Carnivores have it easier in the Mara, especially this time of year when the park is filled with wildebeest. As I drive around searching for carcasses, the number of lion, leopard, and cheetah kills has been staggering (though the number of vultures at these carcasses is usually minimal). Thus it shouldn’t be too surprising that some carnivore moms are atypically successful.

For no animal could this be more true than the cheetah I saw today. We drove up to see just one cheetah sitting in the short grass under the shade of a small Orange Leaf Blossom bush. She didn’t have a kill and I was just about to head out when I realized there were many more spots in the bushes. …read more of Super Mom here

MANUEL ANTONIO NATIONAL PARK

The first Jeff Corwin Experience DVD I bought was about Costa Rica. I had seen the show so many times that I’d say the lines even before him. “It’s time to go from a quadruped to a biped in search of a no-ped”, is one of my favorites.

When I made my trip to the beautiful country, I didn’t have to search for any snakes. A gorgeous boa constrictor crawled from the nearby jungle onto the front yard of Costa Verde, the hotel I was staying in. It wasn’t a surprise because wildlife is abundant; more so in Manuel Antonio than in other places.

I also knew that the snake was non-venomous, but kills its prey by wrapping around it. Some boa constrictor species are endangered as they are excessively hunted for their exotic skin. As I touched this boa’s fine ornate layer, while it was being gently held by the security guard, I couldn’t help but feel exhilarated. …read more of Off the Beaten Path in Costa Rica: Exploring Manuel Antonio and Rainmaker Reserve here

Snakes occupy a very special place in my heart. For as long as I can remember, they’ve been my favorite group of animals.

My first experience with a snake was at the age of six when I mistook a garter snake for a rattlesnake, ran away crying, then returned thirty minutes later only to cry again due to my inability to find it a second time.

From that point forward, I have searched for many different kinds of snakes in many different places. No snake find, however, elicits quite the response from me that a Kirtland’s snake, Clonophis kirtlandii, does. …read more of The Endangered Unknown – The Kirtland’s snake here

Vultures aren’t generally known for their affection, but on rare occasions you do see acts of kindness. Merely the fact that vultures spend so much time at the carcass long after they are full is perhaps a sign of how much they enjoy each other’s company.

Allopreening, when one animal cleans another, is surprisingly common and I have know seen it between members of the same species for all five species present in the Mara. Lappet-faced vulture pairs will lovingly comb through the feathers of their mate and juvenile White-backed vultures will preen each other as they stand on a mound near a carcass waiting their turn to feed.

Today was the first time I had seen “preening” between species. …read more of Love Bite here

Scientists make new discoveries every day all over the world. Isn’t that amazing? Imagine, for example, being Galileo Galilei who first discovered some of Jupiter’s moons. Or think about being Benjamin Franklin who realized lightning was electricity. Or what about Albert Einstein who came up with the theory of relativity, E = mc²? Or Jane Goodall who was the first to observe that chimps used tools.

All of these people made discoveries that have changed our world.

That last box could be YOU! …read more of Kids Connect! You’re a scientist too! here

Most everyone in the eastern United States at one point of their life or another spent time as a child flipping rocks in the woods only to find bright orange little salamanders.  These pretty little dudes are what we herpetologists call Notophthalmus viridescens, or the Red Spotted Newt.  They are still reasonably common throughout their range and are a joy to find due to their brilliant coloration.

Why would a tiny little salamander want to have bright colors so easy to see?  The bright coloration is basically saying “don’t eat me, I’ll make you sick!”, as they have toxic skin secretions that can harm even the largest of predators.  Once a predator tries to eat one, they are likely not going to try to eat another.  If something makes me sick, I certainly won’t want to eat it again.  What’s really cool is that you only see this coloration during what we call the newt’s “eft”, or juvenile stage.

Amphibians generally have several life stages as they develop.  What’s so neat about the red spotted newt is their juvenile stage is on land; they are born in the water and they return to the water when they reach adulthood! …read more of Why Red Spotted Newts Are Super Cool here

I was in awe of hearing that more than 100 turtles crossed an active runway at New York’s J.F.K airport recently. These diamondback terrapins that inhabit the surrounding brackish wetlands delayed air traffic and caused quite a sensation.

The turtle crossings happen every year during breeding season, with more activity in some years than others. The turtles were safely taken from the tarmac and deposited in a sandy nestworthy area out of harm’s way. Then it dawned on me that we are the ones invading their space.

Many of the turtle species are endangered. Reasons range from global warming to party balloons (who knew?). To learn more, I reached out to a sea turtle conservation expert. Dr. Candace Carter, …read more of Sea Turtles of Florida’s Canaveral National Seashore here

Egyptian Vulture © BSPB

Like my fellow blogger and wildlife enthusiast Corinne Kendall already explained a while ago (well done Corinne, you rock!), vultures play a vital role for the environment despite being among the most misunderstood creatures of all time. That misunderstanding is, just for me, a very odd phenomena.

How could anyone not like these magnificent birds? Who would not appreciate seeing them proudly  soaring in the skies of Europe, Africa and Asia? Maybe the ones, who never had the great chance to see something so amazing – a once in a lifetime experience. …read more of It’s Vulture Time! here

Do you have any favorite words? Some of my favorite words are fun to say, like pandemonium or curmudgeon. Others are poetic, like serenity or eternally. Then there are the silly words, like zigzag and heliotrope.

My most favorite words, however, are science words, particularly bioluminescence. Not sure how to say this word? Get some help here. Now you try. Go ahead. Doesn’t it just make you feel smarter to say such a beautiful word?

The prefix “bio” refers to living organisms, and “luminescence” refers to light. So, bioluminescence is the emission of light by …read more of Kids Connect! Light Show here

http://animalinsworld.blogspot.com/2010/11/chinese-giant-salamande.html

For a crayfish inhabiting rocky, high-altitude streams in China, there is nothing more terrifying than the Chinese Giant Salamander, Andrias davidianus. These prehistoric beasts seem to come right out of the Mesozoic Era, yet they are still top predators today.

Growing over five feet long, these massive creatures are the largest amphibians on Earth and only their close relative, the Japanese Giant Salamander, even remotely approaches them in size. Crayfish, small fish, and frogs comprise their diet and these large amphibians need abundant food resources to maintain their incredible growth rates.

The poor eyesight these animals possess might seem to make hunting impossible in rushing currents, but sensory organs running the length of the salamander’s body allow it to find prey in even the most adverse conditions. There are many predators of young Chinese Giant Salamanders in their native habitat …read more of The Endangered Unknown: Chinese Giant Salamander here