High Living #3: animals above the treeline

This is the third and final of a series on life above the treeline, mostly high up mountains but also closer to the poles, in both cases where there is no longer enough solar energy around the year to support the massive energy needs of trees. It began here and you may wish to start there for context, but if you'd prefer just to read this photo essay on its own that would work too.

Hoverfly Melangyna sp. on Billy Button Craspedia sp.

I noticed when going through photos of high country flowers that quite a few had insect pollinators in them. This is not surprising as the short growing and especially flowering season means that pollination and seed dispersal must occur in a compressed time frame, so there will be heavy competition. In the Australian alps a range of insect pollinators can be found on the flowers. I assume that most if not all of these insects have either a one year life cycle or move downslope at the end of summer. Here are a few more examples; it seems a nice segue from the plants post to this one on animals.

Wasps sharing a Billy Button flower head. I am told that wasp taxonimists are suspecting
that wasp species may prove to be even more numerous than beetles. I am
unable to say how many species are represented in this photo, but I'm 
pretty there is more than one.

Certainly this wasp, on a Purple Eyebright Euphrasia collina, is a different species again.

Fly on Alpine Sunray Leucochrysum alpinum, a very common alpine daisy.

Spotted Alpine Xenica Oreixenica orichora on Alpine Mint Bush Prostanthera cuneata.

Australian Painted Ladies Vanessa kershawi on Alpine Sunrays.

 Of course not all alpine insects by any means are pollinators. Some are preying on the pollinators.

Alpine Darner Austroaeaschna flavomaculata high in Kosciuszko NP.

And some are busy munching on the foliage, especially the abundant new growth.

Spotted Mountain Grasshopper Monistria concinna on Alpine Mint Bush which is its preferred
food plant and which is probably the source of the unpalatable protective toxins in its body.
It is entirely flightless so needs this protection. This hopper is remarkably well adapted to 
life above the tree line, and can survive winter in the snow, thanks to having sorbitol, 
an 'antifreeze' chemical, in its body which lowers the freezing point of its body fluids.

Mountain Katydid Acripeza reticulata. This the female, which is flightless. She mostly
relies on camouflage for protection but if pressed (eg by inconsiderate photographers)
she opens her wing covers (which don't now actually cover any wings) to flash
her brilliant blue and red abdomen. This warns predators that she tastes very unpleasant.
The male has the same defence mechanism but he is long and slender like a conventional 
grasshopper and has fully developed wings. They are quite common high in the south-eastern
mountains, but despite the name are also found at lower elevations and deep
inland in semi-arid woodlands, though I confess I've only seen them high up.

Given the very small area of the Australian alpine country (less than 0.1% of the land mass), it is quite unsurprising that there are no specialist alpine bird species here though some birds that are common lower down go up there in summer for the food on offer. 

Little Ravens Corvus mellori foraging in the mist among boulder stacks on Mount Kosciuszko 
for Bogong Moths which aestivate there (the summer equivalent of hibernate) in the 
cool rock crevices, in their thousands.

Australasian Pipit Anthus australis, taking advantage of the temporary insect
bonanza, again high on Mount Kosciuszko.

In major mountain ranges however, and in lower altitude treeless regions closer to the poles, there are many bird species which specialise, either solely or primarily, in these environments. 'Andean' appears repeatedly in the names that follow. 

Andean Condors Vultur gryphus at the carcase of a Guanaco killed by a Puma the previous
night in Torres del Paine NP in Chilean Patagonia. This magnificent New World vulture
was once common down the full length of the Andes, but due to human interference and
deliberate extermination it is now rare in the north of its range, and only common 
in Patagonia, especially in this park.

4000km to the north, Andean Condors roost overnight on cliff faces low down in 
Colca Canyon in southern Peru, a gorge that is twice as deep as the US's Grand Canyon.
In the morning they rise on air thermals to forage for carcasses over the mountainous 
surrounds. This is a huge bird, which can have a wing span of over three metres
and weigh up to 15kg, which is mechanically the upper weight limit of a flying bird.
While in places they be sometimes seen at sea level, they breed at up to 5000 metres
above sea level (masl from here on) on isolated rocky ledges. This is the only
healthy condor population left in Peru.

Quite a few of the true alpine birds are waterbirds, for whom trees are generally not immediately relevant.

Andean Avocets Recurvirostra andina, here at Laguna Chaxa in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile,
are restricted to the central Andes from southern Peru to northern Chile, via Bolivia and 
northern Argentina. They breed at above 3500masl. 
These high altitude alkaline and hypersaline lakes are counter-intuitively rich in small animals

Andean Flamingo Phoenicoparrus andinus, also at Laguna Chaxa. They have an Andean
range which has the same core as that of the Andean Avocet, but is considerably smaller.
This, the least abundant of the flamingos, breeds at 3000-4000masl, but afterwards
some move to lower altitudes, though many don't.

The Salinas y Aguada Blanca National Reserve is in the Andes of far southern Peru. It covers a vast area of 370,000ha of puna meadows and ponds, 3500masl at its lowest point and rising to over 6000masl. Probably unsurprisingly in all this huge landscape there is only one tree species - a Polylepis, the highest altitude tree species in the world. The next three photos were all taken there.

Andean Geese Chloephaga melanoptera. This handsome bird lives its life at over 3000masl, along the 
Andes from central Peru to central Chile. The South American 'geese' are actually most closely
related to the shelducks.

Andean Lapwing Andean Lapwing, which lives and breeds in the puna and páramo of
the Andes from southern Colombia to northern Argentina, from 2700 to 5000masl.

Giant Coot Fulica gigantea on its huge weed nest, which can be three metres long and stand 
50cm out of the metre deep water, resting on the lake bed, though to 
start with it floats. It will be defended and expanded for years. The bird is indeed a giant among 
coots, being 60cm long and weighing up to 2.5kg. (Compare this to the familiar Eurasian
Coot, found widely from Britain to Australia, which is about 37cm long and weighs up 
to 900g.) The Giant Coot is a bird of the high central Andes puna above 3600masl,
ranging up to 6500masl.

Andean Teals Anas andium in El Cajas NP, southern Ecuador, at roughly 4000masl.
This species is restricted to the northern high Andes of Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela.
In the south it is only found between 3500masl and the snowline, while further north
it may venture down to 'only' 3200masl.

While in El Cajas - truly a most remarkable and rewarding reserve, no matter what your natural history interests are, from plants to birds to extraordinary scenery - here are a couple of small terrestrial birds which have made the high bleak meadows their home. Both these were at about 4000masl.

Stout-billed Cinclodes Cinclodes excelsior. There are 15 species of ground-dwelling cinclodes,
members of the ovenbird family, one of the two ancient South American passerine groups
which dominate the continent (and which are a challenge for birders new to
South America!). This one lives only high in the northern Andes, from 3200 to 5200masl.

Many-striped Canastero Asthenes flammulata, another (and quite striking) ovenbird
with a similar range in the northern Andes, from 3000 to 4500masl.

Cinereous Ground Tyrant Muscisaxicola cinereus in similar habitat, but 2000km south
in the splendid Lauca NP in Northern Chile and also at about 4000masl. 
The tyrant flycatchers form the other ancient South American passerine assemblage. 
Many are forest flycatchers but this one spends most of its time foraging on the 
ground in the high central-southern Andes.

And, returning to both the pollination theme with which we began this post and to El Cajas NP, here are a couple of high altitude hummingbirds pollinating flowers in the thin air of El Cajas. 

Ecuadorean Hillstar Oreotrochilus chimborazo feeding on the national flower of Ecuador, the
'Flower of the Andes' Chuquiraga jussieui, a daisy. Both bird and flower live at 3000 to 5000masl
in the Ecuadorian Andes, though the plant also extends south into Peru.

Blue-mantled Thornbill Chalcostigma stanleyi on another daisy, though I can't put a
name to this one. (I can't readily think of an Australian daisy which is bird-pollinated,
but I imagine that at these altitudes insects could not be relied on.)
I love the iridescence of this beauty!

And finally, a ground-dwelling alpine woodpecker.

Andean Flicker Colaptes rupicola near Chivay (and Colca Canyon) in southern Peru at 3600masl.
It is entirely a bird of the high treeless Puna. Weirdly, depending on the population,
the black moustache could indicate a male, in which case the female will have no
moustache, or it could mean a female, in which case the male will have a red one!

High altitude - ie above the treeline - specialists are less numerous among mammals and reptiles, though they're not rare either.

In Australia the Mountain Pygmy-Possum Burramys parvus lives and breeds in shrubby healthland among the boulder piles at the highest parts of the Australian Alps, and doesn't extend lower than the Snow Gums of the high subalps. Moreover it occurs in just three sites in the Alps, with one small range in Kosciuzsko NP in NSW and two in the Victorian Alps. The total range of the species is about 600ha and the adult population apparently only about 2200 animals. Males mostly live lower down but go up to the females when it's time to mate. In winter they go into extended true hibernation under the snow among the boulders, where the temperature rarely falls below 0 degrees centigrade. They are the only Australian mammal to truly hibernate. In summer they feast on the masses of Bogong Moths which aestivate in boulder crevices, along with other invertebrates and hard seeds including that of the sprawling conifer Podocarpus lawrencei. In Australia it is the only mammal restricted to the alpine (and adjacent high subalpine) zones. There are a few South American marsupials (the shrew-opossums Family Caenolestidae) which also live above the treeline, but no others in Australia.

Mountain Pygmy-Possum, photo courtesy Melbourne Museum.
(I try to use only my own photos, but don't have any of this rare and shy little
marsupial. However it was too important a subject for this post to ignore.) 

Other Australian mammals of course move up the mountains in summer but only this pygmy-possum is there all year round. 

Bennett's Wallaby Macropus rufogriseus dwarfed among the heaths and granites of 
Ben Lomond in north-eastern Tasmania. This wallaby is known as Red-necked 
Wallaby on the mainland of Australia.

And here it is in close-up!

For the rest, regarding mountain mammals, it's back to South America. First a couple of camelids, with a group shot and a portrait for each. 

Guanacos Lama guanicoe (above and below) in Torres del Paine NP in Chilean Patagonia. 
While these are only at about 1500masl, at this latitude (50 degrees south), the tree line
is at about 500masl, so they live and thrive in a treeless and perpetually
windy environment. This park is one of their strongholds. Further north in the 
Andes they can be found at over 4000masl, but in other places (especially
Tierra del Fuego) they live at sea level.

Guanacos at higher altitudes have greater red blood cell counts and larger
hearts than expected for a mammal of their size.

Vicuñas Lama vicugna are smaller, higher altitude relatives of the Guanaco. They are
found further north in the Andes. Here is a small herd in the grandly bleak landscapes of 
Salinas y Aguada Blanca National Reserve in southern Peru. The lowest point of the park 
at 3500masl is close to the lowest to which Vicuñas descend. 
They can also thrive at nearly 5000masl.

Vicuña near Chivay in southern Peru, at 3600masl. 

Andean Tapeti Sylvilagus andinus, a cottontail rabbit from the high altitude páramo
grasslands of the northern half of the Andes; this one was in El Cajas NP, Ecuador,
 at close to 4000masl.

Male Southern Huemul Hippocamelus bisulcus, Torres del Paine NP. This is a seriously
endangered species from the far southern Patagonian highlands.

Southern Viscacha Lagidium viscacia in Lauca NP, which at its lowest point is 3200masl
and rises to well over 6000masl, in the arid Andes of far northern Chile. This is one of 
the ancient South American rodents, whose ancestors apparently rafted here from
Africa perhaps 45 million years ago.

And finally, and perhaps surprisingly, some reptiles and a frog. In the Australian Alps there are two species of porcelain-shiny black and gold alpine frogs called corroborree frogs, both Critically Endangered. The Northern Corroboree Frog Pseudophryne pengilleyi lives in the Brindabella Ranges in the ACT and adjacent NSW and in nearby northern Kosciuszko NP. Chitrid fungus, fires in the highland sphagnum bogs which they rely on, trampling of the habitat by feral horses and pigs and warming temperatures are driving both species to extinction though major captive breeding programs are providing some hope.

 

Southern Corroboree Frog in captivity in the ACT, part of a breeding program. They are less
than 3cm long, and do not hop. They spend winter under logs and rocks in woodland around
the bogs and in spring the males make nest burrows in the moss and call to the females
with a sound like a finger on a wet balloon. She lays no more than 25 large eggs. The tadpoles
stay within the jelly for up to six months, until melting snow floods the nest, and they take three
years to mature to a frog. In that time they conserve all waste nitrogen (other frogs convert it
to ammonia but this would be fatal in a burrow) and convert it to body tissue.
I remember when it was easy to find Corroboree Frogs, but now it would be nearly impossible - 
as well as being irresponsible to try.

Montane reptiles rely on basking on rocks and logs warmed by the sun; accordingly all such reptiles are diurnal. They are also adapted to be able to operate at much lower temperatures than most other reptiles. Most give birth to live young, which benefit before birth from their mothers' basking. Many mate in autumn, store the sperm over winter and are thus able to fertilise their eggs early and give their offspring more time to develop over summer to better survive the next winter. 

 

There are a couple of above-the-treeline snakes in the south-eastern Australian high country. 

The Highland Copperhead Austrelaps ramsayi can be found at up to 2000masl, well above 
the treeline, but also below it. This is much the larger of the two snow country
Australian snake species, growing to 1.7 metres long.

White-lipped Snake Drysdalia coronoides, southern Namadgi NP, ACT. It can be
active at up to 2100masl, almost to the top of Mt Kosciuszko, Australia's highest point.
It is generally only about 30cm long and lives mostly on small skinks.

Southern Water Skinks Eulamprus tympanum, basking on a wooden barrier by a carpark
on Mount Ginini, Namadgi NP. This is an abundant skink in the high country, found 
well above the treeline, especially in bogs and along stream lines.

And while I have no doubt that if Australian mountains were higher (as of course they were before erosion ground them away) there would be reptiles up there too, I have to go back to the Neotropics to introduce a couple of seriously high altitude reptiles.

Green Spiny Lizard Sceloporus malachiticus at 3400masl in the mountains of central
Costa Rica. These beautifully coloured lizards, found only in Central America,
spend a lot of time raising their temperatures by basking in the sun.
This one was doing so on a very cold day by my standards!

Fabian's Lizard Leialomus fabianus, Laguna Chaxa. It is restricted to the vast salt flat
that includes Laguna Chaxa, an incredibly harsh environment, and can be found
at up to 3000masl.

Which is probably a good time to draw a curtain (of mountain clouds) over this topic, while hoping that you've enjoyed reading it as much as I have enjoyed researching and writing it. My thanks for your support and I'll be back next time with something completely different!

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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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