Today, we are enjoying a few clips of the provincial bird of Ontario, common loons and their chicks, taken by photographer Harry Collins. Collins doesn’t say where these shots were taken. Given that common loons’ summer breeding range covers the lakes and waterways of the northern parts of North America, southern Greenland, Iceland and bits of Norway and even Scotland on occasion, it’s hard to pinpoint exactly where he might have been. Those chicks seems pretty undisturbed by my lack of geographic specificity, in any event. Stretch those loon feets, little one!

The common loon migrates to its breeding grounds in spring, favoring water features that are large enough for them to take off for flight, selecting ponds and lakes that have coves and islands for hiding and protection. These watery summer haunts must also have large populations of small fish for loons to eat and will usually be clear and calm so as to aid the loons in sighting their prey while hunting. A good breeding ground with favorable qualities is essential for raising chicks, so loons return to prized areas each spring. Males in particular show a high degree of site fidelity, coming back each year to defend a patch of turf they’ve carved out for themselves. Loons are territorial during breeding season, but they tend to mellow out as fall approaches, when they can be seen socializing in larger gatherings.

While some common loons (specifically, those that live in Iceland) remain in their breeding regions year-round, most migrate in the fall, flying at altitudes of between 1500 to 2700 meters above sea level (about 4900 to 8800 feet), elevations that help them avoid tropospheric convective air turbulence. They are strong, long-distance flyers, despite their heavy body mass. Many stop off at the Great Lakes during migration, using the lakes as staging areas to rest, eat and ready themselves for the big flight. They spend their winters along the coasts, bays, inlets, streams and inland lakes that do not freeze in the winter. Common loons of North America primarily winter along the north Atlantic and north-east Pacific coasts, with some traveling as far as the Baja California and additional areas in Mexico; on the eastern coast, they can be found from Nova Scotia to Florida, skirting west along the Gulf of Mexico into southern Texas. Others migrate to coasts along the western edge of Europe, a range that runs from Finland to Portugal, most likely originating from Canada, Greenland and Iceland.

There are five extant species of loons, aquatic birds of the order Gaviiformes. The order contains only the single family Gaviidae and the single genus Gavia. These taxonomic classifications are somewhat recent, based on DNA analysis that put loons in their own order, ancient and distinct from other classes of birds. Although they resemble ducks and were up until recently thought to be related based on physical characteristics, they are not in the same hierarchy within the class of birds. In fact, loons are more closely related to penguins, having split from a common ancestor about 50 million years ago. DNA retroposon analysis reveals that loons were the first birds to diverge from the common ancestor of all waterbirds, with penguins and petrels diverging next.

Check out this link about marsupials to see how retroposon analysis works:

Loons have a distinctive, mournful call, conjuring up images of solitary ventures into the wild. They are most vocal from mid-May to mid-June, mated pairs using a far-carrying wailing call to communicate to each other over the expanse or a tremolo (resembling a crazy laugh) to signal out in response to perceived threats. Mated pairs may also use a tremolo during nightly chorusing duets. It’s a call that you may have heard, but if not, Catherine Hepburn can assist…

These vocal birds are capable of a range of calls (linked here, slightly more accurate than Catherine’s version). Parents have a hoot that they will use in short-range communications between family members or to warn off interlopers during low-level territorial interactions. Male loons are capable of a yodel, which they will emit when threatened by a predator or during aggressive territorial disputes with other loons. The yodel is often accompanied by a defensive posture, whereby the loon rises out of the water, neck flattened forward to better amplify the sound over the water and wings extended, arched towards its rival. Pairs are monogamous and will vocalize another sound, a coo that they make at one another during courting and while nesting. I like to anthropomorphize the cooing call as two birds sharing their own special love language. I mean, how sweet, right?! But while pairs are seasonally monogamous, they don’t necessarily mate for life, since sometimes one dominant male will take over another’s turf and affiliated mate. A typical pair bonding lasts between five and seven years.

Common loons, our friends in the gif, are slightly smaller than the biggest species of loon, the yellow-billed loon. But they are still larger than you might expect. The adult common loon grows up to three feet in body length from bill tip to outstretched feet and has a wingspan of about four-and-a-half to five feet. They weigh between nine and twelve pounds when fully grown, males being a bit larger than females. Males and females have similar plumage, which changes seasonally. In the summer, a breeding common loon will have a black-and-white checked back, iridescent black head and neck, a black and white striped neck patch and throat, black beak, and red eyes. They molt in the fall, dropping their highly contrasting patterned feathers for something a bit less showy. In the winter, the eyes dull to a deep reddish brown, the plumage will have turned a dark mottled gray and its bill beak will be grey. Juveniles that have yet to develop breeding plumage look similar to an adult in winter plumage, but their feather tips will have a distinct lighter colored scalloped edging. Gaviiformes are one of the few groups of birds whose chicks molt into a second set of down feathers after shedding their first; penguin chicks have a similar double-downy molt. The chicks’ final downy molt is finished at about three weeks of age, and soon after they will begin to develop their juvenile plumage.

Loons are excellent divers, able to stay underwater for up to five minutes; they typically dive from between 30 to 45 seconds, though, their sharp eyes searching out fish (which makes up about 80% of their diet), crayfish, shrimp, mollusks, invertebrates and a small bit of aquatic vegetation. Even chicks are capable of diving at only a few days old (although not skilled enough to catch its own food until at least five weeks old). A loon will blow air out of its lungs and compress its feathers to dive more easily. They are capable of slowing their heart rate while under the water to help them conserve oxygen. They are routinely reach depths of 200 to 250 feet. They catch and eat much of their prey underwater, and are highly maneuverable swimmers, chasing down fish attempting to evade capture, changing direction quickly and easily using their strong legs and webbed feet. To help keep a firm grip on slippery fish, the loon has sharp, rearward-pointing projections on the roof of its mouth and tongue.

Evolved to be diving birds, loons do not have the hollow bones of flying birds. Their frames are composed of solid, dense bones which help them stay submerged. To aid diving, their feet are positioned at the back of their body. You may recall these are features of diving ducks, the two groups of birds sharing the similar characteristics of birds that hunt by diving, their morphology a result of convergent evolution. As with diving ducks, loons require water “runways” to take off and land to overcome their heavier frames. They also only rarely come on to land, since they are ill-balanced to manage terrestrial walking with ease.

A refresher on some of the behaviors and physical characteristics of diving ducks is here:

Common loons build nests of twigs, reeds and grasses on islands or along the reed-protected edges of ponds and lakes. Gestation takes 25 to 29 days, with both parents sharing incubation responsibilities (although the females typically spend more time in this endeavor). Post-hatching, the responsibilities for feeding and caring for chicks is shared by both parents as well: one parent will carry the young chicks on its back to help keep them warm while the other goes off in search of food for the little ones. Parents continue to watch over the chicks, feed and care for them until they are about 10 to 12 weeks old, at which point the juveniles will be fairly independent, able to feed themselves and fly. Loons have only one or two chicks per year, and although they reach sexual maturity at two, they don’t usually successfully breed until about seven years old. But they are relatively long-lived, reaching 25 to 30 years old in the wild. The IUCN classifies the common loon as a species of Least Concern, but because of habitat loss and human disruption of breeding areas, New Hampshire and Michigan have conferred Threatened status to the bird.

The sources for today’s gif are found here, here and here.

Genome Biology and Evolution: “Determining the Position of Storks on the Phylogenetic Tree of Waterbirds by Retroposon Insertion Analysis” by Tae Kuramoto, Hidenori Nishihara, Maiko Watanabe and Norihiro Okada, 11/1/15

Loon Preservation Committee

National Park Service: Common Loon Resource Brief

Audubon: Common Loon

All About Birds: Common Loon

Our New England Guide (Instagram)

Wikipedia: Loon

National Loon Center: Ask the Scientist

Biodiversity Research Institute: Loon Research in Massachusetts

Commonwealth of Massachusetts: Common Loon

Wisconsin Public Radio: “Fascinating Facts About Loons From A Biologist Who’s Studied Them For Decades” by Liz Harter, 7/22/21

Born in early July, Berlin Zoo’s new aardvark cub is starting to venture out into its new habitat space with mom Memphis. As of this writing, the zoo doesn’t yet know if the cub is a boy or a girl, so it is still unnamed. I suspect with a baby this cute, there will likely be a competition to choose it’s name eventually. This is Memphis’ second cub; her first, Frida, was born April of last year. Resident male aardvark Kito is dad to both cubs, but just like it would be in the wild, he doesn’t have much to do with raising the kids.

A refresher on aardvarks can be had by clicking this story:

Aardvarks find and unearth food with their digging claws and rooting noses. While they are well-known for their consumption of ants, termites and a grub or two that they locate along the way, they also sometimes eat fruit. Or, more specifically, they eat only one particular fruit; one that entirely depends on the aardvark to propagate. It is a symbiotic relationship that has influenced how both plant and animal have evolved over the ages.

Cucumis humifructus, or in common parlance the “aardvark cucumber” (or also sometimes called the “aardvark pumpkin”) is a species of cucumber that grows in southern and tropical Africa. It is in the Cucurbitaceae family, the family of gourds which include squashes, melons and cucumbers. Most of the plants in this family grow on tendriled vines that produce yellow or white flowers that grow big to attract pollinators. After pollination these flowers develop into low, ground-resting fruits. The propagation and distribution method for most of the plants in this family is fairly straightforward: make appetizing-looking bright and shiny fruits, have an animal consume your flesh and seeds, rely on the seeds being dispersed when the animal poops, grow more plants from the expelled seeds.

But the aardvark cucumber does something a bit strange. After pollination, the flower stalks bend towards the ground, digging into the soil and pushing the developing fruit underground. It is believed to be the only species in the gourd family that grows its fruit below the surface. The growing season is between three and four months, fruits becoming round, moisture-filled treasures about the size of baseballs, buried beneath the surface.

There are other plants, such as peanuts, that grow seed-bearing fruits underground. But in the case of peanuts and other similar legumes, the seeds are buried to aid seed germination. The fruits of these types of plants are developed under only enough soil—no more than an inch or two with peanuts, for example—that a seeding plant can easily grow up to the surface after sprouting.

Aardvark cucumbers, on the other hand, can bury their fruits 30 to 90 cm deep (about one to three feet) under soil. This is far too deep for any seedling to reach the surface. The fruit develops a tough, water-resistant skin and remains underground, sometimes for months, resisting decay and biding its time. As they ripen, they develop a unique fragrance and can emit this scent up to six months after reaching maturity. Researchers have postulated that some molecules in these scent compounds may mimic ant pheromones or rotting wood (a hypothesis that requires further investigation).

Regardless, the scent is strong and enticing enough to attract the sensitive noses of aardvarks. Using those snouts and claws, the animals unearth the fruit, bursting the globes open with their noses and lapping up the flesh and seeds with their long, sticky tongues. The pulp provides nourishment and hydration for the aardvark, who must find it particularly delightful, since it is the only fruit the aardvark actively searches out in the wild. Their habit of feeding on the fruit of this plant might be the reason that the aardvark is the only ant-eating animal that retains functional cheek teeth, aiding the animal in breaking down the melon’s flesh for consumption.

And so the cycle is completed: the aardvark will pass the seeds through it’s feces, which it then buries, an aardvark’s way to hide its sent from potential predators. With aardvark nightly foraging covering substantial distances (regularly between two and nine miles), seeds are scattered along the aardvark’s path. Those newly fertilized and planted seeds are then ready to sprout up during the next growing season in ideal germination conditions. Without aardvark intervention, the aardvark cucumber could not survive.

But why would a plant evolve to bury its fruit so deeply? Surely a more shallow covering would be easier for an aardvark to find. Or why evolve to bury a fruit at all, since those on the surface could be easily located by any animal and could potentially be distributed without a specialized partner. As it turns out, a deeper burial is another important factor in propagation success for the plant. Researchers carried out a series of experiments, digging up mature fruit and recovering them at different depths to determine how the change affected detection and consumption. They found that fruits placed in shallower coverings could be scent-detected by porcupines, who eagerly unearthed the aardvark cucumbers and gobbled them up. But in chewing up the fruit, the gnawing teeth of the porcupine crushed and damaged seeds, leaving very few intact after defecation. The seeds of fruits consumed by other rodents, rabbits or grazing animals would face a similar fate. Turns out that the not-so-sharp cheek teeth of the aardvark are gentler, giving the seeds a better chance of surviving the process of ingestion. At deeper depths, it is only sensitive-nosed aardvarks that can detect the scent of buried aardvark cucumbers.

Unsurprisingly, in areas where aardvarks have become scarce, the aardvark cucumber has all but disappeared. As an annual plant, it is particularly vulnerable to the loss of its seed-dispersing partner, relying on regular, seasonal assistance from one very specific animal. The plant has become quite rare in some parts of Africa, likely due to declines in local aardvark populations. While aardvarks are on the whole considered a species of Least Concern from the IUCN, they primarily reside in protected reserves. These are the places where their favorite fruit also still grows in abundance.

The source for today’s give is here.

Plants, People, Planet (archived by Wiley): “Antbears and underground melons: A highly specialized seed dispersal mutualism mediated by scent” by Steven D. Johnson, Anka Eichhoff and Jeremy J. Midgley, 1/29/25

Botany One: “Unearthing the Old Mystery of Underground Melons” by Andrés Pereira-Guaquetá, 7/18/25

Red List of South African Plants: Cucumis humifructus Stent

iNaturalist: Aardvark Cucumber

Wikipedia: Cucumis humifructus

Wikipedia: Cucurbitaceae

IUCN Red List: Aardvark

I’m guessing by the amount of toys that this is a very pampered parrot. He seems to be greatly enjoying his train (or is it a roller coaster?) toy, carrying him in colorful style on a loop around his play area. I swear that looks like a smile on his beak.

Smiles are contagious. Or at least ours can elicit pleasure in our canine friends, according to a recent study published in iScience. Scientists at the University of Vienna in Austria performed a series of tests with some very good girls and boys, using an MRI machine to measure brain activity on dogs. The 14 canine participants were shown pictures of unfamilar human faces displaying different emotions. The dogs being shown happy faces lit up in the reward region of their brains more strongly than when shown pictures of faces displaying neutral emotions. Similarly, different regions of the dogs’ brains registered when being shown angry faces versus sad faces, suggesting that dogs can differentiate between those negative emotional states through visual clues.

The research team plans further tests to see if dogs brains also react to sounds, specifically the sounds that dogs make that is their equivalent to human laughter. They are not, however, planning a similar study on cats. As neuroscientist researcher Raúl Hernández-Pérez states, performing that test would be “nearly impossible.”

The source for today’s gif is here.

iScience: “Dog brain representations of human facial expressions: Encoding happiness and differentiating specific negative expressions” by Raúl Hernández-Pérez et al, 8/10/26

Science News: “Sad or afraid? Dogs may be able to read your face” by Meghan Rosen, 8/10/26

Meemie is a resident bobcat of the Rustic Acres Wildcat Rescue (RAWR) sanctuary in Rhode Island. Like many cats, she enjoys a spot of the ol’ catnip now and again. She’s not afraid to look a little bit silly and undignified in her pursuit of that ‘nip high, rubbing on her catnip ball. Stretch those toes, gurl! I do find it interesting at cats of all sizes are effected by catnip. Although it’s not universal—somewhere between 30 and 50% of cats do not experience catnip highs.

RAWR provides a bit of background on how Meemie came into their care…

Meemie was found alone in a barn, a tiny, frightened little fluff crying for her mother. We don't know where her mama went, if she abandoned her baby or was killed. Luckily, Meemie was raised by a wildlife rehabilitator who placed her with our sanctuary so she could live as close to a wild life as possible. Meemie is unreleasable because she has no fear of humans and never learned to hunt.

Meemie was the first bobcat to be rescued by RAWR. She’s known as the queen of the sanctuary, fluctuating between sweet and spicy, as her mood takes her. The shelter encourages their wildlife residents to exercise their wild natures, never trying to domesticate any behaviors. That even goes for rescues like Meemie that will be living at the shelter as their forever home.

The source for today’s gif is here.

Rustic Acres Wildcat Rescue: Meemie

Today we are enjoying a little owl (Athene noctua) get a little silly while having a sand bath. But really, the one who seems to be enjoying this scene the most is the little owl!

It does perhaps seem a little counter-intuitive that birds would use sand or dirt to get clean. Understanding their total maintenance regimen helps clear up the confusion. Most birds have an oil-producing gland located at the base of their tails called a “uropygial gland” (or alternately, a “preen gland” or “oil gland”). When a bird that has this gland preens, it distributes this oily secretion throughout its plumage, using its beak to distribute the substance on its feathers, and on the skin of its feet and legs. The oil helps keep the bird’s feathers flexible and water-resistant, and to keep its skin and beak in good condition. Additionally, there is strong evidence to suggest that uropygial gland oil may act as a chemical protection against feather bacteria.

But after a while, this oil can get thick and gunky (highly scientific term), so the bird has to remove old oil and refresh it. This is where sand and dirt help in the process, absorbing the old oil in preparation for a new application. As a bonus, lice or other parasites that might be sitting on those feathers will be forced off through friction into the gritty cleaning matter.

Some species of birds will have a strongly developed uropygial gland. Waterbirds like ducks, for example, will have a large gland relative to their body mass. There is a correlation between a bird’s contact with water and the size of their uropygial glands. The oil helps their feathers resist becoming waterlogged, providing thermal protection buoyancy control.

Owls, on the other hand, have light, airy feathers made for silent flying. While most species of owl do have uropygial glands, the oil functions as a conditioning agent more so than as a waterproofing layer. Owls become waterlogged much more easily than waterfowl, a result of the differences of the composition of their uropygial gland oil. Making sure that feathers are clean and fluffy is important to owls who have the need to fly quietly, and regular sand baths help keep those feathers in tip-top shape. An owl may opt for a water bath instead, splashing about in a shallow pool, or even occasionally taking a plunge bath, vigorously shaking off and being sure to air dry and preen afterwards.

The source for today’s gif is here.

Wikipedia: Little owl

Wikipedia: Uropygial gland

Birdorable: “The Secret Behind Waterproof Feathers & More: The Preen Gland,” 2/11/25

Linnean Society Biological Journal: “Sources of variation in uropygial gland size in European birds” by Orsolya Vincze et al, 8/2013

Elsevier Science: “Chemical composition of uropygial gland secretions of owls” by Jurgen Jacob and Jens Poltz, 5/1974

Bird Ecology Study Group: “Owl bathing” by YC Wee, 4/18/07

In today’s gif, we have a small band of coatis scrounging around in the leaf litter. The babies are called kits or kittens. They are certainly as cute as any feline kitten!

Coatis do their foraging during the day, using their strong snout-like noses to locate and roost for prey, digging out their prizes with clawed, nimble paws. This may very well be a mom coati with her kits, but as female coatis and their young form matriarchal bands, the older coati might also be a babysitter who is watching the youngsters while mom is off foraging on her own. When they are foraging and relaxed, coatis of all ages put their impressively long tails in the air, aiding group members in finding one another.

Coatis are members of the Procyonidae family, which includes raccoons, ringtails and other small omnivores that can be found in the Americas. Procyonids are in the order of Carnivora, but because of their omnivorous diet, they have lost some of the adaptations for flesh-eating found in their carnivorous relatives. Significantly, they have carnassial teeth (meat-shearing molars), but the teeth are poorly developed in the majority of procyonid species. Genetic studies have shown that procyonids split from carnivores about 22.6 million years ago, an offshoot of canids that adapted a more omnivorous diet.

Brush up on some other coati fun facts by clicking on this article:

The coati in today’s gif are, I believe, white-nosed coati. This is a species found throughout much of Central America and even as far north as parts of the United States—Arizona, New Mexico and occasionally seen in Texas. There’s also a population of wild white-nosed coati in Florida, likely descended from animals that escaped captivity.

The source for today’s gif is here.

Smithsonian's National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute: White-nosed coati

Wikipedia: White-nosed coati

Wikipedia: Procyonidae

Wikipedia: Caniformia

This fascinating, ghostly, graceful creature is a Bathyopsurus nybelini, a species of deep-sea crustacean filmed at a depth of 3923 meters (2.4 miles) in the waters off Trinidad & Tobago. This video was one of several intriguing moments captured by the Schmidt Ocean Institute during their month-long exploration of the area. You may recall another gif from a few weeks ago featuring Schmidt’s video of the swimming pink sea cucumber. There are some wondrous and weird creatures in the depths.

Using wing-like paddles on its legs to propel itself, a Bathyopsurus is an agile swimmer, able to locomote backwards, upside-down or right-side-up. Their morphology and motility are an adaption for life in their extreme habitats, giving them the ability to crawl on the seafloor or take to swimming vertically in the water column to escape predation and theft of food. Much of what was filmed by the Schmidt deep-ocean probe and shown in the gif is the Bathyopsurus swimming backwards and upside-down. The long, delicate streamers are the animal’s antennae and forelegs. The paddling legs are located at its posterior thorax. This is easier to visualize once you get an idea of the animal’s anatomy, and thanks to artist Charin Park at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, you can get a better look.

Sightings of animals in the Bathyopsurus genus are quite rare. There have only ever been three species discovered, and complete samples taken of only two of them. It inhabits the very deepest layers of the ocean, between 4000 and 11,000 meters (2.4 to 6.8 miles deep). It was first described in 1955 based on what was at the time the best known scientific collection method, deep-water net trawling. The early collected samples consisted of only a small handful of incomplete and damaged examples of this fragile-limbed creature.

Only recently have intact specimens been recovered, thanks to new specialized technology designed for deep sea exploration and collection. In 2022, the AleutBio expedition captured specimens of Bathyopsurus sonnei from the Aleutian Trench at a depth of 4224m (2.6 miles) using a specialized sledge dragged along the ocean floor. That same year, Wood’s Hole Oceanographic scientists descended into the Puerto Rico Trench at over 3.8 miles under the surface carried by HOV Alvin, a deep-sea passenger submarine designed to withstand the pressure of extreme depths. There they observed and collected samples of Bathyopsurus nybelini. These new discoveries have aided in understanding a genus of this mysterious isopod.

Of all the Bathyopsurus that the Wood’s Hole team observed, a significant percentage of them were hauling pieces of sargassum seaweed, prompting the researchers to wonder how this this crustacean was using it. Was this difficult-to-consume seaweed food? Was it helping the animal camouflage? Was the Bathyopsurus trying to make itself look larger? A morphological analysis combined with microbiological study and DNA sequencing reveal the answer.

The Wood’s Hole team found that Bathyopsurus possesses serrated and grinding mouthparts, ideal for tearing and consuming leathery sargassum. But sargassum is difficult for many animals to digest due to the strong, complex molecules that compose its cell walls. However, this isopod’s gut microbiome contains genes that are able to break down these tough compounds. Thanks to Bathyopsurus’ unique swimming style, it is well-adapted for plucking fronds of sunken sargassum from the ocean floor, enabling it to consume its prize as it drifts.

This cycle—wherein a near-surface plant material sinks and eventually becomes consumed by a deep sea organism—has implications for carbon cycling and storage at great depth. The biological carbon pump, that is the ability of the deep ocean to act as long-term storage of carbon as it moves from the surface, helps mitigate the warming of the planet because this results in less of it in the atmosphere in the form of carbon monoxide. The deep sea organisms that consume carbon are part of the loop that keeps the element trapped for hundreds or even thousands of years in the deepest biome of the earth.

The source for today’s gif:

Schmidt Ocean Institute (Facebook)

Oceanus: “A hadal zone mystery solved” by Evan Lubofsky, 6/11/26

Woods Hole Oceanographic institution: “Swimming crustacean eats unlikely food source in the deep ocean,” 9/11/24

Zootaxa: “A revaluation of the Eurycopinae (Crustacea, Isopoda, Munnopsidae) with a description of Dubinectes gen. nov. from the southern Atlantic deep sea” by Marina Malyutina & Angelika Brandt, July 2006 (Accessed via ResearchGate)

Proceedings of the Royal Society B: “A deep-sea isopod that consumes Sargassum sinking from the ocean’s surface” by Logan M. Peoples et al, 9/11/24

PhysOrg: “Swimming crustacean eats unlikely food source in the deep ocean” by woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 9/11/24

Progress in Oceanography: “Bathyopsurus sonnei sp. nov. – A new species of the rare deep-sea isopod genus (Crustacea, Isopoda, Asellota) from the Aleutian Trench, north-eastern Pacific with notes on the Bathyopsurinae” by Angelika Brandt et al, June 2025

Nautilus Live: “Deep-Sea Isopod Paddles by ROV Little Hercules” (video)

Deep-Ocean Stewardship Initiative (Instagram)

Wikipedia: Isopoda

EBSCO: Isopod

Wikipedia: Munnopsidae

Wikipedia: Crustacean

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution: Biological carbon pump

Today we have what I believe are juvenile mute swans showing off their dabbling skills. They are using those long necks to find food underwater. Mute swans primarily eat the leaves, stems and roots of plants like pondweeds, eelgrass, sea lettuce and algae. They are voracious foragers, eating up to eight pounds of aquatic plant material a day, tearing off bits with their strong, rough-edged bills and digging at the bottom of the lakebed to dredge up roots. They’ll also consume animal prey such as tadpoles, small fish, insects and worms as they find them while rooting around down there. Bottom’s up, gang!

Waterfowl have adapted a range of tactics that enable different species to live in the same habitats while not directly completing for food. Dabbling—the term for a feeding behavior whereby a waterfowl tips its head underwater and hindquarters in the air to forage for food below the surface—is one such strategy. Dabbling ducks will forage in shallower areas than geese and swans, whose longer necks afford them the ability to exploit deeper areas. Other waterfowl are divers, submerging their entire body to swim underwater after prey, and for some species, for plant matter. Some types of ducks and geese are grazers, foraging on land, and several species of dabblers also engage in grazing behaviors. Grubbers work in marshy areas, uprooting grasses and sedges from the soil to eat the roots and tubers. Still other waterfowl species are known as strainers because they slurp up water and then forcefully expel it, filtering it through the fine comblike structures in their bills to trap food items like invertebrates and seeds.

Most waterfowl are of the diving or dabbling variety. Their disparate feeding strategies accompany distinct morphological differences between species. Diving ducks tend to be heavier, which enables them to stay underwater more easily. And diving ducks are able to tuck their smaller wings against their bodies more easily while swimming under the water, forcing out pockets of air to more easily submerge. The physical trade-off is that divers need to expend more energy to take to the air. You have probably witnessed a diving duck running along a stretch of water and flapping its wings, using this “runway” to pick up speed and gain lift to fly. Divers land in a similar fashion, skidding over the water until they come to a stop. Dabbers, on the other hand, are lighter and more buoyant. They tend to have larger wings and can take off flying and land in a more direct, targeted manner.

Dabblers have evolved legs placed in the middle of the body. This gives them a center of gravity that enables them to tip up and down, balancing their buoyancy. But the mid-body placement does make paddling around harder. Conversely, divers tend to have legs and feet positioned towards the back of their bodies, which they use for propulsion while swimming under the surface and their big feet help them paddle on the water’s surface with powerful ease. The rear leg placement does make it more awkward to walk on land, however. Diving types of waterfowl will spend the majority of their time on the water, where they are less vulnerable to predators that would be tempted to go after a slow-moving snack. When they do come to land, for nesting for example, diving ducks will typically shelter close to the water’s edge and under cover of vegetation.

Dabblers are comfortable walking on land and need never worry about competing with divers for grazing stock. Divers, however, can reach depths and food sources that are simply out of reach for dabblers. In specializing in different feeding strategies, waterfowl species can live in harmony within the same general wetland areas.

Here’s a short video by the Missouri Department of Conservation that provides a concise visual comparison between divers and dabblers.

The source for today’s gif is here.

Medium: “Bottoms Up” by Derek de Witt, 3/26/18

Ducks Unlimited: “Waterfowl Feeding Adaptations” by John M. Coluccy, Ph.D and Elizabeth St. James, 6/22/11

Audubon: Mute Swan

All About Birds: Mute Swan

This young lady with ears galore is Minzi, also known as Adelheid von Burgundy. She’s a new resident of Julia Wheale’s horse farm in Velten, Germany. She’s only three months old, and she’s already a pretty sizable gal. She’ll likely get bigger. This breed of rabbit doesn’t stop growing until at least 12 months old.

Minzi is a Continental Giant rabbit, also known as a German Giant. This breed is thought to be a descendant of the Flemish Giant rabbit, the largest domestic rabbits in the world. Continental Giants are not universally recognized as a breed distinct from Flemish Giants, but in any event, they grow to impressive size. Continental Giants grow to 16-20 pounds on average, but some can grow larger, weighing over 40 pounds and exceeding four feet long.

The current Guinness World Record holder of biggest rabbit is a Continental Giant named Darius, who measured four feet, three inches long and weighed almost 50 pounds. We don’t know if Darius is still with us, as he was rabbit-napped in 2021 and there have been no sightings since. Similar tragedy struck Darius’ son Simon, on track to grow even larger, who mysteriously died in 2017 on board a United Airlines flight at the age of ten months old.

Flemish Giants, Continental Giants and other large breeds of rabbits were selectively bred for size for their meat and fur. But modern pet owners are finding that large rabbits make great companions, provided their needs are met. They generally have a more easy-going personality than smaller breeds, provided they are well socialized and properly trained. Adequate space must be provided: a standard rabbit cage won’t be comfortable for an animal over four feet long. And they need exercise room to run around to stay fit and healthy, as well as plenty of enrichment items like toys to keep them engaged and happy. Of course, a big animal is going to eat a lot more too, so budget for those extra helpings of rabbit pellets and veggies. Ralph, the Guinness record holder prior to Darius, regularly ate between 60 and 90 dollars worth of food weekly. His daily intake included cabbage, broccoli, half a cucumber, corn on the cob, two apples, half a bag of watercress, water crackers and two slices of brown bread.

The source for today’s gif is here.

Oxbow Animal Health: “Essential Guide to the Top 13 Largest Rabbit Breeds,” 2/26/24

BBC: “‘World’s biggest rabbit’ stolen from owner’s garden,” 4/12/21

Guinness World Records: Longest rabbit living

Metro: Son of world’s biggest rabbit dies on United Airlines flight from Heathrow” by Richard Hartley-Parkinson, 4/26/17

USA Today: “Giant rabbits apparently make great pets” by Mary Bowerman, 4/26/17

Huffpost: “Ralph, World’s Largest Bunny Rabbit, Weighs 55 Pounds And Eats $90 Of Food A Week (PHOTO),” 4/3/13

Today I present you with a collection of bottle-fed kittens. I love all the different reactions. For some, milk time means sleepy time, for others the bottle feeding is coupled with excited toe or ear movements; some rely on a helping hand, and others are independent. Or a mix of those things! Kittens certainly do have a range of personalities.

Caring for young, orphaned kittens (or those that must be bottle fed due to rejection or failure to latch) requires commitment and attention to details. If the kitten was nursing from its mother, it would start with many small portions offered at a greater frequency when it was a newborn, transitioning to fewer but larger feedings as it aged. A care-giver must follow the same schedule as mom cat would, carefully monitoring and recording frequency of feeds, quantity of milk, and kitten’s weight.

Nursing kittens require special pet nursing bottles with appropriate rubber or silicone nipples to ensure proper fluid flow and ease of latching. Bottles and nipples must be thoroughly sterilized before use. Hands should be thoroughly cleaned before handling and feeding the kitten.

Kittens must only be fed special kitten formula. Cow’s milk or human formula doesn’t contain the right nutritional balance for cats, and can be dangerous to the young kitty’s health. The special kitten formula must be mixed according to instructions and then warmed, placing the bottle in a hot water bath, never directly heated in the microwave. Similar to feeding an infant human, the formula should be tested for temperature by placing a few drops on the inner wrist, making sure it’s not too hot.

Kittens must be fed belly-down, the same position they would nurse from a mother cat, to avoid choking. They should be allowed to feed at their own pace—squeezing the bottle or otherwise trying to increase flow could result in aspiration. Gently swaddling the kitten to keep it comfy and rubbing the face with a cloth to simulate cleaning by its mother can help them prepare to eat.

After eating, it’s important to clean the kitten’s face, removing any remaining traces of formula. And then, the all-important elimination sensation must be stimulated. Mother cat would clean the kitten’s genital and anal area to start the process, but with no mom cat, the human must do this step. Using a tissue or a soft cloth, the lower belly, genital and anal regions should be gently rubbed. This should trigger the kitten to pee and/or poop within a minute. Afterwards, the kitten must be carefully cleaned of any waste and gently dried to protect its delicate skin.

Caring for nursing kittens is certainly a commitment, but one that seems quite rewarding for those that have the nurturing skills. Hats off to those fine people that undertake the responsibility. Thanks for saving these young, precious creatures that fill us with such love and happiness.

To learn more about kitten weaning, check out the links below.

Your sources for today’s gif are here, here, here, here and here.

Best Friends: Bottle-Feeding Kittens: A Comprehensive Guide

Kitten Lady: Bottle Feeding

Esther Neonatal Kitten Alliance: Essential Tips for Bottle-Feeding Orphaned Kittens with Success

Oh dear, it looks like the marmot pups are at at again. Their rambunctious fight has spilled out onto to street (or more accurately, on to this walking path) and they are causing a giant scene. The neighbors shake their heads. But the neighbors will simply need to live through this phase. Marmots pups often mix it up on their way to learning social skills and building coordination. When they are adults, they’ll need these abilities to defend turf and compete for mates.

One of those guys might be Alan; or possibly Steve…

Marmots are large ground squirrels of the genus Marmota, with species are found in Asia, Europe and North America. There are 15 species of marmot, all herbivores and usually living in social groups. While the person that posted the marmot scrum didn’t indicate, I’m guessing that this was filmed in or near Oregon, where she lives. It’s a bit hard to tell for sure from the video, but these look like hoary marmots, who have a range that doesn’t quite reach far enough south to Oregon, so I’m thinking this was filmed in Washington state.

Hoary marmots get their common name from the frosty silver-grey fur on their shoulders and upper back. They are the largest North American ground squirrel. Adults range from 24 to 32 inches in length and weigh generally on average between 8 and 15 pounds, their weight fluctuating seasonally. It is a species with sexual dimorphism, with males growing significantly larger than females. In peak bulking-up season in the fall, some males can regularly reach 22 pounds, and a hoary marmot of 30 pounds has been observed.

Marmots are hibernators, subsisting on fat reserves during the winter, an evolutionary strategy that help them preserve energy during the months of cold and low food availability in the inhospitable habitats where they live. They hibernate seven or eight months a year, slowing their metabolism to by dropping their heart rate to as low as 30 beats per minute (vs. their waking 180-200 beats per minute) and lowering their body temperature to near freezing, relying entirely on stored body fat during this time. They enter their burrows in the fall and don’t emerge again until the late spring months. They will hibernate alone, plugging up the tunnel leading to their sleeping chamber with a mix of dirt, vegetation and poop to keep it protected from the elements.

Hoping to raise awareness and the profile of our marmot friends (specifically, those of the yellow-bellied species), the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL) has started an annual Fat Marmot Week contest. RMBL runs the Marmot Project, one of the world’s longest-running studies of these wild mammals. Voting for the best bulked-up marmot begins August 24th. The chonky candidates and voting information can be found at the Fat Marmot Week website.

Hoary marmots eat all sorts of greens during the non-winter months to maximize their reserves, including grasses, berries, lichens, mosses, roots and flowers. But they are selective grazers, choosing only the food that they like best in times of abundance. They, like all marmots, are diurnal, resting in sleeping burrows during the evening and emerging during the day to feed. They live in colonies of up to 36 individuals, consisting of one dominant adult male, up to three adult females, perhaps a subordinate adult male, and a clutch of young and subadults. They are vocal animals, communicating with a series of calls, chirps, whistles and growls. They readily socialize with other members of their colony, touching noses, play fighting and performing social grooming. Towards non-colony members they are less cordial, the females usually taking on the task of chasing interlopers away.

Hoary marmots are found in rocky areas, grassy alpine meadows and scrubby sub-arctic forests. The often excavate their burrows with their clawed front paws under or among large rocks, helping to protect them from a potential predator, such as a wolf, bear or coyote that might want to dig them out. Similar to those of their prairie dog cousins (also members of the Sciuridae family), marmots’ burrow colonies can be complex. Each colony maintains a single large resting hollow (a hibernaculum) with several points of egress, and a number of connected smaller chambers which are used for sleeping. Their resting dens are typically dug to at least 10 feet deep or even up to 20 feet, lined with comfy plant material. The depth keeps them below the frost line during hibernation season. Other burrows are used for hiding from predators. Refuge burrows are numerous, each colony digging about five a year, consisting of a single escape hole dug deeply, anywhere from three to seven feet long. Established colonies might have a hundred or more such burrows.

Hoary marmots enjoy sunning themselves on rocks, and spend almost half of their morning hours doing so. In areas that humans frequent, hoary marmots are not particularly shy creatures and unlike prairie dogs don’t immediately scatter when humans are nearby. They do, however, keep a close eye out for predators and will sound an alarm if a threat gets too close, signaling other members of the colony of the danger and giving them time to retreat to one of the refuge burrows.

Hoary marmots arrange their breeding schedule around the end of hibernation, copulating shortly before or after seasonal emergence from their burrows. Females typically raise litters in alternate years. Gestation lasts 25 to 30 days, resulting in a litter of three to eight pups. The youngsters emerge from the den at three or four weeks of age and will have already started weaning by this time. Subadults remain with the colony for about two years, after which time they will depart to find new territory and to eventually breed. They reach full sexual maturity at about three years old. Their average lifespan is 13 to 15 years old.

The source for today’s gif is here.

Wikipedia: Hoary marmot

Alaska Department of Fish and Game: Hoary Marmot

Wikipedia: Marmot

NPS, Rocky Mountain National Park: Marmot

Orphaned in Montana following the euthanasia of their mother, these two young grizzly bear siblings came under the care of Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in June. It’s safe to say they feel pretty comfortable in their new surroundings. Shenanigans abound! Much of their time involves climbing stumps, balancing on logs, digging through mulch piles, wresting and of course splashing about in their pool.

The slightly smaller cub with the bold, bright ring of fur is a female. The zoo reports that she is silly and full of confidence, assertive in finding her spot during training sessions and even quicker to decide that training should be over in favor of play. Her brother is the slightly larger cub. He’s showing himself gentle, relaxed and attentive. Both are intelligent and obviously energetic.

The cubs are currently eight months old. They are still drinking milk, but are starting to explore new diet options. The zoo is adding new omnivore items, produce and meat, to give them the nutrients they need to grow into strong, healthy adults.

Experienced keepers are working with the pair in training sessions and relationship building. Starting with treats, the bears are learning to approach the fencing for health checks and the administration of medications. The zoo finds it easier to separate them for a few hours of training, as the temptation to engage with the other for play is ever present.

The pair will soon be introduced to the zoo’s Rocky Mountain Wild grizzly bear habitat, a larger space with public-facing viewing. They also are currently without names. The zoo is holding a naming contest, with all proceeds to benefit The Vital Ground Foundation, a nonprofit working to protect and restore grizzly bear habitats and reduce human-bear conflicts across North America. If you’d like to participate in the contest, you can vote here with a donation of any amount, starting at $5.

The names under consideration are:

• Meadow (F) & Forest (M): inspired by grizzlies natural habitat

• Scout (F) & Ranger (M): honoring the people that protect grizzlies and their habitats

• Aspen (F) & Yarrow (M): highlighting the foliage found in the bears’ habitat

The winning names will be announced on the zoo’s website after the contest closes on August 25th.

The source for today’s gif is here.

News 18 WQOW: “Zoo asks community to help name two Grizzly Bear Cubs” by Abby Smith, 8/9/26

Polar bear cub Momota loves the enrichment toys that his keepers at Oga Aquarium in Japan provide for him. In particular, the plastic traffic cones are highly prized. Momota hugs them, chews them and throws them into his pool, but his most favorite activity is wearing the cones as a hat. He’s been photographed several times trying on different colors of cone, probably in search of the one that suits his complexion best. Who are we kidding...? he’s so cute they ALL suit his complexion best.

You have to feel for mom polar bear Momo. She does NOT want the cones in her cavern space and keeps tossing them out. But Momota, well… he’s got his own opinion about the matter. I don’t think he meant to poke mom’s butt as a rebuke of her “no cone” policy; accidents happen, amirite?

Momota was born in December, 2025 to mom Momo and dad Gota. His litter-mate twin, sadly, passed away. He’s been a popular draw for Oga Aquarium following his public unveiling. But since his traffic cone antics have gone viral, he’s become particularly admired on “the socials,” prompting a bit of fan art.

The source for today’s gif is here.

Daily Mail: “Cuteness cone-firmed! Polar bear cub plays with its new toys” by Sophia Stanford, 7/22/26

Today’s gif features a bird group that somehow manages to be a cross between sweet, friendly Muppet creation and terrifying craggy tree branch impersonator. It’s a potoo, specifically a great potoo (Nyctibius grandis), the largest of all the potoo species. They do grow to an impressive size, standing up to about 60 cm (23.6 in) tall, with a wingspan of over 70 cm (27.5 in), and they weigh between 360 to 650 g (13 and 23 oz). While they look a little like owls, they are not related and belong in a completely different avian clade.

The potoos are birds in the Nyctibiidae family, a group of nocturnal insectivores that can be found in Central and South America. Genetic analysis of potoos has found that the species within the family have a wide degree of divergence—the highest of any genus of birds—suggesting that the species are quite ancient, estimated to be about 48 million years old. Potoo fossils have been found in Europe, showing that they were more geographically dispersed during the Paleogene era (23-66 million years ago).

Potoos share a common ancestor with nightjars and are grouped in the clade of Vanescaves, derived from the Latin for “vanish birds.” Indeed birds within both of these families are very good at blending with their environments.

There are seven species of potoo divided within two distinct genera. They all share the similar unusual physical characteristics that define potoos: proportionally large, round heads; short, broad bills that open to wide mouths; and big, round eyes. Their eyelids have slits, enabling to them hide those prominent eyes from daytime predators while still sensing movement even when their eyes are closed. Their mottled plumage gives them excellent camouflage abilities amongst their tree branch perches.

Potoos are more often heard than seen. They are well-known for their haunting, plaintive songs that has been likened to a human’s wailing cry. This has earned them a folk reputation as mourners or ghosts of the forest. They sing almost exclusively at night, particularly during moonlit hours. The calls will vary by species. I’ve linked to the great potoo call and song here so you can get an idea of its famous “moaning growl” that has unsettled many a Neotropic visitor. In addition to their songs, they will growl and produce other guttural sounds when threatened or when defending their nests.

Great potoos are widely distributed through the forests, woodland boundaries and clearings of Central and South America. During the day, these shy and solitary birds can be found perching or nesting high in the tree branches of larger trees. At night, they will often choose lower perches in order to hunt. They take advantage of their natural camouflage, sitting on an exposed perch, waiting for prey to fly by. Their diet mostly consists of large flying insects, but they will sometimes take a bird or bat too.

Potoos are monogamous breeders and both parents share in the incubation of the egg and raising of the chick. They do not build nests, but instead will deposit their clutch of a single egg in a depression of a tree branch or on a stump. A brooding parent will leave the nest infrequently and only during darkness to minimize the chance that a potential predator sees any movement that would foil the camouflage that the potoo depends on to protect its chick. Great potoos typically breed from February to August, although depending on range, breeding can be year-round. Incubation lasts about 30 days. Chicks will fledge at about two months old. While its lifespan is unknown due to the bird’s elusive nature, it’s estimated to be 12-14 years on average.

The source for today’s gif is here.

eBird: Vale reuzennachtzwaluw

Wikipedia: Great potoo

Wikipedia: Potoo

Our friend with the bright red belly and face plumage is a crimson finch (Neochmia phaeton), a passerine bird found in Northeastern Australia and parts of southern new Guinea. There are two subspecies of crimson finch, but both feature that vivid plumage and that red seed-cracking beak. The species displays sexual dimorphism, with females being a bit paler in color, although both have crimson feathers; it’s a bird that takes its redness seriously. Males have slightly longer tails and bills than females. Juveniles will have molted plumage and be less vivid than mature birds.

The crimson finch is about 13 centimeters (5 inches) in length and weighs about 13 grams (.45 ounces). It can be found in habitats with tall, thick grass cover. It prefers areas near wetlands and is particularly partial to areas that have an abundance of Pandanus trees (screw pines and other palm-like flowering tropical trees). Grass seeds make up the majority of its diet, and it also eats insects.

As well as being an important source of food, grasses are also useful material in crimson finch nest building. Along with stalks of grass, the birds will use shredded pandus leaves and bark to make a loosely woven, domed-shaped nest in the upper branches or crowns of trees, and they will line it with feathers and plant down to keep it soft. Nests will typically be built in colonies, “neighborhoods” containing several mating pairs living in the same area. Pairs stay monogamous through the mating season and help with both incubation and feeding of their clutch of, on average, four to six eggs. The chicks fledge about three weeks after hatching and will continue to stay in the parental nest for another few weeks. Both parents continue to feed and support their chicks until the young permanently leave the nest and fly off to independence.

Crimson finches have a reputation of being aggressive little guys, going after other crimson finches as well as other birds in different species, particularly the red ones. It seems that reality might be a bit more nuanced, though. After all, their communal nesting habit does seem to show that they will tolerate other crimson finches in their immediate vicinity without issue. Researchers have found that the aggression reflexes of the crimson finch is situational, based on threat assessment of the individual circumstance. They will certainly attack any interloper that comes too close to their nest, including members of their own species, and both males and females are equally aggressive when nests are in peril. Additionally, plumage color does seem to be an indicator of social hierarchy, with redder males generally playing the role of “boss” within a specific colony. The dominant males tend to be larger and older, and it’s possible that the visual cues of “redness” might actually help moderate aggression in mating and overall group social interactions. These visual indicators could actually serve to help reduce physical injury by dissuading a perspective challenger to tangle with a the reddest rival.

The source for today’s gif is here.

Birds of the World: Crimson Finch

Wikipedia: Crimson finch

BIRDA: Crimson Finch

ResearchGate: “The causes and consequences of group living in the crimson finch (Neochmia phaeton)” by Catherine M. Young, 1/2017

Birdbuddy: Crimson Finch

This group of young goats at the Patches Hill Farm in Massachusetts are just starting to enjoy solid food. It seems pretty clear that they’ve put on a good foundational weight while nursing. They are chonky babies! And so adorable. Good work, all the mom goats! The kids look like are loving this new grain foodstuff. But, they aren’t ready to make the change to a diet of 100% solid food quite yet.

But since I don’t really know anything about raising goats, I looked for a little information on when they should be weaned. The answer will depend a bit on the breed and the size and development on the individual kid. But the general rule seems to be that kids should be ready to be weaned between 8 and 12 weeks old, provided that they weigh at least 2 to 2.5 times their birth weight (or, if they are a dwarf breed, at least 20 pounds) and are successfully eating solid food. But they don’t necessarily have to be weaned then: it’s ok for the mom goat to decide when the time is right, and the longer a kid can stay with it’s mother, the better off health-wise and mentally it will be, since weaning and separation is stressful for young goats.

The young goat’s ability to transition from milk to solid food is a gradual process. Until the its stomach is prepared for the transition, it needs the calcium and protein that its mother’s milk provides. At about 2 weeks of age, kids start eating hay or pasturage in addition to milk feeding. It will eat a mixed diet of milk and solid foods for several months after. Their growth and adaptation to a milk-free diet largely will depend a lot on how they feed during their young lives, and even goats from the same litter may grow at different rates. For example, a doe might have given birth to too many kids to produce milk for all of them effectively, and the most dominant kids will get the most milk and grow most quickly. Close monitoring kid growth rate is the most dependable way to make sure they are thriving or otherwise might need supplemental milk feedings from a bottle.

Forced weaning needs to include something called “creep feed,” a higher protein grain mix that supplements the young goats’ needs when milk is no longer given. And the weaning process needs to happen over the course of one or two weeks, where mothers and kids spend daytime hours together, but are separated overnight. This gradual acclimation helps alleviate separation stress.

In addition to the commercial reasons that a farmer may want to wean kids away from their mothers, another consideration is sexual maturity. Non neutered males should not be left with their mothers or sisters much past 10 or 12 weeks. Female kids, on the other hand, will benefit from staying with their mothers as long as possible. As goat farmer Deborah Niemann has observed: “I find that kids raised naturally, with mom, are some of the healthiest goats produced. Not to mention they grow faster and sometimes larger than goats weaned earlier.”

You probably aren’t getting your goat-raising tips from me, though. For more of the ins and outs of weaning, check some of the links and videos below.

The source for today’s gif is here.

The Thrify Homesteader: When to Wean Baby Goats

Purina: Getting Your Kid off to a Healthy Start

The National Park Service in Muir Woods took this footage of a contempletive banana slug having a small nosh. They write:

Banana slugs are decomposers, consuming dead plant and animal matter. They also indulge in the occasional mushroom or seedling treat, all with the use of their radula. Located at the front, underside of the slug, this tongue-like structure is composed of thousands of microscopic “teeth” that allow for grinding up food before it heads down the esophagus. This feasting satiates not only the slug, but redwood forest ecosystems like Muir Woods!

Radulae are found most mollusks (except for bivalves) and act as their primary feeding apparatus. The form varies by group, but the radula typically works as a scraping organ, where the animal uses small rows of teeth to rake food into its mouth. In most species, the teeth are fixed to a fleshy tongue-like organ, giving the animal the animal the ability to bend them sideways. In gastropods, the slug or snail will retract its tongue-like organ (the odontophore) and use it’s rows of curved teeth (made of chitin) to scrape the surface of their food, raking it into their esophagus. Or they may use their radula as a rasp, feeding directly on a plant for example.

As their teeth wear down, the mollusk will produce new ones, which will migrate slowly from the back of the mouth cavity where they are generated to the front, replacing those that are worn out. The number and shape of teeth will vary by species and is based largely on their feeding regimen, carnivorous gastropods generally needing fewer teeth. Some mollusks have more than 100,000 teeth, arranged in nested, v-shaped rows. One species of deep-water gastropod with an ancient lineage has over 200 teeth per row.

Those lacy tracks that you have probably seen in gardens were made by snails or slugs, scraping up food like algae from a surface, traces of radulae in action.

The source for today’s gif is here.

Wikipedia: Radula

Hermione is an experienced Tasmanian devil mamma at the Trowunna Wildlife Sanctuary who knows a thing or two about raising joeys. It’s important to let the little one explore, but when they get scared, give them a quick call and they’ll know how to come right back. It’s the devil way.

Tasmanian devils are indeed little talkers, employing a range of vocalizations that can include raspy screams, shrieks, growls, snorts and grunts. They most often use these calls to signal and warn other devils during their nocturnal feeding frenzies. While they do tolerate other devils when a found carcass is large enough to share, they like to posture and display dominance as they feed. Marc at Wild Ambience takes wildlife sound recordings and his recordings of Tasmanian devil sounds can be found in the link below.

I did a more in-depth dive into the lives of these carnivorous marsupials a few months back. Click below for a refresher.

Recently, the University of Tasmania reported a bit of positive news about the new strain of Devil Facial Tumor, dubbed DFT2, that university researchers have been tracking since its discovery in 2014. Compared to the original strain of DFT that has impacted much of the devil population, researchers have found that DFT2 is spreading at a slower speed than anticipated and remains contained to one region, with populations remaining stable. Dr. Rodrigo Hamede from the University’s School of Natural Sciences says that this finding “suggests there may be some capacity for devils to adapt and live with this cancer over time.” While the risks to Tasmanian devils remain, the findings are changing the way scientists understand the disease.

Meanwhile, a partnership between Colossal Biosciences and the university are running vaccine safety trials in fat-tailed dunnarts, a biologically relevant marsupial, to test whether correcting devil-specific mutations might reduce their susceptibility to the disease. The partnership will employ a two-pronged approach: development of a field-ready oral bait vaccine designed to train the devils’ immune system to destroy DFT1/DFT2 cells; and gene-editing research on the gene identified as the origin of DFT1. The hope is that the university’s current body of vaccine work will be accelerated under this process, allowing them to explore a gene-editing strategy in parallel that could enhance the vaccine. Tasmanian devils are currently listed by the IUCN as Endangered, with the populations of this apex predator and keystone species threatened by the highly contagious disease.

The source for today’s gif is here.

Trowunna Wildlife Sanctuary

WildAmbiance: Tasmaian Devil Sounds & Calls

University of Tasmania: “Tasmanian devils showing signs of coexistence with second cancer,” 7/22/26

Business Wire: “Colossal Foundation Partners With University of Tasmania on Vaccines and Gene Editing to Fight Devil Facial Tumour Disease,” 7/1/26

Monzoto is an okapi calf born at San Diego’s Safari Park in early May to dad Upepo and mom Mahameli. His name means “star” in Lingala, the Bantu language spoken in Central Africa. Monzoto, like all okapi calves, instinctually likes to hide away: baby okapis spend their first few months under cover, allowing mothers to leave them for a bit while they search for food. But as time goes on, the youngster is feeling a bit bolder, growing more confident and adventurous, and starting to venture out into the park’s African Woods habitat, joining his mom. I mean, check out those fabulous markings—I’d be showing those off too if I were him.

Okapis are also called “forest giraffes” or “zebra giraffes,” and indeed they are related to giraffes, being the only other extant genus of the Giraffidae family. The animals in both genera have relatively long necks for ruminants (although obviously giraffes’ are much longer), both have long, agile, dark-colored tongues, and both have skin-covered horns called ossicones—present in both male and female giraffes, but only in male okapis. The two share a common ancestor that diverged from other ruminants over 20 million years ago. Studies to determine when okapi and giraffes split from each other place their common ancestor somewhere between 11.5 and 18 million years ago. While giraffes and okapi are now only found in Africa, the Giraffidae family once contained a number of diverse species, with numerous extinct genera found in fossils throughout Eurasia. With its physical similarity to earlier members within its evolutionary tree, the okapi is considered a living fossil.

Okapis are about 8 feet long and weigh about 640 pounds on average, with females being a bit taller than males. In the wild, they are elusive and solitary, coming together only to mate. Gestation last on average about 440 days (!), whereafter a single calf will be born (although in rare instances, twins can occur). Calves can stand within 30 minutes of birth. To protect against predation, they are kept in hidden nests in densely forested areas, nursing infrequently on milk that is high in protein and low in fat. Calves do not poop until they are a month or two old, an adaptation thought to help avoid predator detection when they are at their most vulnerable. Juveniles start eating solid food at about three months and are fully weaned by about six months. They are independent at about one year old.

As ruminants, okapis browse forest vegetation, eating understory foliage of small trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants adapted to their dim, humid forest environments. They will dine one grasses, ferns, fruit and fungi as they find them, using their long, flexible tongues to selective browse for the plants that they like. They are primarily diurnal, although they may be active during a few hours of darkness. Both males and females establish home territories using urine marking and scent, rubbing their necks against trees. Males are tolerant of females foraging within their ranges, but will defend against other males. While males are constantly migratory, shifting their turf, females are stationary within their established ranges.

Okapis are only found in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo, preferring lush, high-canopy rainforests. They are fully protected under Congolese law and nature reserves within the country support significant populations of the animal. However, logging, human settlement and illegal bushmeat hunting continue to stress okapi populations. The violence and ongoing poaching in this area of political instability makes protecting this IUCN-listed Endangered species more difficult. One particularly vicious attack at occurred the Okapi Wildlife Reserve in 2012 when a gang of armed poachers killed six staff members and all 14 okapis at their breeding center. During this incident, most of the center’s staff were able to escape into the forest. The center continues to function today, and the reserve provides refuge to a number of endemic and threatened species, including about 5000 okapii, and is home to two indigenous tribes.

Captive breeding populations of okapi, like the one in San Diego, help bolster wild populations, and zoos in North America and Europe participate in managed breeding programs. San Diego has included okapis since 1956 and have welcomed over 60 okapi births since their first in 1962.

The source for today’s gif is here.

Wikipedia: Okapi

Save Giraffes Now: Evolution of Giraffes

Huffpost: “Tragic Losses in the Heart of Darkness,” by Jeff Flocken, 8/29/12

UNESCO World Heritage Convention: Okapi Wildlife Reserve

Today we are enjoying another deep sea capture by the team at Schmidt Ocean. Their latest expedition takes them to the waters off Trinidad and Tobago. As Schmidt explains, 93% of the Caribbean country’s marine jurisdiction sits below recreational scuba depths, and so they’ve sent their ROV (remote operating vehicle: a fancy unmanned submarine equipped with cameras and other sensing devices), other deep sea collection and imaging technology, and a team of scientists (most Trinbagonian) to explore the surrounding waters. They are hoping to shed light on the largely-unexplored region around the islands which sits in mesophotic zone, between 30 and 200 meters. Their explorations will also take them beyond these outer shores, into the deeper oceans of the region.

This bright pink inhabitant was filmed at a depth of 1,095 meters (3593 feet, or .68 miles). You can see its digestive tract coiled inside its gelatinous, translucent body. It is a sea cucumber of the species Enypniastes eximia, the only species in the genus Enypniastes. It has been given the common name of “headless chicken monster,” because of a vague likeness to a headless chicken, but honestly I much prefer its other common name, “the Spanish dancer.” Look at the way it fans its skirt out, like an expressive flamenco star. There’s probably a nearby jellyfish playing guitar.

Sea cucumbers are marine animals found on sea floors all over the world. They are echinoderms, the phylum that includes starfish, sea urchins and sand dollars. Species are found in both shallow and deep water, and they are the echinoderm best adapted to surviving in extreme depths. In depths over 8900 meters (5.5 miles), they comprise the majority of animal biomass and form large herds that move across the ocean floor looking for food. They play an important role in ocean ecology, scavenging the detritus that sinks to the depths, aiding in microbial decomposition and recycling nutrients. Their sediment-based diet helps keep the seafloor clean, keeping algae growth under control and making the environment healthier for corals, crabs and other bottom dwellers. They can be found in an astonishing range of shapes, sizes and colors. Most species are slow-moving and stick to the sea floor, but some like E. eximia have the ability to swim.

Enypniastes’ range in size from 11 to 25 cm (4.3 to 9.8 in). Their distribution is widespread, with sightings in the Gulf of Mexico, Tropical and Eastern Atlantic, Australasia and the Southern Ocean near Antarctica. They have been found at depths from 461 to 5,689 m (1512 to 18,665 ft). They spend the majority of their time floating in the waters above the sea floor, landing only to eat. They push marine snow into their mouths using their tentacles, only staying long enough on the sea floor to feed. It takes them only about 60 seconds for them to fully feed, after which they launch into the open water again. They swim moving their anterior veil in a rowing motion, or they will use their tentacles to pull themselves into moving currents. Energy conservation is important at depths, where food is harder to come by. Because these pink bodies are naturally buoyant, they use little energy as they propel themselves to new feeding grounds, expelling cleaned and aerated sediment as they float.

Their ability to swim allows them some protection from predators. Another adaptation is this sea cucumber’s bioluminescence ability. When it is bumped, its gelatinous skin lights up and sloughs off. It is thought that the light is a way to signal the predators of the cuke’s attacker of its presence; while that attacker is busy fending off that threat, Enypniastes can swim to safety. They have been shown to quickly regrow their skin and retain their ability to glow in the dark.

The source for today’s gif is here.

Wikipedia: Enypniastes

Smithsonian Magazine: “Welcome to the Weird and Wondrous World of Sea Cucumbers” by Katarina Zimmer, 5/9/25

Wikipedia: Sea cucumber

Schmidt Ocean Institute: Trinidad and Tobago

ResearchGate: “First record of the swimming sea cucumber Enypniastes eximia Théel, 1882 (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea) in Peruvian waters” by Francisco Alonso Solis-Marin & Yuri Hooker, April 2012

BBC Science Focus: “Why this poop-propelled ‘headless chicken monster’ is the ninja of the deep sea” by Dr. helen Scales, 4/20/24