Lovable creatures of ICE AGE

The recently refurbished Savoy Cinema is running at ‘House Full’ these days, all eager to watch Ice Age- 4; a 3 d movie. After being  disappointed at having to turn back for lack of seats, ZooLander too viewed Ice Age and this week reports about the characters in it...   An ice age, or more precisely, a glacial age, is a period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the earth’s surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of ice sheets in the world. The animals had to migrate, to escape the freezing climate -theme of the Ice Age series. The background to Ice Age- 2 was - the Melt Down and the third covered the Era of Dinosaurs. The ‘Continental Drift’ is the theme of the current movie Ice Age -4, which is being screened around the world and attracting large crowds at packed cinemas.  Perhaps, you have already watched the Ice Age movie. But have you given thought to the kind of animals that are featured in the film? Yes, all these popular characters were based on real animals - mostly fossilized from that Ice age. Browsing through Wikipedia and other websites, Zoolander compiled the natural history of these animals. Manny the Wooly Mammoth Manfred or Manny is a woolly mammoth and is the most important character of all, in all four Ice Age movies. He can be serious and emotional, but is otherwise caring and friendly. In the first film, while passing through the icy cavern, the herd discovers cave paintings of mammoths which were killed by Paleo-Indian hunters; this is an emotional moment for Manny, indicating that the pictures could be 0f him. This shows us his history  and also indicates that something similar may have happened. Manny finds love with Ellie in Ice Age: The Meltdown. In Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, he has a daughter named Peaches. In Ice Age: Continental Drift, he gets into an argument with his teenage daughter before being pulled away by the drift with Diego, Sid and Granny. Woolly Mammoth is a species of Mammoth elephants. They are commonly found in fossilized records and are scientifically identified as Mammuthus primigenius, also known as the tundra mammoth. This animal is known from its bones and frozen carcasses found in north America and northern Eurasia with the best preserved carcasses in Siberia. They are perhaps the most well known species of mammoth and disappeared from most of its range at the end of the Pleistocene (10,000 years ago). Sid - the Ground Sloth Sid is a Ground Sloth shown in all four films as one of the main protagonists. He is portrayed as clumsy, annoying, slow moving, fast-talking, and unpopular; and has a lateral lisp. Little is known about Sid’s life, other than that Sid once lived in a tree with other sloths. The Ground Sloth is also known as Megalonyx which in Greek means “great claw”. It is an extinct genus of giant ground sloths of the family Megalonychidae endemic to North America from the Hemphillian of the Late Miocene era, living about 11,000 years ago. The type species, M. Jefferson, measured about 3 m (9.8 ft) and weighted up to 1 ton. Diego - Saber Toothed Cat Diego is a smilodon - a Saber Toothed Cat, who has a somewhat sarcastic personality, but without  malicious intent. He was sent by his pack to retrieve the human baby  - Roshan; when he found Roshan in Manny and Sid’s care, he pretended to lead them to the humans, but instead planned to lead them into an ambush by  the pack. However, when Manny  saved his life Diego changed his mind, telling him about the pack and helping to counter attack. Smilodon often called a Saber-toothed cat, or incorrectly a Saber-toothed tiger, is an extinct genus of machairodonts. This Saber-toothed cat was endemic to North and South America, living during the Pleistocene epoch (2.5 mya-10,000 years ago). Scrat - Saber toothed squirrel Scrat is a Saber-toothed squirrel who is obsessed with collecting acorns, constantly putting his life in danger to obtain and defend them. He has his own stories in the film, independent of the main plot, which are parallel with the journeys of the other main characters, causing them to interact with him at times. This character is enormously successful and Scrat is viewed as a breakout character, the most popular of the franchise. In a special feature in the second film’s DVD, his name has been stated to be a mix of the words “squirrel” and “rat”, his species allegedly believed to have been a common ancestor of both. Scrat also appears in Ice Age: Continental Drift, when he finds a map leading to a mysterious acorn island, and he goes on a journey to find the island. At the end of the film, he finds ‘Scratlantis’, an island populated by Sabre-toothed squirrels and filled with nuts. The researchers recently found skulls of the Scrat-like animals embedded in rock in a remote area of northern Patagonia, about 100 miles from the city of Allen in the Argentinian province of Rio Negro. Ice Age Facts * The last glacial, called the Holocene glacial, peaked about 18,000 years ago and ended 10,000 years ago. * Ice covered 40 percent of the world 18,000 years ago.  Glaciers spread over much of Europe and North America 18,000 years ago. Ice caps grew in Tasmania and New Zealand. * About 18,000 years ago there were glaciers in Hawaii. 297 * Ice Ages are periods lasting millions of years when the Earth is so cold that the polar ice caps grow huge. There are various theories about why they occur (see climate change). * There have been four Ice Ages in the last 1000 million years, including one which lasted 100 million years. * The most recent Ice Age - called the Pleistocene Ice Age - began about 2 million years ago. * In an Ice Age the weather varies between cold spells called glacials and warm spells called interglacials. * There were 17 glacials and interglacials in the last 1.6 million years of the Pleistocene Ice Age. * The people of the Ice Age risked their lives to hunt the fierce woolly mammoth. It was a good source of meat, skins, bones and ivory.   http://www.houseandhome.org/ice-age-facts

Published on LakbimaNews on 26.08.2012 http://www.lakbimanews.lk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6611:lovable-creatures-of-ice-age&catid=41:mag&Itemid=12  

Otter - Swimming legend in the wild

Swimming took a lot of shine at the Olympics 2012 in London, with Michael Phelps, becoming the most decorated Olympian in history. Competitive swimmers train hard and develop their bodies, for competition, while the greatest swimmer in the natural world - the otter, does so for its very survival and appears to do so with pride and joy. ZooLander this week reports on the otter in the Dehiwala Zoo... There is a well known sports club in Colombo named ‘Otters’, which has taken its name after these delightful creatures of the water and master swimmers, making known the clubs special affiliation to swimming. The agile otters are famous for an amazing ability to conquer the river habitats in Sri Lanka. In the wild, it is difficult to observe otters at a close range, as they are naturally shy; yet they are some of the most charismatic  animals you can find in the zoo, where you can observe them closely, and photograph their antics, in captivity. The Otter family has 13  species with 5 otter species recorded in Asia. The species found in Sri Lanka is called the Eurasian Otter (Lutra lutra). As the name indicates a European part, it might convey that this species is found m0re prevalently   in Europe, which is not the case, but is very widely distributed. They are also known as the Common Otter and Old World Otter. The Eurasian Otter is also tagged as the least social animal. Otters are semi-aquatic; and lives both in water and land. Otters are usually solitary and relatively  nocturnal. When not fishing, they like to sleep. Master swimmer Though clumsy when walking on land, the body of the otter is well designed for an aquatic lifestyle. This swimmer and diver, moves in water by strong undulations of its body and tail and strokes of its hind feet. While human divers use artificial fins, the otter’s feet are webbed in a manner which gives it power to push the water more efficiently. (Webbed feet are common in ducks)The Otter can close its nostrils and ears, when in water, so there is no issue about water going in from these body holes. Its body shape helps the otter to reduce the water resistance when it swims and maintain the speed. Its fur is short and dense and keeps the skin dry by trapping a layer of air around the body. Unlike other marine mammals, otters don’t have blubber and rely on thick fur to keep warm, but this double coat also helps them to keep afloat. It is mentioned that the bubbles of air trapped in their fur give them  a silvery appearance underwater. The Eurasian otter’s nose is about the smallest compared with the otter species and has a characteristic shape, described as a shallow ‘W’. The strong whiskers on their face are believed to be used for locating prey. Fishing for a living The otter’s staple diet is fish. But it also doesn’t mind some unwary frog or occasional water bird. Some studies show that otters have a preference for eels. Being opportunistic feeders, otters do not show preferences for one fish species over another. They will feed on in relation to their locale and seasonal availability. Otters can give a high speed chase to catch a fish, unlike many other animals that silently wait and ambush when the prey  swims towards them. Otters in the wild catch and feed predominantly on live animals; there are only a few recorded instances where it was found to have eaten dead fish. While that is the case in the natural world, the otters in the Zoo have to depend upon the dead fish provided by their keepers. If you visit during an evening, you may also be able to witness the zoo’s otters getting a feast of fish to dine on. Their average daily consumption of food in captivity is about 1.5 kg per day. Blind babies Otters live in burrows on the banks of waterways called Holts. These are usually only accessible from underwater, hence very successful at keeping out the land based predators and gives protection to their babies. The main mating season is from February to March and July. After a gestation period around 60 to 70 days, the females give birth to a litter of usually 2-3 cubs, each weighing about 100-120g. Baby otters are born blind; will open their eyes after one month; will leave the nest at around two months; and are weaned by 3 months. The young stay around their mothers for up to 14 months and reach sexual maturity at 2 or 3 years. It is mentioned that an otter has a lifespan of 10-12 years. Sea going cousin Our otter species which live in river ecosystems have a few cousins that live in the sea. The sea otters inhabit offshore environments, where it dives to the sea floor to forage. The otters are just as happy in salt water as they are in fresh water, often diving down 20 metres and for up to two minutes at a time, although records show that otters can go as deep as sixty or seventy metres and stay under for up to four minutes. They must, however, have access to fresh water to clean themselves with, as the salt water clogs up their fur and inhibits insulation. The Sea Otters prey  mostly on marine invertebrates such as sea urchins, various molluscs and crustaceans, and some species of fish. They develop special techniques to open up tightly  shut shells. First, it uses rocks to dislodge prey and to open shells making it one of the few mammal species to use tools - indicative of how brainy the otter can be. Near threatened Eurasian Otters had been a common species decades ago, now their populations are declining all over the world. The IUCN which publishes the Red List of Threatened Fauna and Flora indicates that many local populations of otters have become extinct.  In their list it is stated that water pollution as the major threat to Eurasian Otters, mentioning that water pollution in fact has caused recent local extinctions from which Western European populations are only  now recovering as a result of environmental improvements and focussed conservation efforts. The IUCN says agrochemicals such as DDT or Mercury affect the otter physiology directly. Pollution also reduces their food supply  due to nitrate-induced eutrophication from agricultural run-off and untreated sewage, and acidification from atmospheric pollutants. Oil spills threaten coastal populations. In parts of the range, illegal hunting is a major issue, and the rise of fish farming has led to conflict, resulting in some countries in licenses to kill otters being issued by authorities. Road traffic accidents too have been recorded commonly when the otters are trying to move from different parts of habitats. Conservation actions Artificial otter Holts are a good way of encouraging breeding among wild otters by providing them with a ready-made safe place to bring up their young.Conservation actions have helped Eurasian Otters to show some signs of recovery, and to halt being classified under extinct. Otters were once common in Sri Lanka too. But habitat loss and pollution have contributed to a decline in their wild populations. So, whenever you visit the zoo and see the otters, think, it is another animal that has been pushed to the limits of extinction due to human activities and that we should be mindful when engaging in development activity and do so carefully without compromising the natural world.

http://www.lakbimanews.lk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6527:otter-swimming-legend-in-the-wild&catid=41:mag&Itemid=12

Gold Medalists of Natural World

Published on LakbimaNews on 05.08.2012