Entries Tagged 'mammals' ↓

The title the photographer gave this tapir was “sing a song.” If it is making a sound, I wish I could hear it! I love tapirs but have no idea what they sound like. I think it looks more like the tapir is just taking a breath after a refreshing drink though.

Via Suneko’s Flickr photostream.

I featured a picture by Tambako before in a post that also happened to have a picture of a baby hippo with its mother. I had not realized that they too had taken a picture like this.

Like these wonderful hippos, I must sleep!

Via Tambako’s Flickr photostream.

The red river hog is such a lovely creature, I’m surprised I had not known of it before! I wonder what the benefits for sleeping in such a formation is.

Via Ron Dunnington’s Flickr photostream.

There was a very large political rally in my hometown of Portland, Oregon yesterday, and I wanted to see what the crowd was like. I wasn’t looking for anything to post here, but I really like this picture!

Via Ryan Harvey’s Flickr photostream.

(I’m all for political discourse and activism, but please don’t make any political comments, a comment made on an animal blog is not going change anybody’s mind.)

Via woot882002’s Flickr photostream.

From the Flickr description:

I learned tonight that Petauroides volans is actually a gliding possum and is more closely related to the Lemur-like Ringtail Possum than other gliders. They are nocturnal marsupials, eating mostly eucalyptus leaves. About the size of a cat but considerably longer (about a metre long including the tail), they have a membrane stretching from each elbow to the knee. When extended this membrane forms a kind of wing that allows them to glide up to a reported 100m. We didn’t see any gliding this night.

I would have been a bit surprised to see it glide, it looks kind of chubby!

Via Julian Robinson’s Flickr photostream.

Via Frank Wouters’ Flickr photostream.

Via the Wikimedia Commons

Grace, in a recent comment on the blog, pointed me to an MSN article featuring 10 species from the EDGE (Evolutionary Distinct and Globally Endangered) of Existence conservation program. (As I am American, I can’t get myself to write “programme.”) It is a very neat program that aims at preserving species that are the most endangered and the most distinct from other species, both physically and behaviorally.

As I did not want to spoil on anything on MSN’s list, I chose to show pictures of a species I really like that was not featured in the article, the saiga antelope.

Link to the MSN article.
Link to the EDGE of Existence program’s homepage.
Link to EDGE of Existence profile of the saiga antelope.

The numbat is a marsupial in the order Dasyuromorphia, the order of the tasmanian devils, quolls, and thylacine (also known as the tasmanian tiger). It’s notable for being one of the only marsupials to be active during the daytime, its active hours matching the hours termites, its prey, are most active.

The numbat was found over most of Australia until European colonization. Being active during the day makes one more vulnerable to predators, and introduced species took advantage of the numbats vulnerabilities, eventually leading to their extinction everywhere but in a small area of Western Australia. Efforts to protect the numbat have proven successful however, and while the species is still considered vulnerable of becoming endangered, it is no longer considered endangered.

I kind of think the numbats markings resemble those of the thylacine, and I wonder if they have the same patterns because of their relation, or if it’s because of convergence evolution.

Via Nick Lawes’ Flickr Photostream!

I am kind of in a marsupial mood right now.

I think I’ll post another marsupial tomorrow.

Via Ben Harris-Roxas’s Flickr Photostream!

Posting this, I realized that I didn’t know what the difference was between a possum and an opossum. I had always assumed they were different names for the same thing. While related, it seems the word “opossum” is used for species found in the Americas, while “possums” is the name of their cousins in Australia and the Malay Archipelago.

Via Valerie’s Flickr Photostream!