Tag: mammal
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Meet the humpback whale
It was an exciting weekend here in Boston! I went with my partner and some friends to go whale watching and had a great time. The whale watching trip we went on took us down to Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary. Stellwagen Bank is about 21 miles from Boston; it took us around 1.5 hours…
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Meet the screaming hairy armadillo
It’s hot this week in Boston. And sitting in my hot apartment, sometimes the heat makes me want to scream. So what better time to introduce you to a screaming animal who thrives in the desert: the screaming hairy armadillo. The screaming hairy armadillo (Chaetophractus vellerosus) is the smallest of the hairy armadillos (there are…
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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…
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Meet the platypus
Ah, the platypus. One of nature’s weirdest mammals, if I do say so myself. These small, roughly cat-sized mammals have a lot going on in their body: a duck-bill, a beaver-tail, and otter-feet. They honestly look like someone just taped a bunch of different animals together. And the first European scientists thought so too. Native…
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Meet the aurochs
This past weekend, I was in Vermont; my partner was taking part in a bike race up there. On our way back to Boston, we stopped at Billings Farm and Museum, a fully-operational dairy farm that also has many exhibits explaining the farming process. I learned a lot about dairy farming AND got to see…
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Meet the Italian wolf
It’s an exciting time in my house: it’s time for Eurovision 2022!!! For those of you who don’t know, Eurovision is a European song contest. Each country picks an artist to represent them in the contest. Each song must be made in the past year, be under 3 minutes long, and be performed live. After…
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Meet the hammer-headed bat
I like bats. They’re flying mammals that can echolocate; how cool is that? And I have exciting bat news today: I now have a favorite bat. I present to you the glorious, beautiful, and majestic hammer-headed bat (Hypsignathus monstrosus). Hammer-headed bats are a type of megabat – bats that belong to the family Pteropodidae. Megabats…
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Meet the coati
I have had the absolute pleasure of seeing today’s animal in the wild. My senior year of college, I went on a trip to Costa Rica over winter break for a class. One day, while we were getting ready to hike in the cloud forest, we saw a coati in the parking lot. He was…
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Meet the rabbit
This Sunday is Easter in the Christian Church, which means there’s been a lot of rabbit imagery lately in the secular world. Which raises the question: where did the Easter bunny come from? Why is it associated with Easter? To start with, let’s make this clear: there is no mention of an egg-laying bunny in…
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Meet the spotted hyena
It’s Women’s History Month, and this past Tuesday was International Women’s Day. What better way to celebrate than by learning about a species with super cool females: the spotted hyena. Spotted hyenas are the largest members of the hyena family. Although they look and act more like dogs, spotted hyenas are actually more closely related…