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The Resurrection Species: A Flightless Bird Came Back From The Dead!

Just like Gandalf from the Lord of the Rings, a rare species of flightless bird had came back from the dead – well extinction! 

The Aldabra rail is a flightless subspecies of the White Throated Rail, a small bird indigenous to the countries of Madagascar, Comoros and Mayotte. Like their name suggests, the Aldabra rail species inhabited the small atoll (ring shaped island) of Aldabra. Unlike the White Throated Rail, the Aldabra rail species had no natural predators while on the island. Because of this, they had no need to develop wings. 136,000 years ago, a flood wiped most of the living species on the island, including the Aldabra Rail.  Recently, scientists have found fossils of the same bird from 118,000 years ago, not 136,000 years ago. This means that these birds became extinct, and only 20,000 years later inhabited the island once again. How is this possible? This rare case of evolution is called “iterative evolution.” Lead researcher, Dr Julian Hume, said that “These unique fossils provide irrefutable evidence that a member of the rail family colonized the atoll, most likely from Madagascar, and became flightless independently on each occasion.” These White Throated Rail birds were able to re-evolve into the same flightless subspecies in only 20,000 years! Scientists think that this only happened because the island has the perfect characteristics for these birds to lose their wings: lack of predators and a mild climate. In fact, the Aldabra Rails still inhabit the same island to this day.  Scientists are fascinated by this discovery, because iterative evolution has never been seen in birds. On a broader note, scientists note that if descendents of an extinct species have the right habitat, they could possibly re-evolve into their ancient counterparts. Who knows, with the right climate, maybe dinosaurs will re-roam the Earth one day! 

 

I’m Izzykat and remember to Bikpenguin !

 


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What’s up with the mask Mr. Ferret ?

The teenage mutant ninja turtles may be modern day anthropomorphic superheroes, but there are real life masked crusaders that put the A in aposematic coloration.  The black-footed ferret, red pandas, civits, raccoons and polcats, all have ninja-like masks, but why ? Scientists have come up with several theories, but the most compelling explanation is that these masks are used to scare away predators (C.Newman and colleagues) – just like the rattlesnake shakes its rattle to announce: hey don’t mess with me !  Animals with ninja like masks may seem sneaky, but they are really cool creatures.

I’m IzzyKat and remember to bikepenguin !


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What a Face !

Poof ! The wings come out, then you see a flat black smiley face with little neon blue dotted eyes and a big blue smile.  Jumping back and forth, and side to side, the Superb Bird of Paradise is trying to flatter a female.  The bird is from New Guinea, a large island north of Australia, and while it is often hunted for its plumes (i.e., feathers), it is not an endangered species.  The male is black  with a green crown and a blue green breast; the female is an unvarnished red-brown.  The females are considerably out-numbered by the male birds, so there is a fierce competition for mates.  This interesting creature is a fantastic bird that sure knows how to dance.

I’m Izzykat and remember to bikepenguin ! 


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Mister Ed meet NOC the Beluga

What do parrots, Mister Ed and NOC the Beluga whale have in common ?

You guessed it – they all can speak … well, sort of.  In 1984 scientists led by Sam Ridgeway from the National Marine Mammal Foundation in San Diego recorded a Beluga whale named NOC (no-see) making sounds that mimic human speech (click here).  Pretty incredible if you ask me, but why not just ask a Beluga yourself – you might be surprised by what she says.

I’m IzzyKat and remember to bikepenguin !

 


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It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a … what … a flying fish ?

Screen Shot 2014-10-12 at 6.35.32 PMYes, that’s right, a flying fish !  This interesting creature has a tail to propel its body out of the air.  When its out of the water, it uses its fins like wings.  There are 40 types of flying fish.  Strangely, fisherman hunt this precious creature, but, fortunately, they are not yet listed as endangered.   The main predators of flying fish are marlin, tuna, swordfish, mackerel and humans.  Flying fish are also stealthy, they attach their eggs to natural rafts such as clumped seaweed and the baby fry have hair on their body to make them look like sea plants.  Excitingly, there is even a “Flying Fish Festival” at Catalina Island in late May or early June.  So the next time you go to Catalina, don’t just look down for fish, look up.

I’m Izzykat and remember to bikepenguin !


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Where there’s smoke there’s an … orangutan ?

Is that an orangutan in a cage smoking a cigarette ?  I couldn’t believe it – a Smoking Great Ape ! Visitors to the Taru Jurug zoo in Indonesia, had been tossing lit cigarettes into Tori’s cage for at least a decade, and sadly, overtime, as she mimicked the behavior of the tourists, Tori became addicted. She was even known to throw tantrums when in need of a fix. Although it took more than a decade, the zoo keepers helped her kick the habit by placing Tori on an isolated island within the confines of the zoo. It worked, and, even better yet, in 2012 Tori gave birth to a healthy infant orangutan.

So, although we share 96.4% of our genetic makeup with orangutans, the next time your at the zoo (or anywhere for that matter), don’t mimic the humans.

Im Izzykat and remember to bikepenguin !


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Got Camel Milk ?

Almond milk, soy milk, goat milk, milk milk (cow’s milk) and now, believe it or not, camel’s milk. Yes, camel’s milk – I just saw a bottle of it at Whole Foods.

The Company that makes it is called Desert Farms, located in Santa Monica California.  It is a conglomerate of 9 Amish family farms scattered throughout the United States.  Some of the farms have but a single camel, while the largest has roughly 50, most of the farms have about 10, including both Bactrian (2-hump) and Dromedary (1-hump), as well as hybrids.

Desert FarmsThe Desert Farms website is very informative (Desert Farms).  I learned that camels are native to North America but were hunted to extinction 9000 years ago.  Today there are about 3,000 camels in America.  Moreover, Desert Farms makes numerous claims to the benefits of Camel milk over cow’s milk, such as higher protein, lower cholesteral, a close substitute for human mother milk, and a number of medicinal uses.

Camel’s milk is expensive.  A pint will cost you about $25 at whole foods.  Desert farms explains that it is not easy to breed camels, and lactation lasts only about 10 months.  So the next time (or first time) you drink camel milk, don’t waste a drop.

I’m IzzyKat – and remember to bikepenguin !

 


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Elephant Whisperers

I just saw a fantastic movie on PBS, “the Elephant Who Found a Mom.”  It is about a baby elephant orphan named Aisha and an amazing lady, Daphne Sheldrick, who became her foster mom.  Daphne has dedicated her life to saving elephants who are orphaned by poachers (click here for the link to the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust).

Elephants are incredibly emotional.  They experience deep feelings of joy, anger, grief and love.  From what I saw in the movie, the maternal love of an elephant calf is on par with that of humans.  So that they don’t get lonely, keepers stay with the young elephants 24 hours a day, and rotate shifts to prevent the elephants from becoming too attached.  But for those keepers who love them the most, there develops a deep and special bond – they are the “elephant whisperers.”

I’m IzzyKat and remember to bikepenguin !


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Ugly is the New Cute !

Ugly animals generally get short shrift, but that may soon change.  The Ugly Animal Preservation Society is on a mission to save, you guessed it, Ugly Animals from extinction.  Their website (click here) is awesome and so is their President for Life – Simon Watt (click here for his personal website – ready, steady, science!).  The society recently held a contest to determine which animal is the ugliest on earth – the Blobfish was the well deserved winner.  So for now, forget Best in Show, Ugly is the new Cute.

I’m IzzyKat and remember to bikepenguin !