Sumatran Tigers

If you have never seen these extraordinary felines go to the Point Defiance Zoo in Tacoma ASAP!

Sumatran Tiger at Point Defiance Zoo

Last chance to see tiger “brothers” together

They have distinctly different, more vivid coloration than Bengal tigers. And by the way, the Point Defiance Zoo is easily one of the best I have ever seen – and I’ve seen a few.

Next time you see an ordinary fallen log in the forest turn it over and take a closer look. There’s hidden beauty and mystery just beyond your imagination – the delicate gills of a mushroom, little fanged dragons, colorful beetles, see through worms, underground grasshoppers – they’re waiting for you.

HOOAH

Jack

A Bit of Arkansas Wildlife

My travels often take me out beyond the scope of Northwest Wildlife but my camera is always ready. Here’s a few shots I managed on a fairly cold day in Arkansas. I had to turn over a lot of logs and rocks but the effort was worthwhile. Especially gratifying was the little five lined skink – an unexpected and beautiful surprise as these are sun loving lizards, active and energetic in warm weather. I had to take the little guy back to my hotel room in order to get some decent pics. He has an ample supply of worms and bugs, and on the net warm day he’ll be set free.

Cardinals are not a species we see in the Northwest. This chubby little fellow was part of a small flock feeding on worms and other things as the sun warmed the grassy field. I can’t help but love millipedes so my macro lens always zeroes in on them. The big ferocious looking beetle is an insect found just about everywhere and goes by the very original name of common black beetle.

HUMMINGBIRDS IN WINTER

A couple of Anna’s Hummingbirds, year round Northwest residents, settled in for the winter. That little blur in the upper left of the first photo is one of the tiny birds flying through falling snow.

It really is quite amazing that these tiny birds manage to survive winter. Not that our Northwest seasons are all that extreme, but when you consider the exceptionally small body mass of these little avians it’s a surprise that they even live through our cool summers. There is a physiological trick to this of course, or we’d have no hummers at all. The hummingbird trick is torpor. In winter or any kind of cooler weather the body temperature of the little birds drops at night. In climates like ours where the Anna’s hummingbird overwinter, the body temperature hovers to a point just above that necessary to sustain life. Each morning the birds awaken and “shiver” themselves back to a normal temperature – then its off to find enough food to get them through the next day and night. Research has shown that overwintering hummingbirds also tend to eat more insects, thus providing a cache of protein and slower burning energy.

STRANGE CREATURES

I have wandered about several continents photographing wildlife and during that time I’ve have some fascinating animal experiences. I’ve worked with elephants and rhinoceroses in Korea, tracked wild boar in Germany, spent some quality time with baboons in Saudi Arabia, and chased hyenas in Afghanistan. I had the opportunity to swim with alligators and catch monkeys in Florida. I’ve caught all kinds of reptiles and observed whales and dolphins from Alaska to Hawaii. These were beautiful experiences and each has its own special grip on my heart. But the single most intriguing one of all is a tiny thing I stumbled upon in the blazing desert of southern Afghanistan; something I’ve yet to explain.

These odd little guys were roughly the the size of a large spitball; I found about ten of them in the Afghan desert inhabiting a small hole that you’d expect a tiny mouse to live in. They only appeared in the evening, after the intense daytime heat dissipated. Obviously insect like – note the legs grasping the side of their home – but beyond that I have no idea what to call them. The legs are covered with sand particles but the rest of the body is heavily decorated with insect body parts, mainly ants from what I can see, a molt or an exoskeleton from some other creature is obvious in the photos, too. This leads me to believe they are some kind of insect predator, but I have never seen anything like them before. Their habitat was unfortunately destroyed by a construction project over here shortly after I took these photos. Despite an extensive search I’ve not been able to find any more examples.

Since this article was written some time ago I received information from Louis Sorkin B.C.E., Entomologist and Arachnologist at the American Museum of Natural History in NY who identified them as most likely belonging to a group of insects called reduviid bugs. Reduviids contain the group of insects known as bed bugs, but not to worry. I found these guys in an open field outside of an airbase in Kandahar. I did not bring any specimens home with me. But after looking at numerous photos of the reduviids I have not seen anything that looks like these things.

Kandahar, Afghanistan sits on a wide plain at the base of the end of a mountain range that begins with the towering Hindu Kush far to the northeast of the country. These giants gradually taper down into brownish boulderish, steep rolling hills to the north of the city and finally flatten out into a plain that stretches to Iran and the southern border of Pakistan. Animal life there is a collusion of Middle Eastern desert creatures and Central Asian beasts that run from camels to hyenas. A cheetah native to Afghanistan once roamed there and still may in some unknown corner of this remote land. The reptile fauna of this high desert environment is considerable. So many in fact, a snake once fell on my head as I opened the door to my hut – but that’s a story for another day.

I’ve photographed many specimens. My favorite activity on my day off was wandering about the undeveloped areas of the giant Kandahar Air Base and filming the surprising variety of wildlife that homesteaded inside this giant abode of military hardware. At the north and northwest end of the runway an undisturbed area of several hundred acres of scrub and sand rolls out to the fenced in boundary of the base and here I spent many delightful hours creeping about stalking my little wild friends. I usually undertook these jaunts in the morning and early afternoons in order to avoid the crushing heat of midday and the annoying mortar attacks at night. But wildlife in all of its glory is not tied to the habits of one man or one war. I wanted to see what kinds of creatures were out later in the day, so late one afternoon I went back out before dark but after the sun had done its worst.

Continue reading STRANGE CREATURES

ICE CRYSTALS

A bit chilly up here in the great Northwest so the wildlife has been laying low. But I like the ice so here’s some New Years cheer with a crystal view:

Escape the Wet and Cold

From time to time our Northwest winters can make you forget that there actually is a sun out there. Enjoy a few views from the sunny Saudi Arabian desert just so you can remember what heat, light, and sand look like:

ReganOnDunes2

An enormous variety of insects and surprisingly colorful invertebrates inhabit the desert; it’s not all camel spiders and scorpions. Lizards rule the day, of course (and the night for that matter). And what would a glimpse of Saudi be like without the obligatory camel and sand dune photo?

HOOAH

Jack

The Giant Pacific Octopus – Our Saltwater Santa

Okay, it’s not everyone’s idea of a cuddly ST Nick, but he is big and he is red and white. Several viewpoints of the Giant Pacific Octopus from the Seattle Aquarium. This fellow stretched out to about ten feet and was in fine form the day I visited. The typical color of a relaxed specimen is the reddish hue seen above. Their easy glide along the ocean floor is supplemented by occasional burst of water jet propulsion.

Our Northwest shoreline is home to one of the most fascinating creatures on God’s earth – the Giant Pacific Octopus. Of the 300 hundred or so species of octopods that inhabit the world’s oceans the biggest of them all is our very own Octopus dofleini (sometimes also Enteroctopus dofleini). Yes, we share the big guy with other shorelines of the North Pacific from California to Asia, but like the great orcas this octopus likes the cold waters of the Northwest.

So how big are they? Despite all the fuss about the size of this octopus, reports of actual measurements vary widely. The largest ever recorded according to the National Geographic Field Guide stretched ten feet from tentacle tip to tentacle tip, but there are reliable reports of 16 feet long, 600 pounds specimens. Some sources claim thirty feet. The disparity is not unexpected. Accurately measuring an animal like this is a difficult task to say the least, and sources don’t always state how the measure was made. Tentacle to tentacle or mantle (head) to tentacle tip? Was the animal dead? Dried in the sun? An exercise like this in the wild is just about impossible. Twenty feet from tentacle tip to tentacle is probably reliable as an average, although there are surely larger specimens out there.

The tentacles and suckers are the key components of survival for any octopus and the Giant Pacific has the record holders.

Whatever the true limits of this creature’s dimensions are it is a remarkable animal by any standard. Imagine the reaction of a diver first confronted with an eight limbed monster three times his size, fins included. That would be an event to remember. And the intrigues don’t stop there. What other animal besides an octopus has three hearts, no internal or external skeleton, a sophisticated brain, complex behaviors, a birdlike beak hidden inside its body, and eyesight to rival any mammal? What other animal can instantly vanish? Or possesses the ability to pour its body like water through the tiniest cracks and crevices? There may be some comic book superhero claiming these talents, but in the real world only an octopus actually possesses such incredible attributes.

Our home grown giant, like all members of the octopus family, belongs to the phylum of animals called Mollusks: clams, oysters, snails, slugs, and squids. Narrowing this down we come to the class called Cephalopods where we find octopus and squids along with cuttlefish and the odd little nautilus, (the only cephalopod, by the way, with a fully developed external shell). Characterized by the biologically popular term of “bilateral symmetry,” cephalopods possess a number of interesting qualities. Of all the invertebrates on earth, and there is an astounding number, the octopus and squids are far and away the most intelligent. They also have unusually keen eyesight, not something normally associated with invertebrates. They are the largest invertebrates, too, and are strictly inhabitants of the ocean. The octopus has now claimed its own order – the appropriately named Octopods.

For the next couple of weeks, however, let’s call them Santapods.

Merry Christmas from Northwest Wildlife Online!

Teenage Pacific Tree Frog

C’mon, isn’t that the cutest thing you’ve ever seen?

SEALS AND SEA LIONS

What is the difference between a sea lion and a seal? And if there is a difference, why are the seals divided into three groups and not the sea lions? And why are some seals grouped into the same family with sea lions?

See the difference? Check out those external ears on the sea lion.

To begin with, all are Pinnipeds and there are three groups of these animals. Family Odobenidae, the Walrus family, makes up the third group. Since these giant pinnipeds are natives of the far north ice we won’t spend any time with them. Too bad, since they are fascinating animals, but there is a wonderful example at the Point Defiance Zoo in Tacoma, WA who puts on a charming show if you happen to be in the area at feeding time.

A baby harbor seal blends in very well with its rocky birthplace.

The word Pinnipedia comes from the Latin pinniped, meaning “feather footed.” Makes you wonder why they did not go with fin footed or flipper footed since all of these animals have front and rear feet modified into wide flippers. The eyes are relatively large and the external ear pinnas are either exceptionally small or missing altogether.

The Sea Lions and Fur Seals possess either very small ear pinna, or sometimes lack them completely. The front flippers are large and hairless, and the rear flippers are reversible; they can be positioned under the body for locomotion on land. The front flippers are larger and provide the main propulsion for swimming. Otariidae are medium to large sized pinnipeds and are found in all oceans except the North Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Males are noticeably larger than females (extreme sexual dimorphism).

The Earless Seal family, Phococidae, are small to very large seals. All lack an external ear pinna and have large, almost bulging eyes. Both flippers are fur covered; the front flippers smaller than the rear flippers, so it is the rear flippers that supply most swimming power in Furs seals. The rear flippers are not reversible, however, and makes land transportation a much more difficult proposition for these animals. The front flippers of the Phococidae are positioned closer to the front of the body than those of the Otariidae. Males are larger than females, but not nearly to the extent of the Otariidae.

None of our Northwestern pinnipeds can be considered small. At 100 pounds the female Northern Fur Seal is about as little as they get, yet even in this species males reach 600 pounds. Our undisputed champion in the heavyweight division is the male Elephant Seal, a true giant with weight in excess of two tons. Stellar Sea Lions tip the scales at more than 2,000 pounds and the 900 pound California Sea Lion is right behind. Pacific Harbor Seals appear small when only their head protrudes above water, but a 200 to 300 pound body is hiding beneath the waves. For more information on Harbor Seals go to this link: Harbor Seal Observations. In the article I detail some of the interesting things I’ve learned by watching this very common pinniped.

Pinnipeds are not only a fun species of Northwestern wildlife to observe, they are also the easiest ocean mammal to observe. They are regular inhabitants of marinas (some, in fact, become a real nuisance to boat owners) and are usually spotted on any ocean boating excursion. I cannot recall a single day when I’ve been out in the Sound and have not seen at least one.

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