Recently, parts of Southern California experienced some surprisingly cold weather, as falling snow graced the tops of the palm trees around Christmas time. A White Christmas is nothing terribly surprising for folks like myself, born and raised in Colorado, but for California natives it was definitely more of a surprise. People had pulled over on the side of the highway for an opportunity to play in the snow, throwing snowballs and taking selfies all over the place.
Wind turbines in the foreground, and snow capped mountains in the background in the middle of the desert just outside of Palm Desert in California.
A family stopped along Interstate-15 in Temecula, California to play in the snow, a scene that could easily have been lifted out of Colorado, if not for the trees adorned with green leaves, and especially the palm tree in the background.
A snow selfie on the side of the Interstate-15 in Temecula, California.
Although the winter freeze was very exciting for many of the residents, for the native residents of Southern California's deserts, the freeze would be much less welcome. Over millions of years, the animals that call these seemingly barren slopes home have evolved to cope with extreme environmental stress typical of those experienced in the desert. Aridity and extreme heat of course play major roles in any desert ecosystem, and many of the adaptations of desert animals are in response to these climatic factors.
The bobcat (Lynx rufus), one of the residents of the Southern California deserts. This particular individual was at The Living Desert in Palm Desert.
A captive desert bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis nelsoni) at The Living Desert. This subspecies is native to the southern United States and Mexico.
A western diamondback rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox), also native to the southern United States and northern Mexico.
A wild greater roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus) that I chased through a Target parking lot.
A wild California ground squirrel (Spermophilus beecheyi) that we saw foraging around at The Living Desert.
A hummingbird, possibly an Anna's hummingbird (Calypte anna). Hummingbirds in Colorado will fly south for the winter, in order to avoid harsh weather like that seen in Southern California last week,
Of course, environmental conditions that fall well outside the norm are arguably equally important for animals native to a specific biome or region. Even if a population of animals thrives in the harsh, arid landscape of Southern California, if all it takes is a single night of snow to wipe out the population, unusual weather (such as that seen in the area last week) can be extremely troublesome. Extreme weather can also help control populations, and can be what keeps other animals from colonizing an area. For example, if a population of desert rodent attempts to colonize the mountains around Palm Desert, but is unable to cope with the occasional snow storm, then that type of rodent would be much less likely to survive and thrive there.
Part of the mountains west of La Quinta and Rancho Mirage, prior to the snowstorm.
The same mountains, following the snowstorm.
Works Cited:
Hummingbirds found in California, USA. (n.d.). Retrieved January 4, 2015, from http://beautyofbirds.com/hummingbirdscalifornia.html
As a reward for winning our Winter Trivia Contest, Carla has requested a "Top Five Extinct Crocodilians" post, and I was all too happy to oblige (but sorry it took so long)! Let's face it: living crocodilians are pretty awesome, and their extinct cousins? Even MORE so! And although some of the creatures that we will look at in this Top Five list may not be crocodilians by the strictest sense of the term, those that don't entirely fit the bill are very closely related. These "almost crocodilians," as well as the actual crocodilians, are all from a group of reptiles that we call the archosaurs. Archosaurs include many fascinating animals, including the crocodilians, pterosaurs, dinosaurs, and birds, as well as their extinct ancestors. Some of the members of this list are critters that look a whole lot like crocodilians, but just weren't quite there yet, as most sources state that modern crocodiles did not evolve until the Late Cretaceous. Some people refer to this large group of crocodile-like creatures, as well as the crocodilians and their ancestors, as "pseudosuchians," which is what is used to describe the first few animals that we are looking at today!
1. The phytosaurs are the first of these "pesudosuchian" groups. Although at a glance they look pretty similar to the modern day Indian gharial, the phytosaurs lived in the Late Triassic, right around the time that dinosaurs were first evolving too, about 200-220 MYA. We still have nearly 150 million years before the appearance of modern crocodiles! As you can see below, the phytosaurs definitely resembled the later crocodilians in many ways, but they were different, too. Just look at how far back on the skull those nostrils were!
2. Our next pseudosuchian is one of my favorites, named Desmatosuchus. A member of the extinct group called the aetosaurs, Desmatosuchus was actually an herbivore! As you can see on the back of this animal, Desmatosuchus is yet another one of those fascinating creatures that has evolved dermal armor, similar to the armadillo and the ankylosaurs! The giant shoulder spikes of Desmatosuchus definitely look a whole lot like those of the ankylosaurs, and served a similar defensive purpose. If you traveled back to the Late Triassic period, you would have been able to find Desmatosuchus in the southern United States.
3. While Poposaurus definitely looks a lot like a dinosaur, just like Desmatosuchus and the ankylosaurs, this is simply another fascinating example of convergent evolution! Poposaurus, just like Desmatosuchus and the first dinosaurs, lived during the Late Triassic Period, about 225 million years ago. For whatever reason, it was the poposaurs and not the dinosaurs that went extinct at the end of the Triassic Period. Apparently, the Triassic town wasn't big enough for these two groups of bipedal reptiles.
4. Postosuchus, a member of another group of pseudosuchians called the rauisuchians, looked a lot like Poposaurus, as this critter also is thought to have been able to walk on its hind legs. Postosuchus and Poposaurus also both lived at the end of the Triassic, and both disappeared in the mass extinction event that jumpstarted the Jurassic. Apparently, when it was first discovered, Postosuchus was thought to be a tyrannosaur ancestor, an understandable mistake once you look at the skull of this creature!
5. This next crocodilian seems like a bizarre medley of different animals and, in some ways, it kind of is! Meet Dakosaurus, a member of a group of extinct crocodilians called the metriorhynchids. The metriorhynchids display numerous physiological adaptations that suggest they were quite comfortable in marine environments, such as paddle-like front limbs, hypertrophied nasal salt glands (presumably to help keep the body from getting an excess of salt), and a hypocercal tail.* Unlike many other crocodilians, the metriorhynchids evolved sharp, serrated teeth, similar to those seen in terrestrial predatory dinosaurs. These marine crocodilians also lost their dermal armor over the course of evolution, the tough, bony scales and scutes on the backs of modern day crocodiles that help defend them against attack from predators or other crocodilians. Presumably, this lack of dermal armor would have helped make the metriorhynchids even more hydrodynamic. Dakosaurus has been discovered in Europe, South America and Mexico, and lived during the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous.
*As you can probably tell from the complicated words used in these descriptions, the "hypertrophied nasal salt glands" and "hypocercal tail" are both direct quotes from the paper describing Dakosaurus (click HERE to check it out). I had a tough time determining the exact meaning of the term "hypocercal," but as I understand it, it is a condition seen in many extinct fish and other marine creatures, in which the vertebral column bends downwards in the tail, (as you can see in the picture of Dakosaurus above), as opposed to where the vertebral column bends upwards, or simply doesn't protrude very far into the tail to begin with. Amongst other creatures, the ichthyosaurs seem to have a very similar tail design, as you can see below. I'm not certain what, if any, the distinction is between hypocercal and reversed heterocercal; either way, this sort of tail definitely seems like it would be a good adaptation for swimming!
Most of you have probably heard about the so-called "pterodactyls," the flying creatures that lived during the time of the dinosaurs. Like most of us, you might not know exactly what a pterodactyl, more properly known as a pterosaur, is. Is it a bird? A bat? A dinosaur? Possibly even an insect? Or a distinct group of archosaurs that are thought to be fairly closely related to both dinosaurs and crocodilians, but scientists still aren't 100% positive how they fit into the reptilian family tree? Well, if you were thinking the last option, then lo and behold: you're right! Although the pterodactyls would have soared through the skies much like birds, bats, and even some insects of today, they would have been a distinct group altogether. They are also not quite dinosaurs: as the last option says, no one knows quite yet how exactly they fit in!
Another misconception you might be suffering under is what these extinct flying reptiles are actually called. Although most people call them pterodactyls, that isn't quite the correct term for them. Scientifically, these creatures are known as the pterosaurs. The name pterodactyls actually originates from a small pterosaur that is commonly found in the fine-grained Solnhofen fossil beds in Germany. Known as Pterodactylus, several hundred of these little reptiles have been discovered!
Pyg checks out a cast of one of the more famous Pterodactylus specimens from Solnhofen!
The Solnhofen quarries are world renknowed for their excellent fossils. Not only have a large number of Pterodactylus specimens been uncovered there, but it was from these quarries that the very first Archaeopteryx was uncovered in 1861. This primitive bird is one of the missing links between birds and dinosaurs, as it shares many features in common with both groups (such as feathers with birds and hand claws and teeth with dinosaurs). Other famous and important animals to come out of the Solnhofen Quarries include numerous crustaceans, insects, and even a small crocodile called Alligatorellus!
Pyg learns more about both the Pterodactylus specimen from above (left), but also about Archaeopteryx (right)! This cast is of the best specimen of this primitive bird, and was discovered in 1877! (The original specimen was, not the cast).
Part of the reason why the Solnhofen Quarry is so darn special is the extremely fine-detail preserved in the fossils. As I just mentioned in the previous paragraph, feathers have been discovered with Archaeopteryx specimens. Feathers, much like skin, hair, and other soft-tissues, rarely fossilize. As the science of paleontology slowly evolves, just like the animals it studies, paleontologists become better and better equipped to deal with, not to mention find, these soft-tissue elements of these extinct animals. More and more dinosaurs are being discovered with not only skin, but oftentimes feathers, such as Microraptor, an animal fairly closely related to Velociraptor of Jurassic Park fame; Dilong, an ancient ancestor of Tyrannosaurus rex; and the bizarre therizinosaurs; amongst many others.
And it's not just feathers that fossilize, either. Wing membranes, composed of a flap of skin, are being discovered more and more frequently when it comes to pterosaurs. When it comes to Pterodactylus, scientists have such a large sample size that they are able to reconstruct much of the soft-tissue anatomy of this particular pterosaur! Scientists also have a very thorough growth series for this particular pterosaur, with individuals ranging from hatchlings, just a few days to a few weeks old, all the way to very old individuals with wingspans of around five feet, which, for a Pterodactylus, is very hefty indeed!
Although we've talked a lot about Pterodactylus, there are many other fascinating pterosaurs! I've taken a recent interest in pterosaurs, but before we dive on in to a wide variety of posts, I wanted to provide a brief introduction! Remember, this is a VERY brief introduction. For a more thorough introduction to pterosaurs, consult a book or something, or check back in the future as we learn more about pterosaurs! Don't hold me to it, but I feel like sometime in the near future, I will be talking about Dimorphodon and the anurognathids! Check back soon!
Last summer, my family and I took an ecology tour with Dr. Joe Richardson on Tybee Island off the coast of Georgia and South Carolina. These tours, called the Tybee Beach Ecology Trips, were a fantastic way to learn more about the local sea life of Tybee. When we returned home, I became a fan of his tours on Facebook (you can too if you click HERE), where he shares lots of cool photos from the days catch. Since then, Dr. Joe was generous enough to do a guest post here on the blog, which you can read by clicking HERE. Over the last year, he has also shared numerous photos from another Facebook page for the Tybee Sea Turtle Project (which you can visit by clicking HERE). I decided to contact the folks at the Tybee Sea Turtle Project as well to ask if they would be interested in doing a guest post, and I got back some fantastic material from Amy Capello, a volunteer involved in the Sea Turtle Project! So without further ado, I'm going to let Ms. Capello tell you all about the project, and how to help out the sea turtles!
Loggerhead sea turtles, Caretta caretta, are a common species of sea turtle found on Tybee Island and all along the Georgia coast. There are several species of sea turtle found throughout the world, all of which are threatened or endangered. Due to their status, there are many efforts being made to protect these amazing creatures. The Georgia Department of Natural Resources is responsible for monitoring sea turtle populations throughout the state. This is a large project to undertake and depends on sea turtle volunteers on every island in Georgia. On Tybee Island, the Sea Turtle Project is headed by a wonderful, dedicated local named Tammy Smith. She is responsible for coordinating approximately 80 volunteers. These volunteers are willing to give up large portions of their time to ensure the welfare of sea turtles. Starting in May, volunteers take turns walking the beach at sunrise to look for evidence that a nesting female came out overnight to lay a nest. Usually, the best indication of a female coming out to nest is her tracks. You might think it’s easy to spot the tracks from a 300+lb. female turtle, but that’s not always the case! Sometimes it can be quite difficult to spot her tracks and the volunteers have to make sure they don’t get distracted by Tybee’s beautiful sunrises and instead focus on potential tracks in the sand.
This is a female that was laying a nest on Tybee. It is a rare occurrence that we get to see the nesting females on Tybee. Some tourists spotted her and called it in and the volunteers were able to go out and see her. She had identification tags and we're waiting to see what other nests she may have laid this season.
Once a nest is located, Tammy will come out to the location and determine if the female laid a nest or simply came out of the ocean and decided to return. Sometimes females will emerge from the water and then change their mind about laying a nest. This could be caused due to disturbances from people who get too close or scare her with their white-light flashlights. It could also be caused due to natural reasons, such as no dry sand to lay a nest during a very high tide. If you encounter a sea turtle while you’re out on the beach at night, keep your distance and make sure that your presence doesn’t change the natural behavior of the turtle. Any living sea turtle you may see on the beach is a female; males will never come out of the water, so make sure to give them their space to do what they came to do! Remember, they are endangered and need to lay every nest they can if we are going to see increases in their population.
This is a false crawl. This means that the female came out of the water to lay a nest and decided not to for some reason.
If a nest is found during a dawn patrol walk, Tammy will determine if the nest is in a suitable location. Sometimes females will lay their nests in a place that may get washed over by high tides and cause the hatchlings to drown. If this possibility is anticipated, we will move the nests to a better, safer location.
A bucket of eggs waiting to be moved. Sometimes the nests are relocated if they need to be moved to a safer place for incubation.
All nests, whether or not they are relocated, are marked with posts and monitored by the volunteers every day on their dawn patrol walks. We make sure that there are no disturbances to the nests, by people or natural predators like ghost crabs.
We mark all of the nests on Tybee Island with a special sea turtle caution tape. The nest is federally protected since the turtles are endangered and only trained and permitted volunteers are allowed to interact with the hatchlings if they require assistance.
The nests will incubate for approximately 50 days, give or take, and then the babies will hatch out. Our volunteers work hard to look for field signs that a nest is going to hatch. When the time comes, we try to be on hand to make sure that the hatchlings make their way to the water safely. I often wish that the nests came with little timers so we would know right when they are going to hatch, but unfortunately, they’re like human babies – they come when they’re good and ready!
A traditional hatching is often referred to as a “boil.” This is because all of the babies hatch out at the same time, appearing to boil out of the sand. It’s a unique experience to get to witness, but since it only takes minutes for the babies to come out, it’s often missed – even by our volunteers! Once the babies come out, they orient themselves with the brightest point on the horizon. A lot of people think they only hatch during a full moon, and this is completely false. However, any light reflecting off the water is going to be brighter than light reflecting off the sand, so the light leads the babies in the right direction. But think about developed islands, like Tybee. There is so much light pollution from inside and outside condos, restaurants, hotels, residences, etc. that often times our babies will head towards those lights, since they are much brighter than the light reflecting off the water. Unfortunately, this means they head in the exact opposite direction of where they are supposed to go. This is why it’s so critical for people to be aware of how much light pollution is out on our beaches. If you are on any island during sea turtle nesting season (May – October), it’s extremely important to turn OFF your lights!! The only “sea turtle friendly” lights are ones that are red-filtered. Even the red-filtered lights, if they are too bright, can disorient a sea turtle, but they are less distracting than a bright white light. If you want to walk the beach at night, consider going without a flashlight or light from your cell phone and your eyes will adjust to the dark. But, if you must have a light, you can purchase red-filtered flashlights in lots of stores like Wal-Mart and Bass Pro Shop. I can’t stress enough how important this is for our babies!
Hatchlings making their way to the sea. These turtles came out earlier in the daytime, allowing for a photo opportunity! All of the babies made it safely to the sea.
Once the little hatchlings hit the water, they are faced with a 24 hour long journey out into the Sargasso Sea where they will spend the first 10-15 years of their lives. They don’t start reproducing until they are about 35 years old. Considering that only 1 in 4,000 survive to adulthood, if we lose any sea turtles before that age, they haven’t even had a chance to replace themselves in the population! In the ocean, they face threats of boats (whose propellers hit them, often fatally), fishing line, and plastic. Plastic in particular looks very similar to one of their favorite foods – jellyfish! Sea turtles have never been to the store and don’t know how to tell the difference between a floating plastic bag and a floating jellyfish.
We love our sea turtles so much and we’ll do anything we can to protect them. We’re so happy that our efforts and the efforts of the public are starting to make a difference! Last year, we broke the record for the number of sea turtle nests on Tybee and overall in the state of Georgia. It was a big year for all of us! We hope to see an increase every year until their populations have fully recovered.
What are some ways you can help sea turtles? Here are some great starting points:
1. Turn off all lights at night during nesting season (May – October) – this includes buildings, flashlights, and cell phones
2. Use red-filtered lights if you must use a light
3. Pick up trash on the beach, especially plastic of all kinds
4. Do not disturb sea turtles you encounter on the beach
5. Fill in any holes you dig on the beach and knock down sand castles – these are major obstacles, even to a large turtle
6. If you are on a boat, keep an eye out for sea turtles and make sure you don’t hit them
7. Educate others and spread the word! Often times people are willing to do the right thing, they just haven’t been told what the right thing is yet
This was fantastic: thank you very much Ms. Capello, as well as the Tybee Sea Turtle Project, for taking the time out of your busy schedules to teach us about these sea turtles, and what we can do to help! To support the cause, make sure you check out the project's Facebook page by clicking HERE! You can also check out the website for the Tybee Island Marine Science Center HERE! Thanks again, and hope to hear from you guys again in the future! - Zack Neher Photo Credit for all of the pictures in the post goes to the Tybee Sea Turtle Project.
I recently acquired a laptop for my graduation gift, and have been enjoying the crazy pictures that you can take on the Photo Booth! I think my favorite way to mess with the pictures is by making our eyes ENORMOUS! Incidentally, some of my favorite animals are those with gigantic eyes, and after coming to this realization, I sensed a post in the making! Today, we're just going to take a look at a few of my favorites, but you can be sure that we'll be taking a look at other big-eyed creatures in the future!
The spookfish is an absolutely terrifying fish. Do I need to say anything more? I suppose I'll say a little more. The spookfish is the only vertebrate animal known to ever have evolved mirrors instead of lenses in its eyes. OK, that's enough, it's really starting to creep me out now. Time we moved on.
Next we have another oceanic animal: the giant squid! The record for the largest eyes in the animal kingdom is held by this animal, at around 10 inches in diameter: the size of a dinner plate! WHAT THE HECK! These animals live at extreme depths and, and where other animals would fail to see spectacularly, the giant squid is able to live and see quite comfortably!
The only extinct animal that I have included in this post, Opthalmosaurus was literally named after its enormous eyes: its name means "eye lizard" in Greek! Although it looks a heck of a lot like a dolphin, Opthalmosaurus was a type of marine reptile called an ichthyosaur that swam the oceans during the Jurassic Period. A bony ring called the scleral ring in the eye of the animal helped to keep the eye from collapsing under the intense pressure of the ocean!
Let's move out of the ocean now, and into the trees: meet the tarsier! The tarsier is a terrifying little primate that is native to southeast Asia and HOLY CRAP. I JUST LOOKED UP A PICTURE OF THE SIZE OF THE TARSIERS EYES AND LOOK. AT THAT PICTURE. BELOW.
OH MY GOD. THAT IS INSANE. AND NOW CHECK OUT HOW BIG ITS SKULL IS.
That is really, terribly creepy. My goodness. I....I don't even know what to say. Let's move on now.
Another arboreal primate, the aye-aye is one of my favorite animals of all time! Native to Madagascar, this lemur is nocturnal (of course, given the eyes), and as you can see in the picture below, definitely doesn't like having its picture taken with the flash!
Flying above the ocean and the trees are the birds, and the creepiest birds with the biggest eyes are the owls. The owls and the tarsier both share something in common: their eyes are so big in comparison to their head that their eyes are unable to move in their sockets! That's why both of these animals have such an enormous range of motion in their neck: to look to either side, they have to move their entire head around!
When it's a placodont! All right, so they're technically not turtles. Instead, they are a classic example of the fascinating phenomenon known as "convergent evolution," as we shall soon see!
Placodonts were a fascinating group of marine reptiles that lived during the Triassic Period in the Mesozoic Era, between around 235 and 200 million years ago (MYA), and thought to have a common ancestor with the long-necked plesiosaurs and the long-necked nothosaurs, all of which are in the large group called the saruopterygians. As a group, the placodonts are sometimes referred to as "walrus turtles," due to their diet of molluscs and other shelled invertebrates and, of course, their general appearance.
Like the turtles and tortoises of today, the placodonts would not have been all that quick and nimble. Their weight would have made them negatively buoyant, akin to the manatees and sea cows of today, meaning that they would have had no trouble swimming along the bottom of the ocean, snapping up molluscs and other shelled invertebrates, and using their large, flattened cheek and palatal teeth to crush them down. It's also possible that they scraped algae off of marine rocks and swallowed it whole, letting it slowly digest in their massive guts! Like modern sea turtles, the placodonts are thought to have been amphibious, spending most of their time (sleeping, chillaxing, and other activities) on land, but dipping into the water to feed, akin to the extant marine iguana of the Galápagos Islands.
Although younger placodonts would have been especially vulnerable to predation from many different types of animals, many paleontologists puzzle over why the ponderous adult placodonts would have needed this armor, as there don't seem to be any marine predators capable of making a meal out of them that lived at the same time. Of course, as we mentioned before, they probably spent much of their time on land and, as we also mentioned before, their awkward build would have left them particularly vulnerable to attack. So to counter this, some of the placodonts started to evolve in a very turtle-like appearance. Placodus, the animal whose name is lent to the entire group, displays a single row of dermal ossifications above its neural spines down its back. This dermal armor (a fancy way of saying "skin armor," in which the skin hardens into an armor like structure, as seen in the armadillo) would have helped to protect the animal from attack. Earlier, more primitive genera, such as Paraplacodus, lack this dermal ossification. However, other, more derived placodonts take this ossification of the dermals to a whole new level.
Remember Henodus, the first picture in this post? Henodus is one of those dermal armorers (I don't think that's actually a word) that took the ossification of the dermals to a whole new level. Outwardly similar to the turtle shell, the placodont armor was composed of a number of polygonal ossicles, while the shells of turtles are composed of large plates. Two other placodonts that were extremely well armored include Cyamodus, as well as the VERY turtle-looking creature, Placochelys.
Like many other animals, the placodonts became extinct at the end of the Triassic Period. Many groups did survive, however, and one of those groups that survived through to the Jurassic Period was actually the turtles! 220 MYA, the placodonts were sharing the seas with what would one day become the hard-shelled reptiles adored by so many people!
This is the birthday post of Darlene Neher! Happy birthday, Auntie Dar! 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!
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
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
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
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!
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!
As I talked about IN A PREVIOUS POST, the trip that my family and I took to Yosemite was simply fantastic. Yosemite was just magical! However, in the last post, you might have noticed that, with the exception of the odd, Snoopy-looking rock, I neglected to talk about any animals that we saw in Yosemite. And, if you know anything about my family and this blog, then you know that we saw some animals! So here are some of those animals that we saw! First off, a mule deer that I believe we saw on our hike up to Sentinel Dome.
Next, we have a scarlet kingsnake that my father and I saw when we walked over to the base of El Capitan.
We also saw this lizard at the base of El Capitan. It looks to me like it might be a skink, but I really have no idea. If you know what it is, make sure to shoot me an email!
We also saw a large Yosemite toad! It was just kind of chilling in the middle of a pond, but then something startled it, and it lept into the water!
We also, of course, saw some bears, which were really super exciting! Here are some pictures of some of the bears that we saw!
One of the best parks at Walt Disney World in Florida was Epcot, it was super cool to see all of the different cultures and stuff like that! Epcot also had lots of cool resident wildlife in and around the vast lake that much of the park is built around!
I just LOVE this picture! An anole contemplates how small it really is as it gazes upon the Epcot ball!
Another really cool museum that my family and I visited in California was the California Academy of Sciences. They had lots of really cool exhibits! My favorite was a prehistoric mammals exhibit, but unfortunately, pictures weren't allowed inside, so therefore I don't have any pictures! We also didn't get to visit the whole museum, but the parts that we did we all really enjoyed! But I did get a few pictures of some of the other really cool things, so here they are! A brief overview of the California Academy of Sciences! Enjoy! First, we are going to look at what they call "The Living Roof," which is a cutting edge....garden. However, although it does sound a bit unexciting, it was actually pretty cool, as the cutting edge garden was on the roof! (Hence the name "The Living Roof," in case you missed that part.) It actually always reminds me of the Shire from Lord of the Rings!
Although I didn't get any pictures of any prehistoric mammals, I did get a picture of another prehistoric animal! Does anybody know what it is?
One particular exhibit was called "Rainforests of the World," which, as you can imagine, focuses on the worlds rainforests. It was really cool, and it was all inside of this enormous dome thing! But yeah here are some pictures from inside of the dome!
Finally, the last thing that we saw that I thought was really cool was this: an albino alligator! Definitely don't see those every day!
%2Bat%2Bthe%2BLiving%2BDesert%2Bin%2BCalifornia%2BPhoto%2BCredit%2BZack%2BNeher.JPG)
%2Bat%2Bthe%2BLiving%2BDesert%2Bin%2BPalm%2BDesert%2BCalifornia%2BPhoto%2BCredit%2BZack%2BNeher.JPG)
%2Bat%2Bthe%2BLiving%2BDesert%2Bin%2BPalm%2BDesert%2BCalifornia.JPG)
%2Bin%2Ba%2BTarget%2Bparking%2Blot%2Bin%2BPalm%2BDesert%2BLa%2BQuinta%2BRancho%2BMirage%2BCalifornia%2BPhoto%2BCredit%2BZack%2BNeher.JPG)
%2Bwild%2Bat%2Bthe%2BLiving%2BDesert%2Bin%2BPalm%2BDesert%2BCalifornia%2BPhoto%2BCredit%2BZack%2BNeher.JPG)
%2Bin%2Bthe%2Bdesert%2Bof%2BSouthern%2BCalifornia%2Bnear%2BLa%2BQuinta%2BPalm%2BDesert%2BPalm%2BSprings%2BRancho%2BMirage%2BPhoto%2BCredit%2BZack%2BNeher.JPG)
