Bongo (to the tune of "Conga")

Number three!  Here we have another good one, entitled "Bongo," and sung to the tune of Gloria Estefan's "Conga!"

Here are the lyrics to the song:


Come on everybody lets learn about the bongo
With bright orange fur its really gonzo
It's tongue can move a lot and is really longo
To learn about the bongo just relax and take a seat

Come on everybody lets learn about the bongo
With bright orange fur its really gonzo
It's tongue can move a lot and is really longo
To learn about the bongo just relax and take a seat

Like the giraffe and the okapi
All have two hooves on their feet
All three have a prehensile tongue
Which is really pretty neat
Unlike the giraffe, the bongo lives
The jungle and not in the heat
To learn more a-bout the Bongo
Just relax and take a seat

Come on everybody lets learn about the bongo
With bright orange fur its really gonzo
It's tongue can move a lot and is really longo
To learn about the bongo just relax and take a seat

More mountain bongos live in zoos than
Live in the wild and far away
Estimates from 2007
Say 75 to 140
Better get ourselves together
And hold on to what we've got
If we don't help then decrease in the
Population will never stop

Come on everybody lets learn about the bongo
With bright orange fur its really gonzo
It's tongue can move a lot and is really longo
To learn about the bongo just relax and take a seat

Come on everybody lets learn about the bongo
With bright orange fur its really gonzo
It's tongue can move a lot and is really longo
To learn about the bongo just relax and take a seat
Come on everybody lets learn about the bongo
With bright orange fur its really gonzo
It's tongue can move a lot and is really longo
To learn about the bongo just relax and take a seat

Come on everybody lets learn about the bongo

Photo Credit: zooborns.typepad.com

Are you diggin' the songs?  Well, then check out our playlist below!

CLICK HERE TO BE DIRECTED TO A FUN-FILLED PLAYLIST OF AMAZING SONGS.

Dermal Armor (to the tune of "Hot Stuff")

Here we have the second song I made and, in my opinion, quite possibly the best, ESPECIALLY the singing!  Below is a link to the parody:

Make sure to check out the music video, here!

Here are the lyrics to the song:

Sittin' here avoiding predation
Don't want to end up somebody's meal
Fortunately I've got built in protection
I'm a tank and that is for real

Gotta have some dermal armor this evening
Protect myself in case of a fight
Gotta have some dermal armor this evening
Gotta have protection
Just in case I get in a fight
Dermal armor
I want some dermal
Dermal armor

Ankylosaurs make their foes blood curdle
My skin has turned as hard as my bone
Armadillos, pangolins and the turtle
The shell is just my mobile home

Gotta have some dermal armor this evening
Protect myself in case of a fight
Gotta have some dermal armor this evening
Gotta have protection
Just in case I get in a fight
Dermal armor
Dermal
Dermal armor

Derm, derm, derm, Dermal
Arm, arm, arm
Derm, derm, derm, dermal
Arm, arm, arm

Bony scales, plates, or other structures
Collectively called osteoderms
It's almost impossible to make these rupture
Bludgeon them and they will stand firm
Yeah, yeah
Impossible to make these rupture
Bludgeon them and they will stand firm
Yeah, yeah
Impossible to make these rupture
Bludgeon them and they will stand firm
Yeah yeah

Are you diggin' the songs?  Well, then check out our playlist below!

CLICK HERE TO BE DIRECTED TO A FUN-FILLED PLAYLIST OF AMAZING SONGS.

I've Evolved That Way (to the tune of "I Want It That Way" by the Backstreet Boys)

So recently, I have started parodying various songs, and turning them into educational animal songs for people to....well, enjoy!  The first on I did was "I've Evolved That Way," to the tune of the popular boy-band song "I Want It That Way."  Below is  a link to the parody:

Here are the lyrics to the song:


A trait you acquire
A trait you desire
Alive you'll stay
I've evolved that way

But we are two worlds apart
See the change, you start
One mistake
And I've evolved that way.

Tell me why
I have wings instead of hands
Tell me why
I blend into the desert sand
A mistake
In the copying of DNA
I've evolved that way

A long rewire
And I acquire
A beneficial adaptation
I've evolved that way

Tell me why
I have wings instead of hands
Tell me why
I blend into the desert sand
A mistake
In the copying of DNA
I've evolved that way

Now I can see we're evolving apart
Isolation is the key, yeah
Distance plus time means
A separate race
Where only one used to be

A trait you acquire
A trait you desire
Adapt
Adapt, adapt, adapt

Copying DNA
I have wings instead of hands
I blend into the desert sand
A mistake in the copying of DNA
I've evolved that way

Tell me why
I have wings instead of hands
Tell me why
I blend into the desert sand
A mistake
In the copying of DNA
I've evolved that way

Tell me why
I have wings instead of hands
Tell me why
I blend into the desert sand
A mistake
In the copying of DNA
I've evolved that way

'Cause I've evolved that way

Are you diggin' the songs?  Well, then check out our playlist below!

CLICK HERE TO BE DIRECTED TO A FUN-FILLED PLAYLIST OF AMAZING SONGS.

An Amur Leopard Upchucks

On Saturday, January 26th, my father and I drove down to Colorado Springs to see a few of my friends perform in the Colorado All State Jazz Band.  Before the concert, we met up with my grandma and grandpa, and went up to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo for an hour or so.  We saw a few cool things, all of which I will share with you in the next post, but this post I wanted to devote to the "Critically Endangered" sub-species of the leopard, the elusive and mysterious Amur leopard.  Fewer than thirty of these amazing creatures are thought to be alive in the wilds of southeastern Russia and northeastern China, in the Primorye region.  Poachers have taken an immense toll on the numbers of this cat, as its pelt is highly prized.  Like that of the snow leopard, another fairly large cat that also lives in a very cold, harsh environment, the Amur leopard has a very soft and, for lack of a better term, floofy, coat.

The Amur leopard prior to its little....episode.

Since the number of people who see an Amur leopard in the wild per year could almost certainly be counted on one hand, you are very unlikely to see this animal lose its lunch.  For that, you would have to go to a zoo. Now, don't get me wrong, we didn't go to the zoo just to see animals throw up, but it was definitely an interesting addition to our day!  I do hope that the poor animal is feeling better, though.  If you want to see the video of the animal barfing, click on the link below.  It's not actually as gross as it sounds, trust me!  Also, please enjoy some pictures of the beautiful cat PRIOR to its cookie tossing.  

The leopard recovers after it loses its cool

Upcoming Lecture: Animal Adventures Part 2

So we have another lecture coming up, on March 14th!  4:00 PM at Fairview High School in Boulder, Colorado!  Here we have a bunch of fliers that you can save, print, and hang up if you want to help me out and raise awareness!  Thanks!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

17 Truths Episode 1: The Cheetah

If you haven't seen the "True Facts" video series, then you are missing out.  Assuming, of course, that you have a good but slightly inappropriate and sarcastic sense of humor, and are not young enough that your parents will become angry with me if they find out where you found out about them.  That is why I am not providing a link to them here.  Anyways, I find them absolutely hysterical, and was quite eager to try my own hand at one!  One of my favorite animals is the cheetah (which is pretty obvious for people who are regular readers of my blog), a sentiment which is shared by people all across the world.  There are many interesting things about the cheetah, and many questions that people have about this fantastic and acrobatic feline.  So I thought that, for the first True Facts-esque video, I could make it about the cheetah!  It didn't hurt that I had a bunch of pictures of it, as well as a video!  However, I did use a few photos from some friends of mine, so I am going to give photo credit to Grace Albers and Shira Wood-Isenberg!  I would also like to give Joseph M. Roessler credit for the fantastic music that I used in the video!  It was both composed and performed by him!  HERE is a link to the song (called Dream Waltz), HERE is a link to some more of his music, and HERE is a link to his SoundCloud!  Enjoy!  And, of course, we have to have a link to the video!

And here we have some of the pictures featured in the video!  Enjoy!

This is the birthday post of Govind Kudva!  Happy birthday, Govind!  If you like what you are reading, please feel free to follow us here or via Facebook!  And remember, 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!

Zoo Babies: Bison

Today, in honor of the birthday of Kevyn Llewellyn, we are going to be looking at a few photos of a baby bison born about this time last year at the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago, Illinois.  Although frequently incorrectly referred to as buffalo, they are simply different animals, despite the outward similarities between the two groups.  If you see something that looks like it could be either a buffalo or a bison, there is a very, very good bet that you are looking at a bison.  Unless something very strange has happened, and in that case, you will be excused for looking foolish when it comes to your knowledge of the bovids.

Anyways, the bison, despite their once immense numbers (numbering in the tens of millions), were hunted almost to extinction in the 1800s, but have made a stunning comeback, with about 20,000 living in protected areas such as National Parks, and a further 500,000 living on tribal lands and ranches.  Nevertheless, their range is vastly reduced from what it once was.  Many people have come to the aid of the bison over the years, including Theodore Roosevelt and a man named William Hornaday, who together co-founded the American Bison Society at the Bronx Zoo in New York in 1905 in order to help protect these wild creatures. Today, they are labeled as "Near Threatened" by the IUCN due to these conservation efforts. 

Today, the bison is the largest North American mammal, but it wasn't always this way.  In fact, it wasn't always even the largest member of the genus Bison in North America!  Ancient ancestors of the North American bison have been traced by paleontologists to southern Asia to about 400,000 years ago, during the Pliocene Epoch.  Once the bison managed to make it across the land bridge into North America, it diversified and evolved.  One species, Bison latifrons, had a horn-span of a whopping nine feet!  Another species, Bison occidentalis (of which I have a scapula!) is thought to be the direct descendant of the modern bison, and evolved sometime during the late Pleistocene Epoch.

While talking bison with Dr. Robert Bakker and Matt Mossbrucker at the Morrison Natural History Museum, I learned that if you are looking at postcranial elements of a fossil bison (that is fossilized bones from behind the head), they are almost impossible to differentiate from each other.  Not only that, but they are extraordinarily difficult to differentiate from cows, too!  As a matter of fact, the species barrier is quite tentative between the bison and domestic cattle, resulting in the domestication of some bison, as well as hybrids, such as beefalo and cattalo.

Photo credit for all of the photos used in this post goes to the website for ZooBorns.  If you like what you are reading, please feel free to follow us here or via Facebook!  And remember, 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!