#wild mammals

[rinusuarez]

Introducing the new Mammal Info Sheets. By joining the club, every week you will receive a PDF with exclusive information sheets about the animal I illustrate! You can learn facts and valuable insights about mammals from around the globe, stay informed about endangered species, and meet new ones. This week: the Numbat!

Here is the link to the club if you want to join:

Please share if you know someone who might be interested. Thank you!

[whatnext10]

Armadillos Don’t See Well, but They Have a Great Nose

Taking a Break On one of my recent trips to Watermelon Pond a pretty little nine banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) found me. I was hiking through the woods towards the water when it happened along. I say it found me because it came out of some heavy underbrush into the more open area where I was walking. It looked around, never saw me, and began to follow its nose around in search for some…

[eukaryotesrool]

Vulpini

(From top left, to bottom right: red fox, fennec fox, cape fox, corsac fox)

Vulpini is a tribe (taxonomic rank below subfamily, and above genus) comprised of true foxes (The genus Vulpes) and the fox-like Otocyon and Nyctereutes genuses. It is also the sister tribe of Canini.

(Take a wild guess what species this fella is)

With some exception, members of Vulpini closely resemble the red fox (Vulpes vulpes). For example, small size (relative to other canines, such as wolves or coyotes), bushy tails, and prominent ears are traits generally found within Vulpinids. Alright, stage set, lets get into it.

The best scientific name

(Thought I was gonna say the red fox, didn't ya?)

The corsac fox, Vulpes corsac (vulpes means fox, I cannot find the meaning of corsac) so, the corsac fox's scientific name, is a word meaning fox, and the word corsac... this is about as good as it gets, friends.

Honorable mention(s): Vulpes zerda, Vulpes Vulpes

The littlest baby

(SO CUTE)

The fennec fox's (Vulpes zerda) ears are just about the only big thing about it, they're not just the smallest fox, but the smallest Canid (true canine) as well.

Males are 15.4 to 15.6 inches (391.16-396.24 mm) long, not counting their relatively long, 9.1-9.8 inch (23-25 cm), tail. Females are generally even smaller, coming in at 13.6 to 15.6 inches (34.5-39.5 cm) long, their tails are the same length. They weigh 1.5 to 3.5 pounds (0.9-1.4 kilograms)

Honorable mention(s): Blanford's fox, cape fox

The weirdest

(AKA: Chinese/Asian raccoon dog, mangut, and neoguri)

The common raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides) They are not a raccoon, or a dog, but a fox-like canine.

They're such lil weirdos! They look like raccoon in color palette, but don't really have the right body structure, so uncanny, yet cute.

Also, they're one of few canids to climb trees (but they aren't arboreal) AND they're the only canid to hibernate, their survival depends having enough extra fat built up for Winter.

Honorable mentions: Fennec fox, bat-eared-fox

The most Vulpini-y

(Was there ever any doubt?)

Vulpes vulpes, need I say more? I mean, just look at it, it (and its scientific name) screams fox.

They are unique in their highly adaptable nature, sadly they're a bit too good at it. Red foxes are very invasive, considered one of the world's 100 most invasive species, a list by the IUCN which includes not just animals, but all types of species, even viruses, so yikes.

Ironically, despite their name they are often afflicted with melanism and leucism, conditions which alter their pigmentation and therefore color.

Honorable mention(s): corsac fox, arctic fox

The biggest baby

(Haha, they friends)

Measuring at 22-32 inches (56-82 cm) with a 14-16 inch (35-43 cm) long tail, they are suprisingly light for their size, weighing just 15 pounds (2.7-6.8 kilograms)

Honorable mention(s): Arctic fox

My favorite

(I'm big enough to admit a lot of the reason I favor them is because they're amazingly cute)

Their huge floppers are multi-purpose-ears, not just giving them amazing hearing, but they also help to dissipate desert heat! They can go for long (I can't find out how long exactly) without drinking water, getting hydration from food or licking dew, they are the only carnivore in the Sahara Desert able to do so.

The thickness and color of these lads' fur helps with the heat as well.

Honorable mentions: Arctic fox, bat-eared-fox

The most threatened

Woohoo! Yeah! No picture, you know what that means?! It seems all Vulpinids are least concern, the least endangered possible rank on the IUCN's system.

Nice.

[vintagewildlife]

Sable antelope By: C. Bavignoli From: Wild, Wild World of Animals: Wild Herds 1977

[antiqueanimals]

African Wild Dogs, Tanzania -- 72 x 44 cm. Woodcut. Wolfgang Weber (b. 1936)

via

[moomeecore]

african wild dogs

[drafthearse]

a young wild boar in the Wisentgehege Springe game park near Springe, Hanover, Germany

[witchstone]

Przewalski's Horse Equus ferus ssp. przewalskii 吐尔洪乡, 阿勒泰地区, 新疆维吾尔自治区 Turhong Township, Altay Prefecture, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China 45.271788, 88.766909 by almaatai

[hellsitegenetics]

I'm doing it. Whatever organism this comes up as, I will make a character* of that species. Even if it's a plant. Even if it's a mushroom. Even if it's microscopic. Even if it's barely studied. Even if it's a species I've made before.

(if this comes up as human I might actually cry but I'll still do it)

*probably just a character design but still

String identified: ' g t. at ga t c a, a a caact* tat c. t' a at. t' a . t' ccc. t' a t. t' a c ' a .

( t c a a gt acta c t ' t t)

*a t a caact g t t

Closest match: Sus scrofa family with sequence similarity 76 member B (FAM76B), transcript variant X4, misc_RNA Common name: Wild boar

(image source)

[mammalianmammals]

Asiatic Wild Dog aka Dhole (Cuon alpinus), family Canidae, China

photograph by Eric Gevaert 

[halorvic]

Futurama S11E07

[rinusuarez]

Drawing giraffes is fun and somehow easier than others animals. Because they are so long, the amount of details somehow reduces considerably, and still, the animal will look great. Differentiating this one is probably the hardest so far. I felt that the spots and color of the giraffe aren’t so characteristic as other ones like the Niger or Reticulated Giraffe. On the other hand, the close relationship that has with the Rothschild’s Giraffe (you will see in the next giraffe post) make things a little harder.  Nubian Giraffe  According to what I read, this is the nominate subspecies which in other words means that was the first subspecies to be described. Therefore, its Latin name is repeated twice (Giraffa camelopardalis camelopardalis). This giraffe is Critically Endangered. It is believed that there are less than 2150 in the wild. However, about 1500 are from Rothschild’s Giraffe, leaving the Nubian Giraffe with less than 650 individuals. It is extinct in the wild in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, and Eritrea. In captivity, is bred at Gia Zoo in Egypt and the Al Ain Zoo in the United Arab Emirates. ___________________________________ Credits: Nubian Giraffe Nubian Giraffe ___________________________________

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[whatnext10]

White Tailed Deer are Beautiful to Watch Grazing

Full Alert Last week I had a very unexpected visitor. As I was fixing some lunch, I looked out the kitchen window to see this little lady calmly browsing in my front yard. We have plenty of white tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) around here since we back up onto a State Forest, but it’s been a long time since I’ve had one venture into my yard. For years I’ve had quite a few dogs here,…

[eukaryotesrool]

White-Nosed Coatimundis

Don't fall prey to the same error I did, it is pronounced "koh-ah-tee-muhn-dees"

Scientifically known as Nasua narica, AKA antoon, gato solo, pizote, and tejón.

You may or may not have noticed the rather pronounced sniffer on this lad, the folks behind its taxonomy sure did, Nasua translates to 'nose' and narica translates to nostril, I leave this information for you to do with as you wish.

This caniformic cutie is known to help pollinate balsa trees, in exchange it gets precious nectar, though, most of its food comes from insects, with the occasional land crab, or small vertebrate.

Despite being part of the same family as raccoons (Procyonidae) it is actually diurnal. It spends most of its time on the ground, but does climb trees, something its large front claws, and tail, make it adapt at.

It is thankfully considered least concern by the IUCN, its range is large (comprising some of North, Central, and South America) and its population has been growing since the sixties, after it took a hit, it even seems to have gotten a stable population in Florida, after some escaped captivity, though, the exact time it started is unknown.

Some people keep them as pets, I frankly detest that, but I concede, if I could cuddle one of these fluff-babies without harming either of us, I would.

[vintagewildlife]

Forest buffalo By: Peter B. Kaplan From: Wild, Wild World of Animals: Wild Herds 1977

[sitting-on-me-bum]

The African wild ass foal was born at Marwell Zoo in the U.K. on Aug. 20. 

(Image credit: Marwell Zoo)