Hartmann’s Mountain Zebras – Endangered Species
September 26, 2007 by Kimberly · 2 Comments
The Hartmann’s Mountain Zebra is considered to be Endangered.
Scientific Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Perissodactyla
Family: Equidae
Genus: Equus
Subgenus: Hippotigris
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Hartmann’s Mountain Zebras – Equus Zebra Hartmanni
By Morne Fouche
Hartmann’s mountain zebras are the largest of the mountain zebras. They look whiter than the Cape mountain zebras because their black stripes are narrower and more widely spaced.
There are two kinds of mountain zebra. They are the Hartman’s mountain zebra and the Cape mountain zebra. Taxonomists placed them in the subspecies group because the original mountain zebras may have changed morphologically through geographic isolation. The Hartman’s mountain zebra is an endangered wild equid living in a harsh yet fragile environment. This subspecies is differentiated from it’s close relative, the Cape mountain zebra because of it’s body size, ears and stripes. This Mountain Zebra is named after Read more
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Bullfrogs Bullying Their Way Around Utah
Exotic Animal Newsflash:
Utah officials are alerted to the fact that there are bullfrogs inhabiting a pond on a golf course in Roosevelt, Utah and are really in a hurried state.
Native to the Eastern United States, bullfrogs have contributed to the decline of native species in the Western United States, and it has been deemed illegal to transport or possess a bullfrog in Utah.
Tipped by a golfer, biologists determined that the species was, in fact, populating the pond.
Bullfrogs are ruthless predators, making prey of snakes, lizards, frogs, toads, crustaceans, worms, salamanders, insects…even small mammals. They could very well eat Utah right out of their endangered native populations, and cause other species to become threatened.
Living as long as 9 Read more
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Giant Giraffes – The World’s Tallest Animal
September 21, 2007 by Kimberly · 3 Comments
Giraffes are the tallest of all land animals in the world, and are actually related to deer and cattle, but it has it’s own separate family all to itself, Giraffidae. The Giraffidae family includes the giraffe and the okapi.
The giraffe’s conservation status is Conservation Dependent.
Scientific Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Giraffidae
Genus: Giraffa
Species: G. camelopardalis
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Longneck African Giraffe – Distinctive Walking Gait – Unknown Outside Of Africa
By Gerald Crawford
Ancient cultures in Africa revered the giraffe, as some modern cultures do today, and commonly depicted it in prehistoric rock and cave paintings. Unknown outside of Africa, early written records described the giraffe as “magnificent in appearance, bizarre in form, unique in gait, colossal in height and inoffensive in character.”
The Giraffe [Giraffa Camelopardalis] moves about the semi-arid regions in groups. Its height allows it to keep in contact with other giraffes over large distances as well as spotting predators from afar. It is not uncommon to see other animals Read more
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Brand New Species of Bat Discovered
Exotic Animal Newsflash:
It was reported on Monday that a new species of fruit bat or flying fox has been discovered on Midoro Island south of Manila in the Philippines.
The bat is orange in color with distinctive white striping on it’s face. For this reason, it is being dubbed the “Midoro Stripe-Faced Fruitbat”.
(Photo above: Costa Rican Bat, with white striped face)
Researchers, jointly working from the University of Kansas’ Biodiversity Research Center and the Comparative Biogeography and Conservation of Philippine Vertebrates (CBCPV), accidentally discovered this new species when it was caught in a net that was set for surveying mammals, reptiles and amphibians in the area.
Specifically, this bat was found on the Read more
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Announcing: Our New Baby Albino Hedgehog!
September 18, 2007 by Kimberly · 3 Comments
Exotic Animal Newsflash:
I just picked up our newest addition to the Edwards family!
Announcing: Our new baby albino hedgehog! She is a 4 1/2 month old baby girl! She appears to of the pale apricot variety.
Help us pick out a name, but it must start with a “K”!
Our dogs’ names are Kaptain Knickknack, Kurious Kissyface, and Knosey Konversation…
Please let us know your suggestions and votes!
Some suggestions so far are:
1. Klover
2. Klondike
3. Korona
4. Klever
5. Kutie-Pie
6. Kupid
7. Kream-puff
Thanks for your help in advance…
I hope you enjoyed today’s installment of Exotic Animal Lover! Until next time…
Live Exotically,
Kimberly Edwards 
P.S. My husband gave me one of these a few years ago for Christmas, and I just love it! Be prepared for your Hedgehog Lover for Christmas or a Birthday! Check it out here:
Technorati Tags: hedgehog, African pygmy hedgehog, albino hedgehog, albino, albino animal, mammal, African animals, omnivore, unusual pet
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Amazing Breakthrough Discovery Should Save Endangered Fish
Exotic Animal Newsflash:
This week, it was reported that “surrogate broodstocking” may save endangered fish, as researchers engineer one fish to create another fish.
Tokyo University inventors injected newly hatched, but sterile, Asian masu salmon with sperm-growing cells from rainbow trout. These salmon then grew up to produce trout babies. Amazing! What a breakthrough! (Photo left: Rainbow Trout)
Fantastic news for endangered fish species and subspecies! In the past, it has been extremely difficult to breed endangered fish in captivity, and attempts to freeze fish eggs for future use have failed.
Researchers already have their eyes on sturgeon (Photo right: Atlantic Sturgeon), paddlefish (Photo below: American Paddlefish), bluefin tuna and sockeye salmon to start with. Japanese researchers embarked on this experimental journey to save the bluefin tuna, as Japan is prized for it’s hunger for tuna, and they are an endangered fish.
It was initially attempted to inject fish that were normal, meaning not sterile, but this resulted in hybrid fish that did not survive. The idea to use sterile fish, in my opinion, is ingenious!
The newly hatched salmon were injected with stem cells from trout that would become sperm. 10 out of 29 salmon male salmon grew up to produce trout sperm.
Even more interesting: It even worked in Read more
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Polar Bears Mostly Extinct by 2050
Exotic Animal Newsflash:
It has been reported that we the polar bear could be mostly extinct by the year 2050. That means that 2/3 of the entire polar bear population, roughly 1600 bears, could be dead if sea ice melting predictions are accurate.
However, it could be the case that the sea ice is even melting faster than computer models are predicting. It is thought that a few may survive on Canadian Arctic islands off the west coast of Greenland by 2100, but this is very bleak!
These reports are being used to determine if the polar bear should be listed as threatened…Right now it is listed as vulnerable. I think they have their answer staring them in the face right now! They will decide it’s conservation status by January of 2008.
The reason the polar ice is so important to these bears is because they use the ice to hunt their staple food, seal. They also eat young walrus and whales.
It is estimated that polar bears appeared 40,000-50,000 yrs ago, and have never lived through a climatic period as warm as what is to come.
To read more on this story: Read more
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Invasion Of The Leeches
Exotic Animal Newsflash:
It was recently reported that Japanese leeches have been making their way from the mountains to urban areas, and are causing a fair bit of discomfort for the residents.
These land leeches, called “yamabiru”, are now a problem in 29 of the 47 prefectures in Japan causing swelling and itching in their victims.
Although it’s great that parts of the land have been successfully reforested, rural population has been decreasing, and deer and boar populations have greatly increased, and these leeches latch onto these unknowing animals, which come closer and closer to urban areas.
The Japanese people are discovering leeches in their socks, after they have grown 5-10 times larger from sucking their blood. These leeches are unusual from water leeches in that people are unaware they have been bitten until it starts getting uncomfortable from growing larger in their shoes. Their blood-soaked feet frighten and surprise them.
The problem is that when leeches bite, they have an Read more
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20 Yr Government Endangered Trout Restoration Project A Failure
September 12, 2007 by Kimberly · 2 Comments
Exotic Animal Newsflash:
It was reported last week that for the past 20 yrs, there has been an effort in Colorado to restore an endangered native
trout, the Greenback Cutthroat Trout, but studies show that in some of the waterways, the wrong trout was stocked.
The more common Colorado River cutthroat trout was used mistakenly, as they look similar.
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The Greenback Cutthroat Trout is shown in the photo above. The more common Colorado River Cutthroat Trout is shown in the photo to the right.
The University of Colorado lead a 3yr study that shows this effort has been a failure in improving the status of the greenback cutthroat trout subspecies.
This trout is native to drainages of the South Platte and Arkansas rivers in Colorado, and a small part of Wyoming.
The greenback cutthroat trout was actually declared extinct
Read more
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Are Ferrets The Ideal Exotic Pet?
Ferrets are carnivorous mammals and are in the same family as mink. In fact, they are even closer…they are in the same genus!
Scientific Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Mustelidae
Genus: Mustela
Species: M. putorius
Subspecies: M. p. furo
I found a great article, so that you can decide for yourself if the ferret is the perfect exotic pet and/or if it is the one for you! Enjoy!
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Ferrets — The Ideal Pet
By Susan Jan
If you love pets that are quiet and cute, then ferrets will be the right choice. Because by their very appearance, many people tend to mistake them for rodents but they are actually more like a cross between a cat and a dog.
During earlier times ferrets were used to hunt down, or dig out rabbits from their burrows. But nowadays they are mostly kept as pets. If you are thinking of buying a ferret, you should buy one from reputable shelters or breeders or from the Humane Society.
Before taking your ferret home, make sure that Read more
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