I Spy Animals

Monday

Yes, This Mouse Is Singing

In 1925, J. L. Clark discovered something unusual in a Detroit house. It was a mouse...that could sing.

He captured the mouse and listened to it singing in its cage.

It sounded like...

...a bird!

He gave the mouse to scientists at the University of Michigan, who confirmed that the mouse could, indeed, sing. An article was written about it in 1932, and then mostly forgotten.

But in 2004, a scientist studying mice in the wild recorded what sounded like a plaintive wooing song...and discovered it came from a Deer mouse!

It has since been determined that male mice sometimes sing to attract female mice. Want to hear? Check out these two videos...

After all these years, who knew? Pretty amazing!

Yes, This Mouse Is Singing

In 1925, J. L. Clark discovered something unusual in a Detroit house. It was a mouse...that could sing.

He captured the mouse and listened to it singing in its cage.

It sounded like...

Sooo, Leapons and Narlugas. Amazing hybrid animals.

But what's a hybrid? It's the result of a mating between two animal species, subspecies, genera, or family.

Hybrids are interesting because they're unusual...most animals that hybridize do so because of scarcity of mates in their own species, or changing territory patterns due to weather or other pressures.

Narlugas are the offspring of beluga whales and narwhals. Though seen in the wild, there has not been one actually captured.
Check out the photos below:

Here's a good photo of a Narluga face:

There are actually a lot of hybrids around. We've already looked at the more exotic Wolphin, the Zonkey, the Tigon, and the Pizzly.

And check this out...a beached hybrid of a Harbor and Dall's porpoise:

But are hybrids good or bad? The answer is...sometimes they're really good and sometimes they're really bad. And sometimes....they're just plain ugly!

Hybrids - the good:
A very famous hybrid is...the mule! The mule has the staying power of its donkey father added to the strength of its horse mother. And it's rumored to have more intelligence, courage, and personality than either of its parents.

Can you believe a mule can even kill a cougar? Check out one story here

So don't get on the bad side of a mule with an attitude!

Also, the hybrid crossing of Florida panthers and Texas cougars have resulted in a stronger, more resilient Florida panther population. That's good!

But....

Hybrids - the bad:

Killer bees! A cross between African wild bees and the European honeybee, they are highly aggressive and will pursue intruders for long distances. Many injuries and even deaths by killer bees have been reported.

Or ... the hybrid Tiger salamander with its huge mouth and voracious appetite! Reports are it's swallowing anything that fits in its mouth in Northern California.

a. Tiger salamander b. Barred tiger salamander c. Monster tiger salamander!

And ... the ugly:
Okay, most hybrids are not particularly ugly, except in the dog world, where the Ugliest Dog Contest was won by a boxer crossed with...well, even the owner didn't know.

He looks mean, but the judges voted him to have a very sweet nature...

But in the wild, there's the really ugly Mallovy, a hybrid Mallard/Muscovy duck.

Unlike the mule, this guy is definitely not getting the best traits of both parents!

So what do you think of hybrids now? Good idea, bad idea? Let me know!

Hybrids: the good, the bad, and the really ugly

Sooo, Leapons and Narlugas. Amazing hybrid animals.

But what's a hybrid? It's the result of a mating between two animal species, subspecies, genera, or family.

Grolar Bears and Pizzlies...

You know I love Polar bears. What you don't know is that I feel the opposite about Grizzlies.

Grizzly bears, to me, are frightening and huge and unpredictable; which really, Polar bears are, too...but Polar bears look cuter while doing it! :)

Polar bears live at the top of the world, in the arctic regions. Grizzly bears live near streams and trees. But as the icepack gets smaller, more grizzlies venture farther north.

Check out the maps of their ranges... do you see anything interesting?

Now look closely at the pictures of these two bears...besides the difference in their fur color, they have differently shaped heads and backs.

Even the setting of their ears is different.

In 2006, a hunter killed a very strange-looking polar bear. It was white, with some brown in the fur and around the eyes. And it had a hump!

Tests showed that this bear had a polar bear mother and a grizzly father. Now, in one zoo, a grizzly and a polar bear had produced offspring...but this was the first Grolar bear seen in the wild!

Why Grolar bear? In hybrids, the animal that's the father gets his name in the front. So if the father's a Grizzly...Grolar bear!

These cubs above are Pizzly bears, which, you guessed it...is the product of a Polar bear dad, Grizzly mom.

So what would the offspring of a father Narwhal and mother Beluga be? Yep...a Narluga. No such thing, you say?

Check it out here!

Grolar Bears and Pizzlies...

You know I love Polar bears. What you don't know is that I feel the opposite about Grizzlies.

Grizzly bears, to me, are frightening and huge and unpredictable; which really, Polar bears are, too...but Polar bears look cuter while doing it! :)

Polar bears live at the top of the world, in the arctic regions. Grizzly bears live near streams and trees. But as the icepack gets smaller, more grizzlies venture farther north.

Check out the maps of their ranges... do you see anything interesting?

Best of I Spy Animals 1

The year is winding down, marking my first year of I Spy Animals! It's been great fun checking out the amazing creatures God has made.

And to make sure we don't forget, I'm posting the most popular posts of this year, in order, just in case you missed something amazing! Here we go...