconic symbol of the World Wildlife Fund (also known as the World Wide Fund for Nature everywhere except in the United States and Canada), a global conservation organization. Ultimately, this strategy has been successful: Thanks to conservation efforts, as of July 2021, the giant panda was downgraded from Endangered to Vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species! Wild populations currently stand at above 1,800 individuals, and are increasing. While they’re not out of the (bamboo) woods yet, the panda is certainly a conservation success story, and an example of how humans can come together to take action against the looming threat of extinction for animal species worldwide.
Sienna Weinstein is a wildlife photographer, zoologist, and lifelong advocate for the conservation of wildlife across the globe. She earned her B.S. in Zoology from the University of Vermont, followed by a M.S. degree in Environmental Studies with a concentration in Conservation Biology from Antioch University New England. While earning her Bachelor’s degree, Sienna participated in a study abroad program in South Africa and Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), taking part in fieldwork involving species abundance and diversity in the southern African ecosystem. She is also an official member of the Upsilon Tau chapter of the Beta Beta Beta National Biological Honor Society.
Deciding at the end of her academic career that she wanted to grow her natural creativity and hobby of photography into something more, Sienna dedicated herself to the field of wildlife conservation communication as a means to promote the conservation of wildlife. Her photography has been credited by organizations including The Nature Conservancy, Zoo New England, and the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute. She was also an invited reviewer of an elephant ethology lesson plan for Picture Perfect STEM Lessons (May 2017) by NSTA Press. Along with writing for Bio4Climate, she is also a volunteer writer for the New England Primate Conservancy. In her free time, she enjoys playing video games, watching wildlife documentaries, photographing nature and wildlife, and posting her work on her LinkedIn profile. She hopes to create a more professional portfolio in the near future.
A dromedary camel photographed in Varamin, Iran Image credit: Houman Doroudi via iNaturalist (CC-BY-NC)
What animal is the “Superhero of the Desert,” reshaping entire ecosystems simply by eating, roaming, and . . . pooping?
Meet the Desert Superhero!
A dromedary camel photographed in Varamin, Iran Image credit: Houman Doroudi via iNaturalist (CC-BY-NC)
Desert wanderer Curved as the dunes he walks on Splat! Anger expressed
A close family friend asked me to cover camels as one of my Featured Creatures. Ask, and ye shall receive! Despite the majority of camels today being domesticated species, they still play important roles in their local ecosystem, and contribute to the biodiversity of the habitats in which they live.
Dominating the Desert, and De-bunking Assumptions
Camels are far more than the four-legged, desert pack animals typically shown in movies—their presence shapes the health, stability, and biodiversity of their ecosystems. Their grazing patterns, movement, digestion, and remarkable resilience collectively engineer the landscapes they inhabit.
Camels haven’t just adapted to desert life, their entire bodies are designed for endurance in some of the most unforgiving climates on Earth. Did you know they can go up to 10 days without drinking, even in extreme heat! Their long legs help keep them cool, elevating their bodies away from ground temperatures that can reach 158ºF (70°C), and their thick coat insulates them against radiant heat. In the summer, their coats lighten to reflect the sunlight.
Long eyelashes, ear hairs, and sealable nostrils protect against the blowing sand, while their wide, padded feet keep them from sinking into the desert sand or snow. Bactrian camels grow heavy winter coats that enable survival in winter temperatures (-20ºF [-29ºC]), then shed them to adapt to the hot summer temperatures. Their mouths have a thick, leathery lining that allows them to chew thorny, salty vegetation, with split, mobile upper lips that help them grasp sparse grasses . . . and spit. Well, sorta. . .
Desert Engineers and Seed Dispersers
These “ships of the desert” feed on thorny, salty, dry plants that most herbivores avoid, keeping dominant species in check and promoting plant diversity. Their nomadic lifestyle prevents overgrazing, spreading this balancing effect across vast ranges and reducing the risk of desertification. As they move, they disperse seeds in their dung, enriching poor soils with nutrients and enabling new vegetation to take hold where it otherwise could not.
Even their hydration strategy—relying heavily on moisture from plants and drinking only occasionally—protects scarce water sources that smaller species depend on. Trails they create become pathways for other wildlife, while their presence attracts predators and scavengers, helping sustain food webs in seemingly barren terrain.
People often assume that camels carry water in their humps and spit when they are annoyed. But those humps aren’t sloshing with water. They are fat-storage structures that provide a slow-burning energy reserve when food is scarce. And that spitting? It’s actually a warning system composed of both saliva and partially digested stomach contents.
Helping People and Ecosystems Endure
Even though they may look goofy at first, the ecological and cultural value of the camel is extraordinary.
They have supported human survival in harsh environments for thousands of years. Domesticated camels provide wool, meat, milk, transportation, and labor. Their endurance and strength have made them central to trade routes, cultural traditions, and economic activity across regions where few other animals could thrive.
Camels shape vegetation patterns, support biodiversity, stabilize fragile ecosystems, and enable life in regions that would otherwise be nearly uninhabitable. Without camels, many desert landscapes would lose the very processes that sustain them.
So next time you see a camel, in a movie, at a zoo, or on your travels, remember that these are no ordinary creatures. They are survival specialists and a cornerstone of some of the world’s harshest and most remarkable environments.
The wild bactrian camel (of which there are only 950 remaining) photographed in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert. Image credit: Chris Scharf, a client of Royle Safaris via iNaturalist (CC-BY-NC)
Sienna Weinstein is a wildlife photographer, zoologist, and lifelong advocate for the conservation of wildlife across the globe. She earned her B.S. in Zoology from the University of Vermont, followed by a M.S. degree in Environmental Studies with a concentration in Conservation Biology from Antioch University New England. While earning her Bachelor’s degree, Sienna participated in a study abroad program in South Africa and Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), taking part in fieldwork involving species abundance and diversity in the southern African ecosystem. She is also an official member of the Upsilon Tau chapter of the Beta Beta Beta National Biological Honor Society.
Deciding at the end of her academic career that she wanted to grow her natural creativity and hobby of photography into something more, Sienna dedicated herself to the field of wildlife conservation communication as a means to promote the conservation of wildlife. Her photography has been credited by organizations including The Nature Conservancy, Zoo New England, and the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute. She was also an invited reviewer of an elephant ethology lesson plan for Picture Perfect STEM Lessons (May 2017) by NSTA Press. Along with writing for Bio4Climate, she is also a volunteer writer for the New England Primate Conservancy. In her free time, she enjoys playing video games, watching wildlife documentaries, photographing nature and wildlife, and posting her work on her LinkedIn profile. She hopes to create a more professional portfolio in the near future.
What animal was revered and worshipped by ancient American civilizations, whose name means “he who kills with one leap”, and who has the strongest bite force relative to size among the big cats?
A female jaguar observed in Brazil Image Credit: Paul Steeves via iNaturalist (CC-BY-NC)
It was a typical hot and humid day while I was on my lunch break at the Stone Zoo. I was doing my usual photography rounds, scouting out opportunities for taking shots of the zoo’s animals. I came upon the jaguar enclosure to find Seymour, a gorgeous individual seeking relief from the heat underneath a large makeshift shelter. Against the dark confines of his shelter, the afternoon sun cast an incredible glow, highlighting his face. I crouched down to his level and took what I believe to be the best photograph of my “career”. Said photo can be seen further down in this profile, and is responsible for making me appreciate this species of cat all the more–grateful to know that this big cat calls the Americas home.
One Big Cat, and a Lengthy Resumé of Worship and Uniqueness
Scientists categorize the “big cats” based upon two qualities: they belong to the Panthera genus, and they have a specialized two-piece hyoid bone in their throat which allows them to roar. The jaguar is the sole member of the big cat family to reside in the Americas, and the third largest of the big cats after the tiger and lion. Their range extends from the Southwestern United States across Mexico and much of Central America, the Amazon rainforest, and further south to Paraguay and northern Argentina. They are extinct in El Salvador and Uruguay. Within this vast range, jaguars are found in a variety of habitats, including wet and dry forests, savannas, and shrublands. In addition to being strong climbers (unlike the stereotype regarding most cats), jaguars are also powerful swimmers. In fact, jaguars are highly dependent upon large swarths of territory per individual as well as healthy freshwater systems for their survival.
While they may look like the leopards of Africa and Asia, jaguars are distinguished not only by their fondness for water, but their stockier and heavier build, a distinct “blockiness” to the head, and the coat featuring strikingly large rosettes with distinct internal spots.
The name “jaguar” is derived from the Tupi-Guarani word “yaguareté” or “yaguar”, which can translate to “he who kills with one leap” and “true, fierce beast”, among other intimidatingly mighty monikers.
Jaguars were historically worshipped by various civilizations from Mesoamerica down to the Amazon as authoritative and martial symbols, gods, and for having the ability to move between the mortal world and underworld. Today, among some indigenous religions, jaguars are still viewed with high regard, as shown with ritualistic dances, music, and shaman-based practices connected to this powerful feline.
Headshot of a male jaguar at the Stone Zoo, Stoneham, Massachusetts Image credit: Sienna Weinstein
A Powerful Apex Predator Under Threat
Depending upon their habitat, the jaguar’s diet is varied, consisting of numerous mammals, reptiles, and birds. While the bite force of bone-crunching hyenas and Arctic polar bears clocks in at 1,100 and 1,200 pounds per square inch (psi), respectively, that of the jaguar measures 1,500 psi. This power allows the jaguar to crush the shells of turtles and tortoises, and easily pierce through the skin of caimans.
As the top predator in their range, jaguars are classified as a keystone species–one that plays a crucial role in maintaining the health and diversity of their native ecosystems, as their actions significantly impact the environment and other species. By regulating the numbers of prey species, jaguars indirectly influence the abundance and distribution of other species, contributing to the overall richness and stability of the ecosystem. This top-down control has cascading effects, influencing everything from plant life to soil quality.
Despite their status as a keystone species and a cultural icon of the southern Americas, the jaguar is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List. It is estimated that their populations have decreased by up to 25% over the past few decades. Jaguars face numerous threats to their survival, including habitat loss and fragmentation, competition for prey by human hunters, and human hunting of jaguars for trophies, the illegal body part trade, and retaliation for livestock killing.
Various conservation actions have been implemented in countries where the jaguar is found, including, but not limited to: developing national, regional, and local monitoring programs for jaguars and their prey; monitoring and safeguarding jaguar core populations (aka Jaguar Conservation Units, or JCUs); and finally, understanding and addressing the hunting of jaguars, as well as raising awareness of the laws governing wildlife hunting and the need to adopt sustainable hunting practices.
Luckily, specific conservation plans for jaguars have been developed in Mexico, Panama, Honduras, and Brazil. Only time and plenty of actions will tell whether this unique cat of the Americas will continue to lurk, hunt, and inspire cultural legends for years to come.
Sienna Weinstein is a wildlife photographer, zoologist, and lifelong advocate for the conservation of wildlife across the globe. She earned her B.S. in Zoology from the University of Vermont, followed by a M.S. degree in Environmental Studies with a concentration in Conservation Biology from Antioch University New England. While earning her Bachelor’s degree, Sienna participated in a study abroad program in South Africa and Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), taking part in fieldwork involving species abundance and diversity in the southern African ecosystem. She is also an official member of the Upsilon Tau chapter of the Beta Beta Beta National Biological Honor Society.
Deciding at the end of her academic career that she wanted to grow her natural creativity and hobby of photography into something more, Sienna dedicated herself to the field of wildlife conservation communication as a means to promote the conservation of wildlife. Her photography has been credited by organizations including The Nature Conservancy, Zoo New England, and the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute. She was also an invited reviewer of an elephant ethology lesson plan for Picture Perfect STEM Lessons (May 2017) by NSTA Press. Along with writing for Bio4Climate, she is also a volunteer writer for the New England Primate Conservancy. In her free time, she enjoys playing video games, watching wildlife documentaries, photographing nature and wildlife, and posting her work on her LinkedIn profile. She hopes to create a more professional portfolio in the near future.
Which species of bear is the smallest and most arboreal, has the longest tongue of all bears, and are so smart, they can pick locks with their claws?
Courtesy Pexels
Made for the trees
If there is perhaps one thing to know about the sun bear, it’s that they are built for life in the trees.
If you were to design a near-perfect specimen for the arboreal life, you might end up with something pretty close to a sun bear.
Think about it. Its front paws turn inward like a pigeon’s, giving extra grip when climbing, while its strong, curved claws act like hooks to pull it upward. A flattened chest streamlines the body, reducing drag as the bear moves among a complex array of branches. Bare paw pads help add even more traction. And that thick coat? It helps protect these climbers from stings, scrapes, and tropical downpours…regular hazards of the trade. Even its eyes are set slightly forward compared to other bears, improving depth perception and giving their balance a boost high off the ground.
Sun bears are the smallest of all bear species, at 3.5-4.5 feet (1.1-1.4 m) long, and weighing 60-145 pounds (23-65 kg); males are almost 25 percent larger than females. Despite their awkward-looking gait on the ground due to their inward-facing front paws, their small size allows them to be quick-moving and flexible within their habitat, resulting in an ability to climb up to 40 feet (12.2 m) into the canopy! This impressive climbing feat makes the sun bear the one of the highest-climbing bear species of them all.
By hugging the tree more effectively with those inward-turned paws we just learned about, the sun bear can use its powerful forearm and chest muscles to climb. The inward angle essentially helps the front paws act like grappling hooks–preventing slipping while the hind legs push upward. For such a small bear, there’s a lot of muscle involved!
Shy and reclusive, sun bears are largely solitary (except for a mother and her cubs), and are typically most active during the day, foraging for food in the trees, and sunbathing in tree crevices, fallen logs, and especially nests they create out of twigs and leaves among the branches of the trees. They tend to be found far from human activity and can adjust their activities to be more nocturnal in order to avoid humans and any potential consequences that may result from such an encounter.
Sun bears are opportunistic omnivores, primarily eating fruits, insects (especially bees and termites), lizards, rodents, and their absolute(ly cliché) favorite: honey! Using their sharp claws, they break tree bark and beehives and use their impressive 8-10 inch (20-25 cm) long tongue (!!!) to lick up the insect and honey goodies. Their love for honey has unsurprisingly given them the nickname of “honey bear”, beruang madu, in Malay and Indonesian.
And they’re smart, too. A 2019 study discovered that, like humans and gorillas, sun bears use facial mimicry to communicate with one another. The study concluded that sun bears use distinct open-mouthed expressions during play, which could be used to communicate an interest in play or to strengthen social bonds. This power of observation extends to a little harmless tomofoolery, too. A captive sun bear was once observed carefully watching as sugar was locked away in a cupboard. Later, it used one of its claws like a key to open the lock and reward itself by snatching the sweet treat.
Sun bears play an important role in helping maintain the health and diversity of their native ecosystems, as their actions, routines, and behaviors significantly impact the environment and other species. While searching for beetles and other insects to eat, sun bears tear into tree trunks with their claws, leaving behind gashes and hollows. What begins as a little collateral damage later becomes a gift to the forest: the openings provide nesting spots and shelter for birds, reptiles, and other smaller animals. In addition, as fruit and seed-eaters, sun bears aid in the regeneration of their forest habitats by dispersing seeds through their feces as they move around. Finally, they can be considered pest controllers as a result of their diet consisting of insects and small rodents.
The sun bear is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. Due to their secretive nature, it is unknown just how many wild individuals remain. But we do know they are in steep decline, with observable populations shrinking by more than 30% over the past three decades. Farming, logging, and poaching for meat or traditional medicine have stripped away both their habitat and safety, while the illegal pet trade adds further pressure. Their tendency to raid palm oil plantations and other crops has also fueled conflict with people.
While it is illegal to kill sun bears, laws protecting them are rarely enforced, and those laws that exist are poorly executed. There is A LOT that needs to be done in order to protect the sun bear on national, international, and local levels. Additional studies to further our knowledge of sun bear ecology, population distribution, conservation status, and the effect of threats, along with intense actions designed to reduce the trade in bear parts and to reduce habitat loss and degradation are some of the conservation actions needed to ensure that the smallest bear in the world remains free to climb trees and slurp up honey for years to come.
Sienna Weinstein is a wildlife photographer, zoologist, and lifelong advocate for the conservation of wildlife across the globe. She earned her B.S. in Zoology from the University of Vermont, followed by a M.S. degree in Environmental Studies with a concentration in Conservation Biology from Antioch University New England. While earning her Bachelor’s degree, Sienna participated in a study abroad program in South Africa and Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), taking part in fieldwork involving species abundance and diversity in the southern African ecosystem. She is also an official member of the Upsilon Tau chapter of the Beta Beta Beta National Biological Honor Society.
Deciding at the end of her academic career that she wanted to grow her natural creativity and hobby of photography into something more, Sienna dedicated herself to the field of wildlife conservation communication as a means to promote the conservation of wildlife. Her photography has been credited by organizations including The Nature Conservancy, Zoo New England, and the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute. She was also an invited reviewer of an elephant ethology lesson plan for Picture Perfect STEM Lessons (May 2017) by NSTA Press. Along with writing for Bio4Climate, she is also a volunteer writer for the New England Primate Conservancy. In her free time, she enjoys playing video games, watching wildlife documentaries, photographing nature and wildlife, and posting her work on her LinkedIn profile. She hopes to create a more professional portfolio in the near future.
What animal is the largest of the wild goat species, whose name means “snake eater” in Persian, and is the national animal of Pakistan?
An adult male markhor at the Stone Zoo, Stoneham, Massachusetts Image credit: Sienna Weinstein
Not Your Average Billy Goat
While interning at the Stone Zoo in Stoneham, Massachusetts, one of my duties involved filling up large black food bowls with a carefully measured mix of various feed for the zoo’s markhor. Prior to this internship, I had never heard of this fascinating species of bovid. The males were majestic with their artistically-curved horns and strikingly-bearded chin; so of course, my lunch break that day was spent photographing these amazing animals. This was no easy task, as these creatures had the habit of moving just out of sight around their enclosure as soon as my camera was properly set. However, persistence paid off, and I managed to snap a few photos during the brief moments when the markhors obliged me by standing still.
At 4.5-6.2 feet (1.37-1.89 m) long, with females typically weighing between 70 and 88 pounds (39.9 kg), with some weighing upwards of 100 (45.4 kg) or 110 lbs (49.9 kg) and males weighing up to 242 pounds (110 kg), the markhor is the largest of all wild goat species. Males release a pungent odor which has been described as stronger than that of domestic goats, and is used to repel predators, mark territory, and as a natural cologne to attract females during the breeding season.
There are a few examples of sexual dimorphism, or noticeable physical differences between genders, among markhor. Besides their differences in size, males have a longer coat, especially around the chin, throat, chest, and shanks. Females are typically redder in color compared with males, have shorter hair and beards, and lack the majestic mane males display along their neck. Both genders also sport an impressive set of corkscrew-like horns, which measure up to 10 inches (0.25 m) for females, but can exceed an astonishing 5 feet (1.52 m) for males!
What’s In a Name? A lot for the Markhor!
Found primarily in Pakistan, parts of Afghanistan, and the mountain ranges of the Himalayas and Karakoram, the markhor is the national animal of Pakistan. In Pakistan, the markhor is known as the “screw-horn”, or “screw-horned goat.” The Persian words “mar” and “khor” mean “snake” and “eater”, respectively, leading to the moniker “snake eater” or “snake killer”. This moniker is in reference to the ancient belief that the markhor would actively kill and consume snakes! (Which is not correct–markhors are herbivores.) This regional myth is believed to stem from the “snake-like” form of the male’s horns, curling and twisting like a snake, possibly leading ancient peoples of the area to associate them with these limbless reptiles.
Capra falconeri distribution, Shackleton, 1997
Native to the mountainous regions of South and Central Asia, the markhor has evolved powerful and flexible hooves with hard, large outer edges and softer centers to grip the rocky surfaces of the terrain. Their hooves allow them to scale sheer cliffs and escape predators such as Eurasian lynx, wolves, and snow leopards.
The markhor plays a crucial role within its ecosystem by contributing to the health of their mountainous habitat. Keeping the native plants in check, the markhor controls the growth of certain vegetation through their eating habits, even climbing trees to reach the tastiest bits. Markhors spend more than half of their day grazing, about 12–14 hours on average! They mostly feed on grass in the warmer months, but upon the arrival of winter, they switch to other plants, including shrubs and twigs. This seasonal shift from grazing (eating grasses and low vegetation) to browsing (eating leaves, shrubs, and woody plants) helps balance plant communities at different heights and root structures, which supports more diverse insect, bird, and herbivore populations. Their feeding habits prevent overgrazing and help to promote biodiversity by allowing a range of plant life to flourish.
A female markhor and her kid at the Stone Zoo, Stoneham, Massachusetts Image credit: Sienna Weinstein
An Icon Under Threat
Despite their impressive adaptations, generally majestic appearance, ecological importance, and status in Pakistan, the markhor faces numerous threats to survival. Listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List, the markhor is hunted for their meat, skin, and horns. Across their range, overhunting and poaching have negatively impacted their populations. In addition, habitat degradation due to excessive wood cutting for fuel, as well as increased grazing by livestock leading to competition, and even hybridization between species, have further contributed to the markhor’s decline. Numerous conservation actions have been proposed via the markhor’s webpage on the IUCN Red List, and only time will tell whether potential collaboration between the locals of the region, government bodies, and conservationists can save this icon of the South and Central Asian mountains.
It required persistence and patience for my photos of the markhor to come to fruition before the individuals slipped away and out of sight. Similarly, persistence and patience must be employed in order to ensure that the species as a whole doesn’t slip away permanently.
Sienna Weinstein is a wildlife photographer, zoologist, and lifelong advocate for the conservation of wildlife across the globe. She earned her B.S. in Zoology from the University of Vermont, followed by a M.S. degree in Environmental Studies with a concentration in Conservation Biology from Antioch University New England. While earning her Bachelor’s degree, Sienna participated in a study abroad program in South Africa and Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), taking part in fieldwork involving species abundance and diversity in the southern African ecosystem. She is also an official member of the Upsilon Tau chapter of the Beta Beta Beta National Biological Honor Society.
Deciding at the end of her academic career that she wanted to grow her natural creativity and hobby of photography into something more, Sienna dedicated herself to the field of wildlife conservation communication as a means to promote the conservation of wildlife. Her photography has been credited by organizations including The Nature Conservancy, Zoo New England, and the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute. She was also an invited reviewer of an elephant ethology lesson plan for Picture Perfect STEM Lessons (May 2017) by NSTA Press. Along with writing for Bio4Climate, she is also a volunteer writer for the New England Primate Conservancy. In her free time, she enjoys playing video games, watching wildlife documentaries, photographing nature and wildlife, and posting her work on her LinkedIn profile. She hopes to create a more professional portfolio in the near future.
What animal, despite having the same number of vertebrae, has a neck longer than the average human, has spot patterns as unique between individuals as our fingerprints, and despite their gentle appearance, can kill lions with a karate-style kick!?
A tower of Reticulated giraffes (G. reticulata) Image credit: Bird Explorers via iNaturalist (CC-BY-NC)
Some might say this is quite the… tall order for my very first Featured Creature profile! (Hold the applause!)
One of my earliest memories regarding these unique icons of the African savanna was when I was around five years old. My parents and I were visiting the Southwick Zoo in Mendon, Massachusetts, when we came upon the giraffe enclosure. One of these quiet, lanky creatures lowered its head across the fence bordering the enclosure, and licked my dad on the face with its looooong, black tongue! Once the laughter had died down, a flood of questions rushed into my head:
Why DOES the giraffe have such a long neck?
How do they sleep at night?
And what’s the deal with those black tongues?
A Tall-Walking, Awkwardly-Galloping African Animal
Their scattered range in sub-Saharan Africa extends from Chad in the north to South Africa in the south, and from Niger in the west to Somalia in the east. Within this range, giraffes typically live in savannahs and open woodlands, where their food sources include leaves, fruits, and flowers of woody plants. Giraffes primarily consume material of the acacia species, which they browse at heights most other ground-based herbivores can’t reach. Fully-grown giraffes stand at 14-19 feet (4.3-5.7 m) tall, with males taller than females. The average weight is 2,628 pounds (1,192 kg) for an adult male, while an adult female weighs on average 1,825 pounds (828 kg).
A giraffe’s front legs tend to be longer than the hind legs, and males have proportionally longer front legs than females. This trait gives them better support when swinging their necks during fights over females.
Giraffes have only two gaits: walking and galloping. When galloping, the hind legs move around the front legs before the latter move forward. The movements of the head and neck provide balance and control momentum while galloping. Despite their size, and their arguably cumbersome gallop, giraffes can reach a sprint speed of up to 37 miles per hour (60 km/h), and can sustain 31 miles per hour (50 km/h) for up to 1.2 miles (2 km).
Herd of giraffes running in Tanzania, Africa
When it’s not eating or galavanting across the savanna, a giraffe rests by lying with its body on top of its folded legs. When you’re 18 feet tall, some things are easier said than done. To lie down is something of a tedious balancing act. The giraffe first kneels on its front legs, then lowers the rest of its body. To get back up, it first gets on its front knees and positions its backside on top of its hind legs. Then, it pulls the backside upwards, and the front legs stand straight up again. At each stage, the individual swings its head for balance. To drink water from a low source such as a waterhole, a giraffe will either spread its front legs or bend its knees. Studies involving captive giraffes found they sleep intermittently up to 4.6 hours per day, and needing as little as 30 minutes a day in the wild. The studies also recorded that giraffes usually sleep lying down; however, “standing sleeps” have been recorded, particularly in older individuals.
Cameleopard
The term “cameleopard” is an archaic English portmanteau for the giraffe, which derives from “camel” and “leopard”, referring to its camel-like shape and leopard-like coloration. Giraffes are not closely related to either camels or leopards. Rather, they are just one of two members of the family Giraffidae, the other being the okapi. Giraffes are the tallest ruminants (cud-chewers) and are in the order Artiodactyla, or “even-toed ungulates”.
A giraffe’s coat contains cream or white-colored hair, covered in dark blotches or patches which can be brown, chestnut, orange, or nearly black. Scientists theorize the coat pattern serves as camouflage within the light and shade patterns of the savannah woodlands. And just like our fingerprints, every giraffe has a unique coat pattern!
The tongue is black and about 18 inches (45 cm) long, able to grasp foliage and delicately pick off leaves. Biologists thinks that the tongue’s coloration protects it against sunburn, given the large amount of time it spends in the fresh air, poking and prodding for something to eat. Acacia giraffes are known for having thorny branches, and the giraffe has a flexible, hairy upper lip to protect against the sharp prickles.
Both genders have prominent horn-like structures called ossicones, which can reach 5.3 inches (13.5 cm), and are used in male-to-male combat. These ossicones offer a reliable way to age and sex a giraffe: the ossicones of females and young are thin and display tufts of hair on top, whereas those of adult males tend to be bald and knobbed on top.
An elderly adult male Masai giraffe at the Franklin Park Zoo, Boston, Massachusetts Image credit: Sienna Weinstein
There is still some debate over just why the giraffe evolved such a long neck. The possible theories include the “necks-for-sex” hypothesis, in which evolution of long necks was driven by competition among males, who duke it out in “necking” battles over females, versus the high nutritional needs for (pregnant and lactating) females. A 2024 study by Pennsylvania State University found that both were essentially acceptable! Check out the graphic below for a good visualization.
A graphic summarizing the evolution of the giraffe’s body based on gender needs Image credit: Penn State University, CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0
A Flagship AND Keystone Species
Alongside other noteworthy African savanna species, such as elephants and rhinoceroses, giraffes are considered a flagship species, well-known organisms that represent ecosystems, used to raise awareness and support for conservation, and helping to protect the habitats in which they’re found. As one of the many creatures that generate public interest and support for various conservation efforts in habitats around the world, giraffes have a significant role.
Giraffes, like elephants and rhinos, are also classified as a keystone species–one that plays a crucial role in maintaining the health and diversity of their native ecosystems, as their actions significantly impact the environment and other species. What is it that giraffes do that impacts their local ecosystems and environment? By browsing vegetation high up in the trees, they open up areas around the bases of trees to promote the growth of other plants, creating microhabitats for other species. In addition, through their dung and urine, they help distribute nutrients throughout their habitat. Some acacia seedlings don’t even sprout and grow until they’ve passed through a giraffe’s digestive system! By protecting giraffes, we also contribute to protecting other plant and animal species of the African savanna and open woodlands!
The Life We Share
The woodlands and grasslands where giraffes live are shaped in part by those long necks and unique feeding habits. As they browse high in the canopy, they open up space for other plants and animals to thrive. These ecosystems aren’t something we built, they’re something we’re lucky to witness. And if we have a role to play, maybe it’s simply to make sure our presence doesn’t undo the work that nature is already doing so well.
Sienna Weinstein is a wildlife photographer, zoologist, and lifelong advocate for the conservation of wildlife across the globe. She earned her B.S. in Zoology from the University of Vermont, followed by a M.S. degree in Environmental Studies with a concentration in Conservation Biology from Antioch University New England. While earning her Bachelor’s degree, Sienna participated in a study abroad program in South Africa and Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), taking part in fieldwork involving species abundance and diversity in the southern African ecosystem. She is also an official member of the Upsilon Tau chapter of the Beta Beta Beta National Biological Honor Society.
Deciding at the end of her academic career that she wanted to grow her natural creativity and hobby of photography into something more, Sienna dedicated herself to the field of wildlife conservation communication as a means to promote the conservation of wildlife. Her photography has been credited by organizations including The Nature Conservancy, Zoo New England, and the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute. She was also an invited reviewer of an elephant ethology lesson plan for Picture Perfect STEM Lessons (May 2017) by NSTA Press. Along with writing for Bio4Climate, she is also a volunteer writer for the New England Primate Conservancy. In her free time, she enjoys playing video games, watching wildlife documentaries, photographing nature and wildlife, and posting her work on her LinkedIn profile. She hopes to create a more professional portfolio in the near future.
I prowl the woods, both fierce and lean, With golden eyes and coat unseen. Once a ghost upon the land, Now brought back by careful hand. Who am I, wild and free, Yet bound by fate and history?
Many moons ago, for two years during college and one year after, I worked at the Columbus Zoo & Aquarium in central Ohio (for those keeping score at home, that’s Jack Hanna’s zoo. Yes I met him.)
I spent thousands of hours over hundreds of days at that zoo. I got to know every path, every Dippin’ Dots stand, and every habitat under the zoo’s care.
The Columbus Zoo & Aquarium has an incredible collection of creatures (they’re one of the only institutions outside of Florida with manatees). While I was enamored with all of them, my favorite were the Mexican Wolves, a critically imperiled species.
In a place full of more diversity and creatures than I could ever count, the zoo’s Mexican wolves were different. As part of the (American) Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Species Survival Plan, a nationwide conservation effort. There were excellent educators of the impact one creature can have on an ecosystem, and what can happen when we don’t take care of them.
A Mexican Wolf at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium. Credit: JCaputo via Flickr. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
A Predator on the Brink
The Mexican wolf (Canis lupus baileyi) is both the rarest and most genetically distinct subspecies of the more well known gray wolf. It is notably smaller than its northern relatives, with adults weighing standing about two feet tallat the top of the shoulder. Despite this (relatively) diminutive stature, the Mexican wolf is an apex predator in its environment, finely tuned by evolution for survival in the rugged, often unforgiving landscapes of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico.
Consider those landscapes for a moment. What does it take for a species already up against the ropes to survive there? What would it take for you to survive there?
You’d have to have exceptional endurance to hunt in vast, open environments. Long, slender legs and a streamlined body would allow you to cover these great distances while tracking prey, often over the course of 30 miles in a single day. You’d require an acute sense of smell and keen eyesight to pick up on the movements of smaller creatures from far away, even in the dim light of dawn or dusk when your prey is most active.
You’d be an expert of efficient thermoregulation, that is, keeping cool in the heat and warm in the cold. And you’d have to be, an expert, when your world ranges from scorching desert heat to bitter mountain cold, these wolves have developed a double-layered coat that provides insulation in winter while shedding excess warmth in summer. The coat’s coloration, a mixture of gray, rust, and buff, serves as excellent camouflage against the rocky and forested landscapes they inhabit.
A Wolf’s Role
It’s old news to you, I know, but it bears repeating. For ecosystems to function, predators must play their part. Like other wolves, the Mexican wolf is a keystone species, regulating prey populations and influencing plant communities. Without them, the system unravels.
The Mexican wolf primarily hunts elk, white-tailed deer, mule deer, and occasionally livestock, but they will also take smaller mammals like rabbits and rodents when such larger prey is scarce. When they hunt, they do so together, as cooperative pack hunters. Their strong social structure is as essential a tool as their razor sharp incisors in felling prey much larger than themselves. Beyond the hunt, these [ack dynamics are critical to their survival—each member has a role, from rearing the pups learning the ropes to experienced hunters leading coordinated chases.
Both on the hunt and at home, communication is central to the wolves’ social structure. Howling serves as both a bonding ritual and a way to locate packmates over vast distances. Body language, like tail positioning and ear movement, helps maintain hierarchy within the group. You may even recognize a few of these traits in your own dog, barking or howling to communicate, using their tail and ears to express emotion, or learning through playful wrestling as a puppy.
Packs are tight-knit, usually number four to six members, though some may grow larger depending on prey availability. They establish territories spanning up to 200 square miles, marking them with scent and vocalizing to warn off intruding wolves and other creatures.
A Mexican wolf and her pup. Image by Bob Haarmans, CC BY 2.0
In the absence of wolves, prey populations, especially elk and deer, explode, stripping vegetation and weakening forests. Overgrazed lands mean fewer young trees, degraded soil, less cover for smaller animals and heightened wildfire risk. This domino effect, known more scientifically as trophic cascade, ripples through the entire ecosystem. Beavers lose the young saplings they rely on for food and dams. Birds struggle to find nesting spots. Streams warm without tree cover, altering aquatic life.
But when wolves return, balance begins to restore itself. Just ask Yellowstone National Park. Wolves keep elk and deer moving, preventing over-grazing in sensitive areas. Carcasses left behind provide food for scavengers, including ravens, eagles, foxes, and even bears. Their presence reshapes the landscape, not just through their actions but through the fear they instill in prey. They don’t just hunt; they change the way the river of life flows.
A Fragile Comeback
Conservation and reintroduction of Mexican wolves has been an uphill, if slightly progressive, endeavor since the first captive-bred wolves were reintroduced into Arizona and New Mexico in 1998.
Ranchers in the area saw them as a renewed threat to livestock, and illegal killings were common practice. Some reintroduced wolves were shot before they had a chance to establish packs. Others were relocated after venturing too close to human settlements and industry.
Populations have grown slowly. From a low of just seven wolves in 1980, there are now about 250-300 Mexican wolves in the wild today. This precarious population is still critically small, vulnerable to disease, low genetic variation, and continued conflict with humans.
Climate change has also complicated things.
Rising temperatures are altering the Mexican wolf’s habitat. More frequent and severe droughts in the American Southwest threaten prey availability, pushing elk and deer into different ranges. Increased wildfires, driven by hotter, drier, and more flammable conditions, destroy the forests that wolves depend on for cover and prey.
Mexican Wolf experimental population area map. Courtesy U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Last Word
I know zoos can be complicated, controversial places at times. I’m not really here to weigh in on that. But I think like many things in life, there is great value in the best parts of them. As we all continue to advocate for a less-extractive relationship with the rivers of life beyond our front door, I think the ability to educate, connect, and inspire others to care about the world around them is critically important. I saw the Columbus Zoo do that well time and time again, and I think every time we share a featured creature, post a picture of our gardens, or take someone along for a Miyawaki planting, we do the same.
Brendan Kelly began his career teaching conservation education programs at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium. He is interested in how the intersection of informal education, mass communications and marketing can be retooled to drive relatable, accessible climate action. While he loves all ecosystems equally, he is admittedly partial to those in the alpine.
The American Pika has a short, stocky body with large round ears and short legs. Don’t be fooled by this adorable ball of fur and ears. The pika is a hardy creature, one of the only mammals, in fact, that is able to survive its entire life in alpine terrain. The intensity of alpine environments makes it difficult for animals to thrive. The pika is believed to have originated in Asia, where 28 out of the 30 species of the lagomorph still reside. Fossil remains of ancient pika date back to over 15 million years ago, and are thought to have traveled from Asia to North America in the Miocene epoch, across the Bering land bridge.
As a guinea pig owner, the pika first drew my attention due to its resemblance to my beloved pets. Despite its guinea-pig and mouse-like appearance, however, the pika is not, in fact, a rodent. Instead, the pika is a lagomorph, sharing the title with rabbits and hares. The pika is the smallest lagomorph, with most weighing between 125 and 200 grams, and measuring about 15 cm in length. Unlike rodents, lagomorphs have a second, smaller pair of incisors located directly behind the first. In addition to their second pair of front teeth, lagomorphs produce two separate kinds of feces, drops that are both solid and round, or black soft pellets. The soft feces contain up to five times as many vitamins as the solid droppings, and after their production are re-consumed to utilize their nutritional value. The purpose of this process is to allow the animal to access the nutrients that its body was unable to absorb upon its first digestion, an important adaptation for life in their lives in an unforgiving alpine environment.
The pika reside in two very distinct and separate places, depending on the specific species. While some live in rocky, alpine terrains, others prefer to burrow in meadows. The American pika inhabits the former, on the treeless, rocky slopes of mountains, found in mountainous areas of the Sierra Nevada and the Rocky Mountains in both Canada and the United States. These pikas are social creatures, and gather to live in colonies together. These colonies provide the pikas with protection, as at any sign of danger they will squeak a warning call to their colony, a sound which is represented in the following video. Although they live together, pikas are territorial of their own den. Each pika’s den is built into the crevasse of the rocky environment, and the pika will also emit territorial cries to keep their fellow pikas away.
The pika’s breeding season is in the spring, when their aggression and territorial feelings reach a low. This change in disposition allows the creatures to mate with their den’s closet neighbor. Pika gestation lasts 30 days, and litters of one to four are born blind and hairless, to be cared for by their mother. The young pikas grow quickly, and reach adulthood in just 40 to 50 days, and adult pikas have an average lifespan of about three years. Mother pikas generally birth two litters of babies each summer, but the first litter tends to have a higher survival rate.
The American pika varies from brown to black in fur color, resembling the rocky terrain that it inhabits. Their thick coat of fur, which keeps them warm in the cold winter months, thins during the summer, allowing some relief from the summer heat. Pikas are active year-round, and do not hibernate. Instead, the pika seeks shelter within the cracks and crevices of their rocky terrain, remaining warm through the insulation of heavy snow. In addition, the American Pika makes sure to take precautions in order to prepare for the tough winter months, when grasses and wildflowers are sparse.
To prepare for harsh winter months, the pika gathers its favorite foods, grasses, weeds, and wildflowers, carrying its harvest in its mouth before depositing it into a hidden pile. This collection process is called haying, and the pikas store their clippings in crevices and under boulders, where they dry out over time. Haying allows the dry grasses to be stored for long periods of time in the pika’s den without growing moldy, perfect for saving a snack for the winter. During the summer, haying becomes the pikas primary activity, and each individual haystack can grow to be quite large in size.
American Pika with a mouthful of flowers (Wikimedia Commons by Frédéric Dulude-de Broin)
A little sweet and sour, pikas also participate in kleptoparasitism, stealing precious resources from already existing haystacks. They reach peak aggression in the summer months, desperate to defend their dens and haystacks from thieving neighbors. And for good reason–because they don’t really hibernate, the pika’s winter survival hinges on its successful haying season. In order to survive the winter, one pika needs approximately 30 pounds of plant material stored. That’s a lot! Each pika may have multiple haystacks, spread out throughout its individual territory. Usually, they focus their energy on one specific haystack, which over time can grow to be two feet in height and two feet in diameter.
American Pika haystacking (Wikimedia Commons by Jane Shelby Richardson)
Up, up, up
The pika has made its home among the rugged, wind-scoured peaks of Asia and North America’s mountain ranges, thriving in an environment too harsh for most creatures. But something is changing.
As summers grow hotter and snowpacks thin out, the pika’s alpine world is shrinking. The tiny mammals, perfectly adapted to the cold, are being driven higher and higher up the slopes, chasing the last pockets of cool, livable habitat. A pika cannot sweat or pant to cool itself down; instead, when temperatures climb above 78°F, it faces a simple but devastating choice—find shade or perish.
Historically, pikas have lived at elevations as low as 5,700 feet, but now, scientists are tracking their ascent to over 8,300 feet, seeking relief from the relentless heat. But mountains have their limits. What happens when the pika reaches the summit, and there is nowhere left to climb?
We’re already starting to find out. In the Great Basin region of the western United States, seven out of twenty-five pika populations have vanished, unable to adapt fast enough to their rapidly changing circumstances. Without deep winter snows to insulate their rocky dens, some freeze in the cold months, while others struggle to gather enough food as their growing season shifts unpredictably.
The pika’s journey upward is a silent alarm, a warning from one of nature’s smallest mountaineers.
Helena Venzke-Kondo is a student at Smith College pursuing psychology, education, and environmental studies. She is particularly interested in conversation psychology and the reciprocal relationship between people and nature. Helena is passionate about understanding how communities are impacted by climate change and what motivates people towards environmental action. In her free time, she loves to crochet, garden, drink tea, and tend to her houseplants.
What creature used to live on the ground but now hangs in trees, has hair that grows in the opposite direction than most mammals, and turns green because of the algae that thrives in their fur?
Would you be surprised if I told you that sloths aren’t lazy, but slow and careful?
Sloths have been labeled as some of the laziest animals due to their slow movements and the (unfair and misguided) assumption that they sleep all day. This belief isn’t helped by the fact that the word sloth literally means “laziness,” as does its common name in many other languages. But as we’ll learn, there’s a lot more to this creature than meets the eye, and their chill, methodical nature is actually a quite ingenious survival mechanism.
The six surviving species of sloths are categorized into two groups: Bradypus, the three-toed sloths, and Choloepus, the two-toed sloths. Even with this naming, all sloths have three toes on their back limbs – whereas two-toed sloths only have two digits on their front limbs. Both groups descend from ancestors that were mostly terrestrial (meaning they lived on the ground) that existed about 28 million years ago. Some of them reached sizes rivaling those of elephants! The sizes of modern sloths vary, with three-toed sloths typically ranging from 60-80 cm in length (24-31 inches) and weighing between 3.6-7.7 kg (8-17 lbs), while two-toed sloths can be slightly larger, particularly in weight.
Found in the tropical rainforests of Central and South America, you can identify them by their rounded heads, tiny ears, and a facial structure that makes them look like they’re always smiling. They have stubby tails and long limbs ending in curved claws that, historically used for digging, now work with specialized tendons and a grip strength that is twice as strong as a humans to climb tree trunks and hang upside down from branches effortlessly. It is believed that over time, sloths evolved into a suspensory lifestyle to have easy access to plentiful food (mainly leaves), stay safe from predators (like jaguars and ocelots), and conserve energy.
Sloths have a very low metabolism, meaning their bodies take quite a while to turn food into energy, thus the characteristically sluggish pace. Sloths move at about 4 yards per minute, and in an entire day, they may cover only around 120 feet, which is less than half the length of a football field. These languid movements are the reason why sloths can survive on a relatively low-energy diet, like leaves. While three-toed sloths are almost entirely herbivorous, two-toed sloths have an omnivorous diet that includes insects, fruits, and small lizards.
Even though leaves are the main food source for sloths, they provide very little nutrients and don’t digest easily. These lethargic tree-dwellers have large, slow-acting, multi-chambered stomachs that work for weeks to break down tough leaves. In fact, up to two thirds of a well-fed sloth’s body weight consists of the contents of its stomach. What other animals can digest in hours takes sloths days or weeks to process! Due to their slow digestion, sloths descend every week or so to defecate on the ground. Why exactly they do this is still a mystery to scientists, especially because sloths are at much more risk to predators on the ground.
Did you know that baby sloths learn what to eat by licking the lips of their mother?
Perhaps one of the most fascinating things about our slow-moving friends is what lives in their fur. Believe it or not, it’s a miniature world! Acting as a mobile home for a variety of different insect, fungi, and microbial species, sloths are, in fact, thriving ecosystems. But first, let’s set the scene.
Sloth fur grows in the opposite direction than it does on other animals. Normally, hair will grow towards the arms and legs, but because sloths spend so much of their lives upside down in the canopy with their limbs above their bodies (eating, sleeping, even giving birth hanging upside down), their fur grows away from their extremities and towards their bodies, giving them protection from the elements.
The layered and grooved structure of sloths’ shaggy coat is the perfect environment to host many species of commensal beetles, mites, moths, fungi, as well as a symbiotic green algae. While the sloths don’t directly consume and gain nutrients from the algae (legend held for many years that sloths were so lazy, they’d rather eat the algae off their back than search for food), its presence helps protect the sloths from predators by aiding in their camouflage, hiding them from predators like harpy eagles.
Sloths are an integral part of tropical rainforest ecosystems. They regulate plant growth through their consumption of leaves, provide a unique habitat for smaller organisms like algae and moths in their fur, and contribute to nutrient cycling by depositing their feces on the forest floor, dispersing seeds and fertilizing new plant growth.
Some species of sloths are at risk because of deforestation, contact with electrical lines, and poaching and animal trafficking. The health of these creatures is wholly dependent on the health of the tropical rainforest. If their habitat begins to deteriorate, sloths are forced to live elsewhere in places that cannot support healthy populations.
Luckily, The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) works with communities, governments, and organizations to encourage sustainable forestry, and collaborates to expand areas of forests under responsible management. WWF has worked with the Brazilian government since 2003 on the Amazon Region Protected Areas (ARPA) initiative, helping it become one of the largest conservation projects in the world. Not to mention, The Sloth Institute of Costa Rica is known for caring, rehabilitating, and releasing sloths back into the wild.
Northern Atlantic Forest Three-toed Sloth, Bradypus variegatus (Image Credit: Kevin Araujo via iNaturalist (CC-BY-NC))
More than meets the eye
While sloths are well-known for their slow-moving pace and are labeled as lazy, to believe that that is the only notable thing about them is largely inaccurate. Similar to how judging a person based on one aspect of their personality is not an accurate judgment of their character, judging sloths based on their sluggishness is not an accurate judgment of sloths as creatures. It overlooks how they’ve adapted from life on the ground to life in the trees, how they use their muscles and long claws to hang upside down and save a ton of energy, their role as ecosystem engineers, how they create habitats for other organisms, and how they help maintain the health of the forest.
So the next time we come across a creature – whether in the wild or at a sanctuary – we might ask, “What else can this creature do?”
Abigail Gipson is an environmental advocate with a bachelor’s degree in humanitarian studies from Fordham University. Working to protect the natural world and its inhabitants, Abigail is specifically interested in environmental protection, ecosystem-based adaptation, and the intersection of climate change with human rights and animal welfare. She loves autumn, reading, and gardening.
Sometimes the smallest creatures hide the largest secrets/mysteries. At just about 10 inches long and weighing up to 2 pounds, the slow loris is, in my opinion, no exception. This small, tailless primate with large (and iconic) moon-like eyes inhabits rainforests. As omnivores, slow lorises feed on both fruit and insects. There are nine species total, all inhabiting the Southeast region of Asia ranging from the islands of Java and Borneo to Vietnam and China.
True to their name, slow lorises are not light on their feet and move slowly. Despite this, slow lorises are not related to sloths, but are instead more closely related to lemurs. But in the rainforest, that’s not such a bad thing. Their leisurely, creeping gait helps them conserve energy and ambush their insect prey without being detected.
Adaptations
Living in the dense, verdant rainforest isn’t for everyone.The jungle is riddled with serpentine vines, thick vegetation, and towering trees. But slow lorises have developed multiple adaptations that allow them to thrive in such an environment.
Their fur markings serve as a warning to other animals that they are not to be trifled with. This is known as aposematic colouration. Similar to skunks, contrasting fur colors and shapes signal that they are venomous which makes predators think twice about attacking.
Slow lorises are nocturnal, and those large eyes allow them to significantly dilate their pupils, letting in more light and allowing them to easily see in near total darkness.
Even eating is no small feat in the rainforest. Slow lorises have specialized bottom front teeth, called a toothcomb. The grouping of long, thin teeth acts like a hair comb, allowing the slow loris to strip strong bark and uncover nutritious tree gum or sap. Equipped with an impressively strong grip, they can hang upside down and use their dexterous feet to hold onto branches while reaching for fruit just out of reach for most other animals. A network of capillaries called retia mirabilia allows them to do this without losing feeling in their limbs. With these adaptations, slow lorises are ideally suited for a life among the trees.
Slow lorises are the only venomous primate on Earth. They have brachial glands located in the crook of their elbow that secrete a toxic oil. When deploying the toxin, they lick this gland to venomize their saliva for a potent bite. And no one is safe– slow lorises use this venom on predators, and even each other. Fiercely territorial, they are one of the few species known to use venom on their own kind. In studying this behavior, scientists have found many slow lorises, especially young males, to have bite wounds.
The venom can be used as a protective, preventative defense mechanism as well. Female slow lorises have been observed licking their young to cover them in toxic saliva in hopes of deterring predators while they leave their babies in the safety of a tree to forage.
Whether you’re a natural predator, human, or another slow loris, a bite is very painful. Humans will experience pain from the strong bite, then a tingling sensation, followed by extreme swelling of the face and the start of anaphylactic shock. It can be fatal if not treated in time with epinephrine.
There are two major threats to slow loris populations – the illegal pet trade and habitat destruction. Because of their unique cuteness, soft fur, and small size, these creatures are often sold as illegal pets. Poachers will use flashlights to stun and capture the nocturnal slow loris, clip or remove their teeth to avoid harmful bites to humans and, because of their endearing, teddy bear-like appearance, sell them off as pets. Slow lorises are nocturnal and not able to withstand the stress of being forced to be awake during the daytime. They are also often not fed a proper diet of fruit, tree sap, and insects which leads to nutritional deficiencies and poor health.
Habitat loss from agricultural expansion is another threat. As farms grow, slow loris habitat shrinks. Land cleared to plant crops encroaches upon the rainforest which results in less territory and food sources for the slow loris.
However, one scientist found a way to reduce the canopy-loss from farming and restore slow loris territory. After observing wild slow lorises using above-ground water pipes to traverse farmland, researcher Anna Nekaris had an idea. Through her organization, the Little Fireface Project, she worked with local farmers to add more water pipes to act as bridges for slow lorises to use to move about the area. These unnatural vines provided a highway connecting isolated spots of jungle to each other. Not only did the slow loris population benefit by gaining more arboreal access to trees and food sources, but the community also benefited. Nekaris worked with the farmers to provide more water pipes to their land while showing human-animal conflict can have a mutually beneficial solution.
Every species of slow lorises is threatened, according to the IUCN, which monitors wild populations. Slow lorises may seem like an odd and somewhat unimportant creature on the grand ecological scale, but they are very important pollinators. When feeding on flowers, sap, or fruit, they are integral in spreading pollen and seeds across the forest. Through foraging and dispersal, slow lorises maintain the health of the ecosystem’s flora.
The slow loris garners attention for its cute looks, but beneath its fuzzy face and moon-like eyes, is a creature connected to the/its environment. Slow lorises are a perfect example of how species are tethered to their habitat in an integral way – their existence directly impacts forest propagation. As a pollinator, they disperse pollen stuck on their fur to new areas and increase genetic diversity throughout the forest. Slow lorises are proof of Earth’s interconnectedness.
To see the slow loris in action climbing from tree to tree and foraging for food, watch this short video.
Climbing up and away for now, Joely
Joely Hart is a wildlife enthusiast writing to inspire curiosity about Earth’s creatures. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in creative writing from the University of Central Florida and has a special interest in obscure, lesser-known species.
Five times the size of New York’s Central Park, Casa de Campo (literally, “country house”) outside Madrid is filled with rustic stone pine trees – emblematic of the Mediterranean and easily identified by their bare trunks and full, blooming crown of pine needles. It’s sometimes called the “umbrella pine” for good reason. Above, within, around, and beneath these trees, nearly 200 species of vertebrates live.
Out for a run through the park, my feet pounded the dry dirt along a gradual decline for the last mile. Here, the earthen trail dipped down steeply and cut through dense brush. As I dropped in, I almost landed squarely on top of what appeared to be a large rabbit. To my surprise, it didn’t dart away; I think I was more startled than it was. You see, I’d set out on that run in part to find inspiration, follow my curiosity, and think of a creature I wanted to learn more about. I’m not such a strong believer in fate, but this rabbit (or so I thought at the time) had certainly made its case.
I lingered and watched it mill around the brush. The more I watched, the more I wondered about its story.
A Keystone Species On The Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian hare (Lepus granatensis) is endemic, or native, to the entire peninsula that contains Spain, Portugal, and the enclave nation of Andorra. Throughout that region they can be found in diverse habitats including dry Mediterranean scrublands, woodlands, and agricultural fields. It thrives in regions with ample vegetation that offer cover and food, adapting well to the peninsula’s varied landscapes, which range from dry, hot areas to slightly cooler, temperate zones. In some respects, Casa de Campo itself is a microcosm of these environments.
Lepus granatensis is a keystone species, meaning it occupies an essential link in the ecosystem’s food chain and plays a particularly outsized role in balancing its environment. It survives on a diet of grasses, leaves, and shoots, playing a crucial role in seed dispersal and vegetation control – and is a source of prey for a range of birds and mammals. The hare’s diet and grazing habits help control plant overgrowth and support a diverse plant community, evidenced in Casa de Campo by the more than 600,000 plant specimens found in the park alone.
The open ground this hare navigates every day is patrolled by animals who want to eat her– lynx, coyote, and red foxes from the land and eagles, owls, hawks, and red kites from the air. To get from point A to point B she must be fast, and she is. Powerful hind legs propel Lepus granatensis to top sprinting speeds of 45-50 miles-per-hour, making her one of the fastest land animals on the peninsula. It’s a pace that puts my nine-minute mile to shame, and is an essential adaptation to survive here, far from the relative safety of dense forest or lush meadow.
Casa de Campo, a 4,257 acre park on the edge of Madrid, boasts more that 600,000 plant specimens and nearly 200 species of vertebrates. Image by author, who was apparently far too busy taking pictures instead of running while on his run.
Nature’s Air Conditioning
When I first started coming to Madrid, adapting to the sparing or non-existent use of air conditioning in the summer was an adventure, to say the least. I can do without the Chipotle and readily available iced coffee, but having been raised on A/C since I was born, it took some getting used to. Unlike me in this regard, the hare I ran into that day is well suited to her environment. It is one of large, open landscapes dotted with thick low lying brush, olive trees, holm oaks, and pines. Rainfall is infrequent, and summers are scorched by the strong Spanish sun.
Her ears are larger and thinner than those of a rabbit. They often stand upright. When backlit, one can easily make out a network of veins and arteries, traversing the ear like rivers and streams through a watershed.
An unidentified leporid (family of rabbits and hares) displaying the network of arteries and veins that help transfer heat from warm blood to the surrounding air, keeping her cool. Image by author.
Therein lies her secret. Hares don’t perspire like you and me– nor do they pant like a canine. Instead, they depend on their large, thin-skinned ears to act as thermostat and air conditioner. No, they don’t flap them like a paper fan. Instead, they help her cool down by getting hotter.
When the hare needs to release excess heat, she can expand that network of blood vessels in her ears, allowing her to redirect hot blood away from her body and through the thin skin of her ears. Because her ears have a large surface area putting those veins in closer contact to the ambient air, this increased blood flow facilitates the dissipation of heat into the ever so slightly cooler surrounding air, helping her regulate her body temperature effectively.
We see this strategy of counter-current thermoregulation in nature again and again, in the ears of elephants and deer, and a variation in the snow and ice-bound paws of the arctic fox.
Thermal imaging demonstrating how heat retention and dissipation in rabbits is concentrated through the ears. Image credit: V. Redialli, et al., 2008
This thermal video clearly illustrates the heat disparity between a rabbit’s ears, and the rest of its body.
Confronting a Microscopic Threat
Before I continued my run, I fired off a few observations to a zoologist friend of mine for help with the species identification. Among them was what we suspected to be a bad case of conjunctivitis in both eyes; significant levels of swelling and discharge were present.
While neither of us can offer a certain diagnosis for this particular hare, further research has indicated that something more serious is afoot.
In 1952, France was well into its post-war reconstruction, buoyed along by a growing economy and population. As the country was just beginning a new chapter in its story, so too was recently retired physician Dr. Paul-Félix Armand-Delille. In his new-found free time, Armand-Delille took up great interest in the pristine care and management of the grounds of his estate, Château Maillebois, in the department of Eure-et-Loir, a little more than 100km west of Paris.
Troubled by the presence of wild European rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) on his property, Armand-Delille read about the success Australian farmers had found using strains of the myxoma virus to control invasive rabbit species on that continent (they’d been imported by an Englishman decades earlier). Using his old medical connections, Armand-Delille secured some myxoma virus for himself and intentionally infected and released two of the rabbits on his property, confident that they would not be able to leave it.
In just one year, nearly half of all wild rabbits in France would be dead, consumed by myxomatosis, the disease caused by the myxoma virus. In the decades since, the disease has ravaged Oryctolagus cuniculus populations across Europe, shrinking their numbers to just a fraction of what they were at mid-century. The sudden, near overnight disappearance of the European rabbit also crippled populations of its specialist predator, the Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus). With the lynx unable to replace the rabbit in its diet, the species was pushed to the brink of extinction. Recent conservation efforts have helped recover and stabilize populations, but Lynx pardinus remains a “vulnerable” species.
Fortunately, over just the last few decades some populations of the European rabbit have resurged, having developed strong resistance to the virus.
But viruses are always trying, though usually failing, to jump from one host species to another. As species migrate and habitats converge, a virus gets more and more chances to make the leap.
As early as 2018, myxoma succeeded in making the leap from Oryctolagus cuniculus to Lepus granatensis. The virus that causes myxomatosis has wreaked havoc on Iberian hare populations on the peninsula; a species that did not have the advantage of decades and decades of exposure to build up resistance. Myxomatosis can cause fever, lesions, lethargy, and, it turns out, severe swelling and discharge around the eyes. Sometimes these symptoms can subside. But for the Iberian hare the virus is remarkably lethal, with a mean mortality rate of about 70%. Data indicates that since 2018, the virus has decimated Iberian hare populations. This break in the chain has serious implications for both the vegetation the hare keeps in check and the predators that depend on the hare as prey – implications that we are only beginning to understand.
The impact of myxomatosis outbreaks on Iberian hare populations after the 2018 species jump event. Image credit: Cardoso B, et al.
As a warming world continues to heat Iberia, the delicately balanced ecosystem Lepus granatensis inhabits is increasingly jeopardized. More intense storms flood the parched terrain while stifling heat and wildfires threaten vegetation. Lepus granatensis is likely to migrate north in search of more tolerable environments that can sustain the plant life it depends on for both food and cover. The further north the hare goes, the more its new habitat will overlap with the European rabbit and other species. The future of large populations of Lepus granatensis in the face of this disease and increasing climate fallout is uncertain. Since returning to Casa de Campo, I’ve noticed the swelling and discharge in other leporids as well.
Lepus granatensis Image credit: JoseVi More Díaz (CC-BY-NC-ND)
Complexity
This isn’t the story I set out to tell. When I stumbled on the hare, I expected to write an essay about reconnecting with nature as I embarked on my own new journey as part of the Bio4Climate team.
Transitioning from a place of hope and curiosity, to understanding the more dire situation faced by both the hare I crossed paths with and the species as a whole was deflating. Yet, that’s all part of nature’s complexity; we don’t always get the happy endings we want. To some extent, these aren’t our stories to write. But even that conclusion is built around a false premise, because none of these stories are over.
The recent outbreak has prompted renewed research interest into threats facing hare populations. And even if we distill the bigger story down to this specific hare, I don’t know what will become of her. No, the odds aren’t great. But in the time that I watched her she simply carried on, foraging away in the brush. It’s a small thing to observe, but I think there’s hope in that— in identifying the struggle and the resilience of living things, and channeling that understanding to shape a better world.
It’s hard not to think about the web of plants, animals, ecosystems, and microscopic organisms that have been set on a collision course with each other as they seek to rebalance themselves. And in the middle of it all is us.
After watching the hare for a few minutes, I continued my run. The trail led out of the brush and opened up into a large, flat field, sparingly dotted with those umbrella pines. At that moment, a bird I later identified in iNaturalist as a red kite (Milvus milvus) dropped out of one of the trees, skimmed the earth, and climbed into the sky.
Brendan began his career teaching conservation education programs at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium. He is interested in how the intersection of informal education, mass communications and marketing can be retooled to drive relatable, accessible climate action. While he loves all ecosystems equally, he is admittedly partial to those in the alpine.
The chevrotain is an incredibly unique animal native to India and Southeast Asia. This creature is just 12 inches tall and about 29 inches long – the size of a rabbit. It weighs approximately 4-11 pounds and sports a reddish-chestnut brown coat with white markings on its chest. The chevrotain is the world’s smallest hoofed mammal. The chevrotain is also called the mouse-deer, but is not related to either a mouse or deer. Entirely a species of its own, the chevrotain is a one-of-a-kind creature.
There are ten species of chevrotain, nine of which reside in Asia while one – the water chevrotain – is native to Africa, spanning from Southern Benin to the Democratic Republic of Congo. This particular species lives near rivers and lakes as its name implies. When threatened, the water chevrotain will submerge itself underwater for up to four minutes to escape a predator. All chevrotains are very small with the tiniest being the lesser Malay chevrotain at 4 pounds and the largest being the water chevrotain at 33 pounds.
These miniature ungulates are herbivores and feed on vegetation like grasses, leaves, roots, flowers, and fruit. The chevrotain is a ruminant and has a 4 chambered stomach similar to that of a cow’s. This stomach helps digest fibrous plant material and extract nutrients from plant matter. Chevrotains inhabit jungles and forage for low hanging and fallen fruit as well as ground plants that are easy to reach due to their short stature.
Fangs
Despite looking like mini-deer, chevrotains do not have antlers. Instead, they have elongated incisors. In males, these teeth protrude beyond the mouth like tusks which are used when fighting. Chevrotains also use their long fangs to expose roots for consumption.
Chevrotains are known for being solitary, quiet, and difficult to find amongst dense forests. One species in particular has remained hidden from scientists for nearly 30 years – until recently. The silver-backed chevrotain, native to Vietnam, had not been seen for decades, despite camera traps and excursions to find the creature. But in 2017, that all changed. A camera trap captured the elusive silver-backed chevrotain, the first sighting since 1990. Still, so little is known about this species that the IUCN has assigned the status of “data deficient”.
Conservation ensures that no species is lost to history and reinforces the importance of a diverse ecosystem where every organism has a vital role to play. Even when all hope seems lost, life finds a way.
Treading quietly away for now, Joely
Joely Hart is a wildlife enthusiast writing to inspire curiosity about Earth’s creatures. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in creative writing from the University of Central Florida and has a special interest in obscure, lesser-known species.
Meet the aardvark – a one-of-a-kind mammal native only to sub-Saharan Africa.
The aardvark has an unusual hodge-podge mix of features including rabbit-like ears, a pig-like snout, an opossum-like tail, and a long, sticky anteater-like tongue. This creature has large and formidable claws used for digging and defense. Weighing in at 115 – 180 pounds, the aardvark is much heftier than it looks.
Aardvarks inhabit the savannas, arid grasslands, and bushlands of sub-Saharan Africa where there is plenty of their favorite prey, ants and termites. They are solitary and do not socialize with others unless for mating or raising young. They live for about 18 years in the wild and approximately 25 years in captivity.
The aardvark is famous for being the first noun in the English dictionary. The animal goes by many names including Cape anteater and ant bear, but its colloquial moniker, aardvark, is Afrikaans for “earth pig”.
Although the aardvark is an eater of ants, it is not an anteater. Understandably, the comparison comes from its similar appearance and nearly identical diet to the anteater, which leads people to assume they are the same animal. However, the aardvark is its own species entirely, and in fact, it is more closely related to elephants than to anteaters.
Unique Diet
Aardvarks are insectivores that eat ants and termites. They use their keen sense of smell to locate ant nests and termite mounds over great distances. Aardvarks have the highest number of olfactory turbinate bones of any mammal on the planet. An aardvark has about 9 -11 of these specialized bones which help support the olfactory bulb in the brain, where smells are processed. This larger-than-average olfactory system allows the aardvark to track such tiny creatures like ants and termites from far away. They have been observed swinging their heads back and forth close to the ground, much like a metal detector, to pick up a scent.
Once an aardvark locates a termite mound, it uses its claws to break open the cement-hard structure. Its tongue, coated in sticky saliva, slurps up the exposed insects in seconds. The highly adapted tongue of an aardvark can be up to 1 foot long. Over the course of a night, a single aardvark eats over 45,000 termites. Amazingly, all of this is done without chewing.
While aardvarks are classified as insectivores, they make one exception in their diet for a very unique fruit, the aardvark cucumber. This African melon looks similar to a cantaloupe but is grown completely underground. Aardvarks easily dig up the fruit and eat its watery, seed-filled interior. Once the fruit is digested, the seeds are dispersed by the aardvarks that cover their dung in dirt, effectively planting these seeds in the soil with a natural fertilizer. This symbiotic relationship helps propagate the aardvark cucumber, whose existence is entirely dependent upon the aardvark.
The aardvark is regarded as a symbol of resilience in some African cultures due to its unrelenting bravery in tearing down termite mounds. The aardvark has very thick skin which helps avoid injury from hundreds of termite and ant bites. Because of their nocturnal habits and solitary nature, aardvarks are not a common sight during the day. It is said that anyone who is lucky enough to see one is blessed.
Earth Engineer
Aardvarks are adept earth-movers known to create specialized burrows to live in. These burrows provide shelter away from the sun and from predators. Its powerful claws are specially adapted to move massive amounts of dirt in minutes, which helps the aardvark excavate multiple chambers within the den.
Some burrows can be up to 10 feet deep and over 20 feet long. There are multiple entrances to the same burrow so the aardvark has a chance to escape if a predator poses a threat. Aardvarks have been observed to be very cautious creatures and practice an unusual ritual before exiting their abode. The aardvark stands at the edge of its burrow and uses its excellent sense of smell to detect any nearby predators. It listens for danger and emerges slowly. The aardvark then jumps a few times, pauses, and heads out for the night. Because aardvarks are primarily nocturnal, they don’t have much need for vivid sight and are colorblind. Their long ears and nose do the seeing for them.
The physiology of these soil architects may strike some as strange, but it serves a purpose. The odd, arched silhouette of the aardvark is caused by its hind legs being longer than its front, which gives them a stronger stance when digging. This adaptation, combined with their formidable claws and muscular forelimbs, allows the aardvark to dig a hole 2-feet deep in just 30 seconds – much faster than a human with a shovel.
When aardvarks have depleted most of their territory’s termite mounds or ant nests, they must move on to new hunting grounds. Their abandoned burrows don’t stay empty for long and are occupied by a variety of species. Hyenas, wilddogs, warthogs, civets, and porcupines make their homes in aardvark burrows. The aardvark has an incredible impact on its environment by sculpting the very landscape itself and providing shelter for other creatures.
If you want to learn more about how aardvark burrows support other animals, check out this article documenting the one of the first observations of predators and prey cohabitating in the same burrow.
Burrowing away now, Joely
Joely Hart is a wildlife enthusiast writing to inspire curiosity about Earth’s creatures. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in creative writing from the University of Central Florida and has a special interest in obscure, lesser-known species.
What mammal makes a mysterious sound that scientists can’t figure out, can jump straight up to a height eight times their body length, and loves us when we love them?
Felis catus, the mostly tame, sometimes feral, house cat!
Oly (aka Olyneuropathy) the Tabby Photo by Maya Dutta
Cats domesticated us humans around 7500 BCE, once we began growing grain – and we needed someone to control the annoying mice that ate it. Cats found this to be a pretty good deal and the feeling was mutual. The relationship worked so well that Felis catus became one of the top ten most populous mammals on Earth, with approximately 700 million of them today.
By the way, if you want to sound cool when there’s a group of them around, you may refer to the numerous felines as a clowder or glaring of cats (as in, “Look, everyone – there’s a clowder of cats!”).
A cat eating a fish under a chair, a mural in an Egyptian tomb dating to the 15th century BC (Photo: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
Not all is rosy in mondo catus, sadly. They are so adaptable, brought to all continents except Antarctica (mostly by humans in boats), that cats are among the most invasive of species. They sometimes wind up in places free of natural predators, and their proliferation is fed by eating billions of birds, mammals, and reptiles, even causing an occasional extinction. (Then again, who are we Homo sapiens to pass judgment on other “invasive” species?)
Yet, undeterred by dark sides, people around the world are crazy about their cats. We will go to great lengths to make them happy. See, for example, this Kickstarter Shru Cat Companion crowdfunding campaign: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1046165765/egg-the-intelligent-cat-companion (scroll down, watch the video, and try to contain your excitement).
The cat-toy inventor asked for a $15,000 investment, but cat lovers showed their love by sending Shru $170,779 for an exotic cat toy that does . . . well, I’ll let you figure that one out. In the meanwhile thousands of non-profits run crowdfunders to conduct activities like feeding children and turning deserts green again, among many other urgent things – and their average take is only $9,237. Such oddly-placed power of cat fervor is depressingly impressive (though it’s not the cats’ fault).
Cats have more vertebrae than most mammals, and their intervertebral discs are elastic and springy. So cats can contort into an amazing variety of liquid-esque positions. And even more importantly, those spinal discs alternately expand and compress as the animal runs, which conserves energy and provides extra propulsion for speeds of up to 30 miles per hour (or 48 km/h).
Although cat behavioral and psychological scientists are a few years behind their canine counterparts, it is lately becoming scientifically apparent how intelligent and emotionally responsive cats are (of course, cat owners have known this forever). They just show it differently from dogs or other animals:
Yes! Cats do love their humans, even if sometimes they have a funny way of showing it. In fact, they form strong attachments to their owners and display their emotions very similar to humans.
Just like people, cats can show their love through understanding and concern for others. In some instances, they have been known to risk their lives for their owners, protecting them from dangers like poisonous snakes or other hazards. Cats can also detect when their owner is upset and will often console them or, in some cases, even lick away their tears! Some cases exist where an owner left or passed away, and the cat exhibited signs of distress like sitting and meowing at the owner’s bedroom door, going into hiding, even refusing to eat. But perhaps some of the most incredible evidence that cats do get attached to their owners is in the cases where cats have traveled hundreds upon hundreds of miles to places they’ve never been in order to find their person.
Finally, there’s purring, a sound that science still can’t quite figure out. It turns out that cats purr for all kinds of reasons other than that they’re happy to be on our laps. This video tells the story:
Intriguing cat facts and tales could go on forever, but for now let’s travel onward together on the road to purr-fect purr-ful bliss,
Adam
P.S. If you have access to Netflix, there’s a fascinating video entitled “Inside the Mind of a Cat.” You can train cats to do all kinds of amazing tricks when you know how. Note that they’re training you as much as you’re training them!
Adam Sacks is a Co-Founder and former Executive Director of Biodiversity for a Livable Climate (Bio4Climate). He has had careers in education, holistic medicine, computer technology, politics, and advocacy. A climate activist for the past 25 years, he has been studying and writing about Holistic Management since 2007. His primary goal is the regeneration of biodiversity and a livable planet.
Groundhogs are famous rodents who enjoy the spotlight in early February, when people in the US and Canada celebrate Groundhog Day. These critters also go by woodchuck, whistle-pig, wood-shock, whistler, marmot, thickwood badger, red monk, land beaver, weenusk, monax, and groundpig.
Beyond their supposed (and generally debunked) prowess at predicting seasonal changes, these cuddly creatures exhibit a fascinating blend of behaviors and ecological significance. Groundhogs belong to the squirrel family as one of the 14 species of marmots, which are also aptly known as ground squirrels. Indeed, groundhogs’ fifteen minutes of fame, and their lives outside of it, are shaped by their burrowing talent and how that ties into their seasonal habits.
A defining characteristic of groundhogs is their habit of hibernating through the winter months. They spend the warmer seasons gorging themselves on vegetation, accumulating ample fat reserves to sustain them through the winter slumber. During hibernation, their heart rate drops and their body temperature lowers, enabling them to conserve energy in their underground burrows.
Burrowing is a hallmark behavior of groundhogs, with complex, multi-chambered burrows extending up to a total of 65 feet in length. These subterranean dwellings serve as multi-functional spaces where groundhogs sleep, raise their offspring, and even excrete waste in specific, separate tunnels. Intriguingly, the burrows also provide refuge for other wildlife species, which helps support the overall biodiversity of their habitats. Much like the dens of the related prairie dog, these burrows can shelter other species in times of need, offering a place of refuge during fires or cold snaps, or simply a home base to hide out from the usual predators.
Cultural and Ecological Connections
Groundhog Day, celebrated on February 2nd each year, has captured the imagination of people across the United States and Canada. According to tradition, if a groundhog emerges from its burrow and sees its shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter, and if it doesn’t see its shadow (which happened this year), spring will come early. However, a study conducted in 2021 surveying years of predictions and seasonal records revealed that groundhogs’ predictions seem to be pure chance, with accuracy rates hovering around 50 percent.
Despite their failed reputation as predictors of seasonal changes, groundhogs excel in other aspects of survival. They are skilled foragers, feeding on a variety of vegetation, including leaves, flowers, and field crops. Their burrowing activities also play a crucial role in mixing and aerating the soil, a process which enhances nutrient absorption essential for plant growth.
While groundhogs are classified as species of least concern on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, they face challenges in areas where they are overly abundant. Considered pests by some due to their burrowing activities, groundhogs occasionally come into conflict with humans, particularly farmers who may experience damage to gardens and crops.
Groundhogs are integral components of their ecosystems, providing shelter for various wildlife species and contributing to soil health through their burrowing activities. While adults are known to defend themselves fiercely against predators using their powerful claws and teeth, young groundhogs are more vulnerable to predation, particularly from birds of prey like hawks and other raptors.
Check out this short and sweet video from the Missouri Department of Conservation on Groundhogs:
Let us honor Groundhog Day as a reminder to be attentive to the organisms and ecosystems around us. The more we learn from one another, the better we can participate in the complex web of life in which we all play a role.
Burrowing away now,
Maya
Maya Dutta is an environmental advocate and ecosystem restorer working to spread understanding on the key role of biodiversity in shaping the climate and the water, carbon, nutrient and energy cycles we rely on. She is passionate about climate change adaptation and mitigation and the ways that community-led ecosystem restoration can fight global climate change while improving the livelihood and equity of human communities. Having grown up in New York City and lived in cities all her life, Maya is interested in creating more natural infrastructure, biodiversity, and access to nature and ecological connection in urban areas.
What furry feline has stealthy skills, built-in snow gear, and a surprising screech?
The Canada lynx!
Photo by Kevin Pepper
The Canada lynx, also known as Lynx canadensis or the Inuktut name of ᐱᖅᑐᖅᓯᕋᖅ (‘piqtuqsiraq’), is a charismatic mammal of the Northernmost parts of North America. This furry, fierce cousin of the bobcat can be found in Canada, of course, as well as Alaska and in some parts of Northern Maine.
This forest feline may resemble a larger version of a housecat, but its predatory prowess is nothing short of formidable. With a heavy coat of fur, including distinctive tufts at its ears and a short, black-tipped tail, large paws that help navigate snowy terrain, and excellent vision and hearing, the Canada lynx is extremely well adapted to its environment.
Photo by Laura Lorman from National Wildlife Federation
Prime Predator
In terms of physical attributes and behavior, the Canada lynx possesses exceptional senses, including large eyes and acute hearing, making it an adept nocturnal hunter. In fact, they are able to detect prey in the darkness from as far as 250 feet (76 m) away.
Although not known for speed, these stealthy predators rely on their knack for stealth. They often lie in wait, concealed in strategic hiding spots, before making a calculated pounce on unsuspecting prey. Patiently biding their time for hours on end is not uncommon in their pursuit of sustenance.
Exhibiting a very specific carnivorous diet, these lynxes primarily subsist on snowshoe hares, and fluctuations in hare populations directly correlate with the rise and fall of lynx numbers. When it is available, a single lynx might consume an entire hare for a meal, storing remnants for later consumption. In the absence of hares, they resort to hunting small mammals, birds, and occasionally larger prey such as caribou.
Photo from Shuttershock
Suited to the snow
Characterized by a compact body, diminutive tail, and elongated legs, the Canada lynx sports a dense, lengthy, and gray fur coat during winter, while transitioning to a shorter, lighter brown coat in summer. Their facial appearance appears broad due to elongated fur patches extending from their cheeks that can give the appearance of a two-pronged beard. They also sport distinctive black-tipped, bobbed tails and elongated tufts on their triangular ears.
Closely resembling the southern-dwelling bobcat, the key difference lies in their tails— the Canada lynx boasts completely black-tipped tails compared to the bobcat’s tail that features a white ring below the black tip. Moreover, the lynx’s sizable, heavily furred paws act as natural snowshoes, with a high surface area to support their movement over deep snow, aiding their mobility during winter hunts.
Residing across forested regions spanning Canada, Alaska, and certain parts of the contiguous United States, Canada lynxes prefer making dens under fallen trees, tree stumps, rock formations, or dense vegetation. These territorial animals are mostly solitary, particularly with male lynxes leading an almost entirely solitary existence.
Photo from National Geographic
However, young lynxes stay in the care of their mothers for about a year, and some females have been observed living and hunting in pairs, raising questions for scientists about the social behavior of these big cats. Recently, a team of researchers has begun delving into the social lives of lynxes by tracking their vocalizations. And whether or not you are engaged in studying lynx populations, it’s well worth checking out the haunting sounds of the lynx call:
Big Cats of the Boreal
The Canada lynx, a native denizen of the expansive Boreal Forest, relies heavily on this vast and biodiverse habitat for survival. The boreal ecosystem, characterized by its dense forests of coniferous trees, provides the ideal cover and sustenance for these elusive predators. The lynx thrives amidst the rich tapestry of dense vegetation, fallen trees, and rocky outcrops, creating a mosaic of hiding spots and denning sites crucial for their survival. However, threats to the Boreal Forest, including deforestation, habitat fragmentation, and climate change, pose significant risks to the Canada lynx population.
Deforestation for logging, mining, and human settlement disrupts the lynx’s habitat, diminishing their hunting grounds and safe havens. Fragmentation of the forest reduces connectivity between lynx populations, affecting genetic diversity and hindering their ability to roam and find suitable mates. Climate change exacerbates these issues, altering the boreal ecosystem and impacting prey availability, which is pivotal for the lynx’s sustenance. The cumulative effect of these threats imperils the Canada lynx, highlighting the urgent need for conservation efforts to safeguard both the lynx and its vital habitat in the Boreal Forest, which in turn plays an essential role regulating the carbon and water cycles and overall stability of our climate.
The Canada lynx is more than just an example of might and physical prowess in nature. A true embodiment of the northern forests, these elusive creatures and their unique lifestyle are treasures of the wild. Let us work for ecological integrity in all forests and ecosystems, Boreal and beyond.
For my fellow cat lovers,
Maya
Maya Dutta is an environmental advocate and ecosystem restorer working to spread understanding on the key role of biodiversity in shaping the climate and the water, carbon, nutrient and energy cycles we rely on. She is passionate about climate change adaptation and mitigation and the ways that community-led ecosystem restoration can fight global climate change while improving the livelihood and equity of human communities. Having grown up in New York City and lived in cities all her life, Maya is interested in creating more natural infrastructure, biodiversity, and access to nature and ecological connection in urban areas.
Venturing into the world of fishing cats unveils a marvel of feline prowess and adaptability. These incredible creatures, found across 11 countries in Southeast Asia, possess a unique combination of features that defy conventional feline stereotypes.
Their distinct traits include a squat, stocky build, equipped with short, webbed feet, and an olive-gray coat adorned with black spots and stripes. Contrary to the belief that cats avoid water at all costs, fishing cats exhibit an unparalleled affinity for aquatic habitats. Indeed, these exceptional swimmers and adept hunters inhabit wetlands, marshes, and mangrove forests.
One of the most striking features aiding the waterborne adventures of the fishing cat is the webbing between their toes, facilitating seamless navigation through muddy wetlands without sinking. Additionally, their fur boasts a dual-layered composition: a short, dense undercoat shields their skin from the elements while swimming, while longer guard hairs contribute to their distinctive coloration, providing ideal camouflage for hunting in varied terrains.
Hunting primarily near water bodies, fishing cats display remarkable adaptability in their diet, feasting not only on fish but also on crustaceans, amphibians, and various aquatic creatures. These agile predators employ ingenious techniques, using their paws to scoop fish from shallow waters or even diving headfirst into deeper areas to secure a meal with their teeth. Their versatile diets extend to snakes, rodents, and even larger prey like young deer and wild pigs, but fish comprise about three quarters of their food.
Watch a juvenile try to learn the process:
Fishing cats navigate diverse ecosystems with ease, forging their existence in habitats ranging from freshwater landscapes to coastal regions. While much of their behavior in the wild has eluded observation, fishing cats, which are nocturnal animals, are thought to have no natural predators besides humans. They tend to roam wetlands and areas that larger cats and predators aren’t well suited to inhabit. However, humans provide plenty of issues to contend with, and due to the pressures of habitat encroachment, development, and poaching, fishing cats are classified as a vulnerable species.
Smithsonian’s National Zoo, Jessie Cohen
Human and Habitat Pressures
In India, conservationists and researchers have embarked on a pivotal journey to safeguard these elusive creatures. The country’s many wetland ecosystems, integral to the fishing cat’s survival, face mounting threats from human encroachment, urbanization, and environmental degradation. Increasing development comes with issues of draining wetlands, polluting them, or altering their composition and natural salinity of the soil due to aquaculture operations.
Many organizations, like the Wildlife Institute of India and the Eastern Ghats Wildlife Society, have sprung up to champion the cause of fishing cats and understand more about these creatures. Studies conducted in sanctuaries and wildlife reserves have shed light on the behavior, habitat preferences, and dietary patterns of fishing cats in captivity. Initiatives to map their territories and understand their population dynamics have proven more challenging, yet vital for conservation strategies. Camera trap surveys in regions like the Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary and the Krishna Wildlife Sanctuary have uncovered pockets of fishing cat populations, offering valuable insights into their distribution across diverse landscapes.
Juvenile Fishing Cat on a Branch (Photo by Michael Bentley from Wikipedia, CC 2.0)
The evolving understanding of fishing cats has inspired conservation campaigns aimed at raising awareness among local communities. Educational programs, including the “Children for Fishing Cats” initiative, have empowered younger generations to become advocates for wildlife conservation, fostering harmony between human activities and the preservation of vital ecosystems.
Amidst the growing threats posed by habitat loss, human-wildlife conflicts, and climate change, conservationists advocate for stronger legislation and reinforced protection measures for wetlands and associated habitats. Efforts to mitigate conflict situations, prevent retaliatory killings, and promote sustainable practices among fishing communities stand as cornerstones in safeguarding these resilient creatures and their fragile environments.
As researchers navigate the delicate balance between human activities and wildlife conservation, the overarching goal remains clear: preserving the wetlands that sustain the extraordinary fishing cats is indispensable for safeguarding biodiversity, ensuring ecological resilience, and fostering coexistence between humans and these remarkable felines. More people and organizations are also coming to appreciate the benefits of healthy wetland ecosystems for buffering against storm surges, protecting water quality, contributing to the water cycle, and helping fight climate change.
As we protect and restore our wetlands, we can safeguard the future for fishing cats, the ecosystems they regulate, and the web of life that connects us.
For my fellow water lovers everywhere,
Maya
Maya Dutta is an environmental advocate and ecosystem restorer working to spread understanding on the key role of biodiversity in shaping the climate and the water, carbon, nutrient and energy cycles we rely on. She is passionate about climate change adaptation and mitigation and the ways that community-led ecosystem restoration can fight global climate change while improving the livelihood and equity of human communities. Having grown up in New York City and lived in cities all her life, Maya is interested in creating more natural infrastructure, biodiversity, and access to nature and ecological connection in urban areas.
Sometimes, when walking alone in the high grasslands of the Western United States, you may feel as if you are being watched.
My first encounter with prairie dogs in the wild occurred as I stood in an empty prairie just outside of Badlands National Park in South Dakota. As I meandered along, minding my own business, dozens of furry creatures with beady little eyes appeared, propped themselves up on their hind legs, and began to follow my every step. Prairie dogs are adorable, it is true, but when you see a dozen spread out, standing upright, watching you intently, it can be a bit disconcerting.
They were, however, no threat, and weren’t eyeballing me just to judge me. A prairie dog standing on his hind legs – “periscoping” as it is known – is simply keeping watch for predators. And their distinctive bark? It may sound like “yip,” but it is actually a sophisticated language developed over thousands of years that is still not fully understood by scientists.
Prairie dog barks convey everything about a predator’s size, speed, and location. According to a study at the University of Northern Arizona led by Con Slobodchikoff, Ph.D (see video linked below) pitch, speed, and timbre were all altered in a consistent manner corresponding to the species of predator and the characteristics of each. Certain “yips” could even be interpreted to represent nouns (the threat is “human”), verbs (the “human” is moving toward us), and adjectives (the “human” is wearing an ugly yellow shirt). So now that I think about it, I guess they were judging me, and I am not sure how I feel about that. But still, those are some impressive squirrels.
Wait, did you say squirrels?
Yes.
Squirrels. From the Sciuridae family. Prairie dogs are marmots (or ground squirrels) that bark like a dog, prompting Lewis and Clark to label them “barking squirrels,” which may lack points for creativity but is at least more accurate than calling them “dogs.” Prairie dogs, in fact, have no connection to dogs whatsoever.
There are five major species of prairie dog, who all live in North America at elevations between 2,000 and 10,000 feet. The Black-Tailed prairie dog covers the largest territory, filling an extensive region from Montana to Texas. Gunnison’s prairie dogs occupy the southwest near the Four Corners region. White-Tailed prairie dogs reside in Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado. Mexican and Utah prairie dogs belong to Mexico and Utah, respectively, and both are considered endangered.
As you may have observed, prairie dogs live in areas prone to harsh extremes of weather. To protect themselves, they dig extensive burrow networks with multiple entrances, designed to create ventilation, route flood water into empty chambers deep underground, and keep watch for predators. Their burrows connect underground, organized into sections called “coteries,” each of which contains a single-family unit responsible for the maintenance and protection of their area. Multiple coteries become “towns” of startling size and complexity. According to the National Park Service, the largest prairie dog town on record covered 25,000 square miles, bigger than the state of West Virginia!
Over the years, however, the prairie dog’s range has shrunk, scientists estimate, by as much as 99%, largely because of agriculture. Farmers and ranchers tend to regard prairie dogs as a nuisance, as they sometimes eat crops (they are mostly herbivores) and their holes create a hazard for livestock. They will bulldoze their towns or conduct contest kills to remove them, which has had devastating impacts.
Experts consider prairie dogs to be a keystone species. Their loss affects hundreds of other species who rely on them for food or use their burrows for shelter. They are instrumental in recharging groundwater, regulating soil erosion, and maintaining the soil’s level of production. Prairie dog decline, in fact, eventually leads to desertification of grassland environments.
So, an impressive AND important squirrel?
Yes, and the restoration of prairie dog habitats could be a crucial step in mitigating the effects of climate change.
If you’ve caught prairie dog fever, dive deeper into the resources below. And to learn more about Prairie Dog language, check out this fascinating video:
Hoping one day to converse with my personal prairie dog army,
Mike
Mike Conway is a part-time freelance writer who lives with his wife, kids, and dog Smudge (pictured) in Northern Virginia.
Which creature is the largest Asian antelope, considered sacred to some and pest to others?
The Nilgai!
Photo by Hemant Goyal from Pexels
This fascinating four-legged friend could be described by a whole host of leading questions, depending on which notable features we want to emphasize. Elizabeth Cary Mungall’s Exotic Animal Field Guide introduced the nilgai with the question “What animal looks like the combination of a horse and a cow with the beard of a turkey and short devil’s horns?”
Personally, I find the nilgai much cuter than that combination might suggest, but it may all be in the eye of the beholder. The name ‘nilgai’ translates to ‘blue cow’, but the nilgai is really most closely related to other antelopes within the bovine family Bovidae. Mature males do indeed have a blue tint to their coat, while calves and mature females remain tawny brown in color.
Photo by Clicker Babu from Unsplash
As their physiology suggests, nilgai are browsers that roam in small herds, with a strong running and climbing ability. I encountered them in the biodiversity parks of New Delhi and Gurgaon, where efforts to rewild the landscape to its original dry deciduous forest make for ideal stomping grounds for the nilgai.
Prolific Browsers
Indigenous to the Indian subcontinent, the nilgai is at home in savanna and thin woodland, and tends to avoid dense forest. Instead, they roam through open woods, where they have room to browse, feeding on grasses and trees alike. They’re considered mixed feeders for that reason, and will adjust their diet according to the landscape. Nilgai are adept eaters, standing on their hind legs to reach trees’ fruits and flowers and relying on their impressive stature (which ranges from 3 to 5 feet, or 1 to 1.5 m, at the shoulder) to get what they need.
Photo from Wikipedia (By Akkida, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=34508948)
Like other large herbivores, nilgai play an important role in nutrient cycling and maintaining the ecosystems they’re a part of. In this case, that looks like feeding on shrubs and trees to keep woodlands relatively open, as well as dispersing seeds through their dung. One 1994 study noted the ecological value of the nilgai in ravines lining the Yamuna River, where the nitrogen contained in their fecal matter can make a large difference in soil quality, particularly in hot summer months.
These creatures actually defecate strategically, creating dung piles that are thought to mark territory between dominant males. As a clever evasion tactic, these are often created at crossroads in paths through forest or savanna-scape, so that predators may not be able to trace the nilgai’s next steps so easily.
Photo from Wikipedia (By Bernard Gagnon – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30634949)
Food webs for changing times
The natural predators of the nilgai once included the Bengal tiger and Asiatic lion, as well as leopards, Indian wolves, striped hyena, and dholes (or Indian wild dogs) which sometimes prey on juveniles. However, as deforestation, habitat loss and fragmentation, and development pressures change the face of the subcontinent, the ecological role of the nilgai has become more complicated. While their association with cows, a sacred animal in Hinduism, has widely prevented nilgai from being killed by humans, the relationship between people and nilgai is becoming more contentious.
Where nilgai lack their traditional habitat to browse, they turn to plundering agricultural fields, frustrating the farmers who work so hard to cultivate these crops. Farmers in many Indian states thus consider them pests, and the state of Bihar has now classified them as ‘vermin’ and allowed them to be culled.
Photo from Wikipedia (By Jon Connell – https://www.flickr.com/photos/ciamabue/4570527773/in/photostream/, CC BY 2.0)
There’s no place like… Texas?
Strangely enough, when I got inspired by my nilgai sightings in India and decided to learn more about these Asian antelopes, one of the first search results I encountered involved nilgai populations here in the US. Specifically in Texas, an introduction of nilgai in the 1920 and 30s has spawned a population of feral roamers. Accounts say that nilgai were originally brought to the North King Ranch both for conservation and for exotic game hunting, somewhat distinct priorities that regardless led to the same result, a Texas population that now booms at over 30,000 individuals.
In this locale, nilgai largely graze grasses and crops, as well as scrub and oak forests. Here hunters have no qualms about killing them, but some animal rights groups object, and popular opinion remains divided on whether such treatment is cruelty or, well, fair game.
These days, one concern is that a large nilgai population contributes to the spread of the cattle fever tick. Another concern remains about these grazers acting as ‘pests’ on agricultural land.
Fundamentally there is a question that lies at the heart of the nilgai’s fate, both at home in India and Bangladesh, where natural predators and original habitat have steeply declined, and abroad, where they weren’t a part of the original ecosystem at all: what do you do when an animal’s ecological role is out of balance?
In my view, there are no easy answers, but a familiar pattern we seem to uncover – that healthy ecosystems, where intact, harbor more complexity than we can recreate or give them credit for. Little by little, I hope we can support their conservation and resurgence.
By Maya Dutta
Maya Dutta is an environmental advocate and ecosystem restorer working to spread understanding on the key role of biodiversity in shaping the climate and the water, carbon, nutrient and energy cycles we rely on. She is passionate about climate change adaptation and mitigation and the ways that community-led ecosystem restoration can fight global climate change while improving the livelihood and equity of human communities. She is the Assistant Director of Regenerative Projects at Bio4Climate.
At Bio4Climate, we LOVE beavers. We’re borderline obsessed with them (or maybe not so borderline) because they do SO much for Earth’s ecosystems, natural cycles, and biodiversity. These furry, water-loving creatures are finally beginning to receive the recognition they deserve in mainstream media now that more people see how their existence and behaviors lead to numerous benefits for everyone’s climate resilience.
We are one of the many organizations advocating for their reintroduction across North America and some places in Europe. For this reason, when I spotted one on a hike during my time in Tennessee, I did what any Bio4Climate team member would do: jump in excitement, yell out “Oh my gosh it’s a BEAVER!” and take a picture that I’ll treasure forever.
Photo by Tania Roa
The rockin’ rodent
Beavers live in family groups of up to eight members. Offspring stay with their parents for up to two years, meanwhile helping with newborns, food gathering, and dam building. To create dams, beavers use their large teeth to cut down trees and lug over branches, rocks, and mud until they successfully slow down the flow of water. These dams include lodges that beavers use as bedrooms and to escape from predators. Dams are designed according to the water’s speed: in steady water, the dam is built straight across, and in rushing water the dam is built with a curve. These engineers build their dams in a way that makes them nearly indestructible against storms, fires, and floods.
Look at those bright orange teeth! The color is thanks to an iron-rich protective coating. Beaver teeth grow continuously, and require gnawing on trees for trimming.
Beaver dams are what make these rodents, the largest ones in North America, so special. When dams alter the flow of water, they create ponds that stretch out a river into a wide wetland. These ponds filter pollutants and store nutrients that then attract a variety of wildlife including fish seeking nurseries, amphibians looking for shelter, and mammals and birds searching for food and water sources.
The abundance of wildlife and the storage of necessary nutrients in beaver ponds classifies these places as biodiversity hotspots, meaning they are “biogeographic regions with significant levels of biodiversity that are threatened by human habitation” (Wikipedia). Beaver ponds also store sediment, and this helps recharge groundwater. Due to the sheer wetness of these ponds, and how deep the water filters into the soil, fires are often extinguished as soon as they reach a beaver pond. In this way, beavers are nature’s firefighters, of which we need many more in areas where extreme heat is increasing.
“There’s a beaver for that” — Ben Goldfarb
Wetland Creation
Biodiversity Support
Water Filtration
Erosion Control
Wildlife Habitat
Flood Management
Drought Resilience
Forest Fire Prevention
Carbon Sequestration
They’re Cool (pun intended)
Beavers are considered ‘ecosystem engineers’ because they actively shift the landscape by fluctuating the flow of water and the placement of plants and trees. Muskrats, minks, and river otters also find refuge in beaver lodges. When beavers take down trees, they create pockets of refuge for insects. Using their constructive talents, beavers significantly modify the region and, in turn, create much-needed habitat for many. Numerous creatures rely on beaver dams for survival, and the local ecosystem dramatically changes when a beaver family is exterminated; for these reasons, we also consider them ‘keystone species.’
Disliked dam builders
Despite the positive impact beavers have on biodiversity and ecosystems, we humans have viewed them as fur, pests, and perfume. By 1900, beavers went nearly extinct across Europe and North America. We hunted them for their fur in response to fashion trends, and trapped them for their anal musk glands, or castors, which produce castoreum, a secretion that beavers use to mark their homes and that humans use to make perfume. When beaver populations plummeted, so did the number of dams and ponds, meaning vast swaths of land were drastically altered during this time – and not for the better. To this day, we kill beavers when they wander into military bases or near urban areas since we see their dam-building behaviors as potentially damaging to man-made properties.
Thankfully, as more ‘Beaver Believers’ speak out against these practices and more authorities recognize the importance of beaver benefits, these rodents are beginning to return to their original homes. California recently passed a program specifically for beaver reintroduction efforts across the state. Washington, Utah, and Massachusetts are other states witnessing the return of beavers. People like Skip Lisle of Beaver Deceivers are designing culverts that prevent beaver dams from damaging infrastructure, but allow the beavers to create their biodiverse-filled ponds. These are just a few examples of the ways we can coexist with beavers, and in turn heal our communities.
There are places in North America where water sources are decreasing for all living things, and in other regions the amount of rainfall is increasing while the amount of snow is decreasing. These weather conditions are detrimental to all of our health, unless we welcome back beavers.
As the effects of climate change and biodiversity loss increase, storing water, preventing runoff and erosion, and protecting biodiverse hotspots become more important by the hour. By restoring local water cycles, beaver ponds provide a source of life. By spreading water channels and creating new ones, beaver dams prevent flooding and stave off wildfires. By encouraging the cycling and storage of nutrients, beaver ponds nurture soil health and that leads to carbon sequestration. We all have something to gain from beavers as long as we allow them to do what they do best: build those dams.
To learn more about beavers, watch the video below and the two in the ‘Sources’ section. We also highly recommend Ben Goldfarb’s Eager: The Surprising Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter for further reading.
"European hamster at a city park" by Ivan Radic is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
Which keystone species creates intricate burrows, is aggressive towards its own kind, and hibernates from October to May?
The European Hamster!
European hamster at a city park (Photo by Ivan Radic licensed under CC BY 2.0)
Did you know that there are multiple species of hamster in the wild? I didn’t know this until recently, when I stumbled upon a BBC Earth video of a European Hamster foraging for food in a graveyard. Having only ever been exposed to domesticated hamsters, I was fascinated by this creature and eager to learn more about it.
Burrow into the Basics
The scientific name for the European Hamster is Cricetus cricetus. These furry creatures have a small, ovalish body covered in reddish-brown fur, with the exception of white fur on their face and the side of their body. Quite small in size, European Hamsters typically weigh about 12 – 15 ounces and are about 8-9 inches in length (just a bit bigger than the average human hand!).
In terms of geography, this solitary species is native to Central and Eastern Europe, hence its name. They inhabit steppe and grassland regions that are lush with greenery on relatively flat land.
A Life Well-Lived
The European Hamster has a unique mating process. During the mating season between March and May, females engage in a ritual in which they run in a figure-8 pattern to attract their mate. Males, in turn, will chase the females during this ritual while making a special mating call.
After successful mating with several males, a female’s pregnancy will last about 18 – 21 days and results in about 3 – 7 hamster pups. Females are the primary caregivers to their pups, as males are relatively hands-off in the upbringing of their young. They typically nurse the pups for about a month, or 30 days. The European Hamster has an impressive lifespan among small rodents – it can live up to 8 whole years!
Settling in for Winter
Hibernation is an important part of the European Hamster’s key to a long life. They typically rest from mid-October to mid-March in a deep (2 meter) underground burrow. During hibernation, they wake up about every week or so to get a quick snack before falling back into rest.
Their burrows play a vital role in the European Hamster’s daily life. These burrows exist deep in the ground and have a variety of chambers for specific uses, like food storage.
European Hamster burrow (Photo by Bas Kers (NL) is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
With a healthy appetite, the European hamster loves to eat grasses, seeds, grains, roots, fruits, legumes, and occasionally some insects or insect larvae. They might often be seen spending the day packing their roomy cheeks full of food to bring back to their food storage chamber to prepare for hibernation.
A Temperamental Creature
European Hamsters aren’t the most friendly of creatures, possibly least of all towards their own kind. They mark their territory with secretions, and when they come into contact with another member of their species, they may act aggressively. They have also been known to attack humans when approached by farmers, who may view the species as harmful to their agricultural operations.
European Hamsters deserve particular recognition for their role as a keystone species. They play a crucial role in dispersing seeds throughout the European grassland and steppe ecosystems that they inhabit. They also contribute to the food web by primarily consuming producers (i.e., plants & plant products), and by serving as prey to a host of predators including birds, foxes, weasels, dogs, cats, badgers, and more.
One Keystone Species Affects the Entire Ecosystem
Unfortunately, this important keystone species is currently critically endangered due to a number of factors. According to Animal Diversity Web, “European hamsters have been hunted or sold for their pelts. They also have been used for cancer research, due to their exposure to pesticides and air pollution in urban settings.”
Luckily, there are rehabilitation and reintroduction efforts underway to protect this valuable keystone species and the ecosystem it helps to support. You can learn more about one such project in Khotyn National Park, Ukraine by clicking here:
For all keystone species, Abby
Abby Abrahamson is a writer, activist, and educator with a passion for community-led biodiversity and climate solutions. As a graduate of sociology and environmental studies, she appreciates the intersectionality of our challenges of climate justice, conservation, and regeneration. Now a Teacher Naturalist with Mass Audubon, Abby formerly worked with Bio4Climate on communications, college outreach, and community engagement. She has also been involved in Jane Goodall’s Roots and Shoots, an organization that helps empower young people to work on environmental, conservation, and humanitarian issues.
The Banded Mongoose is a small mammal with a mass of approximately ≤2kg (or 4 lbs) found in (and indigenous to) various parts of Africa. While most other mongoose species live a solitary life, the banded mongoose is gregarious living in groups of approximately 5-40 individuals with at least one breeding male and female. They are named so due to the black stripes across their greyish-brown dorsal area (back) while their ventral area (chest and stomach) is lighter than other parts. This species is commonly known for its ability and behavior to attack, kill, and eat snakes – even venomous ones!
Banded mongooses are mostly found occupying covered areas like savannahs, open forests, and grasslands for vigilance. They sleep and nurture their young in dens such as abandoned termite mounds, buildings, and even under bridges. By possessing short muscular limbs with strong claws, banded mongooses can dig to find food and get creative at creating and modifying their dens. Because they live in large groups as compared with other mongooses, their burrows have many entrances to ensure their escape during an attack and for sufficient ventilation. Despite having such nice dens, they are not sedentary to the specific den but rather frequently move from place to place every few days to avoid and distract their enemies. However, they can return to their favorite den after a certain time. In addition, their body color allows them to blend with several habitats and hence ensures their safety.
Like other animals, banded mongoose adults, especially males, are responsible for the safety of the whole group. Unlike many other animals, all adult members are fully responsible for raising their young who are born synchronously (all matured female members get pregnant and give birth at the same time). Having muscular limbs, banded mongooses can stand by using their hind limbs just like their cousins (meerkats) to ensure the area is safe.
These animals also exhibit altruistic behaviours whereby adults are ready to give up their life for the safety of the group. They were recorded standing and fighting against lions, birds of prey, and other animals, and while doing so other group members evacuated from the area. Additionally, since they are small in size, they move in groups and close to each other so that they may be seen as one large animal. And as they move, the young ones are located in the middle and the adult ones around them.
Diet and behavioral adaptation
The banded mongoose is a meso-carnivore with a diet consisting primarily of invertebrates such as beetles, millipedes, scorpions and others. Nevertheless, they also eat vertebrates such as snakes, rats, amphibians, mice, young birds and eggs. And in the case of plants, they eat wild fruits (if they’re available). Normally, they move together while locating the food area but each member finds and eats its food. In urban areas, they are mostly found around damp areas during their mealtime because there is plenty of food there, and then they rest in the covered areas mostly at noon to avoid the day heat.
On other hand, banded mongooses cope with food problems by using different symbiotic relationships with other animals like birds, warthogs (watch the video below to see this in action), elephants, and others (see more from attached YouTube links in the References). In this way, they become more successful in foraging and thriving in nature. They also use other animals, especially birds, to be alerted of various threats around them.
Though they are social animals, banded mongooses also exhibit inter-group territorial behaviour and their territories are marked with various scents, especially urine. Not only are territories scent-marked but so are group members. This is well seen when new pups are taken out for their first foraging and adults urinate over the young ones. When two different groups meet, they normally fight and the winning group takes over the area that they fought for. However, during the fight, some mature males and females from each group may mate.
Communication
Banded mongooses mainly communicate through sounds and scents. They possess various sound pitches, each with a different meaning and message to other members. They also developed anal and cheek glands which assist in the marking of their territory and young. They have a well-developed sense of smell, which they use to detect food.
Threats
Currently, banded mongooses are not faced with any critical danger and are listed as a“Least Concern” species due to their large population number and distribution in most parts of Africa. But this does not mean they don’t need any concern at all. I found some of them died in road accidents, and for those in urban areas most people used to attack them. Remember, even extinct species were once “Least Concern” and where are they now? Therefore, let’s give attention to every species in the world before their situation becomes worse.
Lesson to humanity
From such a small animal, we may think that there is nothing to gain, but there is a lot to learn from it. Banded mongooses, as said before, are ready to sacrifice their safety and even life just to make sure their groups are safe. This act shows love for others, something which nowadays very few people can do to others regardless of whether the one in need is their relative or not. I also like the way they raise their family. All group members are fully responsible for that, and if people were to do the same, there would be no street children and other problems also could be solved.
This lesson shows how we can learn from banded mongooses, but it is not just this species that we can learn things from. The whole of nature provides us with enough knowledge, materials and services that are essential for our survival. Therefore, let’s love nature and put our individual or organizational efforts into conserving it to ensure its natural existence lasts and more generations to come will continue to gain what we are gaining now.
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