Ecology IX

I was not in school on Friday because I was participating in the HACC math competition. On the way there I saw three groundhogs! In the one mile from STHS to HACC I saw those groundhogs within several hundred feet of one another. I hadn't seen a groundhog in a long time, so it was nice to know that they were still around doing reasonably well.

Groundhogs, Marmota Monax, are small marmots also known as woodchucks, land-beavers, and whistle pigs. I have no clue why they are called whistle pigs. They can be between 16 and 26 inches long, plus a 6 inch tail. Groundhogs usually weigh between 4 and 9 pounds, with the weight difference being food availability, not gender. They were covered, except on the tail, in hydrophobic fur that allows them to stay warm even in cold wet conditions.

They can live up to six years in the wild, but the average is between two and three years. They can live up to 14 years in captivity, due to the removal of predators. Groundhogs give birth to one litter per year with between four and five young per litter. Natural predators of the groundhog include coyotes, wolves, snakes, bears, hawks, and dogs.

Groundhogs survive by burrowing into the ground as their shelter, and by eating almost any type of vegetation. They will also eat grasshoppers and frogs on occasion. Unlike other marmots however, it will not store food in its burrow for future consumption. Groundhogs also do not do drink water to hydrate; they get all their water through leafy plants.

Groundhogs may play a small role in ecology, but that does not make it an unimportant one. Another thing they do is provide work for golf course greens keepers, a line of work with very little exercise. Thanks to groundhogs, Bill Murray had to stop being a weirdo and actually do his job.

Sources:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groundhog

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/groundhog/

http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecology/woodchuck.htm

http://wildlifedamage.uwex.edu/pdf/Woodchuck.pdf

https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQUoPQRA-3XM8GarYqyEYWetRXM4QV_D3kGG_p9ydy2iy0qI-UY

Ecology VIII

The pistol shrimp is one of the loudest animals on the planet. With the larger of its asymmetric claws it creates a clap similar to when jets break the sound barrier, except louder. The claws disperse water so fast that a vacuum forms just in fron t of the claw. When the water comes back together a clap travelling sixty miles per hour is created, and for a fraction of a second the temperature at the vacuum location soars to over eight-thousand degrees fahrenheit. The pistol shrimp uses this shock wave to stun and kill the small fish that it uses for food.

The pistol shrimp lives in tropical waters. It lives on the bottom of the ocean where there is an abundance of life and other resources it needs to survive, like in coral reefs, oyster reefs, seagrasses, and the Florida mangrove forests. The pistol shrimp is typically between one and one-fourth to one and three-fourths inches long. They are a translucent green color, with red/orange claws and a blue/purple tail.

The prey of the pistol shrimp are anything that is small enough to be killed by their cavitation bubble's percussion blast. Pistol shrimp are not picky and will eat whatever they come across. Sometimes this includes other shrimp, small fish, and crabs. They however will not kill goby fish, Pistol shrimp have formed a symbiotic relationship with gobies, who allow the shrimp to live in their homes with them.

Pistol shrimp are not well known by the multitudes, but they should be. They make excellent aquarium pets and are really cool. They are not expensive, you can feed them anything, and are a cool conversation starter. Who wouldn't want to own one of the loudest things known to mankind?

Sources:

http://i25.tinypic.com/709pis.jpg

http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Tiger-pistol-shrimp

http://www.liveaquaria.com/PIC/article.cfm?aid=201

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1085398/Deadly-pistol-shrimp-stuns-prey-sound-loud-Concorde-UK-waters.html

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