Flying squirrels is in subfamily Petauristinae. They are arboreal and nocturnal. They do not actually fly, but glide between trees by a gliding membrane (patagium). This membrane connects the front legs to the back legs (Parr, 2003). In another word, a furry parachute-like membrane stretches from wrist to ankle. Flaps of skin connecting limbs to body provide a wing-like surface. All species have reddish eyeshine, brighter in the large species than the smaller ones which may be quite dim. The subfamily shows severe taxonomic complications, with little agreement among mammalian researchers (Parr, 2003).
Giant flying squirrels (Petaurista sp.) have highest diversity in term of richness in population in Southeast Asia. This species is large in size, being on average 422 mm long. The Red Giant Flying Squirrel is believed to mate twice a year and the young are typically born in March or August in litters of 2 - 3 (Parr, 2003).
The Indochinese ground squirrel (Menetes berdmorei) is a member of the family Sciuridae. The family has only 29 species of 14 genera in Thailand (Lekagul and McNeely, 1977, 1988; Par, 2003). The characteristics of the Indochinese ground squirrel are black mid-dorsal stripe, two or three black stripes on the sides, and reddish brown fur on the back (Lekagul and McNeely, 1977, 1988; Par, 2003). Identification is more difficult during the dry season, however, when they are much less brightly colored. They have been found throughout Southeast Asia, from the east of Myanmar to Vietnam. As a ground squirrel, it is rarely found on trees, but spends most of the time in the thick underwoods of the rainforests. (Walston and Duckworth, 2008).
The sizes of squirrels are variable between species. There are three types of...
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...th at least one restriction enzyme and sequencing the ends of the resulting fragments using an Illumina Genome Analyzer in order to sample the genomes of multiple individuals in a population (Baird et al., 2008). The major advantage of RAD is that it gives information for a very large number of loci across the genome, and for the same loci in each individual sampled.
The current method for accelerating targeted sequencing from ancient and highly degraded DNA includes the linking of multiplex PCR directly with sample barcoding and high-throughput sequencing. The method creates the chance to generate many kilobases of overlapping sequence data from 31 cave bear (Ursus spelaeus) ancient specimens at the same time (Stiller et al., 2010). It seems likely that in the future high-throughput sequencing technologies will have many advantages for the study of ancient DNA.
Originated in 1996, due to the frustrations of squirrels destroying Richard Walsh’s bird feeder on his new deck, Ed Walsh, Richard’s brother came up with the concept of building a solar bird feeder to help Richard out. The concept of a bird feeder that allowed birds to continue to eat the bird seed, while preventing the squirrels from reaching the food and destroying the feeders, soon became an obsession for Ed. What once originated with a car battery developed over the years to a solar cell, and was successful until the squirrels discovered that they could eat early in the morning or late evenings before the battery charged. Bo Haeberle became involved in the bird feeder project after he overheard how much trouble Ed was having coming up with a feeder that worked and also didn’t harm the squirrels, while under his employment at Visual Design, Inc.
Dr. Nachman's research explores the connection between genotype and coat color in four populations of rock pocket mice. Rock pocket mice live in rocky habitats in the southwest U.S. and northern Mexico. In the 1930s, classical studies revealed that there was a close correlation between the color of a mouse's coat, and the color of the rocks the mouse lived on. Light-colored mice...
These Central and South american rodents look a little like pigs, also they eat plants.They enjoy fruits and grasses. Their fur can vary from red to brown. They live in swamps or near other bodies of water. They use this water to hide from predators and for a food supply. This animal was very interesting to learn about because I learned many new
Fischer, Mary. "Introduced Species Summary Project Grey Squirrel (Sciurus Carolinensis)."Columbia.edu. Columbia University, 2 Mar. 2002. Web. 26 Mar. 2014.
Paabo’s team, from Leipzig, Germany, used a method of amino acid content as a way of measuring extractible DNA from the bones. The amino acid method was a...
Chipmunks are very interesting animals. A chipmunk is a small cute animal that looks very similar to a squirrel. All chipmunks have stripes on their face and that is one way to tell whether it is a squirrel or a chipmunk. Depending on their species, they can be gray to reddish brown. It can weighanywhere from 28-142 grams and have the height of 4-7 inches. Its tail can be anywhere from 3-5 inches.
A kangaroo rat is a cute little mammal from the, Heteromyidae family, who lives in the western hemisphere of the USA. The native kangaroo rat wasn’t endangered until the 1950’s. They mainly live in California. The Kangaroo Rat is a nocturnal mammal who hide in their borrows during the heat of the day and plugs up their borrows with loose soil as they get ready for the night, where they thrive (3). They have a diet that feeds off of seeds and grains with an average lifespan of 9.8 years. They are about 6 to 7.8 in and have a tail that is 7-8.5 inches long (1). They weigh about 3 to 6.3 oz (1). The kangaroo rat gets its name from having kangaroo like features like hopping with their back legs (2). They hop or jump at speeds of 10 feet per second (1). They have a long tail that is used for balanced as they travel in bipedal motion (1). They have adapted to the hot climates of the desert. They can survive off the moisture of seeds and live without drinking water. (1) Their life spans are about one to two very short years (1). They can range in many habitats as they can live in areas where they are low rainfalls and humidity and high summer temperature and evaporation rates(5). Not only can they strive on in low water areas they can be found in stony soils, clays, gravel and rocky grounds which are soils that they prefer.(5)
The North American porcupine, also called the common porcupine, is one of the largest rodents in North America, it is stout and slow, and it also has needle-like quills that it uses for protection. An adult porcupine weighs 16 kg, and can be brown, grey, black, and even yellow. It’s symmetry is bilateral.
According to Smithsonian colleague Scott Loss and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, about a billion of birds have ...
Passenger Pigeons were once one of the most abundant birds not only in the world but as well in North America, containing an estimated twenty to forty percent of the entire avian inhabitants (Tara L. Fulton, 2012)
The likelihood of the four-toed hedgehog going extinct is very improbable. They have an extensive range and are very stable in regards to their wildlife population. They continue to grow in the wild and animal experts have not seen any alarming declines in the population rates. Hence, they have a minimal conservation status. But with the four-toed hedgehog’s development into a popular exotic household pet, there have been some concerns about the threatening of the native populations in Africa. Luckily, there is a breeding stock that is present in the United States that supplies this pet demand. Furthermore, it is prohibited to transport the four-toed hedgehog animals out of Africa to the pet trade market. These regulations allow for the native populations to flourish (Nichols 2014)
Schaller, G. B., Hu, J., Pan, W., & Zhu, J. 1985. The giant pandas of Wolong. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.
Sloths are slow-moving mammals that spend most of their life upside down in trees. They are about the size of an average cat which is about 2 feet. They eat leaves and fruit they find in trees. They are important because they give back nutrients to the tree by the algae that grows on their back. They rub algae on the tree when upside down which gives nutrients back to the tree. Queen Alexandra's birdwing butterflies are butterflies that are the size of an average bird. Its wingspan is about 1 foot. Unfortunately, they are on America’s list of endangered species. They go through the normal butterfly life cycle which is an egg to caterpillar to pupa to butterfly. They are a poisonous butterfly to the predators that prey upon them. Their importance is because they pollinate plants and flowers (“A sampling of Tropical Rainforest
Sikes, Roberts. and William L. Gannon. "Guidelines of the American Society of Mammalogists for the Use of Wild Mammals in Research." Journal of Mammalogy 92.1 (Feb. 2011): 235-253. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 5 Oct. 2011.
Photograph by Joel Sartore, National Geographic Photo Ark. "Red Panda." National Geographic. 19 May 2017. Web. 19 May 2017.