Animal Spotlight: The Coati

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 And next, lets take a look at today's "Animal Spotlight:" The Coati!

The coati is a creature of many names.  Often called the Brazilian aardvark, they are also called crackoons (pronounced like "raccoon") and (my personal favorite) "snookum bears."  The coati shares much in common with the red panda, one of the Animal Spotlights from earlier in the week.  It, like the red panda, is not a bear, despite what its nicknames imply, and is also a part of the superfamily "Musteloidea." 

The coati has a plantigrade stance, much like humans, bears, and its relative, the raccoon.  Look at the picture below.  See how the squirrel has the whole portion of its foot on the ground, while the dog has only part of its foot on the ground?  If you were to walk on the balls of your feet, then you would essentially be walking with a digitigrade stance as well. 

There are four species of coati.  Two of them have been labeled as "Least Concern" by the IUCN, but two of them have not been studied enough to formulate a conclusion as to their status in the wild.  That doesn't bode well, however.  Together, they live in the North American countries of the United States (Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas), Mexico, throughout Central America, and in the South American countries of Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador, just to name a few. 

Finally, here is a link to an interesting and amusing news article talking about wild animals running around in the UK.  Enjoy! 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10365422

Animal Spotlight: The Tapir

This post has been made into a Video Blog Post.  To view it on YouTube, click HERE, or below.

Today's featured animal is the tapir, an odd, pig-like creature from South and Central America, as well as parts of south-east Asia.  There are four different types of tapir: Brazilian, Baird's, mountain, and Malayan.  Collectively, their closest living relatives are the rhinos and horses.  Unfortunately, all four of the tapirs are classified by the IUCN as "Vulnerable," or "Endangered."

Despite their bulky appearance (between 300 and 700 pounds, and around seven feet long), tapirs can run surprisingly fast.  This, along with the thick skin that helps to protect the back of their necks, helps them to avoid their main predators, like jaguars, tigers, caimans, and anacondas.  Although the distinctive coat patterns of adult tapir help to camouflauge them a bit, the young are especially camouflaged, with spots and stripes, much like two of their main predators, the jaguar and tiger, respectively.

A statue depicting the struggle between a pair of jaguars and their tapir prey.  The statue was one of many at the fantastic Brookgreen Gardens near Myrtle Beach in South Carolina.

According to Japanese folklore, the tapir will eat your dreams.  It also features in both Chinese and Korean mythology, as well. 

Each species of tapir has its own range, generally with little or no overlap.  The Brazilian tapir inhabits most of northern South America, generally not venturing much further south than the Tropic of Capricorn.  Meanwhile, the Baird's tapir lives in southern Mexico, Central America, as well as the South American country of Colombia.  It is also possible that it lives in Ecuador.  Next, the mountain tapir lives in just a small strip of land in the South American countries of Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, in the Cordilerras Mountains.  Finally, the Malayan tapir is found in the lowland rainforests in the countries of Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Burma, Thailand, and Vietnam. 

Don't forget to check in later in the day for this weeks "A Look Ahead!"

We Interrupt Our Previously Scheduled Programming: RIP, Lonesome George

Well, we managed to get a whole day without me changing the programming!  I decided to let you all know about a saddening death that occurred a week ago today in the Ecuadorian-owned Galápagos Islands.

A picture of Lonesome George that my grandparents took several years ago on a visit to the Galápagos.  Apparently he was a little camera shy.  Photo Credit: Ted and Gail Neher

Lonesome George was the last survivng member of his supspecies. Ten of the fifteen known subspecies of the Galápagos Giant Tortoise survive in the wild. However, and eleventh subspecies survives in captivity, Chelonoidis nigra abingdoni. Consisting of a sole member, Lonesome George, it is easy to see where George got his name!

Researchers at the Charles Darwin Research Station, a biological research station in the Galápagos, have offered a $10,000 bounty on anyone who can find a suitable mate for Lonesome George. So far, all attempts at getting Lonesome George to breed with a member of another sub-species have been unsuccessful.

A herd of turtles (yes, Michael Scott, I'm looking at you).  These Galápagos turtles would belong to a different sub-species than Lonesome George.  Photo Credit: Ted and Gail Neher

Here is a brief snippet from a news cast regarding his death:

"Scientists had expected him to live another few decades at least.

Various mates had been provided for Lonesome George after he was found in 1972 in what proved unsuccessful attempts to keep his subspecies alive.

Attempts were initially made to mate Lonesome George with two female tortoises from Wolf Volcano. But the eggs they produced were infertile.

Two females from Spanish island's tortoise population, the species most closely related to Pinta tortoises, were placed with him last year."

The majestic hindquarters of Lonesome George.  Photo Credit: Ted and Gail Neher

Unfortunately, with his death, the world's most endangered animal has passed on the mantle to some other animal, unknown to me at this time, and perhaps even unknown to science.  Regardless, it is a sad day for people the world over with the loss of this titan; literally, as he was over 100 years in age, and was about 5 feet long and weighed 200 pounds!  He seemed to pass away from old age, though, so at least he went in a nice way.

And don't worry, we can get back to teeth and dental anatomy some time next week.  See you tomorrow.

Puerto Ayora on Dwellable