Tag: africa
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Meet the meerkat
It’s the September 1st. Here in Boston, the temperature is starting to (somewhat) cool down, and the nights are getting longer. And, of course, the hallmark of fall: school is starting again, and the streets are full of new, excited students. Which means it’s only fitting to talk about an animal whose young also goes…
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Meet the okapi
Some weeks, I pick animals related to what’s going on in my life. Other weeks, I pick an animal that I think is cool. This week is one of the later ones. I just think okapis are neat! Okapis (Okapia johnstoni) are hoofed mammals found only in the rainforest of the Democratic Republic of the…
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Meet the giraffe
There’s a new animal at the local zoo: a Masai giraffe calf! The son of mom Amari and dad Chad (A+ giraffe name), the little giraffe seems to be healthy and thriving. As I read the exciting news, I was struck by the word ‘Masai.’ What is a Masai giraffe? Is it different from a regular…
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Meet the fennec fox
It’s the middle of summer here in Boston, and it is getting hot! Unfortunately, I am not adapted to living in this hot weather. But you know who is? The cutest desert animal, the fennec fox. Fennec foxes (Vulpes zerda) get their name from the Arabic word for fox, fanak. They are found in the deserts…
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Meet the dik-dik
Some animals just have names that are fun to say. Like this week’s animal: the dik-dik. And, to make dik-diks even more fun, they’re also super cute! And as if dik-diks couldn’t be cuter, I have some good news for you: a baby dik-dik was recently born at the Edinburgh Zoo! The baby is a female named Petal, and…
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Meet the secretary bird
I’m excited to tell you all about this week’s animal. It holds a special place in my heart because it’s so cool: the secretary bird. First off, just look at that face. Absolutely fierce. And secondly, they hunt in such a cool way. I’ll talk about it at the end of this post, but here’s…
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Meet the cheetah
I’m running a race this weekend in North Carolina! It’s a short race (just 5 miles). But this race does have you eat a dozen doughnuts halfway through… Don’t worry, I signed up as a ‘casual’ runner, so I don’t have to eat all the doughnuts; I’ll probably eat just one! (Really hope I don’t…
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Meet the aye-aye
I’ve been playing a lot of the most recent Pokémon game recently. And let me tell you, there are a lot of cool new Pokémon in it! There’s a dog made of bread, a ghost dog, a mastiff dog…can you tell I like dogs? One Pokémon I’m not as enamored with is Grafaiai. It’s a…
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Meet the naked mole-rat
It’s a weird one this week, folks. I was preparing for a lab presentation when I stumbled across a paper looking at pain insensitivity in mole-rats. I was absolutely taken with this paper – who knew that naked mole-rats (Heterocephalus glaber) didn’t feel pain from peppers or citrus? (more on this later). Why are they…
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Meet the fossa
When I was in 7th grade, I had to do a social studies project on a country. The country I picked was Madagascar. It was here that I learned about the majestic fossa, and I’ve loved them ever since. These mammals are exclusive to the island of Madagascar. Fossa look like small cougars – sleek…