Con Bio Final Fun Facts and diet Review

Aye Aye diet

omnivorous (insects, seeds, fruits, nuts, sap, and nectar)

percussive foraging: use of elongated digit to tap on wood to listen for insects and grubs, will chew into tree and reach in with long finger to grab insects/grubs

Aye-Aye fun facts

elodontous incisors (evergrowing)

inguinal nipples: mammary glands near groin rather than chest, ancestral traits

complex social behaviors: females are dominant to males and are more solitary, male-male interactions are more common

Mountain Gorilla Diet

consumes vegetables (bamboo shoots, leaves)

can consume bark to get sodium intake up

due to high tannin intakes, their teeth get really dark

Mountain Gorilla Fun Facts

Vocalizations: belches are the most common in groups (happy or content sounds), silverbacks emit the most calls, and females are the more frequent responders to this

small genitalia: smallest penis to body size ratio of apes

researchers identify wild gorillas through their nose prints (each individual has a unique set of nose wrinkles)

California Condor diet

exclusively carrion and occasionally terrestrial and marine mammals

dietary shifts: Pleistocene condors primarily ate marine mammals and in the 1800’s they consumed less marine mammals, while modern condors eat cattle, but in human care they are fed stillborn dairy cows

California Condor fun facts

spiritual/cultural significance: Yurok tribe believed condors had the ability to carry the dead across the ocean, contributing to the process of reintroduction

Human attraction/tameness: attraction to human-made structures

urohydrosis: the process of urinating or defecating on legs as a thermoregulatory technique

Eastern Hemlock diet

sugar production/sunlight (photosynthesis)

minerals (calcium, magnesium, potassium, nitrogen, and phosphorus)

Eastern Hemlock fun facts

needles can be used as source of vitamin C

longest lived evergreen in the Eastern U.S.

tannin from bark was used in the processing of leather

Okapi Diet

selective browsers that eat understory foliage of the Congo (40-60 pounds of foliage a day), will eat clay too

Okapi fun facts

invisible to science (was first seen in 1901)

“follow me” stripes - distinctive pattern

occasionally eat bat guano

Ohio Lamprey Diet

blood feeder lamprey species

adults have host fish (darters, carps, bass, hellbenders)

ammocoetes filter feed

Ohio Lamprey fun facts

share life history traits (migratory and adapt diet) with salmon

ecosystem engineers: ammoecetes’ burrows create habitat)

thought to be the true origin of vertebrates: living fossils that evolved way before other vertebrates, believed to be the most primitive living vertebrate

Wild Camel diet

pseudo-ruminants with 3-chambered stomachs, eat shrubs and grasses

salt needed for water retention

Wild Camel fun facts

will drink saltwater slush; domestic camels don’t

one of the earliest accounts of this species was reported by Marco Polo

males have fang-like canines used for male/male competition

Fossa diet

prey upon birds, lemurs, small mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and insects

largest land predator in Madagascar

50% of diet is lemurs

occasionally raid livestock village pens

Fossa Fun Facts

different pronunciations: pronounced “foosh” in Madagascar, scientific name also means “hidden anus”

Solitary: males and females only overlap for breeding

Transient Masculinization: females develop an enlarged spiny and bone supported clitoris that acts as a pseudo penis

Bonnethead Shark diet

50% of seagrass

possess enzymes necessary to breakdown plant material like starch and cellulose

prey upon blue crabs, mantis shrimp, pink shrimp, mollusks

Bonnethead shark fun facts

navigation via magnetism: can use the earth’s magnetic field for navigation

high human tolerance: only one recorded human attack

head shape: smooth, fully rounded (sephilopoil), utilized for finding food

Chinese Pangolin diet

ants and termites

insectivores

Chinese Pangolin fun facts

the only scaled mammal

rolls into an armored ball

babies ride on their mothers (rare among mammals)

Red-Crowned Crane diet

more carnivorous than other cranes

heavy diet during breeding, then shift to grain-based diet during winter

can switch between secondary or tertiary consumer depending on season

Red-Crowned Crane fun facts

symbol of immortality: in folklore, they are believed to be able to live for centuries

symbol of devoted marriage: monogamous mates for life, found on wedding attire

Choreographic masters: continue to dance with partners for life

Australian Box Jellyfish diet

anything from small fish, juvenile fish, shrimp, crustaceans, and even zooplankton if no other options are available

Australian Box Jellyfish fun facts

world’s most venomous animal, venom can kill a human in about 2 minutes

light blue coloration makes them almost invisible

diurnal: active during the day, sleep on the ocean floor at night

largest species of box jellyfish

American Chestnut fun facts

“redwoods of the east”: due to growing super tall

wide usage variety due to light, durable wood for many things like furniture

K-selected: thrive in forests and put large nutritional value into offspring

Spotted Turtle diet

feed on worms, fish, tadpoles, and crayfish, as well as seeds, fruit, duckweed, and algae

Spotted Turtle fun facts

yearly breeding patterns: have been documented every single month of the year

multiple paternity: females take sperm from multiple different males

lifespan: oldest documented spotted turtle was known to be alive for 51 years

Mountain Pygmy Possum diet

feed on an omnivorous diet of arthropods, seeds

arthropods (moths) comprise of over 50% of their diet in spring and summer

fruits and seeds are the main source in autumn

Mountain Pygmy Possum fun facts

only small mammal in Australia that hibernates seasonally for long periods

one of the longest living small mammals: females can live for over 12 years

a hardboiled egg weighs more than a mountain pygmy possum after hibernation

Eastern Hellbender diet

variety of invertebrates and fish (primarily crawfish and the occasional snails, worms, and aquatic invertebrates)

utilize suction mechanism while feeding

Eastern Hellbender fun facts

indicator species for healthy water quality

male hellbenders display parental care

there was only a bounty of 25 cents per hellbender

Andean Mountain Cat diet

sympatric carnivore that eats mountain viscachas and chinchillas

hunt invasive European hares

limits herbivore numbers as a top predator, prevents overgrazing

Andean Mountain Cat fun facts

symbol of fertility by natives in the Andes (believed to promote prosperity)

pelts are still used in religious ceremonies as a way to sanctify livestock before harvest seasons

share overlapping range with Pampas cats, exhibiting a much narrower ecological niche

Chinese Crocodile Lizard diet

carnivorous diet of small invertebrates, worms, snails, beetles, and tadpoles

Chinese Crocodile Lizard fun facts

nicknamed “living fossils” or “lizard of great sleepiness” due to metabolic pause and the fact that they have been around since the cretaceous

territorial behaviors of gaping behavior and raising and lowering body to assert dominance

unique reproduction: males display courtship through head nodding and they approach females and engage in mate guarding (staying with females and not letting other males around)

Lord Howe Island Stick Insect diet

herbivorous diet of melaleuca howeana plant

nocturnal feeders

Lord Howe Island Stick Insect fun facts

nicknamed the “tree lobster” due to inability to fly and large size

once a very common fishing bait in the region; this is possibly the reason they are still around today

during mating process, males can be observed with their arms over the female, this is NOT cuddling, as the male is actually decreasing the chances of one of them disconnecting while mating

Philippine Eagle diet

opportunistic hypercarnivore that preys upon macaques, colugos, lizards, snakes, and hornbills

will also target livestock, cats, and dogs

Philippine Eagle fun facts

many names: “monkey-eating eagle” or “Haraban” which translates directly to “king bird” or “bird king”

national bird of the Philippines: became such in 1995, appears on the 1,000 peso note and is depicted on passports and stamps

convergence with Harpiinae: both are tropical dwelling eagles that have similar morphological adaptations, both target similar prey, and have similar breeding habits

Matschie’s Tree Kangaroo diet

almost exclusively folivorous: prefers mature leaves

remainder of diet: wild fruits, flowers, nuts, insects, bark, sap, bird eggs, and young birds

Trophic: primary consumers and seed dispersers that eat sporadically throughout the day

Matschie’s Tree Kangaroo fun facts

45 day gestation period: longest of any marsupial mammal

jump distance: can jump down to lower trees or the ground from heights up to 60 feet without injury

No sweat: lick forearms instead of sweating

spend 14-15 hours of their day resting