Asiatic Lion.

Yes, there are lions in Asia. In India, in fact. People seemed shocked by this, but anyone who has studied India's history recognizes the Lion emblem and the famous Ashoka pillars from 250 BCE with lions standing tall on them. They are also the same lions found in Western Europe during the time of empires and held a range to China. The reason you may not hear about them now is because they are now extremely rare. In fact, in 1907, somewhere between 13 and 100 lions remained (the range is large because people reported lower numbers to discourage hunting). Point is, it is low.

They used to be all over India, but as populations grew, their grasslands turned to farmlands and they were slowly pushed to Sasun Gir, a small area in the state of Gujarat. The last count done in 2006 came up with 359 lions; an improvement, but still incredibly low. They run the risk of inbreeding, so if one catches an illness, that could wipe out almost the entire population as they will all be suseptible without genetic variation (Cheetah's currently face the same problem). Numbers were also low because the British would hunt them when they colonized India.

They are in fact the same species as African Lions, but are a different subspecies. In this case, that was classified because while they can technically mate and produce viable offspring, they do not regularly do so because of geographic boundaries, and are different enough to be considered its own category. The differences: They are smaller, less aggressive, with mains generally too small to cover its ears. This is supposedly because the prey they seek is smaller and weaker than the prey its African counterpart might attack. For this, they also form prides only for hunting and mating and otherwise live independently (although this, too, might be a population issue).

In any case, people surrounding the protected park now love the lions, and they are not seen as a threat. Occasionally they will venture into neighboring villages, but since they are not in a busy tourist area of India, there is little fear or bother to their lifestyle, which is one thing that the lion has in its favor. Occasionally you hear about people poisoning lions if they eat their livestock, which can devestate the population -- but it is now socially unacceptable so it is less popular -- moving it in the direction of being illegal.

Draco Lizards.

This SE Asian genus of lizards are also known as 'gliding lizards'. They stay on trees almost 24/7. The females venture down to lay eggs, guards for 24 hours, then runs away and never sees its offspring (knowingly). On trees is where they are safe. Each one is colored to match a tree species for camouflage (image #4... trust me, there's one there.) and with these 'wings' they can glide relatively large distances to avoid predation. Reptiles have an uncanny ability to use coloration for defense and signalling (see: Panther Chameleon and Satanic Leaf-Tailed Gecko) They also have rounded heads and a little flesh of skin that descends from their chin. Plenty of reptiles apparently also make good use of its flesh (see Jesus Christ Lizard). This is used for aerodynamics and steering -- there's no point in gliding if you can't stick a landing in a place that's safe. Similar to a rudder.

Linnaeus actually named these lizards 'draco' because of how they reminded him of dragons.

There's a video demonstrating this behavior -- it won't let me embed the video, so click here to watch it.

Giant Clam.

GIANT CLAMS! I know, a lot of pictures, but I really wanted to show you the variety of designs and colors these animals have. There are plenty more, too. They are many varieties of this genus. And they all live in the Pacific and Indian oceans. They can weigh in at 400 pounds and measure about 4 feet across when fully grown. And they live to about 100 years!

The coloration attracts all sorts of animals -- many animals confuse it with corals and think it is a good place to rest. Unlike most clams, this one keeps its shell open regularly, instead of closed. This is because it has a symbiotic relationship with algae -- their contribution is to keep the shell open during the day so that the algae living on the mantle's flesh get sunlight for photosynthesis.

It was thought that they could eat people (so much so that they originally named it killer clam). And while it could potentially hold someone underwater, it does not close its shells unless threatened, and even then they can't always shut their shells. And even if it can, it closes very slowly -- not the 'snap' you associate with clams. So you have to be really, really dumb to get caught by one. The US Navy Diving manual used to have instructions on how to escape them at one time, if caught. Strange.

They are listed by the IUCN as "vulnerable" -- though they are still in decent numbers, they live in fragile habitats, easily effected by pollution and human traffic. And their shells are sold on the black market for decoration. Their meat is sold as a delicacy in Japan and France.

Red-Capped Manakin.

Everyone seems to be tributing Michael Jackson these days, so I thought I'd hop on board, Animal of the Day style. You might think, what does this bird have to do with Michael Jackson? I'll get to that.

First, this animal is pretty common in C. America (specifically its forests) and doesn't do well around people -- they're pretty fragile birds in a pretty fragile ecosystem. But their population is going strong.

Second, its the only bird able to beat its wings faster than a hummingbird. It doesn't do this while flying, so the hummingbird still carries its own with how fast they can beat their wings to keep themselves afloat. These things just do it as a mating call (the sound it makes when they beat them together really quickly). As you can see, they're sexually dimorphic - the female doesn't look very much like the male (male = top 2 pictures, female = bottom). This goes to show how many birds are named as well -- after the male counterpart, when there is dimorphism. At least we recognize the male better, on average (Did you ever think why we refer to 'peacocks' as 'peacocks' and not 'peafowl'? There are peahens, too, you know...).

Anyway, the real reason I posted this. Its relation to MJ. It has a wonderful mating dance, which will be evident from this tacky video. I wish you could easily take out the clips of the ornithologist dancing around, too, because she is incredibly annoying, but sit through her to watch it, it'll be worth it.

Prevost's Squirrel.

Just a small post today... These squirrels live in SE Asia (Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia) and are very similar to ours here in the states.. eat nuts, fruits, occasionally bird eggs, live in trees... the usual.

In their habitat they have been credited with helping expand forest boundaries, since they tend to take nuts and seeds far away from where they find them. This spreads the seeds quickly and since the squirrel sometimes hides its finds in the dirt, it essentially
plants them if they are not retrieved quickly enough. So in a place where forests are at a crossroads with deforestation and preservation, this is certainly an animal that will be important to maintaining any sense of a natural order.

Obviously its striking feature is its coloration. This is used to fend off predators (the color red is associated with toxins for most animals, even though these contain no poison) and also as a mating display.

Colossal Squid.

FREAKY FRIDAY!

Easily the most terrifying known animal, in my opinion. In fact, it's in my list of greatest fears and has been for several years. I didn't enjoy looking for these pictures, but if I take a step back, they truly are amazing and the fact that we know so little about them is eye-opening considering how large this thing is. You just sort of assume that the big things have been found, but this goes to show that we could be missing quite a bit.

So about the squid, it's NOT the same as a 'giant squid'. Though also large in size (the colossal is the largest known invertebrate in the world). It's not terribly longer than a giant squid, because it has shorter tentacles. But it's mantle size is MUCH larger. So it's heavier and bulkier. Also, they aren't really closely related to giant squid (they're both squid, yes, but they do not share the same genus), surprisingly. They're both large, but there's convergent evolution for you. It's a niche a squid can apparently fill well. These guys live in the Antarctic waters. And this one in the first picture was caught alive, but wouldn't let go of the rope so was pulled in, frozen, and donated to a natural history musem in New Zealand for research and exhibition. It's the largest one ever caught, though based on beak sizes found in stomachs of whales, they can grow to be much larger.

Here are the descriptions of pictures:
1. Colossal Squid: Caught.
2. A diagram of my favorite description of how large it is.
3. Tentacle hooks.
4. Beak
5. Deflated Eyeball

What makes them more terrifying than giant squid:
1. Its tentacles. Most squid tentacles aren't fun to look at, but they have a standard structure... long tentacles with little suckers on them to grip on to prey, rocks and whatever else it wants. Occasionally, you'll get some with razored suckers so they can dig into things as well. These, however, have sharp HOOKS! They puncture things.

2. Their attack. they generally eat fish and smaller squid -- not really in a place where we'd be threatened since it's so deep and we wouldn't withstand the pressure, so we're ok. But they sit in a 'cockatoo' stance (point their tentacles up, and keep them together so they look smaller), and wait. Their eyes (which I will get to in a second) have biolumenescent (think: glow in the dark) spots in them, attracting animals to it, thinking it's a small biolumenescent fish. When it's near; doomsday. The poor fish think they're getting fed, while instead they are attacked by a large squid with sharp hooks. They have giant beaks to crush almost anything that it can catch.

3. Eyes. Their eyes are up to 30 cm in diameter (about 1 foot!)! That's all I have to say about that one.

End of the day, while freaky, certainly fascinating. If you want to learn more, there's this site that includes animated videos of all these things I'm talking about, more pictures, and more research. It's crazy for me to think that while I'm typing this post, these things exist in the antarctic depths either preying or waiting to prey. We know so little about our world.

Mediterranean Jelly.

This jellyfish as you probably notice is a bit of a standout with its polka-dot tentacles. They're also known as 'fried egg jellies' for obvious reasons.

Other than the fact that I haven't covered Jellies before, what makes this one unique is that it has the ability to move easily without the need of a current pushing it along. If you think of the cap of a jellyfish as a wheel at the the top of an arrow, the 'wheel' can only contract its rim (it is a circular muscle) pushing it only in the direction that it is pointing to. So it can't control direction. This one can, however.

Other general jelly facts are the fact that offspring attach to rocks, and for a while feed on passing nutrients and particles. This is their 'polyp' stage. Eventually they're free from surface and look like what you and me would consider a jellyfish (though they aren't fish).

The colors on this one supposedly lure prey so it can grab fish and other small creatures passing through.