Wildlife officials had originally planned to leave the young penguin alone in the hopes that his natural instincts would guide him back home. However, intervention was deemed necessary after the confused bird ingested over 7 pounds of beach sand and sticks, likely mistaking it for the snow he would usually eat to stay hydrated.
After being transported to the Wellington Zoo, the penguin, affectionately named Happy Feet, underwent three medical procedures to remove debris from his stomach and had since been living in a special temporary habitat while he regained weight and strength.
Today, Happy Feet is finally headed home as a passenger aboard the New Zealand oceanic research ship Tangaroa. An iced-down compartment and a diet of fish will keep him comfortable on the four day journey back to his native range. He will be released into the water by using a special slide or inflatable boat depending on his mood and the weather.
Fans of Happy Feet shouldered much of the cost of the penguin’s two month stay, donating over $28,000 to cover care and feeding costs. Happy Feet is currently wearing a GPS tracking device to allow scientists to keep tabs on his progress. As emperor penguins can live for up to 50 years, we are all wishing Happy Feet a long and happy life back home.
Arctic terns may be considered seabirds, but they don’t spend very much time on the ground. In a single year an arctic tern may fly over 44,000 miles, an amazing but necessary feat for a bird that spends its summers and winters on opposite ends of the earth. Arctic terns may fly over 1.5 million miles in their 20+ year lifetimes.
During the northern summer arctic terns can be found throughout coastal regions of northern Europe, Asia and North America nesting. Once the northern winter draws near, the terns will set out for their southern home in Antarctica. Because they fly with prevailing winds, the journey south may be up to 14,000 miles long. Whereas terns will stay on coastal land during the northern summer, they spend their time in Antarctica on and around pack ice during the rare times they’re not in the air.
Arctic terns are primarily carnivores and feed most often on small varieties of fish such as herring and cod, usually diving down to the surface to snatch the fish out of the water. In addition, they will also feed on crustaceans, berries and insects during the northern summer.
Once they have reached their third or fourth year of life arctic terns will begin breeding; pairs will usually mate for life. Chicks are born after about a month of incubation and must quickly learn to fly and hunt before making the long trek south for the winter. It is likely that all birds in the family will return to the same nesting site for the rest of their lives.
The most common venomous snake in the eastern half of the United States is known by many names. Depending on the region you’re in you may hear it referred to as the highland moccasin, the death adder, chunk head, pilot snake or red snake; but most often it is called the copperhead, and it may live in your backyard.
Copperheads are a species of pit viper and are related to North American rattlesnakes and moccasins. Growing to a maximum length of about three feet, copperheads are amongst the smallest North American vipers. Coloration varies from brown to pinkish tan in color with 10-18 distinct crossbands that are light tan to pale brown in the center and darker towards the edges. They do not have rattles on their tails like many other pit vipers.
Copperheads can usually be found in forested areas and are particularly common near rock outcroppings and ledges in mixed woodlands. Though primarily nocturnal during hot weather, copperheads are active during the day whenever the weather cools. During the winter months they can be found in dens often under ledges. These dens are sometimes shared with other species of snakes, even larger vipers such as timber rattlesnakes.
Most venomous snakes strongly prefer to avoid confrontations with animals that are too large for them to eat. Their venom is a precious commodity and they prefer not to waste it on anything that won’t become a meal. If threatened, a pit viper’s first reaction is usually to flee. If this is not possible, most vipers attempt to make their presence known to the intruder through either an audio display (a rattlesnake shaking its rattles) or a visual display (a cottonmouth opening its jaw to show its fangs). These actions are usually enough to convince a hiker (or deer) to choose another route.
However, the copperhead isn’t like most other vipers. Instead of making its presence known to an intruder, a copperhead that is unable to flee will usually stay motionless, using its camouflaged coloring to make itself nearly impossible to see on the forest floor. This often leads to hikers unknowingly stepping on the snake and provoking it to bite.
As common as copperhead bites are, they are usually not life-threatening. Many self-defense bites are “dry bites” in which little or no venom is injected. Even if the bite is venomous, the copperhead’s venom is considerably weaker than that of most vipers, and use of an antivenin is usually not required. However, fatalities can occur and immediate medical attention should be sought for any copperhead bite.
Though most people probably picture a wild tiger living in a warm climate, the largest of cats, the Siberian tiger, actually lives somewhere much colder.
The Siberian tiger is almost identical to the now-extinct Caspian tiger that was present across most of central Asia until recently. Caspian tigers were hunted aggressively during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries throughout Russia and China as forests were converted to farmland. The last confirmed Caspian tiger sightings occurred in the 1950’s, though unconfirmed reports still occur in the Middle East.
The current Siberian tiger can only be found in the birch forests of eastern Siberia, far northeastern China and North Korea. The wild population is estimated to be around 500 individuals. It is thought that they continue to exist in these areas because of the low human population density.
At nearly four feet tall at the shoulders and weighing nearly 700lbs, Siberian tigers are taller and heavier than Bengal tigers. They grow shaggy winter coats to deal with cold temperatures and tend to be less brightly colored than other tigers.
The Siberian tiger is an apex predator that feeds almost exclusively on red deer and wild boar. Both black and brown bears are occasionally hunted, but this is very rare. Brown bears have been known to hunt Siberian tigers as well; an equally rare occurrence. Siberian tigers also occur in the same habitat as wolves, though wolf populations tend to be much sparser in areas where the tiger is present.
Photo: Jelenia Sika
Despite their massive size, attacks by Siberian tigers on humans are rare. They are known to be extremely solitary animals that prefer to avoid human interaction. Most attacks throughout history have been either by wild tigers that were provoked or captive-raised tigers that did not possess an instinctual fear of humans.
The vaquita holds the distinction of being both the smallest and rarest marine mammal in the world. Also referred to as the desert porpoise or gulf porpoise, the vaquita (Spanish for “little cow”) lives only in the northern half of the Gulf of California, the small wedge of ocean between mainland Mexico and Baja, California.
Vaquitas are less than five feet long and weigh about 100lbs as adults. They are smaller but similar in appearance to the better known harbor porpoise, with their most distinctive feature being the dark circles around their eyes and dark coloration around their mouths. They live in much shallower and warmer water than other porpoises and appear to swim and feed leisurely on a variety of small fish and squid.
Illustration: William Shepard
Vaquitas are critically endangered. From 1997 to 2008 the vaquita population dropped from an estimated 500 animals to fewer than 200. Though they have no natural enemies in their isolated habitat and have never been actively hunted, vaquitas are extremely prone to becoming entangled in gillnets used for commercial fishing. Conservationists and government agencies from Mexico, the United States and Canada are currently working together to establish vaquita sanctuaries and limit commercial fishing to save this unique animal from extinction.
Although called a goat, mountain goats are actually a member of the animal family that includes cows, antelope and gazelles. Its genus, Oreamnos, roughly translates to “mountain lamb”, which makes sense given the high altitude at which these animals live. Found exclusively in the high mountain ranges of western North America, mountain goats are excellent climbers that spend most of their time at elevations of up to 13,000 feet; far out of the range of most predators.
Mountain goats are white in color with a noticeable beard and rearward-curving horns on both sexes. They have a double coat that includes a dense under layer covered with an outer coat of hollow hairs that moult in the spring. This thick outer coat allows them to withstand temperatures as low as -50 degrees F and 100mph winds. For as sure-footed as they are, mountain goats are quite large. They usually stand over 3 feet at the shoulders, and weigh anywhere from 100-300lbs.
Due to their imposing size and the high altitudes at which they live, mature mountain goats are not easy prey. Though they do have to be wary of wolves, cougars, and bears, especially when traveling between peaks at lower altitudes, the biggest threat of predation comes from golden eagles, which have been known to attack young goat kids. Mountain goats can and will use their horns to injure or kill large predators or humans that get too close to their kids; however, they are not naturally confrontational animals.
Mountain goats prefer to live in groups of 3-50 animals and spend their time foraging for grass, moss, lichen and other high altitude foliage. They currently exist in significant numbers are considered a species of least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature
When you think about the loudest animals in the ocean, usually whales come to mind. Some whale calls are among the loudest noises on earth and can be heard for many miles around. However, a significant amount of noise in the ocean is provided by a much smaller, 1-2 inch long shrimp called the Alpheidae, or pistol shrimp.
Pistol shrimp each have one specialized claw that is larger than the other. They are capable of snapping this claw together to produce a tremendous noise of up to 218 decibels; louder than a gun blast or a jet engine! The noise these shrimp produce is significant enough to actually disrupt sonar in submarines.
Though this snapping noise is often used for communication, pistol shrimp also use their unique abilities to hunt. When they snap their claws together a low pressure bubble is formed and a jet of water is shot out at 60mph. When this bubble collapses it momentarily produces a flash of light that is as hot as the surface of the sun! The shockwave from this collapse can easily stun the shrimp’s prey, allowing it to drag it back to its burrow for consumption.
Although its name makes it sound like a combination of an aardvark and a wolf, the aardwolf is actually a type of hyena that lives in two distinct ranges in southern and eastern Africa.
Photo: Dominik Käuferle
At only about 30lbs, aardwolves are much smaller than other hyenas and are only a little larger than an average fox. Their peculiar name comes from their feeding habits. Aardwolves feed almost exclusively on termites, using their long and sticky tongues to root them out of the ground. Although they will rarely hunt small birds and mammals, termites make up over 90% of the aardwolf’s diet; a single animal can consume up to 300,000 of them in a night!
Unlike other hyenas, aardwolves are actually beneficial to farmers. They aren’t attracted to carrion, they’re too small to kill livestock and their copious termite consumption helps control insect populations. Though their population is small and their range is extremely limited, aardwolves are not in decline and are not currently considered threatened.
Any time you discuss the world’s fastest animals the cheetah comes to mind; and while its 70mph sprint speed does make it the fastest land animal, it’s easily bested in outright velocity by the peregrine falcon, which can reach over 200mph in dives.
However, if you look under the sea there’s another animal that can give even the cheetah a run for its money in speed: the sailfish. Sailfish are members of the Istiophoridae family that also includes marlins and spearfish. They can be most easily recognized by their large sail-like dorsal fins that can run the entire length of the back. Like other members of the family, sailfish have long snouts that resemble swords and can grow to nearly 10 feet in length.
Photo: National Geographic
Sailfish are very prized by sport fisherman and do not have any real natural enemies other than man. This most likely has to do with the fact that the sailfish can outrun just about any other creature in the ocean, reaching speeds of nearly 70mph.
The sail on the sailfish’s back usually stays folded down when swimming, but can be raised when excited or alarmed to make the fish appear larger than it actually is. Scientists have also observed the sail being used to “herd” together the schools of fish for easier feeding. Sailfish come in a very wide variety of colors and have the unique ability to change colors almost instantly, a technique used to confuse prey and communicate with other sailfish.
Today is National Relaxation Day in the U.S.; a day that’s supposed to be celebrated by kicking back and not doing much of anything at all. Of course being as it’s a Monday there may not be much relaxation in store for many of us, but we can all take comfort in the fact that there is at least one animal that will have no trouble at all dozing the day away; the koala.
Koala doing what he does best. Photo: Sanjay Ach
Sometimes incorrectly referred to as koala bears, koalas are actually marsupials related to kangaroos, wombats and opossums and are indigenous to southeastern and eastern Australia. They are sometimes considered the laziest animals in the world due to the fact that they will sleep 18-20 hours per day.
However, this lazy lifestyle is one of necessity. Koalas almost exclusively eat eucalyptus leaves which are extremely low in protein and nutritional content. Therefore, the koala has evolved with a very slow metabolism and requires long periods of inactivity to properly digest and extract the maximum amount of nutrients from the leaves they consume. Of the four hours or so that they are awake each day, koalas spend two hours eating. The rest of the time is spent curled up on a tree branch napping the day away.
