Mammalian butterflies

 

An entertaining review by Darren Naish of a strange French book in the "speculative zoology" genre: "Demain, les Animaux du Futur". I haven´t seen the work, but it seems the future is *really* wild in this scenario. 

10 million years into the future, all mammals except bats have disappeared. Together with birds, they have taken over land and air. Mega-bats gliding around in the upper atmosphere, enormous geese with four legs, and parrots looking like theropods are some of the evolutionary monstrosities "described" in the book. The front cover shows a flightless terror bird descended from the Lammergeier! The oceans are dominated by 40 meters long tadpoles, squids in various sizes, and whale-like penguins (here we go again). 

"Demain" pays tribute to other works of Spec Zoo, including Dougal Dixon´s classic "After Man: A Zoology of the Future". Apparently, speculative zoology is big in Japan, so a Japanese version of "Demain" actually exist, but no English translation. At one point, Naish (clearly a big fan of this genre) quips: "I, for one, welcome our new gargantuan marine tadpole monster overlords." Dude! 

Not sure if this is of any interest except to a certain kind of super-nerds, but...there you go.     

Speculative zoology grand and photoreal

Penguins for free trade

 

Credit: White House

Donald Trump has imposed tariffs on Heard Island and McDonald Islands in the Antarctic, home only to penguins. "Which nobody have heard about". Apparently, the tariff is 10%. 

So in the unlikely case the Australian wildlife service decides to turn the local semi-pelagic avifauna into bush meat (to compete with true Amerikan raccoon and possum steak), YOU HAVE BEEN DULY WARNED.

This is Liberation Day.  

Nowhere on Earth is safe

A penguin on vacation

 

Australia with a twist

"Tasmania: Weird and Wonderful" is a fascinating nature documentary narrated by David Attenborough. It´s presently available at YouTube. Many of the species on the island are similar to those on the Australian mainland, but their size and behavior often differ markedly. The local platypus is much larger than its mainland form, there is a thriving population of mutant white wallabies, and the Tasmanian giant lobster takes 40 years to grow to a size of one meter. By contrast, the local penguins are diminutive (and nocturnal, to avoid being attacked by hungry gulls). There is also the dangerous "jack jumper ant", a large ant that can jump and the venom of which can on rare occasions kill humans! 

Of course, the main character is the so-called Tasmanian Devil (a marsupial mammal), with its bizarre calls and equally weird habits. For starters, the Devils are scavangers. I´m not even going to comment on their mating rituals! Western Tasmania has a climate almost the exact opposite of Eastern Tasmania. The western part is humid - in fact, it rains most of the year, while the eastern section is extremely dry.

The most fascinating organism mentioned in the documentary is Mountain Ash, really a species of eucalyptus tree (Eucalyptus regnans). The tree reproduces in a curious manner: its seeds are only released during bush fires, which may kill all other plants (including the Mountain Ash itself), but make it possible for the seedlings to sprout and grow without competition. But in western Tasmania, bush fires are rare due to the constant rains. Therefore, the eucalyptus trees simply continue growing - in one area of the island, all trees are 400 years old and reach a hight of 100 meters! In effect, this means that the latest bush fire took place at some point during around the year 1600... 

One species never shown in this production is our very own Homo sapiens. The viewer gets the impression that Tasmania is pure and pristine wilderness. Actually, the island is an Australian state, the home of about half a milliion people, and an economy partially based on mining and logging. And yes, the White settlers completely exterminated the local Aborigines during the 1830´s. Somehow, I feel that needs to pointed out for context.

That being said, "Tasmania: Weird and Wonderful" nevertheless deserves a closer look or two. This really is Australia with a twist.

Penguin power

I haven't seen this particular product (which hasn't been released yet), but I've seen BBC's three-part documentary about the lives, times and contretemps of penguins. I must say that these flightless birds are both interesting and fascinating! 

We get to follow the entire life cycle of three penguin species: the Emperor Penguin of Antarctica, the Humboldt Penguin of Peru and the Rockhopper of the Falkland Islands. The two latter live really rough lives, attacked by an assortment of vicious predators and competing sea birds, the Humboldt Penguins even being forced to cope with vampire bats. Another classic is a battle between over-sized ducks and five eagles, with a poor Rockhopper stuck in between! It seems juvenile albatrosses don't say no to catching some penguin meat, either. (Always wondered what albatrosses were eating out there?)

As for the Emperor Penguins, they really do look like strange humans in tuxedo, while their chicks look like badly made toys... Sorry, can't help anthropomorphizing. The documentary shows how the adults deliberately abandon the chicks, in order to trigger the latter's survival instincts. On their difficult journey to the sea, the Emperor chicks are escorted by Adélie Penguins, a different species. Why would one species want to help the chicks of another one? Pardon my cynicism, but I think the helpful Adélies simply want to get rid of the Emperor Penguins from what they consider Adélie territory.

The documentary was taped with the help of spy cams disguised as (you've guessed it) penguins or penguin eggs, creating all kinds of humorous situations. One penguin attacks a spy cam which spurned his amorous advances, while one of the egg-cameras is taken by a flying seabird, giving us an excellent panoramic view of the penguin colony from above!

Probably this year's best nature documentary. This is Penguin Power and definitely worth five stars. Let's hope the DVD is as good as the televised version...

A handbook of exciting birds

"Handbook of the Birds of the World" (HBW) is a 13-volume encyclopedia whose ultimate aim is to describe and illustrate *all* living species of birds. Three more volumes are projected. The series began in 1992, and the last volume won't be published until 2011.

This is the first volume, and it covers many exciting bird groups, including pelicans, tropicbirds, frigatebirds, penguins, flamingos, albatrosses, and the non-flying birds, such as the ostrich and the emu. It also covers a more boring bird group, namely the ducks! Each section begins with a general introduction, followed by species presentations. These include color plates and range maps. Unfortunately, the color plates are quite bad. The birds often look caricatured, even ugly, and some of the plates are poorly printed. Thankfully, the book also contain hundreds of photos, all in color, and these are much better. Despite its high price (265 dollars), the book is well-worth buying if you are seriously interested in these particular bird groups.

As already mentioned, this is just the first volume in a 13-volume series. Naturally, a work that takes almost 20 years to publish, will tend to change over time. I noticed this when I leafed through the other HBW volumes at my local university library. The first volume looks like a regular encyclopedia. Anyone with a general interest in birds can read it. The later volumes are superbly illustrated, with much better color plates, but the text feels heavy and technical. These later HBW volumes also suffer from total information over-load. Essentially, the HBW has been transformed from a regular encyclopedia to a scientific reference work for ornithologists.

Be that as it may, I give this first volume of the HBW four stars, for the text and the photos. Had the color plates been better, I would have given it five stars. The entire series also deserve five stars, despite becoming progressively more difficult to digest for ordinary mortals, since it's extremely well-produced.