Category: Animal Fridays
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Meet the chinstrap penguin
I love it when the names of animals make sense. Case in point: chinstrap penguins. Chinstrap penguins (Pygoscelis antarctica) live in northern Antarctica and on several surrounding islands. And, as I’m sure you’ve guessed by now, they are easily identifiable by their chinstraps – a thin band of black feathers running from the black cap…
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Meet the Galápagos tortoise
As we enter winter here in the Northern Hemisphere, I find myself hunkering down. It’s so hard to get moving when it’s cold and dark outside! However, some animals are slow even though they live in warm environments. That’s right, I’m talking about the Galápagos (or giant) tortoise (Chelonoidis niger). As you might have guessed…
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Meet the American pygmy shrew
It’s a few days after American Thanksgiving. If you celebrated, it’s time to finish digesting all the food you ate and prepare to heat up some leftovers. But even if you think you ate a lot of food yesterday, some animals can eat even more. For example, blue whales eat between 10 and 20 tons of food…
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Meet the pūteketeke
Have you heard the news? The pūteketeke is New Zealand’s Bird of the Century! Although it started as an underdog in the New Zealand competition, the pūteketeke won it all after British-American comedian John Oliver campaigned for it. Here’s what you need to know about this year’s (and this century’s!) winner. The pūteketeke (Podiceps cristatus australis)…
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Meet the beaver
It’s almost time for the curling season to start, and I am very excited to get back on the ice! In honor of curling, I wanted to talk about the national animal of Scotland, the country where curling originated. Unfortunately, Scotland’s national animal is the unicorn, and I couldn’t find any scientific papers about this…
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Meet the emu
Think of a bird. Most aren’t too scary, right? Now imagine a bird that’s 6 feet tall and has claws 6 inches long. That’s the size of the weapons wielded by the world’s second-largest bird, the emu. Emus (Dromaius novaehollandiae) are large birds living in Australia. They belong to the most primitive family of modern…
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Meet the Loggerhead shrike
It’s spooky season! While there are plenty of clearly spooky animals out there, there are also some very understated ones. For example, today’s animal: the loggerhead shrike. Loggerhead shrikes (Lanius ludovicianus) are unassuming birds. They’re about the size of a robin, just 8 – 10 inches long and with a 12-inch wingspan. Like other songbirds,…
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Meet the praying mantis
I made a new friend the other day in Indiana! It’s a little praying mantis friend 🙂 There are around 2,400 known species of mantids (Mantidae). These large, slow-moving insects are typically found in tropical and subtropical regions. They are found on all continents except Antarctica. Mantids are easily recognizable from the enlarged upper portion…
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Meet the rock hyrax
I was in Indianapolis last week and saw the cutest little animal at the zoo: the rock hyrax. Rock hyraxes (Procavia capensis) are small mammals that resemble rodents. In fact, an alternate name for them is ‘rock rabbits.’ Rock hyraxes are also known as ‘dassies’ or ‘conies.’ Here’s a fun fact: the term ‘coney’ in…
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Meet the burrowing owl
I have a surprise for you: there’s an owl that lives underground. AND IT’S SO CUTE!!!! This little owl is a burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia). Burrowing owls are small, slender birds with long legs. They weigh only 4 – 7 ounces (113 – 198 grams) and are about 8 inches (20 cm) long. In fact,…