it’s pretty common knowledge that white headed bald eagles are the national symbol of the united states but i had no idea that these birds of prey were nearly, er, extirpated (locally extinct) in the land of the free. hunting definitely had an effect on their numbers but the use of ddt (that showed up in the fish they ate) really sent their population in the u.s. in a nosedive. once ddt was banned though, the birds’ numbers rebounded successfully. i also thought that being birds of prey, bald eagles only hunted for live animals but they do feed on carrion as well – sometimes the carcasses are those of whales! this and the fact that they have been known to bully food from away from other animals led ben franklin to vote against them as the american national symbol. these eagles are another example of animals that usually have one mate for life. they lay only a few eggs per year in their nests that are among the largest of any bird today. haliaeetus leucocephalus in moleskine.

the main difference between these and arabian (dromedary) camels is the number of humps each has. bactrians have two instead of one. consequently, they can go even longer without plants and water in even harsher conditions (from about 40°C to -30°C) with the extra storage. i suppose it is fitting that when they can drink water, they can do so at ridiculously fast rates. like more than two gallons per minute fast. bactrians are the only true wild camels in the gobi dessert and yet they are very endangered. estimates say there are less than 1000 left. camelus bactrianus in moleskine.

baboons live in troops that number in the hundreds. they vocalise to communicate within the troop but good old physical force does the trick for the males as well. interestingly, they spend a fair amount of time grooming each other, ridding one another of insects and the like. i’m not sure why their groups are called troops though. a school of fish; a herd of cattle; a troop of baboons? perhaps they’re militant? they do eat meat but tend toward more vegetarian diets, often annoying farmers in the african and arab regions they inhabit. baboons are old world monkeys – a distinction i’m finding a little hard to comprehend. aside from tails that don’t grip trees, i believe old world monkeys have different nasal and dental structures from apes. papio hamadryas / papio / anubis / cynocephalus / ursinus in moleskine.

just about everything i read about these guys is new to me. aye-ayes are nocturnal, spend their life in rainforest trees (in eastern madagascar mainly), and are the largest of nocturnal primates. they kind…woodpeck…with their long, slender middle fingers to get at insects within branches and trees. until i read it, all signs indicated a very timid creature but they’re apparently quite fearless. they’ve been spotted just kind of strolling through villages or don’t mind cozying up to people in the wild, if they’re there. on the flip side, they’re known as omens and are killed on the spot by locals who believe this. daubentonia madagascariensis in moleskine.

people seem to liken puffins to parrots because of their colours but their appearance seems more akin to penguins to me. their habits are quite penguin like as well, if you ask me. technically though, they’re in the auk family. the key divergence from penguins is that they are amazing fliers and can reach speeds of nearly 90 kilometers per hour. 400 flaps per minute. you try that. they’re also amazing swimmers and actually use their wings to power their motion and use their webbed feet as rudders for steering. they can dive down about sixty metres. i really didn’t know that they spend quite a lot of time at sea – usually for an entire winter. like emporor penguins (i believe), atlantic puffins select a mate and return to one another every mating season. both the male and female incubate a single egg, per season…so the women don’t have to lay the egg AND go foraging for food. and seemingly related, yet unrelated, puffin books is an imprint of penguin books. fratercula arctica in moleskine.

a source of guilt: eating delicious tuna sashimi…toro….whatever cut, i love it. nevertheless, i try to eat less of the stuff but i have not been able to completely will it out of the diet. maybe one day. being more conscious of the food i eat and where it comes from is something i’d definitely like to focus on, where i can. respecting the animals i eat is important to me. it’s crazy to me that such large fish are endangered. longer than i am tall, this type of tuna spans over two metres in length and weighs in at about two hundred fifty kilograms, on average. the surprise among my fact-finding is this: they’re warmblooded fish. not earth shattering news but perhaps a good bit of jeopardy trivia. but this allows them to wander into very cold atlantic waters. they eat just about anything. kelp. plankton. crustaceans. squid. eels. etc. they seem like the jocks of the sea. they’re built for endurance and speed sometimes migrating from north america to europe several times a year. they’re also delicious. to the point that they have been heavily overfished. maybe that one day to stop eating this fish will come sooner rather than later. thunnus thynnus in moleskine.

a good friend of mine recently realised that there are no tigers in africa and no lions in asia. turns out, he was partly wrong. a very small, endangered population of lions exist in the gir forest in india. asian or asiatic lions aren’t that different from african lions – they’re just a bit smaller. panthera leo persica in moleskine.

these “little armoured ones” are quite unique among mammals, most obviously because they are the only such mammals to come packaged with armoured shells. i had no idea that there are nine varieties of these animals who can grow up to five feet in length. at that size they’re over hundred pounds! i wonder how much of that is typically due to their shells which, curiously, not all types of armadillos rely on for defense. some have too many plates to be able to roll up and completely encase themselves. only the three banded variety seem to have that option. mostly they run away however some run into patches that are thorny or treacherous enough for their predators (big cats, bears, and even raccoons) but not so treacherous that their own armour cannot protect them. they’re rather poorly equipped from a vision perspective but of course, they can smell quite well. being relatives of sloths, they sleep. a lot. like sixteen hours a day lot. and like ant-eaters, they have long sticky tongues that they use after digging to get their fill of insects though they are omnivores. and the final random fact: those in andean regions used to make musical instruments out of armadillo shells called charangos.

so if you’re ever asked to describe an arctic skua in a word or two (i know i have), you can simply answer with: kleptoparasite; or, parasitic jaeger. jaeger is german for hunter. they do find their own food (eggs, small birds & mammals, fish) but their hunting methods are a bit different, i’d say. they spend a fair amount of time stealing food from others. they are pirates…of the avian variety. let’s be clear though, they don’t just, you know, sneak into the dens of other animals and yoink some food. no no. they team up during flight and body check their victims into dropping the food they caught and reap their rewards. they genuintely rob their victims. i always thought that if it occurs in nature it’s a good model for whatever you’re adapting that principle on…i guess i’ll draw the line here. a bit of etymology: skua means seagull in old norse. stercorarius parasiticus in moleskine.

so finally (at least to me), the difference between hares and rabbits? hares are bigger. longer ears. taller hind legs. i find it interesting that they can be loners but you can also find them in groups of thousands. i’d love to see that. thousands of arctic hares! i’d probably miss them though. it’d probably be winter and i’d probably not seem them camouflaged in the tundra. also, i wouldn’t be out in the dead of winter in a patch tundra. i kind of like that during mating season, they pair off and do their own thing. they establish their own territory away from others. and crazier still, they can run up to sixty kilometres an hour! what?! lepus arcticus in moleskine.