The Stegosaur Song (Stegosaurus Week)

The second of a pair of songs that I made especially for Stegosaurus Week!  "The Stegosaur Song" to the tune of "The Mexican Hat Dance."  Below is the link to the song:

Here are the lyrics to the song:

Full Lyrics:

Primitive stegosaurs they are all found in China, England, France, and Tibet
Lexovisaurus and Regnosaurus and a stegosaur not named quite yet
Chialingosaurus and Craterosaurus and Jiangjunosaurus too
Next we have the huayangosaurs from China and so far they number but two

[Chorus:]
Oh, the plates and the spikes like the head of a trike with them you definitely don't want to mess
The stegosaurs lived in the Jurassic but some lived to the dawn of the Cretaceous

Chungkingosaurus and Huayangosaurus and now we move on to the set
Gigantspinosaurus and then Kentrosaurus and Loricatosaurus you bet
Those last three were all primitive stegosaurids but still thought to be more advanced
There are two more still Paranthodon and Tuojiangosaurus I bet you're entranced

[Chorus]

The dacentrurines are the second to last of all the groups of stegosaurus
Dacentrurus who gives name to the group Miragaia and then there are no more
The stegosaurines are the last of the bunch Stegosaurus most notorious
Hesperosaurus and Wuerhosaurus and last of all Hypsirophus

[Chorus]

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.

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! 

Animal Spotlight: The Coati

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

 And next, lets take a look at today's "Animal Spotlight:" The Coati!

The coati is a creature of many names.  Often called the Brazilian aardvark, they are also called crackoons (pronounced like "raccoon") and (my personal favorite) "snookum bears."  The coati shares much in common with the red panda, one of the Animal Spotlights from earlier in the week.  It, like the red panda, is not a bear, despite what its nicknames imply, and is also a part of the superfamily "Musteloidea." 

The coati has a plantigrade stance, much like humans, bears, and its relative, the raccoon.  Look at the picture below.  See how the squirrel has the whole portion of its foot on the ground, while the dog has only part of its foot on the ground?  If you were to walk on the balls of your feet, then you would essentially be walking with a digitigrade stance as well. 

There are four species of coati.  Two of them have been labeled as "Least Concern" by the IUCN, but two of them have not been studied enough to formulate a conclusion as to their status in the wild.  That doesn't bode well, however.  Together, they live in the North American countries of the United States (Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas), Mexico, throughout Central America, and in the South American countries of Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador, just to name a few. 

Finally, here is a link to an interesting and amusing news article talking about wild animals running around in the UK.  Enjoy! 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10365422

Top Ten: Extinct Sea Monsters (Part 4 of 5)

7.  Archelon - Archelon is the largest sea turtle that has been discovered to date, the closest living relative that Archelon has is the "Critically Endangered" leatherback sea turtle, the largest sea turtle alive today.  Living in the Late Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway between 75-65 MYA, Archelon has been discovered in the states of South Dakota, Wyoming and Kansas. 

8.  Leedsichthys - Often cited as the largest fish known to humankind, the largest Leedsichthys had an estimated length of 72 feet, but some researchers believe that it could have grown to sizes that would rival those seen in the blue whale, the largest known animal ever to live on planet Earth.   Although Leedsichthys swam the seas only during the Jurassic Period, the group that it belonged to survived until the end of the Cretaceous Period.  Remains of this filter feeder have been uncovered in England, France, Germany, and Chile.  


COMING UP NEXT WE HAVE:

9.  Tanystropheus
10. Tylosaurus

This post is part of the "Top Ten: Extinct Sea Monsters" series.  For the rest of the posts in this series, click HERE.  

Top Ten: Extinct Sea Monsters (Part 2 of 5)

So why did I split this post up into five parts?  Well, originally it was all just one big post, but it was simply too big, like so often happens.  So I will just post the rest of the parts throughout the next few days.  So here is part number two!

3.  Liopleurodon - A member of the short-necked Plesiosaurs, or Pliosaurs, Liopleurodon was the top predator of the Middle and Late Jurassic shallow seas that covered Europe at that time.  Fossils of Liopleurodon have been found in England, France, Germany, and Russia. 

4.  Shonisaurus - Shonisaurus is a fascinating example of convergent evolution.  When similar environmental and ecological pressures went to work on the ancestors of Shonisaurus, and the rest of the ichthyosaurs, as well as the ancestors of the dolphins and porpoises, they produced very similar results in very different kind of animals.  Shonisaurus and the rest of the ichthyosaurs are marine reptiles, while the dolphins and porpoises are both mammals.  Shonisaurus lived during the Late Triassic Period, right around when the dinosaurs were first making their debut.  At least thirty-seven skeletons of this giant have been discovered in Nevada. In fact, Nevada is still a fantastic place to see some of these creatures, especially Berlin Ichthyosaur State Park in Berlin, a few hours outside of Reno (pictured below)!  This is where the first bones belonging to Shonisaurus were actually discovered!  Definitely high on the list of places that I want to go!

Coming Up:
5.  Elasmosaurus
6.  Dunkleosteus
7.  Archelon
8.  Leedsichthys
9.  Tanystropheus
10. Tylosaurus

This post is part of the "Top Ten: Extinct Sea Monsters" series.  For the rest of the posts in this series, click HERE.  

Animal Spotlight: The Okapi

For years, Europeans who traveled to Africa heard tell of a mysterious rainforest animal that they came to refer to as the "African Unicorn."  Apparently, Sir Harry Johnston, the British governor of Uganda, rescued a small group of the native inhabitants, often called the pygmies, from a foreign show person, who, sadly, was most likely going to use his abductees for a circus or freak show.  Upon their rescue at Johnston's hand, they repaid him by giving him information about the animal.

Now we know the animal as the okapi, or Okapia johnstoni, named in honor of Sir Harry Johnston.  Despite the zebra-like stripes on its tail, the okapi is not all that closely related to the zebra, and is actually a very close relative of the giraffe.  Although they may not look super similar, they both have ossicones on their head, similar to the base of DEER antlers.  Ossicones are not only possessed by both the okapi and the giraffe, but also by extinct relatives of both, such as Sivatherium and Climacoceras.

The okapi is listed as "NEAR THREATENED" by the IUCN.  Honestly, I was surprised that it wasn't at least listed as "VULNERABLE," and "ENDANGERED" or worse would not have surprised me at all, given its reclusive nature, its beautiful pelt, and the very fact that humans didn't have much proof of its existence until 1901, when Sir Henry Johnston sent back a carcass to England.  I suppose, however, that its reclusive nature likely helps it to evade human influences a great deal, coupled with the fact that the rainforest that it inhabits is not too heavily tread.  And I guess the fact that it was really made known to science only a little more than one hundred years ago couldn't have hurt either, as it would be soon entering into an age when nature was offered greater protection than in the 1800s. 

Like the COELACANTH and THE MOUNTAIN PYGMY POSSUM, the okapi is often referred to as a "LIVING FOSSIL."  Its habitat consists of montane rainforests in the Central African Republic (CAR) and the DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO (DRC).