Animal of the Day: Viscacha

Today's Animal of the Day is the viscacha and, in my opinion, the viscacha is one of the cutest animals in the world!  There are five species of extant (still living, opposite of extinct) viscacha, composing two genera.  The viscachas live in the South American Andes, with one species, the plains viscacha, inhabiting the Pampas of Argentina.  The plains viscacha can apparently live in warrens (groups of interconnected burrows) of up to around one hundred individuals!  

Now what exactly is the viscacha, anyways?  Except for the long tail, it sure looks like a rabbit, now, doesn't it?  Well, the rabbit-like features of the viscacha actually evolved through a fascinating biological process called convergent evolution, in which organisms evolve a similar adaptation to other organisms, but did not receive the adaptation from a common ancestor.  For example, the antlers of the elk and the moose are not an example of convergent evolution, as the common ancestor of the two animals both had antlers.  

However, the saber-teeth in the Chinese water deer and the musk deer DID evolve via convergent evolution, as their common ancestor did not have these features.  And yes, that picture of the Chinese water deer to the right is a real picture.  We'll talk about these fascinating animals at some point in the future.  

Tangents aside, I never actually answered the question: what are the viscachas related to, if not rabbits?  Rabbits, along with hares and pikas, are members of the order Lagomorpha, or the lagomorphs, contrary to the belief of many people, who (understandably) think that the rabbits are actually rodents.  If you were to say that the viscacha was a rodent, however, then you would be correct!  The viscacha is indeed a member of the order Rodentia, and are fairly closely related to the chinchillas, one of which is pictured off to the left.  The chinchillas, just like the viscachas, are also native to the South American Andes.  The chinchillas, despite being a very popular pet (I remember my preschool had one when I went there), are not doing too hot in the wild: both extant species, the short- and long-tailed chinchilla, are labeled as "Critically Endangered" by the IUCN.  

This was the birthday post of Isabel Lippincott! Happy birthday, Isabel! If you have a birthday coming up, just email me the date at cuyvaldar123946@gmail.com with the date and your favorite animals, and I will do my best to get a post in! And if you like what you are reading, please feel free to follow us here or via Facebook!

Top Ten Mammals That Look Like Something They Aren't (Part 1)

Today, we are going to be taking a "Top Ten" look at some mammals that look a lot like something they aren't.  Sometimes, these two animals are fairly closely related: other times, they are quite far apart!  All of these examples will be results of a fascinating phenomenon known as "Convergent Evolution," which is where similar ecological and environmental factors cause two very different animals to evolve in a similar fashion.  So let's dive right in!  But first, this is the birthday post of Joseph Kleinkopf, happy birthday Joseph! (For Part 2, animals 5-1 of the countdown, click HERE.)

10.  Bear Dogs - As their name implies, the bear-dogs are a group of mammalian carnivores that greatly resemble both bears and dogs.  However, they are neither!  According to The Big Cats and their Fossil Relatives by Alan Turner, they are thought to be fairly closely related to dogs, and more distantly related to bears.  Their remains are most commonly found in North America, although they are also found in Europe, Asia, and Africa.  Temporally, these animals lived during the Miocene Epoch, and are though to have arisen about 15 MYA, and fallen into extinction around 12 million years ago (MYA).

9.  Entelodonts - The Entelodonts, frequently referred to as "Hell" or "Terminator Pigs" greatly resemble the extant (still around, opposite of extinct) pigs and peccaries.  However, they are in a separate family from both the pigs and the peccaries, the family Entelodontidae, but all three do reside in the order Artiodactyla.  Some paleontologists believe that these guys are more closely related to whales and their relatives than pigs, but their exact phylogenetic relationship is unclear.  They inhabited North America and Europe during the Oligocene Epoch, around 34-32 MYA. 

8.  Hyrax - This little guy looks like he would be a rodent, but his true relatives are actually much more surprising!  Weighing between about 5 and 10 pounds, the hyraxes are actually fairly closely related to the members of the family Proboscidea, or the elephants and their relatives!  The extant hyraxes have their own family, Hyracoidea, but their ancient ancestors are thought to have branched into the extant hyraxes, the elephants and kin, and most likely the manatee and its relatives!  Hyraxes are found exclusively in Africa and the Middle East.

7.  Red Panda - The red panda has a long history of uncertainty in regards to its phylogenetic relationship to other animals, as has its namesake, the giant panda.  However, now we know that the giant panda is in the family Ursidae, or the bear family, and the red panda is now classified in its own family, Ailuridae, closely related to the mustelids, raccoons, and more, distantly bears.  For more information about the red panda, click HERE.  For more information about the giant panda, click HERE.

6.  Rabbits and Pikas - Even up until just a few years ago, I had assumed that the rabbits and the pikas were both rodents.  They look a lot like them, and they share the trait of continually growing teeth.  However, the members of the order Lagomorpha, which is the order that includes the rabbits and the pikas, differs from the order Rodentia in that they possess four incisors, as opposed to two for the rodents.  Furthermore, most rodents are omnivorous, while the lagomorphs are almost entirely strictly herbivorous.

For Part 2, animals 5-1 of the countdown, click HERE.

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! 

A Look Ahead, Fun Fact 8/9/2012

First off, check out today's post about the coati, down below!

Here's this weeks "A Look Ahead:"

Friday:  Simba, Pumbaa, and Other Swahili Names From "The Lion King" - Learn what the names of some of your favorite characters mean!

Saturday:  The Light Rail Coyote - All about the coyote who hitched a ride on a train.

Sunday:  Guards of the Fairy Penguin - Guarding the world's smallest penguins with professional snipers! 

Monday:  Shrinky Dink: The Channel Island Fox and The Island Effect - How getting trapped on an island caused these foxes to shrink!

Tuesday:  Stupid People Stealing Turtles - What sounds better than stealing a bunch of turtles from a museum?

Wednesday:  The Sounds of Star Wars - Chewbacca may look like a bear, but was he voiced by one, too?

Thursday:  The Loch Ness Monster....Fact or Fiction? - Spoiler Alert:  It's Fiction
 

Friday:  Perfume-Loving Lions and Record-Breaking Cheetahs - Lions from the Denver Zoo fawn over the men's perfume "Obsession," while Sarah the cheetah become the world's fastest animal!

FUN FACT:   THE JACKALOPE IS REAL

A "jackalope."  Photo Credit:  Mona Kamath

 "Scoff," most of you are probably saying.  "This guy is pathetic."  Pathetic I may be, but the jackalope is, in fact, real; just not necessarily in the way you might think.  

Although the first picture is a fake (photo credit: Mona Kamath), the one above, as well as down below, are both real.  Clearly these are not antlers, but what are they?  Well, these "antlers" are actually tumors, caused by the Cottontail Rabbit Papilloma Virus (CRPV).  Many rabbits get by just fine with these growths.  In 2003, a man named Grant VanGilder (a cool last name if there ever was one) took this picture in Mankato, Minnesota, an hour or so outside of Annandale, Minnesota.  According the Mr. VanGilder (awesome), “He is still alive and kicking and is the talk of the neighborhood.”  However, if the tumors grow to big, they could effect the animal in its ability to feed or flee, which would eventually lead to its downfall.  The picture above is of a mounted cottontail rabbit, caught near Topeka, Kansas.

When early settlers would see these animals, they would most likely assume that they were a crossbreed between a deer and a rabbit.  Although most people understand this now, at the time, people also thought that the jackalope was so rare because it would only mate during lightning storms with hail, tasted like lobster, and can mimic the voices of drunk people.

So presumably, settlers, cowboys, and the like would discover these cottontails, dead or alive, and talk about them, show them around.  From this, it has been speculated, and seems most likely, that the jackalope arose.  It seems as if rabbits in Germany get this cancer as well, explaining the origin of Germany's "Wolpertinger."

More recently, people such as Ronald Reagan have used the jackalope as a way to mess with people.  The story goes that during press tours of his house in the '80s, he would show the reporters a mounted jackalope head, and tell them he had caught it himself, when, in actuality, it had been a gift from James Abdnor, a senator for South Dakota.

So next time one of your friends says "There's no such thing as a jackalope!" make sure to set the record straight.  Tell them everything that you have just learned, and they will think you are really smart.  Because you ARE smart.