A great new post is coming tomorrow about one of my favorite birds ever! In the mean time I highly encourage you all to check out this video on common animal misconceptions by CPG Grey!
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Wow, Sorry About That (i.e. California Gull)
Oh my, its been a while since I last updated. I would like to let you all know how sorry I am, and assure you that I will try to be more consistent. Its just been a crazy couple of weeks.
Well, for those of you who haven't given up on me yet, I have a new post for you guys (yaaaaay!). As promised here is more than you want to know about the California Gull.
Like most common animals, gulls are considered pests. This is not without reason, as the California gull is known to eat just about anything, including fish, small mammals, trash, crumbs, and even food out of people's hands (as I know from personal experience). This has made the California gull one of the most successful birds on the west coast, as they can survive even in the largest of cities and in thrive in dumps. In fact, the California gull is so versatile in its food and habitats, that they are even common around alkaline lakes, such as mono lake, despite the fact that no fish live there.
Gulls that live around such lakes mainly feed on brine shrimp and, believe it or not, alkaline flies. As one might imagine, gulls are poorly equipped to capture tiny insects such as flies, but the gulls are actually able to capture them by running along the shoreline with its mouth wide open and snapping at the clouds of insects.
But the California gull is not a pest to everyone. In fact, gulls often help agriculturalists and farmers by eating small rodents and insects that might otherwise destroy crops. The gulls have even been known to follow behind plows in a field, picking up whatever the plow might turn over.
But not everything that a gull picks up is food. California gulls are known to line their nests with various odds and ends, known as "juju", which can be anything from trash or hair, to small bits of plastic and toys that they pick up. Who knew they could be so artsy?!
On top of it all, California gulls are equal opportunity parents. Both males and females help to construct a nest on the ground, and once the female lays the eggs, parents each take 3-4 hour shifts sitting on the nest while the other parent goes out to hunt. Though they are only with a mate for a single season, they are faithful throughout it, despite the fact that will nest with up to 40,000 other gulls.
And what about when they are not nesting, eating? Well... not much. They spend about 20-30% if their day sleeping. I guess the life of a pest can be rather exhausting.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
California Gulls
For our third everyday animal I thought it only appropriate to do a post on the animals that inspired me to do this blog in the first place: seagulls!
However, seagull might be a common term in everyday use, but taxonomically it has no real meaning. What we refer to as “seagulls” are really just a number of different types of white headed gulls that may or may not live by the sea. In fact, in Western North America alone there are at least 20 species of gulls that might be considered seagulls, many of which can live nowhere near the sea! Each of these species is unique, and I hope to get around to all of them eventually, but for today, I am going to focus on just one: the California Gull (pictured here).
Why the California gull? Because its bad ass that’s why! Although many of us Californians might think of them as pests, the people of Utah certainly seem to appreciate them enough to build a golden statue in their honor and to make them the state bird. The reasoning for this goes way back to the mid 19th century, when Joseph Smith and his Mormon followers were settling in Utah near the Great Salt Lake. While already struggling to find a place to settle, the settlers were set upon by a swarm of crickets, specifically the species now knows as Mormon Crickets. This swarm of biblical (ah, get it?) proportions quickly ate any and all crops that the settlers had grown, and the entire settlement faced collapse and starvation.
Finally, one day, the settlement was saved by none other than the California Gull. Known to live in great numbers around the Great Salt Lake, the gulls flew in to devour the crickets, finally driving the insect off. The settlers were finally able to begin their harvest and establish a solid foundation for their settlement. Though it almost certainly wasn’t prayer that caused the gulls to descend onto the crickets, the settlers had the gulls to thank for their lives none-the-less.
Seen as divine intervention by many followers of Mormonism, the statue was erected in 1913 honoring this “Miracle of the Gulls.” Because of the church’s major involvement in the establishment of Utah as a territory and a state, the state government also recognized the historical significance of the Miracle of the Gulls and has since established the California Gull as the Utah state bird.
Now I know that this was not a very science oriented post, but it was such a cool story (after all, how many other species of birds do you know that have their own golden statue?) that it deserved its own post. But not to worry! There will be another post on California Gulls coming up on Saturday which will go back to focusing on ecology and physiology. So if you still don’t appreciate the California Gull, I’m sure you soon will.
Note: I am in no way associated with Mormonism or the Mormon Church
Here were my references:
Monday, February 13, 2012
Update
Hey guys! I am sure you are all just dying to learn more about everyday animals. I thought I should let you guys know that you don’t have to wait much longer! The plan is to have a new post up twice a week, every Wednesday and Saturday, so you can celebrate the half way point and the end of the week by showing off your new animal knowledge to your friends. So don’t worry, a new post will be coming up in just a few days.
There are a few features I would love to add to this blog. If you guys have any suggestions for animals please leave them in the comments. For instance, if you happen to notice a particular animal everywhere, and want to know why you should care about it, just put it in the comments. Also, I am trying to get better at explaining ecology and evolution to my friends, family, and to you guys. So if you have any questions at all regarding ecology or evolution (or even science in general), please post those questions in the comments and I will try to answer them in a timely fashion.
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Black Widows
For the weekend before Valentine’s Day it seemed morbidly appropriate to do a post about the classic model of a bad relationship. Though they may strike fear into many of our hearts, they really are amazing creatures and have been given a largely unfair reputation as dangerous pests.
The main reason for this reputation is that black widows are one of only two venomous spiders in North America, the other being the brown recluse. While black widows have a tremendous amount of neurotoxin venom that they can inject, they very rarely if ever inject more than a small amount. This small amount is still dangerous, and immediate medical attention should be sought after being bitten, however, death very rarely occurs.
It has long been believed that black widow females, which are recognizably large black shiny, ate their mates immediately after mating. As it turns out, this is a widely believed myth. While this occurs occasionally true, it is far from a sure thing, and the majority of the time the males get away unharmed. But before all you male spiders out there breathe a sigh of relief, be aware that the life of a male black widow is still far from easy. Males are brown, small, rather plain looking and lack the dangerous venom of the females. As adults males never eat, but instead spend their entire nomadic life looking for females to mate with. So if you are alone this holiday, at least you can take solace in knowing you are not a male black widow.
Although the myth of cannibalism after mating is largely false, black widows are far from unfamiliar with cannibalism. Every summer, black widows can produce 4-9 egg sacs each containing 100-900 eggs (many sources had vastly different numbers, even for the same species). Of all of these babies, only about 1-12 survive, and why? Not because of predators, lack of food, but cannibalism! Yes, once hatched, within about 20 days all of the hundred(s) of eggs begin eating each other. This is done so that the few left will be much stronger, bigger, and well fed than they might be otherwise, better ensuring their survival. Still… so macabre (thank you word-a-day calendar).
the picture picture at the end of the post was obtained from: http://www.topnews.in/usa/how-male-black-widow-spiders-avoid-getting-eaten-females-during-sex-211955
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Skunks
For my first post I decided to write about an animal that almost everyone in North America hates, fears, or fearfully hates. I am talking of course about the skunk.
Why has the skunk become so wildly successful? Well largely it is because of that most famous of skunk attributes, its scent. Or rather its scent glands, which allow it to expel noxious spray from nipples located at its anus. Many carnivorous or omnivorous mammals have scent glands located in their back end. In most of these animals the glands are usually used for marking territory or attracting mates, rather than for defense. There are several types of animals that have weaponized their glands, but none quite as much as skunks. In fact, the skunks scent glands are so modified that they can be aimed and sprayed up to 12 feet, and can even be controlled to be a stream or a spray, like different modes on a hose! These glands have made every predator in North America, including humans, wary of messing with skunks, and largely giving them free range of anywhere they choose to go.
Despite personal experiences to the contrary, skunks do not like using their spray unless they feel they need to. Only about four teaspoons of the stuff can be held in the skunk at once and making more takes valuable time and energy. Skunks have several distinct warnings before they spray. Those stripes you see are not just there for camouflage at night. The patterns are distinct and memorable, and any, predator who has had any experience dealing with the critters before knows to stay well away. If it’s pattern doesn't intimidate enough, and it cannot run away, skunks will also raise a high, rigid tail, stomp the ground, and spotted skunks can even do a handstand before they spray!
But its weapons alone do not make it successful. Skunks hunt mostly at night and at dusk and dawn. This allows certain out of sight out of mind attitude for many people and has allowed huge populations of skunks to exist in a human community where a similar animal prevalent during the daytime might be driven out.
Skunks will also eat anything, and I do mean anything. Skunks can thrive on our trash, scraps garden plants and even our pets’ food. Besides that, skunks have no problem going after some unusual prey like stink beetles, bee hives (for both the honey and the insects themselves) and even rattlesnakes! Truly these are not picky animals
Here was my main source. A good documentary for anyone who wants to know more about skunks and has an hour to kill: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/is-that-skunk/video-full-episode/4581/
The image above was obtained from: http://obrag.org/?p=23820
What This is All About
Welcome to The Everyday Animal! Recently I had a conversation with some friends of mine who were trying to find an animal to research for a project and had settled on some sea birds. After coming back later that day from observing the birds at the beach, one of them quipped: "It's too bad seagulls are so boring, there's so f***ing many of them."
While I initially ignored this comment, thinking about it later I wondered just what he meant. Are they actually uninteresting pests that only foul (or fowl, if you will, ha) up our coastal cities? Or has their incredible ecologic success simply habituated us to their presence and caused us to overlook an otherwise incredible animal?
What I found, of course, was the latter, and this led me to wonder about all the animals we see every day but might overlook. I was so fascinated by these everyday animals that I knew I had to share my findings. So here we are, a blog about the under-appreciated animals that we overlook every day, and all the things that make them amazing. Follow me and find out more than you ever wanted to know, about the animals you never thought you wanted to know about.
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