E is for Echidna

I would like to dedicate this post to my friend Joy.  She knows why.

So yes, the Echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus).  Echidnas are monotremes.  What is a monotreme, you ask?  A monotreme is an egg-laying mammal.  Your first thoughts may jump to the duck-billed platypus, and you would be correct.  These are the only two species of this order left alive today.  The characteristics that they share originated in ancient mammals, which all other mammals evolved away from.  Not only do these mammals lay eggs, they also have primitive skeletal features including the shoulder girdle and skull characteristics.

D is for Dik-Dik

A dik-dik is a small antelope in the Madoqua family.  There are four species of dik-dik in the world, Guenther's dik-dik, Salt's dik-dik, the silver dik-dik, and Kirk's dik-dik.  All four species live in Africa.  The tallest of the four, also the most common, the Kirk's dik-dik is only 14-18 inches tall and weighs 8-15 pounds.  Yes, they are that small. 

Dik-diks live in monogamous pairs on their proclaimed territory, living with their most recent young.  When the fawns reach sexual maturity, around 6-8 months, the parents run them off their territory.  The young then finds a mate and takes a new territory.

C is for Cheetah

The cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus), as many of you know, is the fastest land mammal in the world.  They use their quick bursts of speed during hunting.  Cheetahs hunt mostly during the day in order to avoid other large predators such as lions and hyenas that mainly hunt at night.  When the prey is captured the cheetah goes straight for the throat to ensure a quick death.  The cheetah then gorges itself as quickly as possible before it is displaced by larger predators.

The cheetah is second only to the lion in terms of sociability.  Siblings stay together for around 6 months after leaving the mom and brothers may stay together for their entire lives.  Males likely do this in order to maintain larger territories of land which then gives them greater access to females.

Females can reproduce at any time of the year and have litters averaging around three or four cubs, the greatest of any big cat.  Litters have even been recorded of up to 8 cubs!  Sadly the death of these young cubs is high for many reasons.  While mum is out hunting the cubs are left alone.  This allows predators to come in and take advantage.

B is for Bee

...Hummingbird.  The Bee Hummingbird!  The Bee Hummingbird (Mellisuga helenae) is found solely on the island of Cuba so, sadly, most of you will never get to see these guys in your life.  The males possess brightly colored breeding plumage that is shed shortly after breeding (March - June) and replaced by more drab plumage.  The females have green plumage with white tips on the tail feathers.

They are very small hummingbirds.  The smallest in the world, in fact, at only 5-6cm long and weighing 1.6-1.9 grams.  For those non-metric folk, that's about the weight of two regular paperclips.  Can you imagine that?!  After having a Fiery-throated Hummingbird land on my finger in Costa Rica and only feeling his teeny claw tips I can't IMAGINE how this would feel-

A is for Aye-Aye

That's right, everybody, today starts the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge!  This is my second year participating in the challenge and I am very excited!  I even have a real theme this year.  You'll figure it out pretty quickly.  Let's get started, shall we?  A is for Aye-Aye!  And no, I'm not talking about a pirate.  I'm talking about a primate! 

The aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis) is a unique primate from Madagascar.  And yeah, they're pretty strange looking, but they're also really cool critters.

Although they don't look like it, they are related to monkeys, apes, and humans.  The aye-aye is nocturnal, explaining it's large eyes.  They spend their days in the trees in a sphere-like nest placed in the fork of a tree.