The Wild Life Conservation Blog
The ramblings about wildlife…
Archive for December, 2008
Defenders of Wildlife
Posted on December 25th, 2008 by Wildlife Luver, under Information.
Defenders of wildlife is one of the non-profit making but wildlife related bodies related to the cause of wildlife. In the year 1947, the Defenders of wildlife were started in North America.
The main purpose of this organization was to prevent the cruelties that are felt during the trapping of fur bearing wild animals by usage of steel jawed leg hold traps.
Yeah… The methods were so cruel and children or even many adult persons who witness the capture of the fur bearing wild animals will feel bad of that event.
Nation celebrated bald eagle recovery because of the effective conservation programs that are pertaining to this breed of these eagles by this agency.
The bald eagles are seen to some extent in the USA and this is because of the effective activities taken by the bodies like Defenders of wildlife.
In the wolf protection, the Defenders of wildlife played a major role. In fact, it is this organization that helped to reintroduce the wolves in Central Idaho and Yellowstone National Park.
Yeah… This is a fact. Wolf conservation is highly assisted by this unit. Defenders of wildlife also pave ways to link the agencies and the individual volunteers who can do some concrete assistance to prevent the disappearance of wildlife in its habitat.
Many positions are projected and through these many times, voluntary projects are carried out to protect the various eco systems.
Defenders of wildlife actively involve with the protection of grizzly bears, black bear, jaguar, Florida panther etc.
In the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, it is the “killing of predator” method that was adapted by Defenders of wildlife differently.
Such method involved the killing of predators like raccoons in order to restore the population of selective species of wildlife.
Defenders of wildlife action fund were created to associate the conservation activities and the Defenders of wildlife focus activities towards ultimate welfare of wildlife.
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Wonders of Wildlife
Posted on December 22nd, 2008 by Wildlife Luver, under Information, Turtle.
Wonders of wildlife are located in Springfield, Missouri. Yeah… You need to allot few days or at least few hours to visit these wonders of wildlife.
There are self guided tours are available to visit these areas. The purpose of these wonders of wildlife is mainly oriented to educate, inform and entertain the values of wildlife to public and all. Yeah… The facts you understand by visiting these areas re amazing ones. The hunting and fishing galleries attract the visitors to a greater extent. However, an extra ticket has to be obtained to visit these galleries.
Combo ticket if you purchase may include the visit to these galleries and children in particular may enjoy these visits.
Outreach programs are there with regard to the wonders of wildlife and you may have both thirty minute program and sixty minute program. In all these, many class room topics are available.
You can select one like claws and paws, discovering nature with Lewis and Clark, nature’s niches, animal’s appetites etc. These topics are of highly educative types for the children and also for the adults.
At area opposite to Bess Pro shops also you can visit these wonders of wildlife. You have more than two hundred and twenty species including beavers, bald eagles, crocodiles etc. You need to spend at least one and half or two hours.
These places near Branson also provide opportunity for seeing the feeding of shark in a close range and also you can have a close encounter of the wild animals.
In fact, you can have a photograph also. But note down the timing and these enjoy holiday during Christmas.
Wonders of wildlife will never be forgotten even if you visit once. Similarly, the rich experience you gain by visit to these places is to be enjoyed by all. Wonders of wildlife have such resources to be seen.
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Squirrels Use “Snake Scent” to Fool Predators
Posted on December 18th, 2008 by Wildlife Luver, under Snake Venom.
Today I came to know about an interesting behavioral pattern of the California ground squirrels (Spermophilus beecheyi) and rock squirrels (Spermophilus variegates).
Actually young squirrels are the favorite dish for rattlesnakes. In order to suppress their odor from rattlesnakes, these tiny creatures chew on old snake skin and smear it on their fur. This behavioral pattern was noticed by Barbara Clucas, a graduate student in animal behavior at the University of California, Davis.
This act of application of sloughed-off snake skin is considered to be a perfect defensive package of squirrels against rattlesnakes. The snakes get persuaded that another snake, not squirrel, is in the area.
Rattlers and other snakes usually prey the pups (Squirrel young one) and females while they fall asleep in the night. Mostly the adult squirrel won’t get affected by the snake poison as the blood proteins of them contains immunity against snake venom.
Another study confirms that squirrels are not only limited to the use of snake skin, they get used to take the snake odor from surfaces (tree branches, tree hole, etc) and soil, where the snakes have been resting.
So, the squirrels are turning the tables on the snakes. These squirrels are really wiser than enemy,,,
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Missing Tongue of the Crocodile
Posted on December 17th, 2008 by Wildlife Luver, under Crocodile.
I have visited a zoo as a undergraduate veterinary student as a volunteer. I searched the tongue of the basking crocodile. I asked the zoo vet about the missing tongue of the crocodile. He laughed and explained about the crocodile tongue.
Generally mouth of the crocodile makes up 15% of its body length. All the crocodiles are having a long thin forked tongue, but fused at the bottom of its mouth. So we can’t either see the tongue while it is basking or opening its mouth to capture its prey.
Length of the Crocodile Tongue
I measured the length of the tongue while performing postmortem of the same as a Zoo vet after my graduation. The length of the crocodile tongue is more or less 300-350 cms (this is a measurement of a crocodile of a 3 meters in length).
Additional Facts
The crocodile possess salt glands on their tongue, which is a modified salivary glands. The main purpose of this gland is to secrete excess salt from its body. Thats why salt water crocodile can spend weeks together in salt water.
As bottom line, I would like to conclude that this massive creature cannot stick out the tongue.
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Get to Know Coelacanths
Posted on December 16th, 2008 by Wildlife Luver, under Fishes.
The world is filled with weird and wonderful creatures, and a good proportion of them are found deep down in the ocean. We actually know more about the surface of the moon than we know about the deepest parts of the ocean here on planet earth.
Some marine species are of course very carefully studied and can even be found in marine aquariums in living rooms and public aquatic parks around the world. These species are however mostly the ones that are found close to the surface in the wild, e.g. the colourful reef fishes that never ventures further down than 30-40 meters.
For a creature that lives deep down at depths never explored by man, the risk (or chance) of ending up in an aquarium is slim. One of the most interesting beasts to surface from the depths during the 20th century is the Coelacanth.
Coelacanths are bony fishes from the order Coelacanthiformes. What makes them so interesting is the fact that before a living specimen was found during the 1930s, they were believed to have become completely extinct together with the dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous period.
In 1936, a museum curator named Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer befriended a Captain Goosen who worked on a trawler off the African coast. Goosen began saving interesting fish specimens for Courtenay-Latimer, and eventually he brought her a primitive looking fish caught about 70 meters (77 yards) from the mouth of the Chalumna River in the Indian Ocean. This strange looking fish turned out to be a true, living Coelacanth.
The finding proved that some Coelacanths had actually survived the through the Cretaceous period and continued to reproduce deep down in the ocean. Who knows what else we might find down there as we continue to explore the mesmerizing depths of the world’s oceans.
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A Sorrow Story of an Atlantic Green Turtle
Posted on December 14th, 2008 by Wildlife Luver, under Turtle.
A Green sea turtle of 2years old was rescued by Sea Turtle Inc. This sea turtle lost three of her flippers and had little chance of survival. This was named as “ALLISON“, which is five-inch in length.
Sea turtles can grow to 450 pounds and live for around 100 years. So animal shelter gave prompt treatment for this sea turtle. Now she managed to swim with single flipper. But reintroducing into the sea is questionable as it may be injured by other aquatic faunas and also would be confined to shallow waters for the rest of her life.
Caregivers at Sea Turtle Inc. are now thinking to fit three prosthetic flippers before getting into sea. This prosthetic flippers would be of silicon, which is being used for implants in humans.
A team of physicians from UT Dental Branch and University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center have arrived to help Allison get back to its home. They are studying the pros and cons of using silicone in sea water to confirm that it does not dissolve. Hope they will succeed to end the longing for the sea of Allison.
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Deer invades basement of Mich. home
Posted on December 12th, 2008 by Wildlife Luver, under Deer.
SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. (AP) — When Jody Fabry descended the basement stairs to her seasonal home and saw broken glass on the floor, then spied what caused the mess, she didn’t know who was more frightened — her, or the deer that was the culprit.
A young doe apparently got into the basement through a window, then couldn’t get out. Fabry called officers to her home, but it was more difficult than it looked to remove the animal.
Officers eventually ended up chasing it around the basement until it jumped back out the way it came, then bounded off.
The deer, which Fabry guessed had been in the unoccupied home for a day, appeared to be unhurt.
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Whales Lost Their Legs About 40 Million Years…
Posted on December 10th, 2008 by Wildlife Luver, under Fishes.
The Missing link between the whale and land animal was recently found out. It was nothing but a Raccoon like animal which looks like a long-tailed deer without antlers, or an overgrown long-legged rat.
In Kashmir region fossils recently dug up revealed the fact that the creature that bridges the whale and land animal is called as Indohyus.This creature revealed that there is crucial evolutionary similarities between it and water-dwelling cetaceans, such as porpoises, dolphins and whales.
This Indohyus can be considered as a closest relative of whale as thousands of fossils are recently dug in Kashmir, which is a part of India.Hans Thewissen, Professor of Anatomy at the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine confirmed that this animal is a “missing link” to the sister species to ancient whales. He added- Morphologically this raccoon like animal won’t resemble whale at all. But anatomically speaking both of them are having same thickened ear bone.
“The earliest Whales didn’t resemble the current one” Professor Thewissen said. “It looked like a cross between a dog and pig”. The whales lost their legs and walking ability on land about 40 million years age, he said.
Previously most of the scientists believed that the hippopotamus has been the perfect candidate for the closest land relative as it closely resemble the whale not only in its features but also similar DNA.
In the yester years (say, million years ago), whales were natural descends of India and Pakistan. But Hippos are native of Africa. So there is no possibilty of evolution of Hippos from whales.
Below is the image of the suspected Indohyus
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Do you Know About Vultures in Water?
Posted on December 8th, 2008 by Wildlife Luver, under Turtle.
Despite the abundance and diversity of river turtles, we sometimes lose sigh of or ignore the existence of these tiny toddlers. Most of us forget their major role in maintaining the ecological balance and their economic importance.
The fresh water turtles are termed as “Vultures in water” because these turtles mainly feeds on the dead animals and fishes in the pond or river to maintain the water clean. Especially the Ganges soft shell and Indian flapshell feed upon the animal carcasses and half-burnt human corpses in River Ganges, where most of the corpses were thrown off…
These turtles are broadly grouped as “hard shells” or “soft shells“. The soft-shell turtles possess elongated snout extended up to a fleshy tube-like proboscis, which consists of nostrils at its tip.
Hard shelled turtles are having a retractile neck and horny shell. The Indian Black turtle is the most commonest hardshell turtle. These turtles are widespread in India. Another hardshell turtle called- Indian Roofted turtle ( It is called so because it is having elevated tent-like carapace) is found in Indus, Brahmaputra and Ganges river system.
As these turtles are having economic importance, these are protected under the Indian Wildlife Protection Act (1972). Despite the stringent rules they’re facing challenges due to over exploitation and deforestation. If you are keen on wildlife conservation, immediately protect the turtles in the river and also ponds…
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World’s Rarest Rhino Captured on Camera
Posted on December 6th, 2008 by Wildlife Luver, under Rhino.
The rare footage of the world’s more rarest rhino have been captured by the hidden cameras in the Jungles of Indonesia’s Java island. This rare rhino is inhabitated only in two places in the world viz. 50 of them in the Ujung Kulon National Park in Java and eight of them in Cat Tien National Park in Vietnam.
Specially designed video cameras have been installed in Ujung Kulon to capture the pictures of these rare rhinos. Fortunately the team led by the campaign group WWF able to capture the footage of these rare Javan rhinos at the cost of the expensive cameras. The mother rhino became a little overexcited and charged the camera, sending it flying.
Adhi Rachmat Hariyadi, who leads WWF-Indonesia’s project is very much excited to note the presence of this rarest rhino in their project area. The footage is a big boon in wild life conservation to save the species. Hariyadi told that this footage gives new information on the rhinos’ health as well as vital insights into their breeding habits.
