Tag Archives: amphibians

Act now to help the endangered animals

There are millions of creatures, large and small that grace this planet and share the land with us. Some are well-known and common while others are a bit stranger and less common and are even considered animals endangered. Here are several freaky weird animals that are on the verge of extinction but deserve just as much help and attention in bouncing back as any other of their cuter and cuddlier counterparts:

Long-beaked echidna

1) The Echidna. This small mammal has a few odd characteristics. First of all, it has spiky quills over it’s body sort of like a porcupine and it is one of only two mammals in the world that lays eggs. Because it has no teeth and is also shy with a good temperament, this makes the Echnida as easy target for bigger animals to feast on. Combine this with the deteriorating environment that it calls home and you have an animal that is highly in danger of becoming extinct.

Olms in Postojna Cave, Slovenia

2) The Olm. This amphibian which is native to Italy and Croatia that has some strange quirks that help it in some circumstances but also make it easy prey. First of all, this creature is blind and, unlike other amphibians, it lives in the water. These two things make it easy for larger fish other creatures to sneak up on it in the water. If the Olm is lucky, it can live up to one hundred years but not many make it to that ripe old age.

Duck-billed platypus

3) The Duck-billed Platypus. Although this creature is venomous and is able to fend off potential enemies in the animal kingdom, it’s survival tactic is no match for human poachers who wanted it’s fur and who have hunted it to near extinction. It is the only other mammal that lays eggs, the other one is on the list of near-extinct animals too.

Of course, this is just a small sampling of the animals that are in danger of being wiped off this planet all-together. There are literally thousands more spread out all over the world. We must act together to protect these animals because they are a natural part of the whole system that keeps life going the way it should on this planet. Every time an animal goes extinct, it effects the whole system and one of these, we may find ourselves on this lengthy list.

New species are still being uncovered at the Gray Fossil Site

Dr. Steven Wallace holds the beaver tooth recently discovered at the Gray fossil site. (Brian Bishop / Johnson City Press)

The Gray Fossil Site near Johnson City, Tennessee is full of surprises. The site dates to the late Miocene in age, and preserves a diverse fauna of critters. It is highly unusual to have deposits of this age preserved in the Appalachian region as most of the sediments have been stripped away from the underlying crystalline bedrock. But in this unusual setting, sediments that filled a sinkhole were preserved, along with a lot of evidence of past life from the region.

Researchers have not yet “scratched the surface” of the deposit despite several years of excavation. Core samples indicate that the deposit covers several acres and is over 100 feet thick (Wallace et al., 2002). Many species have been identified from the site including: fish; alligator; snakes; turtles; amphibians; a proboscidean; the world’s largest single collection of tapirs; rhinos; a short-faced bear; ground sloth; a saber-toothed cat; and a red panda.

They have recently added beaver to the list.

Steven Wallace and his team have identified the specimen as Dipoides, a member of an extinct line of beavers which includes the giant beaver Castoroides. Dipoides has a stratigraphic range extending from the Hemphillian to the late Blancan (Kurten and Anderson, 1980), or approximately 9 million to 3 million years ago (Prothero, 1998).

Today, you can visit a large interpretive center at the site, and watch summer excavations. It is expected that an annex will be started soon to provide even more space for visitor activities. Check it out on line at www.grayfossilmuseum.com, and watch for continued news coming from Johnson City, Tennessee in paleontology.

References:

KURTEN, B., AND E. ANDERSON. 1980. Pleistocene Mammals of North America. Columbia University Press, New York, 443 p.

PROTHERO, D. R. 1998. The chronological, climatic, and paleogeographic background to North American mammalian evolution, p. 9-36. In C. M. Janis, K. M. Scott, and L. L. Jacobs (eds.), Evolution of Tertiary Mammals of North America. Cambridge University Press, New York.

WALLACE, S. C., J. NAVE, AND K. BURDICK. 2002. Preliminary report on the recently discovered Gray Fossil Site (Miocene), Washington Co., Tennessee: with comments on observed paleopathologies and the advantages of a large sample. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 22(Supplement to Number 3):117A.