The Morrison Biota

Stegosaurus lived in western North America during the Late Jurassic Period, about 150 million years ago (MYA). Today, we find its remains in the Morrison Formation, named after the tiny town of Morrison in Colorado. What was going on in Colorado at that time? What was the depositional environment like, the environment that laid down the sediment that would one day become the famed Morrison Formation?

Well, according to paleontologist Dr. Robert Bakker in an article about the re-discovery in 2002 of some old paleontological quarries (CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE) in the Smithsonian Magazine, the environment was very much like the kind of environment seen in Uganda today: a “hot tropical woodland that was dry for most of the year.”

What about the animals, though? Dr. Bakker also said in the article that to “understand the Late Jurassic, you need to understand the common animals, which means Apatosaurus.” Most people are familiar with this massive animal: about 100 feet long (around the length of three school buses put end to end to end), and weighing around as much as eight African elephants, Apatosaurus was definitely a heavyweight of the Morrison biota!

What other animals were running around though? There are a great many dinosaurs, as well as many other animals, that were living in this area at that time, but in this post we are only going to look at one more: Camptosaurus and Allosaurus. All right, I lied. We’ll look at two more.

First off, we have Camptosaurus. To be honest, Camptosaurus doesn’t really look all that special. A small- to mid-sized ornithopod, Camptosaurus was only about fifteen feet long, and didn’t really appear to have any obvious defenses. However, discoveries of articulated Camptosaurus skeletons (indicating that the bones were fossilized were they were deposited, i.e. where the animal died, and weren’t washed together in a big mumble-jumble like at Dinosaur National Monument) in close conjunction with articulated Stegosaurus skeletons seems to indicate that these two herbivores liked to hang out together. But why? Why would they open themselves up to competition and potential conflict like that? Well, analysis of the brains and skulls of these two animals suggests that perhaps by hanging out together, the dinosaurian duo could avoid much deadlier conflict. Studies have shown that the sensory organs of Camptosaurus and Stegosaurus would have differed in very critical ways. The sense of Stegosaurus would have been akin to a rhinoceros, or perhaps myself as well (at least without my contacts), in that it would have had a pretty good sense of smell, but not very good vision. Camptosaurus, on the other hand, appears to have had quite acute vision, which has led to an interesting proposition by researchers: that Camptosaurus acted as a lookout for herds of Camptosaurus and Stegosaurus. If a predator was spotted (say, an Allosaurus or a Ceratosaurus), then Camptosaurus would have been able to alert the herd, and Stegosaurus would have been able to move to the forefront to defend them all against attack.

The last dinosaur that we are going to look at today is Allosaurus, a large, meat-eating theropod dinosaur. It occurs to me as I type this that I have done a very thorough job on Allosaurus before, so instead of typing this all again, I am going to be lazy and redirect you to another post that I did awhile back, entitled “23-Fact Tueday: Allosaurus.” Hidden within the post (but not too hard to find) are 23 Facts about Allosaurus. Yeah. Pretty much says it in the title. Anyways, check out that post to learn more about Allosaurus, as well as the rest of the Morrison ecosystem! And make sure to check back tomorrow, as we learn about stegosaurs from the rest of the world!

Want to learn more about Stegosaurus?  Well, check out the Homebase for Stegosaurus Week HERE to partake in more of the festivities!  

Baby Stegos Galore (Stegosaurus Week)

In 2002, paleontologists from the Morrison Natural History Museum rediscovered an old paleontological dig site that had been missing since the late 1800s. One of many highly-contested sites of the so-called “Bone Wars” (a paleontological competition between rival paleontologists Othniel Charles Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope), this dig site, dubbed Quarry 10, has been the site of many very interesting discoveries, as has another Quarry nearby, Quarry 5.

Quarry 10 had long thought to have been destroyed. Fossil hunter Arthur Lakes had reportedly dynamited the dig site on Marsh’s orders, to prevent Cope from getting any fossil bones out of it. However, it looks like Arthur Lakes was a very good man, and did not actually dynamite the dig site. According to the MNHM paleontologists, it looks like Lakes, not wanting to destroy something that was potentially very valuable, decided to merely cover up the site with some rocks in order to prevent other people from coming across it.

Further excavations at the Quarrys have yielded a number of VERY interesting fossils, including, amongst others, some baby Stegosaurus footprints! Multiple blocks have been uncovered with the footprints of Stegosaurus at all different stages of development, everything from infants to adults. On some of the blocks, multiple age groups are found in close conjunction to each other, and sometimes are found going the same way. This seems to indicate that Stegosaurus would move in groups consisting on members of multiple ages, a very interesting discovery indeed!

Want to learn more about Stegosaurus?  Well, check out the Homebase for Stegosaurus Week HERE to partake in more of the festivities! You can also check out a song that I wrote to the tune of Carrie Underwood's "Two Black Cadillacs" to learn more about the Bone Wars, below!

The Purpose of the Plates of Stegosaurus (Stegosaurus Week)

The horns and frills of Triceratops.  The tube-like crest of Parasaurolophus.  The two crests of bone on Dilophosaurus.  The sail on Spinosaurus.  What function do these various bells and whistles that adorned these so-called "Terrible Lizards" serve?  For years, most paleontologists assumed that they were for the sole purpose of combat, be it against predators, or the inter-specific variety.  But now, more and more paleontologists are looking to birds to answer the question of functionality when it comes to these bony dinosaurian protuberances.

But what, specifically, about birds is it that is helping paleontologists figure out the purpose of these structures?  It all boils down to an interesting phenomenon called "sexual selection."  Most people are familiar with the term "natural selection."  Popularized by Charles Darwin, natural selection essentially states that animals that are unfit to survive and reproduce in a given environment will die, and will be unable to add their genes to the genepool.  (Certainly an oversimplified definition, but you get the picture.)  Sexual selection, on the other hand, is a mode of natural selection, and introduced by Charles Darwin, as well.  Sexual selection states that some individuals in a given population will be more likely to breed than other individuals will because they will stand out above the rest of the population.  There are many ways of doing this, and birds are but one example.  Horns and antlers are one instance: typically, if an animal has larger horns or antlers, they will be able to not only fend off predators better (i.e. natural selection), but they will be more likely to be able to fend off other males, and be more likely to be picked for the females (i.e. sexual selection).  In many animals, form overcomes functionality in this endless quest for a mate, especially on insular (or island) populations.  One of my favorite examples of this is the birds of paradise from New Guinea, as you can see in the video below.

That's all well and good, but how does that apply to the dinosaurs that we were talking about above?  Well, for years, paleontologists assumed that dinosaurs like Triceratops and its relatives were using their horns and frills to fight off predators.  Well, for Triceratops, that makes sense: with forward-facing horns and a two-inch thick frill, fighting off Tyrannosaurus doesn't seem that far out of the realm of possibility.  However, upon examination of many of the other relatives of Triceratops (collectively called ceratopsian dinosaurs), you can see that, perhaps, not all of these frills and horns evolved to fight off predators.  Below we have just one example.  The picture you see is of a skull that below belongs to a ceratopsian dinosaur called Einiosaurus.  As you can see, it does not seem anywhere near as well equipped for fighting off predators as Triceratops does.  For example, its frill has a pair of massive holes in it.  Furthermore, of its three horns, one points downwards, and two point towards the sky at about a forty-five degree angle.  Unless Einiosaurus was being attacked by giant woodchuck-like, burrowing dinosaurs, or being dive-bombed by Tyrannosaurs in F-14s (as seen in Calvin and Hobbes!), it is difficult to see how Einiosaurus might have defended itself against its predators using its frill and horns.  Another analogy I like to make is this: if you are a knight going into battle, you don't necessarily want to have a pair of giant holes in your shield, and your sword bent and pointing towards the ground.

So how does this all tie in to Stegosaurus?  Well, a same sort of discussion has centered around Stegosaurus for many years.  Were the plates used for defense?  Or were they used for something else?  First let's address the idea of defense.  IN THE PREVIOUS POST, we discussed the thagomizer, the group of tail spikes, on the rear end of Stegosaurus.  These tail spikes were almost certainly used to fend off enemies, and seemed to have done a very good job, too.  So, if you think about it, if you were to cover a stegosaur in these spikes, it would be almost impervious to attack, right?  Well, what's interesting is that, early in stegosaur evolution, many of these animals actually did have a lot more spikes than Stegosaurus did.  As a matter of fact, the plates of Stegosaurus are nothing more than heavily modified spikes!  Below, we have a few more primitive stegosaurs, all of whom demonstrate the fact that, prior to Stegosaurus, many of the plates were actually spikes!

So if the spikes were better than plates were at defending an animal against predators (which is the only logical conclusion that I think people can draw from the data at hand), then why did some of the stegosaurs change?  For many years, paleontologists thought that they had a pair of answers to this interesting dilemma.  The first was the idea that perhaps Stegosaurus used its plates as a thermoregulaton device.  If the animal was too cold, then it could turn its body so that its plates faced the sun, maximizing its surface area that was facing the sun, and enabling it to warm up quicker.  The reverse would have also worked: when it became to hot, Stegosaurus could turn perpendicular to the sun, minimizing the surface area that was absorbing the sun.  Another theory was that Stegosaurus could flush blood to the plates, turning them a brighter color.  This could have either frightened off enemies, or instead it could have been used to attract a mate.

These two ideas seem fairly good in theory: however, much like the skull of Einiosaurus, there are a few massive holes in this logic.  If Stegosaurus used its plates as a thermoregulatory device, why do close relatives of Stegosaurus have very different plate shapes, or sometimes fewer plates altogether?  If there was one design that these animals used to warm up or cool down, one would imagine they would all converge on the same design.  But they didn't, which casts some serious doubt on the whole thermoregulatory idea.

There are two theories that seem to hold the most water today.  The first one has the same general idea that the "flushing the plates full of blood" idea has: make yourself more noticeable, as these plates were very impressive looking structures.  And, since they alternated down the back (SEE THE FIRST STEGOSAURUS WEEK POST HERE), then a side-on look of Stegosaurus would have been a very impressive sight, indeed!  Other stegosaurs of the opposite sex would undoubtedly think so, and these plates probably served a large role in attracting a mate!  Predators might have thought that the side-on view was impressive, too, and this might have caused them to think twice about attacking Stegosaurus.  It also might have caused other members of the same species to back down, too, in cases where inter-specific combat might have otherwise come into play.  As Matt Mossbrucker, the director and curator at the Morrison Natural History Museum likes to say, "think a skinny kid in a puffy coat."

Finally, the plates might have helped stegosaurs to differentiate from one another.  This is a tactic often used in animals today (again, the birds of paradise and many other birds: see the last paragraph of our post on the cichlids of the Great African Rift Lakes HERE), and is thought to have been a tactic used by many extinct animals, as well.  For example, the various horns and frills of the ceratopsian dinosaurs (like Triceratops and Einiosaurus that we were talking about before) are now thought by many paleontologists to have been used to tell each individual species apart, and its possible that that is what the stegosaurs were doing, too. 

Want to learn more about Stegosaurus?  Well, check out the Homebase for Stegosaurus Week HERE to partake in more of the festivities! 

The Thagomizer of Stegosaurus (Stegosaurus Week)

This Saturday at the Morrison Natural History Museum in Morrison, Colorado, we will be celebrating Stegosaurus Day, in honor of Colorado's state fossil!  (To learn more, click HERE to be redirected to the Facebook page of the Morrison Natural History Museum!)  So, in honor of Stegosaurus Day, The Natural World is going to have ourselves a little Stegosaurus Week!  Each day, we are going to be looking at a different aspect of Stegosaurus, and today, we are going to be looking at the tail spikes on the tail of Stegosaurus, nicknamed the thagomizer!  What were they used for?  Did they actually use their tail spikes for defense?  And how about that funky name: where did the term "thagomizer" come from?  Well, learn those answers and more in today's post for Stegosaurus Week!

Remember IN THE LAST POST OF STEGOSAURUS WEEK when we mentioned paleontologist Ken Carpenter and his very complete and articulated Stegosaurus skeleton?  Well, in 1993, when Carpenter was presenting his findings, he first used the term "thagomizer" to describe the tail and spikes of Stegosaurus.  Without even knowing its backstory, it seems like a fitting name: but its true origin is even more interesting!  For those of you who have enjoyed Gary Larson's fantastic "The Far Side" comic strip, then you may already know where we are heading with this!  One of my favorite "Far Side" strips is the one above, and, interestingly, it is from this strip that Ken Carpenter got the name "thagomizer!"

Now, one question that has stumped paleontologists for years is, how were the spikes arranged on the thagomizer?  Nowadays, we know that there were two sets of spikes, and they are thought to have been about 180 degrees from each other, forming a horizontal line.  (For a more complete discussion, see the last post in our Stegosaurus Week series, entitled THE GENUS STEGOSAURUS THROUGH TIME.)  But other questions stumped paleontologists, too.  For example: what was the thagomizer used for?  It definitely looks like a very apt defensive weapon, but for a long time, paleontologists had no clues to help them figure out whether defense was actually the answer.

One source of evidence that Stegosaurus and other stegosaurs were using their thagomizers to defend themselves is that many of the spikes have broken tips.  Now, just because a fossil is broken, doesn't necessarily mean that it was broken during the animals life.  Paleontologists can tell whether or not a bone was broken during the life of the animal by looking to see whether the bone shows any signs of healing.  If the fossilized bone shows signs of "remodeling," then the bone broke during the life of the animal, and then started to heal while the animal was still alive.  Following the death of an animal, if somehow a bone becomes broken, it's not going to heal: the animal is already dead!  In a study that examined 51 tail spikes of Stegosaurus, researchers found that about 10% of these spikes had broken tips whose bone had started to grow back.  So clearly, these spikes weren't just for show, and were actually being used for something.

The best evidence that paleontologists have right now that indicates that Stegosaurus was using its thagomizer to defend itself against predators is an Allosaurus tail vertebrae with a hole in it: a hole exactly matching the kind of hole that a thagomizer would have made!  What's very interesting about this fossil is that, while damaged bone in the vicinity of the hole shows signs of healing (indicating that the Allosaurus survived, at least for a little while, following its encounter with Stegosaurus, and that the damage to the vertebrae was not post-mortem), the hole itself doesn't seem to have healed at all.  This has caused some paleontologists to hypothesize that part of the tough outer sheath that would have surrounded the tail spikes in life, probably making them sharper and pointier, of a Stegosaurus became stuck in the tail vertebrae, remaining lodged within the tail vertebrae of that particular Allosaurus, until the animal died!

Another picture that I took at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science of an Allosaurus attacking a Stegosaurus adult and juvenile

Want to learn more about Stegosaurus and it's relatives? Well, check out the Homebase for Stegosaurus Week HERE to partake in more of the festivities!

The Genus Stegosaurus Through Time (Stegosaurus Week)

This Saturday at the Morrison Natural History Museum in Morrison, Colorado, we will be celebrating Stegosaurus Day, in honor of Colorado's state fossil!  (To learn more, click HERE to be redirected to the Facebook page of the Morrison Natural History Museum!)  So, in honor of Stegosaurus Day, The Natural World is going to have ourselves a little Stegosaurus Week!  Each day, we are going to be looking at a different aspect of Stegosaurus, and tonight, we are going to be looking at the genus Stegosaurus as a whole, and how our concept of Stegosaurus has changed over time!  Let's dive on in!

Stegosaurus was first discovered by famous paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh during the Bone Wars (a paleontological competition from Marsh and rival paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope) in the late 1800s, and was first described by him in 1877.  When Stegosaurus was first described by Marsh, he wasn't really sure what it was: he actually thought that it might be a turtle-like creature, as you can see in his illustration from above!  This reconstruction explains why Stegosaurus has its name: covered, shingled, or roofed reptile.  It wasn't until Marsh and his crew found other, more complete specimens of Stegosaurus that he was able to figure out what the animal looked like with a greater degree of accuracy, which you can see in the reconstruction below.

The reconstruction above, while much closer to what we think Stegosaurus looks like today than the first reconstruction, nevertheless has several key differences from today's reconstructions.  One of the main issues that paleontologists face when reconstructing Stegosaurus and its relatives from fossils is that the plates aren't attached to any bones.  The plates are modified osteoderms, used in many different animals to protect themselves from attack (a more extreme example of which can be seen in the close relatives of stegosaurs, the ankylosaurs).  Like the osteoderms in other animals, such as the ankylosaurs, the osteoderms would sort of "float" in the skin, only attaching to the rest of the skeleton by means of softer tissues, softer tissues that don't typically fossilize.  What paleontologists really needed was an articulated specimen of Stegosaurus.

Well, that's exactly what paleontologist Ken Carpenter got in the 1990s!  Using this very complete and articulated specimen, Carpenter and his colleagues were able to solve a number of Stegosaurus mysteries.  For example: the exact placement of the plates.  In Marsh's 1890s reconstruction above, you can see that he had positioned the plates in a single row running down the back.  Later reconstructions by other scientists had been created with a double row of plates, which was proven to be correct by Carpenter's specimen.  It was also shown that the plates alternated down the back, as opposed to the side-by-side reconstructions sometimes seen.

Another mystery that Carpenter's specimen was able to solve is the number and placement of the tail spikes.  As you can see in Marsh's 1890s reconstruction above, he hypothesized that Stegosaurus had four pairs of spikes, and that they pointed upwards at around 10-15 degrees from the vertical.  Carpenter's specimen, coupled with further research, has shown that, to the best of our knowledge, no species of Stegosaurus had that many tail spikes: in fact, from what we know, all species of Stegosaurus had two sets of tail spikes, for a grand total of four.  We also now know that, instead of the spikes being about 10-15 degrees from the vertical, they were almost certainly horizontal to the ground!  This hypothesis is backed up by investigations into the flexibility of Stegosaurus's tail: to successfully bring its tail spikes into play in the 10-15 degree arrangement, Stegosaurus would have had to have a tail much like a scorpion, and all research done up to this point indicates that Stegosaurus had nowhere near that much vertical flexibility in the tail.  However, the horizontal reconstruction makes much more sense, as the tail seems like it would have had a great deal of side-to-side flexibility.

The final main difference between Marsh's 1890s reconstruction and our reconstructions of Stegosaurus today lies in the way it held its tail and its neck.  Due to the Dinosaur Renaissance in the 1960s and 1970s led by John Ostrom and his pupil Robert Bakker, the perception of dinosaurs as lumbering failures changed dramatically to what it is today: not failures of evolution, but instead, a remarkable success that shaped the evolutionary course of the Earth for millions of years.  This change in perception is reflected in how we think dinosaurs moved: we no longer think that they dragged their tails on the ground, barely able to keep their heads from dragging in the mud.  Instead, we view them as much more nimble than we once thought.  And while Stegosaurus may not have been the nimblest of them all, you can clearly see how our ideas of how we think this animal moved around have changed over the years.

Want to learn more about Stegosaurus and it's relatives? Well, check out the Homebase for Stegosaurus Week HERE to partake in more of the festivities!

Welcome to Stegosaurus Week!

This Saturday at the Morrison Natural History Museum in Morrison, Colorado, we will be celebrating Stegosaurus Day, in honor of Colorado's state fossil!  (To learn more, click HERE to be redirected to the Facebook page of the Morrison Natural History Museum!)  So, in honor of Stegosaurus Day, The Natural World is going to have ourselves a little Stegosaurus Week!  This post will serve as the Homebase for the weeks festivities!  Below, we have a schedule of what I hope to have us talk about this week: we'll see whether I end up sticking to it or not!  I am also going to be making a few videos, as well, so be on the lookout for those!

The Posts:

Sunday: Welcome to Stegosaurus Week!
             The Genus Stegosaurus Through Time
Monday: The Thagomizer of Stegosaurus
Tuesday: The Plates of Stegosaurus
Wednesday: Baby Stegos Galore
Thursday: The Morrison Biota
Friday: Stegosaurs of the World
           Part 1: China
           Part 2: England, France, and Portugal
           Part 3: South Africa and Tanzania
           Part 4: Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah
Saturday: Stegosaurus at the Morrison Natural History Museum

The Videos:

How Would Stegosaurus Have Sex? [FOR MATURE AUDIENCES ONLY]
8 Truths about the Stegosaurus

The Songs:

The Stegosaur Song
Bone Wars, Marsh and Cope (to the tune of "Two Black Cadillacs")

Animal Questions #1: Jurassic Park Reality, Sea Otter Hand Holding, and the Great Auk Extinction

So I've started a new video series in which I answer questions about animals that you guys have.  I finished Episode 1 today, and if you click on the link below you can watch it, too!

CLICK HERE TO LEARN THE ANSWERS.

I decided I would also write out the questions and answers here, just in case some of you would rather read the questions and answers, instead!  So here they are, in all of their glory and splendor!

1. Could people actually clone dinosaurs and make a real life Jurassic Park?

Ever since the fantastic book Jurassic Park came out in 1990, people started to wonder: could this actually happen? Could we actually bring dinosaurs to life via the miracle of cloning? Following the release of the movie in 1993, the idea was on the mind of even more people. Sadly, (or perhaps fortunately), from what we understand about DNA at this point, we simply cannot clone dinosaurs, not even by using mosquitos trapped in amber. DNA is a very fragile molecule, and does not take all that long to break down. Sure, mammoth mummies frozen in the permafrost in Siberia have successfully yielded DNA. Mammoths, however, only went extinct several thousand years ago. From a geological standpoint, mammoths, you and I lived practically at the same time as each other, when compared to how long ago the dinosaurs roamed the earth. Furthermore, the permafrost has acted as a freezer, helping to preserve the DNA in ideal conditions for scientists to extract it from the mammoth at a later date. So to sum up? To the best of our knowledge, Jurassic Park: not happening. However, Pleistocene or Ice Age Park may not be all that far off!

2. Why do sea otters hold hands while they’re sleeping?

Sea otters often do this to keep themselves from drifting apart from other sea otters. Although adult sea otters generally forage for food by themselves, they will often form large groups, called “rafts,” sometimes numbering as many as 2,000 individuals. When in these rafts, to avoid floating apart from each other, they will sometimes hold hands. They will also sometimes tie themselves to kelp when they are sleeping or feeding to keep from floating away, as well.

3. Why did the great auk go extinct?

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the great auk (Pinguinus impennis), this penguin-like creature (a product of convergent evolution) inhabited the North Atlantic Ocean in the Northern Hemisphere, and became extinct mid-way through the 1800s. The great auk was intensely hunted by humans in European waters for their down feathers, (which were actually used in both pillows and hats), as well as for food. (Not the down feathers, mind you, but the meat of the bird and its eggs). It wasn't until 1553, around the time that the nesting sites of the great auk had been all but eliminated on the European side of the Atlantic, that the great auk first became officially protected. In 1775, people who had broken a law forbidding people from killing the great auk for its feathers were actually beaten publicly! Following the local extinction of the great auk in Greenland in 1815, the sole remaining breeding site of the great auk was a small, volcanic island. Off of the coast of Iceland, the island was dubbed "Geirfuglasker," after the Norse term for "great auk," "Geirfugl." In 1830, however, the great auk population on Geirfuglasker came under siege by two elemental forces that it had no hopes of combating: an underwater volcanic eruption and a subsequent earthquake, which combined to destroy the island, terminating most of the rest of the great auks. That’s not to say that the volcanic eruption and volcano are to blame: humanity definitely takes the bullet for that one.

If you have any questions yourself, ask me here at the blog, email me at cuyvaldar123946@gmail.com, comment below the video, or tweet them at me @TNaturalWorld1. Thanks for watching/reading/whatever you did!

23-Fact Tuesday: Strange Evolution of the Wild Pacific

So the other day, I enjoyed a Discovery/BBC program entitled "Wild Pacific," all about animals and humans in the Pacific.  This episode was entitled "Strange Evolution," and boy, were some of these guys strange!  Let's take a 23-Fact Tuesday look at some of these bizarre creatures!  Allons-y!

1.  The dingiso, a bear-faced, dog-sized tree kangaroo native to the rainforests of New Guinea, only became known to science in 1994, showing that there are still many, many fascinating natural phenomenon that have yet to be discovered by humans!

2.  Prior to the arrival of humans on Hawaii, it has been estimated that only one new species of animal or plant washed up on the shores every 35,000 years!

3.  With few terrestrial predators on the islands of New Zealand, the Fiordland crested penguin has moved from nesting along the shore to nesting within forests, moving along freshwater streams to reach their nests!

4.   The young of the Fiordland crested penguin are, of course, born in the forests.  They don't actually see the ocean (although the nests are usually close enough to hear and smell it) until they are about three months old, at which time they embark on their very first fishing trip: alone!

5.  On the island of Santa Catalina in the South Pacific, local fisherman fish in a simply fascinating fashion: they actually use spider webs from the golden orb spider that are reportedly as strong as kevlar to capture fish whose mouths are too narrow for conventional fishhooks!  Click on the link HERE to watch a short and fascinating video about this!

6.  Prior to human colonization of New Zealand, the only mammals that made it to its shores were bats and marine mammals.

7.  With so few terrestrial predators, one bat, the short-tailed bat, actually spends much of its time on the ground, foraging through the leaf litter, searching for the flightless weta, a relative of the locust.  In order to prevent damage to their delicate wing membranes, the short-tailed bat has developed special sheaths on its wings.  Interestingly, this terrestrial foraging behavior is probably very similar to how the bat's mouse-like ancestors behaved.

8.  The flightless kakapo is the world's largest parrot, and has developed sensitive whiskers on its face in order to help it navigate its way through the dark.  It's nocturnal behavior, as well as its size I would assume, has earned it the nickname "the owl parrot."

9.  The favorite food of the kakapo are the tiny seeds of the rimu tree and, since the bird is flightless, it has developed strong claws to help it climb up into the trees to reach the seeds.  Interestingly, the kakapo only breeds when the trees produce a "bumper crop," which is only about once every four years or so.

10.  Due to this odd cycle of breeding of the kakapo, the bird reproduces less often than almost any other bird.  By contrast, however, it lives longer than most others, sometimes up to 60 years!

11.  During breeding season, the male kakapo makes a "booming" sound to attract a female.  The male booms nonstop each night for 8 hours a night for up to three nights, resulting in thousands of booms.  The wind can carry the booms for up to three miles!  The female, of course, only responds to the males booms if the rimu seeds are plentiful.  Click HERE to check out some footage of the kakapo booming.

12.  LAST KAKAPO FACT, I PROMISE!!  The kakapo was almost hunted to extinction by humans for food and feathers, but they are making a human-assisted comeback now, climbing from only 51 individuals in 1995 to 91 individuals today!  (Possibly more, as I believe the television program is a year or two old or so.)

13.  The Australian brushtail possum was imported by colonists for fur to New Zealand over two centuries ago.  With no natural predators, however, it has spread like a plague, stripping trees of their vegetation.  About 70 million of them are estimated to inhabit the forests now.  That's like 350,000 a year, not including the ones that died.  Holy.  Cow.

14.  Introduced species can cause terrible problems to insular (island) ecosystems.  One of the most extreme examples is thought to be Easter Island, where it has been hypothesized that rats were what did in the colony.

15. For nearly 100 million years, the tuatara and its ancestors have remained almost entirely the same.  During the time of the dinosaurs, the tuatara's ancestors were very numerous, but following their extinction 65.5 MYA, they just couldn't compete, and were slowly extirpated across the globe.  Except in New Zealand, where they still reside today!  Incredibly, the tuatara sometimes can go an entire hour with only one breath!

16.  60 MYA, what is now the island of New Caledonia broke off from Australia, and is now 800 miles from the mainland.  This has allowed its native fauna to evolve in new and fantastic ways: such as the flightless, chicken-sized kagu, the only extant member of an ancient lineage.  HERE we have a fantastic video of this ridiculous bird!

17.  The monkey-tailed skink is the largest skink in the world, and is native to the Solomon Islands, an archipelago of nearly 1,000 tropical islands).  The monkey-tailed skink grows to around 3 ft. in length and weighs around 2 lbs., which is about 1,000 times heavier than the world's smallest skink.

18.  The monkey-tailed skink is an oddity amongst skinks.  Not only is it the largest skink in the world (as we mentioned above), it is also the only skink in the world to have a prehensile tail, which it uses to grasp branches while climbing in trees, assisted by its thick, sharp claws.   This is also an oddity, as most skins are terrestrial (meaning they live on the ground), as opposed to arboreal (which means that they live in the trees).  Furthermore, most skinks are insectivores, while the monkey-tailed skink is mostly vegetarian, consuming the leaves in the trees.

19.  The New Zealand kea, named for its call and native to the southern Alps, is considered to be one of the most intelligent and playful birds in the world.  As a matter of fact, some keas will damage cars out of curiosity!

20.  Up to thirty non-native species arrive on Hawaii every year due to humans, such as the Jackson's chameleon, native to east Africa, which was imported in the 1970s to Hawaii as an exotic pet.

21.  Another biological organism introduced by humans to Hawaii was sugarcane.  Like most places that humans visited, however, they also accidentally introduced rats.  And the rats ate the sugarcane.  Well, the humans who were trying to make a profit off of the sugarcane didn't like that, not one bit.  So, in the hopes of extirpating the rat population, the humans introduced the Indian mongoose.  However, what the humans failed to take into account was the fact that the Indian mongoose is diurnal, or lives during the day....while the rats are nocturnal, and move around at night.  So instead of eating the rats, the Indian mongoose eats the native birds.  Hawaii: 0.  Human Stupidity: A whole lot more than it should be.

22.  The ancestors of the I'iwi, a long billed honeycreeper endemic to Hawaii, were blown to Hawaii about 4 MYA, and looked very different from what they looked like today.  It is thought that they looked something like the Palila, a short billed finch that uses its tough beak to tear open tough seed pods.

23.  The last fact isn't from the program.  It's from "The Song of the Dodo" by David Quammen, one of my favorite books of all time.  It's a quote: "Islands are where species go to die."  He means that islands can be very dangerous places for animals to live.  But now with all the messes humans have introduced, that effect has been exasperated.  Just something to think about.

My Hearing's Alright (to the tune of "Feelin' Alright")

The most recent song: presenting "My Hearing's Alright," to the tune of "Feelin' Alright" by Joe Cocker.  Pretty sure that this is the only song ever to work the primitive bat Onychonycteris in!  Below is the link to the song:

Here are the lyrics to the song:


Seems I've got to have the best hearing
Cuz under a few feet of snow I hear lemmings
My hearing's just as good as a dolphin
Random clicks and whistles or so it seems
To them its sounds as loud as a scream
But they're using echolocation to help them see

My hearing's alright, (uh oh)
My hearing's quite good myself (uh oh) (x2)

There's no use in, tryin' to go and hide
Above your heads I'm way up high
Using echolocation while I'm above to help myself while flyin'
Suddenly under an attack, bugs just don't know why
Eating mosquitoes and their allies
Other bats drink blood I can't deny

My hearing's alright, (uh oh)
My hearing's quite good myself (uh oh) (x2)

52.5 million years from today
A bat named Onychonycteris lived, that's hard to say
Researchers say that this bat could fly but not echolocate
So these bats probably flew during the day
'Til something came along to take their place
The birds had come at last: to the night they chased

My hearing's alright, (uh oh)
My hearing's quite good myself (uh oh) (x2)

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Cowbird (to the tune of"I Know, You Know," the theme song from "Psych")

So song number ten, "Cowbird," goes to the tune of "I Know, You Know," the theme song from the very popular television "Psych."  It also probably requires a little explanation: the cowbird is a type of bird which lays its eggs in the nests of other birds, when the parents aren't paying attention.  The surrogate mother then has to raise her own children, as well as the other birds.  However, the cowbird doesn't let the other baby birds survive for long, and will push the eggs, as well as the other chicks, out of the nest.  So now that you have a little background, now you can enjoy "Cowbird!"  Below is the link to the song:

Here are the lyrics to the song:

In between the pines there's a lot of obscurity
I'm not inclined to resign to maternity
If it's too tight, then it's so long
I'll push out all your eggs so that they fall to the lawn
Oprah Winfrey I would appall

I know, you know that this just couldn't be true
I know, you know that I'm much bigger than you
Embrace the deception, my appetite with no end
Might send my surrogate mother go flying around the bend

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Wolf, Jackal, Fox, and the Dingo (to the tune of "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go")

Song number nine in our "Animal Parodies" playlist!  Here, I present "Wolf, Jackal, Fox, and the Dingo," to the tune of "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go" by Wham!  Below is the link to the song:

Here are the lyrics to the song:


Canidae x4

Hesperocyon at the start
Looked like a little fox, quite hard to tell apart
While other lineages begin to wane
The Canidae's numbers just continue to gain
Good hearing and smell, too,
And a strong bite
That's not to mention their great sense of sight
Big old brain up in their head
Some go solo but others live in packs instead

Wolf, jackal, fox, and the dingo
The true foxes don't include the culpeo
Wolf, jackal, fox, and the dingo
On the coast and on the mountains high
Wolf, jackal, fox, and the dingo
Some move in packs while others like it solo
Wolf, jackal, fox, and the dingo
Gray, black, red, golden, and white

You put the gray wolf out of the way
Still got foxes and coyotes in the USA
Down the land bridge they all came
South America would never be the same
They've got the bush dog and the dhole
And Darwin's fox, who's black as charcoal
Then the maned wolf, who despite
It's name eats a lot of fruits and veggies during the night

Wolf, jackal, fox, and the dingo
The true foxes don't include the culpeo
Wolf, jackal, fox, and the dingo
On the coast and on the mountains high
Wolf, jackal, fox, and the dingo
Some move in packs while others like it solo
Wolf, jackal, fox, and the dingo
Gray, black, red, golden, and white
Yeah, yeah, yeah, doggy
Canidae x2

Close in wild dog, prey's in sight
We're eating impala for sure tonight
More pack members means more mouths to be fed
But the benefits of teamwork, not enough can be said

Wolf, jackal, fox, and the dingo
The true foxes don't include the culpeo
Wolf, jackal, fox, and the dingo
On the coast and on the mountains high
Wolf, jackal, fox, and the dingo
Some move in packs while others like it solo
Wolf, jackal, fox, and the dingo
Gray, black, red, golden, and white

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

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Hey There Mass Extinction (to the tune of "Hey There Delilah")

What comes after seven?  Well, if you subscribe to a linear view of time, then generally eight!  So here is my eighth song!  And let me tell you, she is an absolute DOOZY!  Say hello to "Hey There Mass Extinction," to the tune of "Hey There Delilah" by Plain White T's!  Below is the link to the song:

Here are the lyrics to the song:


Hey there mass extinction, what's it like to have no pity
I'm a thousand miles away
But still the light it is so pretty, yes it's true
But it'll boil the flesh off me and you, I swear its true

Hey there mass extinction don't you worry about the distance
The sonic boom will be here shortly, burst your eardrums, you can't listen
Close your eyes
If you open them again, they'll probably fry
You'll surely die

Oh fractured ecosystems
Oh fractured ecosystems
Oh fractured ecosystems
Oh fractured ecosystems
Fractured ecosystems

Hey there mass extinction
I know times are getting hard
The sun is covered by a lot of dust
And seems so very far
Away, not good
I can't survive on simply wood
But no one could

Hey there mass extinction
I think hunger's here to stay
Death is coming soon for me and you
It'll take our breath away
And down we'll fall
Mosasaurs, pterosaurs, dinosaurs, all
We just can't stall

Oh fractured ecosystems
Oh fractured ecosystems
Oh fractured ecosystems
Oh fractured ecosystems
Fractured ecosystems

A thousand miles seems pretty far
But the entire planet it will mar
Earthquakes will cause the entire Earth to sway
Evolution this event will suppress
And yet something must survive because
We know
That you are hearing my angel's voice today

Mass extinction I can promise you
The outlook now is bleak its true
The world will never ever be the same
And you're to blame

Hey there mass extinction
You've destroyed my family tree
Temporarily weakened the genetic pool
And now the dinos are history, sad but true
You know its all because of you
Mammalian radiation will ensue
Hey mass extinction here's to you
This one's for you

Oh fractured ecosystems
Oh fractured ecosystems
Oh fractured ecosystems
Oh fractured ecosystems
Fractured ecosystems

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

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Raccoon Dance (to the tune of "Moondance")

Number shichi (in Japanese) song in our song list thingy!  This one is "Raccoon Dance," to the tune of "Moondance" by Van Morrison!  Below is the link to the song:

Here are the lyrics to the song:


Well, it's a marvelous night for raccoon dance
With a little black mask on their eyes
A fantabulous night to take a chance
And then carry it off with my prize
The owls above are all calling
As they have since so long ago
Across the road I go crawling
There's a good dumpster here I know
But even though I look quite cute, and a lot like a little kid's plush
If you try and hug me your face I will bite and crush

Chorus:
Every single night the raccoon dance helps keep the streets bereft of
All of the trash you filthy humans leave behind we dispose of

Well, my very image seems to cause some fright
'Till over the horizon the sun has come
Although my bark is worse than my bite
But you still don't mess with me just for fun
But on the raccoon you best not be hating
Because I eat everything from plants to bone
I'm an omnivore just like a bear, dear
And I'm found in the north temperate zone
And every time you touch me, you must tremble inside
And I know how much you want to run but still you can't hide

Chorus

Repeat 1st Verse

Chorus

One more raccoon dance with you in the moonlight
On a magic night
La, la, la, la in the moonlight
On a magic night
Can't I just have one more dance with you my love

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.

Drop It Like It's Hot (A Song About Spiky Animals)

The sixth song in our song series is entitled "Drop It Like It's Hot (A Song About Spiky Animals)," to the tune of the song "Drop It Like It's Hot" by Snoop Dogg!  Below is the link to the song:

Here are the lyrics to the song:


Spikkkkky
Spikkkkky

[Chorus]
When you pick up an echidna
Drop it like it's hot
Drop it like it's hot
Drop it like it's hot
When the hedgehog tries to get at ya
Park it like it's hot
Park it like it's hot
Park it like it's hot
Pufferfish won't give you latitude
Drop it like it's hot
Drop it like it's hot
Drop it like it's hot
When it comes to these guys it don't have to do with brawn
They got spikes all on their body and they got it going on

Uh! All these nice dudes, have a common theme
If they are pursued, probably make you scream
The little hedgehog, spied by a little stoat
But attacking this little mammal I simply can't promote
The echidna, though it still lays eggs
Is still a mammal, don't be misled
Although it seems like, a reptile instead
Milk is still how it's babies get fed
Put one on your seat, I know that's gonna bring the heat
Feel like steel stabbed into you like Chinchilla with deceit
But don't try to pick it up with your fingers, they will split
Probably hurts a bit
Do your best to contain the pain and don't throw a fit
You should think about it, take a second
Matter fact, you should take four, see
And maybe you should turn around and go now, flee

[Chorus]
When you pick up an echidna
Drop it like it's hot
Drop it like it's hot
Drop it like it's hot
When the hedgehog tries to get at ya
Park it like it's hot
Park it like it's hot
Park it like it's hot
Pufferfish won't give you latitude
Drop it like it's hot
Drop it like it's hot
Drop it like it's hot
When it comes to these guys it don't have to do with brawn
They got spikes all on their body and they got it going on

It's not a scratch like you get from a cat
It's like being bit by a vampire bat
When you're out on the beach and out goes the tide
Keep an eye out for the sea urchin, because if the two of you collide
Ain't no other way to say the way I feel, dismay
I got poked so very much that you probably thought today
That I'm a pincushion, I think we can agree
That with my luck next thing I grab will be a killer bee
I can't take it, just break it, and when I make it
To a safe place I will probably be invaded
I have to find a place where no poky things reside
Cause the way I'm going I'll be lucky to get out of this alive
Take me back in time it'll be just a little
I'm tired of always being the monkey in the middle
But no matter where I go, I'm followed by the spiny animizzles
Aetosaurs have found me and I break like peanut brittle

[Chorus]
When you pick up an echidna
Drop it like it's hot
Drop it like it's hot
Drop it like it's hot
When the hedgehog tries to get at ya
Park it like it's hot
Park it like it's hot
Park it like it's hot
Pufferfish won't give you latitude
Drop it like it's hot
Drop it like it's hot
Drop it like it's hot
When it comes to these guys it don't have to do with brawn
They got spikes all on their body and they got it going on

The thorny devil, really goes to show
That wherever you walk, you better watch your toes
The little guy's tough, one not to cross
Big thorny devil, yeah he's so sharp
On the TV screen and in the magazines
You see a creature which looks like something from a crazy dream
You got a time machine so you wanna pop back?
To the Burgess Shale, let's go check out that
Wacky critter that looks like a worm that moves
With a bunch of little legs, and will likely confuse
Anyone who takes a look at this dude
No matter what you think it don't look easy to chew
This little guy looks through and through
Like the last thing you want to find inside of your stew
Now before we leave make sure it's not inside your shoe
Or in your other clothes, you don't want to suppose!

[Chorus]
When you pick up an echidna
Drop it like it's hot
Drop it like it's hot
Drop it like it's hot
When the hedgehog tries to get at ya
Park it like it's hot
Park it like it's hot
Park it like it's hot
Pufferfish won't give you latitude
Drop it like it's hot
Drop it like it's hot
Drop it like it's hot
When it comes to these guys it don't have to do with brawn
They got spikes all on their body and they got it going on

Spikkkkkkkkkky
Spikkkkkkkkkky

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 Can't Decide (Whether I Should Swim or Fly) (to the tune of "I Can't Decide (Whether You Should Live or Die)")

Numero cinco (he said in flawless Spanish) of our song parody series!  "I Can't Decide (Whether I Should Swim or Fly)" to the tune of "I Can't Decide (Whether You Should Live or Die)" by Scissor Sisters!  This song is all about penguins!

Here are the lyrics to the song:


It's not easy having yourself a good time
Greasing up those penguin feathers
Waddling around, as clumsy as ever
Molt and feed my young at the same time
My feathers are fluffy and look like cotton
I smell like something dead and rotten

But I'm a penguin tonight
I live in sea and not the sky
I'm just a loner baby
But your dance led me astray

I can't decide
Whether I should swim or fly
Cause swimmings got its perks
But then with flight I just drop by
OK, goodbye
Blue sky, I will abide
Where its cold and hard and petrified
Jump on in, through the water we'll glide
At low or high tide

It's not a cinch getting other penguin to like you
Steal their rocks you make them bitter
Even though they're dull and not shiny like glitter
Doing all your moves at the right cue
Mating dance until I'm crippled
Scarf ten sardines, they're raw not pickled

I've got to flipper it to you
You've played by all the same rules
But now you stole my mate from me
Although I scream like a banshee

[CHORUS]

Oh I could throw you in a lake
But you can swim for goodness sake
I won't deny it's not too hard to egg me on
Oh I could try and make you dive
But in the water you still thrive
Which makes me see that maybe
That's why

I stay alive, underwater I can fly
Because flight has its perks
But underwater by and by
I will defy
Other birds who like to stay bone dried
The cold is where I will abide
The world has yet another side
It really must be tried

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.

Island Hop (to the tune of "Thrift Shop")

Here we have the fourth song in the series, "Island Hop," to the tune of the very popular "Thrift Shop" by Macklemore.  Below is a link to the parody:

Here are the lyrics to the song:


Hey, Macklemore!  Can we go island hopping?

In-su-lar-ized...[x7]

Island, bio, geogra, phy... [x9]

[Hook:]
Australia and Tobag-
-o, Cross them both off my docket
Take a look at some of these animals close-up
Kakapo, Penguins and the Possum

[Verse 1:]
Nah, walk up to the map like, "What up with all these chunks of rock
Out in the deep blue sea, barely staying on top."
Ice in Antarctica, it's so dang frosty
That penguins like, "It's cold enough here to completely freeze a donkey."
Floatin' in, water's deep, I can see a dorsal fin,
Dressed for adventure, 'cept for one fact, I'm completely clean
Hoppin' off, walkin' round, I can really barely see
Probably should remember, there are some big animals here that need to eat-
(Hissssss)
But shoot, it's a Komodo Dragon! (Dang it)
Runnin' round, leap and bound, my death I hope to circumvent
Don't want to be a has been, someone needs to find my next of kin
But now I got a game plan
Run up to that tree and climb and
Wait up there 'til someone comes along and helps me down, really, it's a cinch
Next I'm off to Baffin Isle., turn the clock back awhile,
No for real - ask your grandpa - once the great auk here was found? (That's right)
Polar bears, arctic terns, and some things with flippers
And even more fossils if you just get diggin'
To avoid getting bored, let's head to the opposite seaboard
To the Channel Islands, much of which are rarely explored
Hello, say hello, to the Island Tree mallow,
The Channel Island fox and the introduced Catalina Island buffalo
Unfortunately, its now extinct, but at one point, there arose,
A 6-foot tall mammoth that would barely reach up to your nose

[Hook]
Australia and Tobag-
-o, Cross them both off my docket
Take a look at some of these animals close-up
Kakapo, Penguins and the Possum

[Hook]
Australia and Tobag-
-o, Cross them both off my docket
Take a look at some of these animals close-up
Kakapo, Penguins and the Possum

[Verse 2:]
What you know about island dwarfism?
What you know about the Cozumel Island fox, then?
I'm digging, I'm digging, I just can't find that page
An adult Cozumel's as big as a red one's pup
Thank your granddad for helping to slow the extinction and to-avert
'Cause right now we might still have the living thing
I'm in New Zealand, you can find me in (Wellington)
I'm not, I'm not sick of searchin' in that region (Wellington)
For the kea, the kiwi, the korora, the weka,
There ain't no native mammals in New Zealand, cept for bats, and of course whales and dolphins
Other marine ones like the seals and the sea lions
I hit the button and then through time we go flyin'
They be like, "Here we are at Hațeg - yo, let's check out the sites."
I'm like, "Whoa - that's Balaur and Hatzegopteryx."
Despite the transition, it's time to finish our mission
Magyarosaurus and Struthiosaurus - neither of which
Are very tall at all, they have both been shrimped
I call that island dwarfism at its most intenseness
That's not all that's here, though
Telmatosaurus, Bradycneme, and of course the Rhabdodon, or Rhabdodon't
But separating us from the mainland, no continental slope
In the future this place, separated from Romania it won't
Man it surely won't

(Hațeg...island dwarf...yeah!)

[Hook]
Australia and Tobag-
-o, Cross them both off my docket
Take a look at some of these animals close-up
Kakapo, Penguins and the Possum

[Bridge: x2]
Take the mainland and an island and juxtapose
It's quite incredible
They're surrounded by a moat
Which helps animals change their genetic code

[Hook]
Australia and Tobag-
-o, Cross them both off my docket
Take a look at some of these animals close-up
Kakapo, Penguins and the Possum

Is that your grandma's Balearic Islands cave goat?

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.