Temple Illuminatus2024-03-28T18:13:08ZLinda M.https://templeilluminatus.ning.com/profile/LindaMannhttps://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3652264559?profile=RESIZE_180x180&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1https://templeilluminatus.ning.com/group/wildlife/forum/topic/listForContributor?user=0ovc72n46mzy4&feed=yes&xn_auth=noWhat Does Cancer Smell Like? These Animals Can Telltag:templeilluminatus.ning.com,2023-05-28:6363372:Topic:36352362023-05-28T14:37:21.767ZLinda M.https://templeilluminatus.ning.com/profile/LindaMann
<p><span>Did you know that even the tiniest creatures can detect markers of illness, including </span><a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/these-animals-detect-disease-cancer-covid"><span>cancer</span></a><span>? From ants to worms, these animals are proving to be valuable allies in the fight against human disease.</span></p>
<p><span>One common ant species, Formica fusca, found throughout Europe, can be trained to detect the scent of breast cancer in urine. In a study by…</span></p>
<p><span>Did you know that even the tiniest creatures can detect markers of illness, including </span><a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/these-animals-detect-disease-cancer-covid"><span>cancer</span></a><span>? From ants to worms, these animals are proving to be valuable allies in the fight against human disease.</span></p>
<p><span>One common ant species, Formica fusca, found throughout Europe, can be trained to detect the scent of breast cancer in urine. In a study by the University Sorbonne Paris Nord in France, the ants were taught to distinguish between the scent of urine from mice carrying human breast cancer tumors and that of healthy mice. The </span><a href="https://www.health.ny.gov/publications/6500/index.htm"><span>ants</span></a><span> learned to seek out the cancer scent through a process called operant conditioning, where they were given a sugar reward near the cancer sample. The ants spent 20% more time with the cancerous samples.</span></p>
<p><span>Dogs are well-known for their cancer-detecting abilities, but did you know they can also detect infectious diseases in humans and animals, including malaria and chronic wasting disease in deer? Dogs have even been trained to screen people for </span><a href="https://www.cdcfoundation.org/stories/project-uses-dogs-detect-covid-19"><span>COVID-19</span></a><span> in some schools in California and Massachusetts and at Miami Heat basketball games. In an ovarian cancer study, different dogs responded to different fragments of odors, suggesting they could detect more than one scent.</span></p>
<p><a href="https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/giant-rats-trained-sniff-out-tuberculosis-africa"><span>African giant pouched rats</span></a><span> detect explosives and tuberculosis through a bouquet of odors specific to Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium that causes tuberculosis. These rats can screen over 100 patient samples in about 20 minutes, which would take a human researcher four days to accomplish. Since their inception, the rats have detected more than 23,000 cases missed by local health clinics, increasing case detection by around 50%.</span></p>
<p><span>Honeybees are exquisitely sensitive to scents and have been shown to be good at scenting out SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Researchers with the Wageningen Bioveterinary Research laboratory in the Netherlands trained local bees to identify scents from various samples and rewarded them with a sugary treat when they responded to COVID-positive materials. They were able to perform this action without reward over time and could check a test in just seconds.</span></p>
<p><span>Finally, even worms have cancer-detecting abilities. </span><a href="https://cgc.umn.edu/what-is-c-elegans"><span>Caenorhabditis elegans</span></a><span>, a worm-like creature approximately the size of a grain of sand grain, can detect pancreatic and breast cancer cells. In some circumstances, the worms move toward samples with cancer cells and avoid the healthy ones.</span></p>
<p><span>These animals detect diseases by perceiving volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in exhaled breath, sweat, urine, and blood. Diseases can change the VOCs we emit, resulting in a different odor. However, what exact chemicals the animals are smelling is unknown.</span></p>
<p><span>It’s clear that these animals have incredible abilities that could be harnessed to improve human and animal health. They are also relatively inexpensive and easy to maintain, making them excellent candidates for disease detection work.</span></p>
<p><span>So, next time you encounter ants in your kitchen, remember their extraordinary powers of perception. These animals are not just a nuisance but valuable allies in the fight against human disease. We can support this work by donating to charities like Medical Detection Dogs or APOPO, which train dogs and rats, respectively, to detect diseases.</span></p>
<p><span>Let’s harness the power of these incredible animals and continue to explore their potential in disease detection.</span></p>
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<p style="text-align: center;"><span><a href="https://www.onegreenplanet.org/animals/what-does-cancer-smell-like-these-animals-can-tell/">https://www.onegreenplanet.org/animals/what-does-cancer-smell-like-these-animals-can-tell/</a></span></p> 10 Things to Love About Chickenstag:templeilluminatus.ning.com,2021-05-13:6363372:Topic:35943832021-05-13T20:42:46.221ZLinda M.https://templeilluminatus.ning.com/profile/LindaMann
<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/8927195496?profile=original" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/8927195496?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="500"></img></a></p>
<p>“One day you’re going to sprout feathers!” That’s what my father used to say to me because my<span> </span><a href="http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/7-good-reasons-to-eat-less-chicken/">favorite food was chicken</a>. I never gave much thought to the actual animals. When I had to pass a live chicken market on my way to work, I crossed the…</p>
<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/8927195496?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/8927195496?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="500" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<p>“One day you’re going to sprout feathers!” That’s what my father used to say to me because my<span> </span><a href="http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/7-good-reasons-to-eat-less-chicken/">favorite food was chicken</a>. I never gave much thought to the actual animals. When I had to pass a live chicken market on my way to work, I crossed the street so I wouldn’t have to see tons of<span> </span><a href="http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/eliminating-the-suffering-of-chickens-bred-for-meat-2/">chickens</a><span> </span>stuffed into stacks of small crates that were not large enough for them to move in, waiting to be killed. I was ashamed of my hypocrisy, knowing that my “feeling bad” would not stop me from eating chicken.</p>
<p>Years later when I was a new vegan, I visited a farm animal sanctuary where I got to<span> </span><a href="http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/lessons-ive-learned-while-fighting-for-the-freedom-of-farmed-chickens/">hold a live chicken</a><span> </span>for the first time. The caretaker handed me the<span> </span><a href="http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/the-disgusting-reason-why-chicken-is-not-a-healthy-food-choice/">chicken</a><span> </span>but I didn’t hold her legs correctly. Her sharp claws ripped my arm open as she tried to get out of my arms. As the caretaker tried to clean my bleeding wound, I thought “This is the least that I deserve for all the pain I have brought upon her kind.” I used to think I couldn’t live without chicken but I learned that it is the chickens who couldn’t live with me eating them.<span> </span><a href="http://www.onegreenplanet.org/news/video-of-a-young-boy-hugging-a-chicken/">Chickens</a>, which are descended from dinosaurs, are amazing, intelligent, and affectionate animals. Here are just 10 amazing things you might not have known about these adorable birds.</p>
<h2><strong>1. Smarty Birds</strong></h2>
<p>Studies have shown that<span> </span><a href="http://www.onegreenplanet.org/news/bird-brained-insult-or-compliment-why-chickens-are-smarter-than-you-imagine/">chickens are intelligent animals</a>. They can solve complex problems, understand cause and effect, and anticipate and plan for the future. Young chicks even show object permanence. When an object is taken away and hidden from their view, chicks still know that the object exists. In humans, object permanence doesn’t start to develop until a baby is about 6 months old, but chicks show this ability as early as two days old. They say you “shouldn’t count your chickens before they hatch,” but I bet chickens can do that and more.</p>
<h2><strong>2. Head of the Class</strong></h2>
<p>Chickens make good teachers. Mother hens begin to teach calls to their babies while they are still in their<span> </span><a href="http://www.onegreenplanet.org/vegan-health/10-good-reasons-to-not-eat-eggs/">eggs</a>. Later they teach their chicks what is safe to eat and how to avoid grains that can harm them.<span> </span><a href="http://www.onegreenplanet.org/news/the-future-of-humane-meat-desensitized-chickens/">Chickens</a><span> </span>also have a social hierarchy with dominant chickens ruling over the others. This is where the term “pecking order” comes from. The subordinate chickens will imitate the behavior of the dominant hen. It sounds just like high school.</p>
<h2><strong>3. Chickens Should Wear Shades</strong></h2>
<p>We humans have three cones in our retinas to let us differentiate between red, green, and blue colors.<span> </span><a href="http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/ways-farm-animals-lack-legal-protection/">Chickens</a><span> </span>have that and more – they can also differentiate violet and ultraviolet light. Because they are so sensitive to infrared light, chickens can see sunlight up to an hour before humans do. Roosters crow early in the morning to let us know it’s morning, time to get up!</p>
<h2><strong>4. Sweet Dreams</strong></h2>
<p><a href="http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/cruel-things-done-to-farm-animals/">Chickens</a><span> </span>experience REM sleep which means they can dream. What do you think they dream about? I bet they dream of living long, happy lives with their families safe from harm. Or maybe they dream about dates with hunky roosters (see next reason).</p>
<h2>5. Size Does Matter</h2>
<p>Roosters do a little attention-getting dance for the ladies called “tidbitting” where they make calls and move their heads up and down while picking up and dropping a bit of food. Studies have found that females not only prefer the guys who do this dance often but they are more attracted to the roosters with the larger, brighter combs on their heads and the larger wattles. Wattles are those dangly pieces under the<span> </span><a href="http://www.onegreenplanet.org/news/humane-chicken-and-eggs-line-stores-while-chicks-end-up-in-grinders/">roosters</a>’ beaks that really seem to get the hens’ attention. Enough said.</p>
<h2><strong>6. White Chickens Can Jump…and Fly</strong></h2>
<p>Chickens are more athletic than you might think. They can run up to 9 miles per hour. Chickens can also fly but not for long. They can make it over a fence or into a tree. The longest recorded distance flown by a<span> </span><a href="http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/chicks-are-friends-not-food-these-videos-prove-it/">chicken</a><span> </span>is said to be a little over 300 feet. I wonder if she got a gold medal for that.</p>
<h2><strong>7. What the Cluck?</strong></h2>
<p><a href="http://www.onegreenplanet.org/news/adorable-rescued-chicken-becomes-star-spokeswoman-for-battery-hens-photos/">Chickens</a><span> </span>have a complex communication system. It is believed that chickens have many unique vocalizations with about 30 calls and alarms already cataloged by researchers. Each call has a different meaning – calling the youngsters, alarm calls, where to find food. They even have a different call to warn about predators coming from the ground than those coming from the sky. If you hang out with chickens long enough, you can start to pick up their language and learn the difference between “cluck” and “cluuuck.”</p>
<h2><strong>8. Don’t I Know You From…</strong></h2>
<p>Chickens have great memories and facial recognition skills. They can recognize and distinguish more than 100 faces, animals, and humans. That means that the chicken at the sanctuary will remember me. I hope she’s forgiven me by now.</p>
<h2>9.<span> </span><strong>Pretty Bird</strong></h2>
<p>Nothing is more relaxing than a long bath.<span> </span><a href="http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/organizations-fighting-for-farm-animal-protection/">Chickens</a><span> </span>agree though they aren’t sitting in a tub of wet bubbles.<span> </span><a href="http://www.onegreenplanet.org/news/chicken-gets-a-new-flavor-chlorine/">Chickens</a><span> </span>love to dig shallow pits in the dirt, flap around and roll in the dust. If you’ve ever seen a bird taking a dust bath, you know how cute it is but it’s also functional. Dust baths help chickens insulate their feathers and keep bugs and parasites away. Taking a dust bath can’t seem that strange when humans take mud baths, can it?</p>
<h2><strong>10. Mother Hens</strong></h2>
<p>There is a reason we have the term “mother hen.”<span> </span><a href="http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/the-year-of-the-lawsuit-defending-cruelty-to-farms-animals/">Chickens</a><span> </span>are good mothers long before their eggs hatch. They talk and purr to their eggs and their chicks peep back to them from inside the eggs. Hens are loving and affectionate toward their chicks and show empathy for them as well for other hens. Mama hens also defend their babies from predators. It’s no wonder that in Ancient Rome, the saying “you were raised by a hen” was a huge compliment.</p>
<p>More chickens are raised and killed for food than all other land animals combined. In the United States alone, more than 8 billion chickens are killed each year. That’s almost 300 chickens killed each second. Chickens<span> </span><a href="http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/eliminating-the-suffering-of-chickens-bred-for-meat-2/">bred for meat</a><span> </span>are usually killed when they are less than 2 months old while<span> </span><a href="http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/federal-bill-would-add-protections-for-egg-laying-hens/">egg-laying hens<span> </span></a>are slaughtered when they no longer lay enough eggs, at around 1-2 years old. The natural life span of a chicken can be up to 10 years.</p>
<p>Perhaps if more people knew all these amazing things about chickens, they would see them as more than just dinner. Please share these reasons to love chickens with others and help everyone see chickens as smart, affectionate and feeling individuals who deserve to live in peace.</p>
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<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 8pt;"><em><a href="https://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/things-to-love-about-chickens/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/things-to-love-about-chickens/</a></em></span></p> Giant Rats Are Sniffing Out Landmines and Tuberculosistag:templeilluminatus.ning.com,2020-11-29:6363372:Topic:35512392020-11-29T20:34:07.812ZLinda M.https://templeilluminatus.ning.com/profile/LindaMann
<p><span style="font-size: 14pt;">With their "super-sniffer" noses, African giant-pouched rats are also being trained to lead search-and-rescue missions following earthquakes and other natural disasters.</span></p>
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<p><span><span class="contributor__meta__prefix">By </span><a href="https://www.vice.com/en/contributor/katherine-tutrone">Katherine Tutrone</a></span></p>
<p><span>November 28, 2020…</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 14pt;">With their "super-sniffer" noses, African giant-pouched rats are also being trained to lead search-and-rescue missions following earthquakes and other natural disasters.</span></p>
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<p><span><span class="contributor__meta__prefix">By </span><a href="https://www.vice.com/en/contributor/katherine-tutrone">Katherine Tutrone</a></span></p>
<p><span>November 28, 2020</span></p>
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<p><span><iframe width="1215" height="683" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GBqMJjfSgYY?wmode=opaque" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
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<p>This rat could save your life.</p>
<p>Meet Magawa, the “hero rat” with the super sniffer. He’s made headlines for receiving the animal world’s<span> </span><a href="https://www.pdsa.org.uk/what-we-do/animal-awards-programme/pdsa-gold-medal/magawa">highest medal of honor</a><span> </span>for his life-saving work detecting unexploded landmines across Cambodia. Magawa’s highly sensitive nose and agility has set him apart from dogs and other detection animals who’ve won the award in the past.</p>
<p>The African giant-pouched rat is much faster than humans at landmine detection: It can search an area the size of a tennis court in 30 minutes, while a human de-miner can take as long as four days.</p>
<p>While Magawa enjoys his viral fame, his brothers and sisters are training their noses at the nonprofit<span> </span><a href="https://www.apopo.org/en">APOPO</a><span> </span>in Tanzania to help sniff out other threats to humankind. According to the organization, these rats can detect tuberculosis faster and more accurately than standard detection in developing countries. One rat can sniff 100 tuberculosis samples in less than 20 minutes, while a lab technician might take at least 4 days. </p>
<p>“Our rats and team at APOPO have been able to increase case detection by more than 40% that translates into more than 18,000 people that had originally not been diagnosed at the health clinics,” Cindy Fast, APOPO’s head of training and research, told VICE World News. That’s a big deal for fighting the world’s deadliest infectious disease, which kills nearly 1.5 million people every year. </p>
<p>Turns out the hero rats’ powerful noses can be used on just about anything that has an odor profile. So they’re currently in training to detect illegally trafficked wildlife, specifically pangolins, by sniffing outside of shipping containers. And they’re also being trained to lead search-and-rescue missions following earthquakes and other natural disasters—their size and nimbleness allows them to sneak under rubble to find trapped humans.</p>
<p>Researchers like Fast are also hopeful the rats could use their noses to detect different cancers, as there may be changes in metabolic processes or tumor growth that emit an odor that rats could pick up. </p>
<p>Other rat and rodent species might have a sensitive nose, but they don’t live long enough to be trained in the same way African giant-pouched rats are. Hero rats can live at least seven years, which is plenty of time to become a hero.</p>
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<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 8pt;"><em><a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/xgzw7w/giant-rats-are-sniffing-out-landmines-and-tuberculosis" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://www.vice.com/en/article/xgzw7w/giant-rats-are-sniffing-out-landmines-and-tuberculosis</a></em></span></p> 10 Bizarre Animals You Can Find in Australiatag:templeilluminatus.ning.com,2020-10-29:6363372:Topic:35494672020-10-29T02:35:30.564ZLinda M.https://templeilluminatus.ning.com/profile/LindaMann
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>Australia may be the smallest continent with </span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/story/is-australia-an-island" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">only three million square miles</a><span>. But its island geography also means it’s home to one of the most unique and diverse wildlife populations. In fact, 87% of its mammals, 93% of its reptiles, and 45% of its bird species …</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>Australia may be the smallest continent with </span><a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.britannica.com/story/is-australia-an-island">only three million square miles</a><span>. But its island geography also means it’s home to one of the most unique and diverse wildlife populations. In fact, 87% of its mammals, 93% of its reptiles, and 45% of its bird species </span><a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.australianwildlife.org/wildlife/">are endemic</a><span> to the country and don’t exist anywhere else on the planet.</span></p>
<h2 id="wombat" style="text-align: center;">Wombat</h2>
<p><img src="https://blog.assets.traveltrivia.com/2020/08/shutterstock_1125465338.jpg" alt="A close up of a fluffy wombat walking on the grass in Australia "/></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>Don’t underestimate the stocky wombats as they waddle through their native Australia. The expert burrowers can move up to three feet of dirt in one night, carve out tunnel systems 650 feet long, and run up to 25 mph. The marsupials are </span><a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/wombat">born the size of a jelly bean</a><span> and crawl into the mother’s pouch, where they stay for 9 to 10 months. Fun fact: Their </span><a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.wwf.org.au/news/blogs/5-things-you-probably-didnt-know-about-wombats#gs.c4kyv8">droppings are cube-shaped</a><span>.</span></p>
<h2 id="koala" style="text-align: center;">Koala</h2>
<p><img src="https://blog.assets.traveltrivia.com/2020/08/david-clode-rylftF215t4-unsplash-1.jpg" alt="Close up view of a koala taking a nap on a branch"/></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>Although they’re as cute and cuddly as a teddy bear, </span><a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/k/koala/">koalas aren’t bears</a><span> — they’re marsupials. And the creatures, which average 20 pounds and can range from 23.5 to 33.5 inches, can be hard to spot since they can sleep 18 to 22 hours a day, high in the branches of the eucalyptus trees — which provide both their shelter and their nourishment. In fact, koalas get everything they need, both food and water, from the eucalyptus leaves. But it does have a major side effect: The leaves are so toxic that their systems crank into overdrive to digest the food, leaving them with little energy to do anything but doze off.</span></p>
<h2 id="tasmanian-devil" style="text-align: center;">Tasmanian Devil</h2>
<p><img src="https://blog.assets.traveltrivia.com/2020/08/iStock-636942440.jpg" alt="Tasmanian devil on a log"/></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>When Bugs Bunny looked up Tasmanian Devil in the encyclopedia, </span><a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2wwfyw">it said</a><span>, “A strong murderous beast, jaws as powerful as a steel trap — has ravenous appetite.” But the animal found on Australia’s south island state of Tasmania doesn’t quite destroy everything in its path, as it does on </span><em>Looney Tunes</em><span>. In fact, an effort was made in 2010 to </span><a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/australia/7868250/Tasmanian-Devils-rebranded-after-Warner-Bros-cartoon-ruins-reputation.html">rebrand the species’ reputation</a><span> from its unfair animated depiction. Considered Tasmania’s icon, the furry fellow does </span><a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/tasmanian-devil">emit a foul odor, loud screams, and fierce snarls</a><span>, giving it an aggressive exterior. But the </span><a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/JustOneThing/story?id=6513857&page=1">black-and-white mammals</a><span>, roughly the size of a raccoon, are actually quite solitary creatures — except when they gather with fellow Tasmanian Devils to feed on carcasses, when the seemingly violent sounds come into play. From 1996 to 2008, a rare cancer killed off much of the population, </span><a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/t/tasmanian-devil/">putting it on the endangered list</a><span>.</span></p>
<h2 id="thorny-devil" style="text-align: center;">Thorny Devil</h2>
<p><img src="https://blog.assets.traveltrivia.com/2020/08/shutterstock_531106831.jpg" alt="Thorny devil on red desert sand"/></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>There’s another Devil in town — and this Central Australian lizard species called the Thorny Devil definitely has an intimidating presence with its orange, black, and yellow spiky skin and even </span><a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://alicespringsdesertpark.com.au/connect-with-nature/animals/animals/thorny-devil?SQ_VARIATION_491435=0">a fake second head on the back of its neck</a><span>. Thankfully, they only grow up to about eight inches long and reside in the sandy deserts. While they feed on small black ants, their </span><a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/blog/inside-nature-featured-creature-thorny-devil/">keratin spikes</a><span> cleverly serve as a mini aqueduct to funnel the little moisture in the desert air into their mouths so they stay hydrated.</span></p>
<h2 id="tiger-quoll" style="text-align: center;">Tiger Quoll</h2>
<p><img src="https://blog.assets.traveltrivia.com/2020/08/shutterstock_1088005919.jpg" alt="Tiger quoll on a rock"/></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">When British explorer Captain James Cook <a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/resources/8ad3915e-57ee-4eb8-afd0-4f6bed036896/files/quolls.pdf">found these marsupial carnivores on Australia’s east coast in 1770</a>, he noted that quoll was its Aboriginal name. Of the four species found in the country, the tiger quoll — also known as the <a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.environment.gov.au/resource/spot-tailed-quoll-dasyurus-maculatus">spotted-tailed quoll</a> — is the only one with a pouch. The forest and woodland creature is the largest native carnivore remaining on the mainland.</p>
<div class="ArticleList__htmlChunk"><h2 id="wallaby" style="text-align: center;">Wallaby</h2>
<p><img src="https://blog.assets.traveltrivia.com/2020/08/shutterstock_1109269007.jpg" alt="Wallaby holding a leaf"/></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>If it looks like a kangaroo and hops like a kangaroo, it must be a kangaroo, right? Well, kind of. Kangaroos and wallabies are both pouched mammals who stand on their hind legs and are part of the </span><a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/kangaroo-and-wallaby">same macropod family of marsupials</a><span>. Simply put, the difference comes down to size. Kangaroos make up the six largest macropods in the family and are </span><a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://animals.howstuffworks.com/mammals/wallaby-vs-kangaroo.htm">suited for wide open terrain</a><span>, while smaller </span><a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/group/wallabies/">wallabies can range from 12 to 41 inches tall</a><span> with a 10- to 29-inch tail and tend to stay in forested areas.</span></p>
<h2 id="platypus" style="text-align: center;">Platypus</h2>
<p><img src="https://blog.assets.traveltrivia.com/2020/08/iStock-1214353261.jpg" alt="A platypus swimming in dark water"/></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>Take the body and fur of an otter, grab the bill and feet of a duck, tack on a beaver tail, and you’ve pretty much got the Aussie animal known as the </span><a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/p/platypus/">platypus</a><span>. In addition to its hodgepodge of physical features, it’s also a rare egg-laying mammal and thrives both underwater — it’s a toothless bottom-feeder that scoops up insects, shellfish and worms — and on land, where its ability to retract its webbed feet and reveal nails allows it to build burrows. Other unique features? The platypus finds food by sensing electric signals, and the male has a venomous spur on its inside ankle.</span></p>
<h2 id="box-jellyfish" style="text-align: center;">Box Jellyfish</h2>
<p><img src="https://blog.assets.traveltrivia.com/2020/08/shutterstock_68332459.jpg" alt="Box jellyfish underwater"/></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>While its mesmerizing movements and square body are seemingly graceful, we suggest steering away from the </span><a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/invertebrates/group/box-jellyfish/">box jellyfish</a><span> immediately. It’s widely known as the </span><a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/box-jellyfish.html">most toxic creature on the planet</a><span> — its venom is so powerful that it can instantly stun or kill prey by attacking the nervous system, heart, and skin. Mostly found off the northern Aussie coast and in the Indo-Pacific waters, they can also be hard to spot because of their light-blue transparent shade. But make no mistake about how deadly each of the up to 15 tentacles can be — stretching as long as 10 feet each, they can have as many as 5,000 stinging cells.</span></p>
<h2 id="echidna" style="text-align: center;">Echidna</h2>
<p><img src="https://blog.assets.traveltrivia.com/2020/08/shutterstock_572214373.jpg" alt="Echidna in the grass"/></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>There’s no doubt that the </span><a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/echidna">echidna</a><span>, commonly referred to as the spiny anteater, defies norms. After all, it's the only other mammal than a platypus that lays eggs. Typically 14 to 30 inches long and weighing 5.5 to 22 pounds, its little face is dominated by a long nose since echidnas navigate with their heightened sense of smell and hearing. But they might be onto something: The creatures have been around in the same form since prehistoric times and </span><a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.livescience.com/57267-echidna-facts.html">can be found in Australia and neighboring New Guinea</a><span>.</span></p>
<h2 id="emu" style="text-align: center;">Emu</h2>
<p><img src="https://blog.assets.traveltrivia.com/2020/08/shutterstock_560086996.jpg" alt="Emu standing on grassy field"/></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>If you need any proof of how much Australians love emus, just look at the more than 600 places that bear its name and the country’s coat of arms with an ode to the </span><a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/emu">flightless running bird</a><span>. Second in size to only the ostrich, the 4.9- to 6.2-foot-tall birds swim better than they fly, but the emu’s true skill comes in running, with the ability to go up to 30 mph with strides as wide as nine feet. Plus they’re able to jump seven feet high — that’s higher than </span><a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://stats.nba.com/player/2544/career/">LeBron James</a><span>! A windpipe pouch allows emus to make deep grunting noises that can be heard more than a mile away. While they’re most common in Australia, they’re also found in the Philippines, New Guinea, Indonesia, and the Solomon Islands.</span></p>
</div> Llama Antibodies Could Help Treat COVID-19tag:templeilluminatus.ning.com,2020-05-11:6363372:Topic:35195222020-05-11T19:39:05.815ZLinda M.https://templeilluminatus.ning.com/profile/LindaMann
<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/4931604698?profile=original" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/4931604698?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="500"></img></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 8pt;"><strong>Winter is 4 years old and living on a farm in the Belgian countryside. (Photo: Tim Coppens)</strong></span></p>
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<p><a class="" href="https://www.mnn.com/users/mdilonardo">MARY JO DILONARDO</a></p>
<div class="publish-info">May 4, 2020…</div>
<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/4931604698?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/4931604698?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="500" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 8pt;"><strong>Winter is 4 years old and living on a farm in the Belgian countryside. (Photo: Tim Coppens)</strong></span></p>
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<p><a href="https://www.mnn.com/users/mdilonardo" class="">MARY JO DILONARDO</a></p>
<div class="publish-info">May 4, 2020</div>
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<div class="publish-info"><p>A llama named Winter is part of a team fighting to find a treatment for<span> </span><a href="https://www.mnn.com/health/fitness-well-being/stories/what-you-need-know-about-mysterious-chinese-virus" target="_blank" rel="noopener">COVID-19</a>, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.</p>
<p>Antibodies made by llamas might help against the disease, according to research by an international team of scientists. Antibodies are proteins made by the body to fight off infections.</p>
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<p>The team created a new antibody that binds tightly to a key "spike" protein on SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Coronaviruses are covered with<span> </span><a href="https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/novel-coronavirus-structure-reveals-targets-vaccines-treatments" target="_blank" rel="noopener">distinctive protein spikes</a><span> </span>that allow the virus to easily latch into host cells. In initial lab tests, researchers found that the newly created antibody blocked the virus from infecting cells in a culture.</p>
<p>Researchers from The University of Texas at Austin, the National Institutes of Health, and Ghent University in Belgium report their findings in a peer-reviewed study available as a pre-proof in the journal<span> </span><a href="https://www.cell.com/pb-assets/products/coronavirus/CELL_CELL-D-20-00891.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cell</a>.</p>
<p>"This is one of the first antibodies known to neutralize SARS-CoV-2," Jason McLellan, associate professor of molecular biosciences at UT Austin and co-senior author, said in<span> </span><a href="https://news.utexas.edu/2020/04/29/antibodies-from-llamas-could-help-in-fight-against-covid-19/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a statement</a>.</p>
<h2>The power of llamas</h2>
<p>The new antibody was inspired by 4-year-old Winter, a llama living in Belgium.</p>
<p>Llamas and other camelids such as alpacas are helpful in studies like this because they make two types of antibodies: some that are similar to humans and others that are only about a quarter of the size. These tiny nanobodies or single-domain antibodies are useful as respiratory treatments because they can be nebulized and used in an inhaler. Scientists have created a nasal spray with llama antibodies, for example, hoping they can one day be used for a<span> </span><a href="https://www.mnn.com/health/fitness-well-being/stories/llamas-could-one-day-help-prevent-flu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">universal flu vaccine</a>.</p>
<p>This time around, Winter's contribution began four years ago when she was only about 9 months old. In 2016, researchers were studying two earlier coronaviruses: SARS-CoV-1 and MERS-CoV. Just like people get shots to immunize them against a virus, Winter was injected with stabilized spike proteins from those viruses over a period of six weeks. Researchers collected a blood sample and were able to isolate an antibody that showed promise in stopping SARS-CoV-1 from infecting cells in a culture. They called it VHH-72.</p>
<p>"That was exciting to me because I'd been working on this for years," said Daniel Wrapp, a graduate student in McLellan's lab and co-first author of the paper. "But there wasn't a big need for a coronavirus treatment then. This was just basic research. Now, this can potentially have some translational implications, too."</p>
<p>After the COVID-19 outbreak, the team wondered whether the antibody VHH-72 could also be effective against the related SARS-CoV-2. In initial tests, they discovered that it did bind to the spikes in the protein, albeit weakly. To make it bind more effectively, they linked two copies of the antibodies. According to the researchers, the newly engineered antibody is the first that neutralizes both SARS-CoV-1 and SARS-CoV-2.</p>
<p>Next up, the researchers will conduct tests on animals with the hopes of testing on humans next. The goal is to develop a treatment that would help people soon after infection with the novel coronavirus.</p>
<p>"With antibody therapies, you're directly giving somebody the protective antibodies and so, immediately after treatment, they should be protected," McClellan said. "The antibodies could also be used to treat somebody who is already sick to lessen the severity of the disease."</p>
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<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 8pt;"><em><a href="https://www.mnn.com/health/fitness-well-being/stories/llama-antibodies-could-help-treat-covid-19">https://www.mnn.com/health/fitness-well-being/stories/llama-antibodies-could-help-treat-covid-19</a></em></span></p>
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</div> A Breeding Breakthrough for New Zealand’s Chubby Night Parrottag:templeilluminatus.ning.com,2020-04-28:6363372:Topic:35173672020-04-28T20:14:06.107ZLinda M.https://templeilluminatus.ning.com/profile/LindaMann
<h2 class="ArticleHeader__subtitle"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Chicks born by artificial insemination offer new hope for the endangered kākāpō.</span></h2>
<div class="ArticleHeader__end-matter"><div class="ArticleHeader__byline-dateline"><span class="ArticleHeader__byline">BY<span> </span><a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/users/isaacschultz?view=articles">ISAAC SCHULTZ</a></span><span class="ArticleHeader__pub-date">JULY 19, 2019…</span></div>
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<h2 class="ArticleHeader__subtitle"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Chicks born by artificial insemination offer new hope for the endangered kākāpō.</span></h2>
<div class="ArticleHeader__end-matter"><div class="ArticleHeader__byline-dateline"><span class="ArticleHeader__byline">BY<span> </span><a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/users/isaacschultz?view=articles">ISAAC SCHULTZ</a></span><span class="ArticleHeader__pub-date">JULY 19, 2019</span></div>
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<div class="SocialLinks"><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/4540080198?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/4540080198?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="600" class="align-center"/></a></div>
<div class="SocialLinks" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 8pt;"><strong>Kākāpō's recovery has been slow but steady. <a class="caption-credit" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/docnz/8528623525/in/album-72157632918061382/">FLICKR/NEW ZEALAND DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION</a></strong></span></div>
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<div class="SocialLinks"><span class="section-start-text">IT’S HARD OUT THERE FOR<span> </span></span><span>a kākāpō. These famously adorable and unusual parrots—chunky, flightless, nocturnal—are one of the many critically endangered species in New Zealand, but efforts to increase their population have been slow-going.</span></div>
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<div class="SocialLinks"><p class="item-body-text-graf dsk-anchor-medrec">Kākāpōs once had no natural predators, but now must deal with rats, cats, stoats, and possums. The country is trying to eradicate these predators and help the unusual bird come back from its mid-1990s low of just 52 individuals, but encouraging kākāpōs to breed is an uphill battle. The birds mate only every several years, with the fruiting of the rimu, a native tree. On top of that, they’re plagued with defective sperm and high rates of infertility. Now, for the first time in a decade, the country’s Kākāpō Recovery Team announced successful artificial insemination (of three female birds, resulting in two chicks), a major breakthrough in staving off extinction.</p>
<p class="item-body-text-graf">Even though scientists have the<span> </span><a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/were-sequencing-every-member-of-the-weirdest-bird-species-on-earth">genomes of every known individual</a>, which helps them match up suitable breeding pairs, kākāpōs just don’t seem like they’re on board with the plan.</p>
<p class="item-body-text-graf"><span>“Females are quite choosy. They want the best males with the best genes,” says Nicolas Dussex, a researcher with the Swedish Museum of Natural History.* “So you can’t force them to mate with a less than ideal male.”</span></p>
<p class="item-body-text-graf"><span>It’s reasonable for female kākāpō to want the best, but this means that just a few males dominate the reproductive market—so every generation loses genetic diversity. The genetic similarities among the surviving individuals reduces their fitness, and means that they’re at greater risk of a pathogen wiping them all out in one fell swoop. The answer to this is to manage who mates with whom—giving some of those less desirable males a chance to pass on their genes.</span></p>
<p class="item-body-text-graf">“Because the species is at risk of losing genetic diversity, artificial insemination can help maintain the genetic heritage of some males who would otherwise have no chance to mate due to strong competition with other males,” says Dussex.</p>
<p class="item-body-text-graf infeed-target">Artificial insemination also has the effect of increasing the chance that a female kākāpō’s eggs will be fertile. “We use it to improve egg fertility,” writes Andrew Digby, a research scientist with the Kākāpō Recovery Team, in a Twitter post, “since the more times a female mates the more likely her eggs are to be fertile.”</p>
<p class="item-body-text-graf">Digby’s team is also working to stave off a recent epidemic of aspergillosis, a lung disease that claimed the lives of seven kākāpō since April and is currently infecting 13 chicks, though some appear to be showing signs of recovery. One of the affected chicks—and one spawned by artificial insemination—is the offspring of 21-year-old Sinbad, who carries the rare genetic material of the Fiordland kākāpō lineage. Sinbad, who had never been a father before this year, is a descendant of Richard Henry, the last Fiordland kākāpō, who was thought to be around 80 years old when he died in 2010.</p>
<p class="item-body-text-graf">All of these efforts are supported by Ngāi Tahu, the Maōri people of southern New Zealand, along with the country’s Department of Conservation and Meridian Energy.</p>
<p class="item-body-text-graf infeed-target">“The existing kākāpō population has a very limited stream of<span> </span><em>whakapapa</em><span> </span>[a Maōri term for genetic lineage] to produce offspring from,” says Tane Davis, the Ngāi Tahu representative on the Kākāpō Recovery Team, in a release. “The joining of<span> </span><em>Matauranga</em><span> </span>[traditional wisdom] and western science perspectives are needed to maintain the kākāpō population, and ultimately enhances the<span> </span><em>Mauri</em><span> </span>[life force] of kākāpō.”</p>
<p class="item-body-text-graf infeed-target"><span>Following this breeding season, the grand kākāpō total stands at 142 adults and 72 chicks.</span></p>
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<p class="item-body-text-graf infeed-target" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 8pt;"><em><a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/new-zealand-kakapo-artificial-insemination">https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/new-zealand-kakapo-artificial-insemination</a></em></span></p>
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</div> 12 Incredible Facts About Lemurstag:templeilluminatus.ning.com,2020-04-27:6363372:Topic:35169932020-04-27T21:10:30.874ZLinda M.https://templeilluminatus.ning.com/profile/LindaMann
<p><a class="" href="https://www.mnn.com/users/rmclendon">RUSSELL MCLENDON</a></p>
<p><span>April 22, 2020</span></p>
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<p><span><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/4531655275?profile=original" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/4531655275?profile=RESIZE_710x"></img></a></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Lemurs are easy to love. They're cute, charismatic and oddly humanlike, which isn't just a coincidence. Lemurs are primates like us, and while they're not as closely related to people…</span></p>
<p><a href="https://www.mnn.com/users/rmclendon" class="">RUSSELL MCLENDON</a></p>
<p><span>April 22, 2020</span></p>
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<p><span><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/4531655275?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/4531655275?profile=RESIZE_710x" class="align-center"/></a></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Lemurs are easy to love. They're cute, charismatic and oddly humanlike, which isn't just a coincidence. Lemurs are primates like us, and while they're not as closely related to people as chimpanzees and other apes are, they're still family.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Yet despite lemurs' widespread popularity, they are <a href="https://theconversation.com/lemurs-are-the-worlds-most-endangered-mammals-but-planting-trees-can-help-save-them-127878" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Earth's most endangered group of mammals</a>, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). About 94 percent of all lemur species have a threatened status on the IUCN Red List, including 49 listed as Endangered and 24 listed as Critically Endangered.</span></p>
<div id="dfp-native-rail-wrapper" class="dfp-tag-wrapper dfp-tag-enabled"><div id="dfp-native-rail-0"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Lemurs face an array of dangers across Madagascar, the only place where they exist in the wild. Some people hunt them, or even collect babies for the pet trade — an example of why cuteness can be a double-edged sword. But the single greatest threat to lemurs is the same thing causing most wildlife declines around the world: habitat loss, driven by everything from logging and agriculture to climate change.</span></div>
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<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">In light of lemurs' precarious future, here's a closer look at these amazing animals — and the habitats on which their survival hinges:</span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size: 14pt;">1. Modern lemurs range from 2.5 inches to 2.5 feet tall.</span></h2>
<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/4531658602?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/4531658602?profile=RESIZE_710x" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 8pt;"><strong>A pygmy mouse lemur (left) can be 12 times smaller than an indri. (Photos: Anna Veselova/Monika Hrdinova/Shutterstock)</strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The smallest living lemur is the pygmy mouse lemur, which is less than 2.5 inches (6 centimeters) from head to toe — although its tail adds another 5 inches. The largest living lemur is the indri, which can stand as tall as 2.5 feet (0.75 meter) in adulthood.</span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size: 14pt;">2. A lemur that looked like Alf went extinct about 500 years ago.</span></h2>
<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/4531662728?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/4531662728?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="500" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 8pt;"><strong>An artist's rendering of Megaladapis edwardsi, an extinct species of giant lemur. (Photo: <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Megaladapis.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">FunkMonk (Michael B. H.) [CC BY-SA 3.0]</a><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Megaladapis.jpg"></a>/Wikimedia Commons)</strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">As a reminder of what's at stake for modern lemurs, some of the group's most unusual members have already died out in recent centuries. At least 17 giant lemur species have gone extinct since humans reached Madagascar, according to the Duke Lemur Center, ranging in weight from 10 to 160 kilograms (22 to 353 pounds).</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">One notable example is Megaladapis edwardsi, a giant lemur that weighed up to 200 pounds "and was the size of a small adult human," <a href="https://www.amnh.org/explore/videos/biodiversity/lemurs-of-madagascar/article-lemurs-in-madagascar-then" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to the American Museum of Natural History</a>. One of its most distinctive features was its robust muzzle, which "evidently supported a large, fleshy nose." That may have created an Alf-like appearance, at least as interpreted in the illustration above.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Fossil evidence suggests the Alf lemur was still around when Europeans reached Madagascar in 1504, and it bears a resemblance to the Malagasy legend of the <em>tretretretre</em>, which was described in 1661 by French explorer Etienne Flacourt:</span></p>
<blockquote><span style="font-size: 12pt;">"The tretretretre is a large animal, like a calf of two years, with a round head and the face of a man. The forefeet are like those of an ape, as are the hindfeet. It has curly hair, a short tail, and ears like a man's ... It is a very solitary animal; the people of the country hold it in great fear and flee from it, as it does from them."</span></blockquote>
<h2><span style="font-size: 14pt;">3. Lemur society is run by females.</span></h2>
<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/4531677382?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/4531677382?profile=RESIZE_710x" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 8pt;"><strong>In ring-tailed lemur society, one top-ranking female usually calls the shots 'and is the focal point of the rest of the group,' according to the U.S. National Primate Research Center. (Photo: Berendje Photography/Shutterstock)</strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Female dominance over males is rare among mammals, including primates. But <a href="http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~aed4/amydunham/papers/Dunham_2008_anim_behavior.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">it's the norm for lemurs</a>, researchers noted in a 2008 study, "occurring in all lemur families regardless of mating system." And that dynamic is often comically apparent, as Duke University biologist Robin Ann Smith <a href="https://today.duke.edu/2015/05/girlpower" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote in 2015</a>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">"It's not uncommon for lady lemurs to bite their mates, snatch a piece of fruit from their hands, whack them in the head or shove them out of prime sleeping spots," she wrote. "Females mark their territories with distinctive scents just as often as males do. Males often don't take their share of a meal until the females have had their fill."</span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size: 14pt;">4. The smarter a lemur, the more popular it is.</span></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">While it's been known for years that primates can learn new skills faster by studying their peers, a <a href="https://phys.org/news/2018-04-lessons-lemurs-friends-smarts.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2018 study published in Current Biology</a> reveals that lemurs actually do it backward. The more a lemur performs a new skill, the more popular the lemur becomes.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The study involved 20 lemurs that had to try and retrieve a grape from a plexiglass box by opening a drawer. If a lemur was successful in getting the grape, it received more attention from other lemurs. "We found that lemurs who were frequently observed by others while solving the task to retrieve the food received more affiliative behaviors than they did before they learned," says study co-author Ipek Kulahci.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Affiliative behavior is how primates show affection toward each other — such as grooming, touching and sitting close.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">"I was quite impressed that the frequently observed lemurs received more affiliative behaviors, such as grooming, without adjusting their own social behavior," Kulahci says. "In most primate species, grooming tends to be mutual; it relies on reciprocity between the groomer and the individual being groomed. ... So it is a pretty striking pattern that the frequently observed lemurs received lots of grooming without providing more grooming to others."</span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size: 14pt;">5. Indri lemurs sing together as groups ... mostly.</span></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Not many primates sing, aside from humans, and indris are the only lemurs known to do so. Living in small groups across Madagascar's eastern rainforests, they belt out songs that play a key role in group formation as well as defense. Both males and females sing, and research has shown that group members carefully coordinate their chorus by copying each other's rhythms and synchronizing notes.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Here's a video of an indri singing at Andasibe-Mantadia National Park:</span></p>
<p><iframe width="638" height="359" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GHwGGuCB8MA?wmode=opaque" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
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<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">According to a 2016 study, some younger, lower-ranking indris show a "strong preference" for <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnins.2016.00249/full" target="_blank" rel="noopener">singing in antiphony</a> — or out of synch — with the rest of their group. This might be adaptive, the study's authors suggest, letting the less prestigious indris draw more attention to their individual talents.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">"Synchronized singing doesn't allow a singer to advertise his or her individuality, so it makes sense that young, low-ranking indris sing in antiphony," co-author Giovanna Bonadonn explains in a <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-06/f-asi060716.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a>. "This lets them advertise their fighting ability to members of other groups and signal their individuality to potential sexual partners."</span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size: 14pt;">6. Ring-tailed lemurs settle disputes with 'stink fights.'</span></h2>
<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/4531683624?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/4531683624?profile=RESIZE_710x" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 8pt;"><strong>Smell plays a huge role in the lives of ring-tailed lemurs, from olfactory communication and scent marking to the nonviolent 'stink fights' that break out between rival males. (Photo: Gudkov Andrey/Shutterstock)</strong></span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Ring-tailed lemurs must compete with each other for limited resources like food, territory and mates, and competition grows especially fierce among males during breeding season. It sometimes leads to physical brawls, but those are dangerous for animals with such sharp claws and teeth. And, luckily for ring-tailed lemurs, they've developed a safer way to settle their disputes: "<a href="https://lemur.duke.edu/oh-yeah-smell-this-or-conflict-resolution-lemur-style/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stink fights</a>."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Male ring-tailed lemurs have scent glands at the wrists and shoulders, and using their long tails, waft scents into the air for intimidation. Their wrists produce a volatile, short-lived odor, according to the Duke Lemur Center, while their shoulders offer a "brown toothpaste-like substance" with a longer-lasting scent. When a stink fight begins, two rival males pull their tails through these glands so the fur absorbs the smell. (They also <a href="https://today.duke.edu/2016/04/lemurperfume" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mix scents</a> to make richer, more persistent fragrances.) Then they wave their tails at each other, throwing pungency instead of punches.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Stink fights are resolved when one lemur backs off, and although many end quickly, they've been known to last an hour. They take place any time of year, not just breeding season, and aren't necessarily limited to lemurs. Humans' sense of smell isn't strong enough to detect the odors, but ring-tailed lemurs don't know that, so they sometimes try to stink fight zookeepers or other people who irritate them.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The body language alone can be hard for us to pick up without the scent. In the video below, a male ring-tail at the Duke Lemur Center subtly stink fights with a camera:</span></p>
<p><iframe width="638" height="359" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/coCwgc2S1ho?wmode=opaque" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
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<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Not surprisingly, scent also plays a special role during breeding season, when males practice "stink flirting." The mechanism is the same — the tail — but the concoction is specific. <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(20)30407-3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Writing in Current Biology</a>, the researchers describe a trio of chemicals that give off a fruity and floral scent and are enticing to females, but only during mating season.</span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size: 14pt;">7. The word 'lemur' is Latin for 'evil spirit of the dead.'</span></h2>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">"Lemur" was coined in 1795 by Carl Linnaeus, the founder of modern taxonomy, who took it from Latin. Lemures were "<a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/lemur" target="_blank" rel="noopener">evil spirits of the dead</a>" in Roman mythology, according to the Online Etymology Dictionary, and while the origin is hazy before that, it might date back to an ancient, non-Indo-European word for malevolent spirits.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The reference isn't hard to understand: Lemurs have eerily humanoid bodies, move around with ghostly grace and tend to be active at night. Still, the "evil" part is a little unfair. Linnaeus may not have meant it literally, but certain lemurs — namely the endangered aye-aye — are still haunted by people who do.</span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size: 14pt;">8. To some people, the aye-aye lemur is a monster.</span></h2>
<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/4531690021?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/4531690021?profile=RESIZE_710x" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 8pt;"><strong>The aye-aye uses its long finger to tap on tree bark and grab hard-to-reach insects underneath. Legend suggests it can also curse people to death by pointing at them. (Photo: Anna Veselova/Shutterstock)</strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/animals/blogs/surprising-facts-about-creepy-cute-aye-aye" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Aye-ayes</a> inspire deep superstition in parts of Madagascar, largely because of their spooky looks — not just the gremlin face, but also their spindly fingers. Aye-ayes have long, thin hands in general, but the third digit on each hand is even spindlier than the rest, and a ball-and-socket joint lets it swivel 360 degrees.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This finger evolved for "percussive foraging," a hunting technique in which the aye-aye taps on tree bark, listening for the sound of cavities where insects might be hiding. When it finds one, it tears a hole in the wood with its sharp teeth, then uses its long fingers to reach inside.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Unfortunately, some myths in Madagascar <a href="https://psmag.com/the-aye-aye-and-the-finger-of-death-48c3b03941e7#.6fnnrv621" target="_blank" rel="noopener">portray the aye-aye as a monster</a>. One suggests it curses people to death by pointing at them with its long finger, part of a system of taboos in Malagasy culture known as fady. Another contends aye-ayes sneak into houses at night, using that same finger to puncture human hearts.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Aye-ayes are sometimes killed by people who believe they're dangerous, although fear can also protect them by compelling people to stay away. Either way, superstition isn't their only problem: Aye-ayes are also threatened by people hunting them as bushmeat or altering their habitats for other purposes like agriculture.</span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size: 14pt;">9. Lemurs are the only non-human primates with blue eyes.</span></h2>
<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/4531693792?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/4531693792?profile=RESIZE_710x" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 8pt;"><strong>Of all primate species, just two are known to have blue eyes: Sclater's lemurs and us. (Photo: Edwin Butter/Shutterstock)</strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Blue eyes are relatively rare among mammals, especially primates. Scientists have documented more than 600 primate species so far, yet only two are known to sport blue irises: humans and <a href="https://lemur.duke.edu/discover/meet-the-lemurs/blue-eyed-black-lemur/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">blue-eyed black lemurs</a>, also known as Sclater's lemurs.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Sclater's lemur wasn't identified as a species until 2008, but according to a recent study, it <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/aje.12213" target="_blank" rel="noopener">could be extinct in about a decade</a> due to "severe habitat destruction" like slash-and-burn agriculture. The species has a very limited range on the Sahamalaza Peninsula, as well as in a narrow strip of forest on the adjacent mainland, where deforestation has left its population highly fragmented. It has lost about 80 percent of its habitat in just 24 years, according to the IUCN, and it's also hunted for food and pets. A 2004 study found up to 570 traps per square kilometer in parts of its range.</span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size: 14pt;">10. Lemurs are surprisingly intelligent.</span></h2>
<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/4531697355?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/4531697355?profile=RESIZE_710x" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 8pt;"><strong>The endangered Coquerel's sifaka is a sophisticated communicator, using a mix of auditory and visual signals — including barks, wails and 'silent laughs' — as well as olfactory messages. (Photo: kkaplin/Shutterstock)</strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Lemurs branched off from other primates about 60 million years ago, and until recently, many scientists didn't think they were even close to the well-studied cognitive skills of apes and monkeys. Yet research has begun to reveal surprising intelligence in lemurs, forcing us to rethink how these distant relatives think.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Using their noses to tap a touchscreen, for example, lemurs have shown they can memorize lists of images, type them out in the correct sequence, identify which are larger and even understand basic math. Some species also have complex ways of communicating, from subtle growls and meows to loud howls and barks, not to mention inaudible signals like facial expressions and scents.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Lemurs in <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0066359" target="_blank" rel="noopener">larger social groups</a> perform better on social cognition tests, according to a 2013 study, which found that group size predicts their scores more than brain size. Other research has shown <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10329-013-0360-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">distinct personalities in mouse lemurs</a>, which vary from shy to bold to "<a href="http://www.futurity.org/lemur-personalities-vary-from-shy-to-mean-as-sin/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mean as sin</a>." And given how much knowledge wild lemurs must keep straight — like where and when to look for various kinds of fruit, or how to navigate the nuances of lemur society — we've probably just scratched the surface.</span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size: 14pt;">11. Lemurs are important pollinators.</span></h2>
<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/4531701272?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/4531701272?profile=RESIZE_710x" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 8pt;"><strong>A black-and-white ruffed lemur hangs out in Andasibe-Mantadia National Park. (Photo: Arto Hakola/Shutterstock)</strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">When many people think of pollinators, small animals like bees, butterflies or hummingbirds come to mind. But a wide variety of creatures play big roles in plant pollination — including ruffed lemurs, <a href="https://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/animals/photos/9-surprising-pollinator-species-arent-bees/black-and-white-ruffed-lemur" target="_blank" rel="noopener">considered Earth's largest pollinators</a>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Ruffed lemurs come in two species: red or black and white, both of which inhabit tropical rainforests in Madagascar and are connoisseurs of its native fruit. The traveler's palm tree, for example, relies primarily on black-and-white ruffed lemurs to pollinate its flowers. Both ruffed species get pollen all over their noses as they eat fruit and nectar, and thus spread pollen to other plants as they forage. Due to their close relationships with native trees — including hardwoods prized by logging interests — ruffed lemurs are seen by scientists as key indicators of forest health.</span></p>
<h2><span style="font-size: 14pt;">12. Lemurs are running out of time.</span></h2>
<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/4531705081?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/4531705081?profile=RESIZE_710x" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 8pt;"><strong>The critically endangered Alaotran gentle lemur exists only in marshland around Madagascar's Lake Alaotra. Loss of this habitat has reduced the entire species to about 2,500 individuals. (Photo: belizar/Shutterstock)</strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">At least 106 lemur species are known to science, and nearly all of them face a realistic risk of extinction by midcentury. As IUCN lemur expert Jonah Ratsimbazafy told the BBC in 2015, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-33096260" target="_blank" rel="noopener">their environment is crumbling all around them</a>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">"Just as fish cannot survive without water, lemurs cannot survive without forest," said Ratsimbazafy, noting less than 10 percent of Madagascar's original forest remains. "I would believe that within the next 25 years, if the speed of the deforestation is still the same, there would be no forest left, and that means no lemurs left in this island."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Lemurs' problems largely boil down to human poverty. More than 90 percent of people in Madagascar live on less than $2 a day, and at least 33 percent suffer from malnutrition. This drives many to squeeze income from the island's already-stretched natural resources, often with a type of slash-and-burn farming known as <em>tavi</em>, which torches forest to make room for crops, or by <a href="http://www.takepart.com/article/2016/04/01/madagascars-crippling-poverty-fueling-lemur-extinction-crisis" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hunting lemurs for food</a>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">On top of all that, lemurs also face growing pressure from climate change. Of 57 species examined in a <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.1418/full" target="_blank" rel="noopener">study published in Ecology & Evolution</a>, more than half are likely to see their suitable habitats decrease 60 percent in the next 70 years — and that's just from the effects of climate change, excluding other factors. Plus, without <a href="https://www.mnn.com/leaderboard/blogs/why-wild-animals-need-wildlife-corridors" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wildlife corridors</a> to link fragmented forests, lemurs rarely have the option to move somewhere new.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">One way to help lemurs, therefore, is to do something that's also in our own species' best interest: Use fewer fossil fuels. Another is to fight poverty — without razing what's left of Malagasy forests. That's already being done in other parts of the world with eco-tourism, which has shown many communities that <a href="https://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/animals/blogs/6-wild-animals-worth-more-alive-than-dead" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wildlife is more valuable alive than dead</a>. Research suggests lemurs haven't benefitted much from tourism so far, but there are hints of hope. The Duke Lemur Center has a program in the <a href="http://lemur.duke.edu/protect/conservation/sava-conservation/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sambava-Andapa-Vohemar-Antalaha region</a>, for example, that supports jobs in fields like fish farming and park maintenance, and offers ecological education and family planning to ease pressure on resources. Farther south, <a href="https://www.madamagazine.com/en/anja-community-reserve/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Anja Community Reserve</a> is managed by local residents to attract tourists while protecting lemurs, and has reportedly become the most visited community reserve in Madagascar.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">***</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Lemurs don't just come in lots of shapes, sizes and colors; they range from adorable to eerie, curious to cantankerous and stubborn to resourceful. Despite having grown apart for 60 million years, one look at a lemur can remind us how much we still have in common — and how lucky we are to still have such a big, weird family.</span></p>
<p></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 8pt;"><em><a href="https://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/animals/blogs/incredible-facts-about-lemurs">https://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/animals/blogs/incredible-facts-about-lemurs</a></em></span></p>
<p></p> When Squirrels Were One of America’s Most Popular Petstag:templeilluminatus.ning.com,2020-03-31:6363372:Topic:35110072020-03-31T18:37:24.533ZLinda M.https://templeilluminatus.ning.com/profile/LindaMann
<p><span class="section-start-text"><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/4286103619?profile=original" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/4286103619?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="500"></img></a></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 8pt;"><strong><em><span class="section-start-text">Pete the squirrel, who was a pet of President Harding. <a class="caption-credit" href="https://www.loc.gov/item/hec2013012513/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">LIBRARY OF…</a></span></em></strong></span></p>
<p><span class="section-start-text"><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/4286103619?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/4286103619?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="500" class="align-center"/></a></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 8pt;"><strong><em><span class="section-start-text">Pete the squirrel, who was a pet of President Harding. <a class="caption-credit" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.loc.gov/item/hec2013012513/">LIBRARY OF CONGRESS/LC-DIG-HEC-42488</a></span></em></strong></span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span class="section-start-text">IN 1722, A PET SQUIRREL<span> </span></span><span>named Mungo passed away. It was a tragedy: Mungo escaped its confines and met its fate at the teeth of a dog. Benjamin Franklin, friend of the owner, immortalized the squirrel with a tribute.</span></p>
<p><span>“Few squirrels were better accomplished, for he had a good education, had traveled far, and seen much of the world.” Franklin <a href="https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=ImtT0KwDlB0C&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&hl=en&pg=GBS.PA220">wrote</a>, adding, “Thou art fallen by the fangs of wanton, cruel Ranger!”</span></p>
<p><span>Mourning a squirrel’s death wasn’t as uncommon as you might think when Franklin wrote Mungo’s eulogy; in the 18th- and 19th centuries, squirrels were fixtures in American homes, especially for children. While colonial Americans kept many types of wild animals as pets, squirrels “were the most popular,” according to Katherine Grier’s <em>Pets in America</em>, being relatively easy to keep.</span></p>
<p><span>By the 1700s, a golden era of squirrel ownership was in full swing. Squirrels were sold in markets and found in the homes of wealthy urban families, and portraits of well-to-do children holding a reserved, polite upper-class squirrel attached to a gold chain leash were proudly displayed (some of which <a href="http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/10522">are currently </a>at the Metropolitan Museum of Art). Most pet squirrels were American Grey Squirrels, though Red Squirrels and Flying Squirrels also were around, enchanting the country with their devil-may-care attitudes and fluffy bodies.</span></p>
<p><span>By the 19th century, a canon of squirrel-care literature emerged for the enthusiast. In the 1851 book <em>Domestic pets: their habits and management</em><strong>, </strong>Jane Loudon writes more about squirrels as pets than rabbits, and devotes an entire chapter to the “beautiful little creature, very agile and graceful in its movements.” Squirrels “may be taught to jump from one hand to the other to search for a hidden nut, and it soon knows its name, and the persons who feed it.” Loudin also waxes on their habits, like jumping around a room and peeping out from wooden eaves, writing that “an instance is recorded of no less than seventeen lumps of sugar being found in the cornice of a drawing-room in which a squirrel had been kept, besides innumerable nuts, pieces of biscuit.” Loudon’s advice: when your squirrel is not running around the room, provide it with a<a href="http://pages.northforkpets.com/11570/PictPage/1923115560.html"> tin-lined cage</a> that has a running wheel.</span></p>
<p><span><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/4286111864?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/4286111864?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="500" class="align-center"/></a></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 8pt;"><strong><em>A girl with a pet squirrel - and parrot, cat and pigeon. <a class="caption-credit" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://flic.kr/p/of254h">INTERNET ARCHIVE/PUBLIC DOMAIN</a></em></strong></span></p>
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<p class="item-body-text-graf"><em>Leisure Hour Monthly</em>, meanwhile, in 1859, advised to feed it “a fig or a date now and then,” and that you should start your squirrel-raising adventure with those procured “directly from the nest, when possible.” The unnamed author’s own pet squirrels, Dick and Peter, had the freedom of his bedroom and plenty of nuts to store away. “Let your pet squirrels crack their own nuts, my young squirrel fanciers,” the author wrote.</p>
<p class="item-body-text-graf">While many people captured their pet squirrels from the wild in the 1800s, squirrels were also sold in pet shops, a then-burgeoning industry that today<span> </span><a href="http://www.americanpetproducts.org/press_industrytrends.asp">constitutes</a><span> </span>a $70 billion business. One home manual from 1883, for example,<span> </span><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=cr1EAQAAMAAJ&pg=PR3&lpg=PR3&dq=Every+Day+Home+Advice+Relating+Chiefly+to+Household+Management&source=bl&ots=HlbDv-GOfe&sig=powhEgHYDVc2EjPfAcuh2RY05wI&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiVjOj6kcbTAhXC5iYKHdp0BRAQ6AEIMDAC#v=onepage&q=squirrel&f=false">explained</a><span> </span>that any squirrel could be bought from your local bird breeder. But not unlike some shops today, these pet stores could have dark side; Grier writes that shop owners “faced the possibility that they sold animals to customers who would neglect or abuse them, or that their trade in a particular species could endanger its future in the wild.”</p>
<p class="item-body-text-graf"><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/4286120557?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/4286120557?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="500" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<p class="item-body-text-graf" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 8pt;"><strong><em>Portrait of a Lady with a Squirrel and a Starling</em>, Hans Holbein <a class="caption-credit" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lady_with_a_Squirrel.jpg">PUBLIC DOMAIN</a></strong></span></p>
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<p class="item-body-text-graf">Keeping pet squirrels has a downside for humans too, which eventually became clear: despite their owners’ best attempts at taming them, they’re still wild animals. As time wore on, squirrels were increasingly viewed as pests; by the 1910s squirrels became so despised in California that the state issued a<span> </span><a href="http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/in-1918-california-drafted-children-into-a-war-on-squirrels">widespread public attack</a><span> </span>on the once-adored creatures. From the 1920s through the 1970s many states slowly adopted wildlife conservation and<span> </span><a href="https://www.thespruce.com/exotic-pet-laws-1238565">exotic pet laws</a>, which prohibited keeping squirrels at home. Today, experts and enthusiasts alike<span> </span><a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/normal/2016/11/02/are_squirrels_good_pets_instagram_squirrels_make_it_seem_easy.html">warn</a><span> </span>that squirrels don’t always make ideal pets, mainly because of their finicky diet, space requirements, and scratchy claws.</p>
<p class="item-body-text-graf item-body-last">None of this, of course, will deter the most determined squirrel owner. Fans of Bob Ross might remember his<span> </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YmIpZ8iius">pet squirrel named Peapod</a>, and some squirrels owners are rekindling the obsession by making their pets<span> </span><a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/vikky/meet-jill-the-most-adorable-squirrel-on-instagram-y65c?utm_term=.fsnjERb6xK#.maq7LXx3mv">Instagram-famous</a>. Still, wild squirrels surely agree—it’s probably best we’re now mostly leaving them to the forest.</p>
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<p class="item-body-text-graf item-body-last" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 8pt;"><em><a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/pet-squirrel-craze">https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/pet-squirrel-craze</a></em></span></p> Hekate’s Animals: Ancient Creatures, Modern Menagerie, and Ways to Include Them in Witcherytag:templeilluminatus.ning.com,2020-03-29:6363372:Topic:35100072020-03-29T04:14:24.641ZLinda M.https://templeilluminatus.ning.com/profile/LindaMann
<div class="pull-left">AUGUST 7, 2018 BY <a href="https://www.patheos.com/blogs/keepingherkeys/author/cbrannen/">CYNDI BRANNEN</a></div>
<div class="pull-left"> </div>
<div class="pull-left"><span><em>Hekate’s animal horde is vast and diverse, from her beloved hounds to the witch’s cat. Here’s a list of many of her historical animal companions with several thoroughly modern ones, along with lots of ways of including the Queen of Witches’ animals in our magic.…</em></span></div>
<div class="pull-left">AUGUST 7, 2018 BY <a href="https://www.patheos.com/blogs/keepingherkeys/author/cbrannen/">CYNDI BRANNEN</a></div>
<div class="pull-left"> </div>
<div class="pull-left"><span><em>Hekate’s animal horde is vast and diverse, from her beloved hounds to the witch’s cat. Here’s a list of many of her historical animal companions with several thoroughly modern ones, along with lots of ways of including the Queen of Witches’ animals in our magic.</em></span></div>
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<div class="pull-left"><em><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1312652110?profile=RESIZE_930x" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="align-center" src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1312652110?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="710"/></a></em></div>
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<div class="pull-left"><h1><span>How Hekate is Associated with Animals</span></h1>
<p>I used two broad groups to categorize Hekate’s animals: those commonly associated with her in myth, stories, literature and art and modern practitioners favored creatures. I looked for themes and also the source to determine their position on the list.</p>
<p>Hekate is unique among most goddesses in that she has an extensive and diverse available historical, literary and artistic records. Some of these sources have greatly influenced modern practitioners’ chosen animals, while others are less commonly associated with her today.</p>
<h1><span>Ancient Written Sources and Imagery</span></h1>
<p>Regarding the ancient written sources, Hekate’s zoological connections are found through epithets, descriptions and in images/statuary. Through ancient epithets Hekate is associated with animals when Hekate is called either an animal, said to have animal characteristics or is otherwise associated with an animal. She is called “She-Toad” (Phroune), Lyco (She Wolf) and many other animals, particularly in <em>The Greek Magical Papyri</em>. Leaina (Lioness) comes to us from her cult in Caria (modern western Turkey) where she was seen quite differently compared to her mainstream Grecian image that often associated her with a horde of fierce hounds wandering the night.</p>
<p><strong>A selection of Hekate’s animal epithets in The Greek Magical Papyri:</strong><br/><em>English (Anglicized Greek)</em><br/>Beast Slayer (Theroktonos)<br/>Black Dog (Kyon Melaina)<br/>Bull Dragon/Serpent (Taurodrakaina)<br/>Bull Formed (Tauromorphos)<br/>Cow Eyed (Boopis)<br/>Fawn Slayer (Ellophonos)<br/>Horned (Keratopis)<br/>Horse Faced (Hippoprosopos)<br/>Howling (Kynolygmate)<br/>Serpent/Dragon (Drakaina)<br/>Spinner of Fate (Klothaie)<br/>Wolf (Lyko)</p>
<p>In some documents, she is described as having a role in relation to animals, like leading her hounds, holding snakes or blessing horses. Indeed, Hesiod’s version of Hekate (her origin story) in his <em>Theogeny </em>illustrates that she “sits by kings and “stands by” horsemen.</p>
<blockquote><p>“From the political assembly to the farmer’s stable, Hecate is seen as a vital factor in the success of human endeavor.” – from <em>A Portrait of Hekate</em> (1981) by Patricia Marquardt.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In ancient life, this required governance over a host of animals, domestic and wild.<br/>Porphyry in <em>“On abstinence from animal food”</em> describes a four-headed Hekate (horse, bull, lioness and dog). This theme of Hekate having three or four animal heads is a rather common one throughout the ages.</p>
<blockquote><p>“Hekate’s appearance is powerful and terrifying: she is viewed as fully armed and girded with serpents, and of triple-form and three headed and radiating fiery light. At a lower level she appears with four animal heads: <em><strong>horse, bull, hydra and dog” – from The Goddess Hekate by Stephan Ronan.</strong></em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>The Hekate he is describing comes from The Chaldean Oracles where she is the creatrix of the material world. Using this interpretation, Hekate can be associated with every animal.</p>
<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1312665690?profile=RESIZE_710x" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="align-center" src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1312665690?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="482"/></a></p>
<p><em>From: Le imagini dei degli antichi</em><br/><em>by Cartari, Vincenzo, b. ca. 1500; Malfatti, Cesare, b. ca. 1550. You can explore this amazing text here: <a class="vglnk decorated-link" href="https://archive.org/details/leimaginideidegl01cart" rel="nofollow">https://archive.org/details/leimaginideidegl01cart</a></em></p>
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<h1><span><strong>Hekate’s Ancient Animals</strong></span></h1>
<p>However, Hekate was associated with specific members of her menagerie giving us a lengthy list: <strong>boar, bull, cow, dog, deer, donkey, fish (red mullet in particular), goat, horse, lamb (black), lizard, lion, polecat, owl, toad, and wolf. </strong> There are also indirect associations through her deity companions, especially Artemis: <strong>bee</strong> (from the Ephesian version of Artemis that is very different than the mainstream Greek one), <strong>bear</strong> (also associated with Bendis), <strong>gold finch,</strong> Kirke: <strong>hawk, large cats, pigs</strong>. Asteria: <strong>quail.</strong></p>
<p>As a Chthonic goddess, she was considered an “earth” deity, but not in the same sense as Gaia (for example). Her role as an earth goddess is associated with the types of animals she was associated with, especially <strong>dogs</strong> and <strong>horses</strong>, but also <strong>goats</strong>, <strong>donkeys</strong>, <strong>bulls</strong>, <strong>cows</strong> and other domestic animals. <strong>Lions and other big cats</strong> were also connected to Hekate. Her association with wild animals, like <strong>bee, deer and bear</strong>, is often through her connection/conflation with other goddesses, particularly Artemis but also Bendis. Keep in mind that these goddesses were viewed in diverse ways as well. <strong>Vulture</strong> is in The Greek Magical Papyri, but not directly with her in a spell or hymn. And if we include mythical beasts, she is connected with <strong>dragons and hydra</strong> in multiple sources.</p>
<p><strong>Hares and rabbits</strong> are not directly associated with Hekate in the ancient texts. There is a sideways connection through the Island of Delos which was also known as Lagia (Hare). This island is the birthplace of Artemis and is also associated with Hekate. Interestingly, the island was also known as Cynthia (latin for Cynthos). Both Artemis and Hekate were sometimes referred to as such. I am only referred to as such in the most formal situations, like at airports.</p>
<h1><span>Hekate’s Witchy Animals</span></h1>
<p>Some animals, like the <strong>bat, cat, crow and owl, </strong>come to her since she is the Queen of Witches. Owl has an ancient association with her in written sources and coins. Bats, cats, and crows have been strongly linked to witchcraft since ancient times. I’ve selected Blake’s painting from the many examples of the way Hecate, women and witches were commonly portrayed in art and literature as evil. The animals shown with such women and goddesses were thus also suspicious. I am a bit obsessed with this painting for a few reasons, most particularly because this is not actually Hecate. I hope your take-away message from this article is this so I am sharing it. Although it’s not Hekate, it does feature many animals linked to her as Queen of the Witches.</p>
<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1312681143?profile=RESIZE_930x" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="align-center" src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1312681143?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="710"/></a></p>
<p><em>Enitharmon’s Joy, formerly known as Triple Hecate by William Blake. Experts believe this not to be Hecate at all, but this painting is commonly used to represent her. Read more: <a class="vglnk decorated-link" href="https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/18505/night-enitharmons-joy-formerly-called-triple-hecate" rel="nofollow">https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/18505/night-enith...</a></em></p>
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<h1><span>Hekate’s Modern Animals</span></h1>
<p>Hekate’s portrayals in words and images today uses the animals associated with her directly and indirectly throughout history. More fascinating to me are practitioner’s reports of the non-traditional animals they associate with Hekate. I asked members of three different Hekatean groups about such creatures. The list was incredibly varied, ranging from <strong>beetles</strong> to dolphins. Insects were a common theme, with <strong>spiders</strong> being the most popular, but there were several reports of <strong>moths (luna), butterflies</strong> and <strong>fire flies</strong>as well. Her ancient epithet of Klothaie, Spinner of Fate, is definitely arachnid.</p>
<p>Given that Hekate is a Goddess of the Sea, it’s not surprising that many practitioners associated aquatic creatures with her, including <strong>dolphins, seals, otters and various types of fish</strong>. I also asked the in-house panel of experts, my two sons since they have to listen to me go on about Hekate.My oldest suggested the <strong>shark </strong>which is his personal totem animal. I happen to agree: they are ancient, misunderstood, scary and incredibly intelligent. Sharks could definitely be one of Hekate’s animals.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Birds included the very popular <strong>raptors (eagles and </strong><strong>hawks), crows, doves (which apparently travel in groups of three, very Hekatean), ravens, vultures, chickens, finches, owls, vultures, and even cardinals</strong> among others. The mythical <strong>phoenix</strong> was also reported.</p>
<p>Non-traditional mammals included<strong> bears, cats -domestic and wild – especially lynx and panther, deer (antelope), elephant (one of mine), mustelids (ferret, mink, muskrat), rabbit, raccoons</strong> as well as individual reports of <strong>possum and skunk</strong>.</p>
<p><em>If you have a non-traditional animal you associated with Hekate, please let me know so I can add it to the list.</em></p>
<h1><span>Including Hekate’s Animals in Magic</span></h1>
<p>The ancients used animals in various ways in magic. Animals were often slain as sacrifices to Hekate, especially dogs and black lambs. You can read more about Hekate’s Hounds <a class="decorated-link" href="http://admin.patheos.com/blogs/keepingherkeys/2018/05/hekates-hounds/">here</a>. Animals were also involved in ancient spells. One of my favorite examples comes from The Greek Magical Papyri that involves drowning a cat and subsequently releasing it’s daimon (spirit) to do the practitioner’s bidding, all while evoking Hekate. There are so many delightful examples of this from the ancients that I had to include one here:</p>
<blockquote><p><em>“I myself saw Canidia, with her sable garment tucked up, walk with bare feet and disheveled hair, yelling together with the elder Sagana. Paleness had rendered both of them horrible to behold. They began to claw up the earth with their nails, and to tear a black ewe-lamb to pieces with their teeth. </em><em>The blood was poured into a ditch, that thence they might charm out the shades of the dead, ghosts that were to give them answers. There was a woolen effigy too, another of wax: the woolen one larger, which was to inflict punishment on the little one The waxen stood in a suppliant posture, as ready to perish in a servile manner. One of the hags invokes Hecate, and the other fell Tisiphone. Then might you see serpents and infernal bitches wander about; and the moon with blushes hiding behind the lofty monuments, that she might not be a witness to these doings. But if I lie, even a little, may my head be contaminated with the white filth of ravens..” – </em><em>from Q. Horatius Flaccus (Horace), The Works of Horace, </em><em>C. Smart, Theodore Alois Buckley, Ed.</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>While many of us modern practitioners view these techniques as barbaric, it’s still possible to include the “daimon” of animals in our own witchery. The bare feet and disheveled hair hasn’t changed, at least not for me. Without sacrificing animals, we can use their energies through <strong>bits and pieces of them, spirit connections, symbols and images</strong>. <strong><em>Use blood, bones, claws, feathers, fur, hair, nails, skin, tails and teeth</em></strong> to harness their spirits for your own magic. Blood should be as fresh as possible, while the rest can be dried or fresh. Roadkill is a Hekatean witch’s treasure. If you are new to collecting dead creatures, small birds are a good place to start. <a class="decorated-link" href="https://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-preserve-bird-wings-legs-and-heads...the-/">This is a good tutorial.</a></p>
<p>If you are new to animal spirit magic, you need to buy Ted Andrews’ <a class="decorated-link" href="https://www.amazon.ca/Animal-Speak-Spiritual-Magical-Creatures/dp/0875420281/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1533655203&sr=8-1&keywords=animal+speak"><em>Animal Speak: The Spiritual and Magical Powers of Creatures Great and Small. </em> </a></p>
<h2><span>Animal Spirit Witchery, Hekatean Style:</span></h2>
<ul>
<li>Many modern Hekateans keep animal bits and pieces on their <strong>altars</strong> as a symbol both of Hekate and the animal.</li>
<li><strong>Offerings</strong> can include eggs, fish and meat from her animals. Blood in a cup may be a bit much for some, but it is a potent offering. Service at an animal shelter is an excellent offering.</li>
<li><strong>Animal messengers:</strong> Hekate often comes to us using her menagerie either in the world of force, like dreams and during journeys, or by actually sending a physical creature out of the ordinary into our day. Pay attention to these messengers. Research them and interpret her message. More on Hekate’s messages <a class="decorated-link" href="http://admin.patheos.com/blogs/keepingherkeys/2018/06/how-to-fix-it-when-hekate-is-nowhere/">here</a>.</li>
<li><strong>Animals as Hekatean go-betweens: </strong>Call on her animals to get Hekate’s attention. <em>Mighty Hound, I seek your Mistress’s attention now…</em></li>
<li><strong>Animal spirit practice:</strong> Connect with the energy of the animal’s spirit to receive messages from it and Hekate. Envision a cord linking you to the creature and ones connecting you both to the Hekatean currents. Practice opening up this way often and with different animals to strengthen this ability. The more you do, the better you’ll be able to include them in your witchery. Doing this with the same live animals over time may render you able to control their actions. They can also mirror simple ones. My deer nod back at me.</li>
<li><strong>Spells:</strong> include their bits and pieces in your potions, talismans and charms. While adding focus on the nature of the animal spirit you’re including. If you are new to this, egg shell magic is a great place to start. Grind them up to use in protection spells and more.</li>
<li><strong>Totem:</strong> Elephant is the animal spirit that walks alongside of me. In some ways, I am Elephant as well. It was also a childhood nickname. There’s nothing therapy-inducing in that at all ;). Explore the animals that mean the most to you. Use trance and journeying to connect with them or find one.</li>
<li><strong>Spirit Companion: </strong>This can be your totem, but also a different animal, as a companion or even a guide to the mystical realms. Look for signs in everyday life for animal’s that are applying for this position.</li>
<li><strong>Shape shifting: </strong>Expand the connection so you actually take on the characteristics of the animal. This permits you to access or strengthen abilities and characteristics within yourself. This is best done with living animals, though skulls work quite nicely.</li>
<li><strong>Fetch:</strong> Like the ancient cat-daimon spell, we can train an animal spirit to do our magical bidding for us. This is a bit complex. It can be your totem, but I haven’t had this experience. More often, I’ve used living bunnies and deer spirit energy. If you have a strong connection to an animal spirit, petition Hekate to direct it to follow your magical instructions.</li>
<li><strong>Divination: </strong>casting bones and other parts with assigned meanings is an excellent way to strengthen your animal spirit abilities and peek into the future. In The Witches’ Realm, we have an ongoing class teaching this technique.</li>
</ul>
<p>Those are just a few ways to include Hekate’s Animals in your witchery. Whatever animals from her menagerie share their energy with you, I hope you find these relationships as deeply satisfying as I do.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The Covenant of Hekate has information on some of her traditional animals, available <a class="decorated-link" href="https://hekatecovenant.com/resources/">here.</a></p>
<p>Here’s a great <a class="decorated-link" href="http://nehetisingsforhekate.tumblr.com/post/139173095981/epithets-hekate-and-animals">list of Hekate’s zoological epithets.</a></p>
<p> </p>
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<p><span><em><a href="https://www.patheos.com/blogs/keepingherkeys/2018/08/hekates-animals-ancient-creatures-modern-associations-and-ways-to-include-them-in-witchery/">https://www.patheos.com/blogs/keepingherkeys/2018/08/hekates-animal...</a></em></span></p>
</div> 14 Terrific Facts About Tapirstag:templeilluminatus.ning.com,2020-03-02:6363372:Topic:35015102020-03-02T21:40:05.609ZLinda M.https://templeilluminatus.ning.com/profile/LindaMann
<p style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Getty Images" src="https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,g_auto,h_1248,w_2220/f_auto,q_auto,w_1100/v1555321574/shape/mentalfloss/primary_getty.jpg"></img></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>Their noses are snorkels. They plant trees with their poop. They walk underwater. Meet a group of remarkable mammals who look sort of like pigs but are related to horses, and once lived around the world: the tapirs.</span></p>
<h4 style="text-align: center;">1. TAPIRS CAN GET PRETTY HEAVY.</h4>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fit,f_auto,fl_lossy,q_auto,w_728/v1555996760/shape/mentalfloss/fat_tapir_istock.jpg?itok=jGUH2gOI"></img></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>Tapirs aren’t very tall—the …</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,g_auto,h_1248,w_2220/f_auto,q_auto,w_1100/v1555321574/shape/mentalfloss/primary_getty.jpg" alt="Getty Images"/></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>Their noses are snorkels. They plant trees with their poop. They walk underwater. Meet a group of remarkable mammals who look sort of like pigs but are related to horses, and once lived around the world: the tapirs.</span></p>
<h4 style="text-align: center;">1. TAPIRS CAN GET PRETTY HEAVY.</h4>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fit,f_auto,fl_lossy,q_auto,w_728/v1555996760/shape/mentalfloss/fat_tapir_istock.jpg?itok=jGUH2gOI"/></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>Tapirs aren’t very tall—the </span><a href="http://www.arkive.org/asian-tapir/tapirus-indicus/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">largest</a><span> doesn’t quite reach 4 feet at the shoulder—but they are rotund. The </span><a href="http://www.tapirs.org/tapirs/malay.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Malayan tapir</a><span>, the only species native to Asia, can weigh 720 pounds or more. The other four species are smaller. In 2013, scientists </span><a href="http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/tetrapod-zoology/a-new-living-species-of-large-mammal-hello-tapirus-kabomani/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">described a new species</a><span>, the kabomani tapir, which is the littlest, weighing an estimated 240 pounds or so.</span></p>
<h4 style="text-align: center;">2. THEY CAN GRAB THINGS WITH THEIR SNOUTS.</h4>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fit,f_auto,fl_lossy,q_auto,w_728/v1555996760/shape/mentalfloss/tapir_snout_istock.jpg?itok=YxdIRO_p"/></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>Tapirs’ upper lips are stretched out into </span><a href="http://www.arkive.org/bairds-tapir/tapirus-bairdii/image-G111767.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">long snouts</a><span> that resemble elephant trunks. These flexible mini-trunks are prehensile, which means that they can grasp things—for example, a tapir may use its snout to pluck tasty leaves or put fruit in its mouth. Sometimes, a swimming tapir may even poke its snout out of the water and use it as a snorkel.</span></p>
<h4 style="text-align: center;">3. THEY MAKE THIS FACE. </h4>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fit,f_auto,fl_lossy,q_auto,w_728/v1555996760/shape/mentalfloss/tapir_flehmen_response_pic_getty.jpg?itok=YCRnPweP"/></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>Tapirs often curl their lips and raise their snouts, making a funny-looking face. What’s going on here? Is the tapir just really happy? Or is it about to sneeze? </span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>This weird behavior has a name: it’s called the <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/wild_things/2016/01/12/dogs_cats_and_other_animals_flehmen_response_to_smell.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">flehmen response</a>. Giraffes, horses, house cats, and many other animals do it too—but it looks more impressive with a tapir’s snout. When these animals curl their upper lips, they’re using an extra-powerful sense somewhere between taste and smell. The action opens up a pair of ducts in their mouths to send material up into a special sensory body called the vomeronasal organ.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>Often, critters make this face to glean extra info about other members of their species from substances such as urine. Just don’t try it yourself: you lack the equipment. Humans have lost those special ducts and vomeronasal organs.</span></p>
<h4 style="text-align: center;">4. BABY TAPIRS LOOK NOTHING LIKE ADULTS.</h4>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fit,f_auto,fl_lossy,q_auto,w_728/v1555996759/shape/mentalfloss/mom_and_baby_getty.jpg?itok=gsC-Acl9"/></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>Though adult tapirs aren’t very colorful, </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHMlmBb03oY" target="_blank" rel="noopener">baby tapirs</a><span> are covered in vivid spots and zebra stripes. This pattern probably helps obscure their shape in the underbrush, enabling them to hide from predators such as big cats. Many other animals are speckled when they’re young, but lose their spots as they get older. For example, a lot of deer (think of Bambi) have speckles that fade with age.</span></p>
<h4 style="text-align: center;">5. TAPIRS HELP FORESTS THRIVE … WITH THEIR POOP.</h4>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>Tapirs eat plants—and beyond that, </span><a href="http://library.sandiegozoo.org/factsheets/tapir/tapir.htm#diet" target="_blank" rel="noopener">they’re not picky</a><span>. They live in warm, dense forests with diverse vegetation, and they’ll graze on grass, browse tree leaves, and chomp on twigs. Fruits and berries are an important part of their diet, too. And here’s where the poop comes in: Many seeds can survive the trip through tapirs’ digestive systems. As tapirs wander through the forest munching fruit, they poop out the seeds, spreading them to new locations.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span><a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/40645588?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents" target="_blank" rel="noopener">One study</a> found that 135 samples of lowland tapir dung contained seeds from an astonishing 122 plant species. Unintentionally, tapirs help disperse seeds from their favorite fruit trees, which means more fruit for tapirs—and other animals.</span></p>
<h4 style="text-align: center;">6. THEY HAVE SURPRISING RELATIVES.</h4>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>Take a look at a picture of a tapir. Can you tell where it fits in the animal kingdom? Despite its snout, it’s not closely related to the elephants. And though it’s pretty portly, it’s not a pig or a hippopotamus.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>Stumped? It turns out that tapirs’ closest relatives are <a href="http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/mammal/mesaxonia/perissodactyla.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rhinoceroses and horses</a>. They all belong to a group called the “odd-toed” mammals—they have an odd number of toes (as opposed to an even number). Horses walk on one hoofed toe, and rhinos walk on three toes. Just to be confusing, tapirs have three toes on their hind feet and four on the front. And their feet look <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tapir#/media/File:Tapir_hooves.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pretty weird</a>. </span></p>
<h4 style="text-align: center;">7. TAPIRS CAN WALK UNDERWATER.</h4>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://earthbuddies.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Brazilian-tapir-580x460.jpg" alt="Image result for Image of a tapir walking in water"/></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>Tapirs love the water. They’re terrific swimmers and divers, and they enter water to cool off, dine on aquatic plants, avoid predators, and </span><a href="http://library.sandiegozoo.org/factsheets/tapir/tapir.htm#repro" target="_blank" rel="noopener">have sex</a><span>. They can also walk—</span><a href="http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/tetrapod-zoology/submarine-tapirs-sidewinding-anacondas-and-other-unusual-animal-behaviors/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pretty quickly</a><span>, even—on the bottom of a river or lake, as in the end of the video above.</span></p>
<h4 style="text-align: center;">8. DON’T FIGHT A TAPIR. </h4>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>Tapirs may look like fuzzy, gentle plant-eaters. They’re typically very shy, and when they’re scared, they’re likely to flee.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>But tapirs have a tough side. These animals are unpredictable and will<a href="http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/tetrapod-zoology/tapir-attacks-past-present-but-hopefully-not-future/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> fiercely defend themselves and their young</a>, sometimes maiming or even killing people. In one high-profile case, the former Costa Rican Minister of Environment and Energy was <a href="http://www.tapirs.org/news/interviews/carlosmr-echandi-interview.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">attacked by a mother tapir</a> when he tried to get a close look at her baby.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>The bottom line? Tapir attacks are very rare, but you should always treat these animals with respect and give them the space they need to feel safe and comfortable. </span></p>
<h4 style="text-align: center;">9. THEY’RE PRETTY THICK-SKINNED, TOO. </h4>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>Compared to their relatives, tapirs may seem defenseless. They lack a rhino’s horns or a horse’s speed. However, they have a very tough </span><a href="http://www.tapirs.org/tapirs/tapir-faq.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hide</a><span> that helps protect them from predators and prevent injury as they push through dense forest. And though they may not look furry, tapirs are covered in short hairs. Mountain tapirs have </span><a href="http://www.tapirs.org/img/assorted-species-shots/mt-tapir-suarez-2002-m.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">especially thick fur</a><span> to help them stay warm up in the mountains.</span></p>
<h4 style="text-align: center;">10. THEY WHISTLE.</h4>
<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe width="640" height="345" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bTjKDLV90Co?wmode=opaque" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
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<p style="text-align: center;"><span>You might expect tapirs to bellow or moo. But no, they make a high-pitched sound that the San Diego Zoo describes as “</span><a href="http://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/tapir" target="_blank" rel="noopener">car brakes screeching to a halt</a><span>”. When annoyed, they will also stamp their feet and snort. </span></p>
<h4 style="text-align: center;">11. THEY ARE CREATURES OF THE SHADOWS.</h4>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>Tapirs are active at night. Specifically, they’re </span><a href="http://www.tapirs.org/tapirs/tapir-faq.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">crepuscular</a><span>. This term refers to dawn and dusk, and in zoology, animals that are most active at those times—like the tapir.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>During twilight, these mammals will push happily through the dark forest looking for tasty plants.</span></p>
<h4 style="text-align: center;">12. THE MALAYAN TAPIR IS THE ODD ONE OUT.</h4>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fit,f_auto,fl_lossy,q_auto,w_728/v1555996755/shape/mentalfloss/malayan_tapir_getty.jpg?itok=qBcClg9O"/></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>All tapir species—except one—live in Central and/or South America. But the Malayan tapir lives all the way around the world in Southeast Asia. How did that one species wind up so far away from its closest cousins? </span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>Tapirs are part of an ancient lineage that’s about 50 million years old. They once roamed many parts of the world, with tapirs happily munching leaves in <a href="http://library.sandiegozoo.org/factsheets/tapir/tapir.htm#taxonomy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Europe, North America, and China</a>. But as temperatures cooled and the continents continued to shift, tapirs’ warm forests shrunk and moved south. </span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>These changing conditions prompted some animals to adapt to new habitats, such as the grasslands that now covered much of the land. But tapirs were creatures of habit. They <a href="http://www.wired.com/2011/04/in-lifes-race-tapirs-took-a-slow-and-steady-pace/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stuck with their forests</a>, remaining relatively unchanged for millions of years. So, today’s tapirs are the last survivors of a once internationally successful group.</span></p>
<h4 style="text-align: center;">13. TAPIRS ARE IN TROUBLE.</h4>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fit,f_auto,fl_lossy,q_auto,w_728/v1555996755/shape/mentalfloss/tapir_getty.jpg?itok=-ydVi3o2"/></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>Here’s the bad news: all tapirs are facing serious threats to their survival. </span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species, Baird’s tapir is classified as <a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/21471/0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Endangered</a> due to habitat loss and hunting; the population has more than halved in recent decades. The <a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/21473/0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Endangered</a> mountain tapir is in a similarly dire situation. Hunting, habitat loss, and competition for livestock are driving down numbers of the lowland tapir, which is labeled <a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/21474/0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Vulnerable</a>. And the sole Asian species, the Malayan tapir, is also <a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/21472/0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Endangered</a>.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>But there’s still time to save tapirs. The IUCN’s Tapir Specialist Group offers some <a href="http://www.tapirs.org/tapirs/tapir-faq.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ways to help</a>, including supporting conservation groups and visiting tapirs on ecotourism trips.</span></p>
<h4 style="text-align: center;">14. HOW DO YOU PRONOUNCE “TAPIR,” ANYWAY?</h4>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fit,f_auto,fl_lossy,q_auto,w_728/v1555996755/shape/mentalfloss/tapir_side_istock.jpg?itok=qVjtEHbg"/></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>While you’ve been reading this article, how have you been pronouncing “tapir” in your head? If you’re feeling uncertain about the pronunciation, don’t worry—you’re not alone.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>The word tapir comes from the language of Brazil’s indigenous Tupi people, who <a href="http://eol.org/data_objects/31426337" target="_blank" rel="noopener">called it “tapyra.”</a> These days, English-speaking people seem to say it at least four different ways: 1. ta-PEER, 2. TAY-per (so that it sounds like “taper”), 3. TAY-peer and 4. TAY-pyer</span></p>
<div class="article-body"><p style="text-align: center;">So, which one is correct? That’s hard to say. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary suggests<span> </span><a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tapir" target="_blank" rel="noopener">three pronunciations</a>, as does<span> </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A71fAyouFvg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">this YouTube pronunciation series</a>. Wikipedia has<span> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tapir" target="_blank" rel="noopener">two pronunciations</a>. This<span> </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dnVRI6YRJE" target="_blank" rel="noopener">video</a><span> </span>from the Zoological Society of London is firmly in the TAY-pyer camp, but<span> </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFRrsX_HxD8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">this one</a><span> </span>from National Geographic uses TAY-per. And, of course,<span> </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJm6nDnR2SE" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ze Frank</a><span> </span>loves his ta-PEER. The debate rages on.</p>
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