Wild Facts

Photo by Dawson (Wikimedia)

For many people, today is officially the end of the holidays as we all prepare to take down the decorations and head back to work. To help ease you back into your normal routine, I thought we would learn about an interesting little turtle known as the Pig Nosed Turtle. This turtle, which is native to Australia and New Guinea is also known as the Fly River Turtle and the Pitted-Shelled Turtle. So grab your morning cup of coffee and snuggle up to the computer as we prepare to learn everything we can about the Pig Nosed Turtle. Then you can scurry around the house before leaving for work.

An Important Link

As mentioned, you need to go to Australia or New Guinea if you want to catch a glimpse of the Pig Nosed Turtle, which is typically found throughout freshwater rivers, lagoons and  streams. Although they are freshwater turtles, they share some qualities with their marine counterparts. In fact, researchers believe that the Pig Nosed Turtle represents an evolutionary link between freshwater and marine turtles. So what are a few of the similarities? Well, like the marine turtle, the Pig Nosed Turtle also have flippers for feet as well as movable digits. This unique freshwater feature make the Pig Nosed Turtle most adapted turtle to life in an aquatic environment, with the exception of their marine counterparts of course.

Photo by Faendalimas (Wikimedia)

A Swimming Pig

As you can tell from the picture, the Pig Nosed Turtle gets their name from their unique nose, which looks very similar to that of a pig. I am not sure what the purpose is for having a nose like this but it definitely makes the turtle interesting. Besides their fun looking nose, they also have a greyish or olive colour, leather shell and gender determining tail. Males will typically have longer tails compared to the females so it is an easy way to tell the gender of your favourite Pig Nosed Turtle.

Major Decline

The Pig Nosed Turtle is the last surviving member of its ancient family, however, their population has declined by over 50% since 1981. Reasons for the decline include harvesting – both adults and eggs – and of course habitat destruction. Hopefully this link between freshwater and marine turtles can be saved from extinction.

That does it for today’s Wild Fact. Enjoy the rest of your day and have fun going back to work.

Photo by Hoffryan (Wikimedia)

It may have took awhile to get today’s Wild Fact out, due to computer issues, however, better late than never. I promise it was worth the wait as we are heading to the ocean today to study a critically endangered sea turtle known as the Hawksbill Turtle. This particular turtle can be found throughout tropical areas in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans, so you get to choose which area you want to explore. As well, you won’t need to go too deep since the Hawksbill Turtle prefers living along the coastlines where they are close to food and nesting sites.

One Big Heart

The Hawksbill Turtle is smaller than most other sea turtles as they only grow to about 114 cm (45″) in length and weigh up to 68 kg (150 lbs). I find it funny that a 150 lb turtle is considered to be the runt of the family. The young Hawksbill Turtles seem to have more ‘heart” compared to the adults. The juvenile turtles have a heart shaped shell, which becomes elongated as they grow older. Similarly, the shell of this particular turtle tends to be beautifully coloured, which tends to get this turtle into quite a bit of trouble.

Photo by Tom Doeppner (Wikimedia)

Adopt a Turtle

As mentioned, the Hawksbill Turtle is critically endangered as a result of human influence. Although they are globally protected, people still love dining on their eggs and have no problems hunting this turtle for their flesh and amazingly beautiful shell. Similarly, the Hawksbill Turtle is also a victim to fishing as they are often accidentally caught in large fishing nets. Luckily, this turtle is getting some attention as the World Wildlife Federation (WWF) is working hard to ensure that this beautiful creature lives for a long time to come. If you would like to help out with this cause then please feel free to visit the “Adopt a Turtle” website.

The Talons of a Hawk

If you take a look at the head of the Hawksbill Turtle, you will quickly see how they received their name. Yes, their head tapers to a point, which resembles the beak of a majestic bird. Besides the beak, this Turtle also has talons like a Hawk. Okay, maybe I am exaggerating a little bit since I don’t think a pair of claws on each flipper would really constitute  as “talons” but these claws do separate the Hawksbill Turtle from most other sea turtles.

That does it for today’s adventure. Enjoy the remainder of your day and I will see you tomorrow for a new animal fact.

Photo by Jf268 (Wikicommons)

I am a little upset that this is the last cartoon Wild Fact. It was a ton of fun finding out the type of animals some of my favourite childhood cartoon characters were based off of. We are going to end this weeks very special edition of Cartoon Wild Facts with one of my personal favourite characters. Actually, it is four cartoon characters that go by the name of Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and of course Michelangelo. Yep, we are headed to the sewers of New York to learn more about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Before they were transformed into crime fighting, pizza eating heroes in a half-shell they were baby Red-Eared Sliders.

The Red-Eared Slider is a semi-aquatic turtle that was originally from the Southern United States, however, they can be found anywhere since they make great pets. Perhaps this is why Splinter wanted to hang onto them – they were just his pets.  As you can imagine they get their name from the obvious red mark around their ears.  Don’t even bother going back to the TMNT cartoon to see if you can spot it since their ears are covered up by their coloured bandannas.  Oh yeah, and the slider part is simply because they can easily and quickly slide off the rocks and logs to get back into the water (or sewer).

The Red-Eared Slider does have some traits that would help them become crime fighting ninja’s.  The real life version of the Red-Eared Slider is deceptively fast and an awesome swimmer.  Granted they don’t know how to use nunchucks but they can still use these two features to catch their prey.   So what do they use their ninja like skills to catch?  Well, other than pepperoni and anchovy pizza they feed on snails, crickets, worms, tadpoles, fish, crayfish and of course a nice healthy dose of aquatic vegetation.

Red-Eared Slider Fast Fact – A common misconception about this specific turtle is that they don’t have saliva.  Well they do but the Red-Eared Slider also has a fixed tongue and as a result can only eat in the water.

TMNT  Fast Fact – As you may have guessed the Ninja Turtles were all named after Renaissance men.  The leader of the group was named after Leonardo da Vinci, while the fun-loving comic relief Michelangelo was named after Michelangelo Buonoratti.  The other two turtles were named after the famous artist and sculptor Donatello and the very talented painter and architect Raffaelo Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael.   One last side note – in real life, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael formed the traditional trinity of great masters of that period.  They also kicked the snot out of Shredder, Bebop and Rocksteady!

Unfortunately that is the last cartoon Wild Fact.  Perhaps we will start this up again in the future since it was a lot of fun.  Have a great weekend everyone.  Before I go I wanted to provide you with a YouTube link to the Ninja Turtles Opening Theme.  Unfortunately, I was unable to embed the video into the post.  Definitely check out the link though for some late 80′s memories.  Here is the link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avHVOHsN3T0

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Podocnemis_unifilis.jpg

I was having a tough time deciding which animal to talk about today when it dawned on me that I haven’t talked about a turtle in a long time.  So today we get to look at the Yellow-Spotted River Turtle.  I recommend you grab your coffee (or juice in a sippy cup for our younger audience), sit back and enjoy the presence of this super cool turtle.

So what makes the Yellow-Spotted River Turtle so super cool?  Well, it is a turtle and all turtles are awesome. I also think it is pretty interesting that these turtles live in the Amazon River basin.  During the wet season though they will also venture out to hang in the flooded forest. I guess if you are a terrestrial animal like a squirrel then you would start to worry when you see the turtles moving in. For some reason, I picture an old, cranky squirrel yelling at his wife, “Martha! Martha! Pack your nuts, the Turtles are here.  We are heading for the hills!” Wow, it must have been a long day for me. I highly recommend you keep reading since I have no idea what else I might say today.

The Yellow-Spotted River Turtle is a type of side-necked turtle which can weigh up to 25 pounds.  For the record, it is the female turtle that weighs the most in this species.  I just realized that I didn’t explain what a side-necked turtle is.  Would you like to know? Of course you would.  Well, the side-necked turtles aren’t like your typical turtle.  You know the ones that pull their heads straight back to hide in their shell.  Nope, these guys simply bend their necks sideways and tuck their head under the lip of their shell.  From what I can tell from this description, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles would have been your typical type of turtle.  Well, as typical as a mutant turtle can be.

Yellow-Spotted River Turtles – The sex of this particular turtle is determined during the very early stages of their life (obviously!).  Believe it or not the temperature that the eggs incubate at will actually determine if you are having a boy or a girl.  Eggs incubated below 32 degrees Celsius (90 degrees Fahrenheit) will produce male turtles.  I am sure you can guess that eggs incubated above this temperature will produce females.

Well that is all for me folks.  Have a great day!

Well, I just finished shoveling the driveway so I figured it is time to take a trip south.  Since, I can’t do that in real life at this point in time, I figured I will do it in my virtual, blogging life.  I want to take a trip to South America to describe an unique turtle that lives primarily in the Amazon River. The Matamata turtle has developed some unique adaptations that allow them to laze around all day and still manage to catch its dinner.

You see, the matamata turtle is carnivorous and feeds on fish and invertebrates.  Now you might be thinking that it would be tough for a turtle that prefers to live a sedentary life to be able to capture the sneaky, evasive fish. If you look at the picture of the matamata turtle (go ahead and look again, I will wait!). About time, sheesh, I didn’t say to study every detail of the picture!  Did you notice that the shell of the turtle looks similar to bark while the head resembles fallen leaves (go ahead and look again).  We are going to be here all day while you study this picture!  Naturally, the colouration and shape of the turtle allows it to blend into their surroundings.  Don’t worry, this isn’t the only adaptation that allows it to easily capture a quick meal.  The matamata turtle has flaps on the side of their head and a very large mouth.  The flaps on the head and neck add to the camoflage but they are also very sensitive in detecting the slightest movement of water.  When a fish swims by, these flaps ensure that the turtle is aware that dinner is nearby. When the disguised turtle senses the swimming fish it will thrust its head forward and open its large mouth as wide as possible.  This will effectively create a low pressure vacuum and actually suck the fish into the turtles mouth.  The turtle will then snap its mouth shut and slowly expel the water. Due to the unique construction of the matamata turtle’s mouth, they can’t actually chew their prey. This means the little fishy is swallowed whole.  I think I will stay out of the shallow bays of the Amazon River while on my virtual trip.  I don’t want my foot getting sucked into the mouth of the matamata turtle.

Matamata Turtle Fast Fact: The Spanish meaning for matamata is “It Kills, It Kills”.  That pretty much sums up Wild Fact #927.

Below is a short clip taken from the television show “Dirty Jobs”.  The host of this show gets the opportunity to see a majestic alligator snapping turtle.  Enjoy the clip!

Well, if you are reading today’s post then my automatic posting service is still working, which is great.  I will be back in the Yukon tonight so if I haven’t responded to your comments yet, I will be shortly.  I hope everyone has been having a great week.

I have never had a great memory of all my childhood activities, which is a shame, but for some weird reason I remember the first day that the Ninja Turtles cartoon came on.  I was in the yard playing with my cousin and I remember running into the basement to watch this brand new cartoon.  I have no idea why I am telling you this but this memory popped into my head when I was thinking about writing on the leatherback turtle. I wish I could be writing about the adaptations of the leatherback turtle that allows it to perform martial arts and eat pizza but that isn’t the case.

The leatherback turtle, however, does have some interesting adaptations to allow it to survive in the harsh ocean.  I guess the most obvious adaptation is the fact that the leatherback doesn’t have the normal hard bony shell like other turtles.  As their name suggests they have a leathery skin as opposed to a hard shell or carapace.  This leathery surface provides insulation from the cold water. They do have bony plates embedded underneath this leathery skin. It is the only sea turtle that does not have a hard shell.  The leatherback turtle also has several adaptations that allow it to dive as deep as 2000 metres if it needs to.  It can only stay under for about 30 minutes before requiring oxygen and thus spends most of its time within the first 300 metres of the ocean.  Some of these adaptations include oxygen storage compartments, collapsible lungs, slowed heart rate, etc.  To read about more of these diving adaptations then I recommend checking out this great article located here.

One of my favourite leatherback turtle adaptations has to do with the way the turtle eats.  Have you ever tried to eat a live jellyfish?  I am going to go out on a limb here and say that you haven’t!  Well, as you can imagine it might be difficult holding those little guys in place while you eat them.  The leatherback turtle has developed backward pointing spines in its mouth and throat.  These spines help hold the slippery prey in its mouth while it swallows the food.  Even though, it can’t use nunchucks or a sword, I think this is a pretty cool adaptation.

Leatherback Turtle Fast Fact – Leatherback sea turtles are the biggest turtles on earth. These turtles can be about 2 metres (6 feet) long and weigh up to a ton.  Yes, a Ton!  That is 2000 pounds or for the metric folks, 907 kilograms.