part of the corvid family, blue jays are actually quite intelligent birds. they have a bit of a bad reputation for raiding the nests of other birds and feeding on the young but this apparently might not fully be true. nevertheless, they are omnivorous and do feed on smaller birds. on the flip side, they are able to make a wide variety of calls and can even imitate hawks. whether for selfish reasons or not, when blue jays detect a predatory, they make calls to indicate this and other birds within an earshot get the warning as well. people refer to their calls as jays, hence the name. they are the provincial bird of prince edward island and the mascot for a certain local baseball team. cyanocitta cristata in moleskine.

these omnivorous little guys are favoured by seafood lovers for their sweet, sweet flesh. their latin names actually mean “savoury beautiful swimmer.” the blue / sapphire colour of their pincers lends to their english names although females have streaks of red to them as well. like some of the seafood humans eat, crabs are bottom feeders. we don’t eat many land bottom feeders though, do we? these crabs will eat just about anything including other, smaller blue crabs. cannibals! while highly senstive to their environments, these crabs are great swimmers as they’re equipped with paddles on their hind legs (of which there are ten). they can be found in coastal canada all the way down to south america. callinectes sapidus in moleskine.

i thought all bites by black widow spiders would be fatal to all humans but apparently this is true mostly for young children or the elderly. still, their venom is fifteen times more poisonous than a rattlesnake and it leads to muscle pain, nausea, and paralysis. no thanks. then again, this is on humans. smaller animals and insects have to worry a lot more—including male black widows. many people know that males often become fodder for the females after mating and this of course has lead to their names. interesting from a male black widow’s perspective then, isn’t it? my species is named because our “women” eat us. after sex. see? your life could be worse, no? or you could be another insect that falls prey to black widows. they paralyze their food and liquify an insect’s insides and then go to town. no wonder people are freaked out by these things. latrodectus hesperus in moleskine.

what’s most surprising about these guys is how vicious they were with prairie dog populations. they would hunt these rodents down in their own underground dens! they’re also known as praire dog hunters. i mean, come on. squirrels, mice, and rats were not safe either. also suprising is how much these nocturnal guys sleep. nearly 21 hours. they’re like sloths! i think. they were once hunted for the pelts but it sounds like the removal of prairie dog burrows by farmers in the 1900s has led to this species becoming endangered. mustela nigripes in moleskine.

when i think of black bears i think of…the office. jim impersonating dwight: “what kind of bear is best? FALSE. black bear.” and “bears. beets. BATTLESTAR GALACTICA.” i digress. the first interesting tidbit about black bears that i have is that they can actually be a few different colours. they can be white! cinnamon. bluish (which i think is awesome) gray or black. brown. they spend their summers pretty much alone, eating just about everything. everything. their dormancy in the winter was once not really considered hibernating but that might have changed now. regardless, they don’t eat, drink or go onesies or twosies during the winter. black bears were created by the great spirit, according to early inhabitors of the americas (grizzlies were created by the evil spirit). also, winnie the pooh was named after a london zoo female black bear named winnipeg. ursus americanus in moleskine.

this classification is a bit of a cheat i think as there are something like forty species of these birds. i do have to keep things as simple as possible though. hailing from australia, south africa, and new guinea, these birds usually have some very dramatic and showy feathers and colours (i say that as if they choose to dress this way or something). since there are so many species, it’s hard to report on anything less general than they eat fruit and bugs. i leave finding out more about these birds to you. 

as the names suggest, this engandered subspecies of the tiger family can be found in india. they’re the largest of the cat family and unlike many a movie might suggest, they tend to avoid humans unless they’re a bit mad. i wasn’t aware that they hunt nocturnally. they’re individiual down to their stripes and very independent, typically living alone as adults. males do not raise their cubs, yet females will raise their young until they’re old enough to hunt. that usually takes about three years. i also didn’t know that white tigers are recessive mutants of bengal tigers. the chinese seemed to prize tigers for their medicines but they were also poached largely as trophies for their fur. panthera tigris tigris in moleskine.

contrary to their name, these whales do not produce the caviar that seems to be so sought after. these are white whales. not the type that captain ahab was after though (sperm whale, in that case). they inhabit arctic waters but inhabit warmer waters when arctic oceans freeze over, lest they become food for polars bears or people. they’re most notable because of their melons. seriously, the lump on their heads is referred to as a melon and is comprised of oily, fatty tissue. i’m not sure if this is some sort of survival related feature but belugas can change the shape of their heads by shifting air around in their sinuses. more survival related, they are among the only whales that can actually turn their heads. they lack dorsal fins in favour of dorsal ridges. delphinapterus leucas in moleskine.

say hello to canada’s national animal. i never really thought about it like this but national geographic puts it well when they say that these rodents are engineers of sorts, chewing through trees to use for their dams and lodges (homes). it’s interesting that they’re considered rodents and yet they are not so nimble on land where most other rodents seem to be the most adept. their webbed feet and tails allow them to easily manoeuvre through rivers, lakes, and the ponds their dams create. more evidence that they seem built for the water: the can hold their breath for nearly 15 minutes and even have a set of transparent eyelids. they have built in goggles! i love it. they’ll often build their lodges smack dab in the middle of a pond and make the entrance underwater. now that’s what i call not wanting to be disturbed. castor canadensis in moleskine.

while most probably known for being the namesake of a certain professional baseball team, the baltimore oriole is also maryland’s state bird. how did these omnivorous little guys get to be a state bird, you ask? well, i’ll tell you. their colours closely matched the coat of arms of lord baltimore, cecil calvert. these orioles are migratory, leaving the eastern US and canada in favour of warmer climates in mexico and central / south america in the winter. icterus galbula on moleskine.