Category Archives: Animals

Dolphins

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Dolphins

Splash, Jump, Splash, Jump, Splash!

  • Dolphins are water mammals that are related to whales and porpoises and they are from the family Delphinidae, oceanic dolphins, which is a family of about 40 species which includes some large oceanic dolphins, that are called ‘whales’, like the orca (killer whale), which is the largest dolphin in the family.
  • Dolphins, are typically grey in colour with a dark grey back, although this varies depending on the species, which also determines their average length and weight, which can be between 1.2 to 9.5 meters (4 to 30 feet) in length and 40 kg to 10 tonnes (90 pounds to 11 tons) in weight.
  • Dolphins can be found in oceans around the world, usually in open shallow waters along continental shelves, however there are dolphins that can be found in some river systems, although these do not belong to the family Delphinidae.
  • Dolphins are mainly carnivorous eaters with a diet consisting mainly of squid, fish and crustaceans, and are the prey of mainly sharks.
  • A male dolphin is called a ‘bull’, a female dolphin is called a ‘cow’, and a young dolphin is called a ‘calf’, and they travel and live in a ‘pod’ or ‘school’ consisting of five to hundreds of dolphins, depending on the species.

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Dolphin
Image courtesy of National Geographic
  • Dolphins have between 100 and 250 teeth, which are not all used for eating; a  blowhole on the top of their head that they use to breathe through; a tail, which is also known as a fluke, used as a propeller; pectoral fins on the sides that are used with the fluke to change direction; and a dorsal fin (the one on its back), which some dolphin species don’t have, used for stability.
  • Dolphins can leap up to 9 meters (30 ft) high out of the water and can move at speeds up to 48 km/hour (30 mph) in the water, however they don’t usually travel that fast.
  • Dolphins normally heal easily from large injuries, such as predator bites, with a full recovery and without infection, and they have good eyesight, sensitivity and taste, as well as great hearing, which can cause them stress if the noises are too loud, but they don’t have the ability to smell.
  • A dolphin’s form of communication consists mainly of clicks and whistles, and it uses echolocation to find its way around in the water.
  • Dolphins only sleep with one half of its brain while the other half is alert to make sure the dolphin doesn’t drown or be threatened by predators.
Bibliography:
Basic Facts about Dolphins, 2012, Defenders of Wildlife, <http://www.defenders.org/dolphin/basic-facts>
Dolphins, 2013, Wikipedia, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolphin>
Information and Facts about Dolphins, 2012, Bioexpedition, <http://www.dolphins-world.com/>

Common Grass Yellow Butterfly

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Common Grass Yellow Butterfly

Flutter around, dance around.

  • Common Grass Yellow butterflies are commonly know as ‘Common Grass Yellows’ and are also known as ‘Large Grass Yellows’ or ‘Grass Yellows’.
  • Common Grass Yellow butterflies are small to medium butterflies that are found in Africa, Asia, South Pacific islands and Australia.
  • Common Grass Yellow butterflies are from the family ‘Pieridae’, a family that has mainly white, yellow and orange butterflies, sometimes with black spots.
  • Common Grass Yellow butterflies are bright lemon yellow in colour, and have black markings at the tips and borders of the butterfly’s wings and a narrow black band on the hind wing, and the underside of the wings are paler yellow with brown speckles.
  • Common Grass Yellow butterflies lay tiny white eggs that hatch, and become green caterpillars that grow to 24 – 30 mm (0.95 – 1.2 inches) in length, and then become smooth green pupae.

common Grass Yellow Butterfly, sitting, Closed wings, flower, plant, australia, beautiful, cool, amazing, Ten Random Facts

  • The scientific name of the Common Grass Yellow butterfly is ‘Eurema hecabe’, and they have a wingspan of 35 to 45 mm (1.4 to 1.8 inches).
  • Common Grass Yellow butterflies like to fly quickly, close to the ground, are found in open grassy or bushy terrain, hence their name.
  • Common Grass Yellow butterfly larvae feed on a variety of plants, depending on the region, although they often include plants from Euphorbiaceae, the family of spurges, and Fabaceae, the family of legumes, peas and beans.
  • Common Grass Yellow butterflies have different colouration in their wings depending on the season, known as ‘seasonal polyphenism’, resulting in generally darker wing colours in summer.
  • Common Grass Yellow male butterflies are often seen in large groups, and the females usually fly about by themselves to find nectar from a wide variety of plants.
Bibliography:
Eurema Hecabe, 2012, James Cook University, <http://www-public.jcu.edu.au/discovernature/insects/JCUDEV_005698>
Eurema Hecabe, 2013, Wikipedia, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurema_hecabe>
Eurema Hecabe Conterbernalis, 2013, Butterfly Circle Checklist, <http://www.butterflycircle.com/checklist%20V2/CI/index.php/start-page/startpage/showbutterfly/25>

Polar Bear

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Polar Bear

Unique white bears.

  • Polar bears are found in one of the coldest parts of the Earth – the Arctic region.
  • The scientific name for a polar bear is Ursus maritimus, meaning sea or marine bear, and they are the worlds biggest bear along with the Kodiak bear, and they have no predators.
  • Polar bears have camouflaging, white, warm fur and a thick layer of blubber that helps to protect the animal from the cold and also gives buoyancy in the water, and underneath the fur they have black skin that absorbs heat from the sun.
  • Polar bears can grow up to, from head to body, 2.2 to 2.5 meters (7.25 to 8 feet) in length and weigh up to 250 to 720 kg (550 to 1600 pounds).
  • Seals are the main food in the polar bear’s carnivorous diet but they also eat already dead animals such as whales.

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Polar Bear
Image courtesy of National Geographic
  • Female polar bears have their babies in winter (November to January) in an ice den in which they build and stay in from autumn, and usually give birth to two cubs.
  • Baby polar bears leave their mother at approximately 2 ½ years old, when they are weaned and have learnt all survival skills.
  • Polar bears tend to stalk and prey on seals, and have an excellent sense of smell and can detect a seal that is over 1.5 km (0.9 miles) away.
  • Polar bears have rough paw surfaces to easily grip on the ice and they are strong, long distance swimmers.
  • It is estimated that there are 20,000 to 25,000 polar bears left in the world, and it has become illegal to hunt polar bears in most countries, although indigenous people that rely on polar bears for food or income are still allowed to hunt them.
Bibliography:
Polar Bear, 2013, National Geographic, <http://animals.nationalgeographic.com.au/animals/mammals/polar-bear/>

Spitfire Grubs

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Spitfire Grubs

Tap… Tap, Tap, Tap… TapTapTapTapTapTapTap

  • Spitfire grubs look similar to the caterpillars of buttterflies and moths, however they are the larvae of a species of sawfly, the adult having a saw-like egg laying system, and are a relative of the wasp.
  • Spitfire grubs, also known as ‘sawfly larvae’, are an Australian species of Perga from the sub family Perginae, from the family Pergidae (sawflies), which comes from the order of Hymenoptera, which includes sawflies, wasps, bees and ants.
  • Spitfire grubs are the babies of the sawfly species that includes the Steel Blue Sawfly (Perga dorsalis), Large Green Sawfly (Perga affinis), and the Eucalyptus Sawfly (Perga kirbyi), and the adult sawflies are rarely seen and are said to only live for about a week.
  • The most well known spitfire grubs, the Steel Blue Sawfly larvae, have black bodies and white hairs, with yellow ‘tails’ and a shiny black head, and the Large Green Sawfly larvae also look the same.
  • Spitfire grubs are herbivores and generally eat the leaves from Eucalyptus trees, and can sometimes strip the tree of all its leaves, although some species feed on Melaleuca, Callistemon and Angophora trees.

 Spitfire Grub, Sawfly larvae, black, yellow, thump, tree, hairy, eucalyptus, Australia, Ten Random Facts

  • Spitfire grubs are said to be harmless although they can kill a young tree by eating all of its foliage, and the adult sawfly does not sting.
  • Spitfire grubs feed during the night, usually alone, and during the day they cluster together in large groups of 20-30 (sometimes more) as a defence against potential predators.
  • Spitfire grubs have three pairs of front legs, and none at the back, with a ‘tail’ that they thump up and down or tap, with which they use to communicate to others in the group.
  • Spitfire grubs grow up 80 mm (3 inches) in length and when they have finished growing they burrow into the soil to pupate and become an adult sawfly.
  • As a defence, spitfire grubs squirt from their mouths a yellow liquid made from eucalyptus oil then they are attacked or threatened, hence the name ‘spitfire’.
Bibliography:
Sawfly Larvae, n.d, University of Sydney, <http://bugs.bio.usyd.edu.au/learning/resources/Entomology/internalAnatomy/imagePages/sawflyLarvae.html>
Bug of the month – Steel Blue Sawfly, 2012, Museum Victoria <http://museumvictoria.com.au/about/mv-blog/jul-2012/bug-of-the-month-steel-blue-sawfly/>
Spitfires – Defoliating Sawflies, 1992, PIRSA Forestry, <http://www.pir.sa.gov.au/forestry/forest_health/forest_health_fact_sheets/factSheets/spitfires_-_defoliating_sawflies>
Sawflies, Spitfire Grubs – Suborder Symphyta, family Pergidae, 2010, Brisbane Insects, <http://www.brisbaneinsects.com/brisbane_sawflies/index.html>

Giant Panda

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Giant Panda

Munch, Munch, Munch… Munch, Munch, Munch…

  • Giant pandas are also known as ‘pandas’, or ‘panda bears’ and their scientific name is Ailuropoda melanoleuca meaning ‘black and white cat-foot’.
  • Giant pandas are native to China, northern Vietnam and Myanmar (also known as Burma), however they are now only found in a small area in central China.
  • Giant pandas are an endangered species, however there are many reports of growth in the panda’s numbers in the wild, partly due to the conservation and expansion of their forest habitat.
  • The giant panda’s diet consists mainly of bamboo, which makes up 99% of its diet, but sometimes they eat meat and grass.
  • Adult giant pandas grow from 1.2 to 1.8 metres (4 to 6 feet) in length, and generally weigh between 100 and 115 kg (220 to 250 lb), while females are normally 10% to 20% smaller than the males.

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Giant Panda
Image courtesy of National Geographic
  • Giant pandas have one thumb and five fingers, on their front paws, and they have a tail that is 10 – 15 cm (4 – 6 in) long.
  • In their natural habitat, giant pandas live up to 20 years, although in captivity, they can live for another ten years, with the oldest panda in captivity reaching 34 years in age.
  • Giant pandas live by themselves most of the time, and they don’t hibernate like other bears that live in similar climate zones.
  • Giant pandas eat 9 to 18 kg (20 to 40 lbs) of bamboo every day, as their carnivorous style of digestive system does not convert the bamboo into significant amounts of usable energy and protein.
  • There are currently only two giant pandas that live in the Southern Hemisphere, both found at Adelaide Zoo, Australia, and both of them came from the 2008 earthquake devastated Wolong Giant Panda Research Centre in China which housed 280 giant pandas.
Bibliography:
Giant panda, 2013, Wikipedia, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_panda>

Octopus

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Octopus

Yummy food!  Interesting creature…

  • ‘Octopuses’, the plural form of ‘octopus’, also called ‘octipi’ or ‘octopodes’, have also be known as ‘devilfish’, and are from the mollusc family, octopod, and grow from 5 cm (2 inches) to 10 metres (32 feet) in length, depending on the species.
  • Octopuses live in the ocean, in rocky, protected areas close to the seabed, and spend their time in dens when they are resting.
  • There are over 200 species of octopuses, all of which are venomous, although they are not dangerous to humans, except for the deadly Blue-Ringed Octopus as its venom can be fatal.
  • Octopuses squirt ink to confuse and hide from their predators, and the colour of the ink comes from melanin, the same colouring agent in human hair and skin.
  • Octopuses have eight arms, hence the name ‘octo’pus, that hang behind them when swimming, although they often ‘walk’ on them, and on each arm they usually have suction cups or suckers that enable them to feel and taste.

 Octopus, Red, Magical, Blue, Pink, Amazing, Great, colour, Underwater, alive, suction, flickr, Ten Random Facts, Balearic Islands

Octopus
Image courtesy of Morten Brekkevold/Flickr
  • Octopuses live for as long as six months to five years, depending on the species, and usually die a few months after mating.
  • An octopus has three hearts, two to pump blood to its gills, and one to pump blood around its body, and they have no skeleton, which allows them to squeeze into tight places and escape from predators.
  • Octopuses have been observed playing with toys, using tools, escaping tanks and boarding ships, and sometimes they decorate the entrance to their den with shells, rocks and other interesting things they can find.
  • Octopuses can change body colour to blend into their surroundings, due to their skin cells containing a colour changing pigment called chromatophores, which can be coloured yellow, red, brown, black, or orange.
  • Octopuses have a retractable parrot-like beak that they use to eat their prey, which can include crabs, molluscs, crayfish, worms, and small fish.
Bibliography:
Octopus, 2013, Animal Planet, <http://animal.discovery.com/marine-life/octopus-info.htm>
Octopus, 2013, Wikipedia, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus>
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