Introducing....the Primos Truth Cam; The Ostriches of Longmont, Colorado; And Engagement Congratulations!

The most recent addition to my proverbial arsenal is the Primos Truth Cam!  (For those of you who are wondering, my arsenal includes my camera, Denali; my backpack, Rocky; my First Aid kit, Reginauld; and my rock hammer.  You don't name your rock hammer.)  Equipped with both video and photo capabilities for both day and night, I have set it up in a place where I know there to be red foxes!  I can't promise anything of course, but I have sprinkled an alluring amount of fox urine near the cam, so, with any luck, tonight we will be successful in our endeavors!  I will let ya'll know what happens tomorrow!

Speaking of names, I would be much obliged if you all could help me think of a fantastic name for my camera!  THANKS.

Another pretty exciting event occurred yesterday!  During our first period Anthropology class (a hoot and a half, fyi), I was talking to my group members about the time that my father and I were driving down Broadway, in between Boulder and Superior.  Off to the right was a lot of farmland, and, at one point, I was almost positive that I had seen kangaroos!  I told my dad to turn back, and, once we got home (which was pretty much the very first place that we could turn around), we turned around, and we were back within five minutes.  I couldn't remember exactly where I had thought that I had seen them, but (unsurprisingly) there were no kangaroos.  To this day, every time we drive by that area, both my dad and I turn to look.  To this day, we have not seen the phantom kangaroos.

Anyways, I was telling my Anthro friends about this event, and one of them, a friend of mine named Grace Albers, said that she had seen ostriches in Longmont, not twenty minutes from my house!  Incredibly excited, I told another friend of mine, Claire Chen, about it, and we headed over there during the next class period.  (Don't you worry, I wasn't ditching, but our school has Wednesday and Thursday block, where we only have half of our classes, but they are each twice as long.)  AND GUESS WHAT WE SAW.

OSTRICHES.

OSTRICHES

THAT'S RIGHT.

THAT'S RIGHT. 

 OSTRICHES.

OSTRICHES

WHAT THE HECK.  Apparently there is an animal hospital thing, and at the place they have two ostriches!  Crazy, huh!

An OSTRICH  preening!

And finally, I would like to congratulate my cousin, Alexa Neher, on getting engaged to her boyfriend Christopher Koreerat!  Congratulations, you two!

Daisy Post-Dentist, Yoga Bear, and Giraffe Feeding

So, as you probably know, I am still working to get all of my videos uploaded from our behind the scenes experience at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, and to be able to give you guys an overview of what we did at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo last Friday.  In the meantime, I am going to treat you to a few of these videos that I have uploaded, as well as another video that I made yesterday, and another pretty cool video!

Myself feeding the giraffes

So as I told you before, we were able to feed the giraffes!  Here is a brief video of both Masaki and myself feeding them lettuce.  This is the first time that I have gone to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo when they have fed them lettuce, in the past it has always been crackers.  This, apparently, is to keep the giraffes healthier.  Makes sense!

Masaki and I Feed the Giraffes

I also uploaded the video from the grizzly bear experience, the one where one of the bears is doing what the keepers call the "Yoga Bear."  There were two bears there, and I don't recall whether it was Emmett or Digger who was doing the "Yoga Bear."  You will be able to see clearly why it is called that in the video, as well as in the picture below!  Apparently this is a behavior that was not taught into the bear, and is an action that has been observed before in wild bears, both in the wild and in wild bears that have been brought into captivity.  This particular bear apparently did it once when he was first brought to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo from California (I believe), but then didn't do it again for four years.  Now he does it all the time apparently, as the keepers will typically reward that kind of behavior.  Enjoy the video!

The "Yoga Bear!"

The "Yoga Bear!"

Next up is our dog, Daisy, who is a beagle-basset mix.  Daisy went to the dentist's office yesterday morning, where they had to put her under in order to clean her teeth.  When she came back, she was still pretty drugged, and kept falling asleep while she was sitting up, barely able to keep her eyes open!  I hope you enjoy this video as much as I do!  Also, if you listen carefully, you can hear our cat, Chimney, howling for food in the background.  Enjoy!

Daisy the Dog, Post Dentist Appointment

Finally, for those of you who haven't heard about the record-breaking leap made by Felix Baumgartner yesterday, click HERE to learn more!  It was some pretty astonishing stuff!

Cascade on Dwellable

The Sounds of Star Wars

The dog that was once owned by George Lucas has gone down in history in more ways than one.  One very famous example stems from the dogs name: Indiana.  This inspired the first name of the swashbuckling adventure hero "Indiana Jones" from the film franchise of the same name.  Another very important legacy of Indiana (the dog) stems more from appearance.  Apparently, the idea for Chewbacca, the lovable Wookiee from the Star Wars franchise, came to Lucas when he saw Indiana sitting up in the passenger seat of Lucas's own car!  In fact, the name "Chewbacca" apparently is derived from the Russian and Ukrainian word "собака," which means dog.

Ben Burtt, the sound editor for all six Star Wars movies, recorded a number of bear sounds for the purpose of creating Chewbacca's speech.  Along with bears, cats such as the lion and the mountain lion were also recorded.  Camels were used in addition to these fiercer companions.  These were by no means the only contributions by the animal world to the sounds of Star Wars, however!  For example, when it came to the patrons in the Mos Eisley Cantina in Episode IV: A New Hope, many different tactics were utilized.  Synthesized Latin and chopped-up Swahili served for two of the customers, but animals were used as well.  One patron's laughter stemmed from a hippopotamus, while anothers came from a spring peeper tree frog.

That's not all when it comes to the Cantina scene, however!  Ponda Baba was the Aqualish alien, below, who, along with his friend Dr. Evazan, picked a fight with Luke Skywalker and Ben Kenobi.  He was "voiced" by a walrus.  Meanwhile, besides "dogs growling and bats squeaking," the "laughter" of hyenas was also used for the laughter of some of the Cantina's other patrons. 


Here are some more sounds, and what kind of animals contributed to their creation:

Geonosians:  Here is what Matthew Wood, the actor who brought the voice of the famous and much-loved General Grievous to life, has to say regarding the sounds made by the Geonosians:

"I recorded the mating calls of penguins as they came back from the Antarctic to little Phillip Island in Melbourne.  Other sounds came from when I was up in the rain forest; I was in a flying fox area, and they let me get close to these two flying foxes.  One of them had a banana, but the other one wanted some of it, so they started fighting.  They were really mad, and I recorded that whole thing.  So, for the Geonosians, Ben [Burtt] combined mating penguins and fruit bats fighting over a banana."

The penguins that he is referring to are the korora, commonly called the little blue penguins, discussed in a recent post.  They would also not have been returning "from the Antarctic," as these birds, the smallest known penguin, past or present, are not cold-weather birds, and really stick pretty close to Australia.

Boga:  One of my absolute favorite characters (yes, I know, technically she is just an animal, but still) was voiced by a combination of one of my favorite REAL animals, the Tasmanian devil, along with a few yelps from dogs and coyotes.

Wampa scream: An elephant bellow, overlied by the squawk of a sea lion.

Mynocks:  The whinny of a horse played backwards at half the normal speed, beginning with the bark of a seal.

Ugnaughts:  The noises made by these pig-like aliens were primarily from the pups of an arctic fox, as well as the mother, but a bit of "raccoons in a bathtub" was mixed in.

Rancor Noises:  The dachshund owned by the neighbors of Ben Burtt, the Syllas, barking, growling, and hissing.

The Sando Aqua Monster:  The deep growls that this massive creature from Episode I: The Phantom Menace makes were actually from the throat of Burtt's then-three month old daughter, named Emma.  "At one point, she had a growl in her voice when she was crying.  I thought, I can use this!  So I recorded that and then lowered the pitch way down in the computer."

 Kaadu:  The snorts of the kaadu were recorded from the sounds a whale made out of its blowhole when surfacing at San Diego's Marine World.

Kaadu/Gamorrean Guard:  Both of these creatures (the grunts of the kaadu, and everything for the Gamorrean Guard) were recorded from pigs.  Unsurprising, at least for the Gamorrean, given his appearance!

Poggle the Lesser - The leader of the geonosians (that is, until Queen Karina the Great is revealed in season two of the Clone Wars) was voiced in a number of different ways, but partially through "Swahili-type vocal clicks."

Acklay:  This creatures noises and shrieks were created from reworked dolphin noises, as well as a few pig sounds.

Octuparra Droids:  The sounds from these massive droids from the Clone Wars were partially created by cows.

Gor:  Pet of the aforementioned General Grievous, Gor was voiced by a mixture of a lion and a vulture.

Gundark:  This creature, first mentioned in the original trilogy ("You look strong enough to pull the ears off a gundark," said Han Solo to Luke Skywalker after his traumatic ordeal at the hands [haha irony (because the wampa gets his hands cut off)] of the wampa) was created from a conglomerate of a horse and a shrieking parrot.

I have to say, I think one of the coolest places to visit would be Skywalker Sound, the place where all of the sound and stuff for the Star Wars movies and tons of other movies are made, organized, edited, and such.  If they gave tours, then I would totally make the trip out there!  To take a tour of Skywalker Ranch would be absolutely fantastic!

Shrinky Dink: The Channel Island Fox and The Island Effect

If you (as a species) get trapped on an island, there is really one of three things that can happen.  The first thing, which seems to be like it would be the most common of the three things, is that you and your species would go extinct on the island.  Perhaps your species still survives on the mainland, but the island group has died off.  The second, and second most likely to happen (in my opinion) is you and your species, over many generations, shrink, to match the food supply.  If there is a limited supply of food, then the smallest of your species, not the largest, are much more likely to survive.  And the third happenstance is that you and your species grow in size over many generations.  Say you and your species are rats.  On the mainland, you are preyed upon by dogs, foxes, coyotes, cats, and the like.  When you and other of your rat buddies became trapped on the island, there was an abundnace of food there, but no predators to prevent you from growing bigger.  So grow you did.  We will talk about a very interesting occurrence of this later on. This shrinking and growing, called "Foster's Rule," is often simply known as "The Island Rule."

For now, however, we are going to focus on the more common of the two, and the more interesting (both in my opinion); island dwarfism.  This has occurred many, many times throughout history, and even to humans!  However, today we are going to look at one particular occurrence of this dwarfism.  The Channel Island fox of the Channel Islands off of the coast of California.

Scientists believed that the ancestors of these foxes "rafted" to the northernmost islands in the island chain sometime between 10,400 and 16,00 years ago.  These ancestors would have been the gray fox, very similar to the ones we see today.  The foxes rafted over during the last Ice Age.  This would have dramatically lowered the sea levels, and much of the water that is in today's oceans would be locked away in the ice caps at the poles, or in glaciers.

As you can see in the map below, the four islands of San Miguel, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, and Anacapa are all located with only shallow water separating them.  During the Ice Age, with the lower sea levels, these four islands were all one island, called Santa Rosae.  Also at this time, the distance from the mainland to the "mega-island" would be much smaller, making the crossing for these gray foxes much easier.  It has been theorized that Native Americans then brought the fox to the four southern islands, as hunting dogs, or perhaps even pets. 

The mainland gray fox.  Photo credit Zack Neher, taken at Brookgreen Gardens in South Carolina.

Today, the fox only lives on six of the eight islands, with distinct sub-species on each island.  The fox still inhabits the islands of San Miguel, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, San Nicolas, San Clemente, and Santa Catalina (often simply called Catalina Island), and is absent from the islands of Anacapa and Santa Barbara.  While Santa Barbara is too small to support the food needs of the fox, Anacapa has no consistent source of fresh water.  The fox is the largest on Catalina, and the smallest on Santa Cruz.  The foxes on the southern three islands all have become separate at different dates, with the foxes of San Clemente estimated as being the oldest (becoming isolated between 3,400 and 4,300 years ago).  The San Nicolas fox is next, at around 2,200 years ago.  Finally, the foxes of Catalina Island, between 800 and 3,800 years ago.

Even smaller than the mainland kit and swift foxes, the Channel Island is the smallest of all of North America's foxes.  Like many island animals, the Channel Island fox is labeled as "Critically Endangered" by the IUCN, as they don't have much territory to spread into when humans influence them.  One influence was indirect, but still devastating for the foxes.  Prior to the 1990s, the golden eagle was a rare visitor to these islands.  The bald eagle, already well established in the area, was apparently a large deterrent for the golden eagle, preventing them from settling on the island.  DDT helped to eradicate the bald eagle on the Channel Islands, and with very few bald eagles in the area, the golden eagle moved into the gap: nature abhors a vacuum!

Anyways, the golden eagle, unlike the bald eagle (who is primarily piscivorous) would, and did, hunt the Channel Island foxes; at four times the foxes size, they were most definitely a force to be reckoned with.  That, coupled with diseases brought over from the mainland by domestic dogs, such as canine distemper, have also wreaked havoc upon the fox populations.  Conservationists are currently working on a solution, and tracking the foxes with radio collars seems to be helping them learn more about the foxes, in an attempt to prepare for the future. 

Avalon on Dwellable

Guards of the Fairy Penguin

In the summer of 2009, a number of brutal attacks in Sydney, Australia left nine victims dead.  According to BBC, “the mutilated bodies...were found in a national park near Sydney harbour.”  Autopsies performed on the bodies reveal that the murderers were most likely foxes, although dogs remain a definite suspect.

A picture of the red fox outside of the house in Breckenridge, Colorado, that our friends the Beckleys rented one summer.  It's an awesome place to stay, I tell you what!  Photo Credit: Julie Neher

There is more to this story than has been revealed thus far.  The nine victims were not humans; instead, they were korora, or little blue penguins, also often called fairy penguins. You would be excused for thinking that the victims were, in fact, humans, especially once you learned the whole story.

In an interview with BBC, Sally Barnes of the New South Wales Parks and Wildlife Service detailed what the group has been doing to protect the penguins from the dogs and foxes.  As well as raising public awareness, the NPWS has been baiting and trapping the predators, and “As a last resort, we’ve also had shooters out.” 

In this case, shooters means snipers.  That’s right; the Parks and Wildlife Service deployed two professional sharpshooters in order to ensure the safety of these penguins.  Armed with night-vision goggles, rifles, and orders to shoot to kill, these may be the most extreme methods used to protect penguins ever employed. 

The penguins are being further protected by vigilantes from the Manly Environment Centre, vowing that they will do “whatever it takes” to protect the penguins, and planning on assisting the snipers in keeping a sharp eye on the birds 24/7. 

Why is this colony such a big deal?  The kororaa is labeled as “Least Concern” by the IUCN.  Well that may be true for the total population of korora, but this colony is falling by the wayside.  As you can see in the map, the area where the colony is located is quite busy, and not ideal penguin habitat.  However, these penguins cannot be relocated; like many birds, they always return to where they themselves were raised to come ashore and raise their own chicks.  The people of Sydney also take pride in their colony of korora’s, as it is the sole population located in New South Wales.  The people at the Manly Environment Centre report that their efforts are, by and large, successful, and the korora’s numbers are on the rise.

Sydney on Dwellable

The Light Rail Coyote

There isn't much to this story, but it is quite amusing, as you can probably see in the picture below.

According to Blogger Andrew Smith, "This photo illustrates one danger of building light rail to the far-flung suburbs: unwanted riders."  What happened here?  Pretty much, in the winter of 2002,  a coyote boarded a Red Line Max train at the Portland International Airport in Portland, Oregon.  As it says in the caption in the picture below, the coyote was gypped of its ride, and was force to deboard by the wildlife specialists at the airport.

Brief tangent: why would an airport need a wildlife specialist, let alone specialists, plural?  "For situations like this" you say.  OK, but how often do these situations occur?  I don't really, know, as I am not expert, but still.  Seems a bit shady to me.

Never mind.  I just looked it up.  Here is why: BIRDSTRIKES.

Anyways, the incident also led to the band called "Sleater-Kinney" creating a song called (can you guess it?) "Light Rail Coyote."  An interesting little story, to be sure.

Portland on Dwellable

The Fauna of South Carolina: Cetaceans, Foxes and Otters

Here is the second in the "Fauna of South Carolina series."  Today, we are going to take a brief look at some of the cetaceans, foxes and otters that we saw while we were down there, either in the wild or in zoos.  Let's start with the otters.

River Otters ("Least Concern" by the IUCN) at Brookgreen Gardens

We saw both the otters and the foxes at Brookgreen Gardens, at their Lowcountry Zoo.  Not quite as cool as the foxes in my opinion were the river otters.  They were definitely really cool, as they were running around and playing a great deal, and we had a great view of them.  I'm not sure if I have ever seen otters playing so much, and seen it so well.  It was definitely quite a treat!  The range of the river otter is slightly weird; encompassing Oregon, Washington, and parts of California,and then extending throughout most of Alaska and Canada, and then coming down along the east coast of the United States, down to Florida, Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana.

Gray Fox in tree

Prior to that, we had visited the fox exhibit.  We were looking for red fox and gray fox.  If I recall correctly (which I often don't), we were having trouble seeing the gray foxes, when I noticed something moving in one of the trees.  It was the gray fox!  I had no idea that foxes climb trees!  In fact, other than the raccoon dog found in Asia, I believe not many other canids in fact do climb. 

Gray fox in tree

Gray fox in tree

Gray fox in tree

 The gray fox, like the river otter, is labeled "Least Concern" by the IUCN.  Its range stretches from most of North America, down through Mexico, Central America, and into bits of South America.  The Channel Island Fox (a very interesting animal that we will by all means talk about at some point soon) is almost certainly descended from gray fox on the mainland. 

Instead of doing the cetaceans like we previously planned today, I think we should do them some other time.  See you later!

This post is part of "The Fauna of South Carolina" series.  For the rest of the posts in this series, click HERE.

Garden City Beach on Dwellable

Animals of South Dakota: Part 2

NOW.  What animals should you be watching for on your trip?  Well, I am so glad you asked!  There are going to be three main areas where you would be able to see wildlife; the Prairies (P), the Pine Forests (PF), and the Black Hills (BH).

1.  Bison - If you are lucky, you might get stuck for a few minutes as a herd of bison crosses the road in front of you!  Be careful when viewing these animals, and use common sense; don't be the stereotypical stupid tourist and get yourself trampled to death by the bison.  They are the largest living mammals in North America, and can be testy. - P, BH

2.  Mule Deer - Just like we have in Boulder.  - P, PF, BH

A pair of mule deer fawns, near my house

3.  Pronghorn - One of my favorite animals, the Pronghorn Antelope is the second fastest animal in the world, and the fastest in North America, capabable of running around 61 MPH.  Why it can do that, we will talk about next Wednesday. - P, BH

4.  Red and Gray Fox, Coyote - Just like we have in Boulder, except for the Gray Fox. - P

A picture of a gray fox, taken by me at Brookgreen Gardens in  South Carolina

5.  Turkey Vulture - Watch for these guys anywhere, but they should be especially easy to spot on the vast swathes of prairie separating you from South Dakota.  They are instantly recognizable by their "V-Shaped" wing profile, their relative lack of wing-flapping, as well as the fact that they are probably circling something in the air.  Usually groups of them will signifiy a dead animal, as they are carrion eaters. - P, PF, BH

6.  Bighorn Sheep - Just like we have in Colorado - PF, BH

7.  These are the main ones to watch for, but if you get really lucky, you might see one of the black-footed ferrets in the Badlands, or a badger in the prairies!

The Fox's Animal Magnetism

For a while now, it has been thought that birds could see the magnetic field, in order to help them migrate.  It has been hypothesized that, when they are facing north, they can see a little blurry patch at the bottom of their eye.  If they are facing east or west, then they can't see the patch, so they know where to put the patch in their field of vision to get where they want to go.  Recent research by a Czech team of scientists seems to indicate that the red fox can also use the magnetic field, but for a different purpose: hunting.

The red fox (Vulpes vulpes) ("Least Concern" by the IUCN) has the largest geographical distribution of any member of the Carnivora, with habitat on all of the continents except for South America and Antarctica.  In North America, it inhabits the United States and Canada, in Europe and Asia it lives almost everywhere, and in Africa it lives in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Sudan, and Libya.  Not only does it possesses the range shown in the map below, it has been introduced to Australia, where, like the Dingo, it poses a threat to native species.

The red fox hunts by leaping up into the air, and coming down right on top of its prey, literally (for the prey, at least) appearing out of nowhere.  But how to pinpoint its jump?  The answer lies in the magnetic field, which is visible to the foxes.  But how does this work?  Out of all of the explanations set forth by various journals and such, I thought the explanation from Nature was easiest to understand.  Here's what they have to say:

"Think of a laser pointer attached to you that always points slightly downwards in the same direction. Now think of some object on the ground. If you walk towards the object until the laser spot is on top of it you know that object is a set distance away."

Generally, it was thought that foxes would pinpoint their location solely using their very acute sense of hearing.  But then the Czech team found that, when the red fox was leaping in a northerly direction, 74% of the attacks were successful, while the leaping attacks in other directions had the success rate of a mere 18%.  That's a very big difference, and seems to point to the magnetic field theory.

A picture of the red fox outside of the house that our friends the Beckleys rented in Breckenridge one summer.  Awesome place to stay, especially if you are looking to escape the summer heat!  Photo Credit: Julie Neher

East Breckenridge on Dwellable

Eye Shine....What Is It?

Eyeshine is a very common occurence amongst nocturnal animals.  Have you ever tried to take a picture of your dog and cat, but their eyes are glowing a very odd color?  Or you have been watching Animal Planet or another similar channel, and they show a night-vision scene, with the animals eyes glowing?  This is eye shine.  It is caused by a reflective layer in the eyeball, called the tapetum lucidum.

Tapetum lucidum in an armored dog

For nocturnal animals, seeing in the dark of night can be a problem.  Some animals counter this with extra large eyes.  This works well for nocturnal animals, sure: but think about in the morning, when you first wake up.  If someone comes into your room and just opens up the window shade, you might not be very happy, as your eyes generally need some time to adjust to the lighting conditions.  If you had gigantic eyes, this problem would be magnified even more.  So many animals that are active during both the night and the day have evolved something else; little mirrors in their eyes.

You can clearly see that the angle of tilt of the head makes the eyeshine much more intense in the left eye of this chubby cat

Here is essentially what happens.  When light hits our eyes, it is absorbed.  This gives us humans one chance to absorb the light that we can.  When light hits the eyes of, say, a dog or cat, or any other animal active at any time of the day, some of the light is absorbed, while some of the light is reflected back to the object the animal is viewing.  The light hits the object, and then bounces again back to the animal, giving it essentially a second chance to view the object.