Of giant vultures, elusive marsupials & ‘cute’ marmots

                California condor                                      NYT pic

California condors, a variety of vulture and the largest flying birds in North America, can now be asked “Who’s your daddy?” since scientists’ recent discovery that “virgin births” happen among these endangered birds.  

The discovery came about only because condors have been closely watched and their births carefully documented as their population grew from 23 birds in 1982 to 504 birds in 2020.  That increase resulted from a concerted effort to breed condors in captivity.

Two male chicks were found to lack any paternal contribution in their genetic information – think, chicks hatching from unfertilized eggs – leading to condor mothers being linked with virgin births.  It’s called “Parthenogenesis,” a rare phenomenon among birds that’s more common among species like fish or lizards.   https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/facts/california-condor  

Just whistle

Groundhog

Those of us familiar with groundhogs are usually satisfied to say something like “How cute!” (especially of their babies) and move on.  But these whistle-pigs or woodchucks, as they’re also known, have social structures and life styles that might surprise us.

They’re actually rodents belonging to the group of large ground squirrels known as marmots, and they’re lowland animals, unlike most other marmots, who live in mountainous terrain.   

A scientist who’s been studying groundhogs for years at a site in Falmouth, Maine, has observed, photographed, tagged and taken voluminous notes on groundhogs.  She has concluded they’re friendlier to relatives than unrelated others and they basically operate with a kinship-based loose community structure.

Baby groundhog

Groundhogs who opt to become outliers, living on their own, could miss the sentinel’s warning whistle to the community, signaling a nearby fox or some other predator.

Winter hibernators, groundhogs are often seen by homeowners as “varmints” and worse, although in justice to them, “Their digging helps aerate and enrich soil,” one scientist noted.   https://tinyurl.com/36jx8cx3

    Hide & seek

Koalas, one of Australia’s iconic animals, have always been elusive, but now they’re even harder to find – an estimated one-third of the country’s koalas have disappeared since the 2018 bush fires that “killed or displaced . . .3 billion animals, with thousands of koalas among the dead.” 

Drought, disease and deforestation – specifically, the paving over of their eucalyptus forest habitats -- have also contributed to the population drop.  Further, koalas’ small brains and slow movements make it

Koala with joey

easier to capture or kill them.

Now, scientists are trying to find out whether these marsupials – female mammals with pouches for their young – can survive after forests are charred, and at what elevation.  But koalas continue their elusive ways, making it still more difficult to find and count  them.  https://tinyurl.com/ypjb73fm

 

Elegy for the Giant Tortoises

by Margaret Atwood

Let others pray for the passenger pigeon
the dodo, the whooping crane, the eskimo:
everyone must specialize

I will confine myself to a meditation
upon the giant tortoises
withering finally on a remote island.

I concentrate in subway stations,
in parks, I can't quite see them,
they move to the peripheries of my eyes

but on the last day they will be there;
already the event
like a wave travelling shapes vision:

on the road where I stand they will materialize,
plodding past me in a straggling line
awkward without water

their small heads pondering
from side to side, their useless armour
sadder than tanks and history,

in their closed gaze ocean and sunlight paralysed,
lumbering up the steps, under the archways
toward the square glass altars

where the brittle gods are kept,
the relics of what we have destroyed,
our holy and obsolete symbols.

 

(from Selected Poems. © Houghton Mifflin, 1976. Reprinted with permission in The Writer’s Almanac.)

A time out

As February finally ends, it’s time to organize photo and text files.  AnimalBeat II will be back after the spring equinox  (Sunday, March 20, 11:33 am).

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Apologies to lovebirds . . . & animal news briefs

Valentine’s day came and went here, with images of loving wild and domestic animals seemingly kissing each other (probably a case of sentimental anthropomorphism on my part), but no lovebirds!  True, I had thought of them and even wrote myself a note to include them . . . but memory and note both failed.

So: Both loving and lovely, tiny lovebirds are among the smallest parrots in the world, they rarely speak and all 9 species are native to Africa.  Many are green, often with other colors.  Lovebird pairs are mutually devoted, enjoying perching together, preening and snuggling.  

Keep up the good, loving work, lovebirds!

Wild-baby book

To think of a 250-pound baby seems incongruous at first, till you think of a baby elephant, who typically weighs in around that number.  After, all, her mom can weigh about 8,000 pounds.

Further surprise: unlike human offspring, that baby learns to walk in a few hours, and within a day she can keep up with her traveling family – always guarded by her mother.

At waterholes, she learns to suck water into her trunk then blow it into her mouth.  With 40,000 trunk muscles to control, she learns the crucial skills for  grasping food, taking a dust bath and greeting family members.

And the story goes on. . . It’s all in a beautiful, photo-illustrated children’s book, A Baby Elephant in the Wild, written by scientist Caitlin O’Connell, with photographs by her and Timothy Rodwell.  (Alert: You will be captivated by the pictures and decide to give the book to a young person who then may determine to “Save the Elephants.”  Please give the book!) 

Protecting wolves -- again

            Gray wolves                          HSUS pic

Numerous federal anti-animal moves by the last administration have been modified or thrown out by the Biden administration, thank the power.  (There’s now even talk of how to fix the vast damage done along the southern border – including habitat loss and migration paths blocked -- by the infamous wall.)

The latest boon for animals was the decision earlier this month by a federal judge “to restore protections for gray wolves in much of the country.  It reversed a decision by the Trump administration that stripped Endangered Species Act protections and exposed the animals to aggressive hunting in areas where they were nearly killed off years ago.”

The decision immediately reimposed safeguards for wolf populations in the Lower 48, except for three northern Rocky Mountain states (Idaho, Montana and Wyoming) that weren’t part of the court case but still represent a huge threat to gray wolves.  https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/10/climate/wolves-endangered-species-list.html

Coyote neighbors? Yes!

They typically weigh just 35-40 pounds, and they’re often more afraid of us than we are of them.  And yet, “coyote” is a charged word despite their being our neighbors, whether we see much of them or not.

Peaceful co-existence with coyotes is possible if people observe basic guidelines.  (1) never feed coyotes; (2) don’t let pets out unattended, especially at night; (3) don’t approach coyote pups or a coyote den; (4) if approached by a coyote, be big and loud; don’t run; and (5) don’t even think of trapping and re-locating!

Here are details on living with wild coyote neighbors.  https://mercercountyparks.org/assets/Coyotes.pdf

Hip-hip . . . !

Now at 190 years, the “oldest living land animal in the world” lives on St. Helena island, has his own resident veterinarian and is regularly hand-fed fresh produce to keep his health up. 

A looooong time ago, Jonathan the tortoise was a diplomatic gift to the island’s governor.  Since then, he has outlived 30 more governors and countless historical people and events around the world.

Jonathan’s caretaker-vet is a boy of 64 --126 years younger than his charge.  

RIP, rat hero

Think only of the maiming and death caused by land mines, and you too will salute Magawa, the African giant pouched rat who in 5 years sniffed out more than 100 such mines in Cambodia.  

A native of Tanzania, Magawa was the most successful rat in his program, which trained rats to detect mines and signal handlers by scratching the surface above them, thus saving myriad lives.

Awarded a first-time ever gold medal for his great service in 2020, Magawa died in retirement.  (And the NYTimes story marking his death drew numerous comments.) https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/11/world/europe/magawa-landmine-hero-rat-dead.html

 

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Loving animals loving animals!

                                                                                                                                                                 The Dodo image

Ahhh, Valentine’s day: love, chocolate, flowers, champagne, romantic dinners, lacey cards and ardent love letters!  For people, it’s a festive, demonstrative day.

Bonobos

What about love in the animal kingdom?  Without humans’ love reminders and features -- red hearts everywhere, pricey gifts and novelties -- animals nevertheless do their varied loving things all the time.

We may wonder about what "love" is to animals, although the answer's obvious in countless different ways.  And, the unending images of animals "kissing" one another at least suggests how meaningful "kisses" are to them. 

Think of bonobos, DNA "cousins" to us and chimpanzees, also our cousin.  "Make love, not war," is a motto often attributed to bonobos, who are sometimes said to love sex and fruit -- for them, a combo that represents the good life. 

Animals’ maternal love is found all over the world.  How many times have you seen or read about mother elephants rescuing their babies from predators, drowning or other hazards?  Merely glance at photos of traveling elephants to see how the babies are typically surrounded by adults in transit.

Then there are the stories about mother cats and dogs who go to great lengths to protect their young, sometimes seeking human help to save them from mishaps.  Animal mothers mourning their babies who died sometimes accept another mother’s young to nurse and protect, or even the young from another species.

Interspecies friendships – like all friendships, also a form of love – bring different kinds of animals together for mutual support and even play times.

 The Weight

     by Linda Gregg

Two horses were put together in the same paddock.
Night and day. In the night and in the day
wet from heat and the chill of the wind
on it. Muzzle to water, snorting, head swinging
and the taste of bay in the shadowed air.
The dignity of being. They slept that way,
knowing each other always.
Withers quivering for a moment,
fetlock and the proud rise at the base of the tail,
width of back. The volume of them, and each other's weight.
Fences were nothing compared to that.
People were nothing. They slept standing,
their throats curved against the other's rump.
They breathed against each other,
whinnied and stomped.
There are things they did that I do not know.
The privacy of them had a river in it.
Had our universe in it. And the way
its border looks back at us with its light.
This was finally their freedom.
The freedom an oak tree knows.
That is built at night by stars.

(From Chosen by the Lion, c. Graywolf Press, 1994, “The Weight” appeared in the Jan. 31, 2012 edition of The Writer’s Almanac.)

 

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                       What do you think?  Please comment at 1moreonce.blogspot.com.        

 

Birds of all sizes -- & 1 very big cat

                                 Alaskan Eagle                             ADN pic             

Like many others during our recent snow storm, I kept watch for birds, wondering how they would get food and keep warm during that bad weather – bad for New Jersey, that is.

But how about birds in Alaska, our one Arctic state?  How in that frigid world do birds make it because “if they can make it there, they’ll make it anywhere.” 

A story in the Anchorage Daily News described Alaskan birds’ strategies to stay cozy.  They shiver, gorge on food and surround their bodies with down, and it works for birds as large as bald eagles and as small as black-capped chickadees.

Big birds like ravens head for cities, where dumps and dumpsters are dependable food sources.  Chickadees stuff themselves, gaining 10% of their body weight each day, then shiver all night, keeping warm.  Other species huddle together for warmth or bury themselves in snow, an insulation.

                         Alaskan raven                ADN pic

Snowy owls keep warm by fluffing up their very thick feathers from face to feet.  And invariably surprising some people, many birds spend time in the water  because it’s crucial to keep their feathers clean.  As for how they keep their feet warm, that’s detailed in the story. https://tinyurl.com/yckzj3hh

Meanwhile, back here with cold and hungry NJ birds: The best I could do was keep the bird feeder filled with seeds and assure a block of suet was available nearby.  And I often tossed seeds and nuts onto the deck table after shoveling off the deep snow.    

Avian pecking order

A Washington Post feature on “Which birds are the biggest jerks at the feeder?” reveals a secret pecking order among hungry birds.  Using a database with nearly 100,000 bird interactions, ornithologists have formulated a “hidden hierarchy” showing which ones are dominant at feeders and positing why – not always having to do with bird size.  

Hummingbird

For instance, to take advantage of every second of feeding time, hummingbirds “punch way above their weight,” but although the pileated woodpecker may look threatening with its fierce bill and strong build, it’s actually docile for its size. 

While goldfinches are squabblers, usually among themselves, beyond that, they’re limited by their half-ounce size, and chickadees must defer to just about every other bird.

Who’s king of the feeder in the Northeastern US?  The American crow, who beats out even the assertively noisy blue jay.  And crows’ power position is followed closely by the common grackle, red-bellied woodpecker and European starling.   

Most other bird species fall below blue jays in the avian hierarchy – they range from robins, mourning doves, cardinals and sparrows through wrens, nuthatches, finches and chickadees.

Song sparrow

At least one source on the subject (Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources) recommends feeding birds during cold winter months – providing a “nutritional bridge” they need for survival – when insects and other warm weather food supplies aren’t available.  

Because most other wildlife like deer, raccoons and squirrels, can work through heavy snow to find food sources, feeding them is discouraged.   

Great Backyard Bird Count – coming up!

Here’s a wonderful one minute-plus video about an annual event for the good of birds all over the world.  From Feb. 16-19, people everywhere are invited to count the birds they see in their backyards and communities.  The information they submit will help scientists help birds. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RdXDGcqHTg

And this hour-plus video also includes specs about Merlin, an app anyone can use to help identify birds.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2FM_W8Vhmk

Year of the Tiger

February 1 marked the start of the Lunar New Year, based on a calendar that tells time partly by the cycles of the moon.  Every year is named for one of the 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac.  People in China, Vietnam, Korea and other countries, including the US, celebrate this festive event.

The new USPS “forever” stamp celebrates the Year of the Tiger (at a time when wild tigers are more threatened than ever).  Buy some “tiger stamps” and (as you’ll see here) beautify your mail!

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Please comment – maybe on your favorite bird or whether your bird feeder observations match the hierarchy here – at 1moreonce.blogspot.com 

Of bears & dogs, conserving wildlife & heroes for animals

                                                                         DEP pic

Oh, woe!  Here we go again: Another cruel and needless dog death in Sparta, NJ, reportedly by a bear.  RIP, poor innocent Tommy!  What a shame if your owner didn’t look around before letting you out last Wednesday night. 

Were there outdoor lights on?  Living in bear territory, did your owner look out for you once you were outside?  Was a bear around because your owner, and possibly neighbors too, has attracted bears to the area by careless trash disposal?

The Times of Trenton story included a link to DEP safety tips (nj.gov/dep/fgw/bearfacts_safetytips.htm). I skimmed them but didn’t see anything about bear-proof trash cans, long recommended for use to deter bears.  

Conservation-by-teamwork

Last fall’s expo by the Wildlife Conservation Network surprised me with one piece of news: Kenyan elephants are now less threatened by poachers than by people living – and growing crops and building roads, railways and bridges  – on shared land areas.

This reality stressed the importance of  experts engaging with local people to help them co-exist with animals sharing their territory.  

To protect both the elephants and the people’s way of life, conservationists partner with local residents, working with them at grass roots levels to assure and maintain elephant migration corridors as human development increases along with population growth.

Collaboration among organizations having to do with elephants aims to remind local people how to live with animals to avoid conflict. (Earlier blog posts here described jointly-developed ways to deter elephants from raiding crop gardens and other “people projects.”)

Also in Kenya, efforts to keep lions from going after livestock have included widespread planting of grasses for them.  “Saving livestock from lions is saving the lions!” one person exclaimed.

Meanwhile, in Mozambique, assuring that people have the power of decision-making that they had historically practiced, has helped break down walls between the interest groups involved.  In short, co-existence between people and animals is vital for wildlife welfare.

“Outside” experts working with local communities toward mutual goals and involving those to be affected by decisions in their development – these two principles are not unique to Africa.  In fact, they are established management techniques in the US.

Heroes for animals

And since I’ve asked blog readers to identify “heroes for animals” they know of, I’m suggesting a couple myself right now.  They are members of a statewide animal advocacy organization, the Animal Protection League of NJ, now nearing 40 years of active advocacy for our state’s animals.

It’s one thing for a person to be an organization member, period.  It’s quite another for a member to work far, far beyond expectations on behalf of animals.  For instance, one APLNJ member attended over 50 town meetings to advocate for non-lethal goose management!

"D's goose"

Just imagine spending numerous evenings meeting with town reps to talk up ways to manage geese without killing them.  And "D" got goose-saving positive results – as well as geese who came to recognize her and seemingly showed their thanks when they approached her. 

In her “free” time, the same member also works on positioning billboards on animal issues around the state and jumps right in on other special projects.  

Another APLNJ member and a TNR expert, helped community cat trappers and caregivers network with the “powers that be” to devise a unified plan -- and carry it out -- for a spay and neuter program for a 30-cat colony.  "S" also built an indoor-outdoor “catio” at her home to assure that cats needing it could be comfortably isolated from others. 

These are only two stellar APLNJ members who are “heroes for animals.”  You can count on reading about still others here too.

(To support this organization’s continuing work for all New Jersey animals, but especially for those persecuted as “invasive” or unwanted, please make a tax-deductible online donation at APLNJ.org.  Thank you!)

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Back to you, readers.  Please tell us about a “hero for animals” you know.  Just go to 1moreonce.blogspot.com.  

  

      

 

                                    

A new low: pigs' hearts for people

One day the absurdity of the almost universal human belief in the slavery of other animals will be palpable.  We shall then have discovered our souls and become worthier of sharing this planet with them. –Martin Luther King Jr.

We postpone the subjects planned for this blog post to bring you the following news, reported in the New York Times and numerous other media sites. 

In a First, Man Receives a Heart From a Genetically Altered Pig

   The breakthrough may lead one day to new supplies of animal organs for transplant into human patients.

The Times’s Jan. 10 headline and blurb (above) say it all: Humans have now invented a new way to use (as in breed, modify, kill) animals to serve our needs.  As if humans had any right to do that.

Dominionism is the worldview or belief held by one species that it has a divine right to use animals and everything else in the living world for its own benefit. – Jim Mason

Already, of course, humans have used animals for innumerable fiendish purposes besides slaughtering and eating them: turning them into beasts of burden worldwide; forcing them to serve and die in humans’ wars; making them into involuntary seeing-eye dogs and emotional-support animals; and so on and on – all robbing animals of their natural lives and causing their dependence on people’s good will or mercy.    

Now, the NYTimes article extols using pigs – pork already being the most widely eaten meat in the world -- for even more medical purposes to benefit humans.

After all, the story explains, “Pigs offer advantages over primates for organ procurements, because they are easier to raise and achieve adult human size in six months.  Pig heart valves are routinely transplanted into humans, and some patients with diabetes have received porcine pancreas cells.  Pig skin has also been used as a temporary graft for burn patients. . . .”  and on and on about the benefits of using a non-human animal for our purposes.     https://tinyurl.com/4u53benj     

Alba, freed from a lab

Dominionism writ large!

It’s an emergency! (or is it?)

Say that your pet needs medical help in a hurry.  You race to the 24/7 pet hospital and check in for emergency care.  Directed to sit in the waiting area, you’re visited by a triage staffer who talks with you, taking notes about your pet’s condition.  

Then you wait.  And wait.  And get antsy.  Then angry.  You have no idea of where on a list of “emergency” patients in line for treatment your pet has been placed.

Occasionally, you ask a passing staffer when the doctor will see your pet.  The answer doesn’t help: s/he is in the lineup, but if a pet in greater need arrives, the doctor will see that animal before your pet. And theoretically, this could keep happening.

Five hours later -- no joke, and it’s been worse at other times – you’re told to take your pet to an exam room, where you wait for the vet to finish with the last patient.  Then, ta-da! it’s your turn. . . a very belated happy ending!  

Recount this story to friends who are astonished, disbelieving, even indignant.  But then remember the last time you went to a (human) hospital ER and how long you waited there.  It’s much the same story!

So where’s the emergency (“requiring immediate action”) in emergency?    

Usually, not there.  Typically in both places, the most that could happen in 5 hours is that the patient might be seen (briefly) before being moved into a temporary cubicle to wait for tests and treatment.

Is there a better word than “emergency” to use in both circumstances described here?  Is there a better way to run a so-called “emergency” facility for pets?

 

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What do you think about animals being sacrificed to serve human needs?  and how about how ER systems work in animal hospitals?  Tell us at 1moreonce.blogspot.com.             

New year's hopes for animals' better lives

January marks a new year in animal advocacy, along with countless hopes for the better.

We’ll start close to home, with the latest story about the big, bad, black bears of New Jersey -- at least as they’re viewed by wanna-be trophy hunters. 

The recent Times of Trenton story about the Sussex county woman bitten by a bear before the animal then mauled one of her two dogs to death provoked more questions than answers.  Reportedly, she put her garbage out (in a bearproof trash can?  aware that two bears were in the vicinity? . . .) then let her two dogs out (hoping they’d chase or vanquish the bears? or, if she was unaware of the bears, without checking outside before letting her pets out?).

That was the beginning of the end.  One bear grabbed a dog and as the woman fought with the bear (?!) to free her pet, the bear bit her on the leg, then took the dog off to maul to death.      

Admittedly, the story was strange and sketchy, but seemed to indicate the woman took one, shall we say UN-intelligent, step after another.  Later coverage included the claim that there are way too many bears in NJ, and promoted the need for bear hunts.  That last came as no surprise, since last fall’s hunt had been cancelled, much to the chagrin of hunters seeking trophies.  

Donkeys: most of us probably think little more about them than “what’s the difference between donkeys and mules?” or similarly ignorant questions.  

What we don’t know is that donkeys are being slaughtered in great numbers globally for their skin, a derivative of which is "used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat anemia, insomnia and reproductive issues,” according to a Washington Post article (as was the bullfighting story above).

“Traditional Chinese medicine” is the bane of numerous animals – including  rhinos and pangolins – and now we know it takes nearly 5 million donkey hides a year to meet China’s demand for them.  

Now, besides from China itself, hides stolen from remote parts of Africa (economically dependent on donkeys) and the US (via Mexican slaughterhouses) are also reaching China, altogether decimating the global population of donkeys --already regarded as “one of the most maligned, mistreated and misunderstood animals on the planet.”

Toreador, en garde!

Possibly coming soon: the end of bullfighting (at long last) in Mexico City, where the world’s largest bullfighting arena offers “the oldest incarnation” of this “sport”?  It involves “bulls raised for the fight and usually dying in the ring at the tip of the matador’s sword.”  

Yes, end it, say modernist opponents whose proposed legislation would prohibit the “barbaric anachronism.”  But it’s part of our history, claim traditionalists who   support “an ancestral tradition.”

Entitlement and dominionism for humans; cruel, drawn-out public execution for animals.  The bill to ban bullfighting in Mexico City – seen as modernism vs. traditionalism -- is expected to be acted on early this year.

Bullfighting is a sentence to public execution coupled with a torture session, and filet mignon is nothing but a piece of cadaver under cellophane. –Brigitte Bardot

. . . where the air is rare

Once thought to be aloof toward their peers, giraffes are now known to “have lunch buddies, stand guard over dead calves and stay close with their mothers and grandmothers.”

Female giraffes even bond with other females, besides forming day care-like arrangements, taking turns babysitting and feeding each other’s young.  Giraffes are now seen as “socially complex creatures, akin to elephants or chimps.”

This link details such true “tall tales”:  https://tinyurl.com/muk5rw8x

If you’ve never noticed giraffes’ hornlike ossicones atop their heads, look now.  Those appendages play a huge (and high) role in giraffe fights, which may be rare, but can also be fatal. 

With those weapons, a giraffe can wound or kill an opponent.  As for why they may fight and who can fight whom, as well as their surprising sportsmanlike approaches, this link leads to details. https://tinyurl.com/2p8d7h5r

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