Chris Pearce's Blog, page 27

Birds: Cape shoveler

(originally published to Helium writing site, now gone)

The shoveler consists of four species of ducks known as dabbling ducks, which are recognized by their long, broad, flat beaks. Their legs are closer together than other ducks. They are good walkers and strong fliers. They feed on vegetable matter on the surface of water bodies, or by grazing, and rarely dive, thus the name dabbling duck. The four species of shoveler are the northern shoveler, the red shoveler, the Cape shoveler, and the Australasian shoveler. This article looks at the Cape shoveler.

The Cape shoveler, or Anas smithii, is resident mainly in South Africa. It can also be found in Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, southern parts of Angola and Zambia, and even into Zaire, Rwanda and Burundi, and Malawi. It lives in wetlands, lakes, ponds, marshes and estuaries.

It is a large grey-brown duck and has a large flat bill. The adult male is dark brown, with greenish-black upper tail feathers and rump. Its upper wings are greyish-blue with white tips. While its primary flight feathers are dark brown, its secondaries are a metallic blue-green. It has a yellow head, eyes and neck. Legs and feet are orange-yellow. The female’s colors are duller than those of the male. Its eyes are dark brown, and legs and feet are a grayish-yellow. The young have similar coloring to the females. It averages 20 to 21 inches in height and weighs 1.3 to 1.5 pounds.

Cape shoveler eats aquatic invertebrates, including molluscs, crustaceans, tadpoles, and insects, by dabbling in shallow water. It will occasionally eat aquatic plants and seeds. The birds are sociable and live as pairs or in small groups. They build their nests in depressions on the ground, liking dense vegetation and being near water. Nests are lined with grass and may be close together. They breed all year round but mainly in summer. The population is large, although some decline has been observed. Their conservation status is “least concern”.

Birds: red shoveler

(originally published to Helium writing site, now gone)

The shoveler consists of four species of ducks known as dabbling ducks, which are recognized by their long, broad, flat beaks. Their legs are closer together than other ducks. They are good walkers and strong fliers. They feed on vegetable matter on the surface of water bodies, or by grazing, and rarely dive, thus the name dabbling duck. The four species of shoveler are the northern shoveler, the red shoveler, the Cape shoveler, and the Australasian shoveler. This article looks at the red shoveler.

The red shoveler, or Anas platalea, is found in the southern half of South America. Its habitat extends from Chile, across Argentina, southern Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, and southern Brazil. It is sometimes called the Argentine red shoveler, as this is where it is most frequently found, or the South American shoveler. They favor shallow lakes, pools with thick reed beds, lagoons, and marshes. During the southern winter, Tierra del Fuego populations migrate as far as Peru and southern central Brazil.

It is regarded as the least awkward of the four shoveler species, and has a smaller bill and long pointy tail. Wing colors are similar to the northern shoveler. Its legs are yellow to orange. Males and females can be distinguished by their different bills size and their colorings. The female has a larger and darker bill than the male. Females are brownish gray, with plain face and dark eyes. The male is red to pink, with spots on its chest and sides. Its head and neck are grayish brown and it has white eyes.

Average size of the red shoveler is 18 to 22 inches and its weight is about 1.2 to 1.3 pounds. Its diet consists of grasses, herbs, weeds, and algae. They will filter plankton and invertebrates from water and sometimes mud. It will dabble and up-end but won’t dive. These ducks breed in pairs or in small groups. The female has five to eight eggs, incubating them for 25 to 26 days. The young can fly after about 40 to 45 days. Sexual maturity takes one to two years. Their average life span is 20 to 30 years. It is not listed as a threatened species.

Birds: northern shoveler

(originally published to Helium writing site, now gone)

The shoveler consists of four species of ducks known as dabbling ducks, which are recognized by their long, broad, flat beaks. Their legs are closer together than other ducks. They are good walkers and strong fliers. They feed on vegetable matter on the surface of water bodies, or by grazing, and rarely dive, thus the name dabbling duck. The four species of shoveler are the northern shoveler, the red shoveler, the Cape shoveler, and the Australasian shoveler. This article looks at the northern shoveler.

The northern shoveler, or Anas clypeata, can be found in most of North America and the northern parts of Europe and Asia. On occasions, it finds its way to Australia. It is a migratory bird, moving northwards to breed. Slightly less sociable than most dabbling ducks, it lives in small flocks in the non-breeding season. The species is recognizable by its very long bill which is wider at the tip than at the base. The bill always tilts downward, even in flight. It is a medium sized duck, about 17 to 20 inches long and weighing between one and two pounds.

Males and females can be quite easily distinguished at breeding time. The male has an iridescent green head, black bill, white chest and rusty colored sides. When it flies, its blue forewing feathers can be seen along with green inner wing feathers, the two colors separated by a white band. The female in less brilliantly colored, mainly being pale brown with gray forewings. Overall, her coloring is similar to the female mallard. At non-breeding time, the male’s plumage is more similar to the female’s in appearance.

They prefer the open wetlands, including marshes and wet grassland. It dabbles in the water for plant food, swinging and shaking its bill. The northern shoveler’s bill has more than 100 fine projections, or lamellae, along its edges which strain water from food. It will also eat mollusks and insects during the breeding season. These ducks make a nest of plant material on the ground in a shallow depression close to water. They line it with down. The birds are monogamous and mate for longer than other dabbling duck species. If the female is threatened, it will defecate on the eggs, probably as a deterrent to predators. Its conservation status is “least concern”.

The northern shoveler is generally quiet. Males and females can be told apart by their sound. The male makes a clunking call. During courtship, it gives a nasal bray. The female can make various quacking noises and sounds like a mallard. It also produces a rattling noise when it takes off, which is unique among dabbling ducks.

Birds: the Egyptian goose

(originally published to Helium writing site, now gone; won’t paragraph properly)

 

The Egyptian goose, or Alopochen aegyptiacus, can be found in most of Africa, except in deserts or in dense forests. Locations include inland areas from just to the south of the Sahara Desert to the very southern part of Africa, and in the Nile Valley. A few have been seen in the eastern and southern coastal areas of the Mediterranean. They were sacred to the ancient Egyptians who domesticated them and included them in artwork of this period. They were also kept by the ancient Romans and Greeks.

It lives in most wetland areas, such as rivers, marshes and lakes. They favor wetlands in open areas rather than in densely wooded spots where they have less chance of seeing predators. They are good swimmers and divers. When flying, they look heavy, like a goose rather than a duck. Egyptian geese spend most of their time on land. A bird will perch and roost in trees, and often returns to the same place every night. They live at various altitudes, with individuals in Ethiopia found at heights of up to 13,000 feet.

The birds nest in various places, including on the ground in dense vegetation, in burrows, in holes or cavities in trees or in crowns of trees, along river banks, on cliff ledges, and on buildings. They are happy to use nests abandoned by other birds. These birds make their nests of plant matter and line them with down feathers. Nests are usually close to water.

The Egyptian goose is slightly larger than a duck. It is about 24-28 inches in length and has a wingspan of 54 to 60 inches. We don’t know how long they live in the wild but one lived in captivity for 14 years. Life span in the wild is usually longer than in captivity. They live in small flocks and only pair up in the breeding season. The birds are largely sedentary, but will venture outside their territory in drought periods to seek water. They reach maturity by two years of age.

Males and females have the same plumage. The male is slightly larger. Their color can vary significantly between individuals. Some are grey and brown, whereas others are red and brown. Variations in color are not due to age or sex. They have yellow eyes with a brown patch around each one. The shorter feathers of the wings are white and the longer ones are iridescent green. Their tails are black, and they have a pink bill, legs and feet.

They are best distinguished by their sound. The Egyptian goose is not naturally vocal, but when stressed or being aggressive, the male hisses whereas the female cackles loudly, making a “honk-haah-haah-haah” sound. This happens most often during nesting when they vigorously defend their territory.

The courtship displayed by the male to attract a female is elaborate and noisy. A pair will usually stay together for life. They breed in spring, when the wet season is underway. They have a clutch of about five to ten eggs that are yellowish white in color. After they lay their eggs, the birds almost seem to disappear, and are next seen escorting their young to the water. The eggs hatch after 28 to 30 days. Chicks have duller coloring than the adults and have similar markings to the shelduck. They lack their parents’ brown patches around each eye and on the chest. They can fly after about 70 days. If the nest is in a tree, the parents will coax the young to jump, it basically being the only way down. This will be their first “flying” experience.

Egyptian geese are territorial and noisy, and will engage in fierce battles to defend their plots. Combatants meet breast to breast on water or on land and will try to grab each other’s back near the neck. At the same time, they will madly flap their wings and sometimes even strike their opponent with their feet. They can be intolerant of their own species and other birds and can be one of the most vicious waterfowl.

This species feeds on vegetation matter such as grasses, leaves, plant stems, and seeds. They will also eat small animals such as worms, locusts and others insects. The birds spend more time grazing than on the water and can be seen in pairs or in small groups in the savanna areas, but will also feed in shallow water. They sometime travel a long way from water. In the dry, the often find cultivated areas to graze.

They were introduced into Great Britain in the 18th century as an ornamental waterfowl. Colonies were established in the 19th century in East Anglia on large estates with lakes. The birds have not spread to other areas, despite their ability to disperse. Over 90 per cent of Britain’s estimated 900 Egyptian geese can be found in this area. It was also brought into the Netherlands. In England, mortality among the young is high with only one or two of a clutch surviving crow attacks and competition from the Canada goose and grey-lag goose.

The Egyptian goose is the only member of the Alopochen genus, after three other species became extinct in earlier times. These were the Mauritian shelduck last seen in Mauritius in the late 1690s, the Malagasy shelduck which existed in Madagascar in prehistoric times, and the Reunion shelduck or Kervazo’s Egyptian goose last spotted in Reunion around the 1690s.

They are not regarded as an endangered species, being quite numerous and widely distributed throughout much of Africa. Their numbers increased in South Africa during the 20th century largely due to additional dams and irrigation projects. Farmers sometimes hunt them as large grazing flocks can destroy crops. Logging and the expansion of agriculture and urban areas can also pose a potential threat to these birds.

Birds: coscoroba swan

(originally published to Helium writing site, now gone)

The coscoroba swan, or Coscoroba coscoroba, is one of only seven species of swan in the world and has the distinction of being the smallest in size. Among waterfowl, it is still fairly large though, weighing about nine pounds and measuring three to four feet in length, with a wingspan of around five feet. It is found naturally only in South America, where indigenous people named it after its call, which sounds something like cos-co-ro-oa.

This swan is a striking white (Google coscoroba swan and see many images of this beautiful bird). Its six primary or flight feathers are black and can best be seen when it is swimming or flying. The wings are wider and shorter than other swans. Its beak is red and is flattened. Unlike other swans, this swan’s face is covered in feathers. Its legs and feet are pink to red. It has a shorter neck than other swans but longer than in geese. In fact, the coscoroba swan looks more like a goose than a swan in the head. Males and females look virtually the same, except the male is slightly larger.

The coscoroba swan is native to the southern part of South America. In summer, or the breeding season, it is found in southern Chile south of Concepcion, and across southern Argentina, to about southern Cordoba Province and to Buenos Aires on the coast. They are present right down to Tierra del Fuego with some going to the islands south of Beagle Channel. A few have been reported on the Falkland Islands, as well as South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands to the east. They fly north for winter, as far as Santiago in Chile, across the northern part of Cordoba Province, Uruguay, southern Paraguay, and southern Brazil up to around Curitiba. When flying, they must keep flapping their wings as they can’t soar or glide. They favor low elevations but have been found up to about 3,000 feet or more. In some of the northern areas, small groups of the species don’t migrate.

It likes fresh water lakes and large ponds, although it is often seen in brackish water, and has been reported on beaches in Brazil. The bird prefers water that is not too deep and without current. It favors spots with long grass or bushes for protection, such as marshes and swamps. Coscoroba swan is a sociable bird, both with its own species and with other waterfowl. It can often be found in groups of up to 100 or so, although this can grow to 200 during the molt. It will fly with flamingoes, and small numbers are occasionally seen with black-necked swans.

A pair will stay together for life, which is typical of swan species. They breed during the southern spring and summer. The pairs tend to nest alone or in a colony that is spread out over a large area. They will defend their territory vigorously. Most pairs will have one clutch a year, but some have two if the first one is quite early. Nests are made in tall grass near to water and can be quite large. They are built of grass and other vegetation, and are lined with feathers and down.

Clutch size ranges from four to nine eggs and the incubation period is about 35 days. The female does the incubating, while the male will be nearby, ready to defend their territory. A female leaves the nest twice a day to find food, having first made sure the eggs are covered. The young coscoroba swan is a duller white than the parents, with brown and gray patches mainly on its back. It weighs about four ounces when a day old. The male adult in particular will aggressively guard the fledglings against predators. The young will fly when aged three to four months. After nesting, the swans move to a lake area and molt, usually during fall. They live to about 20 years of age. In captivity, they only live an average of seven years.

The coscoroba swan will eat vegetable matter, such as grasses, water plants and terrestrial plant seeds, but also small fish, oysters, mussels, aquatic insects and small animals. To feed, it bobs its head and neck, and sometimes most of its body, under the water.

The estimated population is 10,000 to 25,000 swans, with some estimates as high as 100,000. Loss of habitat is a threat to the coscoroba swan. However, its numbers are not believed to have declined by more than 30 per cent in 10 years. For this reason, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) gave it a “least concern” status in its 2004 Red List of Threatened Species and it has since remained in this category (to 2012).

Birds: the Canada goose

(originally published to Helium writing site, now gone)

The Canada goose, or Branta canadensis, is native to North America. It has a black or dark brown head and neck, with a white chin. This distinguishes it from other geese except for the Barnacle goose. Its back and wings are brown, while it has a white chest and belly.

Seven subspecies of the Canada goose are the Atlantic Canada goose, the interior, giant, Moffitt’s, Vancouver, dusky, and part of the “lesser complex” Canada goose. A number of other subspecies were split off to form a new species called the Cackling goose in 2004. The Canada goose’s size and plumage vary among its subspecies. The smaller subspecies are similar to the Cackling goose.

Their height varies from 30 to 45 inches, while wingspan usually measures from 50 to 70 inches. An adult male weighs 7 to 14 pounds. The female is about 10 per cent shorter than the male and is slightly lighter at 6 to 12 pounds. A giant Canada goose was found with a wingspan of 88 inches and weighing 24 pounds. Their honk also differs between the male and female. The bird has a life span of between 10 and 24 years in the wild.

Breeding grounds are various habitats in Canada and northern United States. It is most populous in the Great Lakes region. The bird nests in raised areas near water, sometimes choosing a beaver’s lodge. It lays its eggs in shallow depressions which it lines with plant matter and down. Over-hunting and destruction of habitat in the 19th and early 20th centuries led to a substantial fall in numbers. The giant Canada goose was thought to be extinct by the 1950s but a small group was found in 1962 in Rochester, Minnesota. Populations of most subspecies recovered significantly after game laws were tightened and preservation programs were put in place. Numbers of the dusky Canada goose may still be in decline.

The Canada goose naturally migrates thousands of miles. Bird ringing has shown that members of the “lesser complex” subspecies have flown to northern Europe. The Canada goose is also found on eastern Siberia’s Kamchatka Peninsula, as well as in eastern China, and in Japan. They traverse the United States in large flocks in V-shaped formation, marking the change of season to spring or fall. Some groups, such as in the Pacific Northwest with its mild climate and where there are few predators, no longer migrate.

The bird was first introduced into Europe in the late 17th century to bolster the waterfowl collection of Great Britain’s King James II. In 1991, there were over 60,000 Canada geese in the United Kingdom. They can also be found in Netherlands, Belgium and Scandinavia. They inhabit many parks, sometimes becoming a problem. They were taken to New Zealand in the 19th century as a game bird but have become a nuisance in some areas.

They eat a diet of green plant matter, including various grasses. The bird grabs blades of grass with its bill, and then rips them out of the ground by jerking its head. It also eats grain such as wheat, corn, rice and beans. When in water, it feeds from the silt on the bottom, and will also eat aquatic plants like seaweed.

The Canada goose breeds from its second year of life. It has one mate and they usually stay together throughout their lives. About four to eight eggs are laid. Potential nest raiders include the Arctic fox, red fox, common raven, American crow, large gulls, and bears. Both birds will protect the nest during the 25-28 day incubation period, although the female will spend more time doing this than the male. They lose their flight feathers during this time.

A family often walks in single file between its nest and the water, one parent at the front of the procession and the other at the back. The pair are fiercely protective of their young and can be quite violent in warding off anything they feel might be a predator, including any birds, other geese, and humans. They give a first warning of a hissing sound and if that doesn’t work they can attack. The Canada goose can be very vocal at other times too. Sometimes families link up and form a creche or colony. The goslings acquire their flight feathers at around six to nine weeks of age. They migrate with their parents in fall and will stay with them until after the flock has returned to their summer habitat. Adults are not often preyed upon, but they can be vulnerable to the bald eagle and, to a lesser extent, foxes, wolves, coyotes, owls and the golden eagle.

The population of these non-migratory birds has risen strongly and they are now often found in parks, gold courses and parking lots. The Canada goose’s adaptability has resulted in it becoming the most common waterfowl in the United States. In Wichita, for example, numbers are estimated to have grown from 1,600 to 71,600 birds between 1983 and 2011. Unfortunately, they have become pests in some locations, and are thought to be responsible for high fecal coliforms in some beach areas. The hunting season has been extended and noise markers used in some places. Efforts to modify habitats, relocation, and culling occurred after a US Air Force plane went down in 1995 after it hit a flock of Canada geese, killing all 24 crew.

Birds: Barrow’s goldeneye

(originally published to Helium writing site, now gone)

Barrow’s goldeneye, or Bucephala islandica, is found mainly in lake and wooded pond areas in north-eastern America but also in Canada and Iceland. Its name comes from the Icelandic word for “bullhead”. An adult is about 13 inches long with a wingspan of 31 inches. It is a waterfowl of the diving duck variety.

Adults have a large, oval shaped head with steep forehead and a fairly short bill. The male’s head is metallic black and purple which becomes an iridescent green in the right light and angle. It has a defining yellow or golden eye and a white patch on its cheek. The bird has a black bill and back, while its wings are also black but with white patches or stripes. Its chest and underbelly are white. In contrast, the female’s head is dark brown and its body is gray. Her dark gray bill has a pinkish yellow tinge. The feathers of Barrow’s goldeneye change color with the seasons. The colors described above are those observed in the warmer months. Both males and females have a much duller coloring in the cooler months. Immature birds have similar coloring to the adult females except for a darker bill.

Barrow’s goldeneye has a single mate and breeds from about two years of age. Pairing starts in the late winter. They build nests in tree cavities, although sometimes they will make a burrow in the ground, in a hollow stump, or in a rock crevice. Nests are made of small twigs and moss, with a lining of down. The birds are happy to use old nests. The female will lay about six eggs which are pale blue in color. Incubation time is around one month, before the young are hatched. A pair will usually have only one brood a year. Occasionally, they may have a second brood, especially if the first chicks die for whatever reason very soon after hatching.

The bird’s habit of using a tree hole as a nest means it is often described as an arboreal duck, “arboreal” meaning “relating to trees”. The main reason it nests in trees is to protect its young from predators. Sometimes the nest will be one or two miles from water. Within hours of hatching, the female somehow gets the ducklings to jump from the tree. Sometimes a nest will be 30 or more feet above the ground, so injury and death is a great risk. She will then lead her chicks to the nearest lake or creek.

Its main source of food is aquatic invertebrates such as mollusks. It will also eat fish eggs, fish, shellfish, insects, frogs, seeds and certain plants. Barrow’s goldeneye is an accomplished diver, frequently diving to the bottom of shallow water to obtain its food. When it flies, its wings make a kind of whistling sound.

Until 1998, little was know of the breeding habits of the Barrow’s goldeneye or where they went to breed. Indeed, no one had found any evidence of nesting anywhere in eastern North America. A study in Quebec in 1998 used satellite transmitter implants to track the movements of seven males. Flocks migrated inland to an area of small lakes in the highlands on the north side of St Lawrence River. Mating occurred in the area, the first recorded breeding of Barrow’s goldeneye in North America. About 2,000 to 4,000 birds spend winter in Quebec along the Gulf of St Lawrence and the St Lawrence River and its estuary. The largest flocks can be found in places such as La Malbaie-Pointe-au-Pic, Baie-Comeau, Baie-des-Rochers, Peninsule de Gaspe and the Ile d’Anticosti.

Numbers of Barrow’s goldeneye may be declining. Surveys conducted in the St. Lawrence estuary indicated a fall of about 35 per cent between the early 1980s and late 1990s. The population appears vulnerable to logging during the breeding season due to their dependence on trees for nesting. Luckily, loggers prefer trees without cavities, although the bird uses large trees and these are rare in this cold climate. A program of artificial nesting boxes has helped relieve the situation. These birdhouses have a floor of eight inches square, a ceiling 15 inches high, and an entrance of three inches. They are placed 10 or more feet above the ground.

Other threats to the Barrow’s goldeneye include potential oil spills and hunting. An oil spill in the St Lawrence estuary could result in the death of a significant number of these waterfowl. Also, much of their winter habitat could be polluted, forcing them to find other locations, which may result in a further decline in numbers. The bird is vulnerable to the fall hunting season. Shooting of both the Common goldeneye and the rarer Barrow’s goldeneye is now forbidden from mid October in areas frequented by the latter as it can be hard to tell the difference between the two birds. The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada gave goldeneye a “Special concern status” in 2011.

Does your pet have a microchip?

(originally published to Helium writing site, now gone)

Microchip implant technology as a way of identifying animals has been available since the 1980s. A microchip slightly larger than a grain of rice is implanted under a pet’s skin to give it a unique identification code similar to a person’s social security code, a motor vehicle’s registration number, or an ISBN number of a published book. A special reader or scanner picks up the identifying data from the microchip. An implant can often be felt under the skin or a dog or cat.

The advantages of having a pet microchipped are many. Perhaps most importantly, a microchip facilitates prompt return of a lost pet to its owners, preventing the heartache that can occur when a pet is missing for a prolonged period and not knowing if it has found a home, is hungry and thirsty, or has been hit by a motor vehicle and is lying injured or dead somewhere. A microchip may eliminate the need for a costly search for a lost pet and may also help resolve ownership disputes.

In the United States, one in five dogs are lost or stolen each year. A pet with a microchip is more likely to be saved from becoming part of animal research or dog fights, or being used for its fur or as food for humans and animals. Another major advantage of microchips is the time and money saved by animal shelters having to accommodate and feed pets and to find them a new home. Overcrowding in shelters is eased and animals are less likely to be put down.

Pets go through a simple and painless procedure to have a microchip inserted. First, a pet is scanned for an existing implant. A single-use syringe injects the microchip just under the skin on the back of the neck between the shoulder blades. The injection is painless and over in seconds, much like our dentist’s needle before a filling, and causes the animal no stress.

Most veterinarians charge $50-60 to microchip a pet, a very small fraction of the overall cost of owning a pet. The procedure can be done at the same time as spaying or neutering. A wide range of pets are suitable for microchipping, including dogs, cats, birds, fish, mice, rabbits, ferrets, lizards and frogs as well as larger animals such as horses, goats and sheep. Even elephants and whales have been microchipped. A chip has no adverse physical or behavioral effects on an animal.

The rest of the process is easy too. A form is filled out with the owner’s and pet’s details and the chip number. The form goes to a registry keeper who records the details in their database. The keeper provides a 24 hour a day lost pets service for the life of the animal. If a pet is found and taken to an animal shelter, it will be scanned for a microchip. The recovery service is called, the chip number matched, and the pet reunited with its owner.

A microchip is easier and preferable to tattooing. Also, the advantages over collar identification only are several. Collars can fall off, can be pulled off when a dog retreats after putting its head between the palings of a fence, or can break if the dog gets involved in a fight. Some dogs won’t let you check their collars, whereas a reader can work from several yards away and around corners.

Criticisms of microchips are few. A study has found that microchips increase cancer in rats and mice. However, the rate of serious complications in dogs and cats in the United Kingdom is one in a million. Another problem currently being addressed is that many scanners can’t read at least one of the four major chip types.

Nevertheless, the benefits of microchipping far outweigh any disadvantages. A microchip gives pet owners peace of mind that if their pet is lost or stolen, the animal is far more likely to be found promptly and returned to its owners, and everyone is happy.

The jaguar

(originally published to Helium writing site, now gone)

The jaguar is a western hemisphere mammal belonging to the Felidae or cat family. It is one of four large cats, the others being the tiger, the lion and the leopard, who all live on the other side of the Atlantic. The four have a common ancestor who lived 6-10 million years ago. The jaguar, or Pantera onca, has only been around for 2-4 million years. It occupies Central and South America.

Jaguars are strongly built, swift animals. Most weigh 125-210 pounds, although a large male can weigh around 300 pounds, with the record being 347 pounds. Fossil evidence shows that larger jaguars of up to 420 pounds once roamed the jungles. Females are about 80-90 per cent of the size of males. Jaguars are about 5-6 feet in length and up to 30 inches at the shoulder. Those in the south tend to be larger than in the north.

A jaguar’s powerful body and short strong limbs make it a good climber and swimmer but it is not as fast across the ground as other cats. It has an extremely strong jaw and can reportedly drag an 800 pound bull 25 feet. Jaguars are an orangey yellow colour with reddish-brown to black spots or rosettes that act as camouflage. Up to six percent of jaguars in some areas are black, due to a condition called melanism, where a large amount of dark pigment granules are present in the skin and fur.

Breeding occurs all year round, although jaguars tend to be solitary creatures and don’t stay together after mating. Gestation is around 93-105 days and a female usually has two pups at a time. Blind at birth, a cub takes two weeks to gain its sight. A cub eats meat from three months and hunts with its mother from six months. It will stay with its mother for a year or two. Females are sexually mature at age two and males at age 3-4. Jaguars live 12-15 years in the wild and longer in captivity with instances of 23 years having been recorded.

Jaguars are territorial and each one will claim a large area for itself. The typical size of a territory is forty square miles for a male and 20 square miles for a female. While female territories overlap, male territories don’t overlap with those of other males, although each male territory can include the territories of several females. A jaguar can be active at any time, but mainly during the hours either side of sunrise and sunset. Sightings are rare, with jungle tour guides going years without seeing one.

A jaguar is what is known as a primary predator and is at the top of the food chain. It will feed on at least 85 different species, including mainly capybara (a three foot long rodent) and peccary (a pig-like ungulate), but also deer, the pig-like tapir, crocodilians, fish, birds, snakes, monkeys, turtles, frogs, mice, dogs, cats and cattle. When the first cattle ranches were set up in tropical America, many cattle were lost to jaguars, and ranchers hired jaguar hunters. The jaguar usually kills its prey by clamping its powerful jaws around the victim’s skull. A jaguar’s jaws can crush turtle and tortoise shells. A jaguar will eat up to 50 pounds of meat at the one sitting, although it may then go lengthy periods eating little or nothing.

Jaguars once occupied the southern areas of the US states of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, as well as throughout Central America, and most of South America except for Chile and southern Argentina. Jaguars disappeared from the US around 1900, although in recent times there have been isolated reports of jaguars in the southern US. Apart from this, they are now confined to western and southern Mexico, certain other areas of Central America, and most of the northern and central parts of South America.

Its habitat varies from lowland jungles to montane forests up to 6,500 feet, although they have been found as high as 12,500 feet. Jaguars are also found in wetlands and dry grasslands, although they prefer dense forest, and water. They will live near rivers and have also been known to inhabit isolated beach areas.

Threats to the jaguar include deforestation, human settlement, poaching, hurricanes, and hunters from cattle ranches, making it a threatened species. In the 1960s, an estimated 15,000 jaguar skins a year were taken from the Amazon basin. The Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species in 1973 banned international trade in jaguars. Work by the World Conservation Union and the Wildlife Conservation Society has helped lift the jaguar’s chances of surviving to “high” in 70% of its remaining habitat. However, numbers are still declining. Jaguar hunting is banned in most countries, although Ecuador and Guyana have no protection for jaguars, and Bolivia still allows trophy hunting.

Population estimates for the species are few and usually old. In the Amazon and Orinoco basins, jaguars are reported as common in some areas and extinct in others. In the early 1990s, Brazil’s Pantanal wetland of 60,000 square miles had an estimated 1400 jaguars, Mexico’s Calakmul Biosphere Reserve of 2,400 square miles had 125-180 and Chiapas state a further 350, Guatemala’s Maya Biosphere Reserve of 9,000 square miles had 465-550, and Belize had 600-1000. Belize’s Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary is the jaguar’s largest protected habitat. The animal is extinct in Uruguay and El Salvador.

The jaguar played an important role in Mesoamerica where it was a symbol of power and divinity. In the Olmec civilisation, carved sculptures portrayed the jaguar as part feline part human. The were-jaguar has also been found carved into jade, celts and altars. The Moche culture included a jaguar symbol in many ceramics. In the Mayan civilisation, the Jaguar God of the Underworld ensured the sun’s path under the earth each night. Jaguars were thought to aid communication between the dead and the living, and Mayan kings were given names with the word jaguar. Mayan royal tombs contained up to 15 sacrificed jaguars. For the Quiche Maya people, three of the first four humans were given names meaning Jaguar Cedar, Jaguar Night and Dark Jaguar. The Aztecs had a special army force called the jaguar warriors.

Jaguars are common in modern culture too. The Jaguar motor vehicle is perhaps the best-known example. Guyana has the jaguar as its national animal. Jaguar guitars were used in surf music. Various sports teams have Jaguar as part of their name.

The jaguar prospered as a proud hunter for millions of years. The arrival of Europeans seriously threatened its existence. More recently, conservation work has sought to prevent the extinction of this majestic animal, although its future is not yet assured.

Australia’s koala

(originally published to Helium writing site, now gone)

The koala is a small pale grey-brown marsupial native to Australia which spends most of its life sitting in the fork of a gum tree, asleep. It isn’t actually a member of the bear family, but is often referred to as a koala bear as it resembles a small bear or child’s teddy bear. There are thought to be fewer than 100,000 koalas living mainly in eastern and southern Australia, down from an estimated 10 million or more before European settlement.

The name koala is from the Aboriginal word “gula”, which became “koolah” and then “koala”. It is sometimes thought that the word means “no drink” as koalas rarely drink water but get their moisture from the eucalyptus leaves which comprise most of its diet, but the meaning is disputed. They are popular tourist attractions at zoos, where visitors line up for a photograph with a koala, for example, at Lone Pine Sanctuary, Brisbane.

Koalas live where eucalyptus trees are found. Their habitat ranges from coastal and inland forests to islands off the coast and inland wooded areas. They are social animals and each group has its own territory. If a koala dies, other koalas won’t enter its territory for a year.

To prosper, a group needs to have a forest area large enough to support its food requirements and breeding cycle as well as providing shelter. Koalas only eat a few dozen varieties of Australia’s 600 eucalyptus species and prefer about ten. Most species are poisonous, and their strong sense of smell lets them know which species are okay to eat. Occasionally, they will eat wattle and tea tree leaves. They eat half to one pound of leaves a day. Their high fiber, low-nutrition diet has given them a slow metabolism rate and they sleep 16-18 hours a day. They are most active at night. A permit is needed to keep a koala as a pet.

The koala has adapted well to its life spent in trees. Its muscular body and limbs, and strong paws with sharp claws, allow it to climb tree trunks and branches in such an easy way it almost looks like it’s walking up the tree. On the ground, they look quite awkward and walk or run with a kind of a hobble.

A koala’s thick fur is waterproof and also provides insulation against temperature extremes. Southern male koalas weigh 20-30 pounds while females weigh 14-24 pounds, although northern koalas weigh less. Apart from their size difference, the way to tell a male from a female is that the male has a brown scent gland on its chest.

One of the more extraordinary traits of koalas is their ability to communicate with each other. A large male will give a deep grunt or bellow to indicate its position in the hierarchy. Males will grunt at each other to determine their position, with the loudest, deepest grunt winning the day. This saves fighting, which wastes valuable energy, something koalas don’t have in abundance, although they do sometimes resort to fighting. A male’s bellow can be heard up to half a mile away during the breeding season. Females are quieter but will sometimes grunt when angry or at mating time. A mother and baby will “talk” to each other using soft muttering, humming and squeaking noises. Any koala can give a loud cry or scream if frightened or stressed.

Koalas’ young are immature at birth and continue to develop in the female’s pouch. Breeding is in the southern summer months of September to March. Females have babies from age three or four, and have one joey at a time, although not every year. During its 12 year lifespan, a female will have five or six joeys. Koalas have a very short gestation period of about five weeks.

When born, a koala is less than an inch long, weighs perhaps a thirtieth of an ounce, and is furless. It could be mistaken for a pink jellybean. Somehow, a joey makes its way unaided to the pouch, where there are two teats. The pouch acts like a second womb and the joey doesn’t leave it for six months. After about five months, it will open its eyes and peer out. At age 5-7 months, it eats “pap”, a form of faeces that acts as a transitional food between milk and eucalyptus leaves. At seven months, a joey will leave the pouch and eat leaves but will ride on its mother’s back

Koalas almost became extinct in the early twentieth century and still face many threats. Four-fifths of Australia’s eucalyptus forests have been cut down and most of those that remain are on private land and not protected. Land clearing and human settlement has resulted in habitat loss leading to overcrowding and disease.

They also face death and injury from introduced animals such as dogs and cats, from traffic, bushfires (many of which are deliberately lit) and pesticides. An estimated 4000 koalas are killed by motor vehicles and dogs each year.

In Queensland, the koala is listed as “vulnerable” except in the south-east where it is “common”; in New South Wales it is mainly “vulnerable”; in Victoria the population is “large and thriving”; and in South Australia it is “rare”, except on Kangaroo Island off the South Australian coast where the word “plague” has been used to describe numbers.

Elections have been won and lost over koalas. In Queensland in 1995, the state government wanted to build a second freeway between Brisbane and the Gold Coast. The proposed road went through koala habitat and five government seats. Residents protested and the government lost all five seats, giving power to the opposition by one seat after an independent member agreed to support it. The “koala highway” was scrapped and the existing highway widened.

Koalas are now a protected species, with koala preservation societies and branches around the country. A koala hospital has been set up at Port Macquarie, New South Wales, to care for sick and injured koalas. It has a treatment room, intensive care unit, and 24 hour rescue and treatment facility. The future is looking a little brighter for this unique Australian animal.