Does the work week have you feeling like an aye-aye? You are not alone. Rarely seen in daylight, the aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis) is a nocturnal primate found only in Madagascar. This animal, which prefers a solitary lifestyle, spends nearly 80% of its evenings foraging for fruits, seeds, and insect larvae. It uses its elongated middle fingers to find and skewer food!
🦇 Any guesses about how the big-eared woolly bat (Chrotopterus auritus) got its name? With a wingspan of over 1.5 feet (0.5 m), this critter is one of the largest bats in the Americas, ranging from Mexico to Argentina. Scientists think it uses its oversized ears for echolocation, emitting high-frequency squeaks and listening to the resulting echoes to find prey. The big-eared woolly bat is an omnivore with a taste for meat: Birds, mice, opossums, and other bats are on the menu. It typically consumes large prey from the head down, and can take up to 20 hours to finish a single meal!
What a croc! 🐊 This Fossil Friday, let’s take a bite out of the weekend with Deinosuchus—a giant crocodilian that lived alongside the dinosaurs some 75 million years ago. Reaching lengths of more than 35 feet (10.7 m) and weighing more than 8,000 lbs (3628.7 kg), Deinosuchus was as long as a school bus and as heavy as an elephant, making it one of the most powerful predators in its ecosystem. In fact, partially healed bite marks found on the bones of a tyrannosaur in North America match this giant croc’s teeth, suggesting Deinosuchus could go toe to toe with even the most formidable of dinosaurs.
This image is a historical reconstruction from 1942 and is not representative of current size estimates.
For your daily dose of fluff, meet the striped hyena (Hyaena hyaena)! When disturbed, this critter can raise the hairs on its back, doubling in size to intimidate foes. Found in parts of Africa, the Middle East, and India, it prefers open habitats like savannas and scrublands. This hyena is typically a scavenger that feeds on carrion, but it also supplements its diet with fruits, seeds, and leaves.
Photo: Dop Rushikesh Deshmukh, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
The plains spadefoot (Spea bombifrons) is toadally cute. But did you know that this stout amphibian, which inhabits arid regions of western North America, is an “explosive” breeder? After mating, females can lay as many as 2,000 eggs! These eggs might hatch in as few as two days, and the resulting tadpoles can develop rapidly, sometimes maturing in just 13 days. This species reproduces en masse after warm heavy rains.
Monday mood? This grumpy-looking fennec fox (Vulpes zerda). Found in the deserts of North Africa, this critter is the smallest canid of all, typically reaching weights of only 3 pounds (1.4 kg)! It also has the largest ears (relative to body size) of any canine, which disperse heat and help this mammal hear prey moving under the sand. This critter is well-adapted to its arid habitat: It’s able to go long periods without drinking water by obtaining moisture from its food!
Meet the world’s smallest bear: the sun bear (Helarctos malayanus). Named for the golden patch on its chest, this species typically weighs only around 103 pounds (47 kilograms)—about half the size of an American black bear! The sun bear, which can be found in parts of Southeast Asia, is an excellent climber and uses its long claws to help it move from tree to tree. This bear sometimes even makes nests of branches high in the treetops, where it snoozes up to 128 feet (40 meter) off the ground.
“Karl Marx was the foremost hater and most incessant whiner in the history of Western Civilization. He was a spoiled, overeducated brat who never grew up; he just grew more shrill as he grew older. His lifelong hatred and whining have led to the deaths (so far) of perhaps a hundred million people, depending on how many people perished under Mao’s tyranny. We will probably never know.”
Gary North (1942-2022) American economic historian.
