Wild & Wondrous - Favorite World Press

The FWP weekly digest of wondrous wildlife happenings
and other interesting items from the natural world

Creatures to meet | Things to learn
Things to do

Lisa S. French

Particular patterns of spots passed down from female giraffes to their offspring may play an important role in helping to keep calves safe in the wild. Scientists are working to understand how inheriting similar shapes and patterns of spots from their mothers could increase young giraffes chances of survival. It appears those beautiful markings, which also serve as camouflage from predators, may not be random after all—apparently, the larger and more irregular the spots the better. When it comes to giraffe survival in the savanna, it seems there’s no such thing as being too matchy-matchy.

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Lisa S. French January 18, 2019

Snoring Tadpoles

When you need a little break from the hurly-burly of daily duties, what could be more calming than the soft, snuffling sounds of hibernating tadpoles? Take a trek to the frozen north of Norway and have a listento the drip, plop, drip of melting snow and snoozing sounds of future frogs with BBC Radio 3 – Slow radio.

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Lisa S. French January 15, 2019

How to Bee

When the days draw in, busy bees on blooming blossoms may be a distant thought, but now is the perfect time to think about ways to support our pollen gathering pals next spring. Watch this inspiring video and find out how an amazing global network of Bee Guardians are helping honey bee colonies thrive and become more resilient and get the latest buzz on how you can lend a hand to these VIPs (Very Important Pollinators). If you aren’t ready to go full-beekeeper, there are other easy, low-cost ways to Airbee-n-bee here. If you need help identifying your hard-working house guests, check out The Bee, A Natural History.

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Lisa S. French January 10, 2019

City Turtles

You might not think that an urban beach in densely populated Queens would be a natural choice for a critically endangered Kemp’s ridley sea turtle to lay her eggs, but last July, for the first time in the recorded history of New York, one lone turtle laid 110 eggs on Far Rockaway peninsula. In September, after about 60 days of incubation, eight dozen, flippered hatchlings emerged from their shells and very, very slowly trundled toward the Atlantic.

Although young Kemp’s ridley turtles have appeared as far north as Nova Scotia, researchers aren’t exactly certain why this turtle mom traveled so far from the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico where the rare species usually nests. Some believe that as global waters warm due to climate change, more Kemp’s ridley turtles will migrate beyond their instinctual year-round comfort zone resulting in larger numbers of shell-shocked seasonal strandings as the northern Atlantic rapidly cools in the winter. You can help keep these youngsters safely turtling around by adopting your very own trio of hatchlings from the World Wildlife Fund. And you can find more magnificent reasons to support marine life in these photos from Call of the Blue / Paul Holberton Publishing.

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Lisa S. French January 7, 2019

Hoppy They’re Here

Pop quiz! What can be found on every continent except Antarctica, fits in the palm of your hand, comes in 4,740 different models, amazingly eye-popping colors, and drinks and breathes through its skin? Hint: it’s not the iPhone 30X. It’s a humble hopper–the frog. Last fall, a particularly tiny, bright green member of the frog family, the Pickersgill’s reed frog, made a big splash in biodiversity conservation when two hundred of the endangered amphibians were returned to the only place they call home, a 56-square-mile patch of habitat in coastal South Africa. So, why the tiny frog fuss? This particular army of frogs was raised in captivity by scientists working to rapidly breed species on the brink of extinction, one of many global teams rushing to conserve threatened wildlife.

While they may not take up much space in our minds or on the planet, frogs are important because they are a keystone species, a critical link in the chain of organisms that support functioning ecosystems, benefiting both humans and other animals. Sticky-tongued frogs are natural bug zappers, eating a variety of insects including the disease-carrying mosquito. They are also a food source for larger species including fish, birds, and monkeys. Pre-frogs, otherwise known as tadpoles, do their bit to help to keep waterways clean by eating algae. And because frogs are super-sensitive to environmental stressors, a typically frog-friendly habitat that becomes frog-free can alert us to changes in climate, air and water quality. Conserving the creature components of global ecosystems, even the tiny, green ones, keeps interdependent living parts of the natural world healthy and that’s a wonderful thing. If you’d like to support the preservation of forest and wetland habitats for our amphibian friends, hop on over to WWF.

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Lisa S. French January 5, 2019

Animal Farmers

While you’ll probably never encounter a porcupine peddling potatoes at your neighborhood farmer’s market, there are species of animals, including specific types of ants, beetles, birds, and fish, that appear to cultivate plants. One such floating animal farmer, the white spotted jellyfish, carefully tends and harvests algae that grow in its very own personal, portable tentacle garden. Talk about local veg!

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Lisa S. French January 3, 2019

Pine Fir Wildlife

Festive fir season may come only once a year, but coniferous, as in cone-producing, pines are year-round favorites of the feathered and furry. Because pine trees retain their needle-shaped leaves in the fall, they provide birds and mammals with essential shelter for safe nesting as well as protection from predators and harsh weather. Pine needles, buds, shoots, and bark are also a valuable food source for forest residents large and small including bear, elk, deer, hare, beaver, and porcupine. And seeds from pine cones are nutritious, protein-packed fuel for a variety of birds such as woodpeckers, warblers, finches, and chickadees.

Large pines like the longleaf, which can grow to heights of 200 feet and live for over 300 years, are part of critical forest ecosystems that over 30 endangered species rely on for habitat, including the gopher tortoise and red-cockaded woodpecker. If you’d like to help expand and restore pine forests to benefit wildlife, you can give habitat this holiday season by supporting American Forests. Plus, planting trees is one of the most effective things you can do to help keep the planet cool for critters and humans alike. Oh, yeah!

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Lisa S. French December 28, 2018

Whale Carols

If you’ve run through every single holiday tune on this list of 100, and you’re still looking for a little extra jingle, why not press play on some sea mammal melodies—the soul-stirring songs of the humpback whale. While both male and female humpbacks vocalize, it’s the male of the species that emits the louder, more complex, whistles, clicks, calls, and trills either solo or in pairs with other males. Researchers aren’t exactly certain why whales, which are the largest animals on earth, sing. Studies suggest that the musical sounds of varying frequency made by some types of baleen whales, including the humpback, minke, blue and bowhead, may be used to communicate, navigate, and locate food. Unlike some mammals, baleen whales don’t have vocal cords. Their awe-inspiring songs appear to be produced through folds of tissue in the larynx. If you are wondering about the average length of a humpback whale vocalization, these cetacean’s songs can range from six to thirty-five minutes.

We sing to communicate, to raise spirits, to show love and caring—to connect. If you listen closely it’s easy to believe that whales do too. However you find your holiday groove this season, we wish you a whale of a time.

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Lisa S. French December 24, 2018

Pocket Birds

The next time you are roaming out in the American Southwest and you come across a sparrow-sized, cactus-dwelling owl and you are wondering, “Hey, what kind of tiny owl is that anyway?” you can download the Audubon bird guide app and find out everything you’ve ever wanted to know about the cutely compact elf owl and 800 other species of North American birds. Did we mention it’s free? Yep, it’s free! If you’d like to go book-deep with your elfin owl education, Owl by Paul Bannick explores the life cycle and habitats of the world’s smallest owl along with 18 other species of North American owls.

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Lisa S. French December 20, 2018

One Hump or Two?

Daily desert trekking requires careful preparation. You need the right equipment to manage the scorching heat and shifting sands of a Sahara or Gobi—sunscreen, shades, wide-brimmed hat, and maybe a pair of scorpion-proof shin guards. Unless you are a camel of course and have adapted over millions of years to a harsh desert climate in which case your professional grade, built-in gear makes traveling long distances across sizzling sands a day at the beach. These humped members of the camelid family are equipped with two toes on each foot connected to broad, thick foot pads which spread out and grip the sand as they walk, and tough knee pads which prevent sand burns when kneeling. Camels also have desert-friendly facial features to protect them from blowing sand including bushy eyebrows, two rows of long eyelashes, a handy third eyelid, and nostrils that can close against pesky flying particles.

Unfussy herbivores, camels have a very hard palate and thick, leathery mouth lining making them capable of consuming any old prickly plant they come across. And because plants and water sources are typically few and far between in the desert, camels have evolved to go long periods of time without eating or drinking. However, those famous humps are not filled with H2O, or camel chow for that matter, but stored fat which is metabolized for energy between feedings. Camels also have specially coated nasal passages which enable them to extract moisture from the air helping to prevent dehydration. When they do happen upon a watering hole, camels are champion drinkers, slurping up to 30 gallons in under 15 minutes.

Whether these excellent examples of environmental adaptation have one hump or two depends upon where you find them. The domesticated dromedary has one hump and is native to North Africa and the Middle East. The domesticated two-humped Bactrian camel can be found primarily in Central Asia. A third, critically endangered species, and the only wild camel left on earth, the two-humped wild Bactrian makes its home in the Gobi desert of Central Asia. Any camels on your giving list? May we suggest some desert-strength, leathery-lip balm to soothe cactus crunching ouchies.

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Lisa S. French December 17, 2018