Creature: Top Predators

Animals like wolves, sharks, and eagles that regulate populations, maintaining balance within ecosystems.

Featured Creature: Thylacine

What stands like a kangaroo, has stripes like a tiger, and is found everywhere in art but nowhere in nature?

Meet the Thylacine!

Benjamin, the last living thylacine, showing off his amazing yawn gape at the Hobart Zoo, 1933
(Image credit: Unknown original photographer; Public Domain)

A Unique Creature with a Truly Unique Biology

I was first introduced to the thylacine at a young age while watching a wildlife documentary. This one, focused on the wildlife of Australia, featured a few seconds of black-and-white footage of a wolf-like creature with distinctive tiger-like stripes, pacing around its enclosure at the now-closed Hobart Zoo (also known as the Beaumaris Zoo) in Tasmania’s capital of Hobart. I was captivated by this animal’s unique appearance, and was shocked beyond belief when at one moment, the animal opened its jaws at an alarmingly wide gape. Instantly, it became my favorite extinct animal of modern times, and remains so to this day.

Though it is also known as the Tasmanian tiger and Tasmanian wolf, the thylacine was neither. Rather, it was a marsupial, a group of mammals in which the female carries her young in a pouch. Much like those of tigers, the stripes across the back and down to the base of the tail were used for camouflage. The thylacine was the apex predator in its woodland ecosystem, and relied on ambush to attack its prey. It was also the largest carnivorous marsupial of its time, with a size comparable to that of a medium or large dog.

Despite having raised heels like canids, and typically walking with a stiff, shuffling gait on all fours, the thylacine was able to rest its heels on the ground and use its rigid tail for balance, adopting a kangaroo-like stance. This stance was primarily used to gain better observation of the surroundings. Thylacines were one of only two marsupials in which the male had a pouch (the other was the water opossum). 

The most noteworthy (and intimidating) feature of the thylacine was its ability to open its jaw to a near 80º angle—the widest of any mammal! This may have been beneficial in taking down fast-moving prey, like wallabies. In theory, the greater the gape, the greater the clench onto the prey, which in turn, heightened the chance of a hunt well done. The gape yawn was also documented as a threat warning. It has been theorized that the gape may have been used by males as a display to win the attention of females and intimidate rival males.

Out-Competed, Wrongly Persecuted, and Hunted Until the End

Native to the islands of Tasmania, New Guinea, and mainland Australia, the thylacine died out in the latter two locations over 3,000 years before the arrival of Europeans. This has been theorized to be the result of the introduction of another Australian icon: the dingo, who won the competitive war for prey in those areas, but never reached our striped hero’s last stronghold in Tasmania.

Once Europeans formally established settlements on Tasmania in the nineteenth century, the thylacine was perceived as a sheep thief and a bounty placed on their innocent heads. A series of photos taken by Harry Burrell depicted a thylacine with a chicken in its mouth. Over recent years, these photos have been the subject of heavy debate and discussion among researchers as to whether the individual shown is captive, or even a living specimen. Speculation exists that editing was performed prior to the a photo’s publication in The Australian Museum Magazine (shown below).[1] [2] [3] 

Based on observations, the thylacine was in fact  a shy and reclusive animal. Their depiction as a sheep-killer was greatly exaggerated, yet persisted. A 2011 study exploring thylacine skull biomechanics conducted by Marie Attard, PhD of the University of New South Wales advanced our understanding of their hunting behavior. Her research suggested that the thylacine’s bite force and jaw mechanics restricted it to smaller prey. As stated by Attard, “… our findings suggest that [the thylacine’s] reputation was, at best, overblown.”

The (potentially-staged) image that sealed the thylacine’s fate: A thylacine specimen with a chicken in its jaws, 1921. The image presented to the Tasmanian public was zoomed in, omitting the fenced background. (Image credit: Harry Burrell; Public Domain)

Cultural Icon

The last wild thylacine was shot and killed by farmer Wilf Batty on his property in Mawbanna, Tasmania, in 1930. In 1936, the last captive thylacine, named Benjamin, died at the Hobart Zoo on September 7. The day is now known as National Threatened Species Day in Australia, and not only serves to remember Benjamin, but to raise awareness for all threatened native plant and animal species throughout the continent. 

Today, the thylacine is a cultural icon of Australia, and imagery of this unique marsupial is found all over Tasmania, including in artwork, the Tasmanian cricket team mascot, license plates, and even the state’s coat of arms.

Photograph: HC Richter/National Library of Australia

A Candidate for a Real Life Jurassic Park

The thylacine is just one of several subjects currently undergoing intensive research and experimentation by the American biotechnology and genetic engineering company Colossal Laboratories & Biosciences De-extinction Project. The company has already made headlines for planning to bring back the wooly mammoth; the thylacine is another animal they hope to bring back from extinction. 

As the apex predator of Tasmania, the thylacine controlled populations of various native and invasive herbivore species, ensuring they did not cause chaos in their native ecosystem. This included preventing overgrazing, culling weaker and sick animals, suppressing disease among other species, and promoting biodiversity. Since the loss of the thylacine, trophic downgrading has occurred, which is a significant ecological disruption that cascades throughout the food chain. 

Think about the classic example of Yellowstone’s wolves: when they were hunted to near extinction, herds of elk began overgrazing across the landscape, damaging the health of the ecosystem. With the return of wolves to Yellowstone, elk numbers are kept in check, and the number of plant and animal species have since diversified and thrived. 

While genetic engineering may create hope of restoring thylacines as the wolf of Tasmania, it is more important to address threats to living species and their habitats. As we restore the water cycles and vegetation of degraded land, biodiversity begins to recover, creating a positive feedback loop of regeneration. 

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.

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• https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/photography/2018/01/fake-or-real-this-photo-of-the-thylacine-has-caused-a-lot-of-controversy/

https://www.biospace.com/press-releases/colossal-achieves-multiple-scientific-firsts-in-progress-towards-thylacine-de-extinction 

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tasmanian-tiger-scientists-breakthrough-bringing-back-extinct-thylacine/

https://colossal.com/de-extincting-tassie/

https://colossal.com/thylacine/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thylacine

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_opossum

https://www.instagram.com/p/DICL8ALsbGA/

https://www.livescience.com/15862-tasmanian-tiger-jaw-sheep.html

https://meridian.allenpress.com/australian-zoologist/article/33/1/1/134595/Is-this-picture-worth-a-thousand-words-An-analysis

http://www.naturalworlds.org/thylacine/index.htm

https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/extinction-of-thylacine

https://zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1469-7998.2011.00844.x

Images:

https://trowbridgegallery.com.au/shop/john-gould/john-gould-mammals/thylacine-2/?srsltid=AfmBOoq-wfbhLQJK0LoefDYytlcCOD3Gjb1KjvlaQZn_6k_tMx1F2UYZ 

https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/photography/2018/01/fake-or-real-this-photo-of-the-thylacine-has-caused-a-lot-of-controversy/

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-13958755/Deextinction-Tasmanian-Tiger-Colossal-Biosciences.html

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/remembering-tasmanian-tiger-80-years-after-it-became-extinct-180960358/

Featured Creature: Siberian Taimen

What creature is nicknamed the “river wolf?”

Cyrus Kiely

The guide pulls back on the oars, straining with effort to stay in place against the current. The angler leans back in a similar manner, his rod bowed under pressure. 

A fish erupts from the water, scales glimmering with the evening light. 

Just as quickly as it broke the surface, it disappears from view, still engaged in its titanic struggle at the end of the line. After fifteen minutes of unpredictable splashes, tension, and shouts of excitement, I was introduced to the most charismatic creature I’ve ever met: the Siberian Taimen. 

This particular Taimen was four feet of silvery power. We stood in awe as the bright red tail slipped through the angler’s hand, disappearing once more into a dark pool. Not to be held by another human for years, if ever again.  I sighed with relief, thankful our good practice led to a healthy release. 

I remember reflecting on how much needed to happen to reach this moment. The client had to take 3-4 flights to get across the world, followed by 8 hours crammed in a Jeep from the 20th century, navigating dirt roads. 

They did this all for just the opportunity to catch a taimen — a creature notorious for being incredibly difficult to catch.  

But that singular moment makes it all worthwhile.

The exact fish described above. Unfortunately, my hand was shaking so much that I couldn’t capture the vibrant red tail.
Cyrus Kiely

This was my first week on the job at Mongolia River Outfitters — a premier fly fishing outfitter and conservation organization. Throughout the rest of the season, I learned how this awe-inspiring creature holds its entire ecosystem in balance, a balance threatened by the fragility of the species.

Taimen are the largest Salmonids (the trout and salmon family) in the world. They can live up to 30 to 50 years, reach sizes greater than SIX FEET, and weigh more than 100 pounds! Ecologically speaking, they are slow growing, apex predators, feasting on trout, ducklings, and small mammals that find themselves at the mercy of the river.

The landscape of a wild taimen river.
Cyrus Kiely

Taimen epitomizes the term “keystone”.

They keep their river’s ecosystem in delicate balance, regulate prey populations, cycle nutrients, and occupy an indispensable niche.

By regulating prey populations, smaller fish species such as lenok or arctic grayling are unable to outcompete the rest and establish a hegemony within the river. In turn, these rivers remain rich in biodiversity!

In fact, thanks to the Taimen, these rivers grow even more nutrient rich and biodiverse. In parts of Russia, they have been known to regularly prey on adult Pacific salmon. These salmon (averaging around 20 lbs) run up freshwater rivers from the ocean, bringing the nutrients from the Pacific along with them. Thanks to the Taimen, these nutrients get passed from individual to individual, benefitting the entire ecosystem with their presence.

Taimen truly are facilitators of interconnectedness, maintaining population structures and promoting the flow of nutrients. While this importance often goes unnoticed and underappreciated, it’s only when they disappear that everyone sees just how integral these fish are.

When Taimen disappear from their historic waters, their absence can lead to a domino effect in the structure of the ecosystem.

Without the Taimen to keep them in check, prey populations such as lenok and grayling explode. In this exponential growth, the aquatic invertebrate (water bugs) populations they feed on plummet due to overpredation. Because of this, algae and plants are no longer kept in check by these aquatic invertebrates ,which feed on them.

So far, in this theoretical event, we have a lot of small fish, not too many bugs, and way too much algae in the river. But, over time, the situation will grow more dire. As the fish lose insects to feed on, they begin to experience massive die-offs. The insect populations vary wildly, as predator pressure shifts unpredictably, and algae blooms become a real issue. They suck up an incredible share of oxygen from the water, a vital element of a trout’s ideal habitat.

The simple absence of Taimen causes a cascade of domino effects, ending in low trout numbers and a less suitable environment due to lower oxygen levels. Luckily, this is the worst case scenario. Today, taimen continue to thrive in many protected areas, maintaining the delicate balance of these ecosystems. As conservationists, environmentalists, and people who really like cool creatures, it’s our job to investigate what threatens this delicate balance.

Poaching: A Threat to a Delicate Balance

If Taimen are so integral to the ecosystems they live in, don’t we understand that we need to protect them? Yes, but when an unexpected threat hits Taimen, it hits them hard.

Due to their large size, old age, and voracious appetite, Taimen have a very low population density within rivers. This fact means the death of a single mature Taimen is a significant ecological shift in population dynamics.

As humans, we have struggled to comprehend this fact. Individual deaths may seem insignificant when compared to the abundance of smaller fish, but for the Taimen, each loss represents decades of growth, reproduction, and ecological importance within an ecosystem.

Today, the threat of poaching looms over many of these protected fish with the very real issue of local extinction.

Over three months on the river, I witnessed countless poaching related incidents. I saw the head and carcass of what was a 20 year-old fish filleted and carelessly tossed away on the bank. Another time, a dead Taimen washed up on the shore with a barbed treble hook lodged down its throat, shredding its stomach and causing a slow and painful death.

Lenok
Book Talk, The Dawn Patrol Diaries, James Card

How much poaching and loss are we willing to put up with?

I hope for a future where I can relive that magical summer evening. I hope to one day lean back, straining with effort as I reel in, physically and spiritually connected to one of nature’s most remarkable creatures. I hope we have enough foresight to prevent such a loss, so the world can continue to marvel at the charisma of such an ancient and inspiring animal.

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.

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Featured Creature: Toxoplasma gondii

What ubiquitous little parasite purposely changes the behavior of its host, through some method researchers can’t even agree on?

Fluorescently stained T. gondii cells;
Morne Arin via Wikimedia Commons, CC-BY-4.0; image is cropped)

Science fiction (and horror) features a lot of mind-controlling parasites. Someone gets infected, is completely taken over, and makes it their mission to spread the disease as far and wide as they can. The parasite consumes their brain, and they become just another vector for the organism’s spread.
While that’s obviously a little far-fetched in real life, there are animals that use humans and other animals purely as vectors to stay alive, and there are even organisms that can alter the behavior of others to make their own survival as easy as possible. 

A parasite is an organism that lives either on or inside another organism (a host) and benefits at the host’s expense; it steals food and nutrients from its host and often harms the host in other ways, too. This relationship between a host and a parasite is a type of symbiosis called parasitism.

There are several kinds of hosts in a parasitic relationship, but the most important are definitive and intermediate hosts: definitive hosts are the parasite’s ultimate hosts; the parasite can reproduce sexually in these hosts, allowing it to complete its life cycle. Intermediate hosts are just hosts where the parasite ends up on the way to the definitive host; they can still reproduce in intermediate hosts, but only asexually—by dividing inside host cells to create new copies of themselves, rather than mixing DNA from two parents as we do..

 Incidental hosts are hosts the parasite ends up in by accident, and they don’t really help the organism reach its target destination, the definitive host. Reservoir hosts are those that harbor the parasite but aren’t affected by it; they just end up carrying it elsewhere. 

Many hosts, whether they’re definitive, intermediate, or something else, are animals like mammals, fish, birds, or insects—but parasites can also infect much smaller organisms, even other microbes.

A rat carrying the bubonic plague (reservoir host)
Public Domain

Parasites can be all kinds of organisms, but tend to be very small: single-celled organisms, insects, and worms (like a tapeworm) are common examples. Toxoplasma gondii is an extremely tiny single-celled parasite- around 1/20th the width of a strand of your hair! 

T. gondii is found in several hosts, but its only definitive host is the cat. Its most common intermediate hosts are rodents. Cats are its only definitive hosts because their intestines provide a unique environment where T. gondii can reproduce sexually— due in part to cats’ low levels of the enzyme delta-6-desaturase, which allows linoleic acid to build up and trigger that process.

This parasite can also infect most other warm-blooded animals, such as deer, dogs, and even people. In fact, it’s pretty common for humans to have this parasite —around 30% of us worldwide have been infected at least once. In the United States, that rate is much lower, but it can be as high as 80% in other countries around the world.Now in humans, T. gondii keeps a low profile. Chances are, you wouldn’t even know it was there. In rare cases, it can develop into an actual infection called toxoplasmosis; with symptoms similar to the flu. Neurological changes are possible, but also rare. A severe infection can cause dizziness, clumsiness, slower thought processing, and lower stress levels (while that doesn’t necessarily sound like a bad thing, risky behavior can lead to an increased risk of car accidents.

Two T. gondii cells viewed through a TEM; Jacques Rigoulet et al. via Wikimedia Commons, CC-BY-4.0;

Humans are an incidental host, so all of these changes are accidental. The host T. gondii actually wants to manipulate is the intermediate host: rodents. In mice and rats, a Toxoplasma gondii infection changes their behavior. Infected rodents tend to take more risks if there’s a threat of a predator, like cats, and become more aggressive. Typically, rodents are repelled by the smell of cat urine because they don’t want to be in places cats have been before. It’s a survival instinct, and the infection gets right in the middle of that. Their lowered guard inevitably leads to more infected rodents being eaten, giving the parasite easy access to its definitive host, the cat and its abundant delta-6-desaturase enzyme. There, the parasite can finish its life cycle and reproduce, to spread and infect other animals again. 

This is an example of what is known as parasite-increased trophic transmission, in which a parasite increases its own survival by making its intermediate host (a rodent, in this case) more likely to be consumed by a predator (a cat). The behavioral changes T. gondii causes in rodents make them more likely to act aggressively and fearlessly, leading them to be caught by cats when they don’t run away. In this way, T. gondii drives ecological interactions between different species.

The obvious question is how. It’s complicated stuff, no doubt. There are a couple of different theories as to how the parasite causes these oddly specific behavioral changes, but none is without their own flaws and uncertainties. 

The first major theory is tropism. Parasitic infections like these often form cysts; those small nodes, clusters, or pockets of tissue in the body that aren’t supposed to be there, often filled with something unusual. T. gondii cysts contain hundreds of individual T. gondii cells, all dormant and ready to be reactivated later. These cysts aren’t spread evenly around the body, though– they’re concentrated in areas like the brain, eyes, and other immune-privileged locations. The cysts form where they can better hide from the body’s immune system. Tropism says that the physical location of these cysts plays a part in how they affect the host. In humans, they’re vaguely denser in certain areas of the brain, like the hypothalamus and amygdala. These parts of the brain deal with your mood and fear response, which is just the sort of thing that goes wrong in infected rodents. The theory is that, because there are more cysts in those locations, they’re able to interfere with how those neurons function. They might do this through inflammation and swelling, by physically destroying neurons, or by releasing certain chemicals. 

As foreshadowed, it’s not a perfect explanation. Even when cysts are cleared or inactive, some behavioral effects can persist, suggesting that changes in the brain may outlast the infection itself.

Image: T. gondii cysts in muscle tissue; Dr. Martin D. Hicklin via Pixnio, CC0)

The second major theory is that the parasite disrupts human dopamine production. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that deals with reward and motivation. Toxoplasma gondii has two genes that allow it to increase dopamine production in its neighboring neurons. In humans and infected organisms, dopamine levels are much higher in areas with cysts. Too much dopamine can cause a decrease in stress responses and can cause animals to take more risks, with the motivation to explore new smells, like cat urine. 

The final major theory is that the parasite also changes testosterone and vasopressin levels in its host. Exposure to more of these chemicals increases aggressiveness and decreases caution, making the rodent more likely to be eaten by cats. This theory also holds because male rats are more likely to exhibit strong behavioral changes in response to an infection than females. Several studies have tested this, and testosterone levels have been shown to increase in humans and in rats, but strangely, not in mice.

Several studies have examined each of these theories and sought to test and disprove them; many disagree with one another. No one has fully agreed on which possibility is correct, and perhaps there is a more nuanced truth that combines of all of them. No matter what’s going on under the hood, T. gondii is able to infect intermediate hosts and alter their behavior to get closer to its definitive host, advancing its own life cycle.

Toxoplasma gondii isn’t the only parasite that does this, either: the zombie-ant fungus causes ants to drop their regular behavior and start to climb as high as they can before dying; the fungus will then release its spores, which tend to travel further and infect more insects because they have more room to travel if they’re in the air instead of on the ground. The rabies virus is also a common example; the classic “foaming at the mouth” appearance is actually a result of overproduction of saliva that contains the virus itself. The virus makes the host more aggressive, increasing the likelihood that it will bite others and spread the infection. Also, the common rumors that rabies makes you scared of water aren’t entirely false. While it doesn’t actually create a fear of water, the infection causes painful throat spasms that make swallowing difficult—so infected animals avoid drinking, which keeps the virus-rich saliva from being washed away.

Image: an ant infected with Ophiocordyceps unilateralis; Tiago Lubiana via Wikimedia Commons, CC-BY-4.0)

The world is full of parasites that alter behavior in oddly precise ways, all in an effort to increase their own survival and reproduction. These manipulations aren’t random—they’ve evolved over time through complex, codependent relationships that change predator-prey dynamics, influence brain chemistry, and even change how energy moves through ecosystems. Parasites like T. gondii show just how interconnected species are to each other; no species exists in a vacuum, and even something as small as a single-celled organism can affect completely different species; any tiny piece of something has the potential to change everything else.

Anya Reddy is a high school student at Blue Valley North. She loves biology and biochemistry, as well as entomology, ecology, and environmental science in general. Some of Anya’s non-science passions include archery and all kinds of 2D and 3D art. She enjoys learning about all kinds of organisms and how they connect and interact with others in their environment; she hopes to use writing to help share fascinating details about them, helping others like the weird and interesting organisms she loves.

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Featured Creature: Jaguar

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.

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Featured Creature: Sun Bear

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!

Sun bear claw marks in a tree, Thailand
(Photo by Max Vanl)

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.

Courtesy Pexels
Sun bears on the prowl in Thailand
Image by Kridati

A species in danger

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.

Featured Creature: Burmese Python

Which creature is one of the largest snakes in the world, a popular exotic pet, and an unwanted addition to the Florida Everglades ecosystem?

Everglades NPSPhoto, R. Cammauf

One summer in high school, a close friend confessed that her parents had committed a crime when she was little. They released their two pet goldfish into a small pond behind her house to see what would happen. As far as experiments go, it was uneventful: the pair of fish grew to a respectable size, enough so that someone staring intently at the little pond could catch flashes of orange now and again. My friend’s goldfish fared well in her tiny pond, but could have also succeeded in a larger, more competitive environment. Goldfish thrive in most settings, so it is  likely that they would outcompete native fish for food resources in the process of survival. However, the goldfish is not the only exotic pet with this potential. Governments around the world recognise this, which is why the release of pets into the wild is a legislated issue.

Many species can illustrate the need for these laws well, but one particularly dramatic story exists in the Florida Everglades: that of the Burmese python. What was once a popular pet has now become Florida’s nightmare, a situation so dire that massive swaths of Florida society have mobilized to hunt these former pets and their descendants en masse through the Everglades. While the Burmese Python has found a comfortable habitat in Florida, its tendency to eat everything in sight has made the state unable and unwilling to accommodate it.

Burmese Python Basics 

The simplest way to understand what a Burmese python looks like? Ask a kindergartener to describe a snake. The Burmese python is a massive, formidable serpent. Although female Burmese pythons grow to larger sizes relative to their male counterparts, the average python commonly reaches lengths of 10-15 feet, but can grow over 20 feet and weigh in at 200 pounds. At this size, they can easily suffocate small mammals and other similar-sized prey.

The Burmese python is an r-selected species with reproductive traits ideal for turbulent situations. The Burmese python reaches reproductive age between four and five years old and can reproduce throughout its life. The average Burmese python lives to be 15-30 years old, depending on if it’s in the wild or captivity, and reproduces once per year. One clutch of eggs can be anywhere between 50 and 100 individuals. The average clutch has only a 38% survival rate, but this is all part of the snake’s plan of quantity over quality of maternal care. This reproduction strategy, combined with the python’s unfussy diet, allow it to adapt to new environments, and even outcompete native species for food and resources to the detriment of the ecosystem’s health: the definition of an invasive species. 

Burmese Python’s native range in Asia.
Courtesy Animalia.

Burmese pythons exist in a variety of settings with varying degrees of success. Firstly, they often exist in captivity as a lucrative part of the exotic pet trade. 
The python is an apex predator in the wild, and the only notable threats adult members of the population face are from humans, namely, poaching and industrial development. These issues are most prevalent in certain areas in the Burmese Python’s native range in Southeast Asia. In some zones, populations have declined by 80% in a single decade. The Burmese python is therefore globally classified as a “threatened” species. Overall, the Burmese python has found the most success in the Florida Everglades, where it can hide in the vast, untouched, and diverse ecosystem.

The Florida Everglades, a Biodiverse Haven

The Florida Everglades is one of the largest wetlands in the world and an incredible source of tourism for the state. It is also the primary freshwater source for a third of Floridians, and provides water for most of the state’s agricultural ventures. None of these vital functions, however, are the reason that Everglades National Park was created. Instead, early local conservationists, such as the Florida Audubon Society and Marjory Stoneman Douglas, believed that the area’s unique and considerable biodiversity was worth preserving. These voices won despite fierce opposition from game hunters and other interested parties, and Everglades National Park was authorized by Congress in 1934 with the Everglades Act and formally established in 1947. It became the first US national park created to preserve biodiversity. 

As biodiversity continues to decrease globally, the statistics comprising the Everglades become even more significant: the many endangered, endemic, and otherwise rare species comprising the Everglades should serve as a shining example of the importance of ecosystem preservation in the US. Instead, the Everglades today is only 50% of its original land size and faces an onslaught from many familiar sources. For one, agricultural activity in the greater Everglades Agricultural Area (EEA) has predictably led to fertilizers and pesticides being found in the Everglades system.

Everglades National Park
Moni3, public doman

Increased industrial and residential development in Florida has also had an impact. Many of these projects date back to the 1940’s, when large swaths of the Everglades were drained for industrial and agricultural purposes. These have resulted in a 70% reduction of water flow from Lake Okeechobee to the Everglades and beyond. The secondary effects of this decreased water capacity are serious. In addition to many rare species, the Everglades feature acres of peatland, consisting of soil incredibly dense with decomposed organic matter, leaving behind carbon and nitrogen. As these areas have received less water and experienced drought, allowing oxygen to move in and decompose the peat, releasing carbon, nitrogen, and other material into the atmosphere. Finally, the Burmese python has spent decades wreaking havoc on the Florida Everglades. In the face of these challenges, the Florida and federal governments have had limited success. 

Other entities, however, have voiced concerns over the situation, as well as a desire to be involved in decision making, such as the local Seminole and Miccosukee tribes, who have called the Everglades home for generations. The Second Seminole War began in 1835 over the Seminole and Miccosukee peoples’ forced relocation west of the Mississippi from their reservation north of Lake Okeechobee in what is now central Florida. Many native forces used the Everglades as a refuge and meeting place during the conflict. By the third Seminole war, most of the nation had moved west, those who stayed dug deeper into the Everglades. 

Today, the Seminole tribe is heading the ambitious Everglades Restoration Initiative, a $65 million dollar project that is mostly focused on improving the Everglades water system. The initiative aims to clean the water of pollutants, increase water storage capacity, and lobby for decreasing development projects in the greater Everglades area. Furthermore, the Miccosukee people have been successfully lobbying governments on behalf of the Everglades for decades, including fighting legal designations that would force the native population to vacate the Everglades. It is this continued ignorance from the government that has led organizations such as the National Academies to call for increased cooperation between the groups: after all, ancestral knowledge of the ecosystem predates western scientific knowledge. For one, the Miccosukee and Seminole peoples have a better understanding of how a restored Everglades should look. The governments of the United States and Florida have also had limited successes in addressing other issues plaguing the Everglades, such as an aforementioned invasive species.

A Long Way From Home

Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither was the Florida Everglades branch of the Burmese python family. The first pythons in Florida arrived in the 1970s and early 80s as a popular exotic pet. However, breeders and owners alike allowed many snakes to escape into the wild. These individual cases mostly slipped by undetected. The real catalyst for today’s python crisis was Hurricane Andrew, which hit Florida in 1992 and led to many snakes escaping from a breeding facility.

These snakes rapidly found a home in the familiar, subtropical Florida Everglades, where their r-selected tendencies helped them thrive. 

But what exactly is the problem with the Burmese python being in the Everglades? An invasive species thrives at the expense of the health of a larger ecosystem. Much like their fellow invasive species, such as the Asian Carp, the Burmese python is a predator with an appetite so large that their new ecosystem cannot provide enough food. It’s what’s known as a carrying capacity overshoot. In the Everglades, their unchecked predation devastated native mammal populations.

Although the snake primarily snacks on small mammals, no creatures are really safe. A widely cited 2012 study found that between 1997 and the publication, raccoon numbers in the Everglades (once an incredibly common sight) had declined by 99.3 percent. Fellow common mammals in this study barely fared better, with all population crashes being over 85%. Most damningly, sightings of these animals were often in areas where pythons were not present or had only been recently introduced. Other species, like marsh rabbits and foxes, “effectively disappeared over that time.” Today, estimates of their population in the Everglades range from 100,000 to 300,000 individuals.

Female Burmese Python with eggs
Photo: Tigerpython

A Serpentine Smear Campaign

It wasn’t until 2000 that the Burmese python was officially recognized as an established species in the Everglades. In 2006, the Florida government took a soft approach to eliminating pet python releases with the new Exotic Pet Amnesty program.Through this program, pet owners could connect with parties interested in taking their unwanted pets free of charge. Two years later, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission (FWC) decreed the python as a “reptile of concern.” This distinction meant that the Burmese python could only be kept as a pet after a potential owner jumped through bureaucratic hoops.. The effectiveness of these solutions to the python’s presence in the Everglades was limited, as working to prevent  snake releases does not address the already-established local population. 

It is important to note that during this early period, the most effective and robust solutions to the python invasions came from local and national non-profits. In 2008, the Nature Conservancy launched its Python Patrol program for the Florida Keys, an initiative that trained volunteers in the best methods of python seeking and euthanizing. The Nature Conservancy partnered with Everglades National Park in 2010 and the FWC took over the program following its success. 

A parallel yet arguably more impactful program was that of the local Conservancy of Southwest Florida. Unlike the Nature Conservancy, their efforts comprise a larger number of innovative strategies. Firstly, they considerably publicized the efforts of their eradication and removal volunteer crews: several videos went “viral” on a global scale, which helped raise awareness toward the issue. They also pioneered a high-tech elimination strategy that involved catching and airtaging male pythons of breeding age in order to track their movements to python nests. 

In 2012, the Obama-era US Fish and Wildlife Administration decided to weigh in on the python problem. The Burmese python, along with several other exotic snakes, was designated as a Prohibited Species under the Lacey Act. This act is one of the oldest pieces of conservation legislation in the United States. Dating back to 1900, it bans the interstate sale and purchase, importation, exportation, etc, of a list of specific plant and animal species without a permit. Later amendments were more comprehensive and dealt with wildlife shipment labelings, timber supply chains, and other mechanisms affecting the transport of foreign species. The ability to own one of these animals, such as the Burmese python, is a matter left for individual states to decide. 

Despite a myriad of eradication efforts, experts and officials share the opinion that eradicating the Burmese python from Florida is nearly impossible.

Lessons Learned

Unfortunately, it is far too easy to blame the processes of government in this story, as decisive action was quite delayed. Legal theorists over the years have also pointed out that the Lacey Act has a loophole, whereby government agencies cannot take action against an already established invasive population. In the future, should it be the responsibility of the government to take preemptive preventative measures to protect biodiversity? Despite their smaller role in this story, I would venture a yes: as development projects threaten the stability of the Everglades as a water purifier and essential ecosystem, the law is needed to stop these endeavors in spite of the market forces demanding their creation. 

The state of Florida remains an absolutely essential player in hopes of preserving the Everglades. However, the old and continuing story of Everglades conservation is absolute proof of the power of non-government entities to motivate legal and public policy actions. The state would therefore be wise to consult not only pioneering non-profit conservationists, but the longtime local experts that call the national park home. 

Alexa Hankins is a student at Boston University, where she is pursuing a degree in International Relations with a concentration in environment and development policy. She discovered Bio4Climate through her research to develop a Miyawaki forest bike tour in greater Boston. Alexa is passionate about accessible climate education, environmental justice, and climate resilience initiatives. In her free time, she likes to read, develop her skills with houseplants, and explore the Boston area!

Featured Creature: Right Whale

What species fights climate change, creates “surface-active groups,” and shares a home with the Maine lobster?

North Atlantic Right Whale
Image credit: NOAA

That would be the North Atlantic right whale. Hardly an unsung species, this large marine mammal is one of the most critically endangered in the world, with approximately 372 members remaining. Unfortunately for the whale, its story is inexplicably intertwined with that of North Atlantic fishermen, in particular the Maine lobster industry. On the surface, this is a battle between said industry and whale conservationists. But must this story be a zero-sum game?

A Deep Dive

As one of the largest species on the planet, the  North Atlantic right whale can grow up to 14-17 meters long and weigh up to 154,000 pounds. During my research, I was surprised to find that there are three subspecies of right whale, which appear very similar but have lived in genetic isolation for millions of years. In addition to the North Atlantic right whale, there are the North Pacific and South Atlantic right whale species. All three are listed as “Endangered” under the US Endangered Species Act (ESA), a designation that triggers various types of protective legislation. While the North Pacific right whale fares about as well as the North Atlantic under these conditions, estimates of the South Pacific right whale population are as high as 4,000. 

Despite their formidable size, the right whale is a gentle giant. They are incredibly slow swimmers, and can reach swimming speeds of 

 They also use their baleen to filter their food and have diets mainly consisting of copepods. This diet is also part of the whale’s role as a “nutrient cycler” in the ocean ecosystem: by feeding and defecating, the whales provide crucial nutrients to phytoplankton, which helps sequester atmospheric carbon– hence their role as a climate change fighter!

 Right whales are also incredibly social creatures and are often seen vocally interacting on the surface of the ocean in both mating and social settings. These interactions are called surface active groups (SAG), and make for great whale watching. Analogously, the speed, size, and behavior of the right whale led to its persecution by whale hunters for centuries. These actors even named the species, as they were the so-called “right whale” to hunt. The slow-moving, blubber-rich, and surface-active North Atlantic right whale was thus hunted to near extinction several times in history. The first concrete step toward whale protection at an international level occurred in 1946, when the United Nations established the still-active International Whaling Commission. 

The North Atlantic right whale commonly resides on the east coast of the United States and the west coast of Europe. In the states, the whale is known for feeding in the north (especially by Cape Cod and the Gulf of Maine) and calving in the south near Georgia. Afterward, the mothers herd their calves north so they can benefit from the plentiful copepods off the coast of Massachusetts. 

NOAA

It would be a mistake, however, to assume that right whales are entirely bound to such human-mapped migration patterns. This was pointed out to me by Rob Moir of the Ocean River Institute (ORI), who showed me examples of whales breaking these patterns. Notably, the ORI reported an instance of two female right whales, Curlew and Koala, migrating as far south as the Bahamas and as far north as Prince Edward Island. 

This outlier displaying whale intelligence reminded me of a larger point that my professors often make, that discourse around environmental protection sometimes falls into the trap of framing such actions as benevolence on our part. In reality, we share this planet with complex, intelligent species and natural processes, and it is in our best interest to preserve them. I believe wholeheartedly in the importance of functional natural systems. As someone born and raised in Maine, my public school education was full of cautionary tales of how anthropogenic changes can destabilize human lives.

In Maine, we have a long history of learning from unsustainable economic systems the hard way.For better or worse, many livelihoods here are tied to the functionality of our natural resources. In the early 1990s, Atlantic cod stocks virtually collapsed after decades of overfishing. Similar results in the shrimp, halibut, and numerous other populations led many to move into the lobstering industry. Beyond massive job losses, these shifts were particularly painful in a state whose cultural identity rests on continuing these ways of

Lobster vs. Whale

The Maine lobster industry faces numerous threats to its well-being, including legal gains in right whale conservation. In many ways, the continuance of the Maine lobster industry is a bit of a miracle: it is a vintage way of life, an occupation only made possible by stringent and consensual regulations designed to limit overfishing. The catching of egg-laying female lobsters is prohibited, and limits on the minimum size allowed for a harvested lobster are routinely updated. Hauling times are also limited during the summer months, and hauling is prohibited after sunset from November through May. These efforts become more important in the face of lobster northward migration to the Bay of Fundy. The Gulf of Maine is warming faster than 99% of the world’s oceans, creating increasingly less suitable lobster conditions.

When you look at the numbers, the importance of the lobster industry in Maine becomes clear. Estimates from a 2019 Middlebury College study report that the seafood sector provided as many as 33,000 Maine jobs and $3.2 billion in revenue in Maine annually. Although these numbers have since decreased, they stand to represent the strong presence of moneyed interests in the fight against right whale conservation, but also that the livelihoods of ordinary Mainers and New Englanders are at stake. Under these pressures, lawmakers are undoubtedly tempted to side with economic progress over conservation, which begs the question…

What Rights Do Whales Have?

In 1973, the United States government passed the Endangered Species Act (ESA), which holds the federal government responsible for the conservation of species classified as threatened or endangered by the US agencies. In article (a)(1)of Section II, the ESA asserts that species loss is a “consequence of economic growth and development untempered by adequate concern and conservation.” Thus, the framers of this document intended this law to empower the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), and successful plaintiffs to defend endangered animals against economic interests. 

But what, exactly, is the monetary value of a given species on this planet? The 1978 court case Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) v. Hill, which was the  Supreme Court’s first exercise in interpreting the ESA, explored this question. The plaintiff was second-year Tennessee University Law student Hiram Hill, who sued the TVA to halt the construction of the Tellico Dam. The dam was set to bring immense economic benefits to the area, but would also render the snail darter, a small, endangered fish residing in the ESA-designated critical habitat of the Tennessee River, extinct. 

Tellico Dam, mid-construction.
Courtesy Tennessee Valley Authority

Initially, the courts sided with the TVA. The District Court claimed that protecting the snail darter would create “an unreasonable result,” essentially, that the existence of the snail darter was not worth the price of halting the dam’s construction. Unfortunately for the TVA, such an exemption is not provided for in the ESA. SCOTUS saw this and reversed earlier rulings, siding with Hill. This ruling was not obeyed by Congress, however. A few years later, a small amendment authorizing the TVA to complete the Tellico Dam was thrown into an unrelated bill, which became law. This was illegal and violated SCOTUS’s authority.

At this point, you may be asking what a fifty-year-old court case about a freshwater fish (which did not go extinct, by the way) has to do with the right whale. The answer is quite a bit. In court, the snail darter faced off with the Tellico Dam for the right to exist, with the former providing no major economic benefit and the latter with grand claims that it would. In the end, the fight was not defined by this metric- instead, the highest court in the United States ruled that all species have a right to exist that is monetarily immeasurable.

North Atlantic Right Whale and Fishing Line
Source: NOAA

The Blame Game

The necessary solutions for right whale survival will be disruptive. Organizations such as Oceana name the two biggest threats to right whales as vessel strikes and entanglements with ropes used in fishing equipment (despite decades-old Maine laws mandating weak links and sinking lines to limit whale entanglements). Regarding the latter, the most productive lobster season in Maine and Massachusetts coincides with the right whale’s food-motivated pilgrimage to the same waters. NOAA first officially connected the lobster industry to right whale deaths in 1996 and recommended seasonal prohibitions on fishing.

In 2017, NOAA recorded an “Unusual Mortality Event” where 17 right whales died, many due to fishing gear entanglements. This event spurred many of the modern “whale versus lobster” legal battles and debates we see today. In 2022, U.S. representatives in Congress secured a six-year pause on legislating the lobstering industry in the way of whale conservation, citing a history of sustainable practices in the industry. As a compromise, the bill featured forensic gear-marking requirements and authorized funding for whale-safe ropeless traps. These trap technologies today remain unreliable, despite extra funding. 

The Right Way Forward

What elements define a sustainable policy? In this case, the answer isn’t black and white: it’s not pro-whale or pro-lobster industry. On one hand, the ESA asserts that the North Atlantic right whale has the right to live. On the other hand, the hardships that the lobster industry currently faces are not the result of poor choices made by the industry itself. Climate change is the fault of larger societal processes and decisions, and the lobster fishermen of Maine have long been careful to maintain the size of the local lobster population. As for sustainability in the way of right whales, ropeless traps aren’t currently reliable enough for commercial use: fortunately, the industry has until 2028 to make them so. 

In the meantime, whale conservationists see other solutions to protect the North Atlantic right whale populations. For example, the Ocean River Institute advocates for a designated right whale sanctuary off the coast of Massachusetts. This area, which is already a desirable feeding area for right whales, would be administered by a diverse advisory council of interested parties, including scientists and representatives of the fishing industry. If the area in question were to become designated under the National Marine Sanctuaries Act, fishing of any kind would include restrictions on commercial fishing and types of gear.

Proposed Right Whale National Marine Sanctuary
Ocean River Institute

Furthermore, the ORI sees the planting of Miyawaki forests in Massachusetts coastal towns as a tool to improve the lives of right whales. Beyond causes of mortality, whales suffer when polluted stormwater enters their habitat. This process can lead them to ingest pollutants that cause illness and infections. Additionally, contaminated stormwater can cause algae blooms and deplete the nutritional quality and availability of copepods. One way to limit stormwater runoff into the ocean is to create land conditions where water can be absorbed. Miyawaki forests are excellent at this task: their loose soil and dense vegetation (which is meant to mimic an old-growth forest for rapid plant growth) is perfectly suited to absorb large amounts of water. This could improve conditions for right whales off the coast of Massachusetts and beyond. 

As a self proclaimed “policy person,” the lack of legislative progress on climate and conservation issues is incredibly frustrating. I also believe that the government owes a fair solution to the lobster industry. Delivering justice in this situation would therefore be a complex process- fortunately, we can initiate and foster change at an individual level.

**Special thanks to Rob Moir (Ocean River Institute) and Taylor Mann (Oceana) for providing information for this piece!

Alexa Hankins is a student at Boston University, where she is pursuing a degree in International Relations with a concentration in environment and development policy. She discovered Bio4Climate through her research to develop a Miyawaki forest bike tour in greater Boston. Alexa is passionate about accessible climate education, environmental justice, and climate resilience initiatives. In her free time, she likes to read, develop her skills with houseplants, and explore the Boston area!

Dig Deeper

Featured Creature: Mexican Wolf

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 tall at 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.


Featured Creature: Moon Snail

What seemingly cute, small creature is, in fact, a terrifying killer that drills a hole into their prey, liquifies it, and then sucks it out like a smoothie?

The moon snail (Naticidae)!

Lewis’s Moon Snail, Neverita lewisii (Image Credit: Siobhan O’Neill via iNaturalist)

Have you ever noticed those shells at the beach with perfectly round holes in them? I’ve always wondered how they end up like that. I thought, “surely it is not a coincidence that jewelry-ready shells are left in the sand for a craft-lover like me.” Amazingly, the neat holes are the work of the moon snail.

Take a look at holes made by the moon snail; maybe you’ve seen them before too.

The Small Snowplows of the Ocean

The moon snail is a predatory sea snail from the Naticidae family, named for the half-moon shaped opening on the underside of its globular shell. They are smooth and shiny and come in a variety of colors and patterns depending on the species: white, gray, brown, blue, or orange, with different spiral bands or waves. The size of moon snails also varies by species, ranging from as small as a marble to as large as a baseball. To traverse the ocean floor, moon snails use a big, fleshy foot to burrow through the sand. They pump water into the foot’s hollow sinuses to expand it in front of and over the shell, making it easier to travel along the ocean floor, like a snowplow. (Or should we call it a sand plow?)

Northern Moonsnail, Euspira heros (Image Credit: Cassidy Best via iNaturalist)
Lewis’s Moon Snail, Neverita lewisii (Image Credit: BrewBooks, CC BY-SA 2.0  via Wikimedia Commons)

Moon snails live in various saltwater habitats along the coast of North America. A diversity of species can be found along both the Atlantic Coast between Canada down to North Carolina, and the Pacific Coast from British Columbia down to Baja California, Mexico. They live on silty, sandy substrates at a variety of depths depending on the species, from the intertidal zone and shallow waters below the tidemark to muddy bottoms off the coast 500 meters deep (about 1640 feet, which is greater than the height of the Empire State Building!). You might find a moon snail during a full moon, when the tide is higher and more seashells wash up on shore, plowing through the sand looking for its next meal.

Northern Moonsnail, Euspira heros (Image Credit: Ian Manning via iNaturalist)

When a moon snail fills its muscular foot with water, it can almost cover its entire shell!

Lewis’s Moon Snail, Neverita lewisii (Image Credit: Ed Bierman via Wikimedia Commons)

The moon snail is part of a taxonomic class called Gastropoda, which describes a group of animals that includes snails, slugs, and nudibranchs. The word gastropod comes from Greek and translates to “stomach foot.” The moon snail is a part of this belly-crawler club because it has a foot that runs along the underside of its belly that it uses to get around! 

What’s on the menu? Clam chowder!

What does the moon snail eat? These ocean invertebrates prey primarily on other mollusks that share their habitat, like clams and mussels. They use chemoreception (a process by which organisms respond to chemical stimuli in their environment) to locate a mollusk and envelop it in their inflated foot, dragging it farther into the sand. 

Nearly all gastropods have a radula (think of a tongue with a lot of tiny, sharp teeth) that they use to consume smaller pieces of food or scrape algae off rocks. Moon snails are different. After their prey is captured, moon snails use their radula to grind away at a spot on their prey’s shell. With the help of enzymes and acids secreted from glands on the bottom of their foot, they drill completely through the shell of their victim at a rate of half a millimeter per day. Once the drilling is complete, moon snails inject digestive fluids into the mollusk, liquefying its innards, and slurp up the chowder inside with their tubular proboscis. The entire process takes about four to five days. Vicious, right? And what is even more brutal is that sometimes, moon snails are cannibalistic!

What role does the moon snail play in its environment?

Phytoplankton and algae form the foundation of the marine food web, providing food and energy to the entire ecosystem of sea creatures. Organisms that fall prey to moon snails, like clams and mussels, consume this microscopic algae, as well as other bacteria and plant detritus. The moon snail is a vital link in this interconnected food chain because not only is it important prey for predators like crabs, lobsters, and shorebirds, but it also provides these organisms with energy and key nutrients. Through decomposition, moon snails’ feces, dead bodies, and shells become nutrients for producers like phytoplankton and algae. 

Unfortunately, many things can harm moon snails and their habitats. Meteorological events like hurricanes can cause fluctuations in the species’ abundance. During heatwaves, when record high temperatures combine with extreme low tides like the one in the Pacific Northwest in 2021, moon snails can become extended from their shells, leading to desiccation and death.

The Earth’s temperature has risen at a rate of approximately 0.2°C per decade since 1982, making 2023 the warmest year since global records began in 1850. If yearly greenhouse gas emissions continue to rapidly increase, the global temperature will be at least 5 degrees Fahrenheit warmer and possibly as much as 10.2 degrees warmer by 2100. This continuous increase in temperature puts not just moon snails but humans and the Earth’s biodiversity at large at risk, not only because of more frequent heat waves, but because oceans are becoming more acidic as the water absorbs excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. As reporter Hari Sreenivasan explained in the PBS NewsHour report, Acidifying Waters Corrode Northwest Shellfish, ocean acidification affects shellfish a lot like how osteoporosis causes bones to become brittle in humans. The increasing acidity in the ocean reduces the amount of carbonate in the seawater, making it more difficult for moon snails and other shellfish to build and maintain strong calcium carbonate shells.

Colorful Moon Snail, Naticarius canrena (Image Credit: Joe Tomoleoni via iNaturalist)

Human activities also threaten marine creatures like moon snails. Shoreline hardening, aquaculture operations, and water management disturbs the food web and drives species towards extinction. Building structures on the shore to protect against erosion, storm surge, and sea level rise; projects such as geoduck farming; and creating dams and other water diversions disrupts animal communities and results in considerable habitat change. Fortunately, there are environmentally friendly alternatives, like living shorelines. These use plants and other natural features like rocks and shells to stabilize sediments, absorb wave energy, and protect against erosion. 

What can you do to protect these clam-chowing sand plows and the biodiversity of the marine sediment?

Martín Munizaga Kappes via iNaturalist
Clare Kilgour via iNaturalist

One thing you can do to help moon snails is protect their egg casings. In the summer, more moon snails emerge in the shallow, intertidal habitats because it’s time for them to breed. To lay eggs, the female moon snail covers her entire foot in a thick layer of sand that she cements together with mucus. After laying tiny eggs on top, she sandwiches them between another layer of sand and detaches herself from the firm, gelatinous egg mass and leaves them to hatch in a few weeks. These collar-shaped egg casings can sometimes look like pieces of plastic or trash, so make sure you don’t pick them up and throw them away!

Moon snails can be found washed up on dry parts of the beach as well as in submerged parts of sand flats during low tide. If you pick up a moon snail, remember to put it back in the water so it doesn’t dry out in the sun. 

The biodiversity in the marine sediment rivals even coral reefs and tropical rainforests. The organisms that live in this part of the ocean and the services they provide are essential for life on Earth. They cycle nutrients, break down pollutants, filter water, and feed commercial species like cod and scallop that humans eat all the time. Historical fishing activities, bottom trawling, habitat destruction, pollution, climate change, food web modification, and invasive species threaten biodiversity, functions, and services of marine sedimentary habitats. While there are many unknowns and ongoing threats to ocean life, that also means there are more opportunities for research and discovery that can inform effective ocean conservation policies. Supporting these policies that protect oceans and marine life is a way to protect moon snails too.

In ecology, there is a principle that suggests that each ecological niche is occupied by a distinct organism uniquely suited to it. This means organisms exist everywhere, and they have evolved to exist in these places in specific ways. The moon snail’s unique characteristics – notably the way it uses its radula to drill into its prey – shows us that in almost any niche, the organism which occupies it has similarly adapted to optimize its place in that habitat. I’m curious to learn what other unique traits organisms have evolved to adapt to their unique niche.

Off to shell-ebrate the beauty of our oceans and their creatures,

Abigail

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.

Sources and Further Reading:

Conservation Organizations

Articles & Papers

    Featured Creature: Slow Loris

    What creature has large eyes, dexterous feet, and is the only venomous primate known to exist?? 

    The slow loris (Nycticebus)!

    Image Credit: Helena Snyder (CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons)

    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.

           Image Credit: David Haring (CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons)

    Venemous Primate

    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.

    Image Credit: Helena Snyder (CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons)

    Bridging Human-Animal Conflicts

    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.

    Image Credit: Jefri Tarigan (CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons)

    Conservation

    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.

    Sources and Further Reading:

    Articles

    Scientific Papers

    Featured Creature: Blue Whale

    Which creature who helps fight climate change has newborns the size of an adult elephant and is not a fan of boats?

    The Blue Whale!

    Photo from National Marine Sanctuaries (via Wikimedia Commons)

    Big, bigger, and biggest

    Blue whales are the largest creature to ever grace this Earth. They can grow to around 100 ft (33 meters), which is more than twice the size of a T-Rex dinosaur! Newborn calves are around the same size as an adult African elephant – about 23 ft (7 meters). To get more of an idea of how huge these animals are, picture this: a blue whale’s heart is the size of a car, and their blood vessels are so wide a person can swim through them!

    Despite their large size, blue whales eat tiny organisms. Their favorite food is krill, small shrimp-like creatures. They can eat up to 40 million of these every day. They do so by opening their mouths really wide, and after getting a mouthful, they’ll close their mouths and force out the swallowed water with their tongue, while trapping the krill behind their baleen plates – this method is known as filter feeding.

    Photo by Don Ramey Logan (CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons)

    From coast to coast

    Blue whales live in every ocean except the Arctic. They usually travel alone or in small groups of up to four, but when there are plenty of krill to go around, more than 60 of these mega-creatures will gather around and feast. 

    Blue whales can communicate across 1,000 miles (over 1600 km)! Their calls are loud and deep, reaching up to 188 decibels – so loud that it would be too painful for human ears to bear. Scientists believe that these calls produce sonar – helping the whales navigate through dark ocean depths.

    Climate Regulator

    All that krill has to go somewhere, meaning out the other end. Whale poop helps maintain the health of oceans by fertilizing microscopic plankton. Plankton is the bedrock of all sea life, as it feeds the smallest of critters, and these critters then feed larger creatures (and on goes the food chain). Plankton include algae and cyanobacteria that get their energy through photosynthesis, and they are abundant throughout Earth’s oceans. These microorganisms contribute to carbon storage by promoting the cycling of carbon in the ocean, rather than its emission in the form of carbon dioxide.  Without whales, we wouldn’t have as much plankton, and without plankton, the food cycle would collapse, and more gas would rise to the atmosphere. Therefore, whale poop acts as a climate stabilizer.

    Learn more about this whale-based nutrient cycle here:

    Size doesn’t equal protection

    Unfortunately, the sheer size of blue whales isn’t enough to prevent them from harm. Blue whales were heavily hunted until last century, and although a global ban was imposed in 1966, they are still considered endangered. 

    Today, blue whales must navigate large and cumbersome fishing gear. When they get entangled, the gear attached to them can cause severe injury. Dragging all that gear adds a lot of weight, so this also zaps their energy sources. Since blue whales communicate through calls intended to travel long distances, increased ocean noise either from ships or underwater military tests can also disrupt their natural behaviors. 

    Another threat blue whales face are vessel strikes. They can swim up to 20 miles an hour, but only for short bursts. Usually, blue whales travel at a steady pace of 5 miles per hour. This means that they aren’t fast enough to dodge incoming vessels, and these collisions can lead to injuries or even death for the whales. In areas where traffic is high, such as ports and shipping lanes, this threat becomes even more prominent.

    To protect blue whales, and our oceans, we can implement sustainable fishing practices that use marine mammal-friendly gear. We can also reduce man-made noise, and utilize precautionary measures when venturing out to sea. That way we avoid vessel strikes and have a higher chance of witnessing the largest creature to ever grace our planet.

    For creatures big, bigger, and biggest,
    Tania

    Tania graduated from Tufts University with a Master of Science in Animals and Public Policy. Her academic research projects focused on wildlife conservation efforts, and the impacts that human activities have on wild habitats. As a writer and activist, Tania emphasizes the connections between planet, human, and animal health. She is a co-founder of the podcast Closing the Gap, and works on outreach and communications for Sustainable Harvest International. She loves hiking, snorkeling, and advocating for social justice.

    Sources and Further Reading:
    https://us.whales.org/whales-dolphins/facts-about-blue-whales/
    https://www.natgeokids.com/uk/discover/animals/sea-life/10-blue-whale-facts/
    https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/blue-whale 
    https://www.greatwhaleconservancy.org/how-whales-help-the-ocean

    Featured Creature: Banded Sea Krait

    What semiaquatic creature has a paddle-like tail, swims through crevices, and can even climb trees?

    The banded sea krait!

    Photo by Bernard Dupont, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

    Did you know that some snakes can swim? Beyond the legends of mighty and fearsome sea serpents, sea snakes exist, and swim through waters around the world, not just the pages of myth and folklore. 

    The banded sea krait is a type of sea snake that inhabits the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Males are about 30 inches long, while females can be up to 50 inches long. As the name may hint, the banded sea krait’s bluish-gray body is scored by thick, dark blue bands numbering from 20 to 65. The top half of its body is colored more darkly than its underside, a kind of pigmentation called countershading unique to many sea creatures. Countershading is a type of aquatic camouflage that helps the sea krait blend in with its environment, an adaptation that contributes to these creatures’ survival.

    By appearing dark from above, the sea krait becomes challenging to differentiate from the water. By appearing lighter from below, it melds with the sunlight of shallow water. This makes it difficult for predatory birds to spot the sea krait from the sky and conceals the reptile from prey watching below.

    The banded sea krait boasts a specialized tail shaped like a paddle that enables it to swim quickly through the water. These creatures also have valved nostrils to keep out water when diving. Despite spending most of its life in the ocean, the banded sea krait lacks gills and must breathe air. However, it can hold its breath for up to 30 minutes. A unique organ called the saccular lung helps banded sea kraits take in more oxygen when they come up for air. This lung acts like a diver’s oxygen tank. 

    Photo by Matt Berger, CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

    Formidable Feeding Habits

    The banded sea krait hunts fish and eels. Its cylindrical body easily weaves through coral reefs and mangrove roots to reach the hiding spots of its prey. Females are up to three times larger than males and prefer to hunt Conger eels due to their size while males often select the smaller Moray eel. Like terrestrial snakes, banded sea kraits swallow their prey whole and can consume eels much larger than themselves. Such a massive meal hinders the ability to swim properly, so the krait must come ashore to digest. This digestion process can take weeks to finish. Talk about a satisfying meal!

    Amphibious Nature

    Banded sea kraits venture on land to digest food, shed skin, drink freshwater, and lay eggs. They spend about 25% of their time on islands, mangrove forests, or rocky inlets and the rest in the sea. Despite their paddle-like tail better suited for swimming, they travel remarkably well on land, and have even been observed climbing trees. 

    Banded sea kraits use rocks to shelter beneath while waiting to digest their food and to rub against to help shed their skin. These reptiles must consume freshwater to survive and find lakes, streams, or puddles of rainwater on land to drink. When it comes to reproduction, eggs are laid under the sand by female banded sea kraits.

    Photo by Matt Berger, CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

    Venom

    Banded sea kraits are highly venomous. They inject venom through their fangs, and itis 10 times more potent than a rattlesnake’s! This comes in handy when it’s time to hunt. A banded sea krait may hide among coral crevices and wait to strike a passing eel. Its venom works quickly to paralyze the prey. 

    Don’t be alarmed – humans are rarely bitten by these kraits, as they have a very docile and non-confrontational nature. Some people, mostly fishermen hauling up nets, have been bitten in the past (symptoms include seizures, muscle paralysis, and respiratory failure). 

    Life Cycle

    Aside from their other land-based activities, female banded sea kraits come ashore to lay eggs. They may lay between 5 – 20 eggs, which then hatch in about 4 months. Babies emerge fully capable of surviving the ocean environment and appear as miniature versions of the adult banded sea krait. They will hunt smaller prey until they grow larger enough to take on eels. Banded sea kraits are estimated to live for 20 years in the wild.

    Take a look at some of their activities in action: 

    And if you’re wondering how a sea krait can swallow an eel whole, watch this video:

    From well-recognized animals like the humpback whale and dolphin to the lesser known banded sea krait, the ocean is a haven rich in biodiversity.

    Swimming 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.

    Sources and Further Reading:
    https://earthsky.org/earth/lifeform-of-the-week-banded-sea-krait-is-a-two-headed-swimming-snake/
    https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Laticauda_colubrina
    https://oceana.org/marine-life/banded-sea-krait/
    https://www.dovemed.com/diseases-conditions/common-yellow-lipped-sea-krait-bite

    Featured Creature: Gila Monster

    What creature has a venomous bite and is uniquely adapted to survive harsh desert terrain?

    The Gila monster!

    Image by Josh Olander CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

    Be not afraid! The Gila monster is not a monster at all, but rather a unique lizard with special adaptations. This reptile is native to North America’s Southwest region including Arizona, Utah, Nevada, and Northwest Mexico. It is so named because of its discovery by herpetologist and paleontologist, Edward Drinkerin, in the Gila River basin.

    The Gila monster is a lizard of substantial size, weighing about 1.5 – 3 pounds and clocking in at over 1 foot long. Males are characterized by their larger heads and tapering tails, while females have smaller heads and thicker tails. Its black and orange skin is easily identifiable and comes in two patterns – banded and reticulated. The banded and reticulated Gila monsters are recognized as two distinct subspecies.

    Reticulate Gila Monster (Image by Jeff Servoss, Public domain via Wikimedia Commons)

    Desert Dweller

    This creature is suited for hot, arid environments like the Sonoran and Mojave deserts, where tough skin is needed for a tough landscape. The Gila monster’s beaded skin is created by osteoderms, small bumps of bone beneath its thick skin, that armor the lizard against predators and the harsh terrain. 

    When desert temperatures soar over 105 degrees Fahrenheit (or 40.5 degrees C), even the Gila monster needs shelter from the sun. Like all reptiles, the Gila monster is cold-blooded and cannot regulate its body temperature on its own. So when it gets too hot, the monster needs to retreat to a shady place to cool down – a burrow. Gila monsters are equipped with long claws to dig burrows in the sand. These lizards spend 95% of their time underground to avoid scorching heat and will often sleep during the day to hunt at night.

    Image from Unspash by David Clode

    Diverse Diet

    Gila monsters prey on insects, birds, small mammals, and frogs. They especially have a preference for eggs and will unearth turtle eggs or raid bird nests. Gila monsters use their forked tongue to process scents and track prey. These carnivorous lizards will climb cacti to devour the eggs of a bird’s nest or even stalk a mouse to its burrow in search of young offspring. In harsh environments, sustenance is difficult to come by so when it gets the chance, the Gila monster can eat 35% of its weight in food. Any unused calories are stored as fat in its tail.

    When hunting live prey, it subdues its victim by secreting venom through grooves in its teeth. Venom glands are based in the lower jaw and, unlike snakes that strike and inject venom in seconds, Gila monsters must bite and hold or gnaw their prey to release their venom. They have a very strong bite and can clamp on for over 10 minutes.

    While the bite of a Gila monster is painful, it is not deadly to humans. Gila monster venom is most similar to that of the Western diamondback rattlesnake, but the amount of venom released into the wound is much lower. Symptoms from a Gila monster bite include extreme burning pain, dizziness, vomiting, fainting and low blood pressure. Because of their solitary and secretive nature, Gila monster bites are very rare and most cases are from improper handling of these creatures. 

    Hatchlings

    When it comes time to reproduce, female Gila monsters lay 3-20 eggs in their burrows during July. The incubation period for Gila monster eggs can be as long as a human pregnancy, about 9 months. This is unusual as most reptiles incubate their eggs for just 1-2 months. The reason for such a long incubation period is thought to be due to overwintering. 

    Overwintering is a survival method where hatchlings emerge from their eggs, but not their nest. Gila monster hatchlings stay in their burrow, waiting for weeks to months, for temperatures to rise and food sources to increase. But how can they survive for months without food? Gila monsters are born with fatty tissue in their tails that permits them to forgo consumption. Additionally, they will eat the nutrient-dense yolk from their egg which provides substantial calories.

    Baby monsters are just about 5 inches long and look like a miniature version of an adult. When conditions are right, they will leave their burrow to hunt for insects and begin their solitary life in their desert habitat.

    Photo by Michael Wifall from Tucson, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

    Cultural Significance

    The Navajo revere the Gila monster as a strong and sacred figure. The Gila monster is often called the first medicine man and had healing and divining powers. Now, the Gila monster is Utah’s official state reptile and represents Utah’s connection to both its Indigenous culture and wildlife. 

    Despite the recognition, Gila monsters are listed as ‘Near Threatened’ by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). There is an estimated population of several thousand left in the wild. Major threats include habitat loss from increased development and illegal poaching for the pet trade.

    Venom of Value

    The Gila monster’s venom has been a point of interest in the scientific community. While there is no antivenom for bites, there is hope to utilize its venom for medical use. Scientists discovered that a specific hormone within the Gila monster’s venom can alter the way cells process sugar – a potential cure for diabetes. By isolating this hormone, researchers were able to replicate it synthetically. After years of testing, a new drug to help with Type 2 diabetes was released in 2005 under the name Byetta – all thanks to the existence of the Gila monster.

    Even the most unlikely organisms can have a great impact on humanity, which is one of the reasons why it is so important to preserve biodiversity. “Monsters”, allies, or wonders – you be the judge. 

    Signing off 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.

    Sources and Further Reading:
    https://www.aboutanimals.com/reptile/gila-monster/
    https://blog.kachinahouse.com/the-lizard-in-native-american-culture/
    https://www.livescience.com/65093-gila-monsters-photos.html
    https://lazoo.org/explore-your-zoo/our-animals/reptiles/gila-monster/
    https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/the-monster-whose-bite-saves-lives.html
    https://kids.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frym.2019.00017

    Featured Creature: Cat

    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).  

    But I digress.

    Cats are indeed remarkable animals.  They can jump to heights over eight times their own body length (that would be almost five stories high for a six-foot human), always land on their feet, and display properties of both solids and liquids.  That’s right, given a definition of a liquid as a substance that conforms to the shape of a container, cats fill that bill to a T (or a Q or a Z).

    Photo by FOX from Pexels

    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.

    https://www.azpetvet.com/cat-owner-love/
    Photo by Sam Lion from Pexels

    How they find their distant people, nobody knows. You may enjoy some more long-distance cat-travel stories at https://www.pets4homes.co.uk/pet-advice/10-amazing-cats-that-travelled-vast-distances-to-be-with-their-owners.html.

    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 areday 2017

    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.

    Sources and Further Reading:
    https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/facts/domestic-cat
    https://www.pets4homes.co.uk/pet-advice/10-amazing-cats-that-travelled-vast-distances-to-be-with-their-owners.html
    https://www.cantonrep.com/news/20191121/missing-cat-travels-1200-miles-to-be-reunited-with-its-owner-after-5-years
    https://www.azpetvet.com/cat-owner-love/
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat
    https://www.dailypaws.com/cats-kittens/health-care/how-high-can-cats-jump

    Featured Creature: Humpback Whale

    What species of tremendous size and grace undertakes the largest mammal migration on Earth? 

    The humpback whale!

    Image by Brigitte Werner from Pixabay

    In the vast expanses of the world’s oceans, a symphony of moans, cries, and howls fills the water, echoing across great distances. This stunning serenade is the song of the humpback whale, one of the most majestic creatures to grace the seas. 

    Scientifically known as Megaptera novaeangliae, the humpback whale derives its common name from the distinctive hump on its back. With dark backs, light bellies, and long pectoral fins that resemble wings, these whales are a sight to behold. Their Latin name, signifying “big wing of New England,” pays homage to those impressive pectoral fins and early encounters European whalers had with these graceful giants off the coast of New England. 

    Image by Monica Max West from Pixabay

    Humpback whales are renowned for their enchanting songs, which echo through the ocean depths for great distances. These compositions, which consist of moans, howls, and cries, are among the longest and most complex in the animal kingdom. Scientists speculate that these melodic masterpieces serve as a means of communication and courtship, with male humpbacks serenading potential mates during the breeding season for minutes to hours at a time. Songs have also been observed during coastal migrations and hunts. Many artists have taken inspiration from these songs, and you can even listen to eight-hour mixes of them to help you get to sleep. Check it out:

    Another marvel of the humpback are their awe-inspiring displays of acrobatics, from flipper slapping to full-body breaching. Despite their colossal size, these creatures display remarkable agility and grace. With lengths of up to 62.5 feet (19m, or one school bus!) and weights of 40 tons (40,000 kg), humpback whales are true behemoths of the ocean.

    Life on the move

    Life for a humpback whale is a tale of two halves—a perpetual journey between polar feeding grounds and tropical breeding waters. These remarkable migrations span thousands of miles and rank as one of the longest animal migrations on the planet, and the longest among mammals. 

    Feasting on plankton, krill, and small schooling fish, humpback whales are skilled hunters, capable of consuming up to 1,360 kilograms of food per day. Employing innovative techniques such as bubble-netting and kick-feeding, they ensnare their prey with precision and efficiency. Generally these whales stay in small and dynamic groups, and they use their social intelligence and coordination to orchestrate these group hunting mechanisms. 

    Ecological powerhouses

    Humpback whales’ feeding and movement contributes to more than just their own wellbeing. As these majestic creatures feed on zooplankton, copepods, and other food sources in the oceans’ depths, and subsequently ascend to the surface, they disrupt the thermocline—a boundary between surface and deep waters—facilitating greater mixing of ocean layers. This enhanced mixing fosters increased nutrient availability, benefiting a myriad of marine organisms. 

    They also cycle nutrients through their own consumption and excretion, contributing to a phenomenon known as the “biological pump.” These whales ingest biomass and nutrients from microscopic and small macroscopic organisms in deeper waters, digest it, and excrete their own waste in large macroscopic fecal plumes on the ocean’s surface. This cyclical process effectively transports nutrients from the ocean depths back to the surface, replenishing vital elements such as nitrogen for algae and phytoplankton growth. In regions like the Gulf of Maine, the nitrogen influx from whale feces surpasses that of all nearby rivers combined, underscoring the profound impact of these marine giants on nutrient cycling. Finally, when a whale’s life has come to an end, its own massive body sinks to the ocean floor and countless organisms are nourished by it in the decomposition process.

    Image by shadowfaxone from Pixabay

    Conservation and Resurgence

    Understanding the multifaceted lives and roles of humpback whales underscores the urgency of their conservation. Historically valued solely for commercial exploitation, these majestic creatures now emerge as essential components of oceanic ecosystems. Though humpback whales have faced centuries of exploitation and habitat degradation, concerted conservation efforts offer hope for their survival, not only safeguarding whales themselves but also preserving the intricate ecological processes that sustain marine life and biodiversity. 

    Whales continue to face threats from ship collisions, entanglement in fishing gear, noise pollution, and the disruption of habitat for their food sources due to trawling, pollution, and encroachment. But strong advocacy has brought these creatures back from the brink before, and our conservation and restoration work can safeguard the future of these enchanting giants and ensure that their songs continue to echo through the seas for generations to come.

    Take a look at Sir David Attenborough’s tale of their resurgence and beauty:

    May we steward the ocean with love and care,

    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.

    Sources and Further Reading:
    https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/humpback-whale
    https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/facts/humpback-whale
    https://www.nwf.org/Educational-Resources/Wildlife-Guide/Mammals/Humpback-Whale
    https://us.whales.org/whales-dolphins/species-guide/humpback-whale/
    https://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/blog/humpback-whale-fact-sheet/
    https://conservationconnections.blogspot.com/2012/05/importance-of-whale-poop-interview-with.html
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRY9giOUTrI (Whales as Keystone Species – Cycling Nutrients, Carbon and Heat with Joe Roman at Bio4Climate’s Restoring Oceans conference)

    Featured Creature: Canada Lynx

    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.

    Sources and Further Reading:
    https://canadiangeographic.ca/articles/animal-facts-canada-lynx/
    https://racinezoo.org/canada-lynx-fact-sheet
    https://www.nwf.org/Educational-Resources/Wildlife-Guide/Mammals/Canada-Lynx
    https://www.nrcm.org/nrcm-creature-feature/canada-lynx/
    https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/animals/2020/07/lynx-take-epic-2000-mile-treks-but-why-is-a-mystery
    https://defenders.org/blog/2020/09/link-between-lynx-and-national-forests
    https://theconversation.com/we-eavesdropped-on-some-canadian-lynx-what-we-heard-was-surprising-161539

    Featured Creature: Fishing Cat

    What fascinating feline with unique adaptations roams the aquatic ecosystems of Southeast Asia?

    The fishing cat, otherwise known as Prionailurus viverrinus!

    Image by G.C. from Pixabay

    One Clever Cat

    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.

    Image by G.C. from Pixabay

    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.

    Sources:
    https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210416-the-fight-to-save-indias-most-elusive-cat
    https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/fishing-cat
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fishing_cat 
    https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/fishing-cat

    Featured Creature: Whale Shark

    What creature is the largest of its kind, sports beautiful patterns, and holds a reputation for being a ‘gentle giant’? 

    The whale shark!

    Photo by Shiyam ElkCloner (CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons)

    Filter feeding for giants 

    The majestic whale shark is famed for being the largest fish in existence. With a length of up to 33 feet and weight up to 20 tons, they are not only the largest living fish, but thought to be the largest fish that ever lived on this planet. Though their name might suggest otherwise, whale sharks are not a type of whale at all, but instead a member of the shark family. It is their enormous size (akin to a school bus) that led them to be compared with whales. 

    Like their other shark relatives, these creatures are excellent swimmers and true masters of the deep. People are coming to recognize that all sharks, even carnivorous species that hunt marine mammals, fish, or other invertebrates, have been unfairly mischaracterized as threatening, and whale sharks are another species you need not be afraid of. 

    In fact, one of the most fascinating traits of the whale shark is its diet. Despite their own large size, whale sharks subsist on some of the smallest ocean inhabitants, plankton. Much like the enormous blue whale, whale sharks are a living example of one of the most interesting links in the food chain, where nutrients are cycled from microscopic life to macroscopic organisms. 

    They filter-feed by opening their mouths and letting plankton-rich waters pass through, as well as ingesting other small fish or unlucky invertebrates along the way. But even in this habit they are unique. Whale sharks use a technique called “cross-flow filtration,” in which particles do not actually catch on the filter (the way it works when we drain pasta through a strainer or breathe through an N95 mask). Instead, water is directed away through the gills while particles move towards the back of the mouth. A bolus (or a spinning ball of food) grows in size as more particles are concentrated, finally triggering a swallowing reflex in the throat. This avoids clogging any filters in the process and is a particularly efficient method of filter feeding. 

    Because they are so large, whale sharks need a lot of food to sustain themselves, and so they journey long distances in order to eat enough for their great big appetites. They can be observed throughout the world in warm tropical waters and tend to lead solitary lives. Where there is an abundance of plankton, however, whale sharks are sure to follow. For example, in the Springtime many whale sharks migrate to the continental shelf of the Central West Coast of Australia, where Ningaloo Reef is the site of a great coral spawning that produces water rich with plankton for our giant fishy friends to enjoy.

    Photo by Leonardo Lamas from Pexels

    Big fish in a complex sea

    The whale shark contributes to nutrient cycling throughout its lifespan, providing important benefits to the ecosystems they are a part of. Some of the warm tropical waters that whale sharks call home tend to be low in nutrients and productivity, and in these areas whale sharks can make a big difference due to their size and force. As they undertake migrations or even as they go about daily swimming and feeding activities, their motion stimulates small ocean currents that can help nutrients travel from areas of high productivity to waters where they are much less concentrated. 

    Their own eating habits rely on an abundance of microscopic creatures and the nutrients they metabolize, and eventually each mighty whale shark passes on and becomes food itself, returning those nutrients to the ocean food web. After death, whale sharks sink to the ocean floor and the benthic organisms that reside there find food and shelter in the great carcasses. It can take decades for this decomposition to occur, and in the meantime hundreds of creatures benefit from the habitat and nutrients left behind.  

    In life as well, whale sharks can provide refuge to smaller species of fish that travel around their great bodies, taking advantage of the shelter these gentle giants create. As largely docile creatures, whale sharks can be quite approachable and playful with divers who are also interested in tagging along: 

    In a couple of instances, humans have even pushed their luck so far as to ride along on a whale shark’s back! Such close contact is discouraged by conservationists to protect the personal space of these beautiful animals, but whale sharks’ friendly reputation remains. 

    Though they may be steady, generous members of the ocean community, whale sharks are struggling to survive in changing conditions. They are an endangered species, and while some protections for these creatures have been enacted across the coastal waters of the world, they are still hunted for meat, fins, and oil, or captured or killed as bycatch in industrial fishing operations. Whale sharks also suffer from the plastic pollution in our oceans, as microplastics mingle with the food they rely on. Like the rest of us, whale sharks need clean, healthy, abundant environments in which to live and co-create. 

    Whale shark in the Maldives (Photo by Sebastian Pena Lambarri from Unsplash)

    Unique beauties

    Whale sharks may be known for their size, but that’s not the only special thing about their anatomy and appearance. Each whale shark sports a beautiful pattern of white markings on its dark gray back. Not only does this make these creatures look like giant mobile modern art pieces, but the patterns also uniquely identify whale shark individuals.

    It is not conclusively determined why whale sharks carry these unique signatures, their own version of the human fingerprint. Some scientists speculate that the patterns, which tend to be common among carpet sharks and other species that find such markings useful for camouflage as they traverse the ocean floor, indicate a close evolutionary link among these organisms.  

    The World Wildlife Fund has used these markings to identify individuals in the waters around the Philippines and keep track of whale shark population numbers there, so that humans can make the interventions needed to mindfully coexist with our marine friends. Whatever its distant origin or function today, this feature makes it clear that each whale shark is a special and irreplaceable member of our blue planet. 

    For gentle giants and filtering friends,
    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.

    Sources and Further Reading:
    https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/whale-shark
    https://www.georgiaaquarium.org/animal/whale-shark/
    https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/fish/facts/whale-shark
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whale_shark
    https://earth.org/endangered-species/whale-sharks/
    https://www.4ocean.com/pages/whale-shark-cause-of-the-month

    Featured Creature: Wasps

    What creature taught humans to make paper, builds with mud and can pollinate a flower inside a fruit?

    Wasps!

    Young paper wasp queen guarding her nest and eggs.
    Alvesgaspar (CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons)

    When creatures possess a defense mechanism capable of hurting us (like a sting), we categorize them as ‘dangerous.’ When they look differently than we do, we categorize them as ‘strange,’ and when they get attracted to man-made cities or agricultural fields due to the buffet of food we lay out for them, we categorize them as a ‘nuisance.’ When it comes to wasps, we call them all the above. 

    Whenever a creature has a negative reputation, people wonder, “Why do we even need them? Can’t we just get rid of them?” It’s a painful reminder of the Ego mindset, the one that sets us above other species. But if we take a moment to learn about other creatures, especially the ones we consider “pests,” we soon move towards an Eco mindset. We begin to realize that all species are important for balancing Earth’s ecosystems, and that each individual brings something unique and irreplaceable to this planet. When we embody the Eco mindset, we no longer see humans as dominant, but as equal participants in nature’s systems.

    Wide Range

    The term ‘wasps’ includes a variety of species that are generally separated by their behavior (and not all of them are yellow and black – in fact, only about 1% of wasps sport those colors). Social wasps, such as yellowjackets and hornets, live in colonies with hierarchies similar to bees and ants while solitary wasps, such as potter wasps, do not. Social wasps start a new colony every spring. Each colony begins with a queen, and she will raise a few worker wasps to enlarge the nest and bring food. Once the nest is spacious enough, the queen will lay eggs, and by the end of the summer there will be thousands of colony members. Throughout autumn, all wasps will perish except for a few new queens. Over the winter, this new set of royalty will find shelter in a fallen log or an abandoned burrow, and when spring returns they will venture out to create new colonies. 

    A social wasp (Vespula germanica)
    Alvesgaspar (CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons)

    Wonderful Architects

    Wasps, unlike honeybees, cannot produce wax. To build nests, most species create a paper-like material out of wood pulp and shape the material into cells perfect for rearing. The manufacturing process involves gathering wood fibers from strips of bark, softening the wood by chewing and mixing it with saliva, and spitting it back out to form the cells. Some species, like Potter Wasps, prefer to design nests from mud.

    Theory has it that 2,000 years ago, a Chinese official named Cai Lun invented our modern use of paper after watching wasps build a nest in his garden. So next time you read a book, write a note, or receive one of our letters in the mail, you can thank wasps for their ingenious skills!

    Although many of us may not enjoy having a wasp nest in or near our home, it’s best to leave them alone when possible. Remember that a colony only lasts for a season, and once the wasps leave you can remove the remaining nest. If you need more convincing for leaving wasp nests intact, keep reading to learn how these creatures contribute to the environment.

    Work-oriented

    Despite the lack of recognition, wasps contribute to man-made gardens and agricultural fields by eating other ‘pests,’ or insects, that harm crops. Their wide-ranging diet and wide geographical range (they exist on every continent except Antarctica) means they contribute to human food sources worldwide. Wasps eat flies and grasshoppers, and will feed aphids to their growing larvae. Some also eat nectar, making them pollinators. Around the world, many farmers consider them essential for their food-production methods. When it comes to food security, we can thank wasps for looking after our crops.

    Cuckoo Wasp (Chrysididae)
    Vengolis (CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons)

    Well-balanced

    I recently had my first fig, grown organically without any pesticides or chemical fertilizers, ever. It was delicious, and when I asked the manager of Sarvodaya Farm for another, we began to discuss the important role of wasps in fig reproduction.

    Although figs are considered a fruit, they are actually an inverted flower. The fig blooms inside the pod, rather than outside, and so it relies on insect pollination to reproduce. It takes a special pollinator to crawl through a small opening and into the fig’s pod to bring the flower its much-needed pollen. Wasps like to lay their eggs in cavities, so they developed a mutually beneficial (or symbiotic) relationship with fig trees. Wasps get a home protected from predators to raise their young, and figs get to reproduce. 

    Some species of wasps have developed a similar mutualistic relationship with orchids. The extinction of wasps would not only be detrimental for figs, orchids, and other plants that rely on insect eaters or pollinators, it would also be tragic for the many organisms that eat those plants (which, as a new fig fanatic, now includes me). 

    My first fig ever, from Sarvodaya Farms, where I learned about the mutually beneficial relationship between figs and wasps

    Warriors of disease

    In case the invention of paper, crop protection, and pollination were still not enough to impress you, one species of wasp found in Brazil also produces a toxin in its venom that contains cancer-fighting properties. Even the substance that enables some wasps to kill larger prey contains healing properties. 

    By writing about creatures a lot of people see as ‘pests,’ I hope to do my part in speaking against the way we view and treat other animals. I also hope these stories encourage you to take the time to learn from our non-human neighbors. Cai Lun demonstrated the incredible tools we can design when we look to nature for inspiration, a practice known as biomimicry. The solutions are all around us, but it’s up to us to be still, inquisitive, and open-minded, and to let nature show off her magic. 

    Wishfully yours,

    Tania

    Tania graduated from Tufts University with a Master of Science in Animals and Public Policy. Her academic research projects focused on wildlife conservation efforts, and the impacts that human activities have on wild habitats. As a writer and activist, Tania emphasizes the connections between planet, human, and animal health. She is a co-founder of the podcast Closing the Gap, and works on outreach and communications for Sustainable Harvest International. She loves hiking, snorkeling, and advocating for social justice.