PA Ecology VII

    I like to use different distributions of Linux on my computer, especially Ubuntu. The different releases are named after animals, and one of the more recent ones was Precise Pangolin. Pangolins are also known as scaly anteaters, due to the extremely hard plates that armor their bodies. They live in southern Africa as well as across the Indian subcontinent and southeast Asia. Their Latin genus is Manis, and there are eight species that exist today, each with their own little adaptations. Pangolin comes from the Malay word for 'something that rolls up,' pengguling.

    Pangolins are the only mammal to have a plated armor system. The individual plates are made of keratin and shift over one another when the pangolin is moving. When they feel threatened  they roll up into a ball with the scales overlapping to form a protective sphere. The scales are so hard that not even a lion can bite through the plates. Pangolin species range from thirty to one hundred centimeters in length, with the females being slightly smaller than the males. They are called scaly anteaters because of how they feed. They have no teeth, so they use their extremely long prehensile tongue to pull ants out of anthills for food. Some pangolins can extend their tongues up to forty centimeters, snaking it through the ground in search of food.

    Pangolins in Africa give birth to one young at a time, several times per year. Whereas the Asiatic pangolins give birth at the same rate, but between one and three young at a time. Several species of pangolins live in hollowed out trees, but most live in underground burrows depending on what their prey are. Pangolins are mostly nocturnal, doing their hunting at night, and during the day staying curled up in a ball to sleep. Fun fact, pangolins are very good swimmers.

    Pangolins are a threatened mammal, with most Asiatic species facing large amounts of poaching. Many Asian cultures believe the scales have healing properties, with the meat also curing cancer and other diseases. As well as hunting, deforestation has greatly reduced their habitat, resulting in many species already having gone extinct.

     Pangolins are one of the most interesting animals on planet earth, but sadly due to superstition and industrialization they are beginning to disappear. Within my life there will be a time when many species are gone from the earth, and sadly the pangolin will most likely be one of them.

Sources:

http://petcaregt.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/the-pangolin-facts.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pangolin

http://www.awf.org/content/wildlife/detail/pangolin

http://savepangolins.org/what-is-a-pangolin/

http://www.sandiegozoo.org/animalbytes/t-pangolin.html

http://science.jrank.org/pages/5010/Pangolins.html

PA Ecology VI

One of the most dangerous animals in Pennsylvania is probably the Eastern Coyote. Canis latrans var is one of twenty subspecies of coyote, who in total live across nearly entire North and Central America. The Eastern Coyote lives throughout most of northeastern Pennsylvania and up through New England. While I have never seen a coyote in the wild, i know I do not want to. They are big enough to cause me, and certainly my dogs, some distress, and what's worse is that they hunt in packs. If they're hungry I'd be done for!

The Eastern Coyote is roughly the size of a small-medium dog. They weigh between thirty and forty-five pounds, and are usually between four and five feet long including the tail, which itself is about a foot in length. They are believed to mate for life with a single partner in order to form their packs, and raise their pups together. One couple will usually have a litter per year for life, with each litter consisting of between five and seven pups, depending on how many resources are available. Pups are usually born in April and leave by October to find and form their own mates and packs.

Coyotes are mostly opportunistic predators. Approximately eighty percent of their diet originates from small rodents and lagomorphs, but they will also eat insects, fruit and berries, fish, birds, snakes, and even garbage if hungry enough. They are strong enough to kill many different kinds of dogs and house cats, but are sometimes able to take down livestock if they have a larger enough pack.

The coyote has very few predators of its own. While they do have to worry a bit about wolves and bears, humans pose the greatest threat to coyotes. We usually will shoot them if they become a nuisance, or during certain times of the year they become too populous and we feel we need to take action. Other than that they live their lives and we live ours.

While most people never come into contact with coyotes, we know what their behavior is like. Most of us own dogs, and all of us have met dogs before. Dogs and coyotes share many traits, but have their differences as well. As long as we leave them alone they won't bother us too much, and one of the most integral members of the food chain will continue its job, eating, dutifully.

Sources:

http://people.westminstercollege.edu/faculty/tharrison/citycreek/coyotes/predators.htm

http://nwco.net/PDF/coyote.pdf

http://hal_macgregor.tripod.com/kennel/Eastern-coyote.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coyote

http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt?open=514&objID=598430&mode=2

http://newyorkoutdoors.wordpress.com/2010/03/24/coyotes-in-pennsylvania-and-new-york-are-mostly-coyote-wolf-hybrids/

http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130205/SPORTS90/302050306/-1/sports