Even though Sumatran tigers are the smallest tigers in the world, they’re still pretty big cats. Most people know that tigers are endangered, and, again, most people know that no two tigers have the same stripe pattern, much like your fingerprints. But did you know….
Fossils of tiger remains from China show that tigers could be over two million years old!
Unlike most cats tigers love the water and are very good swimmers. In fact, they’re such strong swimmers they’ll often chase their prey into the water in order to be able to catch it.
Sumatran tigers have the narrowest stripes so they can ambush predators from amongst thick vegetation. Although you may wonder how something that is so bright orange could possibly blend into the green jungle, most of the prey they hunt for are red and green color blind so the black stripes help them blend in with the foliage in their environment.
They are amazing jumpers. They can leap forward 10 meters from a sitting down position.
Talk about bite force!! They can bite down with the force of 1,000 lbs!
A group of tigers is called a STREAK of tigers! But you don’t often find them in large groups together.
And so my friends I will end with this limerick, which I did not write, but find it far more worthy than my own:
Yep, I can get really enthusiastic about prairie dogs. Just ask anybody at the zoo. If someone asks a question about them my answer can soon turn into a dramatic monologue.
These are amazing little animals, and we, as humans, need to understand their significance in our environment. That's a fancy way of saying - these guys are really important. In fact, they're a keystone species (a species on which other species in an ecosystem largely depend, such that if it were removed the ecosystem would change drastically). Not only are they almost solely responsible for re-seeding our prairies (without them our nation would look like the Sahara Desert from Northern Mexico to the Canadian border), they also contribute to the water table under the prairie by funneling rain water down special tunnels to the aquifer! They have an incredible language of nearly 100 words and, believe it or not, can put together short sentences of two words. Not only are they adorable, they help other animals by way of homes in their tunnels for tortoises, burrowing owls, snakes, etc, they're an important part of the food chain for animals that are quickly going extinct, and their poop contributes to the nutritious value of the prairie grass that bison, elk, deer, and antelope need.
Without human help, however, they are rapidly losing ground with survival. They are victims of urban sprawl and loss of habitat, misunderstanding by the masses, target practice, and a low survival rate of offspring, and we are losing them faster than we can ever replace them. In the last century their population has decreased by nearly 95%.
I'm clearly a prairie dog fan, and yes, I even have socks with prairie dogs on them. If you want to learn more about them here's a great resource: Defenders of Wildlife at defenders.org
And with that dear friends I leave you with a poem:
I’ve lived in many places and have encountered many ‘nasty’ but ecologically important species. Living in the desert brings a unique perspective on wildlife, insects, etc. Scorpions are my least favorite… well perhaps they are equal to spiders…. which are right up there with snakes. I digress.
Did you know that scorpions have some super survival skills? When the food supply of insects is low, they can slow down their metabolism and survive on one insect per year! Researchers have frozen scorpions overnight and put them out in the sun the next day and watched them walk away! They’re found on every continent except Antarctica but mostly live in hot, dry deserts. Scientists think that they may have been the first animals to move from water to land way back in prehistoric times. They’re important to the environment for many reasons, the least of which is pest control, as they feed on a variety of insects, the larger ones sometimes feed on rodents!
I read one article that said “If you find a scorpion in your home, put a glass over it, slide a piece of paper under it, and let it go. "That's a lovely idea," said nobody EVER! As for me, I kill them and with great enthusiasm. I’m all for saving species, but I draw the line at aggressive, stinging, spidery, lobstery looking thingys (not a technical term) in my space.
So dear readers, I leave you with this poem.