Q is for Quelea
A male quelea – taken by Alan Manson, creative commons license here.
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Quelea
.
Flying in
shifting umbras,
a hurricane
flock of quelea
.
darkening.
.
All the air
winging,
.
their calls
the sound
of insanity.
.
A madness
only surpassed
.
by the roar
and flash
of a bomb,
.
and rain
of red feathers.
.
Liz Brownlee
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Red-billed Quelea are small weaver birds that live in the centre of Africa. They are the most numerous birds in the world. A single flock can number millions and take 5 hours to pass overhead, blackening the sky.
They eat seeds – they prefer wild grass seeds, but will descend on farmers’ fields and can strip whole farms of their crops in minutes.
Not surprisingly they are greatly feared, and are killed in numerous ways in defence. Poisons that kill birds are used which can affect more species than just the quelea, including humans.
The most spectacular ways they are killed are by petrol bomb, or with flame-throwers. There are so many birds that these methods are not particularly effective, except at affecting other birds which can ill afford to lose members of their species.
Old-fashioned methods, like scaring the birds with noise and drums are labour intensive, can take children from school studies and have also been shown to be ineffective.
It is known that keeping weeds among crops under control does help, as the birds prefer wild seeds and the crops are taken simply because they are there.
New initiatives are experimenting with using the birds as a crop themselves, as they are a good source of protein – this method has potential. It will be much less dangerous than blowing up petrochemical bombs and will be much more environmentally friendly.
Hopefully caution will be exercised – although the population of quelea is estimated in the billions, another species of bird that had similar numbers was brought to extinction in the USA. The last passenger pigeon died in Cincinnati Zoo in 1914.
All material except the photograph © Liz Brownlee
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P is for Paradox Frog
Paradox Frog
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The ambition of all frogspawn,
in any pond or bog,
is to change from tiny tadpole
into a fine fat frog.
.
But to be a giant tadpole
is quite unorthodox,
and to grow into a smaller frog -
well, that’s a paradox.
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Liz Brownlee
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The paradox frog lives in lakes in the middle of South America. Unlike most frogs it stays in water most of the time and doesn’t just breed there.
It doesn’t croak, it has a oink-y sort of a call; but this isn’t unusual, if they have a call, most frogs don’t croak, they use a variety of noises from grunts to squeaks to whistles and chirps.
The thing that makes paradox frogs paradoxical is that they lay eggs that hatch into huge (up to 24 cm) tadpoles, which end up shrinking instead of growing into small (up to 6cm) frogs.
Scientists have no idea what evolutionary advantage this could bestow.
All I can think of is if the adults are carnivorous and they all live in the water, it might save the young from being eaten while still vulnerable.
These frogs are quite numerous – but 41% of amphibians are endangered.
And frogs in North, Central and South America, Eastern Australia, and Dominica and Monserrat in the Caribbean are being affected by the chytridiomycosis fungus.
This fungus has wiped out whole species. Scientists are still unsure how this has happened – the fungus was found first in a toad that has been used for research all round the wold, and this could be one way the fungus has spread.
Chytridiomycosis is naturally present in wild populations as well though – so it could be taking hold because frogs in general are not as resistant because of climate change, habitat disturbance or pollution.
Whatever the reason, it is probably our fault!
All material © Liz Brownlee
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O is for Owl
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Burrowing Owls
.
It’s afternoon,
and here are the owls -
strange owls, these,
stay-awake-day-owls,
long-legged burrowers
who spurn the trees
and the gloom,
who decorate
their holes with dung,
eat its beetles,
rattle like the snake -
with eyes of sun,
but whose feathers
remember the moon.
.
Liz Brownlee
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Burrowing owls live in North and South America and differ in quite a few regards to other owls. For a start, they are diminutive – about 7.5 inches, at the most 11.
They are often active during the day, although they do hunt in the dawn and dusk.
These owls eat small vertebrates and also insects – and use animal dung around and in their holes to attract dung beetles to eat. Unusually for owls they also eat fruit and seeds.
In Canada they are classified as threatened by loss of habitat to land development, and the efforts to get rid of prairie dogs that live in the same territories. They will also be affected by climate change.
All material © Liz Brownlee
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N is for Narwhal
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Narwhal
.
While starry night spins
in sleek snowflake skins
.
the unicorns fly
.
tusks spiral dizzily
clouds rudder skies
.
seas glitter by
.
as with threads of silver
they sew themselves into
.
the white sea and sky
.
Liz Brownlee
.
Narwhals are a type of whale, related most closely to the beluga – the long horn-like sword at the front of the males is actually a upper canine tooth that grows spirally out through their top lip.
Scientists still don’t really know what they use it for – although there is one clip of film that shows males ‘sword fighting’ so it may be a way of establishing superiority prior to mating.
Long ago samples of their tusks were brought to Europe and people believed that they were unicorn horns.
Narwhals live all year round in the arctic and dive beneath the ice to depths of up to 1500m to reach fish – they are very vulnerable to climate change as they have such a specialised range and diet.
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All material© Liz Brownlee
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M is for Marmoset
Click the picture to go to Arkive, the source of the photo.
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Pygmy Marmoset
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The moon
is in the
tulip tree,
or the sky -
and so is
a pygmy
marmoset -
.
is he?
or maybe
now in
the papaya,
acacia
or the coral,
.
sipping sap,
lapping gum -
.
he will
to and from,
have come
and gone,
.
quick, slick
monkey
as small
as my thumb.
.
Liz Brownlee
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Pygmy marmosets are the smallest monkey in the world. They live in small groups in rain forests in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Bolivia, often in tertiary foliage which is too small to sustain bigger animals.
They eat small creatures like spiders and lizards, but their main food is sap and gum, and other exudates from trees, like latex. They gnaw holes with their sharp teeth in a group of trees and when the sap has started to dry up they move on.
Active and quick, these marmosets can leap huge distances for their size, up to 16 feet. They are camouflaged wonderfully and are very hard to spot.
Pygmy marmosets are unusual in that they tend to give birth to twins, which I have to say may be the cutest animals in the whole world. And because of this they are prey to being collected for pets. But they do not do well in captivity, and have various habits like flinging and fingering their faeces, and biting unpredictably, that make them rather undesirable as adult pets.
Their breeding and behaviour has been upset in regions of high tourism and in some places they are becoming vulnerable due to habitation loss and the pet trade – but they are not listed as threatened.
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All material (except photo) © Liz Brownlee.
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L is for Lion
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Mountain Lion
.
Not the thing
but a way of saying it
how a cat moves
.
like oil smoothed
.
golden treacle
stretching
down the tin
.
small, fastidious
waves lapping
.
the first dark
splashes of rain
on pebbles
.
the slow
wind of water
from a tap
.
light flickering
through grass
.
as a dream disappears
through the forest
.
Liz Brownlee
.
Mountain lions live in North America and have many names – cougar, puma, panther, catamount… but they are all the same animal.
As people settled in North America and started to farm it was inevitable that this predator would come into conflict with farmers, and although their territory once stretched form the Canadian Yukon to the Straits of Magellan, nowadays they are confined to 14 western states where there is room to support them and one small part of Florida, where they are endangered.
They eat any mammal prey but usually deer.
Although people fear them, they are very shy and solitary (they hate intruders on their patch) and rarely come into contact with humans. About 4 people a year are killed by them.
Contrast this with dogs, that killed about 30 people in the United States last year.
Or humans themselves – hunters shot 1,000 people by accident in the United States and Canada last year and 100 of those died.
Mountain lions are very beautiful.
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All material © Liz Brownlee
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k is for Komodo Dragon
Nessun Dorma
.
No one shall sleep
while she is not -
even her young retreat.
.
Her cold room
of heavy reptile limbs
swift in attack,
.
her bite a relentless
death draught
that festers while
she waits.
.
She tastes the agony
in the stars, in the sun,
on the air,
.
she will win,
she will win,
she will win,
.
following her
forked tongue
until her prey falls,
.
she feasts
till her belly
is swagged.
.
Liz Brownlee
.
Komodo dragons live on a few Indonesian Islands, including the one that gives them their name.
They are extremely large, aggressive lizards, growing up to 10 feet long. New research suggests that contrary to former opinion, that they grew so large because there was no competition on their isolated islands, they are actually relics of giant lizards that died out after the Pleistocene period.
Komodo dragons are carnivores and eat mainly deer, sometimes buffalo and anything else in their way, including their own young, who retreat up trees to keep out of the way. They will attack humans on occasion, although they usually avoid them. Carrion is also consumed.
Komodos cooperate in killing large prey, which is unusual in reptiles – but a single komodo can also kill a buffalo – one bite from their mouth is usually fatal.
Not only do their mouths contain an enormous number of virulent bacteria, but they also have a venom that is discharged with the bite. The venom sacks lie in the lower jaw. Scientists are still arguing about exactly how the prey is brought to death – blood loss and shock are other factors that play a part.
Whatever the means – the prey does fall eventually, and the komodo can follow the scent of the dying prey which it tastes in the air with its tongue.
Dead animals are ripped apart with strong slicing motions of the mouth and the prey is soon eviscerated and gulped in huge chunks – even the skull. The lizard pushes the prey into its mouth sometimes by using a tree to bash it in with – even knocking trees over.
Komodo dragons are listed as vulnerable and there are under 7,000 of them left on the islands.
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All material © Liz Brownlee
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J is for Javan Rhinoceros
Javan Rhino
.
Who am I,
in the dust
dripping blood?
.
Built like stone
from elephant grass,
and cooled by mud -
.
who am I
dripping blood
down my chin?
.
Shot through my
shields of
mosaic skin,
.
who am I
dripping blood,
face hacked and sawn?
.
Who am I,
who am I
without my horn?
.
Liz Brownlee
.
Some time ago I was Googling and was horrified by a photograph I saw of a rhinoceros with its horn hacked off – its face a gaping wound, it stood, a dejected, beaten animal. It had to be put down. I just have not been able to put the image out of my mind, it affected me greatly.
Javan rhinoceroses are possibly one of the most endangered animals on the planet. They used to have a huge territory, have recently become extinct in Vietnam, and now there are possibly only about 35 of them left surviving in a National Park in Java.
Rhinoceros horn, when polished, is a beautiful thing. It gleams all shades of honey, and in the past has been carved into ceremonial daggers, horn drinking vessels and beads. Nowadays ground rhino horn is so precious one horn can fetch millions of dollars and its price is more than that of gold.
It is still used in some Chinese medicine, although this practise is frowned upon and not as widespread as formerly. The ‘in’ thing at the moment is its use in Vietnam as a hangover cure – used in a drink the morning after to enable high-fliers, the VERY rich who can afford the price it commands, the ability to work the next day.
It does not work, except perhaps as a placebo – rhino horn is made of the same material as hair and fingernails. A proper hangover cure would be more effective, and Javan rhinos might still be alive in Vietnam as well.
Nevertheless this group are the largest consumers of rhino horn of all rhinos – and poaching is big business. The rhinos are shot, and their horn unceremoniously hacked from their faces.
It is also prized as a completely ineffective cancer cure.
Other threats include extinction due to natural causes (volcanoes near!), disease (there are so few), poaching, political disturbances and the lack of genetic diversity to keep such a small population healthy.
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All material © Liz Brownlee
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I is for Iridiomyrmex cordatus
Drawing uses photo taken by Alex Wild – website here
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Iridiomyrmex cordatus is a species of ant, that lives high in the trees in the rainforests of southeast Asia and Australia, inside a epiphyte – a plant that lives its life on the tree and gains its needs from it.
This particular epiphyte lives very high up and has plenty of sun and rain, but cannot get nutrients – and amazingly, this is what the ants provide!
They live in the honeycomb of tunnels in the round plant, protected by the spiky outer walls, and in return they leave the remains of their prey inside little growths in the plant’s tunnels. These remains decompose and the plant can gain its nourishment from them.
This is their slightly insane poem – with apologies to Max Bygraves (feel free to sing it to the tune of ‘There’s a Tiny House‘:
.
Coexist-ants
.
In a small round plant,
in the canopy,
live some shiny ants,
in a colony -
and they live their lives
symbiotically…
as
really
really
ants
catch
supper
give
some
to
the
plant
as
rent
you
see-ee-ee-ee-ee!
.
Liz Brownlee
All material © Liz Brownlee
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H is for Hare
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Hare
.
Fleet feet
too quick
to depress the licks
of grass,
.
he disappears
and reappears,
just the tip
of his ears -
perhaps.
.
Bounds,
splayed
against sky,
immune
from the pull
of earth -
almost.
.
Scatters, twists,
leaps from
his form,
shape-shifts -
undeniably.
.
The hare is one of the most charismatic of our wild animals in Britain. There are few more magical sights if you are lucky to see one.
It’s not surprising that most cultures possess a hare mythology.
People in Africa, Egypt, China and India believe that the shadows on the moon are not a man’s face but the outline of a hare.
All material © Liz Brownlee
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