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. California condor NYT pic
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 |
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 |
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 |
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
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.
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).
#
A striking poem- new to me. thanks.
ReplyDeleteThose fires in Australia and in our own California are devastating for the animal residents.