A Megapode from Sulawesi
Thursday, July 3, 2025
A Megapode from Sulawesi
Today’s special animal friend is the Maleo, Macrocephalon maleo, a critically endangered bird found on the Indonesian islands of Sulawesi and Butung. Sulawesi is extremely scenic.
The maleo is about 24” inches high, black on the back and pink underneath, with a bony casque on its mostly bald head. It belongs to the Megapode – big foot – family.
Maleos live in lowland hills and rainforests at altitudes under 3,000 feet. They are omnivorous, with a diet of fruit, nuts, and seeds, mollusks, insects, and other invertebrates. They are non-migratory. They form long-term pair bonds, and couples often spend most of their time together. Mating can occur year round; the peak season varies according to the climate in a particular area of Sulawesi.
Megapodes are also known as “incubator birds” or “mound builders.” Like sea turtles, female maleos (and related species) bury their eggs in the sand on beaches. Both parents work to dig a hole in the sand. Then the female lays the egg, and the adults bury it, sometimes concealing the hole with beach debris. The sand, heated by the sun or a geothermal source, incubates the egg for two to three months. When the chick emerges from their very large (10 times the size of a chicken egg) pink egg, it is fledged and ready to feed and defend itself. The first ten days are a crucial period in which it figures out how to find food, but after this, it grows rapidly.
A female maleo in the wild can lay up to 12 eggs per year. Many maleo couples will use the same beach to incubate eggs: up to 22 pairs can lay in the same day during a busy season, and a beach can hold hundreds of eggs at the same time.
Natural predators of the maleo include monitor lizards, reticulated pythons, wild pigs, and cats. The major threats are “egg harvesting” – local people dig up the eggs to eat them – and habitat loss as the forests are converted to agricultural land. The maleo is protected by Indonesian law, but you know how that goes. They are being bred successfully in captivity, with the oldest breeding program hosted by the Bronx Zoo.
As this article says, they can live over 30 years in captivity. The Nashville and Tulsa Zoos also host maleos. Other conservation efforts include land conservation. The Wildlife Conservation Society is a leader in this area.
Good morning, everyone. 72Fs, dew point of 71, going to be 90 later, probably won't rain.
I'm taking Vlad to the podiatrist this morning to check the progress on his toe.
Ah 79F low overnight. 0.0001" aka Trace. Tucson had scattered showers. Hope remains for plentiful H²0 events.
On today, we'll yesterday actually, July 2, 1863, Robert E. Lee's strategic arrogance and incompetence was skinned open. He lost 3 separate chances in 1863 to defeat the Union army at Gettysburg. His faux gentlemanly approach resulted in vague task delegations. Troops movements were slow and later in the day. 2 moments were potential breakthroughs at the deadly Peach Orchard and Wheatfield. These 2 tactical defeats will illustrative of the Southern indecision as the Yankees, SicklesN Sykes etc quickly assessed situations and forcefully ordered rapid troop movements.
On Lee's far left flank, Longstreets long march resulted in a late afternoon set of tactical retreats by the Union, back up Little Round Top. Devils Den. Out of ammunition, a school teacher, an ordinary American of sorts from Maine, led the Maine boys at the end of the Union line. The Confederates were closing on taking Little Round Top and "rolling the flank" of the Union. Union flank / <<. Confederate end pushing the end line ___ . Not good! and Cannon on Little Round Top commanded much of the field.
So, typically ordinary American, Joshua Chamberlain, out of ammunition, ordered his troops to "fix bayonets". His sword led a downhill charge so maniacally energetic that Hoods Texans were shocked and scared and stunned. They fled downhill as many just stunned, stood and were captured.
Today, Lee's great blunder known as Picketts Charge. A deadly charge that would be the marking of future stupid trench charges during WW1 battles like the Somme.
When General George Pickett returned, Lee asked, where is your Division? Sir, I have no Division.
Yet encouraged by Lee's, the South waged a century of history rewriting war with lies and misrepresentations about Lee and Grant.
Our distance from the sun doesn’t change much, percentage-wise (a little over 3%). So today (July 3), we’re about three million miles (five million km) farther from the sun than we will be six months from now. That’s in contrast to our average distance from the sun of about 93 million miles (150 million km).