Baby Owls!

This is a special post for Marie-Claire, who suggested baby owls.

Cuddle cuddle.

Owls are found almost everywhere in the world, except Antartica and parts of Greenland. These cute birds have big, round eyes, for seeing at night. Owls can rotate their head almost all the way around in a circle!  This helps owls see because they cannot move their eyes from side to side.

Cute little owly hiding in a tree.

Most owls spend their time by themselves, and are usually active at night. They sleep all day and wake up at night to catch rodents and little birds. There are a few owls that fly around in the day, and some that are most active around dawn and dusk.

Some owls have special feathers that make the bird's flight silent! The edges of some of their feathers are jagged, which reduces the noise from the flapping wings. This means that they can sneak up on their food!

The Poll Winner: the Aye-aye!

A few weeks ago I posted a poll asking which animal you wanted to see next. Here's some info about the winner: the Aye-aye.

(Photo credit: Tom Junek)

The Aye-aye is a primate, and more specifically, a lemur. These fuzzy animals are  nocturnal and primarily live in rainforests on the East coast of Madagascar.

(www.madagascarpartnership.org)

This lemur searches for food during the night, starting shortly after sunset. Aye-ayes eat nuts, seeds, fruit, fungi, and nectar, but the main parts of their diet are insects and larvae. The Aye-aye taps on the tree bark to listen for hollow areas. After finding the perfect spot, the lemur will tear open the tree bark and stick its long skinny finger inside to grab its food.

Aye-ayes are great jumpers and climbers, and barely spend any time on the ground. They usually only leave the forest canopy in times of deforestation, so they can look for food. This means that Aye-ayes sometimes wander into human villages, which normally results in a bad situation for the lemur. Locals consider the Aye-aye a bad omen, and often kill any they come across. For these two reasons, Aye-ayes are considered threatened, in terms of conservation status.

Cute "Herptiles" a.k.a Reptiles and Amphibians!

I took a brief pause from Snailia cause I was so busy: looking for a new house, applying for summer jobs, and studying for final exams. But now I'm back with a whole lot of cuteness!

A bunch of you voted on the poll over the past few weeks and the Aye aye won! But i'm going to save that cute primate for my next post because I wanted to share some info about cool reptiles and amphibians (called "herptiles").

Baby Jesus Lizard

This is a "Jesus Lizard", named so because these reptiles can run across water. They have a little bit of skin between their toes to help them stay above water as they run. Jesus lizards can run on the water for about 4 and a half meters. After that they begin swimming!






Running across water!

These lizards are normally found in tropical conditions, but have begun to expand their populations because of their ability to burrow in sand or leaves to stay warm.

  

Red-eyed Tree Frog holding on!

This Red-eyed Tree Frog is an amphibian, which means that the babies live in water and the adults live on land and breathe air.They can be about 5cm to almost 8cm in length. Baby frogs are usually a brown color but they turn green as they get older. Red-Eyed Tree Frogs have 3 eyelids! These frogs live in trees and are great jumpers.






Check out my pages (above) for more cute things, such as cute jobs that I have worked, cute animal games, other cute websites, or my newest page: cute animal crafts!

Raccoon Dog!

You voted on the poll and the Raccoon Dog won! I first heard about this super cute animal from the television show Life of Mammals, hosted by David Attenborough. Raccoon Dogs are not actually related to Raccoons, they just look alike. Raccoon Dogs are found throughout Asia and Eastern Europe.

Raccoon Dog mommies can have a lot of babies at one time, about a dozen and sometimes more! The babies have short fur when they are born and cannot open their eyes for about a week or so. They usually stay at home with their dad, while the mom looks for food.

Raccoon Dogs like to hibernate in the winter. Before it becomes too snowy the Raccoon Dogs eat a lot of food to become chubby. During hibernation they live from their stored fat. They sleep and cuddle in burrows all winter long to stay warm. The babies, who are not as fluffy as the parents, sleep in the middle of the cuddle pile.

So fluffy!

These fluffy animals like eating a variety of food, such as insects, rodents, birds, fish, eggs, frogs, berries, nuts, fruit, and plants. It all depends on what is available around them. Raccoon Dogs are not picky eaters!

The Adorable Sea Otter!

Fuzzy!

Sea Otters live mainly in water, as their name indicates, but they can walk on land too.

Sea otters do not have a thick layer of fat to keep them warm, like most marine mammals. Instead, they have a lot of really fuzzy fur! They spend a lot of time grooming their fur to make sure that cold water doesn't seep into between the hair and make them chilly!

Sea Otters even blow air in between their fur to dry it!

So much cuteness in one place!

While Sea Otters are not super sociable, they do like sleeping near each other. Sometimes they even hold paws to keep from drifting away!

This is a super cute video of a Sea Otter eating. They like to crunch into sea urchin, clams, mussels, and snails. Otters put a rock on their belly and smash their food against the rock to break open the shell!

Sleepy Sea Otter

Sea Otters take a lot of naps throughout the day. Sometimes they wrap a piece of kelp around their body to stay in one place while they sleep.

Baby Sea Otters!

Mommy Sea Otters groom their babies so much that their fur is super douper fluffy. They are so fluffy that the babies float on the water!

Hedgehogs!

Baby Hedgehog!

Hedgehogs are really popular as pets, cause their so adorable! They are also popular because they are fairly easy to take care of and can be very playful.

Hedgehogs have stiff spines, which are actually hollow hairs. These little spines are not poisonous. The hedgehog can lose spines though, through "quilling", when they shed their baby spines for adult ones.

Hedgehogs are good runners, swimmers, and even good climbers. 


They also make really cute noises, such as snuffles or squeals.

Hedgehog in a cute ball.

To defend themselves, hedgehogs roll into a tiny little ball so that all their spines are sticking out. 


These cute spiky balls like eating insects, frogs, snakes, bird eggs, berries, mushrooms, and melons.

In places where hedgehogs are found naturally, many people like to encourage hedgehogs in their garden. People will often leave snacks for these cute animals and even make holes in their fences as doorways. 

Baby Pygmy Animals!

Since I've become unemployed, I have so much more time to update my blog! 

Today's post is about pygmy animals, which are tiny versions of big animals, making them extra cute!

Maybe one day I'll pet a baby pygmy hippo!

A baby pygmy hippo! 

These hippos live in Africa in forests and swamps. They mostly keep to themselves and are more active in the night (nocturnal). Like bigger hippos, they like living in the water, and will sometimes give birth there. 


These adorable little hippos love munching on grass and fruit. They sneak out of their river hiding spot around dusk to eat. Sometimes pygmy hippos sleep in dens or burrows in the river bank. Although, no one knows if the hippos actually make these homes themselves.

So tiny!

A baby pygmy tarsier!

Pygmy tarsiers were thought to be extinct since the 1920's until recently in 2008 when these cute little animals were rediscovered. 

They are nocturnal primates who live in Indonesia and are only about 9 to 10 cm long!

They have long tails and nails on their teensy hands for gripping onto trees. Tarsiers nibble on insects and sleep vertically in trees during the day.

Pygmy Marmosets are the smallest monkeys in the world (although pygmy tarsiers are tinier, but are not monkeys, just primates). They are abut 14 to 16 cm in length! These tiny monkeys makes their homes in the rainforests of Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia.


Pygmy marmosets use different whistles and calls to talk to family members. Sometimes these calls give warnings of approaching danger.


These super adorable monkeys eat insects, fruit, tree sap, and leaves.

Pygmy goats are originally from West Africa and have since been domesticated. 


These mini goats like chewing on grains and grasses. 


They live for about 10-15 years and are very popular as household pets or in petting zoos. 

Wombats are Weird and Cute!

If you don't know what a wombat is, then get ready for cute!

Wombats have short legs, ears, and tails, similar to pikas (which I talked about in my very first post). They are marsupials, like koalas and kangaroos. Wombats live in foresty and mountainy areas of Australia and Tasmania. They also live in areas called a "heath", which is covered in dwarf, or really tiny, shrubs.

Wombats move pretty slowly and have slow metabolism. It can take about two weeks for a wombat to digest its food!

Two cute and cuddly wombats! Wombats are so cute that I even have a stuffed toy wombat :)












Wombats like nibbling on herbs, shrubs, bark, roots and grasses. They have the perfect teeth for chewing through tough vegetation.







Wombats dig their own burrows to live in, which sounds pretty cozy and cuddly to me. They have big front teeth and claws so they can make these homes.

When a predator tries to catch a wombat, the fuzzy little animal will run into a tunnel and block the entrance with its bum! Their bum area is made of cartilage, so it's hard and cannot be bitten through!





A mommy and baby wombat, staying close for company.

Wombats are so cool that they even have their own holiday, October 22nd!

The Cuddly Red Panda!

I know it's been a while since my last post, but I was away from the internet, computers, telephones, electric heat, and even running water in a cozy house overlooking the ocean. I went snowshoeing (just like an Arctic Hare) and even saw bunny tracks and bunny poo (probably from Snowshoe Hares).

My next cute animal can also be found around snow, like those snow bunnies. It likes  to live in China (like its relative, the Giant Panda) and around the Himalayas. It also likes to munch on bamboo, like the Giant Panda. If there's no bamboo around or the Red Panda wants a break from eating only bamboo, it will snack on eggs, insects, birds, or little mammals.

Unlike the Giant Panda, Red Pandas are really little, just a tiny bit bigger than a kitty cat! Red Pandas have long fuzzy tails and short little limbs. Their striped tails help them camoflage with their environment.





Sleepy panda

When it's hot outside the Red Panda likes to nap with its short little fuzzy limbs hanging over a tree branch!

Red Pandas are pretty quiet. Sometimes they make cute little whistling noises.







P.S: I almost forgot about this hilarious and cute Red Panda video about a girl living with two Red Pandas!

The Leatherback Sea Turtle!

I hope you have not been waiting impatiently for my latest post. I've had a busy week in school! But if you have been waiting, then all that time will definitely be worth it to see this really cute Leatherback sea turtle!

Baby turtle crawling toward the ocean.

Sea turtle eggs are laid on a sandy beach. The mommy comes onto land and digs a deep hole in the sand with her back flippers. Then she lays a bunch of little eggs in the hole and covers it back up with sand.

When the sea turtles hatch they have to dig themselves out of the nest and crawl toward the sea. They usually crawl out of the sand at night, when the brightest light is over the ocean (the sunlight reflected off the moon). The babies just move toward the light and find the ocean!

Leatherback turtles can dive pretty deep underwater, up to 1000 meters!, but have to come to the surface to breathe air.


They are also considered the fastest moving reptile!

Carl Safina with a Leatherback Turtle.

Full grown Leatherback turtles are huge!

These turtles love to eat jellyfish so much that they don't eat anything else.








P.S: I changed my comment settings and now anyone can comment on my posts :)

Valentines Day Theme: Mutualistic Relationships!

Clown fish and Sea anemone.

Most animals cannot even touch sea anemone tentacles because they would get a painful sting. But clownfish have a special coating of mucus on their body, so they can happily live right in between the tentacles.The fish is protected by the tentacles and in return, the cute fishy scares away butterfly fish, which would eat the sea anemone.

Impala with cute little birdies.

Here is another cute relationship. The birds eat ticks from the body of the Impala. The bird gets food and the Impala is cleaned of parasites!

Coral polyps and algae (zooxanthellae).

Another underwater example of mutualism involves coral polyps (a bunch of organisms that form corals) and zooxanthellae (a little tiny algae). The zooxanthellae live inside the coral polyps. The zooxanthellae photosynthesize (makes sugar from light!) while the coral polyps hunt animals. The zooxanthellae give plant-based energy to the coral, while the coral gives animal-based food to the zooxanthellae!

Bumblebee and flower!

 Fuzzy little bumblebees help flowers pollinate. When they drink nectar from the middle of flowers, they get tiny bits of pollen stuck to their fuzz. When they fly to another flower, some of the pollen falls off and that flower can then have baby flowers!

Lichen on rocks!

Lichen!!




Lichen are actually two organisms: a fungus and photosynthetic creature (like algae).  The fungus can get food from the algae and the algae gets a very special home. Lichen can grow on rocks because of their amazing relationship!

Mola Mola (Ocean Sunfish)!

The Mola mola is a very bizzare and spectacular fish. Some other names for it are "swimming head" because they do not have tails, or ocean sunfish because they like "sun bathing" at the surface of the water.


Strange!



It looks like only half a fish and weighs a lot. Mola molas can be fairly big.


 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
This is a Mola mola "sunbathing" at the surface of the water. He's soaking up some rays to warm up before he takes a dive into the chilly water. Mola molas like pretty warm water, at least in the double digits.
 
 
 
 



Ocean sunfish are into jellyfish as their main food source. The sunfish can also act like a plate so other fish and animals can eat little parasites from its body!
 
Mola molas can also jump really high out of the water! As much as three body lengths!

Bushbabies!

Bushbabies climbing a tree.

Bushbabies are so cool. They are also called Galagos, but "bushbaby" sounds way cuter. They live in African tropical forests and are primates (like monkeys).


Their long tails help keep them balanced when they are climbing around trees. Bushbabies also have nails so they can grip onto branches so they will not fall off!


Bushbabies like chewing on insects, fruit, and tree gum.

Bushbabies are nocturnal.

Bushbabies are mostly active at night (called nocturnal), which is why their eyes are so big. These huge eyes help them see really well in the dark. They also have fantastic hearing, which helps in the dark forest.


These fuzzy little creatures are spectacular jumpers. They can jump as high as 20 feet in the air!






Baby bushbaby!

Gizmo (from the movie Gremlins)

Baby bushbabies remind me of "Gizmo" from the movie Gremlins! I have always wanted a little Mogwai (the name of Gizmo's species).

Bushbabies often sleep together in groups. They like to cuddle in a nest of leaves or branches, or in a cozy hole in a tree.