Saturday, November 28, 2009

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

LITTLE ONES


Three lion cubs are seen in the lion's enclosure, at Belgrade Zoo, Serbia, Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2009. The cubs were born Aug. 13, from mother African lion Kiara, and father white lion Wambo, who is a top attraction at Belgrade Zoo. (Srdjan Ilic/AP Photo )





A Siberian wolf cub, born at the end of April, walks around a park at the Servion Zoo near Lausanne, Switzerland, May 27, 2009. (Dominic Favre/Keystone/AP Photo)






Hasani, a 6-month-old western lowland gorilla, sits in the grass at a gorilla exhibit during his first public viewing at California's San Francisco Zoo, June 5, 2009. Since his mother rejected him at birth, zoo staff members have raised him. A surrogate gorilla mother was trained to care for Hasani and has accepted the newborn as her own. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images







Twin black panther cubs sit in a basket at the Tierpark zoo during a presentation to the media, in Berlin, Germany, Tuesday June 9, 2009. The female cubs named Larisa and Sipura were born on April 26, 2009. (Maya Hitij/AP Photo)






Three baby fennec foxes, including the one seen here, made their public debut June 20, 2009, at Tokyo's Sunshine International Aquarium. Fennec foxes, known for their outlandishly large ears, are nocturnal creatures that live in the deserts of North Africa. (Junko Kimura/Getty Images)






A clouded leopard cub, (Neofelis Nebulosa), born on April 25, 2009 is seen at Jardin des Plantes Zoological in Paris, Tuesday June 23, 2009. (Francois Mori/AP Photo)






Barely two weeks old, Sha-lei, a Styan's red panda cub, made a public appearance June 30, 2009, at the Edmonton Valley Zoo in Edmonton, Canada. There are estimated to be fewer than 2,500 mature Styan's Red Pandas in the world. (Jimmy Jeong/The Canadian Press/AP Photo)






A Hoffman's two-toed sloth made its first public appearance July 15, 2009, at the Philadelphia Zoo. Officials have not yet determined whether the baby sloth, seen here clinging to its mother, Charlotte, is male or female. It was born July 10, 2009. (Matt Rourke/AP Photo)






A person feeds a baby macaw rubrogeny on July 29, 2009 at the Jurques zoo, near Caen, western France. Two macaw rubrogenys were born at the zoo on June 26, 2009. Approximately 1000 macaw rubrogenys are left in the wild today. (MYCHELE DANIAU/AFP/Getty Images






A 12-day-old Nile hippopotamus plays with its mother, Chombi, at Malaysia's National Zoo in Kuala Lumpur July 29, 2009. The baby hippopotamus has not been given a name. (Bazuki Muhammad/Reuters)






Germany's Hannover Zoo welcomed this week two new leopard cubs to their zoo family, the Los Angeles Times reported. The two cubs, who are still unnamed, weighed just over a pound after their May 31, 2009, birth. Leopards typically grow to an adult weight of 130 pounds, so these cubs still have some filling in to do. The cubs' mother, Saia, cares to one of the youngsters. (NIGEL TREBLIN/AFP/Getty Images)






After losing her baby son in August 2008 to an intestinal infection, 12-year-old gorilla Gana wandered around the Allwetter Zoo in Muenster, Germany, carrying her dead offspring. Just short of a year later, Gana became a mother again -- and this time the baby was healthy. Gana, shown here nursing her 3-day-old baby, Claudia, earned the world's sympathy for her extended, emotional mourning process. Ilona Zuehlke, a spokeswoman for the zoo, said the birth of Claudia has had a visible effect on the proud mother. "Gana looks very happy," Zuehlke told The Associated Press. (Mark Keppler/AP Photo)






It's a boy. This baby panda was born at the San Diego Zoo on Aug. 5, 2009, and the zoo staff, anxious to leave the newborn alone with its mother, a Chinese-born panda named Bai Yun, did not get to examine the little guy for a month. A baby panda's sex is not obvious when you can only see it from a distance. Following Chinese tradition, the baby will not get a name until he is 100 days old. (Ken Bohn/San Diego Zoo)






Boniface, a 40-day-old lion cub, is seen here during his first appearance for press at Kazakhstan's Karaganda Zoo, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2009. (Boris Buzin/AP Photo )






In this photo, baby E.T. is held by its mother in Vienna's Schoenbrunn zoo, Sept. 25, 2009. The newborn gibbon was dubbed E.T. by zookeepers because of its wrinkly pink skin and long fingers, reported the British Web site The Sun. (Daniel Zupanc/Zoo Vienna, via Reuters)






In this photo, zookeeper Nadja Radovic holds two 12-day-old white lion cubs at the Belgrade Zoo, Serbia, Sept. 30, 2009. The two cubs, an extremely rare subspecies of the African lion, were born at the Belgrade Zoo. White lions are unique to the Timbavati area of South Africa and are not albinos, but a genetic rarity. (Srdjan Ilic/AP Photo )





Jolie, a baby orangutan, looks out through its mother's fur during its first appearance at the Hellabrunn zoo in Munich, Germany, Oct. 27, 2009. The orangutan baby was born July 15, 2009. (Christof Stache/AP Photo)





This Oct. 7, 2009 photo provided by SeaWorld San Diego shows sea turtle hatchlings transferred to a holding pool at SeaWorld San Diego. The population of endangered green sea turtles at SeaWorld grew by 82 in October when the eggs hatched on Shipwreck Beach without human help. (Bob Couey/SeaWorld San Diego/AP Photo )

TORONTO ZOO WELCOMES BABY GORILLA


After welcoming its newest gorilla, the Toronto Zoo this week had the newborn's father choose the name. The zoo selected five potential names through a contest open to the public, and then set up piles of fruit at stations marked with the different name choices. The baby's name was determined by the fruit pile from which the father ate first. The winning name was Nassir, a Middle Eastern name that means protector. In this picture, Nassir is held by his mother Ngozi. (The Canadian Press, Nathan Denette/AP Photo)

BIPOLAR SPECIES AROUND THE WORLD



The copepod (gaetanus brevispinus) exists all over the world, but is most commonly collected in polar waters where its cold water habitat comes closer to the ocean's surface. (Russ Hopcroft/University of Alaska Fairbanks, Census of Marine Life)




Bean-sized swimming snails (limacina helicina), seen here, live in both Arctic and Antarctic waters. They spin a mucus net off their paddlelike foot wings to trap algae and other small particles on which they feed. (Russ Hopcroft/University of Alaska Fairbanks, Census of Marine Life)



The shell-less pteropod or swimming snail (clione limacina) seen here is found in both Arctic and Antarctic waters and preys exclusively on its fellow shelled pteropods. (Russ Hopcroft/University of Alaska Fairbanks, Census of Marine Life)



This photo shows a chionodraco hamatus, one of the Antarctic's ice fish, which can withstand temperatures that freeze the blood of all other types of fish. (Russ Hopcroft/University of Alaska Fairbanks, Census of Marine Life)




A ghostlike sea angel (platybrachium antarcticum), seen here, goes through the deep Antarctic waters hunting the shelled pteropods (another type of snail) on which it feeds. (Russ Hopcroft/University of Alaska Fairbanks, Census of Marine Life)




In this photo, a marble-sized jellyfish (calycopsis borchgrevinki) is shown. They are one of the more common hydromedusae encountered in Antarctic waters. (Russ Hopcroft/University of Alaska Fairbanks, Census of Marine Life)




In this photo, a nemertean pelagonemertes rollestoni is shown hunting for zooplankton prey that it will harpoon with a dart attached to the tongue coiled within it. Its yellow stomach reaches out to feed all parts of the body. (Russ Hopcroft/University of Alaska Fairbanks, Census of Marine Life)



Census of Marine Life Arctic researchers have discovered more than 50 gelatinous zooplankton living in the Arctic, about a quarter of which are new to the Arctic Ocean or new to science. (Russ Hopcroft/University of Alaska Fairbanks, Census of Marine Life.)



The mimonectes sphaericus, shown here, is a commensial amphipod crustacean living on jellyfish and their kin in both the Arctic and Antarctic. The large swordlike antennae only occur on males. (Russ Hopcroft/University of Alaska Fairbanks, Census of Marine Life.)


Scientists say it's time to rewrite the textbooks. A marine census released Monday revealed that the polar oceans are home to far more species than had previously been thought. The new census, one of several projects of the Census of Marine Life (an international effort to catalog all ocean life), documented 7,500 species in the Antarctic and 5,500 in the Arctic. Researchers were also surprised to learn that as many as 235 species are found in both polar oceans. They say the discovery raises a number of evolutionary questions.
In this photo, sand fleas (amphipod crustaceans) are shown under shore ice in the Beaufort Sea. Ice-associated amphipods are a major food source for Arctic cod, the main prey for ice seals. (Shawn Harper/University of Alaska Fairbanks.)

NEW SPECIES FOUND



Researchers also found a new species of the frog Eleutherodactylus. Like many frogs, its colors help it blend into its surroundings. (James I. Watling/ Conservation International)



This type of ant is called Odontomachus -- known more commonly as trap-jaw ants due to their unique jaw stucture. They can snap up their prey in a split second. They're among the fastest in the world. (Jeffrey Sosa-Calvo/ Conservation International)



Eleutherodactylus chiastonotus is a frog species that was recorded during the Rapid Assessment project done in 2005. Its can only be found within the Guyana Shield, a region of northern South America that includes Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana and a small portion of Brazil. (James I. Watling/ Conservation International)



This frog species is called Epipedobates trivittatus. Its orange stripes make it different from frogs found in other areas of Suriname. This frog was recorded during a survey in 2005 and on two follow-ups in 2006. Male frogs of this species often carry tadpoles on their backs. (James I. Watling/ Conservation International)



Canthon triangularis is a dung beetle documented in 2005. This was just one of over 40 species of dung beetle documented, of which as many as 30% may be species new to science. Dung beetles are valuable to ecosystem health. By digging through soil, they air it out and allow the recycling of nutrients. (Trond Larsen/ Conservation International)



The Amazonian snail-eater snake, Dipsas indica. This snake feeds on snails, which it extracts from their shells. Found in tropical South America, from the Amazon Basin to Bolivia and northern Argentina, this beautiful snake depends on closed rainforest and is thus vulnerable to any disturbance to its habitat. (James I. Watling/ Conservation International)



This remarkable looking toad may be a new species. It was discovered in mid-2006 by two Surinamese scientists, Paul Ouboter and Jan Mol. Suriname was previously known as Dutch Guyana, and some of the population still has Dutch roots. This genus contains a number of neotropical species, many of which are listed on the international Red List of Threatened Species due to population declines. (Paul Ouboter/ Conservation International)



This fish species of the genus Guyanancistrus, discovered in 2005, is new to science. It is believed to be all over eastern plateaus of Suriname, on the northern coast of South America, but has been found nowhere else. The ecologists who found it were surprised by the unusually large size of its mouth. (Adrian Flynn/ Conservation International)


The ant species Daceton armigerum is a highly visible predator in the forest canopy in Suriname. It nests and forages in trees throughout South America. (Piotr Naskrecki/ Conservation International)

Sunday, November 22, 2009

FALL


A deer bellows as it forgages for food in the early morning sun as cooler temperatures bring on the autumn season at Dunham Massey in, Altrincham, England. Shortening daylight hours and cooler weather brings on the rutting season for red and fallow deer herds.

Saturday, November 21, 2009