Shuffling

Driving... 

It's all 'smooth sailing' until 

something walks on to the road and stops traffic.

And that, brings me to the echidna...

Echidna – what kind of word is that, anyway?

The echidna is covered in

hollow spines.

photo credit

They have tiny eyes and poor eyesight.

They’re easy enough to catch though –

if you ever stumble across one in the wild.

They shuffle along...

...oblivious to the dangers

around them.

They’re not totally defenseless!

Once startled, their long claws 

might dig into the ground.

They hold on with such incredible strength

that it is almost impossible

to pull them out of the ground...

Not to mention working around their spines.

If the echidna cannot dig into the ground

they will roll into a ball.

Their softer belly will be protected

by a ball of spines.

photo credit

Dingoes, goannas and other predators

have to suffer a mouthful of spines

before reaching the echidna’s flesh.

A dingo with a mouth full of sores

caused by echidna spines

soon learns to leave the echidna alone!

And their tongue....

100 times a minute

that tongue sticks out.

It’s sticky so ants, termites 

and small bugs stick to it.

Back inside the mouth it goes,

covered in delicious echidna food!

There are no teeth in the echidna’s mouth

but hard palettes crush the insects.

I love that they have hairs

 among their many spines.

I love that they can live in the snow

and in the hottest parts of Australia.

I love that you can stumble

on them out in the bush.

I love their shuffle.

I love their colours.

I love that cars will slow

to almost a stop

when an echidna

is crossing a suburban road.

Knuckles

The Cow’s been pretty quiet lately…

I’ve been learning a little about cerebral palsy 

hands on learning… 

I know a bit more about it now, 

not necessarily the medical terminology 

but the impact it has on a little body.

So, when I heard about ‘Knuckles’, 

I was immediately curious.  

Why? Knuckles is a chimpanzee… 

a chimpanzee with cerebral palsy!

Knuckles lives at the 

Centre for Great Apes (in Florida)

after an entertainment group he had been with,

no longer wanted him. 

He was two when he arrived. 

It seemed that Knuckles had cerebral palsy. 

At the time of his birth, 

he suffered from a lack of oxygen. 

He had poor muscle control 

and was especially weak on the left side.

 He also had a lazy eye 

and didn’t appear able to focus on objects.

 At two, Knuckles should have been

 swinging from the trees, 

but he could not climb 

and had difficulty with walking.

He also had trouble feeding 

and needed help to eat. 

Hardly surprising, early testing 

pointed to a grim future,

with almost no expectations 

for improvements in Knuckles’ ability.

 And yet, steady progress was made. 

Volunteers gave Knuckles 

some extra time and 

occupational and physical therapists 

also worked with Knuckles. 

Now, Knuckles feeds himself… 

he climbs up and down steps… 

and uses swings to hang upside down.

 Sometimes, he joins 

the other chimpanzees in running games.

 Knuckles is very aware 

of his surroundings 

and loves being tickled. 

He is also very affectionate. 

Had Knuckles been born into the wild, 

I guess he would have 

slowly starved or been 

an easy target to another animal. 

But, he was taken in and loved. 

He was recognised as having cerebral palsy

 and his therapy and efforts have paid off.

Being that we are so closely related to apes,

 I guess its no surprise that they too, 

may have cerebral palsy.

Go to the Centre for Great Apes  

to find out more.

There are more pictures at the site, too.

Check the Nose!

Monkey Day

As soon as I read monkey,

I thought of the very cool

proboscis monkey.

It’s one of the uglier monkeys,

 in my opinion,

but still could be

one of my favourites. 

 I went to National Geographic

for some information.

 

It grows to 70cm and

 males weigh about 23 kilograms.

  A cool fact – t

hey live in groups called harems!

A sad fact –

they are endangered

and only live

on the island of Borneo.

Weird fact –

they eat their fruit

 before it is ripe!

The sugars in ripe fruit

ferment in their stomach

and the bloating

will eventually kill them! 

What makes the proboscis monkey

 so ugly to me…

makes it super attractive

to the lady proboscis monkeys!

 

The males have the most

enormous nose ever!

It’s huge!

The lady monkeys love the nose!

The bigger – the better!

The harem has a dominant male

 and up to seven females.

While the proboscis monkey

is a great swimmer,

they need to work

on their diving!

They swing through the trees

and belly-flop

themselves into rivers.

To swim faster than

the local crocodiles,

they developed webbing

between their hands and feet!

Weird!  …and yet…

so cool!

 

Photos

 

Let It All Out

Howl At The Moon Day

Sometimes, you just need a reason

 to get a little crazy!

Climb onto the roof

of your house tonight

and howl yourself silly!

picture

Thorny Devil

It’s Reptile Awareness Day.

I was stuck for a while…

deciding which reptile to focus on…

and then, I decided

on the Thorny Devil.

 

 

It’s such a cool little lizard!

I watched one once,

dancing from one foot to the other

to ease the burning

of the red hot soil of outback Australia.

(Perhaps it was just looking for food,

water or a mate…) I

t was only small –

but they can grow up to 20 cm. 

(Females are bigger than males.)

Thorny Devils can live for 20 years. 

They have to be pretty good hiders

to avoid being eaten that long!

But then, why would an animal

want to eat it,

when this lizard

is covered in hard spikes?

(Birds and goannas will give it a go!)

The Thorny Devil is coloured to help it

 blend in with the sandy soils,

rocky landscape of red, red dirt.

They are lighter coloured

in the warmer weather

and darker during the cooler months.

The thorns along their body

trap and direct water

to their mouth…

a clever thing

for a desert animal to do!

When it rains,

its capillaries open up

and suck in the water

as it lands on its body!

Cool!

The Thorny Devil can eat

thousands of ants on a hungry day.

 

 

John Edward Gray was the first

person to write about the Thorny Devil

– way back in 1841.

Pictures from here and here.

 

What a Hag

 

Hagfish Day

The Cow is grinning…

Hag Fish…

an old woman fish,

haggard after years of cleaning

the fish bowl and tending

to the children?

The hagfish was scientifically

described in 1753,

but I know nothing about it.

Time for research…

 

Oh, this is great…

The hagfish is wrong,

on so many levels!

Its other name is Snot Fish!

There are currently 67 species

 of hagfish. Their sizes range

from 18cm -1.3m.

It looks a little like an eel.

A hagfish has a skull but no spine!

Their poorly developed eyes

mean they are practically blind.

 Weirdly, hagfish can be males

this year and females next year…

they have the ability to change sex

from season to season.

 

Ok, so… something has decided

to attack a hagfish.

(bad idea!)

It bites the hagfish, so…

The hagfish secretes mucus

which mixes with salt water

to create a smothering slime.

Within minutes,

20 litres of water can become slime!

Disgusting!

The attacking fish’s gills

are clogging with slime,

and the hagfish escapes…

To clean the slime off itself,

it ties itself into a knot

(no spine, remember?)

It then pulls itself

through the knot.

And, that slime in its nose –

sneezing gets that out!

Often, a hagfish will bury

all but it’s head

in the muddy bottom of the ocean.

Sometimes, the muddy bottom

can become a little crowded,

with up to 15000 hagfish

hiding together!

 

 

Pictures here.

It is also

Wear Something Gaudy Day!

Enjoy that!

Face Your Fears Day

I’m not sure what I most fear…

The classics?

Snake, spider…

no.

Death?

No.

Maybe… rejection…

the fear of loss, perhaps…

That’s a little too deep –

so I want to know more

about the black mamba…

such a cool snake!

 

 

Lethally venomous 

 fast and aggressive 

 perhaps, the world’s deadliest snake!

I rest easily, knowing these snakes

 are African and I’m not likely

to mistakenly step on one!

It would be hard to miss

seeing a black mamba…

they can be four and a half

metres long!

(Though two and a half metres

 is more typical!).

There’d be no use trying to run

 from a black mamba…

these cool snakes will chase you

 at 20 kilometres an hour!

When I first saw a black mamba,

I was a little disappointed.

Such a scary seeming snake,

 with such a cool name…

should be black…

jet black!

No,

the black mamba is actually

a grey to green colour.

(Far less fun)

So, where does the black come from?

The inside of their mouth!

(Now, that is scary!)

 

Adding a scary feature – their head

 is shaped like a coffin!

Like most snakes,

they will slither off and most likely,

not be seen… but,

when they are scared

by the presence of people

and the inability to escape…

 they do what I am most impressed with!

They “stand” –

with about a third

of their body off the ground. 

They spread their neck (like a cobra)

 and hiss their anger and annoyance –

 showing their black mouth.

If this is not enough

to scare you away…

the angered mamba will strike

again and again

and again and again!

Enjoy your last 20 minutes of life!

Luckily, there is antivenin now…

if you live in the urban areas

(but most mamba attacks

occur in rural areas!).

The cool black mamba

 can live for about 11 years.

 

 

 

Attack Mode

Wiki pictures one and two.