An Alphabet of Mammals #2: N to Z

This is the second of my two-part Alphabet of Mammals series, which began here. If you're an orderly sort of person you might like to look at that first, especially to see what my guidelines are for including species and groups. (Very briefly I strive for each letter to introduce one species or group of species from both Australia and elsewhere, with wriggle room.) Or, you could just dive in here and visit part 1 at your convenience later or never. Either way, here we go again!

N is for Australian Sea Lion (Neophoca) and coatis (Nasua) [!]

OK, here's where I've had to invoke the rule that says I can use scientific names if common ones aren't available (ie if I haven't got photos to illustrate a species with an appropriate common name). Appeals will be considered...

Australian Sea Lion Neophoca cinerea, Bay of Islands, Esperance, mid-central southern
coast of Western Australia. It is the only member of its genus, and is found from Spencer Gulf
in South Australia west to Geraldton on the west coast of WA, though more than 
75% of them now are found in South Australia. Formerly they bred as far east
as the Bass Strait, until the pernicious sealing industry of the early 19th century destroyed
the colonies. They are listed as Endangered and numbers seem to be still falling. We can
only seek to learn more about them, apply that knowledge, and hope.

White-nosed Coati Nasua narica, Costa Rica. Coatis are a group of four species of
medium-sized omnivores from the Americas in the family that also includes raccoons.
This one occurs through Central America, from the northern tip of South America to
the far southern US. Coatis are diurnal and live in sometimes large troops, eating
invertebrates, fruit and a range of vertebrates, bird and reptile eggs. At tourist
sites (eg the Iguazu Falls) they can become bold and aggressive as the result
of irresponsible feeding.

O is for oryxes and Olinguito

Galla Oryx Oryx gallarum, Shaba NR, central Kenya. This is one of six species of Oryx,
big powerful arid-land antelopes from south-western and north-eastern Africa. All but one
have long straight ringed horns and dark patterns on light-coloured bodies. Two species, 
Arabian and Scimitar-horned Oryx, from the Middle East and northern Africa, 
were declared extinct in the wild, but both have rescued by captive breeding and 
managed re-releases. The Galla Oryx (centred on northern Kenya and extending 
just over its borders) was until recently included as part of  the Beisa or 
East African Oryx complex. Both species (and another related one) are Endangered.

I would not normally impose such a poor photo on you, but this time there's a
special reason for doing so. This is an Olinguito Bassaricyon neblina, at Bellavista
Lodge in Ecuador, just north of Quito but up in the cloud forest (neblina means cloudy). I took 
the photo in 2013, immediately after it had been first described earlier in the year. You can read 
a more detailed version of its story here (written just after I'd seen it) but in brief, after years of 
belief that the bigger Olingo B. gabbii, in the raccoon and coati family of omnivores,
represented just one species, in that year three species were announced, including this 
smaller montane species. (There are now four olingo species recognised.)
A pair had been coming to the lodge for some time, taking advantage of bird feeders,
and our visit happened to coincide with one of theirs. No flashes allowed of course
and my camera was struggling, but I regard these of some of the most exciting
photos I've taken. In fact, here's another, which gives a slightly better overall view.

Note the long tail, which is not prehensile.

P is for pademelons and Proboscis Monkey

Red-necked Pademelons Thylogale thetis, Mount Clunie NP, northern NSW.
Pademelons form a group of seven species of small forest wallabies, four of
which are only found in New Guinea, the rest in eastern Australia. This one lives in
wet forests, including rainforests, of near-coastal southern Queensland and
northern NSW, coming out to feed in adjacent grasslands in late afternoon and early 
morning. I took this photo from the verandah of our cabin early one morning.

Male Proboscis Monkey Nasalis larvatus, Labuk Bay, Sabah, Malaysian Borneo.
This extraordinary monkey is the only one of its genus and is endemic to Borneo, 
where it lives in mangroves and adjacent coastal forests. 
The huge nose is believed to act as a resonating chamber.

Q is for Quokka

Quokkas Setonix brachyurus, Rottnest Island, off Perth, south-western WA.
I've already featured a few kangaroo groups here, but this is an Australian blog after all. The Dutch 
explorer Willem de Vlamingh thought they were giant rats (well he was a sailor, not a zoologist) 
and named the island Rottnest (ie 'rats' nest') for them. Quokkas are alone in their genus, 
small and chunky with short tails. On the mainland they live in dense coastal vegetation 
along the south-west coast and are very shy, having predators, especially foxes, to contend with. 
On Rottnest however the land is fairly open, and there are no foxes but there are plenty of 
tourists which can provide their own challenge for coexistence. 

R is for right whales and Rakali 

Southern Right Whale Eubalaena australis, off the Nullarbor Cliffs,
Great Australian Bight, far western South Australia. In summer this whale feeds
in the rich Southern Ocean around Antarctica, but in winter comes north to 
the waters off the southern continents to breed. This site, known as the 
Head of the Bight, attracts Right Whales every year to calve in the 
big sheltered bay. By September, when these photos were taken, the calves 
(see below) are almost big enough to travel, and they're preparing to swim 
south again. In the 19th and 20th centuries they were hunted 
almost to extinction, but numbers are now recovering.

To stand on the cliffs and look down on these magnificent travellers is a 
very special experience indeed.

Rakali (also boringly known just as 'water rate') at Forbes, central western NSW.
This is a very handsome big old Australian rodent (relatively speaking - its ancestors probably
reached Australia about five million years ago, as we drifted close enough to Asia).
In the 1990s the federal environment department (its name changes with the seasons so
I don't even try to keep up these days) recognised that people have an unfortunate but
understandable* down on rats, so recommended that the name Rakali be adopted. It's
a name used by the Ngarrindjeri people of the lower Murray and it's gradually gaining
traction. Rakali eats fish, shellfish, yabbies, water birds, small reptiles and mammals, 
frogs and insects. They shelter and breed in burrows in banks.
*ie given that most people's experience is with introduced urban rats.

S is for sloths and squirrels

Brown-throated Three-toed Sloth Bradypus variegatus, Rincon de la Vieja NP,
northern Costa Rica. There are six living species of sloths, the remnants of a
rich and diverse South American non-marsupial mammal fauna which was largely
exterminated by the influx of mammals from North America when the two 
continents were joined by the Isthmus of Panama just three million years ago.
There are two Families of sloths, one of them represented by just one species 
of two-toed sloth (referring to the 'fingers' actually); they look very similar indeed
but actually parted company some 28 million years ago! Sloths live their
lives upside down (not necessarily as dramatically as this one), live on foliage,
and come down only to defecate - and no-one really knows why they do so.
This species is widespread from Brazil to central America; I have read that in 
Costa Rica they account for more mammal biomass than any other
mammal except humans. (For more on sloths - and their fellow survivors,
anteaters and armadillos - see here for something I posted a few years ago.)

Variegated Squirrel Sciurus variegatoides, Rincon de la Vieja NP, Rincon de la Vieja NP,
northern Costa Rica. Wherever I've been fortunate enough to travel, in every non-frozen
continent outside of Australia, I have enjoyed squirrels. This is unsurprising, as there are nearly
300 species of them. They are rodents and many are agile arborealists, though there is a
diverse group of burrowing ground squirrels (see under X below), and there are also 
50 species of gliding squirrels in Asia and North America. 
This lovely squirrel, which comes in a variety of colours, hence the name, is common
throughout central America. Actually it might be time for a full post on squirrels.

T is for tree kangaroos and Tayra

Lumholtz's Tree Kangaroo Dendrolagus lumholtzi, Malanda, Atherton Tableland,
north Queensland. I love the tree kangaroos' story; starting with a small terrestrial ancestor, 
some of whose descendants took to the trees where some evolved into possums and others 
came down again to found the great diversity of modern kangaroos. Then, one of them 
- probably a rock wallaby - again took to the trees, where they evolved into 14 species 
of living tree kangaroos, 12 of which are confined to New Guinea, the other two being from
 north Queensland. All live in rainforests. They climb powerfully by hugging the tree and
 'hopping' up the trunk, balanced by the long heavy tail. They don't hesitate to leap down 
to lower trees or the ground. Lumholtz's is confined to the Atherton Tableland, 
while Bennett's Tree Kangaroo is found north of the Daintree River. 
They are wonderful animals and this sighting, which took many years to achieve, was a thrill. 

Tayra Eira barbara, Trilha dos Tucanos Lodge in the Atlantic forest near São Paulo,
Brazil. This is a most impressive giant weasel, with a body length of up to 70cm plus tail.
Unlike many weasels though the Tayra is omnivorous - in fact this one was busily
scoffing bananas at a bird feeder. It is found in forests throughout central America and 
much of northern and eastern South America. Tayras are excellent climbers and
just about any small animal can be part of their diet. 

U is for Uromys (Giant White-tailed Rat)

Giant White-tailed Rat Uromys caudimaculatus, Wooroonooran NP, tropical Queensland.
I didn't strictly take this photo, but I did put out the trail camera that did the work when this 
beauty came out of the rainforest to investigate the fruit scraps that we'd put out for the
Long-nosed Bandicoots and Musky Rat-kangaroos that we'd seen. It is a giant among
Australian rats too, with body and tail each more than 35cm long and weighing 
close to a kilogram. It's a shame we can't see the tail with the last third strikingly white.
They forage on the ground for seeds of rainforest trees which they crack with their powerful
teeth; some seeds are buried for 'later on' and if not recovered will germinate. It seems
that this rat thus plays an important role in distributing such seeds. They also compete
with bandicoots, Musky Rat-kangaroos and Striped Possums for Bess Beetles (Family
Passalidae) in rotting logs, climb trees looking for bird nests and hunt crabs
in the mangroves. It's very adaptable rat and we were delighted to even catch a brief view of it.

V is for Vontsira and viscachas

Ring-tailed Vontsira Galidia elegans, Amber Mountain NP, northern Madagascar.
This is one of ten members of the Family Euplenidae, the Madagascan carnivores,
and the only one we saw, so a bit special for us. It is distantly related to the mongooses,
and this and others in the family are often wrongly called mongooses. This one
unexpectedly came out of the forest while we were having lunch in this very rich 
little park (18,000ha). It mostly kept its distance but undoubtedly checked later to see if 
we'd forgotten anything. They are small (weighing less than a kilo) and hunt
for just about anything smaller than themselves.

Southern Viscacha Lagidium viscacia, Lauca NP, far northern Chile. Lauca is a
remarkable place, more than 3000 metres above sea level where the Atacama Desert
meets the Andes; more on it here if you're interested. Viscachas are old South Americans rodents,
whose distant ancestors rafted across a narrower Atlantic from Africa perhaps 45 million
years ago. In addition to the viscachas their descendants include Capybaras, agoutis,
Guinea Pigs and South American porcupines. There are four species of viscacha, all
living high in the Andes from Ecuador to southern Patagonia. This species is found from 
far southern Peru (just north of Lauca), down to central Patagonia. A relatively big
rodent, weighing some 3kg, it lives in colonies among the rocks, sunning, like this one,
during the day and coming out later to graze on tough grasses, mosses and lichens.

W is for Waterbuck and wombats

Male Ellipsen Waterbuck Kobus ellipsiprymnus, Shaba NR, central Kenya. There are two 
species of waterbuck, big powerful antelopes which live in grasslands near water. This
one is from eastern Africa and another species (the Defassa Waterbuck) lives from
central Africa across western Africa - until recently they were lumped together. 
They live in small herds and only the males have the curved and spiralled horns.

Southern Hairy-nosed Wombats Lasiorhinus latifrons, Brookfield CP, South Australian 
Murraylands. While I could have used a better photo of the better-known and far more
familiar Common Wombat of south-eastern Australia, I thought that this one (a poor scan
of an old slide) might be more interesting. There are three species of living wombats,
large burrowing marsupials whose closest relative is the Koala. This species lives 
in limestone country in the Murray mallee districts of South Australia (such as here)
and on the Nullarbor Plain in the far west of SA and adjacent WA. They are well 
adapted to life in an arid landscape where free water is scarce; a slow metabolism
assists in water conservation. Unlike the Common Wombat they are highly sociable, 
living in networks of burrows that have been occupied for generations, with scores of 
entrances and covering up to 30 hectares. (The Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat, now 
restricted to a few small woodland reserves in central Queensland, is listed as Critically 
Endangered and though intensive recovery programs are slowly increasing its numbers, 
there are still only about 400 individuals in the world.)

X is for Xerus (Unstriped Ground Squirrel)

Unstriped Ground Squirrel Xerus rutilus, Tarangire NP, northern Tanzania. Yes I was 
struggling a bit with X, or I'd not have doubled up on a squirrel (having featured all
squirrels just above). But, as it is X I don't feel too embarrassed and this one 
represents a distinct subfamily of squirrels. There are some 130 
species of ground-dwelling squirrels, including marmots, prairie dogs and chipmunks. 
They are found in North America, Eurasia and Africa, including this one, 
the only one of its genus and found in semi-arid landscapes in north-east Africa.
They are mostly solitary animals, but in emergencies will share their burrows 
with other ground squirrels, including those of other species.

Y is for Yellow-footed Rock Wallaby and Yellow-crowned Brush-tailed Tree Rat [!]

I've tried to use group names as far as possible, but Y has defeated me, and this time my response has been to use a couple of mammal names whose adjectives start with Y.

Yellow-footed Rock-Wallaby Petrogale xanthopus, Brachina Gorge, Ikara/
Flinders Ranges NP, South Australia. Rock-wallabies are among my very 
favourite marsupials, a closely-related group off 17 species (though there are probably more, 
with some recently-evolved distinct species in the northern Great Dividing Range looking
pretty much identical physically). It seems that they separated from the pademelons (see 
P above) as the land began to dry out, adapting to the new aridity. The most recent
connection however seems to be with the tree kangaroos (T above). Adaptations
include broad sandshoe-like feet for gripping rock faces, a heavy tail for balancing
and a habit of leaving youngsters, just out of the pouch, in a cave or rock shelter for 
safety while mum forages on the dangerous cliff faces. To watch a rock-wallaby
glide effortlessly up a cliff is like watching water flow uphill. Yellow-foots are
perhaps the most beautiful of all though threatened like all of their kin,
 with the Flinders and Gammon Ranges being their strongholds, plus outliers in
the Barrier Ranges across the border near Broken Hill, and some ranges in 
central Queensland where we've seen them in Bladensburg NP.

Yellow-crowned Brush-tailed Tree Rat Isothrix bistriata at Muyuna Lodge in the 
basin of the upper Amazon River in northern Peru. This attractively plump long-furred
rat is one of a group of five South American brush-tailed rats, which are not well-known
but appear to all live in trees, sheltering in tree hollows by day while sometimes watching
the world go by. This one is found across the western Amazon basin, in 
seasonally flooded tropical lowland rainforests.

and... Z is for zebras (of course)...

Mountain Zebras Equus zebra, Goegap NR, north-western South Africa. This is one
of three zebra species, though not the one that is by far the most common and widespread
across the plains of southern and eastern Africa, the Plains Zebra E. quagga.
Mountain Zebras are restricted to small scattered populations in dry rocky country 
in western South Africa and Namibia. I wrote a bit more about zebras here,
a few years ago.

Thank you for persevering, if you've indeed got this far. If you have, I guess you found something of interest here, which I'm glad about. Mammals are one of my foremost natural history passions, along with birds and orchids... (Everything else too really, but these are the ones I seem to most come back to and try to learn more about.) See you next time, for something quite different though.

NEXT POSTING THURSDAY 14 MAY

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An Alphabet of Mammals #1: A to M

It's almost exactly a year since I offered an alphabet of birds, so maybe it's time to balance the ledger a bit by offering a companion alphabet, of mammals. Where possible I'll offer per letter one species or group from Australia and another from overseas, with some brief comments in the photo caption. For a couple that's not possible, and for a couple of others I haven't been able to cut it down to two, but I'm hoping that won't disturb you too much. In a couple of cases I've not been able to illustrate any common names, so have used the genus names instead. I know, it sounds like cheating, but it's in the rules - I can show you a copy of them if you like. 

A is for antechinuses, anteaters and Aye-aye 

Yellow-footed Antechinus Antechinus flavipes, Chiltern NP, northern Victoria. Still
unfortunately often referred to as 'marsupial mice', this genus of little marsupial carnivores
is indeed superficially mouse-like but they of course are no relation at all to rodents.
This species differs from most antechinuses in being diurnal, and is found throughout
much of the south-east hinterland, as well as in the south-west and the wet tropics.
Famously males never get to celebrate a birthday; their youthful mating is so enthusiastic
that they all then die of compromised immune systems in their first year. 

Giant Anteater Myrmecophaga tridactyla, Pantanal, south-western Brazil.
This is one of the mammals I've most wanted to see since reading all of the Gerald Durrell
and David Attenborough series many decades ago. They are superb. While lots of animals
eat ants (terrible food, but abundant, like gum leaves) there are just four species of
The Anteaters, all South American, and in fact among the very few of the ancient
South American mammals that survived the collision with North America. I posted in
more detail about them here. A Giant Anteater can be over two metres long and
weigh up to 50kg.

Aye-aye Daubentonia madagascariensis, Pangalenes Lakes, eastern Madagascar.
Another dream realised for me - there are a few of them in this post! This big lemur
(head and body about 40cm and tail up to 60cm) shows remarkable parallel 
evolution with the Striped Possum (see my last post), in a long third toe.
Having located wood-boring grubs under the bark by tapping on the trunk and listening
for echoes, it chews into the wood with rodent-like incisors, unique among primates,
and extracts the hapless grub with the elongate finger.
This island population has been habituated to come down to gnaw into coconuts 
with those chiselly teeth, which grow constrantly.

B is for Bontebok and bandicoots

Long-nosed Bandicoot Perameles nasuta, Lake Eacham, Atherton Tablelands,
tropical Queensland. This little beauty came in to a simple feeding station at the lodge
where we were staying. Bandicoots comprise an entire Order of omnivorous 
medium to small marsupials, restricted to Australia and New Guinea. There are
8 living and 3 extinct bandicoot species in Australia. This one lives right 
along the east coast, including in suburbia, feeding on insects, small
lizards and their eggs, fungi and various plant materials.

Bontebok Damaliscus pygargus, Bontebok NP, south-western South Africa. This 
beautiful antelope is found only in the heathy fynbos system of this part of South Africa.
It is a conservation success story, with the population reduced to less than 20 animals
when the original Bontbok NP was established in 1931; 17 were captured and moved
there. Later this proved unsuitable habitat and herd was removed to the current
site near Swellenberg in 1960, where they thrived so that some 2000 Bontebok
have been established in other parks. (Until recently the Bontebok was regarded
as the same species as the more numerous Blesbok from eastern South Africa, 
but its species status is now recognised by antelope experts.)

C is for Cheetah and Colugo

Cheetah family Acinonyx jubatus, Amboseli NP, Kenya, mother and two of three
almost grownup children in the late afternoon, with no other vehicles around. We
watched them for half an hour as the sun set and nearby Mount Kilimanjaro glowed - a 
wonderful experience and privilege. Our local guide had only seen them in 
Amboseli once, and our experienced South African guide never! Because you're reading 
this I'm assuming you've watched plenty of wildlife docos featuring this fastest
land mammal on earth (up to 100kmh over short distances) so I'll leave it there.

Sunda Colugo Galeopterus variegatus mother and baby, Bukit Batok NP, Singapore.
Yet another extraordinary mammal I'd long pined to see; I actually saw them a few
years ago in Malaysian Borneo, but this view, just a couple of metres away, was
amazing. There are just two species in the entire Order, so they have no near
relatives at all (the other species lives in the Philippines). They are commonly - 
and entirely erroneously - known as 'flying lemurs', but they are not lemurs
(which of course are restricted to Madagascar) and they glide, not fly.
We can see part of the gliding membrane on the mother's front leg, but 
it extends from the neck along the limbs to finger- and toe-tips, enabling
it to glide almost horizontally for 100 metres and more.

D is for dik-diks and Dasyurus

Günter's Dik-dik Madoqua guentheri, Shaba Nature Reserve, northern Kenya.
There are four dik-diks, diminutive antelopes, in this genus, all from southern and
eastern Africa in arid environments. This one's range is centred on the semi-deserts of
northen Kenya, Somalia and southern Ethiopia. 

Spotted-tailed Quoll Dasyurus maculatus, Arthur River, north-eastern Tasmania.
And yes, I owe you a justification! I could/should have entered this under Q for quoll,
but a) I already had a candidate for that, and b) I didn't have one for Australian Ds - 
so D for Dasyurus it is. Feel free to boycott it. If you haven't then this was taken
many years ago (pre-digital camera days for me) when I took a group on a boat 
trip up this river in remote Tasmania. There were others on board too, and when
this magnificent animal came poking around while we were ashore for lunch -
no-one outside of our group took any notice! I was gobsmacked. This is the largest
of the three quoll species - a big male can be nearly a metre long and weigh up
to 9kg, a formidable predator. It is in the same family of carnivorous marsupials
as the antechinus which opened today's proceedings. This species (also known,
obscurely as Tiger Quoll, though tigers aren't noted for their spots) is found in wetter
eastern Australian forests below the tropics, with an outlier in the Queensland tropics.

E is for echidnas 

Short-beaked Echidna Tachyglossus aculeatus, Canberra. And while I couldn't find any
other mammals, either Australian or otherwise, to illustrate E, these wonderful mammals would have
got a guernsey anyway. One of the only two living groups of monotremes - egg-laying mammals -
in the world (along with the Platypus of course) these slow, shy daytime mammals
are toothless, living on the eggs and larvae of termites and ants, plus fat grubs, 
which they access by ripping open nests and rotting logs with powerful front claws. This 
species is common enough right across Australia from the alps to the deserts, and is also found
in Papua New Guinea. Also in New Guinea are three species of long-beaked echidnas.
(Which can mean trouble at trivia nights when they ask how many species of monotreme 
there are; are they being uninformed and expecting 'two', or clever and wanting 'five'?)

Yes I really do like echidnas. This is the only echidna 'train' I've ever seen. Up to 10 males will
follow a receptive female for up to a month, unable to stop to feed or rest unless she
 does for fear of missing his place in the queue. Eventually she will stop and the lead males 
dig a trench around her to access her without getting stabbed, and the strongest one gets to 
father her leathery egg, which hatches in 10 days. The blind puggle stays in her pouch until
its spines form, then is left plugged into a nursery burrow for months, fed by her
every few days. And enough now of echidnas, wonderful though they be!

F is for foxes and fruit bats 

Grey-headed Fruit Bats Pteropus poliocephalus, mother and baby, in central Canberra.
There are some 200 species of fruit bats (also unfortunately known as flying foxes, though
that would at least keep them under F here!). They are found throughout the Old World
tropics, and south to southern Africa and Australia.  Most are large, though there are 
also many are very small ones, which are sometimes known as blossom bats.
This species, the largest in Australia, is found along the east coast and has been
expanding south for a while now so there are colonies in Melbourne and even
Adelaide where they arrived only in 2010. Despite the name, they actually don't 
actually eat fruit, but crush it to swallow the juice; they also consume nectar
and play important roles in pollination and seed dispersal.

In Australian discussions of ecology and wildlife conservation 'fox' is a bad word indeed,
since the calamitous introduction of the widespread northern Hemisphere Red Fox
(Vulpes vulpes) in the 19th century, to give the landed gentry something familiar to hunt.
However across the rest of the world foxes are an attractive and fascinating part of the
landscape. Technically the term applies only to the 12 species of the genus Vulpes but it is also 
applied to various other fox-like dogs, including this Crab-eating Fox Cerdocyon thous
in the Pantanal of south-western Brazil. It is found throughout much of northern and 
eastern South America and does indeed hunt for freshwater crabs, as well as insects, 
small reptiles, carrion and fruit.

G is for gorillas and gerenuks 

Both of these g-mammals were among those species I'd long wanted to see - hands up if you're surprised! No, I thought not...  

Southern Gerenuk Litocranius walleri, Shaba NR, central Kenya.
These ridiculously graceful arid land antelopes may be on the way to evolving like a giraffe, 
with long legs and neck enabling them to reach foliage inaccessible to most competitors.
Moreover they will stand up on their hind legs to get even higher inyo the foliage. They are
found from northern Tanzania through Kenya to southern Somalia, with another
species in the Horn of Africa.

Mountain Gorilla mother and baby Gorilla beringei in Bwindi Impenetrable NP,
western Uganda. This was an extraordinary moment in my natural history life, and 
one that I had to work hard for in the steep mountain forests. There was also the 
satisfaction that this family, along with some other habituated groups in the park, 
was both heavily protected and providing a reliable income to local communities. 
Mountain Gorillas are a subspecies of the Eastern Gorilla; there are perhaps only 
1000 left in the highland forests of western Uganda, Rwanda and the DR Congo.
I wrote more about them, and Bwindi, here.

H is for hyraxes and Hypsiprymnodon  

Yellow-spotted Rock (or Bush) Hyraxes Heterohyrax brucei Tarangire NP, northern
Tanzania. There are six species of hyrax (or dassie, though I think that's mostly a
South African term) across most of sub-Saharan Africa. They are all solid short-tailed
medium-sized herbivorous mammals (weighing up to 5kg) which are surprisingly agile. 
It's fun to be able to say that their closest living relatives are elephants and dugongs/manatees
- it's true but it's still a pretty distant relationship. This species lives on rocky outcrops
through much of east Africa and across the continent in western Angola.

Hypsiprymnodon or Musky Rat-kangaroo Hypsiprymnodon moschatus 
Atherton Tableland, tropical Queensland. This is an intriguing little diurnal species
endemic to the Wet Tropics area of northern Queensland. It is the smallest
kangaroo, the most ancient living kangaroo species (giving us an idea of what the 
ancestral kangaroo may have looked like), and the only one that doesn't hop.
I think that it's one of the most fascinating of all Australian mammals.

I is for impala 

Common Impala Aepyceros melampus, Lake Mburo NP, Uganda.
To be honest, as much as I like impalas, this one probably wouldn't have made the cut
here if there were any more unusual i-mammals available to me. But as it is I'm 
quite happy to feature it, as a representative of the plains antelopes of eastern
and southern Africa. Impala comes from the Zulu language, and the species
is an important food item for many predators.

J is for Jaguar 

Another excitingly memorable moment was seeing these young brothers looking for
dinner (and probably mischief) along the Rio Piquíri; we were in a small boat.
Jaguars Panthera onca are the only true American great cats (ie genus Panthera)
and the third largest in the world, between a Lion and Leopard in size. They have a notably
powerful bite that can pierce turtle shells and mammal skulls. They are comfortably
aquatic and in the Pantanal caimans (South American crocodilians - more
on them here) form an important part of the diet.

K is for kangaroos and Klipspringer 

Young male Eastern Grey Kangaroos Macropus giganteus sparring while using their
tails as props, Tidbinbilla NR near Canberra. They are amazing mammals whose abundance
can lead to complacence on our part. They are one of the largest, and almost 
certainly the commonest, of the 60 or so members of the family Macropodidae.
So much to say about them, but perhaps I'll just direct you to the first of a two-part
series I wrote a while ago, here.

Cape Klipspringer Oreotragus oreotragus, Augrabies Falls NP, north-western South Africa.
(I'm almost sure I've got the species right, especially re the non-white belly.) Until 
recently only one diverse species was recognised, across much of Africa, but more
nuanced examinations now reveal 11 of them. They are stocky little antelopes,
specialists in rocky landscapes. They remind me of Euros Macropus robustus in Australia.
Both are nimble but powerful and totally at home in boulder piles and on cliff faces. 
One of my (many) favourite antelopes.

L is for lemurs 

Ankarana Sportive Lemur Lepilemur ankaranensis, Ankarana NP, northern
Madagascar. This little sprite is at home in the dry northern forests,
but there are lemurs, over 100 species of them, in every Madagascan habitat.
There are five lemur families in Madagascar; as many primate families
as there are in each of Asia and South America. Nearly all lemur species are in dire peril 
- Madagascar is an environmental tragedy - and in the relatively
brief time of human habitation at least 17 lemur species have become extinct.
It is not hard however  to see an array of the survivors in the system of mostly small 
national parks. For more on these wonderful primates, see what I wrote about them here.

M is for mongooses and marmosets

Yellow Mongoose Cynictis penicillata, Augrabies Falls NP, northern South Africa.
This one is found only in dry south-western Africa, but there are 34 species found throughout
sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia. They are medium-small active carnivores, some
highly sociable, others solitary. They hunt invertebrates, birds and, famously, reptiles
including venomous snakes. To this end they have evolved chemical defences against certain
aspects of snake venom. Probably the best-known and most 'popular' mongooses
are the Meerkats of southern Africa, but I understand that certain cartoon
movies have cast mongooses as villains. Shame on those movies I say!

Black-tailed Marmoset Mico melanurus, Pantanal, south-western Brazil.
The marmosets and tamarins are a family of tiny South American monkeys, with at
least 47 species but that won't be the full tally. They are found mostly in the Amazon
basin and Atlantic coast rainforests, though this one is well outside of that.
They are highly sociable, and males play a much greater role in child-care
than those of other primates. Tree sap is an important food for many species,
along with insects and fruit.

And there I'll leave it until next time. I've run out of time to include the whole alphabet today, and in any case it really is a big ask of you to get through all 26 letters in one sitting! I hope this enables you to read as much of this as feel like reading, and maybe even give you time to follow some of the links to learn a bit more about some of these wonderful mammals, if you so desire. Thanks for your interest and your support.

 

NEXT POSTING THURSDAY 23 APRIL

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