The Magical Marine Iguana

Spike posting again.


Male marine iguanas do not fight over feeding grounds but they do disagree over mating territories. A matin territory is an area where an adult male has a good chance of meeting courting females (like a bar on singles night! -Ren's edit) Theses pactes of rock are disputed with body postures, gaping mouths, and head butting, until one male givesup and leaves.

Young and female marine iguanas forage for food on exposed rocks at low tide but adult males are more adventurous, they dive into the water and swim down into the submerged seaweed beds to browse. Large males can dive as deep as 33 feet in search for a meal.

To get from one rock to another or to reach the deeper, richer feeding grounds, the marine iguana must venture out into the sea. These lizards are very strong swimmers, powered by muscular tails, and this is essential because currents around the galapagos are very strong.

During the breeding season the male marine iguana develops large pathes of red and sometimes green skin which is in strong contrast to his gray or black color. At this time he is interested in interesting with as many males as possible.

Marine iguanas are unusual for large lizards, they gather together at night to sleep in groups like sea lions. They even manage to sleep piled on top of each other. Marine iguanas are much less territorial than land iguanas so fights don't break out over sleeping spaces. By sleeping huddled together they conserve more energy and cool down more slowly thaan if they slept alone.

The Magnificent Megamouth and the Wonderful Whale shark

My nephew Spike is my resident sea life expert and has dictated this post to me on the megamouth shark and whale shark.


Megamouth has a 3 foot long mouth. It lures crill with its luminous organs around its lips. The first megamouth was spotted dead from 660 feet below water entangled in the sea anchor of a U.S. Navy boat off the coast of Hawaii. The second was caught in gill nets. The third washed up and died. A fourth was found on a beach near Japan. A fifth, alive off the coast of Japan. A sixth was caught and released off the California coast. They are very rare.


The whale shark is the largest fish in the world. It can grow up to 40 feet and weigh up to 13 tons. It is about as large as an adult gray whale but they're harmless and allows scuba divers to hitch rides by hanging onto their fins. They feed on plankton. Whale sharks are named after whales which are not fish but mammals. The only danger is getting scraped by their rough skin or accidently getting knocked by the huge tail when it swings back and forth. They go at 2 miles per hour and they live in tropical and sub-tropical waters. They feed by filtering food out of the water. Because they feed near the surface, they sometimes run into ships. Scientists believe that whale sharks may either lay enormous, long eggs or give birth to live young hatched from eggs inside their body.

The prolix parrot

I decided to write about the African Grey parrot because my parents own an African Grey named Tanaki and he hates me and I kind of dislike him. I thought perhaps if I did a little more research we would be able to work out some of our relationship problems but really it comes down to the fact he's got a big pointed beak, sharp claws, and he wants to bite my finger off even when I'm offering him a nice scratch (which he gladly accepts from my mom by the way, he also makes kissy sounds at her and lets her kiss his beak.) Personally I think African Greys just have huge oedipal complexes. You should see the way he eyes my and what he believes is his mom.

Alright, so there are two kinds of African Greys both of which are found in central and wast Africa. The Congo African Grey (which I believe is what Tanaki is) is about a foot tall with light gray feathers, a red "rump," and a black beak. The Timneh African Grey is slightly smaller with darker gray feathers and maroon tail feathers. Their upper mandible is also lighter colored.

Some people recognize a third and fourth species of African Greys but we don't count them because they're not distinguishable in scientific studies.

Ok, here's the part that interests and relates to me and my African Grey:
African Greys are one of, if not the most intelligent bird and are incredibly social. I guess I forgot to mention this because I forgot that I'm the highly qualified animal researcher and not you, so you may not know this tidbit, but African Greys can talk and mimic. This ability has evolved apparently from their social lifestyles and cooperative feeding (although I see robins and crows feeding together all the time and they're not chatting it up. If the robins and crows on campus could talk though they would say things like, "narrative" "neoliberalism" "analytical" and "systematic.") Anyway, because of this social way of life, as pets African Greys demand a lot of attention. As a result they can make wonderful affectionate companions, but when you bring a baby into the mix (mom and dad) things can start to get ugly because the parrot gets jealous and tries to peck the baby's eyes out (mom and dad).

Also, until the age of five an African Grey develops in the same way a human would which I think is pretty incredible. Also some people believe that African Greys can associate words with their meanings!

Alright, I was going to share some first-hand African Grey stories but I just bit into this apple and it's hard to type now so that's all for now.

The Strapping Salamander

Imagine the salamanders you used to (or still do) find in the streams and ponds around your house. They were small, cute little things that would squirm around in the palm of your hand in search for their watery home.
Now imagine if they EXPLODED in size and were 5 FEET LONG!!! Yes my friends, this is the giant salamander which can be found in the eastern part of the United States, Japan, and China. The salamander in the U.S. is a bit smaller and gets up to only about 3 feet, while the Japanese salamander is about 4 feet and the Chinese one is a whopping 5 feet long.

They're nocturnal animals and are essentially blind but use sensory nodes on their heads to detect movement. They live in cool streams and live off of fish, frogs, and some crustaceans. According to Japanese sources, they can live up to 50 years in captivity...who KNOWS how long they could live in the wild?!

The male guards the eggs instead of the females and will do so for up 3 months and once the offspring is ready they will hunt in groups and not individually.

Apparently, their bones kind of look like human bones because some Swiss guy in the 1700's found the remains of one of these creatures and was positive that they were the remains of a human who had been drowned in a deadly deluge. That sounds more like wishful thinking than anything else though.

So next time you find a little salamander and you think, "how cute!" Ask yourself, is this really a cute little salamander or is it really a baby MONSTER?!

So there you go, the giant salamander. Much more interesting than the tapir.

The Timid Tapir

This is a Malayan tapir. I know because of its white "saddle" marking.

I think tapirs are cooler looking than they are cool in general. This reminds me of a lot of the people I see at school or in the city. They look super cool, but then you find out more about them and you realize that they are just banking on their cool exterior to make up for their kind of lame interior. But anyway, this is the tapir.

Tapirs live in South America, Central America, and Southeast Asia and they can weigh up to 700 lbs! They're most closely related to the horse and rhinoceros (which I guess means the horse and rhinoceros are related as well?) and all four species are endangered due to destruction of their habitats. They also have these crazy snouts that are really flexible, almost like a little elephant trunk.


I guess the only really cool thing about them is that one time a mama tapir attacked a zoo keeper and it turns out they can deliver a pretty nasty bite even though their teeth are for eating leaves.

Man, this was kind of a bust...I promise something more interesting for next time.

Welcome!

This idea came to me because I was bored on Spring Break since all my friends left me and I had nothing better to do than make a blog where I talk about cool animals and the things wikipedia taught me about them.

Please don't think this is pathetic or depressing though because it's not, it's fucking awesome.

Now, I'm going to go get lunch and when I return I will tell you all about the tapir.