Animal of the Week! What Is An Unau?

The next time you want to insult someone really lazy or slow moving, say “ugh, you’re such an unau!”.  That’s pronounced yoo-no.  It’s also a great Scrabble word if you’re trying to get rid of two u’s, you know.

A Unau is a two toed sloth, weighing in at 10 – 20 pounds, that spends its life hanging upside down from trees in Central and South America.  According to the San Diego Zoo, these sloths “spend so much time upside down that they are the only mammal whose fur is parted running belly to back to allow water to run off quickly during rainstorms”.  Unaus grow green algae on their fur to blend in with their surroundings which is one of their few defenses against predators.  Primary predators of unaus include big cats like jaguars, birds of prey and even large snakes such as anacondas.  The green algae on their fur comes in handy not only as camouflage but as a source of food.  When the unau runs out of its usual repast of berries, leaves, nuts and the occasional rodent, she can eat the algae from her fur.  Yummy!

Unaus move along tree limbs by climbing limb over limb at, what can best be described as, a glacial pace.  They have four inch long claws which make it almost impossible to walk on land but they are adept swimmers.  They are known to drop down from their branches into water to swim across rivers.  Not surprisingly, these sloths sleep 15 – 18 hours a day (just like your teenager!) and have extremely low metabolisms.  They also have the most variable body temperature of any mammal with a range of 74 degrees to 92 degrees Fahrenheit.

And know you know about the unau!

 

Animal of the Week: What is a Whistle Pig?

If you live anywhere in the West, you’ve probably seen these  lumbering rodents that look like they’re sporting a beer gut and you may also have heard them.  Due to their loud chirping sound and robust belly, they’re known as whistle pigs, or marmots.

Last summer, we were hiking up at Alta and heard this amazing chep Chep CHEP sound.  Mark immediately knew it was a yellow bellied marmot and could spot it about a 500 yards away.  We started talking to it and it talked back.  It was up on it’s hind legs and just kept chepping away with us.  We must have had a ‘conversation’ with the marmot for a solid 10 minutes.  Even our daughter who was 1 1/2 at the time and very quiet started saying “chep, chep!”.  We have a video of this which I will post when I can find it.

Interesting marmot facts:

• Marmots are found in mountainous areas in the West, the Alps, Pakistan, India and northwestern Asia
• Marmots are vegetarians and are considered large ground squirrels
• As of last year, Alaska celebrates February 2 as “Marmot Day”, a holiday intended to take the place of Groundhog Day and observe the abundance of marmots in that state.
• Marmots have been eaten for centuries as part of the cuisine of Mongolia where they hunt for them during the season the marmots are particularly fat (that seems every season to me!)
• When marmots hibernate, they don’t keep their body temperature down all winter, but instead wake up every week or so(probably to get a snack!) and then go back to sleep
• Due to their loud chirping sound, the yellow bellied marmots are nicknamed Whistle Pigs
• People who study marmots or woodchucks are called marmoteers

Animal of the Week! What is a Potgut?

I hadn’t heard of a potgut until living in Utah for many years.  My boyfriend (now husband) and I were at the top of one of the lifts at the Sundance Ski Resort late in the season and there was the cutest little prairie dog looking thing sitting up by a picnic bench waiting for a handout.  Mark says, “hey, look at the potgut”.  I say, “what the heck are you talking about?”.  He says, “the potgut”.  I say, “you mean the prairie dog”.  And the conversation continued with my insisting it was a prairie dog and Mark correcting me, repeatedly.  There was even a bet thrown in there for good measure, which I summarily lost.  I pretty much insisted I was right until we had time to get to a computer and look it up.  Good thing I’m not stubborn.

Technically, a potgut is neither potgut nor prairie dog, but is the nickname for a Uinta ground squirrel (Spermophilus armatus) that is cute and full of personality.  They are hungry little buggers and even if you don’t feed them and they love racing up to you, checking you out and scampering away.  They’ll do this for a while before they (or you) get bored with it.  Potguts have a very limited range, living only in southwestern Montana, western Wyoming, southeastern Idaho and northern central Utah.  There seem to be an abundance of them in the Uinta and Wasatch mountains if you look at the right time of year.

You don’t get to see potguts for very long because they both hibernate in winter and aestivate (become dormant) in summer.  Adults begin aestivation in July and by September you won’t see any potguts above ground.  Smart critters, that’s when the snow starts falling around here.  After aestivation, they hibernate and don’t come out until March or April.  This means that potguts only remain active above ground about three and a half months out of the year.  No wonder they’re so hungry!

Potguts are not endangered or threatened, though some farmers probably wouldn’t mind if their numbers dwindled.  They are crop munchers and they love veggies and seeds.  Right now, it’s time for them to come out of hiding, so if you live in an area with potguts, keep an eye out for them.

photo courtesy of naturfoto

Eco-Success Stories! How the Endangered Species Act is Working

I was going to do a post called House of Horrors!  highlighting the results of a 15 year National Cancer Association study finding that women who work in the home are 54% more likely to develop cancer than those who don’t, due to the chemicals and poor air quality in our homes.  But I’m not.  I’m tired of doom and gloom.  My cells are mutating just thinking about all of those toxins.  Instead, I bring you Eco-Success Stories.  Warm, fuzzies all around!  These really are heartwarming.

A recent study of all endangered species in the Northeastern United States found that 93% increased or remained stable since being placed of the endangered list.  There is a page on the Center for Biological Diversity website that lists success stories from the Endangered Species Act.  They include a map of the United States so you can look up your own region for success stories.  In the meantime, here are some of the highlights:

• Bald Eagle increased from 416 to 9,789 pairs between 1963 and 2006
• Whooping Crane increased from 54 to 513 birds between 1967 and 2006 (that’s still not very many)
• Peregrine Falcon increased from 324 to 1,700 pairs between 1975 and 2000
• Gray Wolf increased dramatically in the Northern Rockies, Southwest and Great Lakes
• Gray Whale increased from 13,095 to 26,635 whales between 1968 and 1998
• Grizzly Bear increased from about 224 to over 500 bears in the Yellowstone area between 1975 and 2005 (Hey, hey Booboo!)

There are so many inspiring stories on this website, such as the California Condor who was down to 9 individuals thanks to DDT and is now up to 121 in the wild and 158 in captivity.  We have really come a long way with certain species, which is something for which we should be grateful.  It’s worth spending some time on the website when you are in despair about, well, pretty much anything.  Unless you are a farmer or rancher in despair about the proliferation of gray wolves.  Then you may want to visit another website.

Streaming Video of the Week: Watch Bald Eagles Feed their Babies, Live on the Nest Cam!

This might possibly be the coolest thing ever!  The Raptor Resource Project has put cameras near nests of various birds, including owls, osprey and eagles.  My favorite Cam is the Bald Eagle Cam.  They had babies that hatched over the weekend and you could actually watch the babies hatch.  Beyond amazing!  Now you can watch the bald eagles up close and personal as they feed their babies.  I can’t say enough about how incredible it is to be this close to Bald Eagles while they feed their babies.  Even just watching the Bald Eagle perched on the nest looking around is pretty awe inspiring.

BALD EAGLE & BABIES LIVE STREAMING VIDEO, CLICK BELOW:

http://www.raptorresource.org/falcon_cams/index.html

Photo courtesy of Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation.

Animal of the Week: What is a Sandhill Crane?

My husband and I have found a new love.  Before you start thinking, “hmm, they do live in Utah, home to Big Love, Sister Wives, and Polygamy Porter”, let me explain.  We live on a nature preserve in Park City which, in the Spring, is home to Greater Sandhill Cranes.  Greater Sandhill Cranes are very large, prehistoric looking birds (Lesser Sandhill Cranes, are, you guessed it, their smaller cousins).

At first this particular pair of cranes would wake us up at 6am with their insanely loud honking and drive us crazy.  Lately, they’ve been sleeping in and calling to each other after 7:30am – a much more civilized hour.   Apparently, mated pairs of cranes engage in “unison calling.”  This means the cranes stand facing each other and call out in a in a synchronized and complex duet.  The female makes two calls for every single call of the male.  And, wow, is it loud.  Best alarm clock we’ve ever had.

After we got used to their honking, we fell in love with the cranes.  We go to the balcony every morning to see where they are.  We point them out to our daughter who calls them coocoos.  I send texts to my co-host on This Green Earth Nell who works at the Swaner Eco-Center telling her to look out her window at the cranes.  They’re always there, so I think she’s a little concerned about my newfound crane obsession.

Yesterday, we were actually worried when they didn’t make a peep during the 10 inches of snow we received overnight.  Instead, they were huddled near the water looking mighty cold.  “Do birds feel the cold?” we wondered.  “Where do they go when it snows?”  “Why don’t they stay in the warmer climates year round?”  “Don’t they think the whole migration thing is a lot of work for not much reward?”  The cranes have raised a lot of questions.

Sandhill cranes make an intimidating whooshing sound when they fly, which makes sense, as their wingspan is 78 inches.  They are almost 50 inches tall and while they don’t weigh a lot, at around 15 pounds, they are big birds.  They are omnivorous, eating insects and plants, but they have been known to damage crops making them the enemy of many farmers.  The cranes aren’t endangered, though certain species suffered a rapid decline over the past decades.  The Greater Sandhill Cranes are now experiencing a comeback due to habitat (wetlands and plains) preservation, restoration and cooperation by farmers.

If you’d like to hear them, or learn more, The International Crane Foundation has a great website with audio files and pictures.  http://www.savingcranes.org/sandhill-crane.html.  There are also great pictures of the cranes near our house on the Swaner Eco-Center website www.swanerecocenter.org.