He Should Have Just Played Dead, Man

For those of you who are acquainted with the top-notch television show "Psych," you might be familiar with the "High Top Fade Out" episode with Blackapella.  If you are not familiar then you are very confused and wondering what is going on.  Bear with me, bad pun intended.  At one point in the episode, Joon, played by Keenan Thompson, says of a recently murdered friend, "He should’ve just played dead, man. I always said that’s what I would do if somebody was trying to kill me. Just play dead. I mean, they’d be like, 'We’re gonna kill you!' And then I’d be like - dead - and then they’d be like, 'Oh he’s dead, let’s go kill somebody else.' And then they would leave."

Despite the fact that this was a humorous scene in a humorous television show, Joon's logic is not terrible.  While it may not work all that well for a human, it does work quite well for a different animal: the Virginia opossum.

Despite the fact that one typically thinks of Australia and New Guinea when one hears the word "marsupial," marsupials are actually found throughout South America, and even in North America as well!  The Virginia opossum is actually the only marsupial to be found in North America north of Mexico, and is around the size of a house cat, European wildcat, Geoffroy's cat, African wildcat, marbled cat, margay, leopard cat, pampas cat, sand cat, oncilla, kodkod, black-footed cat, flat-headed cat, or the rusty-spotted cat.  (And yes, I am setting up a cat feature for next week). 

Originally native only to the east coast of the United States (i.e. Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Florida, Massachusetts, etc.), it was introduced to the west coast around the time of the Great Depression, likely for use as food.  Below is a map of its range today.

Anyways.  Have you ever heard someone use the expression "playing possum?"  This expression originates from an odd but effective behavior employed by the Virginia opossum: it feigns its own death!  Scientists believe that this is an involuntary reaction on the part of the opossum when it experiences fear.  The fear reportedly has to be intense, however, as if the opossum is only mildly afraid, then it will react fiercely, screeching, hissing, and just generally freaking out its antagonist.  Who wants to mess with an angry possum?

If the opossum becomes stressed enough, though, it will collapse into a coma-like state, sometimes for as long as four hours.  While in this coma, the opossum will secrete a green fluid from its anus, a terrible smelling mixture, to make predators think that it is a gross and diseased carcass so they don't mess with it.

Of course, if an opossum becomes super stressed because it sees a car screaming down towards it on a road, I'm guessing that playing dead will only be a temporary measure.  Cars don't appear to have made that big of a dent in the populations of these creatures, as they are labeled "Least Concern" by the IUCN. 

One final thing about the Virginia opossum!  When we were on our California/Oregon driving trip in 2011, we found a hilarious poster like the one below in a shop window!  I laughed so hard!

This birthday post goes out to Chris Koreerat, happy birthday Chris!  If you have a birthday coming up, just email me the date at cuyvaldar123946@gmail.com with the date and your favorite animal, and I will do my best to get a post in!

Gatlinburg City on Dwellable

Viagra, Pornography, and the Giant Panda

Today's birthday post goes out to Maggie Zhang!  Happy birthday Maggie!  If you have a birthday coming up, just email me the date at cuyvaldar123946@gmail.com with the date and your favorite animal, and I will do my best to get a post in!

One of the many pictures of the giant panda that we took at the San Diego Zoo in California.  In fact, all of the giant panda pictures in this post were taken by my family and I.

Today we will be looking at a very interesting animal known colloquially as the "giant panda" (Ailuropoda melanoleuca), which translates to "black and white cat-foot."  Classified as "Endangered" by the IUCN, the giant panda is not only a symbol of its homeland of China (as well as its only land), but also for conservation efforts worldwide, being the symbol for the World Wildlife Fund.  It's closest living relative is the South American spectacled bear, and is frequently referred to as a "living fossil" due to its early branching from the rest of the family Ursidae.  Due to its basal position in the bear family, controversy surrounded the panda for many years as scientists struggled to determine where it belonged, often suggesting a close relation to both the raccoon and the red panda, who gets its name from the giant panda.  These two are only distantly related, however, despite the fact that they live in the same area, have largely the same diet, and both have what is essentially a thumb on their front paws.

Notice how the panda is grasping the bamboo, employing the use of its thumb appendages

It is estimated that the giant panda has been evolving away from the other bears for more than three million years due to the discovery of Ailuropoda microta, or the "dwarf giant panda."  The first skull discovered of the dwarf giant panda was in rocks in southern China that are around two million years old.  The skull indicates that this relative of the giant panda would have grown to around three feet in length, while the modern panda grows to a length of around five feet.  Despite the size difference, the skulls of the dwarf and giant pandas are actually quite similar anatomically, and dentition studies (studies of the animals teeth) indicate that the diet of Ailuropoda microta consisted largely of bamboo, much like the extant panda, for whom bamboo composes about 99% of its diet.  The giant panda will also consume tubers, grasses, and even meat when it can get it, like carrion, but also rodents and birds.

The giant panda at the zoo searching for the food that the zookeepers left for it around the exhibit

And now the reason why most of you are here: panda pornography and Viagra.  When I was researching the giant panda for this post, I ducked on to Wikipedia to employ the use of their range map of the giant panda.  At the bottom of the page, under the "See Also" tab, I couldn't help but notice the page entitled "Panda Pornography."  More than a little intrigued, I investigated, and its really quite funny, and not as weird as many of you were probably expecting.

No panda pornography here, but more of "The giant panda at the zoo searching for the food that the zookeepers left for it around the exhibit"

Many attempts to breed the giant panda in captivity have been made, given its "Endangered" status.  They are doing better now, and many pandas have been bred in zoos in China as well as at the San Diego Zoo in California, where apparently six have now been born.  (To see the "Panda Cam" at the zoo, click HEREEEEE).  Zoologists at a Chiang Mai Zoo in Thailand showed their pandas "panda pornogrpahy," literally just a bunch of videos of other giant pandas mating.  They hoped that the pandas would use this as a guide, and that it would arouse them.  Huh.  Despite the fact that this particular group of zoologists seemed to think the whole thing a success, efforts to duplicate the experiment have failed, causing the whole concept of panda pornography to come under intense scrutiny. 

The giant panda at the zoo searching for the food that the zookeepers left for it around the exhibit

The giant panda at the zoo searching for the food that the zookeepers left for it around the exhibit

The giant panda at the zoo searching for the food that the zookeepers left for it around the exhibit

Furthermore, some Chinese scientists at the Wolong Nature Reserve attempted to excite the pandas by giving them Viagra.  Again, huh.  I mean, wouldn't you think that Viagra would be geared towards humans, and not necessarily bears?  I would, but I guess I don't know.  Despite their efforts, the Viagra trials were unsuccessful. 

The giant panda, again grasping its food with its "pseudo-thumb" thingy

Now for those of you who want a funny panda video, click on the link before to see one of my most favorite videos of all time: the Sneezing Baby Panda.  And for those of you who want more, just click on one of my new favorite videos, the "Escaping Baby Pandas" video, below the link below!  Enjoy!

The Sneezing Baby Panda!

Escaping Baby Pandas

23-Fact Tuesdays: The Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch!

Remember 23-Fact Tuesdays?  Not very surprising if you don't, since there was only one and it took place a few weeks ago.  But we are going to do one again (despite the fact that today is Sunday) and this time, all of the facts are going to be drawn from the Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch (NBWR for short!)Adventure Guide Book!  If you recall, the Wildlife Ranch was the place that I talked about in our Animal Spotlight featuring the Aurochs a few weeks ago, where you drive through this large area and the animals will come up to your car!  Pretty neat, huh!?  And most of the pictures that I upload for this blog post will actually be ones that we took down there!  So, as Mrs. Frizzle from the Magic School Bus says, "Seat belts, everyone!"  Let's do this thing.

1.  The African bongo, a type of antelope, has a prehensile tongue that it uses to grab vegetation, much like a giraffe.

2. The "Critically Endangered" addax from the Sahara Desert has flat and broad hooves, which help to keep the animal from sinking into the sand.

A picture of an addax that I took while in Palm Desert, California, at the excellent zoo called "The Living Desert"

3.  The addax also is very lightly colored, which helps to reflect heat away from the animal, keeping it cool.

4.  The South American rhea can run up to 40 m.p.h.

A picture of the rhea that my mother took at the Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch on our visit in 2008.  The rhea is one of the ratites, like the ostrich and the emu, amongst others.

5.  The Patagonian cavy is the second-largest rodent in the world, second only to the capybara.

6.  The Watusi is the largest horned animal in the world, and its horns can be six feet across when fully grown.

A picture of a Watusi, with a calf, that my mother took when we visited the Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch in 2008

7.  The African springbok pronks, meaning that it jumps with all four feet off the ground.  Typically, when an animal pronks, it is either during pursuit by a predator, or simply during play.  During pronking, the springbok can jump ten feet in the air.

A small group of springbok at the Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch in 2011

8.  The scimitar-horned oryx is labeled "Extinct in the Wild" by the IUCN, hunted to extinction in the wild for their horns, which the animal would sometimes use to spear predators to death.

 

 

9.  The gemsbok was kept in large, semi-domesticated numbers in ancient Egypt, where they were killed for sacrificial purposes.

10.  The Indian barasingha "has the unique ability to submerge their heads in water while closing their nasal passages," which "allows them to take advantage of vegetation in the swampy areas of their homeland."

11.  The name "wildebeest" came from the Dutch settlers who settles in South Africa.  It means (can you guess?) "wild beast."

12.  The nilgai, or the bluebull, is the largest of the Asian antelope.

13.  The "Near Threatened" white rhinoceros is the largest of all of the rhinoceros species, and the second largest land mammal, second only to the African elephant.

14.  The white rhino will wallow in mud to cool off, as well as to help protect their skin.

15.   The name "rhinoceros" comes from the Greek words "rhino" (which means nose) and "ceros" (which means horn).  Think about the name Triceratops real fast: tri=three, tops=face, so then cera (like "ceros") = horn!

16.  The "Critically Endangered" bactrian camel, the larger of the two camel species, can go several days without no water, spit when agitated, and can survive extreme temperature swings, from -20 degrees F, all of the way to 100 degrees F!

A picture of the bactrian camel that I took at the Denver Zoo when I went there with my friends Masaki Kleinkopf and Brynn Conroy in April of 2012

17.  The ostrich is not only the largest of all of the birds, but it is also the only bird to have two toes.

This picture of ostriches stalking our car looks like something out of Jurassic Park

An ostrich accosting my sister for food at the Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch in 2011

18.  The blackbuck, native to India and Pakistan, is a "Near Threatened" species.  According to the guidebook, there are more blackbuck in Texas than there are in India and Pakistan.

19.  The gait of the giraffe is unique amongst quadrupeds.  As they walk, they swing both of their feet on one side of their body at the same time.

A picture of one of the giraffes from the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo from my visit a few weeks ago

20.  Giraffes eat around 75 lbs. of food a day, and can drink around 10 gallons of water in one standing!

21.  The heart of the giraffe can pump up to 20 gallons of blood per minute.

22.  There are two sub-species of sika (type of deer).  The Formosan sika, which inhabits Siberia, and the Japanese sika, native to Japan and Korea.

A picture of a Japanese sika that I took in 2011 at the Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch

 23.  The North American elk is frequently referred to as the "Wapiti."  Wapiti is actually the Native American term that refers to the white patch of hair on the rear of the animal.

A picture of a small herd of elk that my mother took in 2006 at Yellowstone National Park

North Palm Desert on Dwellable

Penguin Party: The Korora and the Magellanic

Today's post is devoted to two of the seventeen (debatably a lower number) of the extant penguin species, the Korora (commonly known as the little blue penguin, the blue penguin, the little penguin, or the fairy penguin), and the Magellanic penguin.  What's the connection with these two penguins?  Well, not really anything, except for the fact that we had just talked about the Korora in a post a few weeks ago, and I had found a few funny videos of both the Korora and the Magellanic! 

The Korora is actually believed to be fairly closely related to the Magellanic penguin, compared to most of the rest of the penguins.  Despite the differences in their genus (the Magellanic belongs to the genus "Spheniscus" and the Korora to the genus "Eudyptula,") most scientists believe that the Eudyptula penguins (only one extant, but likely extinct ones) were the last ones to diverge from the Spheniscus genus. 

As we talked about a few weeks back, the Korora is labeled as "Least Concern" by the IUCN, and inhaibts Australia and New Zealand, as well as a few other random islands in the vicinity.  Interestingly enough, the Korora has also been reported in Chile and South Africa, although the probability of these animals being vagrants (essentially, lost) is quite high.  However, most penguinologists are certain that many populations of penguins started out as vagrants, so who knows!  It is how they would get from one place to another. 

The Penguin Parade (see below) is a major tourist attraction.

The penguin parade.  Photo Credit Mark and Julie Neher

HERE is a link to a clip talking a bit about the Penguin Parade.  The clip talks a bit about the work done by the rangers and scientists regarding the Korora, including ranger Ashley Belsar.  For over thirty years, since 1968, this research team has been recording information about the penguins as they come ashore.  An interesting statistic that I learned from this video is that the average penguin spends about 80% of its life in the ocean!

And for those of you who want something a bit more"cutesie," HERE is a video of Cookie, the Korora, being tickled by humans at the Cincinnati Zoo in Ohio!

Native to the South American countries of Chile, Argentina, and occasionally Brazil, the Magellanic penguin is one of four of the Spheniscus genus of penguins, including the African, Humboldt and Galápagos penguins.  Labeled as "Near Threatened" by the IUCN, somewhere in the neighborhood of 40,000 of these penguins are killed each year by oil spills, which has resulted in their decreased IUCN status.

Next, we have two amusing Magellanic penguin videos.  The FIRST is of a Magellanic on a plane, and the SECOND is a trio of Magellanics who accidentally knock over the camera that is filming them.  Enjoy!

Now, we have a few really cute pictures of some of the Magellanic penguins from Sea World: Orlando in Florida!  The second two photos are from a publicity thing where some people from Sea World: Orlando brought some Magellanics to the Star newsroom!  How cute!

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Animal Spotlight: The Coati

First of all, everybody should like us on Facebook!  Here is the link: http://www.facebook.com/thenaturalworld1

 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!"

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

Animal Spotlight: The Capybara

Today, we are going to investigate the capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris).  Listed as "Least Concern" by the IUCN, both parts of its scientific name, hydrochoerus and hydrochaeris mean the same thing.  As you probably noticed, they both contain the Greek root "hydro," which, as you probably know, means "water."  The second half would be forgivable if you were unfamiliar with it: it means hog, or pig.  So, from its scientific name, we can assume that the capybara is a water pig.

Again, it would be understandable if you were to think that, as the capybara most definitely resembles a pig, at least superficially.  However, the capybara is not pig: instead, it is a rodent, related to creatures such as chinchillas.  As a matter of fact, the capybara is the world's largest extant rodent! 

Semi-aquatic, the capybara has evolved webbed feet, like many other semi-aquatic animals, like the POLAR BEAR.  An herbivore, the capybara must face attacks from many predatory animals, including the caiman (a relative of a crocodile), eagles, ocelot, puma/mountain lion, jaguar, and the anaconda, for who the capybara is its favorite meal.  The capybara generally travels in herds of around ten or twenty, but groups of up to one hundred have been seen before.

Capybara are fairly common zoo animals, and, when they escape into the wild, if they can find a semi-aquatic habitat that they like, they can often survive and thrive.  Sightings are common throughout Florida, and there have been sightings in California as well. 

When it isn't an escaped convict of the zoo, the capybara lives throughout most of mainland South America (thus excluding Trinidad and Tobago), except for the country of Chile.  These countries are Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guyana, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay and Bolivia.

Not enough capybara for you?  Well just check out these two amusing video clips below!  The first one shows a capybara with a case of the hiccups at the Bristol Zoo in England (UK), while the one below shows squirrel monkeys riding capybaras at the Saitama Zoo in Saitama, Japan.

The Hiccuping Capybara

Squirrel Monkeys Riding Capybaras


Finally, here are a pair of pictures that I took of one of the capybaras at the San Antonio Zoo in Texas.  Enjoy!

One of the capybaras sleeping at the San Antonio Zoo in Texas.

One of the capybaras sleeping at the San Antonio Zoo in Texas.

Animal Spotlight: The Sloth

Today's "Animal Spotlight" is the arboreal South American three-toed sloth (Bradypus variegatus).  The three-toed sloth holds the record for the world's slowest mammal: in fact, it is so slow, that algae grows on its fur, giving it a greenish color.  The algae helps to camouflage the slow animal in the treetops of its rainforest home.  In the case that its camouflage fails it, then it will resort to taking a stab at its attacker with its incredibly large claws.  Definitely not something that you want to take a hit from.

After perusing a few sources, I have come up with a list of the top 10 sleepiest animals, as you can see below.  The numbers are all number of hours spent sleeping a day. 

1. Koala:            20-22
2. Sloth:             20
3. Armadillo:       19
4. Opossum:       19
5. Lemurs:          16
6. Owl Monkey:  17
7. Lion:              14-16
8. Hamster:        14
9. Squirrel:         13-14
10. House Cat:     11-12 

 HERE is a link to an earlier post about the koala, and why it is so sleepy.  The sloth apparently is so incredibly sleepy simply due to the fact that its leaves are so poor in nutrients, much like the predicament the koala finds itself in.

Two other sloth facts struck me as pretty interesting.  The first one is the fact that, due to a few extra neck vertebrae, the sloth can turn its head 270 degrees, as you can see in the picture below.

The second interesting fact is that, despite the poor ability of the sloth to walk on the ground due to weak hind legs, they are actually surprisingly adept swimmers, as you can see in both of the videos below.

A Sloth Walking

A Sloth Swimming


According to the website of National Geographic, the three-toed sloth is labeled as "Endangered" by the IUCN.  Sloths live in Central and South America, and the three-toed sloth specifically inhabits the countries of Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guyana, and Brazil.

Finally, to learn a little bit more about the sloth, click on the link below.  The video is a short clip narrated by David Attenborough, and is also quite amusing.  Enjoy!

Saying "Boo!" To A Sloth

Convergent Evolution: Hesperornis and Penguins

Everyone who is reading this blog, and most people who aren't, have heard of penguins, and know, more or less, what they look like.  However, most people have no idea what a Hesperornis is, which is entirely forgivable.  What is especially interesting about Hesperornis is that it was really the "original penguin," in the loosest sense of the terms.

If not for the captions below each picture, these two animals would most likely be quite difficult to tell apart.  One major difference between the two birds is in the mouth: Hesperornis had teeth, a feature which no modern birds possesses.  Another major, but non-skeletal difference, between the two birds is that Hesperornis died out 78 MYA, during the Late Cretaceous.  Its remains have been found in the United States (Kansas), Canada, and Russia.

The similarities between Hesperornis and modern day penguins is called "Convergent Evolution," a fascinating topic which we will undoubtedly touch upon numerous times.  According to Science Daily, convergent evolution is, "In evolutionary biology, convergent evolution is the process whereby organisms not closely related (not monophyletic), independently evolve similar traits as a result of having to adapt to similar environments or ecological niches."  In English, when two animals, not necessarily closely related at all, evolve similar features that serve the same purpose.

An (excellent) drawing of the skull of Thylacosmilus

 Another example which we have already talked about is the long, saber-like canines that evolved in both the saber-toothed cats, such as Smilodon, and the South American marsupial carnivore Thylacosmilus.

 This post is part of the "Convergent Evolution" series.  For the rest of the posts in this series, click HERE.

Smilodon Vs. Thylacosmilus: The Saber-Toothed Marsupial

Two million years ago, a saber-toothed predator stalked the landscape of South America.  Possessed with long, dagger-like teeth, Thylacosmilus was undoubtedly a terrifying predator of the plains of Patagonia.  This saber-toothed predator would have given even the saber-toothed cats pause, despite the fact that (to paraphrase Obi-Wan Kenobi), "He's more kangaroo now than cat."  Despite superficial similarities, Thylacosmilus was not a saber-toothed cat.  Instead, it was a six foot long, 500 pound saber-toothed marsupial.

A reconstruction of Thylacosmilus by the talented young artist Sam Lippincott.  Interestingly, the super-sized canines of Thylacosmilus grew continually throughout its life, unlike those of Smilodon or Xenosmilus (see below), two of the actual saber-toothed cats.  Photo Credit: Sam Lippincott

The immense canines possessed by Thylacosmilus had previously evolved in both the cat-like Nimravids and the various saber-toothed cats (amongst others), and is a classic example of convergent evolution, a topic, in my opinion, that is one of the most interesting happenstances in nature.  We will hopefully talk about convergent evolution sometime next week.

A mounted skeleton of Xenosmilus, a type of saber-toothed feline, at the Mace Brown Museum of Natural History at the College of Charleston in South Carolina.  I got to visit here in July of 2014, and it was a very nice little museum.  Compare the skull of Xenosmilus with that of Thylacosmilus (below).

Anyways, Thylacosmilus lived during the Miocene and the Pliocene Epochs, from 10-2 MYA.  Up until 2 MYA, South America had been its own, separate land mass, not connected to any other continents since some time during the Cretaceous.  2 MYA, however, something extraordinary happened: the Isthmus of Panama was formed, connecting the two continents.  With this connection, came something scientists have dubbed the "Great American Interchange."  Animals from both continents could move, and spread out into the other continents.  For some creatures, like the saber-toothed cats, this was a good thing; they moved down into South America from North America and dominated the landscape.  For other predators, like the terror-bird Titanis(again, a topic for another time), it was good, for a while; after moving into the southern part of North America, however, Titanis was outcompeted by other predators.  For Thylacosmilus, it was down-right disastrous.  Shortly after the Great American Interchange, fossil evidence of Thylacosmilus entirely disappears, similar to the competition between the dingo and the thylacine that drove the thylacine to extinction on mainland Australia.

The skull of Thylacosmilus on display at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.  Got to see this sucker in person in August 2014, when I visited with my good buddy Zach Evens! 

This is a partial post for the "Convergent Evolution" series.  That means that this post is partially included, but was not made specifically to be a part of that series.  HERE is a link to the Homebase for this series.