Polar Bears - Nearly Irish As Obama.

In Europe the brown bear was common. We lost our bears around 3000 years ago but there are still descendents living in Europe today as well as in the North Pole. Genetic scientists from trinity college Dublin have through sampling bones from different parts of Europe found that the Irish bear is a direct ancestor of the polar bear. It all happened around 120,000 years when humans were a new species still living in Africa. This was a very warm period in history with hippos living in the river Rhine Germany and themes in London the sea levels were 4-6 meters higher than today. During these times the polar bears may have migrated to Ireland to find food as the Polar Regions had melted, fallen for the charms of an Irish bear and their off spring made their return to the pole during the next ice age.

Polar bears are thought to have evolved brown bears which may have drifted away on an ice sheet and had to 200,000 years ago. Probably the lighter coloured bears had a higher rate of survival so over years the brown bear bred and the brown became lighter and the colour till they became that off white we know today. Occasionally a polar bear will give birth to a partially brown bear a reminder of its ancestral past.

Bear Facts

Bear facts

I revisited Oregon in the good old US of A this autumn, miles and miles of forest lakes and rivers a real haven for the outdoors type artist or photographer. Many an hour was spent trekking through forests coming across the odd deer owl or bird of prey other than that wild life was hard to spot. I was hoping not to bump into or stumble across a black bear but to encounter one as they are very active at this time of year. The abundance of ripe fruit and with the impending winter bears are more visible near human dwellings. It is not un-common to find bears in your garden an night steeling fallen fruit from your orchard. This is an important time of year to as the high calorie diet of fruit and berries gets stored as fat in the body to fuel the body during hibernation.

What I did see was loads and loads of bear crap full of partially digested fruit which smelled quite nice actually, sweet with a hint of alcohol not at all like poo. I believe it is possible to eat as a last resort if you are stuck in the woods and need to survive,  I’m sure Bear Grills has tried it, though would imagine it would be full of tape worms bad bacteria and poisonous fungi. One might be better off looking for some fruit and berries instead, if they are in the poo they are on the trees in the bushes.

During hibernation bears can slow down their metabolism to a quarter of its normal rate. They may wake twice daily to re-adjust themselves or stand up and stretch. Amazingly it is not unknown for females to give birth to cubs and nurse them while in a state of hibernation only to wake up in spring to the pitter patter of tiny paws. It is hoped if we can isolate and use the process in which bears hibernate we can use  it  to help in treatment of certain illnesses, in the future use the technology for long distance space flight or perhaps to help guys who go to the cinema with their partners to a chick flick ( possibilities are endless).

Bears have a large brain with excellent long term memory; great navigation skills can see in colour can hear twice as much as us and have a sense of smell 100 times greater than ours can run at 30 mph. Though they have a reputation of killing humans when too close to their cubs this is not true deaths attributed to black bears can be blamed on the grizzly bear. Even still out door shops sell bear mace as a precaution against possible attacks.

Here is an interesting snippet from the American association of bears.

Should you encounter a black bear?

• Stay calm - DO NOT RUN (running may elicit a chase response by the bear).
• Pick up children so they don't run or scream; restrain dog; avoid eye contact and talk in soothing voice.
• If the bear stands up, he is NOT going to attack but is curious and wants a better sniff or view.
• Back away slowly; if bear chomps jaw, lunges, or slaps ground or brush with paw, he feels threatened.
• Slowly retreat from area or make wide detour around bear; don't crowd or block bear's escape route.

Note: Bear attacks on humans are extremely rare. A person is 180 times more likely to be killed by a bee and 160,000 times more likely to die in a car accident. Most injuries from black bears occur when people try to feed, pet, or crowd them. Bears will nip or cuff bad-mannered humans, as they will bad-mannered bears.  They are very strong and powerful animals; bears should always be treated with caution and respect. 

Information prepared by Andrea Hess 
Volunteer for THE AMERICAN BEAR ASSOCIATION

Are Reptiles Intelligent?

Frank the Monitor Lizard

I have often been asked about the intelligence of reptiles “Do they know you?”, “Do they learn?” These are sensible questions and I answer them from my own perspective.  My reptiles know my smell and that I am not food, most know that I am not a treat and are relaxed around me.  I wouldn’t say they like me or hate me as evolution has not seen the need for them to like other creatures even if it is one their own species, they might tolerate me just as they might tolerate another reptile and not run away if they are in the vicinity of one.

Eddie my oldest iguana, with who I have spent the most time and who sometimes rides with me in the passenger seat of the truck  thinks I’m a tree, I am convinced of it as he always seems to want to sit on my head which is painful.

With other reptiles such as snapping turtles I find their reactions to be more like reflexes if there is a threat he bites it. There is no stress afterwards and if the threat is there again he will bite again and so on.

I find that my lizards who are naturally predisposed to be frightened of snakes seem to eventually get over their fear but,  if they have not seen a snake for a few months they may be back to being scared again.

Snakes cannot open their mouths very wide they have to stretch their mouths over their prey not unlike a sock as it stretches over a foot. In order to do this they must find the narrowest point to start the process which is the head, when it does this and starts swallowing the legs fold back sleekly which allows for easy consumption.  They don’t always get it right sometimes it takes several attempts to find the right starting point as sometimes they start at the side of the prey or at the tail and you will find them with the rear legs of the victim doing the splits out the corners of their mouth not allowing swallowing.  Over 100 million years of evolution and they still can’t get it right first time.

What brought me onto the subject of animal intelligence was today watching one of my reptiles frank the monitor lizard who weighs in at over 10kg and over 4ft in length.  I let him out for a walk from his enclosure he was dying to get out for a wonder around.  He walked around smelling the nooks and crannies of the reptile house, as I was watching him he came back to his own enclosure, It was as if it was all new to him he got all the scents and a while later he went back in again and repeated this several times.  I eventually put him back in his “New home” he ate his rat and went to sleep.

Monitor lizards are clever in ways, tests have shown they will push the black button for a treat, when the button is moved and pared with a white button they will still push the black button. They are capable of identifying up to six items, in other words they can count to six.  They are the only reptile to cooperate, monitors sometimes work in pairs one will distract a brooding female crocodile while the other grabs the eggs.

There is one thing reptiles seem to all have individual personalities, some are shy others are easygoing some easily scared while others not, to me this shows they are aware of themselves and the environment around them. That they have feelings (not human emotion) some times are quite and passive other times not so. While intelligence is an important tool for human survival, reptiles have all the intelligence they need to exist their simple skills have been proven over the last 290 million years

Frank Thinking?

Baboons

Baboons are clever, crafty creatures that have very little fear of humans.  In most cases they seem to be regarded as pests and thieves in Africa. You must close all your windows and doors and hide your valuables. They can completely ram sack a house looking for food and defecate all over the dwelling, if they were neat and tidy you wouldn’t mind!  I have a terrible problem with closing doors thankfully my fellow volunteer Linda constantly reminded me to do so. Of course baboons rewarded her by peeing on a novel she had left outside.  This was after their futile bid to raid our kitchen.

I was often woken by the head of the troupe, the dominant male, on the roof of my thatched hut a large formidable looking creature that was fierce in appearance and looked incredibly strong.  Near-by was his harem of females and offspring.  During the day they feed on bugs, shoots, seeds ,fruit or whatever  they can get.  They spent the rest of the day when they were not eating lounging around grooming each other.

Apparently some troops of baboons reach numbers of over 100 members. Primates which have a large social network have bigger brains than those who live in small troops in the trees.  A real sign of this intellect is how they communicate through facial/body expressions and grunts.

A submissive expression or fear expression looks like a broad smile.  Anger is the bearing of teeth, a female turning her butt to a male may mean respect or loyalty to the male, or the other!!  A female turning her butt to an infant means the infant can get close to her.  Turning her butt to another female with an infant means she wants to interact with the baby.  Two males who trust one another or are making peace  will allow each other touch their genitals as a greeting or sign of good will (call me old fashioned but I’d rather shake hands).

Much of a baboon’s time is spent grooming each other removing ticks and other parasites.

Communication is essential to living in large social groups it has been shown the larger an animal’s social group, friends, acquaintances etc. the higher the intelligence of the species.

I remember once as a child in Portugal some gypsies had a baboon tied to a tree next to their street market with 6ft of thick metal chain, he would sit there bearing his frightening teeth trying to swipe at anyone that went near it, you can imagine what type of a life he had.

The males are terrifyingly strong and aggressive looking creatures muscular and agile.  The females are like most other female mammals much softer and less threatening looking.

I was watching a few adolescents from the troop and noticed how similar they were to human teenagers with their gestures and how they played, teased and interacted with each other, you could witness  the same behaviour outside any secondary school.

Zebra

Zebras move around in a herd and are very social creatures.  Often seen hanging out with giraffe’s wildebeests and even rhino,  they possess excellent colour eye sight, rotating ears which can move in any direction, weigh about 450kg and stand at 4-5 ft at the shoulder.

There are a few theories as to why zebras have stripes.  One theory is that lions are colour blind so the black and white act as a camouflage.  Another is that when running in a large herd it makes it harder for the predator to single out one individual.  It is also thought to confuse insects, as insects recognise larger areas of similar fur as a target not this segmented looking creature, the effect which black and white gives.  I suppose another property of the white part of the fur is to deflect the sun’s rays.

One thing for certain is zebra stripes are as unique as are our fingerprints no two are the same, it is thought that this is how they recognise each other as individuals.Another thing I noticed about zebras besides their grace and beauty is that they are always beating off flies. They are always twitching flies from their ears and switching and beating them off their hind with their tails. You would feel irritated just watching them.

Though it could be my misconception but there was a sense of community among the other herbivores as if they knew each other as individuals. Five or six species all intermingled  no poking or bugging, just a mutual comradeship and understanding.A safe hub where each member was on constant guard for predators.

In herds of zebras there is a real bond, being social animals like ourselves the herd protects the old and the young, if one gets separated they will find it to bring it back to the fold.  If some are slower than the others they will slow to match its pace and not leave it in danger.

Another similarity is that when the males who are close to both parents leave the family bosom at around 4 years (Its lot older for humans) they hang out with the lads (others bachelors) for a while till they are strong enough to take control of their own herd.

African Rock Pythons

A Young Python just about to be caught  by a guy in a stupid hat.

The rock python is the largest most powerful African snake, growing on average to 19ft (it can grow as large as 28ft but this is extremely rare). They are fast agile and extremely strong reptiles who can throw ¾ of their body during an attack. I should know I have been bitten by a 14ft one and lived to tell the tale. They have rows of backward facing teeth which act as a grip on the victim as its immediate reaction is to pull away embedding the teeth further into the flesh giving the snake an even stronger grip. I was fortunate to have a bottle of whisky at hand which I poured into the snake’s mouth which in turn caused it to retreat and loosen its grip. Its victims normally don’t have this luxury and find themselves constricted in a coil of ten thousand muscles tightening around their body while every breath released causes the coil to get tighter and tighter till the prey can no longer take a breath, and dies. The snake despite not having ears can hear through its lower jaw the heart beat of the animal and waits for a few minutes after the life has drained from the body, the heart has stopped by now and is now ready to consume.  The python then pokes around its lifeless victim trying to find the optimal part of the animal which is the head and starting at the nose it moves its mouth over the head with this the muscles in the jaw stretch like elastics and the snake pushes over the body like a sock stretches over a foot.  The inverted teeth help drag the meal towards the toroth muscles till enough of the animal has been swallowed for the body’s muscles to help in the further swallowing of the creature.  Eventually the meal reaches the middle of the snake (the stomach) where digestion takes place.

The digestive juices are very powerful and allow bones and flesh to be easily digested though fur is harder to process so much of it ends up in the excrement.  After this they go somewhere safe to sleep and digest their food free from stress.

They Predate on small mammals, rodents, birds, monkeys and even crocodiles,  humans are generally not on their list though, not implausible the only problem is that humans are hard to swallow since our bodies are not streamlined as we have shoulders which make us hard to consume.

A large animal meal can last a python many months though if feeding on rodents the snake may feed once or twice weekly.  Every six weeks or so as the snake grows it needs to shed its skin and may go off food for two to three weeks as its skin gets tighter and the old layer dies . When the old layer has separated enough from the body the python rubs off rocks to relieve its self of its old skin and now has lovely shiny smooth scales.

Females can lay 20 to 60 eggs in an aardvark den or termite mound.  Termite mounds are ideal as they have a constant temperature.  After laying the eggs the mom remains with her eggs for ten weeks or so only leaving to drink or bask in the sun to heat her body and in turn wrap around and incubate the eggs.  She can also generate heat by vibrating her body.   After the young have entered the world she stays with them for the first two days of life till they have shed their skin and then they make their way into the big bad world where if they are lucky they will live to the ripe old age of 30.

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Rhinocerous

Originally small horse like creatures, they evolved over the last 30 to 50 million years to these huge 1500 kg poor sighted herbivores with an excellent sense of smell.   They really look as though they belong in Jurassic park, with their armour like skin 1.5 -5cm thick, huge threatening horns you can only imagine a Brachiosaurs or Triceratops grazing nearby.

In the mid 20^th century there were some 70,000 estimated to be roaming Africa but now numbers are just over 2000 due to the demand for their horns as trophies and for its so called medical values (according to the Chinese medicine).  Since the rhino horn is made of keratin (same as your fingernails) it has no chemical or nutritional value what so ever nor is it digestible, you might as well eat your own hair. Even so while I was in Africa a Rhino was killed by tranquilizer dart overdose which was provided to poachers by a veterinarian surgeon in a nearby park. A kilo of rhino horn is worth over €40,000 on the black market that’s more than its weight in gold.

The black Rhino is a browser, with a triangular-shaped upper lip ending in a mobile grasping point.  It eats a large variety of vegetation, including leaves, buds and shoots of plants, bushes and trees. The white Rhino, on the other hand, is a grazer feeding on grasses.

During relaxation time they seem to love to sink down into a muddy hole which cools their bodies and gives relief from flies and parasites.

The female Rhino gives birth to a calf after a gestation of around 1 year and 6 months. This calf stays with the mother for normally around 2 years till the next bouncing baby Rhino appears. This seems to be text book, what I witnessed seemed to be family groups, normally a bull, a mother and one or two siblings. One family seemed to have a Rhino equivalent of a pre teen and female teenager and a Mam and Dad out for a walk.

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