Peculiar Creature #10: The Pine Marten

First of all, what is a Marten? It's a weasel-like animal that resembles the domesticated ferret, with a longer tail. These fuzzy creatures are certainly adorable-- I was introduced to them while watching a segment of Planet Earth in my Intro to Geography class. The narrator explained that the Pine Marten, only found in taiga climates (for those less seasoned geographers, these are cold forest climates that have cool springs and summers), was hunting for some spring food while it climbed a nearby tree. I expected a screenshot of the Marten cracking open a pinecone and eating some seeds. Instead, it entered a hole in a tree and came out with a dead, limp squirrel. A carnivore? I was very surprised. Although the Marten can survive on plants, it is a hunter, and so prefers to hunt squirrels and small rodents.

The Pine Marten prefers to live in very old forests, because dead trees make great homes for them, and the forest provides plenty of food for the Martens to hunt. They are expert tree climbers, and their sharp teeth make them great hunters. The martens don't hibernate, they are active all year long, and they prefer to live by themselves. They are extremely territorial wild animals. The species is hunted and coveted for its very soft fur, but it is only endangered in some areas. In more rural areas, the Marten thrives in deciduous forests within the taiga climate. This website encourages viewers to donate to the Endangered Resources Fund in Wisconsin to help save the Pine Martens and other endangered species threatened by humans: http://dnr.wi.gov/org/caer/ce/eek/critter/mammal/pinemarten.htm

Logging is also a danger to the Martens since they thrive only in old forests. They need this habitat to continue to thrive as a species. I tried to find a video of the cute Marten taking advantage of an innocent squirrel, but I couldn't find any hunting videos-- the cute pictures above will have to suffice, although they might leave you with a different visual impression than the one that I initially had.

Needless to say, this ferret-like animal definitely deserves the title of unique because of its adaptations to cold climates and its hunting abilities. Not many species can be found in the taiga climate, especially species that roam year-round.

Peculiar Creature #9: The Alligator Gar

Though it features "alligator" in its name, this animal is not nearly as scary as the real alligator. However, it is the largest gar species alive today and is only found in the Americas. It is prehistoric-- it lived with the dinosaurs! The alligator gar is only aggressive when provoked. If you try to catch it, it will put up a fight. Alligator gar fishing is a sport of choice in many leisure fishing circles. It may look quite scary with its double row of upper sharp teeth, capability to grow up to 10 feet long, and its recorded weights of over 300 pounds. The scariest part? This fish is a brackish and saltwater fish. Imagine water skiing in the middle of a lake and upon a fall, having your leg brushed by none other than the Alligator Gar. I'd be a little scared, to say the least. You can see where this fish gets its name. It looks like an alligator in size and shape, and it also features sharp teeth and sometimes aggressive behavior.

The middle picture features a recently caught gar caught in an Oklahoma lake, supposed to weigh 327 pounds and measure to be 8 feet 10 inches tall. There are debates about whether or not this information is accurate, but nonetheless, the immensity of the fish is unbelievable. Although bigger numbers have been reported such as the ones above, the "world record" Alligator Gar was caught in 1951 in Rio Grande, Mexico, weighing 279 pounds. No one has beaten this world record since because of strict regulations on fishing, differing standards of weighing scales, and other similar factors. However, a 302 pound gar was also reported in the same area at the same time period.

Although you probably haven't awed at the cuteness factor of this slimy brethren, you've at least learned something interesting about a prehistoric creature and its current popularity with the competitive fishing crowds!

Peculiar Creature #8: The Ermine

The ermine is an arctic animal much like a weasel. It populates the tundra climates of Canada, the USA, and Eurasia, and mostly hunts for its food underground (yes, this cute furry animal is a carnivore.) It has adapted very well to the unbearably cold tundra climates, often making its habitats in tree roots off of the tundra and hunting in burrows under the snow. The creature is thin and long, allowing it to burrow through the tunnels of the animals it preys on, most often favoring the lemming. Lemmings are cute and delicious furry rodents resembling domesticated hamsters and gerbils. They are herbivores and are commonly associated with "lemming suicide", a phenomenon that has been around for centuries, stating that the lemming migrations are really mass suicides in which the lemmings drown themselves or jump off of cliffs. This theory holds no truth, but shows up in a lot of media, especially from the earlier 1900s. Anyway, enough about lemmings-- the ermine has a magical coat that transforms from a summer and fall brown to a brilliant winter white to blend in better with its climate. The only part of the body that isn't white is the tip of the ermine's tail, which stays a jet black.

This nasty carnivore has a set of 34 sharp teeth, which helps it to trap and kill prey larger than itself. Ermines are, fortunately, neither threatened nor endangered. This arctic weasel is even more unique because of its extremely flexible spine, which allows it to engage in a "marten run", in which the hind feet are tucked by the front feet. The animal reaches maturity very early, which helps maintain its population in such a hostile climate.

Sorry, I had to.

How can this cute fluffy animal be a nasty and scary carnivore, preying on the innocent lemmings? I mean, apparently they also enjoy their whole grains....

Peculiar Creature #7: The Self-Cloning Lizard

Who needs men? We ladies don't...unless, that is, we plan on reproducing. This isn't the case for the newly discovered self-cloning lizard, who reproduces exact copies of itself as a species. The only diversity within the species takes place in the event of a mutation, which could be positive or negative. Self-reproducing lizards are not rare- many species only come in one gender and the females can ovulate and reproduce themselves. But this is the first self-cloning lizard that is sterile, kind of like the mule. There are arguments about whether or not this hybrid lizard will be advantaged or disadvantaged in the long run. So far, it hasn't seemed to have had any issues surviving as evidenced by its abundant populations in the Vietnamese forests. But sometimes, hybrid species are disadvantaged in the long run because their gene pools aren't as strong.

The discovery of this new lizard in November of 2010 is quite unscientific: scientists discovered the strange lizard being served in local Vietnamese restaurants, where it has been a specialty for many years. The lizards can be found abundantly in the local forests, so it's a wonder that they hadn't been discovered before then. Upon noticing that all of the lizards looked identical, the scientist thought it could be a type of self-reproducing lizard. Instead, he found a new species, a self-cloning lizard. How cool is that? Sounds like a phenomenon out of a science fiction movie, or even a horror movie: "The Attack of the Self-Cloning Lizards." Yes, they can take over the world! But they look pretty harmless to me...

Harmless? Yes. Tasty? Not so much. As I vowed as a child never to eat snails in France, I will also vow to never eat lizard. Or any reptile, for that matter.