Northern Luzon cloud rat (Phloeomys pallidus) by Joel Sartore
The northern Luzon giant cloud rat is a large species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is only found in Luzon, the Philippines. Adults can weigh over 5 pounds and be up to 30 inches long.
Colugo (Cynocephalidae)
Colugos are arboreal gliding mammals that are found in Southeast Asia. Just two extant species make up the entire family Cynocephalidae. They are the most capable gliders of all gliding mammals, using flaps of extra skin between their legs to glide from higher to lower locations. They are also known as cobegos or flying lemurs, though they are not true lemurs. They are surprisingly clumsy climbers. Lacking opposable thumbs and not being especially strong, they proceed upwards in a series of slow hops, gripping onto the bark of trees with their small, sharp claws. Colugos are shy, nocturnal, and restricted to the tropical rainforests. Both species are threatened by habitat destruction.
Chestnut-eared aracari (Pteroglossus castanotis)
The chestnut-eared aracari is a bird native to central and south-eastern South America. It belongs to the toucan and aracari family (Ramphastidae). Like others in the genus Pteroglossus, its diet mainly consists of fruit taken from trees in the area, sometimes retrieved by hanging upside-down. The chestnut-eared aracari also may include flower nectar, insects, and nuts in its diet as well.
photo credits: Laura serradourada, Joseph C Boone
Am I the only one who’s concerned by this footage? This was caught in New Zealand, which makes it even worse. It seems like the amount of encounters like this are becoming more common, and that worries me a lot. Yes, killer whales are curious by nature. I’m aware of that, but the fact that this has happened so many times in NZ is unusual.
I say five years tops before someone is killed.
In New Zealand.
And I know who will be partly to blame.
In 18,000 years, when I’m a doctor, I’ll be able to afford that
Photographer Mattias Klum from National Geographic gets close and personal with a lion.
“and all of a sudden you feel very small” damn right
IT JUST WANTS TO BE LOVED AND SAVED
please, if you are able, do what you can for the asiatic lion. donate, get involved, spread information. there are only about 300 left in the world, and they all live in Gir Forest National Park in India.
the african lion is also estimated to be extinct by 2050 due to habitat loss, sport hunting, and loss of their prey base to the bushmeat trade. these beautiful creatures could be extinct in our lifetime. the next generation may not ever have the chance to see these creatures, there will be no more cute lion vines, there will be no more documentaries, there will be no more zoos or sanctuaries containing lions. there will be no more lions.
if you have any love for nature, any love for animals, any love for life, and if you care at all about the permanent loss of a species, especially one so beautiful and iconic, if you care and if you are able, please donate to help save lions.
Not relevant to my blog, but my inner nature lover is calling
Saw someone once posted a review on a book that said lions dont live in India; sad that some people dont even know they exist.
Yes, donate! But not to WWF
Yeah, reminder that the WWF still violates the rights of tribal peoples, funds shoot-on-sight policies, has never apologized for its racism in the 90’s and has an approach to conservation that’s based on eugenics. WWF is also in bed with palm oil producers, supposedly for monetary gain. I’d also argue that the WWF misuses its funds, considering its CEO is in the 1% and at one time had a higher salary than the US president, despite being a non-profit.
Better charities would be The Zoological Society London and Wildlife Trust of India
Also wcs is a great organization!
Guys, omg. Something happened at this conference that I never ever thought would happen–I found invertebrates super interesting. And I kind of want to work with them. I didn’t even know that was an option! Also I’ve always been terrified of insects and arachnids but THEY’RE SO COOL I’VE BEEN SO WRONG ABOUT THEM. Look at this:
Look at that anatomy!!! How cool is that?? Their heart is just…dorsal. Like why?? And you can hear it with a doppler! You can anesthetize a tarantula with isoflurane and monitor their heart rate with a doppler. That blew my mind. You can perform surgery on them and suture them with 6-0 ophthalmic suture! You can give them IV and sub q fluids. That’s crazy!! And look how they drink:
Apparently they just drink like that?? I dunno why but that’s kind of cute?? They use hydrostatic pressure to move (which is crazy cool) so dehydration is actually a serious issue with them.
He also talked about scorpions, snails, shrimp, roaches, centipedes, crabs and a bunch of other animals I never would have even imagined you could treat. And honestly, I never imagined I would care enough to want to treat them but they were actually so interesting I ended up grabbing his email! Am I gonna be a spider vet?? Like that’s the last thing I EVER thought I would want do but hey, if I’m gonna treat exotics might as well include invertebrates, right?
Can’t really treat spiders/Tarantulas since a fatal injury(ruptured “butt”) kills them very quickly and minor injuries(scratches, lost limbs) heal themselves very quickly.
It’s very uncommon and kind of complicated, but you can treat them. The vet I got this info from was giving us information based on an actual abdominal rupture that he treated. He had other invertebrate cases that he had seen as well. I don’t think these kind of procedures happen often (as the number of vets willing to treat spiders is probably less than the number of people that would seek out medical care for them) but it can happen. Mostly he talked about how to deal with dehydration in these species, which seems to be a fairly common problem.
I love everything about this post but can I just add that ruptured abdomens absolutely can be treated if all conditions are favorable? Invertebrate Medicine, 2nd ed. (Lewbart, 2012) writes:
Treating trauma
Although several treatment options are available, many spiders cannot be saved. The mainstay in hemostasis is cyanoacrylate adhesive. Veterinary tissue adhesives may be used, but hobbyists normally just use commercial superglues. Although tissue adhesives (n - butyl cyanoacrylate) are reportedly less toxic, in the author’s experience, commercial formulations are just as effective and do not cause intoxication. Super Glue gel formulations are not effective, and liquid adhesive must be used. When using cyanoacrylate, several layers should be applied to build a sturdy repair. Even large opisthosoma wounds can be sealed in this way. The spider will often shed normally at the next ecdysis if the trauma has occurred more than 2 – 4 weeks before molting. If ecdysis occurs sooner than this post trauma, the new cuticle may be damaged, and this should be sealed similarly with cyanoacrylate. The cuticle will be normal after the following ecdysis. Successful use of fingernail hardeners has been reported for arresting hemorrhage from damaged legs, where the application of cyanoacrylate glue may be diffi cult (Breene, 1998). One benefit is there is no risk of legs being glued together. There are numerous other reports among hobbyists of alternatives for hemostasis, including talc, cornstarch, tissue paper, and hematinics. None of these appear to be reliable. Pizzi and Ezendam (2002) showed sutures to be ineffective and result in greater trauma (see the “Anesthesia and Surgery” section). Fluid administration may be necessary in some cases. This topic is covered under the “Dehydration” section.
Thank you for this really interesting addition to my post! I had no idea there was an invertebrate med resource out there! It’s funny, I didn’t expect this post to get so much attention, I was just really excited after this conference haha so it’s cool to see all of the new info and responses people have been leaving.
According to researchers, coordinated critics have mounted a “misinformation campaign designed to purposefully fabricate doubt regarding the harmful impacts of outdoor cats and stymie policies that would remove outdoor cats from the landscape.”
The conflict stems from a groundbreaking study published in 2013 by scientists from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. That study evaluated the combined impact of the tens of millions of outdoor cats in the United States. The authors found that roaming outdoor cats kill approximately 2.4 billion birds every year and are the leading source of direct, human-caused mortality to birds in the country. Similar results have since been confirmed in Canada and Australia.
READ MORE
To those of you still in denial about how bad outdoor cats are to wildlife not just in your own countries but globally here’s the cold hard scientific facts stating that you are apart of a movement of uneducated critics spreading misinformation.
Here’s the link to the open-source scientific artificial as well:
but what about…. all the rats, mice etc they kill… hmmmmm
Maybe click the actual scientific research and read it before leaving a comment hmmmmm it would have saved you the embarrassment of proving the point of research. Which was that people that criticise keeping cats indoors were found to have zero actual evidence to back up their criticisms, therefore all their claims were based on nonsense or emotions.
Yikes! Think this is a good lesson in clicking links before you comment!
This study is going to cause so many ructions in the public…. buckle in, guys
You have not seen ructions in public until you’ve seen me tell a bunch of farmers to keep their barn cats indoors and encourage black snakes to take care of their Rodent probs because at least the snakes don’t spread toxoplasmosis.
Nobody does a ruction like a six foot plus dude who is secretly afraid a five foot snake will casually slither by and be all “sup”
Anyway here is my Chief Rodent Control Officer after taking a tithe of eggs which she does when there’s not enough rodents around
This is the only acceptable Ruction…. The Cat Replacer….
Cats are a danger in Australia. On other continents birds survived cats for thousand of years. The real danger to birds is their loss of habitat. The reason to keep cats in door is their safety. But it won't save the birds. U less in Australia.
This is an example of why you shouldn’t speak when you know nothing about an issue.
Anyways cats do pose a big threat to many native animals including birds in many countries:
UK:
US:
Canada:
Europe:
New Zealand:
Asia:
Africa:
Global
I mean I can go on if you want?
“When I open this, I suggest you stop breathing.”
— Biology professor, holding an E. coli plate
So one of my tweets kinda blew up. :v
According to researchers, coordinated critics have mounted a “misinformation campaign designed to purposefully fabricate doubt regarding the harmful impacts of outdoor cats and stymie policies that would remove outdoor cats from the landscape.”
The conflict stems from a groundbreaking study published in 2013 by scientists from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. That study evaluated the combined impact of the tens of millions of outdoor cats in the United States. The authors found that roaming outdoor cats kill approximately 2.4 billion birds every year and are the leading source of direct, human-caused mortality to birds in the country. Similar results have since been confirmed in Canada and Australia.
READ MORE
To those of you still in denial about how bad outdoor cats are to wildlife not just in your own countries but globally here’s the cold hard scientific facts stating that you are apart of a movement of uneducated critics spreading misinformation.
Here’s the link to the open-source scientific artificial as well:
Handsome Devil (Sabethes cyaneus) Photo by pbertner
I learned about the murder of Kitty Genovese in two separate psychology classes, at two separate universities. It was studied as an example of the “bystander effect”, which is a phenomenon that occurs when witnesses do not offer help to a victim when there are other people present.
I was told by my professors that Kitty Genovese was a 28-year-old unmarried woman who was attacked, raped, and brutally murdered on her way home from her shift as manager of a bar. I was told that numerous people witnessed the attack and her cries for help but didn’t do anything because they “assumed someone else would”. Nobody intervened until it was too late.
What I was not told was that Kitty Genovese was a lesbian who lived more or less openly with her partner in the Upper West Side and managed a gay bar.
Now… is it likely that people overheard Kitty’s cries for help and ignored them because they thought someone else would deal with it? Or, perhaps, did they ignore her because they knew she was a lesbian and just didn’t care?
Maybe that’s not the case. Maybe it was just a random attack. Maybe her neighbours didn’t know she was gay, or didn’t care.
But it’s a huge chunk of information to leave out about her in a supposedly scientific study of events, since her sexuality made her much more vulnerable to violent crimes than the average person. And it’s a dishonour to her memory.
RIP Kitty Genovese. Society may only remember you for how you died, but I will remember you for who who were.
this was one of the first lessons I had in psych too and we were never told about this either nor was it in any of the reading materials
I never knew this.
I also never knew this about Kitty Genovese, but I do know that, in fact, many of the dozen (not thirty-eight) people who witnessed some part of the attack (which took place after 3AM, on a chilly night in March when most people’s windows were closed) tried to help in some way.
One shouted out his window for the attacker to leave her alone, which did successfully scare the man off temporarily.
Another called the police but, seeing her still on her feet, said only that there had been a fight but the woman seemed to be okay.
And when Kitty Genovese was finally attacked in a vestibule where she couldn’t be seen from outside, Karl Ross, a neighbor, saw what was happening but was too frightened himself to go to her rescue–so he started calling other neighbors to ask what he should do. Eventually one of them told him to call the police, which he did, and the woman he called, Sophie Farrar, rushed out to help Kitty even though she didn’t know whether the attacker was gone.
Kitty Genovese died in the arms of a neighbor who tired to help and comfort her while they waited for the police and ambulance to arrive. Kitty was in fact still alive, although mortally wounded, when the ambulance reached the scene.
The man who saw the final stabbing? Who panicked and called other neighbors first instead of the police? The man who said, infamously, that he “didn’t want to get involved” because he was reluctant to turn to the police for help? He was thought to be gay himself. He was a friend of Kitty and Mary Ann’s. After being interviewed by the police he took a bottle of vodka to Mary Ann and sat with her, trying to comfort her.
So, no. I don’t think the evidence indicates that Kitty Genovese’s neighbors let her die because she was a lesbian, because Kitty Genovese’s neighbors tried to help.
(Also, going by the content of the murderer’s confession, it was indeed a random attack.)
how on EARTH was this “scientifically” studied but the details gotten so wrong and the wrong as hell conclusion published and taught in schools?!?!?! where were those scientists observation skills?! on vacation?!
How to take facts and turn them into an urban legend that gets taught in schools: Make a bad made-for-t.v.-movie about it, watch it, believe everything the movie says, annnnnnnd go! That’s how it gets taught as this supposed “scientific study.” Someone got fucking lazy.
Spread the real deal, kids.
A book about this, “No One Helped”: Kitty Genovese, New York City, and the Myth of Urban Apathy, won the Lambda Literary Award for LGBT Nonfiction this year! if anyone wants to check it out try your local library!
On the eve of an international summit here on genome editing, a Chinese researcher has shocked many by claiming to have altered the genomes of twin baby girls born this month in a way that will pass the modification on to future generations. The alteration is intended to make the children’s cells resistant to infection by HIV, says the scientist, He Jiankui of the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, China.
The claim—yet to be reported in a scientific paper—initiated a firestorm of criticism today, with some scientists and bioethicists calling the work “premature,” “ethically problematic,” and even “monstrous.” The Chinese Society for Cell Biology issued a statement calling the research “a serious violation of the Chinese government’s laws and regulations and the consensus of the Chinese scientific community.” And He’s university issued a statement saying it has launched an investigation into the research, which it says may “seriously violate academic ethics and academic norms.”
