Little Elke finds mothers

Elke with her 'adoptive mothers' - Image from LA Times

A lot of babies are rejected by parents as soon as they are born, which leads to them ending up in adoption centers. Apparently, this happens in the animal world too. But here the reason is just plain distress. Elke was born to two francois langur monkeys, a rare species, which was brought to the Taronga Zoo in Sydney in an effort to increase the numbers of the endangered species. Saigon and Hanoi, the mother and father respectively, got petrified after the birth of their baby and left it on the ground as soon as it was born. According to senior primate keeper in the zoo, Mandy McLellan, this is quite a common occurrence among primates. She says it, “just comes down to lack of experience; the first one's a bit of a shock.” Elke is now being cared for by the primate keepers who give her a bottle of formula milk every three hours.

Elke is quite a hit in the zoo with her flame-colored fur typical of infants in her species. Although francois langur monkeys are jet black, like Saigon and Hanoi, their infants typically have orange fur. Hopefully Elke will endear herself soon, ironically, to her parents too.

Watch Elke

A little more about Francois Langur monkeys

New Species: 50 newbies discovered in Papua New Guinea

The jumping spider - Image from Conservation International

It sounds like a different world altogether, filled with jumping spiders, striped geckos and chirping frogs. But these are just some of the 50 different species that have been discovered by the environmental group Conservation International in the forests of Papua New Guinea.

"It never ceases to amaze me the spectacular things that are turning up from that island,” says Steve Richards the expedition leader. And it is quite amazing, considering that some of the spider species and the frogs have never been mentioned in science ever before.

Some of the species found have really quirky features. For instance, one of the jumping spiders (Tabuina Varirata) can jump to a height of at least six inches using the blood pressure in their legs! Wish I could see these creatures!

Read more on Conservation International's website

Willie the hero gets the Red Cross medal

Willie the hero - Image from SkyNews

I guess a lot of us would have forgotten about Willie the parrot. I had written about him last year, about his very brave attempt at saving a toddler’s life. Willie, the Quaker parrot, now has been awarded the local Red Cross chapter’s Animal Lifesaver Award in Denver, Colorado.

Willie’s owner Megan Howard was babysitting little Hannah last year in November. She left the toddler alone for a moment and at the precise point she started choking on her breakfast. Willie’s shrill cries of “Mama, baby,” alerted Howard and she came running to do the needful.

Samantha Kuusk, Hannah’s mother, says that recounting the episode even now brings tears to her eyes. Willie, it seems, will not be forgotten for sometime, at least by her.

Pandora's boxed up

Pandora gallops happily in her high-tech attire - Image from Dailymail

Hi readers! Just a note here to check out the brand new collage header for the Animalands blog! I made it with some of the animal images that I have shot (one of them was shot by my friend) so far. The blog looks a bit more colorful now! And now to go on to our story for today.

Pandora is allergic to grass. Now that’s ok if you are a dog but being a horse it’s a bit difficult. The five-year old horse is encased in a specially designed coverall, which prevents her from having any contact with grass and at the same time allows her to roam free in the outdoors. Pandora’s owner Emily Pearce first discovered the horse’s problem when she noticed an itchy lump on the horse’s stomach. When ointments didn’t work, Pearce took her to the vet and got some tests done. By now Pandora was in constant distress with the lumps spreading everywhere.

Today, after Pandora’s diagnosis she is much at peace. She is fed on a special diet of sugar beet chaff and soya oil and is made to swallow about 15 anti-histamine tablets in a day. She cannot be ridden at all times and if it’s a really bad day for her she has to stay indoors the full time. But for now Pandora is happy.

Read more on Pandora

Spot of Understanding - Insects self-medicate

Woolly Bear Caterpillar - Image from National Geographic

If y’all thought we superior humans are the only ones who can medicate ourselves when we suffer injuries, then banish the thought. A team of scientists, led by Michael Singer in the University of Wesleyen, Connecticut, and in the University of Arizona have discovered that the woolly bear caterpillar is the first among insects to self-medicate when sick. These crawlies are prone to falling sick when parasitic flies lay their eggs inside them. And when they do, they simply munch on alkaloid laden plants like the Arizona popcorn flower. They were found to impede the caterpillars’ growth but also improve their overall survival.

Among animals, chimpanzees are known to cure an attack of worms by swallowing rough leaves to unhook the worms from the insides of their stomach. So for insects, who have a ‘less developed central nervous system,’ this is huge.

Read more in NatGeo

The scientifically inclined can read Michael Singer's thesis

Book of the Week - The Face on Your Plate

Image from jeffreymasson

Here’s some solid material for vegetarians to finally make a stronger case for their green inclination. “The Face on Your Plate” by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson is an appeal to meat eaters to take a closer look at the food they eat. It is probably difficult to make a non-vegetarian do a double take through a book. But Masson manages it in this book, according to the Los Angeles Times review. After reading the review, I feel I must pick it up more out of curiosity to see how well he defends us vegetarians.

Read more reviews on Jeffrey's website

Celebrities from the Past - Predator X

A recreation of Predator X's jaws - Image from NY Times

I keep reading so many news items about discoveries of fossils that tell a lot about the evolution of animals today that I thought I must begin a new feature that tells these tales. Am not particularly a science freak so I won’t be giving the geeky specs. I will only be giving the news from an interesting angle and keep it short, just enough for us to know that something interesting has been found! Here is the first post of the section.

Can you imagine something with jaws big enough to make snack of a 4x4? Well, scientists have unearthed the fossil of a creature currently named as “Predator X”, in Svalbard, a remote Arctic archipelago. The marine reptile measures a scary 15 meters (50 ft) and roamed the oceans around 145 million years ago according to the team of Norwegian scientists who discovered it. They are thought to belong to group of large, short-necked reptiles known as pliosaurs, which lived during the time of dinosaurs. Expedition leader Jorn Harald Hurum, from the University of Oslo's Natural History Museum has said that the Predator X could easily have chomped up a Hummer. Wow, now that is a huge lunch.

Read more about Predator X

Special Feature: The importance of others from Paulo Coelho's blog

Image from mifamily

The Mousetrap

Very worried, the mouse saw that the farmer had bought a mousetrap: he was out to kill him! He began to warn all the other animals: “Careful with the mousetrap! Careful with the mousetrap!” The hen, hearing his shouts, asked him to be quiet: “My dear mouse, I know that this a problem for you, but it’s not going to have the last effect on me, so stop making such a fuss!”

The mouse went to talk to the pig, which was annoyed because his nap had been interrupted. “There is a mousetrap in the house!” “I appreciate your concern and I sympathize with you,” answered the pig. “So rest assured you will be in my prayers tonight, but that’s the most I can do.”

Lonelier than ever, the mouse went to the cow for help. “My dear mouse, what’s that got to do with me? Have you ever seen a cow killed in a mousetrap?” Seeing that no-one was offering any solidarity, the mouse returned to the farmer’s house, hid in his hole and spent the whole night wide awake, afraid that some tragedy was about to happen.

During the early hours he heard a noise: the mousetrap had caught something! The farmer’s wife went downstairs to see if the mouse had been killed. In the dark she did not notice that the trap had only caught the tail of a poisonous snake; when she drew near, she was bitten. The farmer, hearing his wife screaming, woke up and raced her to the hospital. She was given the proper treatment and then sent home. But she still had a fever. Knowing that there is no better remedy for the sick than a good broth, the farmer killed the hen.

His wife started to recover. As the couple was much loved in the region, all the neighbors came to visit them. Grateful for such a show of affection, the farmer killed the pig to serve his friends a hearty meal.

His wife finally recovered, but the treatment was very expensive, so the farmer sent the cow to the slaughterhouse and used the money from the meat to pay all the medical bills. The mouse saw all this and thought to himself: “I warned them well. Wouldn’t it have been better if the hen, the pig and the cow had understood that one’s problem puts everyone else in danger?”

Paulo Coelho's blog

Mother hen and the puppies

The hen watches over protectively - Image from Ananova

Apparently mother hen is capable of mothering anyone. A hen in Majiaqiao village, Jiashan in Anhui province, China, has adopted two puppies after their mother died of poisoning. What is more heartwarming is that the hen was the mother’s best friend.

Cao Fengying, the owner of the animals, said that the hen and the dog had been very close for two years, always playing together. Sadly, the dog was poisoned just ten days after the puppies were born and now her best friend has taken over the responsibility of bringing up her kids. The hen is very protective of her friend’s children, standing guard and letting them eat first during meal times. Ah if only all friends were like the hen!

Farasi, Swiss of the Year 2008

Farasi with his mom - Image from CBC

Here is the first post after a long time. Ever heard of a hippopotamus being nominated as a person of the year? I guess not. Well, it has happened with Farasi, a hugely popular hippo in Switzerland. He is Basel Zoo’s biggest attraction and was named “Swiss of the Year” in 2008, outdoing Roger Federer even! But Farasi, born on November 6th, is now an excess in the zoo and is in danger of losing his life. If the zoo cannot find a home for Farasi he will become food for the lions. Swiss newspapers have pounced on the cruel intention and have splashed headlines appealing for Farasi’s life.

The problem lies in zoo policies in Europe. While American zoos believe in birth control for their animal populations, European zoos believe that they should be free to do what is natural to them. But the downside is that zoos typically end up killing animals if there is no place for them anywhere. Sad but true.

Probably the press agitation helped. Farasi, whose name means “horse” in Swahili, will continue to live with his mother for another year as he is dependent on her milk. The zoo officials will then look for a home for him, probably another zoo, and I pray that he gets one.

Greetings

My long absence can again be explained by the absence of the computer in my house, which goes on vacation from time to time according to its whim and fancy. I have strong reasons to hope for the arrival of my own personal little notebook, which I know will serve me more ably than the traitor of a machine that lord over all of us at home. I will announce the joyful occasion here as soon as it takes place. Till then, fingers crossed for the stability of that evil machine.

Yours Truly