Quick Facts
Pigmentation:
We've most all have heard of albinism in animals where there is genetically a total lack of melanin pigmentation making an animal appear whiter than the rest of his species. And perhaps most have heard of melanism where in animals there is a majority of dark pigments found in the skin, fur and hair making the animal appear as black. This too, is due to genetic mutations within a species. These varying forms of color traits within a species are a form of polymorphism, which in biological terms, states its occurrence is when two or more different phenotypes exists within the same population of a species.
Leucism is much like albinism, but it is caused by a reduction in all types of pigmentation, not just melanin. Also, because eye cells are derived from an independent developmental origin that isn't affected by leucistic phenotypes, leucism does not affect eye color. Leucism though, may not affect the whole body, leaving certain patches as normally pigmented.
Here are some photos to compare exhibiting albinistic and melanistic traits with two leucistic traits.
Leucism is much like albinism, but it is caused by a reduction in all types of pigmentation, not just melanin. Also, because eye cells are derived from an independent developmental origin that isn't affected by leucistic phenotypes, leucism does not affect eye color. Leucism though, may not affect the whole body, leaving certain patches as normally pigmented.
Here are some photos to compare exhibiting albinistic and melanistic traits with two leucistic traits.
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| 1. Eastern gray squirrel exhibiting albinism |
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| 2. Eastern gray squirrel exhibiting melanism |
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| 3. Typical eastern gray squirrel |
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| 4. A melanistic eastern hognose |
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| 5. Leucistic E. obsoleta ~Texas rat snake |
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| 6. Leucistic ball python with patching |
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| 7. Melanistic timberwolves |
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| 9. An albino alligator |
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| 8. Albinistic snail |
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| 10. An albino moose |
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| 11. A negroid albino |
As we see, albinism, melanism and leucism may play a role in not only invertebrates and lower vertebrates, but in mammals including humans as well.
Two other pigmentation traits, we may not have heard of as much, because their roles in mammals and in particularly in humans are very rare, are erythrism and xanthochromism (also spelled xanthocroism or xanthism). Erythristic characteristics are when congenital conditions in pigmentation favor the spectrum of reds. Xanthochromistic pigmentation development favors yellows.
The red and yellow color dominance of erythrism and xanthochromism in individual birds and fish within a species and even to the extent of the dominant color within a whole species are commonly pronounced. We are accustomed to seeing yellow or red fish and yellow or red birds.
To a degree, these two pigmentation conditions are common in invertebrates, but not so much as the congenital dominant pigmentation in reptiles and even most amphibians. It does from time to time, present itself as recessive to a species, but dominant to an individual of that species.
In the snake species, Morelia viridis the neonates, or juveniles are hatched as dominantly yellow or red and through ontogenesis stages gradually turn the adult green in most cases.
In the snake species, Morelia viridis the neonates, or juveniles are hatched as dominantly yellow or red and through ontogenesis stages gradually turn the adult green in most cases.
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| 12. Erythrism: katydid pink |
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| 13. Katydid normal green coloration |
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| 14. Erythrism: katydid red |
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| 15. Thamnophis sirtalis normal coloration |
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| 16. Erythrisitic Thamophis sirtalis |
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| 17. |
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18. |
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| 19. M. viridis ~ Xanthistic & Erythristic neonates |
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| 20. Ceratophys normal coloration |
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| 21. Xanthochromistic Ceratophys |
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| 22. Corallus caninus ~ the emerald boa |
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| 23. Erythrisitic C. caninus |
As one can see, coloration may serve as a general guideline in identifying certain species, but it is not a specific indicator. Pigmented dominance of recessive traits for the most part are not beneficial, for it tends to make the organism stick out more from the crowd, which gets their prey and predator's attention first. But in some instances, it appears that there are positive results. Apparently dominant melanism exhorts beneficial effects to the immune system and is linked to viral disease resistance. Recent research has shown that melanism mutations code a more resilient protein layer around cell membranes.
So for all you kitty lovers out there, you may have noticed your black kitty remaining healthier than your various colored ones.
PHOTO CREDITS:
PHOTO CREDITS:
1. Ivan Vargas; 2. source: Wikimedia Commons; 3. A.jo; 4. John White; 5. L.A. Dawson; 6. source: eclecticpets.com; 7. Daniel Stahler (AP); 8. Bianca Knowlton; 9. Mila Zinkova; 10. Lisa Stossmeister; 11. source: Wikimedia Commons, Muntuwandi; 12. 'Moose' Tom morris; 13. source: Hilton Pond Center; 14. source: Wikimedia Commons, Jenny; 15. James Harding; 16. Jeff Benfer; 17. M. viridis normal ~ Eduardo Balogh, M. viridis xanthistic ~ Brandon Osborne; 18. M. viridis (red) ~ David G. Barkasy, M. viridis (maroon) ~ John Kentucky; 19. courtesy Fort Worth Zoo; 20. Keith & Liz Laidler; 21. Grosscha WC; 22. source Wikimedia Commons, Benjament444; 23. Graham P. Oxtoby (2009).
DID YA KNOW: The only amphibian found on the entire island of Madagascar are frogs. The large island is devoid of all toads, salamanders, newts and caecilians.
As of 2010, worldwide populations of species with herpetology interests stand at these numbers. There are a total worldwide count of 6,433 amphibian species and 9,084 reptile species worldwide. Approximately 42% of the amphibian species populations are in decline from 2005 records. Some snake species populations have declined up to 90% especially African and European species.
This is in addition to already declining populations where eleven out of seventeen snake species found in the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Nigeria plummeted in double digit percentage points from 1998 to 2002. Although it appears the decline overall has halted and has become fixed with no further declining, but no increasing either.
This news may be welcomed by people who dislike snakes, but for those who typically do not like rodents either, remember that now there is one less check and control on mice and rat populations.
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| A newly found beaked toad species |
Whenever a new species is discovered, I don't like to simply say a "new species." These species may be new to us, but who knows how long they've been around doing their thing; we just never have encountered them before. So, instead of calling a previously unknown species as "new," I like to describe it as "newly found."
PHOTO CREDIT: Robin Moore.
DID YA KNOW: Phrynosoma cornutum, the Texas horny toad along with three other species from the lizard genus Phrynosoma have the ability to spit blood from their eyes at an intruder .61-1.21m/2-4ft away with accurate aim.
Legs Anyone?:
For a vertebrate to rebuild a lost complex structure such as an arm or leg would be a godsend and apparently that god favors urodele amphibians. If a limb is severely wounded or completely amputated, urodele amphibians have the uncanny ability to fully repair or regenerate a new limb. Even other body parts such as the tail, retina or intestines can perfectly be regenerated. The order of Urodela includes all extant salamanders.
Adult urodeles within a few weeks perfectly regenerate body parts by the generation of blastema cells, formed from the local formation of a mesenchymal growth zone. What all of this essentially means is that adult urodeles retain embryonic blastema stem cells.
The blastema replaces body structures in relation to the organism's proximodistal pattern positioning. Proximodistal patterning refers to a sequence in which growth starts from the center of the body then moves outwards to the extremities and is usually described in fetal development.
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| Marbled salamander ~ Ambystoma opacum has the ability to regenerate body parts |
How this is done is still unclear, but ongoing research has isolated retinoic acid receptors that appear to signal to blastemal cells to respecify once needed for tissue repair. The acid receptors are activated from the wound site. Once we understand more clearly the mechanisms of urodele regeneration, perhaps in mammalian, including man, inducement of blastema cell limb regeneration may no longer be discounted, but realized.
PHOTO CREDIT: Patrick Coin.
PHOTO CREDIT: Patrick Coin.
DID YA KNOW: The word salamander is derived from Greek meaning 'fire lizard' for the ancients thought salamanders were lizards that could walk through fire unscathed.
Caecilian Skin Feeding:
This is an excerpt pulled from AMPHIBIANS in the Caecilians section...
In rearing young, skin feeding is carried out by the mother from members of the genus' Boulengerula and Siphonops. Known as maternal dermatophagy, this is where the caecilian offspring actually tear into the mother's flesh, rip off chunks and eat it. It sounds gruesome, but it does save the expense in spent energy of maternal care in hunting, capturing and bringing back prey to be consumed by the offspring. Also during this period, it appears that Mother Nature is not just looking out for the offsprings' welfare but for mom's too.
For the offspring's sake, Mother Nature has evolved special 'infant teeth' specifically designed for ripping into the mother's flesh. These teeth are later lost and replaced as the caecilian matures. Some of these infant teeth are spoon shaped for scraping while the rest are spiked points for piercing outer skin layers.
For poor mom's sake, Mother Nature has equipped her to withstand the onslaught. During this period of rearing young, the mother's skin doubles in thickness with several layers. Only the outside layer is eaten and appears to not be equipped with nerves to signal pain. When the outermost layer is scraped and ripped off, the next layer quickly replaces it, maturing into the next meal. The mother does lose weight, but otherwise appears unharmed during this nurturing stage.
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| Boulengerula taitana ~ young feasting on mother |
What is truly remarkable is that caecilians species are oviparous (egg layers), ovoviviparous (eggs hatch inside female, then born live) and viviparous (give live birth) and it doesn't matter, all birth types participate in some form of maternal care. In addition though, in live bearing caecilian forms, the offspring, while still inside the mother will scrape off nutritious tissue and fatty secretions from the linings of the female's reproductive organs with the infant teeth.
This has to be the most purest form of parental investment but is not so far out there in extremes. It does parallel mammalian strategies in rearing offspring, for a big investment in mammalian mothers in producing and offering nutrients from her own body it seems, has similar infant rearing strategies. In a sense, whether it's skin from the body of a caecilian parent or milk from the body of a mammalian parent...it is an invested strategy in the successful rearing of a totally dependent offspring.
The following video is a segment of BBC's, 'Life In Cold Blood', which films caecilian babies feeding off mom:
PHOTO CREDIT: Alexander Kupfer (2006).
DID YA KNOW: Caecilians are the only amphibian to possess tentacles and are the only known extant vertebrate, besides the tentacled snake and star nosed mole to have tentacles. Some fish do have barbels, but most other vertebrates replace tentacles with extendable tongues to act as chemoreceptors.
Missing But Not Forgotten:
09/07/2011
Officially announced just this past July, a toad was recently rediscovered that was last seen in 1924. That toad is the Bornean rainbow toad (Ansonia latidisca). Sometimes also referred to as the Sambas stream toad, the animal was listed as extinct. Not one, but three specimens were found and observed...a male, a female and a juvenile. The finding of a male and female is good news for potential breeding, but the finding of the juvenile is even better in proving that they are viably breeding.
There was still hope that the toad was still alive and was listed by Conservation International as the world's most ten wanted anurans. Not seen for 87 years, scientists from the University of Malaysia Sarawak discovered the three toads in a tree in western Sarawak. Understandably, the scientists aren't letting on to the exact location.
The three toad specimens ranged in size from 30 to 50 mm/1.2 to 2.0 in. Most of the toads' subtropical to tropical natural habitat has given way to development. With long spindling legs, warty, peebley and variegated coloration, they do make for some cute little critters.
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| The first photo ever of Anisonia latisdisca
PHOTO CREDIT: Professor Indraneil Das (University Malaysia Sarawak).
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DID YA KNOW: When a frog swallows, his eyes involuntarily close and the eyeballs are pushed down into the head. This allows the eyes to take on a double task. Besides used for vision, the compressed eyeballs exert pressure pushing a swallowed meal down the throat.
Largest Extant Crocodile Ever Documented:
At 6.4m/21ft and weighing 1,075kg/2,369lbs, the largest crocodile was just captured in the Philippines. The ol' boy is estimated to be ~50 years old.
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| Largest croc ever caught (September 2011) @ Reuters |
For the video, click on the BBC link below and watch:
DID YA KNOW: Crocodilian tongues are immobile and cannot be moved by the animal. A special basal end-part of the tongue known as the palatal valve closes off the respiratory tract when the animals are underwater. Another interesting fact about crocodilian mouths is that an old specimen may have had 3,000 teeth in its mouth in thecodont dentition replacement of missing, worn or damaged teeth.
Old Foes:
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| 1. Saltwater croc vs. shark |
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| 2. 4.85m/16ft salty eats 3.03m/10ft bull shark |
These two pieces of fossil poop give credence to a death match between a crocodile and shark that is the ancestor to the modern day tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier). Found along the Chesapeake Bay shoreline unearthed from 15 million year old rock cliffs, these phosphate rich coprolites give the signature as once being produced by a crocodile. The fossils also have embedded in them shark teeth marks.
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| 3. Crocodile coprolite with shark teeth marks |
Sharks are known to taste test first and the teeth marks were being analysed to see if this was indeed the case; where the shark bit into excreted floating feces and spit it back out. Conclusions were derived that it was not. The marks are in such a way and arrangement that highly suggests they were put there while the feces was still in the crocodile. This crocodile on a particular Miocene day 15 million years ago, lost the battle.
PHOTO CREDITS: 1. Indrek Urvet; 2. Paul Collihole/Barbara Bland 3. Douggie Douglass/Stephen Godfrey/Joshua Smith.
DID YA KNOW: One of the, if not the fastest lizard is native to Mexico and Central America. Ctenosaura similis, an iguana commonly known as the black spiney-tailed has a running speed of 34.9kph/21.7mph. The little racerunner lizard, Cnemidophorus sexlineatus native to the central, southern and eastern states of America comes in second place in easily reaching speeds of 29kph/18mph.
Mimicry:
PHOTO CREDITS: 1. Indrek Urvet; 2. Paul Collihole/Barbara Bland 3. Douggie Douglass/Stephen Godfrey/Joshua Smith.
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1. Oxytenis
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| 2. Oxystensis close-up |
In the photos, what is this...anyone recognize...a snake maybe...
No it's not. This is not a snake. It is the larva of a moth, a caterpillar. The little guy is performing its snake interpretation. Moths in the genus Oxytenis, containing some 36 species are commonly called the dead leaf moth. They are strictly a neotropical moth residing in Central America. The adult moth itself gives a fairly good rendition of a fallen leaf. With the coloration and venation in their wings of a dead leaf, they appear as if they are a leaf. If disturbed while resting on a branch, it won't normally fly off, but flutter down to the ground exactly as a leaf would, then lays there with wings spread among the leaf litter totally concealed.
What is more unusual is in the moth's camouflage skills as a larva. The caterpillar develops through five stages known as instars. When it comes to mimicking, this moth is the master. In all the five instar phases, the caterpillar's third thoracic segment is enlarged forming small wing-like structures that conceals the overall body plan and shape of the caterpillar.
Upon hatching, the first caterpillar instar will invert into a 'j' position concealing its head and with particular coloration, resembles bird droppings. They take on this position when danger threatens. This is their choice of mimicry from the first to third instar. In the fourth, coloration changes to lighter yellowish and brown and they appear oily resembling a larger bird's feces.
The final and fifth instar is the kicker in mimicry we're after in this article. After around fifteen days in reaching the fifth instar stage, the caterpillar changes mimicry habits with various strategies. Undisturbed the caterpillar appears as a rolled up detached leaf. This effect is carried out by a triangular pattern on the front part of the body that gives an impression of the open end of a rolled leaf. The coloration scheme has now changed, but it is not the same for every individual. Some become an overall velvet brown with some lighter brown parts and some parts darker. Others are velvet green with lighter and darker parts of reddish brown and even hues of pink. All have some form of triangular spotting on the sides of the abdomen that are darker in the velvet brown cases and more of a silvery white in the velvet greens. Thus, you now have a population of caterpillars where some look like a dead rolled up brown leaf while others appear as a freshly plucked rolled up green leaf. The spotting in the velvet browns resembles holes in the leaf, while the spotting in the velvet greens resemble fungal infections or small feces droppings.
The above is the explanation of the caterpillar's mimicry while undisturbed, once disturbed, the mimicking transforms. In no longer resorting to the fecal 'j' position as it did in the former instar phases, the fifth instar instead mimics the head of a snake. Two black spots located dorsally on the thoracic enlarged section resemble a pair of forever unblinking staring eyes; just as a snakes'. By pumping hemolymph fluid into the thorax, a fold in the thoracic skin is expanded enlarging the eye spots.
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| 3. Dead leaf moth ~ Oxytensis |
These large false eyes now resemble dark pupils, even with taps of white resembling light reflection in the upper half. Further, the caterpillar will rear up the third half of the anterior body and wave. In this posturing mimic, any animal that was planning on having the little caterpillar for supper might now have second thoughts.
PHOTO CREDITS: 1. Stephen J. Krasemann; 2. Gianfranco Gomez; 3. T. Beth Kinsey (fireflyforest.net).
DID YA KNOW: Caecilians either have short tails no more than 6mm/0.24in or less, or absent all together.
Think Big:
PHOTO CREDITS: 1. Stephen J. Krasemann; 2. Gianfranco Gomez; 3. T. Beth Kinsey (fireflyforest.net).
DID YA KNOW: Caecilians either have short tails no more than 6mm/0.24in or less, or absent all together.
Think Big:
We normally think of caiman species as the smallest representatives of crocodilians and for good reason. Three out of the four caiman genera are small in comparison, with the genus Paleosuchus being the smallest of extant species of all crocodilians.
But in the caiman genus, Melanosuchus represented by the species, Melanosuchus niger, comprise some of the biggest of crocodilians and quite possibly the largest attainable size species in the Alligatoridae family. As the name suggests, this is the black caiman. Melas is the Greek genitive for 'black' and niger is Latin for 'black'.
Black caiman inhabit waters in the Amazon basin of South America and are indeed the largest predator there and third largest South American crocodilian, just behind in size from the American and Orinico crocodiles. On average, black caiman size is 3-4.26m/9.8-14ft, but in certain areas such as the Araguaia River, average sizes are 4-5m/13-16ft. On occasion, older bulls (mature male crocodilians) may exceed 5.75m/19ft.
But the black caiman came up a bit short to the extinct caiman, Purussaurus braziliensis who lived just 8 mya in the Miocene Amazon. This Purussaurus caiman maxed out at an incredible length of 13m/43ft, making him geologically, the most recent largest crocodilian and one of the largest of crocodilians ever.
M. niger may be the current apex predator in the Amazon basin, but it appears that the caiman's reputation isn't too much of a concern to butterflies as so eloquently noted in the photo.
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| 1. Melanosuchus niger |
Black caiman inhabit waters in the Amazon basin of South America and are indeed the largest predator there and third largest South American crocodilian, just behind in size from the American and Orinico crocodiles. On average, black caiman size is 3-4.26m/9.8-14ft, but in certain areas such as the Araguaia River, average sizes are 4-5m/13-16ft. On occasion, older bulls (mature male crocodilians) may exceed 5.75m/19ft.
But the black caiman came up a bit short to the extinct caiman, Purussaurus braziliensis who lived just 8 mya in the Miocene Amazon. This Purussaurus caiman maxed out at an incredible length of 13m/43ft, making him geologically, the most recent largest crocodilian and one of the largest of crocodilians ever.
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| 2. M. niger ~ butterfly rest stop |
M. niger may be the current apex predator in the Amazon basin, but it appears that the caiman's reputation isn't too much of a concern to butterflies as so eloquently noted in the photo.
PHOTO CREDITS: 1. Dr. Jerry Gingerich; 2. Whaldener Endo.
DID YA KNOW: Even though it is just for a short few seconds in duration, on land the American alligator can reach speeds in excess of 32.2kph/20mph.
In the Name of Faith:
To prove devoutness in faith, a splinter group branched off from main Pentecostal churches and began the practice of 'snake handling' during the 1920s in the U.S.s Appalachia region. The new form of Christian religion spread throughout the southeastern states and has made its way up into the Canadian provinces of Alberta and British Columbia.
Therefore, before any religious individual or organizational entity can write them off as lunatics, you can see from the above Bible passages, they do have the good book on their side. Nonetheless, snake handling is a dangerous practice and people have died, including children coerced into participation. Over 100 cases have been documented to snake handling deaths envenomated by snakes. Others, who have survived venomous strike injections, have deformed or amputated appendages to bear witness in the ritual's folly.
PHOTO CREDITS: 1. Russell Lee; 2. source: benreed.net 3. source: Agitprop.
Caeciliaens are indeed not only strange amphibians but just plain strange animals period. They all are fossorial, except for one aquatic family, Typhlonectidae and are similar in appearance to other fossorial creatures from earthworms through legless amphisbaenians to the burrowing blind snakes. In fact caecilians when encountered and commonly named are incorrectly labeled snakes or worms and as even eels for typhlonectid species. Typhlonectids are fully aquatic, but still behave as their fellow fossorial caecilians by burrowing in the mud of water beds.
In being fossorial (living underground), the general body plan is a legless, arm less trunk with practically no distinction between the head or tail; in other words you can't make heads nor tails of these underground dwelling burrowing animals. These animals are listed as vermiform in that their body plan is worm-like.
Fossorial animals with alike body plans as compared to the caecilian Dermophis mexicanus:
Fossorial caecilians also share with these other animals greatly reduced, vestigial or absent eyes and annuli (superficially segmented skin folds), but what they do not share with them are tentacles. With the two exceptions of the tentacled snake, Erpeton tentaculatum and the star nosed mole, Condylura cristata, I know of no other tentacled vertebrate. Well technically anyway, for in understanding the functions of vibrissae, perhaps there is at least a corollary link between caecilian tentacles and mammalian vibrissae. Oh, by the way, vibrissa is a whisker and the visbrissae (whiskers) act as a sensory receptor as well. These caecilian sensory tentacles, dependent upon species, may or may not be protruded and are originated from modified tear ducts. So without doubt, whiskers included or not, caecilians are the only vertebrate to possess motile tentacles.
In going back and adding to the earlier article, 'Caecilian Skin Feeding', caecilians are oviparous (egg layers), ovoviviparous (eggs hatch inside female, then born live) and viviparous (give live birth). In all reproduction examples, caecilian young, even in the fetal stage are equipped with 'infant teeth.' Inside the mouths of adults though, there are dozens of needle sharp teeth that are used to grab hold of fossorial invertebrates, termites, insect larvae, mollusks, smaller frogs, snakes and lizards and perhaps other caecilians. These teeth are used only for grabbing and gripping as food is swallowed whole. Imagine that, an amphibian with a mouth chock full of sharpened teeth.
Caecilian literature is rife with inaccuracies, for we know very little about actual behaviors due to their subterranean existence. Owing to this, authors like to label them as secretive, but this is not the case at all. They do not lead a retiring and secretive life, but are quite active and agile, burrowing in the pursuit of prey and each other. The mother in most species performs in the duties of maternal and parental care.
But, due to our lack of exposure we cannot be so sure on the number of extant species and specie populations that are going about conducting their business below our feet. Some species are only known from a few specimens and one lungless aquatic species, Atretochoana eiselti is known from just two 19th century preserved specimens, until now. 6 A. eiselti species were found near the mouth of the Amazon river this 2011.
Although the genus Gegeneophis is the most diverse caecilian genera, specimen of species are hard to find. A new genus species was recently discovered in the Belguam district of India. Only 3 specimens have been collected for the species, Gegenophis mhadeinsis.
Boulengerula fischeri for twenty years was known from only one specimen, until a few more specimens were rediscovered in 2007 in Rwanda. The way the caecilian specimens were collected was by scientists having local natives go out and collect earthworms, which the caecilian looks like. Commonly known as the living pink spaghetti caecilian, it most certainly lives up to its name. With 200 vertebrae for support, the living pink spaghetti obtains a length of 400mm/15.75in with a mere diameter of only 5mm/.20in.
In being taxon monotypic, meaning that there is only one biological species of its kind, Caecilita iwokramae is known from only one specimen found in the mid 1990s in Guyana within the Iwokrama scrub forest. What is unusual about this caecilian is that it is lungless, but nonetheless is also terrestrial. More about this highly unusual caecilian will be addressed in a near-future 'Quick Facts' article. Plus you can read a bit more about it now under the 'Caecilians' section in 'AMPHIBIANS'.
DID YA KNOW: The primarily aquatic siren during times of drought will bury into the mud bottoms, form a secreted mucus cocoon around itself and aestivate dropping metabolism down some 70% and lose up to 85% of body mass while waiting it out for over a year if necessary until the waters come back.
Raining Frogs:
DID YA KNOW: By far the reigning champion in frog jumping is the Mascarene rocket frog (Ptychadena mascareniensis). This little frog, no bigger than 50mm/2in can leap an astonishing 5.33m/17.5ft in a single bound.
Shrewd Shrew:
Why bring up information on a small mammal on a site dedicated to reptiles and amphibians? I'll answer that question with a question. What does the Northern Short-tailed Shrew of North America have in common with the Gila Monster lizard (Heloderma suspectum) and rear-fanged snakes?
The answer is that this unique shrew is one of the few mammals that possesses a salivary toxic brew that is much like in nature to Gila Monster toxin and is delivered by grooves in the teeth much like the arrangement in rear-fanged snake teeth. The bite from one of these cute but deadly shrews is enough to kill an animal much larger than itself, but is primarily used to subdue and paralyze smaller prey. Fortunately for humans though, the glands that produce the toxin are tiny, therefore the minute amounts injected into wounds of a victim the size of humans, only localized painful swelling around the bite area is the end result. Nonetheless, the toxin is potent.
For an averaged sized shrew weighing 15 g/0.53 oz, the animal has the potential to carry a produced quantity of 160 mg/.006 oz of venom. The lethal dose (LD/50) for an eastern cottontail rabbit is 7 mg/.0003 oz per 1 kg/2.20 lbs the weight of the rabbit. With an average weight of 1.34 kg/2.95 lbs, as you can see, the rabbit could succumb to an injection from one single bite.
The Northern Short-tailed Shrew, Blarina brevecauda shares this venomous mammalian trait with other Blarina shrew species. The neurotoxin is composed primarily of two active ingredients that are produced and secreted into the mouth's saliva by submaxillary and sublingual glands located just beneath the incisor tooth in the lower mandible.
Two active ingredients have been isolated in the toxic brew. One, named after the shrew family, Soricidae is soricidin, an active peptide that causes paralysis. The other active ingredient is a much more potent immobilizing agent and is known as blarinisin (BLTX) named after the genus, Blarina. BLTX is a glycoprotein containing a catalytic triad of serine proteases known as kallikrein that induces blood vessel wall dilation, hypo-tension, irregular respiration, then convulsions followed by death in lethal doses.
This type neurotoxin is chemically identical to that of GTX toxin found in the venomous lizard, Helodermatidae family, but co-evolved separately and independently in the two mammalian and reptilian animal groups producing it. The method of delivery in injections is via a duct that carries the ejected venom from the glands up a groove located on the outer side of the lower incisor, thus finally directed into the bite site.
Snake, lizard or shrew, it doesn't matter, nature always extends surprises in both subtle and marked ways.
PHOTO CREDIT: Gilles Gonthier
In this tropical setting though, this crocodilian lived side-by-side 58-60 mya with Titanoboa cerrejonesis, a snake that grew between 12-13.6m/40-45ft in length and weighed 1,134kg/2,500lbs. A snake that size must have had an enormous appetite for large main courses. It is easy to perceive that there were great battles between these two colossal predators and whichever won the match, most probably was due to the larger one. Maturing snakes got it from the crocodilian and mature crocodilians got it from the adult snake.
Not So Fast:
After an extensive 2010 study with accurate instrumentation and precision results in venom potency, the Faint banded sea snake, Hydrophis belcheri won out hands down over the next two runner-ups in the Beaked sea snake, Enhydrina schistosa and the Inland taipan, Oxyuranus microlepidotus. The Faint banded has a toxicity coefficient efficacy venom rating of over a 100 times that of the other two.
Not so fast...
...you can't believe everything you read over the internet. Though there are many articles claiming there was a study conducted and concluded that the faint banded sea snake possesses the most potent venom of all snakes, one cannot find one bit of evidence of the testing, its methods, its results, the breakdown of venom chemistry and who or what entity did the testing. These internet articles most likely are just duplicates of one reading one and simply copying down the information just to post the regurgitated material but once again.
There simply is no data provided in this supposed analysis of the most potent snake venom. I even added words in my opening paragraph to embellish the too generalized wording of all the websites claiming this test was conducted. All these sites claim a few venom milligrams can kill 1000 people and that the faint banded snake's venom is 100 times more dangerous than the taipan's and beaked sea snake's. Hardly much documentation there, is it?
Many factors come into play on how would a claim of this nature be factual. Did the testing not only include concentrate, but also delivery amount. A coral snake's (Micrurus fulvius) overall neurotoxic venom is far more potent per unit concentrate than a western diamondback rattler's (Crotalus atrox) overall hemotoxic venom. A rattler envenomation though, is far more damaging to tissue and issues larger amounts. Even if the envenomation dose is not enough to kill you, there will be permanent tissue damage. Whereas if envenomated with coral snake venom from an encounter, the dosage is much lower and if you survive, there is complete recovery.
What was the LD50 results? LD50 is the Lethal Dose measure achieved in a substance that will kill half the sample animal population once the material is administered. The substance is measured in milligrams per kilogram of the test animal's body weight. The lower the LD50 amount, the more toxicity exhibited in the substance. LD50 values though cannot be directly extrapolated from one specie to the other.
Then there are other values, such as LC50 (Lethal Concentration, 50%) and LCt50 (Lethal Concentration over time), which measures the dose required to kill half the members of a tested population during a specified time duration.
There is not one shred of evidence in results of this test. Not a single documented statement.
There are intramuscular LD50 tests that have been conducted on Faint banded venom and the averaged results are 0.155mg/kg. Now that is potent and no one can argue that Faint banded sea snake venom isn't lethal, but the intramuscular LD50 for the Reef sea snake (Hydrophis ornatus) is lower at 0.120mg/kg. For the lowest intramuscular LD50 snake venom measurement that I know of is at 0.082mg/kg for the Black banded sea snake (Hydrophis melanosoma).
To be truthful, I was rooting for this test to have been for real, for this type of information is interesting. What it appears to be though is over zealous Faint banded sea snake fans rooting a little too hard blinded by faith. To slap on a little philosophy here...
Faith is a good personal item to identify with, but it cannot be measured in a test tube, nor be the result of any scientific methodology. Faith is not accuracy, it is intention only and has no place in the science classroom. Always continue to keep your hopes high, but wishing for something to be isn't going to necessarily make it so. I believe the jury is still out on this final deliberation.
PHOTO CREDIT: You Tube (BalisticBean).
DID YA KNOW: Even though it is just for a short few seconds in duration, on land the American alligator can reach speeds in excess of 32.2kph/20mph.
In the Name of Faith:
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| 1. Snake handling |
The practice of snake handlers is to prove their faith in Jesus Christ and use venomous viperids, primarily rattlesnakes, to test that faith and obedience to God. Taking hold of the snakes they will hold them up and walk among the gathered crowd while speaking in tongues.
The ritual is based on verses from the King James Bible; they are:
Mark 16: 17-18 And these signs shall follow them that believe: In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues. They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
Luke 10: 19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
Luke 10: 19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
Acts 28: 3-6 And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand. And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live. And he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm. Howbeit they looked when he should have swollen, or fallen down dead suddenly: but after they had looked a great while, and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds, and said that he was a god.
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| 2. A whole lot of faith! |
At times snake handlers will be struck by the snake and will receive no ill effects except for the fang wounds. This they claim is their faith at work in God protecting them. There are two reasons for this and neither one has anything to do with the snake handler's faith, religion or god, for it is all due to the snake's choice in causing venomous injections or not. Viperids have the ability to inject whatever amount of venom they deem necessary. They do not like to waste venom for it is costly in energy expense to manufacture and is time consuming during the process.
Normally, vipers control the precise amount of venom to inject according to the size of prey. When threatened by an animal as large as an human, they will try and conserve venom with no injection. But, if really excited, they just might inject the full amount. The so called 'dry bites' of no venom is what makes these religious practitioners feel justified in pursuing their cause, while of course the full injections, they prefer not to elaborate on due to the contradictory painful or lethal results.
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| 3. Snake handler |
The controlled amount of venom injection, appears to be a learned trait behavior in vipers as the older ones are the only ones to practice the habit. Younger ones normally inject the full amount in prey injections and defensive stances.
Also, older snakes once handled frequently, even vipers begin to tame down and become accustomed. I'm quite sure snake handlers know all this for they never use yearling vipers, only the larger and older ones, which too, adds to the dramatic effect with their size.
PHOTO CREDITS: 1. Russell Lee; 2. source: benreed.net 3. source: Agitprop.
DID YA KNOW: All air breathing animals require freshwater for proper metabolism. Sea turtles spend pretty much their whole lives in saltwater, so where do they get freshwater? There is no tap with freshwater available, so sea turtles gain access to freshwater in two ways. One is from the food they eat, but the primary source is from seawater. The turtles drink seawater where once entering the bloodstream, it goes through salt glands located near the eyes where the saltwater is desalinated, thus the concentrated salt content is filtered, then secreted out through tear ducts.
Never Seen Much Less Heard:
In being fossorial (living underground), the general body plan is a legless, arm less trunk with practically no distinction between the head or tail; in other words you can't make heads nor tails of these underground dwelling burrowing animals. These animals are listed as vermiform in that their body plan is worm-like.
Fossorial animals with alike body plans as compared to the caecilian Dermophis mexicanus:
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| 1. Dermpohis mexicanus ~ caecilian |
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| 2. Typhlops vermicularis ~ blind snake |
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| 3. Amphisbaena alba |
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| 4. T. terraereginae ~ blue earthworm |
In going back and adding to the earlier article, 'Caecilian Skin Feeding', caecilians are oviparous (egg layers), ovoviviparous (eggs hatch inside female, then born live) and viviparous (give live birth). In all reproduction examples, caecilian young, even in the fetal stage are equipped with 'infant teeth.' Inside the mouths of adults though, there are dozens of needle sharp teeth that are used to grab hold of fossorial invertebrates, termites, insect larvae, mollusks, smaller frogs, snakes and lizards and perhaps other caecilians. These teeth are used only for grabbing and gripping as food is swallowed whole. Imagine that, an amphibian with a mouth chock full of sharpened teeth.
Caecilian literature is rife with inaccuracies, for we know very little about actual behaviors due to their subterranean existence. Owing to this, authors like to label them as secretive, but this is not the case at all. They do not lead a retiring and secretive life, but are quite active and agile, burrowing in the pursuit of prey and each other. The mother in most species performs in the duties of maternal and parental care.
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| 5. Atretochoana eiselti ~ profile |
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| 6. Atretochoana eiselti |
But, due to our lack of exposure we cannot be so sure on the number of extant species and specie populations that are going about conducting their business below our feet. Some species are only known from a few specimens and one lungless aquatic species, Atretochoana eiselti is known from just two 19th century preserved specimens, until now. 6 A. eiselti species were found near the mouth of the Amazon river this 2011.
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| 7. Gegenophis mhadeinsis |
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| 8. B. fischeri ~ Living pink spaghetti |
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| 9. Caecilita iwokramae |
PHOTO CREDITS: 1. J. Campbell (UTA.ed); 2. Kiril Kapustin; 3. Cristiano Nogueira; 4. source: Zooillogics; 5. source: Natural History Museum London, UK; 6. source: Natural History Museum London, UK; 7. Varad B. Giri; 8. John Measey; 9. Marvalee H. Wake/Maureen A. Donnelly tomography scan.
DID YA KNOW: The primarily aquatic siren during times of drought will bury into the mud bottoms, form a secreted mucus cocoon around itself and aestivate dropping metabolism down some 70% and lose up to 85% of body mass while waiting it out for over a year if necessary until the waters come back.
Raining Frogs:
09/17/2011
In the past three decades their has been a steady and sometimes accelerated decline in amphibian populations worldwide. The three main culprits in this disappearance is the chytrid fungus, pollution and habitat loss.
In the past three decades their has been a steady and sometimes accelerated decline in amphibian populations worldwide. The three main culprits in this disappearance is the chytrid fungus, pollution and habitat loss.
But for all you frog aficionados out there...there's good news. 12 previously unknown species have been reported as found in India within the borders of the Western Ghats forests.
Here is a photo of one they are initially calling the meowing night frog, due to its call sounding more like a cat's meow than a frog's chirp.
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| Meowing night frog ~ newly found Indian species |
Go to the Huffington Post link below if you want to read about it and view pictures of the specimens. If you do, please note the distinctive shapes of the eye pupils.
Shrewd Shrew:
Why bring up information on a small mammal on a site dedicated to reptiles and amphibians? I'll answer that question with a question. What does the Northern Short-tailed Shrew of North America have in common with the Gila Monster lizard (Heloderma suspectum) and rear-fanged snakes?
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| Northern short-tailed shrew |
For an averaged sized shrew weighing 15 g/0.53 oz, the animal has the potential to carry a produced quantity of 160 mg/.006 oz of venom. The lethal dose (LD/50) for an eastern cottontail rabbit is 7 mg/.0003 oz per 1 kg/2.20 lbs the weight of the rabbit. With an average weight of 1.34 kg/2.95 lbs, as you can see, the rabbit could succumb to an injection from one single bite.
The Northern Short-tailed Shrew, Blarina brevecauda shares this venomous mammalian trait with other Blarina shrew species. The neurotoxin is composed primarily of two active ingredients that are produced and secreted into the mouth's saliva by submaxillary and sublingual glands located just beneath the incisor tooth in the lower mandible.
Two active ingredients have been isolated in the toxic brew. One, named after the shrew family, Soricidae is soricidin, an active peptide that causes paralysis. The other active ingredient is a much more potent immobilizing agent and is known as blarinisin (BLTX) named after the genus, Blarina. BLTX is a glycoprotein containing a catalytic triad of serine proteases known as kallikrein that induces blood vessel wall dilation, hypo-tension, irregular respiration, then convulsions followed by death in lethal doses.
This type neurotoxin is chemically identical to that of GTX toxin found in the venomous lizard, Helodermatidae family, but co-evolved separately and independently in the two mammalian and reptilian animal groups producing it. The method of delivery in injections is via a duct that carries the ejected venom from the glands up a groove located on the outer side of the lower incisor, thus finally directed into the bite site.
Snake, lizard or shrew, it doesn't matter, nature always extends surprises in both subtle and marked ways.
PHOTO CREDIT: Gilles Gonthier
DID YA KNOW: Amphiumas, an aquatic salamander, consist of three species with each ranking determined by the number of toes on their tiny, no more than 2cm/0.79in legs. Amphiuma tridactylum has 3 toes, A. means has two and A. pholeter is the one-toed amphiuma.
Formidable Foes:
Formidable Foes:
Just as in the earlier article of crocodilian versus shark, another apex predator for the crocodilian to compete with are the larger constrictors. Boas, pythons and anacondas, which actually are boas, will turn a crocodilian predator into prey or vice versa...the crocodilian turns the big snake from predator into prey. During the confrontation, it all usually depends on which is the bigger. The bigger snake usually wins out over the smaller crocodilian and the larger crocodilian normally takes the smaller snake.
In the Florida Everglades, instrusive big snakes are becoming a problem for the natural fauna. Floridians who collected baby pythons thought that they made cute pets, then the snake grew-up. It grew so large that they decided maybe this wasn't the best pet after all. The best thing they thought to do was to dump it into the Everglades swampland. These invasive snakes that can obtain lengths of over 6.2m/20ft, are disrupting the natural ecology of the Everglades biome.
About the only natural predator that can cull these snakes that lay or give birth of up to a hundred young, is the alligator. You may recall in October of 2005, there was a battle that occurred between a 4m/13.2ft Burmese python and a 2m/6.6ft long alligator. They both lost. Wildlife researchers with the South Florida Natural Resources Center came across the grisly scene with the alligator protuding from the snake's ruptured body. See photo.
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| 1. |
Scientists initially concluded that the snake simply bit off more than it could chew and busted a gut. Then another theory evolved that perhaps another gator came to the swallowed gator's aid as the snake's head was missing, but that was axed as gators tear off flesh; they do not neatly slice it in half as was evidenced by the severed neck.
For whatever reason for the missing snake head, gators have the ability to greatly reduce metabolism dropping the heart down to 1-2 heartbeats per minute. Perhaps the snake thought the gator was truly dead, then swallowed it only for the gator to revive inside then struggle and claw through the snake's innards. Unfortunately for the gator though, his head was still inside the snake closer to gastric juices and perished along with the snake. Inside the snake, only his hind limbs and not his forelimbs and mouth were in position to put up enough resistance at this stage.
If you link to the video below, you will see the revival of an alligator after he is two-thirds swallowed by an intrusive Everglades snake.
Apparently these apex predator battles between crocodilian and snake have been going on for millions of years as well. From the Cerrejon Formation in northern Colombia, the site where the world's largest known snake fossils were recovered, a new crocodilian fossil find has just been discovered. Nomenclated as Acherontisuchus guajiraensis, this extinct crocodiliform species was in excess of 6.1m/20ft from head to tail and belonged to the dryosaurid family that survived the mass extinction 65 mya that killed off the dinosaurs, but only to become extinct themselves 35 mya.
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| 2. Two apex predators competing side-by-side |
The Cerrejon Formation was once a tropical landscape and what is unusual about Acherontisuchus, is it lived here permanently in freshwater. All prior dryosaurid fossils are coastal or marine and was thought that only juveniles would go up into freshwater from coastal rivers to elude predation and their elders.
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| 3. titanoboa vs acherontisuchus |
In this tropical setting though, this crocodilian lived side-by-side 58-60 mya with Titanoboa cerrejonesis, a snake that grew between 12-13.6m/40-45ft in length and weighed 1,134kg/2,500lbs. A snake that size must have had an enormous appetite for large main courses. It is easy to perceive that there were great battles between these two colossal predators and whichever won the match, most probably was due to the larger one. Maturing snakes got it from the crocodilian and mature crocodilians got it from the adult snake.
PHOTO CREDITS: 1. source: Everglades National Park Service; 2. illustrator Danielle Byerley; 3. illustrator James Guerney.
DID YA KNOW: The black mamba, Dendroaspis polylepis can reach sustained speeds over long distances of 20kph/12.46mph. In short bursts of speed, the snake has been clocked at 23kph/14mph. It achieves this traveling with a third of the anterior body off the ground. Black mambas do not use their speed for hunting, but for fleeing dangerous encounters.
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| H. Belcheri ~ most venomous snake? |
After an extensive 2010 study with accurate instrumentation and precision results in venom potency, the Faint banded sea snake, Hydrophis belcheri won out hands down over the next two runner-ups in the Beaked sea snake, Enhydrina schistosa and the Inland taipan, Oxyuranus microlepidotus. The Faint banded has a toxicity coefficient efficacy venom rating of over a 100 times that of the other two.
Not so fast...
...you can't believe everything you read over the internet. Though there are many articles claiming there was a study conducted and concluded that the faint banded sea snake possesses the most potent venom of all snakes, one cannot find one bit of evidence of the testing, its methods, its results, the breakdown of venom chemistry and who or what entity did the testing. These internet articles most likely are just duplicates of one reading one and simply copying down the information just to post the regurgitated material but once again.
There simply is no data provided in this supposed analysis of the most potent snake venom. I even added words in my opening paragraph to embellish the too generalized wording of all the websites claiming this test was conducted. All these sites claim a few venom milligrams can kill 1000 people and that the faint banded snake's venom is 100 times more dangerous than the taipan's and beaked sea snake's. Hardly much documentation there, is it?
Many factors come into play on how would a claim of this nature be factual. Did the testing not only include concentrate, but also delivery amount. A coral snake's (Micrurus fulvius) overall neurotoxic venom is far more potent per unit concentrate than a western diamondback rattler's (Crotalus atrox) overall hemotoxic venom. A rattler envenomation though, is far more damaging to tissue and issues larger amounts. Even if the envenomation dose is not enough to kill you, there will be permanent tissue damage. Whereas if envenomated with coral snake venom from an encounter, the dosage is much lower and if you survive, there is complete recovery.
What was the LD50 results? LD50 is the Lethal Dose measure achieved in a substance that will kill half the sample animal population once the material is administered. The substance is measured in milligrams per kilogram of the test animal's body weight. The lower the LD50 amount, the more toxicity exhibited in the substance. LD50 values though cannot be directly extrapolated from one specie to the other.
Then there are other values, such as LC50 (Lethal Concentration, 50%) and LCt50 (Lethal Concentration over time), which measures the dose required to kill half the members of a tested population during a specified time duration.
There is not one shred of evidence in results of this test. Not a single documented statement.
There are intramuscular LD50 tests that have been conducted on Faint banded venom and the averaged results are 0.155mg/kg. Now that is potent and no one can argue that Faint banded sea snake venom isn't lethal, but the intramuscular LD50 for the Reef sea snake (Hydrophis ornatus) is lower at 0.120mg/kg. For the lowest intramuscular LD50 snake venom measurement that I know of is at 0.082mg/kg for the Black banded sea snake (Hydrophis melanosoma).
To be truthful, I was rooting for this test to have been for real, for this type of information is interesting. What it appears to be though is over zealous Faint banded sea snake fans rooting a little too hard blinded by faith. To slap on a little philosophy here...
Faith is a good personal item to identify with, but it cannot be measured in a test tube, nor be the result of any scientific methodology. Faith is not accuracy, it is intention only and has no place in the science classroom. Always continue to keep your hopes high, but wishing for something to be isn't going to necessarily make it so. I believe the jury is still out on this final deliberation.
PHOTO CREDIT: You Tube (BalisticBean).
DID YA KNOW: The fossorial reptile family, Amphisbaenidae gets its name from the combination of two Greek words, amphis (both ways) and bainein (to go), which were transliterated into Latin under the one word, amphisbaena in describing a mythical two-headed serpent. The reptile amphisbaenia does appear that way and at first glance, it is difficult on which end is the tail and which is the head, until closer inspection.
Vampire Frog:
Vampire Frog:
Don't be too fearful, for although very uncommon, there is a vampire frog among us that flies into the night and has two fangs. Even though Halloween is just around the corner from this first day of October, this is not just another spook story, but is for real. Well, kind of...
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| 1. The vampire flying frog |
The frog in question haunts the southern clouded jungles of Vietnam and since its discovery in 2008, has been colloquially dubbed the vampire flying frog while classified as a new species with the title, Rhacophorus vampyrus. The frog is only 5cm/2in long and spends its entire life from egg to adult in the tree canopies.
It has no need to climb down from the trees, for insect food sources are multiple in number up there and when it comes to reproducing, the eggs are laid in tree trunks with recesses, holes or cavities that collect, pool and retain rain water.
Even though the frog still has full toe webbing on all four feet, it has no need to use them in swimming. Instead, the frog utilizes the webbing by extending out the legs and spreading the webbed toes to not fly, but glide from tree to tree. Rhacophorus vampyrus is an aerialist.
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| 2. Fangs of the tadpole |
The adult frogs do not possess fangs, but their tadpoles do. Two black fangs in the upper and front jaw are present. Though tadpole species normally have a minute beak, this is the first tadpole known to possess fangs. Their function is unclear, but some guesses are that since some tadpole species lay fertile eggs in pooled water, also lay infertile eggs for the hatching tadpoles to consume; perhaps, the female adult does this as well and the fangs are for slicing into the infertile eggs. Or, they may be for access to any type of food that may enter the pool such as beetles with hard chitinous elytras (forewings).
Once the tadpole metamorphoses, it loses the fangs.
PHOTO CREDITS: 1. Jodi Rowley, courtesy Australian Museum; 2. Jodi Rowley, courtesy Australian Museum.
If you guessed the first photo, you are correct. But just as well, if you guessed the second or third one as the gray-banded kingsnake, you were right also.
Due to polymorphism (highly variable color and pattern morphs within a species), Lampropeltis mexicana, the gray-banded kingsnake does appear as another snake species when comparing specimens side-by-side. None of the photos aren't even a subspecies, just the same species representing differing color patterns.
Although this kingsnake is primarily nocturnal, therefore less encountered, it was once considered rare due to confusion of all the variable colors. But after careful studies, it proved to be a far more common snake species than originally first thought found in its Mexico and Texas habitat range.
PHOTO CREDITS: 1. Dr. Robert S. Simmons; 2. K. H. Switak; 3. Dr. Robert S. Simmons
PHOTO CREDITS:Both snake and crocodile pictures are compliments of Barcroft Media;
PHOTO CREDITS: Both 1 & 2 by Marvalee H. Wake & Maureen A. Donnelly
DID YA KNOW: In representing over 500 species, the frog genus Eleutherodactylus not only has the most member species for amphibians, it is the largest genus in sheer number of species than any other vertebrate genera.
Prey is primarily native birds, such as larks and the snake utilizes the caudal luring to get them into striking range. To envenomate a quick reacting bird, its strike must be very rapid and efficient and indeed it is. This snake has a timed strike of less than 0.5 seconds from the initial strike, envenomation to recoil. After recoil, the snake will assume a waiting position for the venom to take effect by coiling and putting the caudal lure near its head and mouth.
Other animals this 840mm/33.1in snake is perhaps a natural predator of are other smaller reptiles, including snakes and small mammals that may be attracted to the luring.
PHOTO CREDITS: 1. Steven C. Anderson; 2. & 3. Omid Mozaffari; Video - Steven C. Anderson
PHOTO CREDITS: 1. Jodi Rowley, courtesy Australian Museum; 2. Jodi Rowley, courtesy Australian Museum.
DID YA KNOW: Though some argue that the water boa, known as the common anaconda (Eunectes murinus) is the world's heaviest and largest snake, they may have the heaviest right, but no anaconda in the wilds have exceeded the lengths of the wild reticulated python (Python recticulatus). Exceeding 9.1m/30ft, this python, if stretched out would reach the third story of a tall building.
Mouthful:
If you think that the above tadpole with fangs story is interesting, check out this bad boy. The animal of concern here is Caecilia abitaguae with no common name as yet in any language. It is only found in two Ecuadoran localities in the Andes 1,400-1,600m/ 4,620-5,280ft asl.
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| 1. Caecilia abitaguae |
The two specific locations are on the slopes of the Eastern Cordillera and near the larger town, Banos in Abitagua where it gets its name.
Its preferred habitat is moist soils in subtropical to tropical montane environments where it searches for its invertebrate prey such as worms and beetle larvae
This animal is a caecilian which is an amphibian such as frogs and salamanders. As most amphibians go, they do not possess true teeth and that's what makes caecilians a bit unusual in the amphibian realm, for their mouth is loaded with teeth. In fact there are double rows of recurved teeth in the upper jaw.
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| 2. |
They utilize the razor sharp teeth to seize, then firmly hold onto their prey; even victims double their size. Once the prey are grasped, the caecilian then longitudinally body rolls much like a crocodile would, tearing off chunks and pieces of the prey to swallow. No, they don't chew with these teeth, they just bite with them.
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| 3. |
Once prey are seized by C. abitaguae, such as this earthworm in the photo, it is going nowhere but down the caecilian's gullet and in pieces no less.
PHOTO CREDITS: 1. source: Russian website Owl, 'The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Animals'; 2. MarioYanez-Munoz/Miguel Ergiles 3. Luis Recalde (EcoMinga).
PHOTO CREDITS: 1. source: Russian website Owl, 'The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Animals'; 2. MarioYanez-Munoz/Miguel Ergiles 3. Luis Recalde (EcoMinga).
DID YA KNOW: Lungless salamanders (plethodontids) as adults breathe via cutaneous gas respiration (through the skin), but also through thin membranes located in the mouth and throat.
Three of a Kind:
Click on and look closely at the three snake photos below. Which one do you think clearly is a gray-banded kingsnake?
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| 1. Lampropeltis mexicana |
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| 2. Lampropeltis mexicana |
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| 3. Lampropeltis mexicana |
If you guessed the first photo, you are correct. But just as well, if you guessed the second or third one as the gray-banded kingsnake, you were right also.
Due to polymorphism (highly variable color and pattern morphs within a species), Lampropeltis mexicana, the gray-banded kingsnake does appear as another snake species when comparing specimens side-by-side. None of the photos aren't even a subspecies, just the same species representing differing color patterns.
Although this kingsnake is primarily nocturnal, therefore less encountered, it was once considered rare due to confusion of all the variable colors. But after careful studies, it proved to be a far more common snake species than originally first thought found in its Mexico and Texas habitat range.
PHOTO CREDITS: 1. Dr. Robert S. Simmons; 2. K. H. Switak; 3. Dr. Robert S. Simmons
DID YA KNOW: The diminutive North American, Great Plains narrow-mouthed frog (Gastrophryne olivacea) that reaches a maximum length of 4.1cm/1.625in, often shares burrows with moles, lizards and tarantulas. Still unknown as to why, but it is apparent the unlikely roommates live in harmony.
A Long Tail Tale:
A Long Tail Tale:
I know of no other tail that is longer on an animal as measured against the body length than the tail possessed by the Asian long-tailed grass lizard (Takydromus sexlineatus). This lizard's tail can exceed six times its body length.
Like most skinks and geckos, the tail has perforated fracture planes and indeed the long-tailed lizard displays caudal autonomy, the casting off capability of the tail. When a tail is severed, the tail vertebrae break along the fracture plane while overlying muscle and tissue thins and separates. The broken-off tail will then go through nerve spasms in hopes of distracting a predator.
This is an escape strategy that evolved very early in lizard evolution. The trauma to the remaining tail vertebrae stimulates dormant tissue cells to activate and regenerate a new tail. During the process though, the lizard has lost ground on social status, as the tail is significant in social ranking. Also, this energetic highly active diurnal lizard expends a lot of energy in the tail regeneration process that could be used for other lizard activities. But still, it beats being some predator's last dinner.
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| Takydromus sexlineatus |
In addition, this lizard whose lifespan is ~ 5 years, lives a lot of that time up in the branches of trees as it is arboreal. The long tail is prehensile enhancing the lizards agility and maneuverability among the limbs and branches in the tree canopies.
PHOTO CREDIT: John White
DID YA KNOW: Except for members in the subfamily, Eubelpharinae all geckos have no eyelids as their other lizard kin do. Instead, for eye protection there is a fixed transparent membrane that they will lick with their long tongues to wipe and keep clean.
Where'd All the Boys Go:
Gals, do you ever feel like that there just simply aren't any decent boys around to be had? Well, females of the common reed frog species, Hyperolius viridiflavus have come up with an ingenious plan when this occurs. When certain populations of the species' males drop drastically, a number of females, instead of going out and searching for males, simply turn themselves into males.
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| Hyperolius viridiflavus |
In response to an outside stimulus when male populations are low, females will transform themselves into males to keep the frog reproductive cycle viable and it works well.
The common reed frog is one of the more healthier population species of frogs found in central African tropical to sub-tropical and savanna zones of around eleven countries.
The common reed frog is one of the more healthier population species of frogs found in central African tropical to sub-tropical and savanna zones of around eleven countries.
The exact nature of the transformation is unclear and complex, but when male populations are low, a chemical trigger activates in a number of females affecting genes to disintegrate female sex organs and replace them with the development of the male organs.
XX chromosomes in sexual reproduction normally produce females and XY chromosomes, with the Y donated from the male, produce males. Beyond this, apparently there is a gene within these chromosomes that also affect the outcome of the sex and with common reed frogs, this gene can still be retained and activated outside and beyond embryo development well into adulthood.
XX chromosomes in sexual reproduction normally produce females and XY chromosomes, with the Y donated from the male, produce males. Beyond this, apparently there is a gene within these chromosomes that also affect the outcome of the sex and with common reed frogs, this gene can still be retained and activated outside and beyond embryo development well into adulthood.
This is a process known as protogyny, where in the animal kingdom females may experience some form of external or internal stimuli to sex-change turning into males. More specifically, it is disinhibition, which infers that the presence of males prevent female protogynous sex-changing, but upon removal of males the female may switch sexes.
PHOTO CREDIT: Nick Hobgood (Nhobgood)
DID YA KNOW: A group of toads is known as a knot.
The Toxin Scavenger:
The Toxin Scavenger:
The 1m/3.3ft Hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) is the only extant species in its genus, but with two subspecies, is found worldwide in the Atlantic and Indo-Pacific Oceans. This oceanic turtle may be found in the open seas but primarily haunts coral shorelines and lagoons foraging for food. And, it is the diet of this sea turtle that sets it apart from all other sea turtles and organisms in general.
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| 1. E. imbricatus |
The Hawksbill is a true omnivore, but is extensively a spongivore with 70-95% of their diet consisting of sponges. Of the around 5,000 species of sponges, which are an animal and not a plant, 12 of them give off topical toxic chemicals and compounds and if ingested are highly lethal to organisms. Though the Hawksbill's diet is specific in not eating most sponge species, these toxic ones are indeed on its menu.
Some of these sponge species eaten by this turtle, with no affects except for nutritional intake, are Aaptos aaptos, Chondrilla nucula, Reniera sarai, Speciospongia vesparium, Suberites domuncula and Tethya actinia. These sponges contain toxins like okadaic acid that inhibits protein activity and the polymeric 3-alkylpyridinium salt compound (APS), which is lytic to organism cells in that it promotes and allows transfection of viruses into these cells.
Also, the Hawksbill dines on certain sponges loaded with siliceous spicules, such as species in the genus' Ancorina and Placospongia that would otherwise play havoc on any other multicellular organism's digestive tract.
Sponges are filter feeders and take in vast amounts of present chemical pollutants and bacteria. This alone in itself can pose a threat to organisms as hazardous materials. In fact it is documented, not by consumption, but simply by topical use in application, humans have experienced toxic shock syndrome when bathing with sponges due to the filtered and accumulated toxins.
In addition, the Hawksbill rounds out his diet with other toxic animals such as comb jellies, jelly fish, Portuguese man-o-wars, sea anemones and the highly dangerous hydrozoan. All these animals are cniderans possessing stinging cells that deter an animal from messing with them. But it appears that the Hawksbill has total immunity from the stings effects.
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| 2. A close-up of the beak |
All of these ingested toxins form a cocktail that registers into the skin of the turtle known as chelonitoxin, creating a risk in eating the Hawksbill's meat from burning sensations to coma and death.
This turtle is critically endangered, not due to its diet, but from man slaughtering them for its meat and carapace. Tortoise shell products derive from the Hawksbill.
It just seems that we would want more to be interested in understanding how this turtle is immune to its dietary constituents as it lives instead of killing this gentle creature for food delicacies and cosmetics effects.
PHOTO CREDITS: 1. Fabio Ehengruber; 2. Nick Caloyianis
This turtle is critically endangered, not due to its diet, but from man slaughtering them for its meat and carapace. Tortoise shell products derive from the Hawksbill.
It just seems that we would want more to be interested in understanding how this turtle is immune to its dietary constituents as it lives instead of killing this gentle creature for food delicacies and cosmetics effects.
PHOTO CREDITS: 1. Fabio Ehengruber; 2. Nick Caloyianis
DID YA KNOW: Crocodilians swallow stones (gastroliths) that are retained in their intestinal tracts enabling the animal to dive deeper into water.
Like a Rolling Tire:
The Mt. Lyell salamander, Hydromantes platycephalus belongs to the lungless salamander family, Plethodontidae, therefore is distinguished in having no lungs, is fully terrestrial where eggs are laid on moist land and hatch as miniature adults. In addition, this salamander has distinctive vertical slits that are naso-labial grooves lined with glands for chemoreception. It is endemic to California with isolated population pockets dispersed throughout the mountainous Sierra Nevada range. The Mt. Lyell salamander's coloration is very granite-like in appearance.
When it comes to defense, salamanders have come up with a few strategies. Anti-predator salamander mechanisms are secretion of a foul tasting mucoid body slime, the exudation of irritants, while some are aposematic in coloration advertising skin toxicity. With some of the bigger and more aggressive ones, they are willing to bite back and tail lash.
Salamander escape methods include immobility freeze, aggressive posturing, rapid flipping, un-flipping, coiling and uncoiling movements, body writhing, and the old standby... locomotive fleeing.
The Mt. Lyell salamander for defense, does secrete a body slime that is a burning irritant to eyes, nose and throat, but what this salamander is noted for is its choice of escape...it coils up and rolls downhill like a tire.
Living in mountainous terrain, it aids greatly in devising a method for traveling down. When threatened, the Mt. Lyell has devised an ingenious method for doing exactly that.
Consisting of coiling the body and tail together and tucking in the limbs and head, this salamander forms his body into a round configuration that can now passively roll down inclines to escape danger.
The body is essentially rubberized with the flexibility to absorb any shock created by the bumps and hard rock surface experienced.
Below is a BBC short filming, along with the convergent evolutionary mother-of-pearl moth catepillar (Pleuroptya ruralis), this amazing salamander's unique escape method.
PHOTO CREDITS: 1. Gary Nafis; 2. Will Richardson
DID YA KNOW: A natural collection of frogs is called an army.
Like a Rolling Tire:
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| 1. H. platycephalus |
When it comes to defense, salamanders have come up with a few strategies. Anti-predator salamander mechanisms are secretion of a foul tasting mucoid body slime, the exudation of irritants, while some are aposematic in coloration advertising skin toxicity. With some of the bigger and more aggressive ones, they are willing to bite back and tail lash.
Salamander escape methods include immobility freeze, aggressive posturing, rapid flipping, un-flipping, coiling and uncoiling movements, body writhing, and the old standby... locomotive fleeing.
The Mt. Lyell salamander for defense, does secrete a body slime that is a burning irritant to eyes, nose and throat, but what this salamander is noted for is its choice of escape...it coils up and rolls downhill like a tire.
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| 2. H. platycephalus habitat |
Consisting of coiling the body and tail together and tucking in the limbs and head, this salamander forms his body into a round configuration that can now passively roll down inclines to escape danger.
The body is essentially rubberized with the flexibility to absorb any shock created by the bumps and hard rock surface experienced.
Below is a BBC short filming, along with the convergent evolutionary mother-of-pearl moth catepillar (Pleuroptya ruralis), this amazing salamander's unique escape method.
PHOTO CREDITS: 1. Gary Nafis; 2. Will Richardson
Anthropomorphism:
Sometimes we are so vain in our attempts to place human traits and qualities onto other animals that it appears we demean the animal's own characteristic traits as invalid to our recognition of being worthwhile. Only if it shares our cognitive thoughts and emotive aspects will we then deem that animal as worthy of our interests.
Anthropomorphism, as defined states an instance where any human attribute is placed upon another animal or plant, or even any nonliving items or inanimate objects such as the wind, the planets, phenomena and abstract concepts such as deities.
To the stern scholar, this may seem a bit trivial, but in the process, it is a mode of human interests in attempting to understand his environment by simply relating to it and is a much better process than anthropocentric thoughts that view mankind as separated from the rest of worldly and universal happenings and life. Anthropocentrism is more degrading in exempting other life forms as just there, well below the realm of mankind that even portrays divisions of superiority within its own rank in the guises of ethnicity, race, culture and social status.
Anthropomorphic views have enticed me enough to include the two following reptile stories. Reptiles are not guided by emotion, they do not emotionally bond to one another nor do they care much for each other; even hints of parental or maternal care is very rare in the reptilian world. It's not wrong or right in lacking or having emotional traits, it's just a species' evolutionary strategy and response to natural selection in evolving it or not.
Now keep in mind, reptiles are not guided by emotional bonding and we should not attempt placement of human emotion into reptile motives. But these next two stories, certainly give credence in doing just that. As you read and watch the stories, recall all along that these were and are wild animals, they did not grow up in a zoo or circus surroundings.
I'll start ya off with the snake story and end with the crocodile, so here goes...
The small jungle village of Sit Tbow in Cambodia in 2000 had a strange visitor come visit, go into a home and finally remain beside an infant boy named Sambath Uon. Three times the boy's father picked up the visitor and took it back into the jungles, only for three times more for the visitor to return and stay beside the boy.
The visitor at the time was a months old Burmese python (Python molurus bivittatus). Now Burmese pythons do indeed have a natural fear of people and prefer to first flee during an encounter, but not this particular one; it preferred to risk going into human habitation to, for some unknown reason, remain beside the boy.
Fast forwarding to 2008, the boy is now seven-years-old and the snake is 4.8m/15.84ft. Nonetheless, the two are inseparable during daytime play and in sleeping evening hours, which is even more unusual in that Burmese pythons are nocturnal by nature making them more active at night. The villagers have come to accept the relationship and even consider the boy/snake bond as good fortune for the village.
Presently, the inseparable duo still do their daily routines even though the snake has reached a length of 5.75 meters or 19 feet.
This snake, who happens to be a female, could easily overpower and destroy the boy, but has never exhibited any form of hostility towards Sambath, even during periods of rough housing as boys will do.
Here are a couple of photos and a National Geographic video for your viewing pleasure:
Sometimes we are so vain in our attempts to place human traits and qualities onto other animals that it appears we demean the animal's own characteristic traits as invalid to our recognition of being worthwhile. Only if it shares our cognitive thoughts and emotive aspects will we then deem that animal as worthy of our interests.
Anthropomorphism, as defined states an instance where any human attribute is placed upon another animal or plant, or even any nonliving items or inanimate objects such as the wind, the planets, phenomena and abstract concepts such as deities.
To the stern scholar, this may seem a bit trivial, but in the process, it is a mode of human interests in attempting to understand his environment by simply relating to it and is a much better process than anthropocentric thoughts that view mankind as separated from the rest of worldly and universal happenings and life. Anthropocentrism is more degrading in exempting other life forms as just there, well below the realm of mankind that even portrays divisions of superiority within its own rank in the guises of ethnicity, race, culture and social status.
Anthropomorphic views have enticed me enough to include the two following reptile stories. Reptiles are not guided by emotion, they do not emotionally bond to one another nor do they care much for each other; even hints of parental or maternal care is very rare in the reptilian world. It's not wrong or right in lacking or having emotional traits, it's just a species' evolutionary strategy and response to natural selection in evolving it or not.
Now keep in mind, reptiles are not guided by emotional bonding and we should not attempt placement of human emotion into reptile motives. But these next two stories, certainly give credence in doing just that. As you read and watch the stories, recall all along that these were and are wild animals, they did not grow up in a zoo or circus surroundings.
I'll start ya off with the snake story and end with the crocodile, so here goes...
The small jungle village of Sit Tbow in Cambodia in 2000 had a strange visitor come visit, go into a home and finally remain beside an infant boy named Sambath Uon. Three times the boy's father picked up the visitor and took it back into the jungles, only for three times more for the visitor to return and stay beside the boy.
The visitor at the time was a months old Burmese python (Python molurus bivittatus). Now Burmese pythons do indeed have a natural fear of people and prefer to first flee during an encounter, but not this particular one; it preferred to risk going into human habitation to, for some unknown reason, remain beside the boy.
Fast forwarding to 2008, the boy is now seven-years-old and the snake is 4.8m/15.84ft. Nonetheless, the two are inseparable during daytime play and in sleeping evening hours, which is even more unusual in that Burmese pythons are nocturnal by nature making them more active at night. The villagers have come to accept the relationship and even consider the boy/snake bond as good fortune for the village.
Presently, the inseparable duo still do their daily routines even though the snake has reached a length of 5.75 meters or 19 feet.
This snake, who happens to be a female, could easily overpower and destroy the boy, but has never exhibited any form of hostility towards Sambath, even during periods of rough housing as boys will do.
Here are a couple of photos and a National Geographic video for your viewing pleasure:
This final story concerns a man and crocodile bond occurring on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica. It all began 22 years ago when Chito found an emaciated, but full grown adult American crocodile (Crocodlyus acutus) weighing a mere 68kg/150lbs along the banks of the Parismina River in the province of Limsn.
The animal had been shot through the left eye by an irate farmer due to the crocodile attacking his livestock cattle. Near death, the brave Chito, enlisted some friends to help him lift the creature into his boat where he then took the decimated crocodile to his home to try and nurse it back to health.
Being an animal lover and more so with those in obvious suffering, Chito vigilantly worked day and night to revive the crocodile by hand feeding him, applying and administering medication and even sleeping with him for the first six months of recovery.
Finally, Pocho, the name Chito gave the crocodile had fully recovered from the man's constant care and slowly over the process of Chito getting closer, then touching and hugging, Pocho had accepted and bonded with him in an amazing way for reptilian acceptance of another animal.
After ten years of closeness, then play, the now 444.5kg/980lb 5.15m/17ft Pocho comes when Chito calls for him. Once Chito had began training the crocodile, word got out and then the unusual bond became history.
Today, tourists from all over the world come to see the man and beast perform in a park with a 161 square kilometer/100 square mile lake. No one else dares to enter the water with Pocho but Chito, for it is far too dangerous.
How a crocodile can recognize another individual species through an emotional attachment is hard to explain, but no less occurs in this instance. Chito and Pocho perform everyday for audiences without incidence and along with the crowd, Pocho seems to enjoy it as well.
Here are a few photos and a 2009 video of this amazing friendship bond:
PHOTO CREDITS:Both snake and crocodile pictures are compliments of Barcroft Media;
I have to end on a sad note here. On this day of December 03, 2011, I just found out that Pocho the crocodile passed away of natural causes just this past October 10, 2011. He was nearing 60 years old when his human friend, Chito arranged a funeral and memorial service for him shortly after his death. When asked if he would replace Pocho with another crocodile, with quivering voice Chito responded, "Pocho is Pocho, there is no more Pocho. He will be the only Pocho there ever was." Rest peacefully Pocho...
If you would like to view the funeral procession and service, click here.
DID YA KNOW: Caecilian members from the family, Rhinatrematidae are considered to be the sister group of all caecilians. This hypothesis is based on the fact that rhinatrematids possess the most primitive cardiovascular system of all other caecilian phylogenetic morphologies.
Caecilian Lunglessness:
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| 1. C. iwokramae |
Both known lungless caecilians, Typhlonectes eiselti and Caecilita iwokramae differ more than they are similar. They both share characteristics not found in other caecilian species in the absence of lungs, having their choanae (posterior nasal apertures located on roof of mouth) covered over by skin in T. eiselti and by the oral mucosa (epithelial mucus membrane layer) in C. iwokramae, lacking pulmonary vessels and both breathe through cautaneous gas exhange. Other than these four items, they differ.
T. eiselti is rather large at 738mm/29.1in and is wholly aquatic. It also has evolutionary osteological aquatic modifications of the skull, has large nare (nostril) openings like other caecilians and measures a total length of 700mm/27.5in. In contrast, C. iwokramae is wholly fossorial and is tiny for caecilians overall, with a reported total length of only 112mm/4.41in. In fact, the etymology of the monotypic generic given name, Caecilita refers to 'tiny caecilian.' In addition, all modifications commited to being lungless are only in those of soft tissue, not in osteology and the tiny caecilian's nares are sealed over by skin.
Now mind you, both these species have had described analysis and data recorded only from preserved specimens, as live specimens have currently not been found for evaluation. There are only two preserved specimens of A. eiselti first described in 1995 and fully described in 1998 and just one preserved C. iwokramae fully described in 2009, originally found live in Guyana's Iwokramae Forest years before in 1997. Solvency in preserved specimens, such as ethanol and formaldehyde can distort physiological, even morphological characteristics. With this in mind though, the science teams accounted for any preservative discrepancies and corrected the data.
T. eiselti is rather large at 738mm/29.1in and is wholly aquatic. It also has evolutionary osteological aquatic modifications of the skull, has large nare (nostril) openings like other caecilians and measures a total length of 700mm/27.5in. In contrast, C. iwokramae is wholly fossorial and is tiny for caecilians overall, with a reported total length of only 112mm/4.41in. In fact, the etymology of the monotypic generic given name, Caecilita refers to 'tiny caecilian.' In addition, all modifications commited to being lungless are only in those of soft tissue, not in osteology and the tiny caecilian's nares are sealed over by skin.
Now mind you, both these species have had described analysis and data recorded only from preserved specimens, as live specimens have currently not been found for evaluation. There are only two preserved specimens of A. eiselti first described in 1995 and fully described in 1998 and just one preserved C. iwokramae fully described in 2009, originally found live in Guyana's Iwokramae Forest years before in 1997. Solvency in preserved specimens, such as ethanol and formaldehyde can distort physiological, even morphological characteristics. With this in mind though, the science teams accounted for any preservative discrepancies and corrected the data.
Many publishings list Idiocranium russeli as the smallest caecilian and indeed, it is small. But with a total length of 114mm/4.49in, it is not the smallest. That recognition should go to Caecilita iwokramae sharing it with the Seychelles' caecilian, Grandisonia brevis, which also has been recorded at is longest length of only 112mm/4.41in. C. iwokramae is the smallest New World species, while G. brevis is the smallest Old World.
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| 2. |
The photograph to the right of the preserved Caecilita iwokramae in (a) shows the two choanae covered over by oral mucosa, while (b) shows the cloaca location on a single annulus and (c) displaying the dorsal terminus side ending with the earthworm-like in appearance medial keel displaying no tail. This physiological trait among others are similar to caecilian members and is why C. iwokramae has been classified as paraphyletic under the Cecilidae family.
There are two standard hypotheses of why amphibians of lunged ancestry have resorted to lunglessness. One is the rheotactic argument, where in aquatic rheotropic behavior, an organism aligns itself with the flow of water current (positive) for maximum oxygenation or against it (negative). The other is the buccopharyngeal, where a muscular pump forces ventilation, thus inhalation and exhalation of air into body.
It appears that A. eiselti developed lunglessness due to positive rheotropism in an aquatic environment with a cylindrical body and narrow head allowing maximum oxygenation flow over the cutaneous respiratory body. Plethodontids comprise the largest salamander family and are lungless. With their terrestrial stage in temperate environments, the buccalpharyngeal concept compliments their lungless evolvement by facilitating increased cutaneous buccal gas exchange.
So where does that leave Caecilita iwokramae? It appears evolution has created a third amphibian route to lunglessness. In its small size, along with two newly discovered lungless Bombinatorid tiny frogs no more than 70mm/2.8in, smallness exhibits an impact on respiration. The loss of lungs may have been facilitated through small size by the surface-to-volume ratio. The smaller body surface area of these animals creates proportionally a relatively higher volume-to-surface ratio making gaseous exchange via cutaneous respiration and buccal cavities more effective than lung respiration.
DID YA KNOW: In representing over 500 species, the frog genus Eleutherodactylus not only has the most member species for amphibians, it is the largest genus in sheer number of species than any other vertebrate genera.
An Amazing Tail:
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| 1. |
Can you gander a guess at what the image displayed in the photo to the left represents? Is it some sort of life form or merely an inanimate object? If it is life, is it some sort of flora or fauna? Is it whole or part of a larger object?
If you're stumped and haven't peeked at the following pictures, what the image in the photo to the left is exposing is one of the weirdest tails of any animal and in particular for any snake. This tail is attached to and belongs to a viper known as, Pseudocerastes urarachnoides and as its name implies, has been commonly dubbed the, spider-tailed viper.
Scientifically discovered just a few years ago in 2006, the snake is uncommon where it is found in western Iran as being endemic to the Zagros Mountains. The genus, Pseudocerastes' range covers the North Arabian Desert from the Sinai and southern Israel, Jordan, Iraq, east to Afghanistan and Pakistan with an isolated population in northern Oman.
If you're stumped and haven't peeked at the following pictures, what the image in the photo to the left is exposing is one of the weirdest tails of any animal and in particular for any snake. This tail is attached to and belongs to a viper known as, Pseudocerastes urarachnoides and as its name implies, has been commonly dubbed the, spider-tailed viper.
Scientifically discovered just a few years ago in 2006, the snake is uncommon where it is found in western Iran as being endemic to the Zagros Mountains. The genus, Pseudocerastes' range covers the North Arabian Desert from the Sinai and southern Israel, Jordan, Iraq, east to Afghanistan and Pakistan with an isolated population in northern Oman.
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| 2. P. urarachnoides |
In being a viper, it naturally injects venom into prey or intruders with solenoglyph fangs. This snake is a sit and wait ambush serpent, as most vipers are, but in addition, it uses its tail as a caudal lure in vibrating, wiggling and wriggling it, appearing as an injured spider in distress in order to gain the curiosity of and lure in potential prey.
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| 3. Closer view of head & tail |
Prey is primarily native birds, such as larks and the snake utilizes the caudal luring to get them into striking range. To envenomate a quick reacting bird, its strike must be very rapid and efficient and indeed it is. This snake has a timed strike of less than 0.5 seconds from the initial strike, envenomation to recoil. After recoil, the snake will assume a waiting position for the venom to take effect by coiling and putting the caudal lure near its head and mouth.
Other animals this 840mm/33.1in snake is perhaps a natural predator of are other smaller reptiles, including snakes and small mammals that may be attracted to the luring.
Another oddity in this snake's features is that it can relax and extend its rugose scales. The anterior portion of the tongue is a light whitish pink and narrower than the back half that is a more uniform dark snake tongue color. As inhabiting burrows, uses slow direct movement when exiting the burrow, but incorporates lateral movement when traveling.
This is without doubt one of the oddest snakes. To close out this article, I leave you with the following short video of the snake in action performing it's caudal luring.
PHOTO CREDITS: 1. Steven C. Anderson; 2. & 3. Omid Mozaffari; Video - Steven C. Anderson
DID YA KNOW: Amphiumas have 28 times the amount of DNA than humans do and have the largest sized individual cells of any other vertebrate.
PHOTO CREDITS: 1.Micha L. Rieser; 2.Damon Salceies; 3. Constrictors Unlimited source: reptileforums.co.uk; 4. Greg Maxwell; 5. source: moreliaviridis.yuko.com; 6. John Leckie source: Morelia Viridis Forum; 7. Richard Viridis; 8. source: surinamboas.com.
Beauty's Eye in the Beholder:
Whether right or wrong, in taking advantage of certain genetic traits, by either highlighting them or hiding them in a specific species' genome, breeding wild animals has satisfied the requirements of man's rural cultures to his massive societies as a necessary building block of where we are today. The beast of burden, the edible livestock, the fellow hunter and the cosmetic disposal for our enjoyment have all gone along for the ride in man's rise for well over 15,000 years now.
Though normally, I do not like it at all, when man begins to tinker with the genetics of wild animals to simply produce an animal that is more appealing to our sense of burden, companionship or mere aesthetics. Although I must say, when it comes to beauty in a human's viewpoint, man's tinkering in snake breeding has come up with some exceptionally beautiful specimens.
Since most boid hybrids are fertile when back cross bred, their viable offspring from hybrid to hybrid are fertile as well. Breeders have taken advantage of this in coming up with some visually elegant specimens. The drawback is that these hybrid specimens could never be introduced back into the wilds, for the conspicuous coloration would make their success rate of survival as nil. It is true though that in the wilds when polymorph phases interlap in native territories, they will interbreed naturally and produce hybrid species, but even they don't stand much of a chance for survival.
If you like snakes or not, you'll have to concur that these are some magnificent animals. Nevertheless without further argument, through selective breeding, here are some exceptionally produced animals.
Since most boid hybrids are fertile when back cross bred, their viable offspring from hybrid to hybrid are fertile as well. Breeders have taken advantage of this in coming up with some visually elegant specimens. The drawback is that these hybrid specimens could never be introduced back into the wilds, for the conspicuous coloration would make their success rate of survival as nil. It is true though that in the wilds when polymorph phases interlap in native territories, they will interbreed naturally and produce hybrid species, but even they don't stand much of a chance for survival.
If you like snakes or not, you'll have to concur that these are some magnificent animals. Nevertheless without further argument, through selective breeding, here are some exceptionally produced animals.
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| 1. Moreila viridis ~ natural coloration |
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| 2. M. viridis ~ Canary chondro |
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| 3. Canary chondrophil |
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| 4. M. viridis ~ Erythristic deep maroon |
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| 5. M. viridis ~ Azula copy |
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| 6. M. viridis ~ Albino hormonal cyano |
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| 7. M. viridis ~ Melanistic blueline |
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| 8. M. viridis ~ Xanthistic/erythristic |
PHOTO CREDITS: 1.Micha L. Rieser; 2.Damon Salceies; 3. Constrictors Unlimited source: reptileforums.co.uk; 4. Greg Maxwell; 5. source: moreliaviridis.yuko.com; 6. John Leckie source: Morelia Viridis Forum; 7. Richard Viridis; 8. source: surinamboas.com.
DID YA KNOW: Amphisbaenid tail lengths are no more than 6% of their total length. Except for members of the genus, Bipes all other amphisbaenid genera can drop their tails, although they cannot grow back new ones.
Natural Beauty:
After viewing some beautiful snakes that man has tinkered with genetically, how about now looking at some frogs that nature has already done the artwork and they are masterpieces:
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| 1. Rantiomeya benedicta |
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| 2. Rantiomeya fantastica |
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| 3. Oophaga sylvatica |
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| 4. Oophaga pumilio |
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| 5. Dendrobates pumilio |
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| 6. Dendrobates azureus |
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| 7. Discophus antongilii |
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| 8. Dendrobates tinctorius |
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| 9. Hyla leucophylaata |
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| 10. Phyllobates vittatus |
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| 11. Pseudophryne corroboree |
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| 12. Atelopus zetekis |
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| 13. Agalychnis craspedopus |
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| 14. Agalychnis callidryus |
And now for the grand finale of the frog world. These two specimens are the crown jewel of frogs, for they cannot be considered as just ugly. No, these two fossorial frogs are so beyond ugly that they have made it full circle and are now back in the beauty ring. You have got to not only appreciate them, but also to love them. Presented now are the two and only...Turtle Frog and Doughnut Frog...
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| 15. Myobatrachus gouldii |
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| 16. Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis |
PHOTO CREDITS: 1.,2,&3Brad Wilson DVM; 4.Sarefo, source: Wikimedia Commons; 5.source: colorsoffauna.tumblr.com; 6.George Grall; 7.Rhett A. Butler; 8.&9.David G. Barkasy; 10.Thomas Ostrowski; 11.Aaron Piras (Flkr); 12.Brad Wilson DVM; 13.Bill Lamar; 14.Paddy Ryan; 15.courtesy: Western Australian Museum; 16.S.U. Saravanakumar.
DID YA KNOW: Poisonous frogs, no matter the region of the world they come from, receive their lipophilic alkaloid skin toxins from consuming ants. Storing the accumulation of the ants' alkaloid molecules in skin glands, keeps the toxins from affecting the frog. The ants either synthesize the toxins wholesale or acquire them from ingesting plants. When the frogs are kept in captivity and fed an insect diet that doesn't include ants, they soon lose their ability to secrete the toxins.
DID YA KNOW: Poisonous frogs, no matter the region of the world they come from, receive their lipophilic alkaloid skin toxins from consuming ants. Storing the accumulation of the ants' alkaloid molecules in skin glands, keeps the toxins from affecting the frog. The ants either synthesize the toxins wholesale or acquire them from ingesting plants. When the frogs are kept in captivity and fed an insect diet that doesn't include ants, they soon lose their ability to secrete the toxins.
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