We are in our dual spring and fall seasonal weather here. With temps in the mid 70s daylight and mid 40F overnight, breathing is like the fresh crunch of a crisp apple.
Love cheetahs. We saw a good couple dozen in the Masai Mara and Serengeti. Cheetah birth. Cheetah kills. Gazelles mostly.
The sky islands of Southern Arizona are said to be the most biologically diverse in North America. More types of all reptiles, birds, wildflowers...
Theoretically, I’d expect geographic zones with tropical wet or semitropical wet climates to have the most diverse forms of life. I’ve heard the offhand statistic that 80 or 90 percent of the earth’s species are in the tropical belt.
That may be unsubstantiated, but it makes logical sense because most life needs water and enough warmth for it to stay liquid. Evidence to support the claim includes tree lines that have moved over thousands of years as the planet has shifted between warm and cold phases.
The Madrean Sky Islands contain some of the most rugged and remote lands in the southwest and feature some of the highest levels of biodiversity in the world. More than 7,000 species of plants and animals—including over half of the birds in North America—can be found here.
Ah, so it's more like creep. There's sort of an invisible line where the northernmost X tree growing north of the Y river is located. And then one year some seedlings land a yard or two beyond that as they often do, but but they survive instead of dying off as usual. Have I got the gist of it?
Cripes! *More* migration?! What the heck's our incoming president gonna' do about this... put a couple of battalions of military types on the borders with axes and chain saws and have Mexico and Cananda pay for it?
The Madrean Sky Islands contain some of the most rugged and remote lands in the southwest and feature some of the highest levels of biodiversity in the world. More than 7,000 species of plants and animals—including over half of the birds in North America—can be found here.
“The world's oldest known wild bird has laid an egg at the approximate age of 74, US biologists say.
Wisdom, a Laysan albatross, was filmed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) at the Midway Atoll national wildlife refuge in the Pacific Ocean with her latest partner looking after the egg.
Members of the species usually only live for 12-40 years, but Wisdom was tagged in 1956 when she was about five.
Her last offspring hatched in 2021. She is thought to have had more than 30 chicks in her lifetime.”
If I had a dollar for every olive shell and augur shell I collected as a child...and for every hope that the colorful eye of a moon snail peeping through the sand was attached to a whole shell...
If you added up all the complete sand dollars I found as a kid romping around on a Florida beach when there to visit relatives you'd have about 47 cents' worth.
The idea of a fast snail seems almost an oxymoron, like jumbo shrimp.
I'm just surprised no one has made a horror movie about these invading America, killing people, threatening to end life as we know it. It could be so bad it might be good! 😀
I fooled myself on what I meant there. It was the low quality cinematic shlock from the supposed good ol’ days of movie-making. A lot of those old B movies were really bad.
My wife loves '50s and early '60s sci-fi movies. The badder the better. Up to a point anyway. Says I'm a good sport for lettin' her watch them from time to time. I look at it more as enlightened self-interest... I like her cooking a lot better than I like my own. 🙄
The wind was crazy yesterday. The neighbor’s white pines dropped a few decent sized branches in my side yard. I hope people had their inflatable Christmas decorations secured. When I came home from bathing the dogs, garbage cans were strewn all over the streets.
We were driving home from Madison, and drove past a harvested farm field. The wind was so hard it was blowing dirt across the road, making it really difficult to see!
Good morning. Cold windy day here with chill factors salted to get down to the teens.
The mothership is reporting on the strange sequence of events in South Korea this week, as the embattled President declared martial law, only to have the National Assembly cancel it hours later.
Today’s special animal friend is the Cheetah, Acinonyx jubatus. Our tour has moved along to Chobe National Park in Botswana. The oldest national park in Botswana, it is also the most biologically diverse. It is famous for a lion population that eats elephants. We’re going to try to avoid them while concentrating on the cheetah. But first, an overview of the park:
There are four subspecies of cheetahs. Here in southern Africa, we have A. jubatus jubatus, the “nominate subspecies,” of which there are over 4,000 individuals in Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, and Zambia. Northeast and Northwest African cheetahs number in the hundreds, while a population of fewer than 50 Asiatic cheetahs lives in Iran.
The world’s fastest land animal – up to 65 mph for short distances – cheetahs are built like a greyhound, with long, thin legs, a small head, and a large chest. Their spines are unusually flexible, and their hip and shoulder joints extend further than most quadrupeds’. A large male can be about three feet high at the shoulder and weigh up to 150 lbs. (A leopard is a similar size, though differently proportioned, while lions are two to three times heavier.) Cheetahs’ claws retract only a little, unlike other cats’. This helps with traction when they accelerate and then stop.
Cheetahs are active during the day when they share habitat with other large, feline predators. If they are the only big cat around, they are more likely to hunt at night, especially when there is bright moonlight. They usually eat smaller ungulates such as Dorcas gazelles, impala, and duiker, rarely pursuing prey weighing over 90 lbs. The cheetah usually bites a prey animal’s throat, holding on for up to 5 minutes to strangle the animal. Their hunting success is pretty good, over 40% for the smallest prey animals.
Cheetah society includes groups of male siblings called coalitions. These bros will stake out a territory as a group, defend it from other males, and sometimes hunt cooperatively. The coalitions do not have to be biological relatives. Orphaned males raised in captivity can be paired with a non-relative and released; the two will maintain the attachment for life.
Females are solitary except when living with their young cubs or, occasionally, an adult daughter. Their home ranges often overlap the territories of several groups of males. Female fertility seems to be correlated with exposure to males and their scent markings, and it is more common when prey and water are abundant. A female will mate with several males during estrus. Gestation is about three months, and up to 8, but usually 3 or 4, cubs are born.
Cheetahs are rated as Vulnerable by IUCN. They are legally protected throughout their range. They are threatened by habitat loss, illegal hunting, and declining prey populations.
The last one reminded me of wolves out west. When wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone (the park, not the Dutton family), trout populations began to grow. LSS, elk munch on trees which beavers prefer for dams. Wolves chase elk, who munch fewer trees, so beavers dam more streams, creating cooler water areas for trout, who thrive.
I wonder what part of the ecosystem can be improved for Cheetah to thrive.
Wonder what the preserved population of Asiatic cheetahs is in the world’s zoos. If the wild population is that low, the prognosis doesn’t look too bright.
Good morning. Well, it doesn't look as if we will get the 14" of snow for which I hoped but we received about 5" overnight and it is supposed to snow off and on during the day---so maybe we will get 8" in total. The long range forecast shows some rain next week which is going to make me very, very cranky. Be forewarned. I pun when cranky.
Growing up in a region less likely to get snow than not seems to have amplified the memories of "always" getting less snow than forecast. Too many anticipated snow days lost to fickle forecasts still creates a a sense of loss.
There was that storm in January of 2000 that went from nothing to early school dismissal by 10 AM and 20 inches on the ground by next morning. I was visiting a an elementary school that morning and got to witness the shock and excitement first hand.
Let us know if you do.
I took note of the word "veligers" and may use it at some point, if someone who is supposed to be a higher mammal does something to deserve it.
We are in our dual spring and fall seasonal weather here. With temps in the mid 70s daylight and mid 40F overnight, breathing is like the fresh crunch of a crisp apple.
Love cheetahs. We saw a good couple dozen in the Masai Mara and Serengeti. Cheetah birth. Cheetah kills. Gazelles mostly.
The sky islands of Southern Arizona are said to be the most biologically diverse in North America. More types of all reptiles, birds, wildflowers...
Theoretically, I’d expect geographic zones with tropical wet or semitropical wet climates to have the most diverse forms of life. I’ve heard the offhand statistic that 80 or 90 percent of the earth’s species are in the tropical belt.
That may be unsubstantiated, but it makes logical sense because most life needs water and enough warmth for it to stay liquid. Evidence to support the claim includes tree lines that have moved over thousands of years as the planet has shifted between warm and cold phases.
https://skyislandalliance.org/our-region/the-sky-islands/#:~:text=The%20Madrean%20Sky%20Islands%20contain,of%20biodiversity%20in%20the%20world.
The Madrean Sky Islands contain some of the most rugged and remote lands in the southwest and feature some of the highest levels of biodiversity in the world. More than 7,000 species of plants and animals—including over half of the birds in North America—can be found here.
Thank you! I can see now how the landscape would support a lot of insular isolate species at different elevations. Interesting.
We have the most types of
Snakes
Rattler types
Reptiles. From semiaquatic, toads, frogs, gila, tortoise
Birds. Most all live 10 ft off the ground and on the ground. Cept the raptors. Many types of owls.
Wildflowers
Mammals: Jabi, Bear, Coyotes, skunks, coatamundi, Bobcats, Mountain Lions.
The Sonoran Desert ecosystem is called a "living desert".
The elevation allows the different ecologies. Then the seasons and migrations.
Plus on about 50% of nights, I can visually observe the Andromeda galaxy naked eye (I have a lot visual astronomy experience...every night)
Happy weekend!!
They're calling it "tree migration" now.
Like in The Lord of the Rings?
No, not that interesting. They just have their seeds as usual, but the seeds germinate and the trees survive where they previously would not have.
Ah, so it's more like creep. There's sort of an invisible line where the northernmost X tree growing north of the Y river is located. And then one year some seedlings land a yard or two beyond that as they often do, but but they survive instead of dying off as usual. Have I got the gist of it?
Yes, and it also happens uphill.
Cripes! *More* migration?! What the heck's our incoming president gonna' do about this... put a couple of battalions of military types on the borders with axes and chain saws and have Mexico and Cananda pay for it?
Or just call 'em names. That'll fix 'em.
Interesting. Our Envirothon manuals say the southern Appalachians are the biodiverse.
My brother and sister-in-law went on a trip to South Africa some years back and got to play with cheetah kittens.
The Madrean Sky Islands contain some of the most rugged and remote lands in the southwest and feature some of the highest levels of biodiversity in the world. More than 7,000 species of plants and animals—including over half of the birds in North America—can be found here.
https://skyislandalliance.org/our-region/the-sky-islands/#:~:text=The%20Madrean%20Sky%20Islands%20contain,of%20biodiversity%20in%20the%20world
Awwwwww.
The one reason I would like to visit Florida is to look for shells!
And a little off topic, but had to share this with Cynthia, in particular:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c86w9n4jlvwo?utm_source=join1440&utm_medium=email&utm_placement=newsletter
“The world's oldest known wild bird has laid an egg at the approximate age of 74, US biologists say.
Wisdom, a Laysan albatross, was filmed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) at the Midway Atoll national wildlife refuge in the Pacific Ocean with her latest partner looking after the egg.
Members of the species usually only live for 12-40 years, but Wisdom was tagged in 1956 when she was about five.
Her last offspring hatched in 2021. She is thought to have had more than 30 chicks in her lifetime.”
Florida has some cool ecology. And my mom lives there!
If I had a dollar for every olive shell and augur shell I collected as a child...and for every hope that the colorful eye of a moon snail peeping through the sand was attached to a whole shell...
And finding a complete sand dollar.
If you added up all the complete sand dollars I found as a kid romping around on a Florida beach when there to visit relatives you'd have about 47 cents' worth.
Yes!
The idea of a fast snail seems almost an oxymoron, like jumbo shrimp.
I'm just surprised no one has made a horror movie about these invading America, killing people, threatening to end life as we know it. It could be so bad it might be good! 😀
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvDGP8MCHeI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_tOnFhSyXo
🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌
Nostalgia here might not be quite what it used to be.
A shell of its former self?
I fooled myself on what I meant there. It was the low quality cinematic shlock from the supposed good ol’ days of movie-making. A lot of those old B movies were really bad.
My wife loves '50s and early '60s sci-fi movies. The badder the better. Up to a point anyway. Says I'm a good sport for lettin' her watch them from time to time. I look at it more as enlightened self-interest... I like her cooking a lot better than I like my own. 🙄
They could make the movie about giant African land snails. They're horrible.
Important news for Jack:
> Missouri's bear population is growing. With it brings added challenges of living in bear country. <
https://phys.org/news/2024-12-missouri-species-comeback.html
This should probably be labeled "Must See" for folks in the Show Me State who don't know Jack about bears...
I think populations are increasing in every state with black bears.
The wind was crazy yesterday. The neighbor’s white pines dropped a few decent sized branches in my side yard. I hope people had their inflatable Christmas decorations secured. When I came home from bathing the dogs, garbage cans were strewn all over the streets.
We were driving home from Madison, and drove past a harvested farm field. The wind was so hard it was blowing dirt across the road, making it really difficult to see!
We had warnings for up to 45mph gusts overnight, still in effect till this evening. No outages so far, knock on a white-pine board…
Good morning. Cold windy day here with chill factors salted to get down to the teens.
The mothership is reporting on the strange sequence of events in South Korea this week, as the embattled President declared martial law, only to have the National Assembly cancel it hours later.
Today’s special animal friend is the Cheetah, Acinonyx jubatus. Our tour has moved along to Chobe National Park in Botswana. The oldest national park in Botswana, it is also the most biologically diverse. It is famous for a lion population that eats elephants. We’re going to try to avoid them while concentrating on the cheetah. But first, an overview of the park:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YY8joJlz1pU
There are four subspecies of cheetahs. Here in southern Africa, we have A. jubatus jubatus, the “nominate subspecies,” of which there are over 4,000 individuals in Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, and Zambia. Northeast and Northwest African cheetahs number in the hundreds, while a population of fewer than 50 Asiatic cheetahs lives in Iran.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cq9-Nh7FzEU
The world’s fastest land animal – up to 65 mph for short distances – cheetahs are built like a greyhound, with long, thin legs, a small head, and a large chest. Their spines are unusually flexible, and their hip and shoulder joints extend further than most quadrupeds’. A large male can be about three feet high at the shoulder and weigh up to 150 lbs. (A leopard is a similar size, though differently proportioned, while lions are two to three times heavier.) Cheetahs’ claws retract only a little, unlike other cats’. This helps with traction when they accelerate and then stop.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGhTCPzMHvY
Cheetahs are active during the day when they share habitat with other large, feline predators. If they are the only big cat around, they are more likely to hunt at night, especially when there is bright moonlight. They usually eat smaller ungulates such as Dorcas gazelles, impala, and duiker, rarely pursuing prey weighing over 90 lbs. The cheetah usually bites a prey animal’s throat, holding on for up to 5 minutes to strangle the animal. Their hunting success is pretty good, over 40% for the smallest prey animals.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlj4Jw8omIc
Cheetah society includes groups of male siblings called coalitions. These bros will stake out a territory as a group, defend it from other males, and sometimes hunt cooperatively. The coalitions do not have to be biological relatives. Orphaned males raised in captivity can be paired with a non-relative and released; the two will maintain the attachment for life.
Females are solitary except when living with their young cubs or, occasionally, an adult daughter. Their home ranges often overlap the territories of several groups of males. Female fertility seems to be correlated with exposure to males and their scent markings, and it is more common when prey and water are abundant. A female will mate with several males during estrus. Gestation is about three months, and up to 8, but usually 3 or 4, cubs are born.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfZ7Ekn56sU
Cheetahs are rated as Vulnerable by IUCN. They are legally protected throughout their range. They are threatened by habitat loss, illegal hunting, and declining prey populations.
The last one reminded me of wolves out west. When wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone (the park, not the Dutton family), trout populations began to grow. LSS, elk munch on trees which beavers prefer for dams. Wolves chase elk, who munch fewer trees, so beavers dam more streams, creating cooler water areas for trout, who thrive.
I wonder what part of the ecosystem can be improved for Cheetah to thrive.
In some parks, they've introduced large guard dogs like the Anatolian shepherd. The dogs are friendly with the cheetahs, but not with poachers.
Going from weird snails to elegant cheetahs is like whiplash.
The music in that last video was spooky and tension producing...I was waiting for Vincent Price to burst out in that laugh of his.
We're eclectic!
Wonder what the preserved population of Asiatic cheetahs is in the world’s zoos. If the wild population is that low, the prognosis doesn’t look too bright.
A handful, at most. Three cubs were born in a zoo in Iran in 2023, but they all died within a few months.
I fear they may have OD'd on Cheetos. Although it wouldn't be the worst way to go.
"Go" is indeed the word -- 🚪
Good morning. Well, it doesn't look as if we will get the 14" of snow for which I hoped but we received about 5" overnight and it is supposed to snow off and on during the day---so maybe we will get 8" in total. The long range forecast shows some rain next week which is going to make me very, very cranky. Be forewarned. I pun when cranky.
And then there's Phil, who gets cranky when punned.
Excellent point.
Growing up in a region less likely to get snow than not seems to have amplified the memories of "always" getting less snow than forecast. Too many anticipated snow days lost to fickle forecasts still creates a a sense of loss.
There was that storm in January of 2000 that went from nothing to early school dismissal by 10 AM and 20 inches on the ground by next morning. I was visiting a an elementary school that morning and got to witness the shock and excitement first hand.
It’s art; not science
As the suitor cried out: “RaPUNzel, RaPUNzel, let down your hair!”
That kind of torture is against the Geneva convention. The ICC should come after you — 🚪
And she did........but at a snail's pace.
That didn’t take long — 🚪
I was up early.
I don't recall the 2021 piece on these snails so I very much enjoyed this start to my day! Thanks!
Good morning, and you're welcome.
Good morning, everyone. Happy Thor's Day!
Too bad you don't have offspring nicknamed Wotan (Wednesday) and Frigg (Friday).
How can you be so sure?
“Killing, eating, and growing” is an evolutionary improvement over “eats, shoots, and leaves” you would think.
Each has its place in an overall species survival plan.