We have over here a long bodied, stout insect that the Afghans call “Ghou zam bour” the Cow Bee.Named for its exceptional size this distinctive insect is actually a hornet and is a common sight throughout the country.I have photographed them from the very south of Afghanistan to the very north.It must be a pretty hearty representative of the bee family.I can personally attest to temperatures ranging from above 130 degrees Fahrenheit to well below zero.At nearly one inch in length and body as stout as your little finger this is a member of the Hymenoptera family to reckon with.But this is not a typical pollen gathering member of the tribe; there simply are not enough flowering plants in this country to support that lifestyle.The Cow Bee has other strategies.
Since this article was written some time ago I received a very informative note from Louis Sorkin B.C.E., Entomologist and Arachnologist at the American Museum of Natural History in NY. The “Cow Bee is actually an oriental hornet Vespa orientalis, a common hornet from the middle east, distributed from Africa to Pakistan / India and introduced in Madagascar.” You have to worry about their stings, not actually the bite. Hornets can pack a powerful sting.”
Shortly after I heard from a fellow in Iran who actually was bitten by one. As predicted it was terribly painful. But this gentlemen was informed by his Iranian friends that the bite would ensure two years of good luck. To date this claim is unverified!
Cow Bees do not build large paper like nests.They prefer burrowing out a den in the side of a dirt mound but I’ve seen their burrows dug into the flat ground and in the cracks of old concrete buildings.A crevice in the outer wall of a traditional Afghan mud home is a real favorite.Although I cannot attest to seeing these guys actually dig the burrow I have seen them industriously going about home improvement by removing debris and adding to the outer walls of their home in the way of our North American Mud Daubers by mixing saliva with dirt.The walls swirl out into unique shapes, but not all hives build them and some are content with very small ones.
From the Southwest and spreading upward on the drier side of the western states into Canada lives an arthropod which has made a unique contribution to the field of paleontology – the Harvester Ant. Preferring scrub lands and other relatively harsh environments outside of extreme desert, harvester ants build conspicuous mounds of sand grains and pebbles. Their nests can extend 15 feet beneath the earth’s surface and the resulting excavations have sometimes been a boon to fossil hunters who have combed through these mounds looking for the tiny fossils the ants have dredged up. According to “Bugs of Washington and Oregon” by John Acorn and Ian Sheldon the little arthropods were responsible for the discovery of the oldest primate mammal, Purgatorius. Now there’s a nice bit of Formicidae trivia for you.
During a recent trip to Idaho I happened to cross paths with a representative of the species – the Western Harvester Ant, Pogonomyrmex occidentalis. This particular ant is easily and first recognized by their sand pebble mounds. Fairly large as ant hills go, these arthropod pyramids are up to a foot and half tall and cover an area about three square feet completely devoid of plant life. As the name implies these ants are real harvesters, gathering up seeds and bits of vegetation that surround their territory. They’ll gladly pick up dead insects or other tiny creature carcasses they come across as well.
Like all ants the western harvester is an extraordinarily interesting animal to observer. A word of warning, however, for you potential fossil hunters out there – these ants do not take kindly to humans rummaging around in their homes. As you can see from the photos they have a pair of very healthy mandibles and they know how to use them.
I found this female wandering about on my driveway today so I thought I’d share a few pictures. Thankfully, I found her before our cats did. Female newts have a “distinctive cone shaped vent” when they are breeding according to the Peterson Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians. This is quite evident in the photo. These newts are fairly aquatic in nature and enjoy long stays underwater as opposed to most salamanders here in the Northwest. We have a couple of ponds around the house so I let this girl go on looking for an appropriate mate.
After this this article was written I received information from Louis Sorkin B.C.E., Entomologist and Arachnologist at the American Museum of Natural History in NY who identified as most likely belonging to a group of insects called reduviid bugs, a group of ambush predators that are also known as “true bugs”. I found these guys in an open field outside of an airbase in Kandahar. I did not bring any specimens home with me.
Roughly the the size of a large spitball, I found about ten of these odd insects 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. 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 ant predator, but I have never seen anything like them before. Their habitat was unfortunately destroyed by a construction project over shortly after I took these photos.
I have wandered about several continents photographing wildlife and during that time I’ve met some truly fascinating animals.I’ve worked with elephants and rhinoceroses in Asia, 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 I’ve watched whales and dolphins from the Pacific Northwest to Hawaii.These were beautiful experiences and each of these animals keeps 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.
Habitat: Mainly near shorelines; adults will stray further and individual seals even foray into inland rivers and even lakes
Food: Fish, shellfish, crustaceans
The Most Common Marine Mammal in the World
Whales and dolphins get all the publicity. After all, cetaceans are clever, fascinating animals. But Pinnipeds are pretty interesting mammals of the marine world, too. And for the naturalist they present observational opportunities no dolphin will give you. To begin with seals and sea lions are a lot more accessible than their echo locating cousins and they aren’t under water ninety percent of the time. And they are one of the few wild animals I know that seem to like watching humans as much as we like to watch them.
There are also a lot more of them. Harbor Seals, in fact, are the most plentiful marine mammal in the world. Up and down the northern parts of the US East and West coasts, into Asia, and all along northern European oceans you can find one or more of the five sub species of Harbor Seals. The world wide population is estimated at up to half a million, with 350,000 of them found along the Pacific Coast. This is hardly an endangered animal. Which is probably the reason they don’t get star billet on the big nature shows – there’re just so danged many of them.
Reindeer or Caribou? Dolphin or Whale? What’s the Difference?
Fall is here and that means Christmas is not far behind. Soon we’ll be awash in symbols and images of the season. In the world of advertising few animals represent the holidays more completely than reindeer. But Santa’s antlered ambassadors look an awful lot like the caribou that traipse about the northern wilderness don’t they? And come to think of it – porpoises, dolphins, and whales look a lot alike, too. Is there a difference and what is it? The world of wildlife is filled with many such similarities that we actually see or hear about every day, but give little thought – until some precocious offspring poses the challenge. This article examines that critical issue. Well, alright, perhaps it’s not exactly critical. But won’t you look smart when you answer with great authority the question, “Daddy, what’s the difference between a seal and a sea lion?”
Reindeer or Caribou?
They are actually the same animal. Caribou are members of the deer family; the only member of that family in which both males and females grow antlers. The difference in the names stemmed from the native human population where they reside. Northern Europeans and Asians who have been hunting and even domesticating these animals for many years call them Reindeer and even today use them to pull sleds. Over here we call them Caribou, a Canadian French pronunciation of “kahlibu” or “yahlibu,” the label given to the animal by Native Americans of northeastern North America.
Porpoise, Dolphin, or Whale?”
Actually they are all whales and all belong to an order of mammals called Cetaceans. Dolphins and porpoises just happen to be smaller. In general dolphins have a beak like nose and are more streamlined in body shape than their porpoise brethren which tend to a blunter snout and stockier body.
Seal or Sea Lion?
Although the common names are sometimes used interchangeably (the northern fur seal, for example is actually a sea lion) there are definite differences in the classification of these Pinnipeds. The best way to distinguish a seal from a sea lion is to compare the front and the back of the animal. Sea Lions have external ears and are able to turn their rear flippers inward. This allows them to propel themselves forward on land using all four flippers. Because of this ability they are the animals you nearly always see as performers. The true seals do not have external ears. They also lack the ability to fold the rear flippers forward, thus making progress on land difficult.
Rabbit or Hare?
You might think this is just another example of a name simply based on size, but that is only part of the story. It is true that hares and jackrabbits are larger than rabbits; their ears and hind legs are considerably longer and they tend to be longer and lankier in the body. Another important difference, however, is one that most of us will never see. Rabbits give birth to babies that are totally helpless. They are born blind and naked; totally without fur. Hares and jackrabbits on the other hand come into the world with eyes wide open and a complete covering of fur.
Groundhog, Marmot, Woodchuck?
No other order of mammals boasts more different species than the Rodents. From the largest rodent in the world, the one hundred pound Capybara of South America to the three inch Pygmy Jerboa of Central Asia, there are literally thousands of different species. They take up volumes and volumes of zoological treatises. Most folks have no trouble distinguishing beavers from porcupines or chipmunks from squirrels, but there is one particular rodent that does confuse people. So let’s clear this up. The Groundhog, marmot, and woodchuck is the same animal going by a different name depending on what part of the country you live in. In the west and northwest they’re called marmots or “whistlers” while out on the east coast folks called them woodchucks or groundhogs, especially on a particular day in February. Marmots, Woodchucks, and Groundhogs are, surprisingly, members of the squirrel family.
