Zoopedia: Tasselled Wobbegong

We are continuing April’s theme of the weird and bizarre of the animal kingdom by looking at one of the strangest looking sharks: the tasselled wobbegong. Despite their look they are indeed sharks and have adapted to become perfectly camouflaged with their reef homes. Taxonomy and Evolution The tasselled wobbegong is the only member of

Zoopedia: Platypus

This April in Zoopedia I want to look at my favourite collection of animals: the weirdos and misfits. There is no better place to start April than with an animal that, when first seen by European scientists in 1799, was regarded as a hoax. This animal baffled scientists, even though Australian Aboriginal nations had a

Zoopedia: Nile Monitor

A few years ago I visited Tanzania and while visiting Lake Victoria I managed to see one of Africa’s most impressive lizards: Nile monitors. These are some of the largest monitor lizards in the world and are truly beautiful looking lizards. Taxonomy and Evolution As expected from their name Nile monitors are monitor lizards belonging

Zoopedia: Macrotermes termites

There are over 2,100 speceies of termites on the planet today and we’re looking at one genus of them today: Macrotermes. As expected from their name, these termites are generally larger than other species. They are so important to their environments that they are seen as ecosystem engineers by how drastically they shape the world

Zoopedia: Goliath beetles

Across the forests of central Africa there exists a genus of beetles that are truly giant. Named after the Biblical giant Goliath this genus has earned the name Goliathus, or goliath beetles, due to their size. While not the largest insects around, and are dwarfed by some prehistoric ones like Meganeura, they are certainly the

Zoopedia: Wildebeest

Across the savannahs of eastern and southern Africa one of the most common sights is that of the wildebeest. Famously wildebeest in their hundreds of thousands join with zebra and other antelope in the Great Migration going from the Ngorongoro to the Serengeti and then to the Maasai Mara. In 2017 I was very fortunate

Zoopedia: Perch

One of the most common fish to be found in the rivers of Europe and North America are perch. A lot of fish do get the name perch, but ‘true perch’ belong to the genus Perca. Both an integral part of their ecosystem and an invasive species the perch has been a favourite of fishermen

Zoopedia: Brine Shrimp

This week’s Zoopedia you may have had as a pet, those tiny eggs that grow into Sea Monkeys belong to the genus Artemia, or brine shrimp. A remarkable group of animals they are incredibly important for aquatic food webs. Evolution and Taxonomy Brine shrimp belong to the genus Artemia and consist of potentially eight species:

Zoopedia: European Turtle Dove

As I am writing this post it is Valentine’s Day and one animal we associate with love is the European turtle dove. Due to them forming breeding pairs for life the European turtle dove has long been associated with love – from the Romans associating them with Fides, the goddess of fidelty, to the Bible’s

Zoopedia: Regal Tang

Famously represented by Dory from Finding Nemo and Finding Dory this week we’ll be looking at the regal tang. This fish has many common names other than regal tangs, and have also been called blue tangs, blue regal tangs, palette surgeonfish, blue surgeonfish, Pacific regal blue tang, and hippo tang to name a few. For