Animals of the Week #3

The idea of this series is that each week, I will post a blog that educates you about six different animals, one mammal, bird, reptile, amphibian, fish, and invertebrate. This is inspired by my fascination with the zoological world, so I hope to bring the wonders of animals to you. This is the third edition, and I do hope you enjoy it. Let's get started!

MG17 requested a macaw or toucan for this section, and to honor Brazil, the featured bird of this blog is the Lear's macaw. Found in the arid caatinga, a thorn-scrub forest habitat, the Lear's macaw has an interesting etymology. It is named after a young British poet who specialized in limericks and nonsense poetry, Edward Lear, who portrayed it in a critically successful book, but the bird remained mysterious. In 1978, live specimens were located by German ornithologist Helmut Sick, in Bahia, Brazil, and were given official status as a species and named after Lear. The Lear's macaws are part of an ornithological South American group known as "blue macaws", for obvious reasons, including the Spix's macaw, which is extinct in the wild and has only around 150 captive individuals (also the species featured in the Rio film series), glaucous macaw, thought to be extinct, and the hyacinth macaw, the largest and most common in the group. Communicating through unmelodious screeches and croaks, these macaws have a diet consisting mainly of nuts from the Licurí palm, and because these trees are routinely cut down or burned, limiting their distribution to chiefly the Canubos Biological Station, with efforts being made to fuel a comeback. In spite of the scarcity of the species' preferred palm tree and the illegal bird trade, the Lear's macaw is slowly defying extinction, thanks in large part to the American Bird Conservancy.

When threatened, these feral monitors rise up with a swelling throat and a vicious hiss; if this fails to intimidate predators (usually dingos or humans) away from them, their last resort is to retreat. Perenties are also intriguing particularly due to recent research, which suggests they could have the evolutionary remnants of a venom gland, possibly providing explanations for why Perentie bites take such an extensive amount of time to heal. As of now, this reptile species is of Least Concern, according to the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), and hopefully it stays that way. 

The giant freshwater stingray is elusive, its zoological profile clouded in mystery ... no one can be sure how many are left, what habitat they prefer, or if they ever journey to the ocean. The humongous ray potentially is the largest freshwater fish in the world, at a length of 16.5 feet (roughly 5 meters) including their barbed tail, but there is so much enigma surrounding this creature that it is impossible to be sure. They reportedly can weigh up to 1,300 pounds (589.6 kg), weighing the enormous creatures is exceptionally difficult. These stingrays also have a complex but interesting history, first identified in 1852 by the Dutch ichthyologist (fish biologist) Pieter Bleeker, in Indonesia, but after that, they were basically forgotten for more than a century, until as late as 1990, when they were first classified by scientists as a new species. The species is known to inhabit river systems in Southeast Asian nations - Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia. As a result of the increasingly lower quality of freshwater habitats, giant freshwater stingrays are now considered endangered, and it has been possibly indicated of major reductions in population. Thailand's Mae Klong River, in particular, has discharged a plethora of waste containing cyanide, courtesy of an ethanol plant, which is responsible for the deaths of at least 70 stingrays, decreasing the population in this environment to merely a few large stingrays. Because the stingrays typically dwell at the very bottom of these rivers, it will remain mysterious and evasive of more studies to be undertaken ... we will have to wait until more information is uncovered of this riveting animal.

Hercules beetles, in terms of their life cycle, undergo complete metamorphosis, though not much is known about the natural life cycle and reproductive cycle of this species, despite various studies conducted by scientists and breeders in laboratory conditions. Eggs are incubated on average for 27.7 days, the pupal stage, in which the beetles are confined to cocoons, lasts roughly 32 days, while adults can live from 3-6 months in captivity. All in all, complete metamorphic development lasts 19-21 months, and the lifespan of this insect can reach up to two years. Hercules beetle larvae are saproxylophagous, meaning they feed on dead wood, and they develop in rotten and decomposing logs and tree trunks. There is a whole lot more about this striking beetle, but the amount of information about it is complex and too lengthy to fit into this blog.

That's it for this "week." I'm very sorry for the extremely late release, even though I said the next blog would come out in 2+ weeks, I've just been busy - it's summer vacation after all, I hope you understand. Ironically, when I have more time, I've been blogging less. Anyway, I think I'm going to stop this series, because while it was fun and educational, it grows tedious, and I have other blogs planned (some about animals, of course). That said, enjoy the summer and I'll see you in the next blog!