Wild & Wondrous - Favorite World Press

The FWP weekly digest of wondrous wildlife happenings
and other interesting items from the natural world

Creatures to meet | Things to learn
Things to do

Lisa S. French

Measuring Snow in Basset Hounds

A snow day mini-pause from Being Like Bella, Favorite World Press

In Thanks-Welcome at midnight
the snow started to fall,
and it didn’t stop falling
until it was one basset hound tall.

Snow swirled over houses
and frosted the trees,
where winter birds huddled
in twos and in threes.

Slightly over one basset hound of snow has fallen so far today in NYC (about 16 inches) and it’s dog-gone lovely!

If you’d like to see what individual snowflakes look like pre-pile-up, check out the stunning, high-resolution photography of scientist Nathan Myhrvold, former Chief Technology Officer at Microsoft. It’s absolutely oh, wow!

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Lisa S. French February 1, 2021

Snowy Owl In The City

1-minute read

Bird-wise, it’s been a pretty exciting week here in the Big Apple! In an extraordinary occurrence and much to the delight of nature-deprived city dwellers, on Wednesday, a strikingly beautiful snowy owl flaunted its feathered finery in Manhattan’s Central Park. For a wild creature not accustomed to a flock of camera-wielding humans, the lone owl appeared to maintain an unruffled bird-i-tude despite all of the additional attention.

Why the unusual NYC stopover this particular January? Although some snowy owls spend the entire year on their breeding grounds in the treeless Arctic tundra, others migrate to southern Canada and the northern United States in winter, sometimes traveling as far south as Texas, Florida, and the Carolinas. While New York State is within the avian predators’ normal fly zone, they typically bypass Manhattan. According to Cornell University and Scientific Reports, during migration, snowy owls are most often found in agricultural fields, and along shorelines of oceans and lakes. What the birds look for in a home away from home is owl chow—primarily, small rodents. The large owls may eat more than 1,600 lemmings a year—about 4.5 a day, in addition to other rodents, rabbits, birds, and fish. During seasonal migration, snowy owls follow food resources, adjusting their flight trajectory based on environmental conditions to arrive back in the Arctic at the right time for successful breeding. Because rodents cluster together under snow, the owls may prefer to hunt over snow-covered terrain, although they can also locate prey in snow-free areas.

Well, we did have a dusting of snow here on Wednesday. Plus, the Central Park ball fields make for an appealing, tundra-esque landing site. And when it comes to rodents, yeah, we can certainly help out with those. Whatever the specific reason for the park pit stop, this owl lover was glad to have the feathered fellow nearby and hope it swoops in again at its earliest convenience! FYOI (for your owl information), we’re expecting snow again on Monday—fingers crossed for a return visit. Keep your eyes and ears peeled, New Yorkers!

To learn more about the snowy owl, we highly recommend the beautifully photographed, aptly named Snowy Owl by Paul Bannick. If you’d like to live an owl-friendly life, and who wouldn’t, the International Owl Center offers some useful tips to help welcome and protect the beloved birds. And to receive alerts for all rare bird species in your area, be sure to sign up for notifications from eBird. Happy birdwatching!

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Lisa S. French January 29, 2021

Wildlife Love Action Alert

1-minute read

If you’ve been busy meditating on the possibility of potentially contemplating a plan to consider thinking about eventually exercising in 2021, we’ve got just the thing to help you separate from the sofa and combat the midwinter slumpies—love!

This Valentine’s Day, you can show your passion for the wild ones by participating in the World Wildlife Fund’s virtual Race for Love on Sunday, February 14th. Whether you’re a treadmill warrior or a cross country champion, thanks to the miracle of technology, you can run a socially distanced 5K, 10K, or half-marathon and experience the vibe of a live race in real time. Running solo or as part of a team, every step you take will help to protect and preserve some of our planet’s most precious inhabitants—and the places they roam. You can register for the WWF Race for Love here.

And if you need some inspiration to shake a leg, or two, channel the cheetah! Built for speed, the beautiful, fleet-footed feline is able to accelerate from zero to 60 mph in three seconds and run as fast as 70-75 mph in short bursts. Now, don’t be discouraged if you can’t match the stride of the fastest land animal on Earth. The cheetah’s competitive advantage is due in part to its small head, long limbs, super-flexible spine, and oversized heart and lungs.

Sadly, the cheetah is Africa’s most endangered big cat. Extinct in 25 countries, there are currently only 7,100 left in the wild. By supporting WWF, you can take action to help keep them on the move! For the love of the cheetah and all of the feathered and furry, we hope you’ll join us on February 14th and get up out of your seat and run around.

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Lisa S. French January 25, 2021

Charitable Chimps and Helpful Humans

2.0-minute read

We don’t typically associate spontaneous acts of altruism with members of the animal kingdom. Taking action that relieves suffering or improves the life of another without receiving any benefit has long been thought to be a uniquely human trait. As it turns out, chimpanzees also get by with a little assistance from their selfless friends. Rather than operating on the basis of “you scratch my back, I’ll share my banana,” chimps are willing and able to go out of their way to lend a helping hand without receiving any immediate or long-term primate perks in return.

Although many social behaviors of chimps like grooming, food sharing, and consoling are driven by expectations of reciprocity from relatives or members of their troop, researchers at the Max Planck Institute discovered that chimpanzees also make an effort to help out, without training or reward, even if the ape in need is a stranger. In the German study, 12 out of 18 chimpanzees born in the wild watching an unknown chimp struggle to open a chained door leading to food would move from their resting place to unhook the chain and give the hungry chimp access without begging or bullying for a share of the treat.

So, what motivates helping without the possibility of payback? And is there a relationship between the altruistic behaviors in charitable chimps and helpful humans? Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania studying how humans process the consequences of our actions believe that we may receive an internal reward for being kind or avoiding the guilt or shame of not helping. However, people who are motivated by positive altruism, which is solely for the benefit of others, tend to have greater innate empathy that provokes an emotional response when faced with the suffering or need of another person. They offer assistance even if it requires self-sacrifice. Those lower in empathy were more likely to help only when there was no other option. Apparently, the happy-to-help crew are also happier for helping, benefiting from enhanced mood and life meaning and a greater sense of self-efficacy and competence with the added bonus of improving society and humanity as a whole. Altruism – good, and good for you!

While humans have the capacity to empathize and cultivate cultural norms that promote altruism, we can’t be certain why chimpanzees make an effort to do the right thing with no benefit to themselves. Perhaps they aim to avoid shunning from chimp society, or maybe they are also able to identify with the emotional state of another living being in distress and then feel compelled to act. For now, the answer seems to be that they help simply because they can.

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Lisa S. French January 16, 2021

Greetings, 2021

Well, hello there, two-oh-21! We thought you would never show up! Even if you get off to a bit of a wobbly start, we’re hopeful that you’ll spread your wings and take flight in no time.

Looking forward to your happy, brand-spanking-New Year’s ways. Thanks for coming!

“Hope” is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all.

Emily Dickinson

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Lisa S. French January 1, 2021

2020 Year in Review

As this downside-up, outside-in year draws to a close, we would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to our dear readers, who made time to make room for nature at Weekly Wondrous. Whether you’re far or whether you’re near, we want you to know we’re so glad that you’re here!

The WW Year in Review

Bionic corals,
one trillion new trees,
shiny, cloud parasols,
resilient, smart bees

Precious koalas,
zen jellyfish,
Earth Day at 50,
and our planet’s last wish

The flower power of pigment,
New Guinea’s last singing dog,
a weirdly wonderful bird
with a mouth like a frog

Boogying monkeys,
bickering bats,
and the laser-sharp focus
of the eyes of big cats

Imported beavers,
cool hummingbirds,
a poet named Walser
who had the best words

Two baby whales’
happy, hopeful debut,
shy, stripey okapis
hidden from view

A mini-marsupial’s
Indigenous name,
the Tree of the Year’s
leafy, green fame

Hard-working scientists
in need of big hugs,
tool-using tamarins
skilled at harvesting bugs

Bringing back nature
to make cities sweet,
cooling the planet
with hoofed reindeer feet

Matching red pandas,
an owl all alone,
copycat dolphins,
and a tree-planting drone

A green, flightless parrot
that won the top prize,
a whale of a shark
with teeth on its eyes

Protecting the pollinators
to help flowers bloom,
saving the elephants
by carving out room

An urban sky garden,
robotic bees,
how nature heals sadness,
making music with trees

Keeping tabs on sea turtles,
the floral language of love,
miniature sky labs
tending whales from above

An egg-laying mammal
with an eerie blue glow,
and a fat city cat,
stalking mice in the snow

And that’s that!

From our Favorite World to yours, best wishes for an all-around kinder, gentler, seriously more splendid 2021!

LSF • WW • FWP

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Lisa S. French December 23, 2020

How the Light Gets In

So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing.
Whisper of running streams, and winter lightning.

T.S. Eliot

This holiday season, and always,
may you find comfort and joy
in the poetry of nature.

Wishing you peace.

LSF • WW • FWP

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Lisa S. French December 21, 2020

Aspiring Snow Leopard

Because she’s been grumbling about her lack of internet exposure this year, we offer a rare glimpse of Stella, the FWP in-house, aspiring snow leopard, traversing the rooftop tundra in search of elusive subarctic mice. So fierce!

And in the spirit of the season, a little snow day glow.

Stay safe and warm out there—brrrr!

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Lisa S. French December 17, 2020

Welcome Little Big Whales

1.5-minute read

In the how-about-some-hopeful-news category, two baby bright spots have appeared in the Atlantic Ocean, helping to dispel a bit of the 2020 gloom. As recently reported by CNN, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has announced dual special deliveries. North Atlantic right whales, 13-year-old Chiminea, and 16-year-old Millipede have successfully given birth and been observed swimming alongside their newborn calves off of the coasts of Georgia and Florida.

At a time when the small remaining population of fewer than 400 North Atlantic right whales is struggling to survive, these two youngsters are very welcome additions to their pod. According to an April 2020 study from universities in Denmark and Australia, the critically endangered species has been declining at a rate of about 1% a year. The two biggest threats to the rare animals are ship strikes and entanglement in fishing gear. In one year alone, between November 2016 and November 2017, 17 juvenile and adult whales died from strikes and entanglements. More than 83% of North Atlantic right whales carry scars from getting caught in fishing gear.

Scientists aiming to come up with strategies to keep northern right whales safely in the swim have been analyzing how their health and environmental conditions compare to those of the growing populations of tens of thousands of Southern right whales (pictured above) in Argentina, Australia, and New Zealand.

Although right whales can grow up to 50 feet long and weigh up to 140,000 pounds, North Atlantic right whales are significantly smaller, have less blubber, and are in poorer overall condition compared to southern whales. Researchers believe that the reduced body size is negatively impacting resilience and female whales’ ability to support their calves. Northern right whales only give birth every seven years, while southern whales reproduce about every three years. Not a single northern whale was born between 2017 and 2018.

The primary difference between the two populations is the location. Southern right whales live in remote environments while their northern relatives occupy heavily developed coastal areas with some of the world’s busiest and noisiest shipping lanes. As oceans warm due to climate change, North Atlantic right whales follow their food supplies into cooler waters and higher traffic areas leading to strikes. In light of the daily challenges to the animals’ existence, the birth of two healthy calves is all the more remarkable. Well done, ladies!

It’s clear that North Atlantic right whales are going to need additional support to increase their chances for survival. You can learn more about the ongoing efforts to keep one of the planet’s largest mammals out of harm’s way from the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium.

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Lisa S. French December 15, 2020

The Platypus: You Could Even Say It Glows

1.5-minute read

As quirky creatures go, the platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) is a pretty tough act to follow. The web-footed, duck-billed, paddle-tailed, venom-producing water dweller is one of only five egg-laying mammals on Earth. Although the ancient, semi-aquatic oddity has been paddling around the streams, lakes, and lagoons of eastern Australia for around 110 million years, researchers have only recently discovered another unusual platypus-ian trait—biofluorescence. Platypus fur contains special proteins that absorb sunlight and re-emit it as a blue-green glow under ultraviolet (UV) light.

Why the need for built-in brightness? Because the platypus is primarily active at night, scientists believe its biofluorescence could be an adaptation to the murky, low-light underwater world it inhabits. By absorbing rather than reflecting UV light, the fluorescent fur of the platypus may help keep it hidden from the prying eyes of predators with UV sensitive vision. Navigating in stealth mode could be especially important to the animal’s survival, given that it closes its eyes and ears underwater and can’t see or hear when trouble is headed its way.

While St. Nick’s reindeer could probably do with a break, it looks like he won’t be hitching a submersible sleigh to a team of platypuses anytime soon. Unlike Rudolph’s blinking, bright-red nose, the nocturnal animal’s blue-green fluorescence isn’t visible to the naked human eye.

You may also be interested to learn that the platypus doesn’t glow it alone. Fluorescent substances that emit light in shades of yellow, green, red, blue, and pink have also been found in the bones, fur, and skin of birds, reptiles, amphibians, and other night critters, including the flying squirrel, which glows hot pink and the water opossum, which glows purple.

Blue platypuses, pink flying squirrels, and purple opossums! We might have to spring for a UV flashlight!

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Lisa S. French December 7, 2020