Species of the week

Grey’s zebra (in honour of our BioBlitz sculpture, Zebraversity) http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/7950/0    

The Bony-Eared Assfish (Acanthonus armatus). http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/03/160312-animals-assfish-weird-names-science-oceans/ (thank you Rob H!)

Minna Ots says “I stumbled upon this exciting study done by researchers from Germany, Japan and Sweden with the Japanese Great Tit (Parus minor). They have evidence that the birds can use different types of calls to form “sentences”, meaning that they have evolved syntax and can communicate more efficiently. Amazing! http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2016/160308/ncomms10986/full/ncomms10986.html” Thank you Minna! […]

The quoll http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-03-02/eastern-quolls-introduced-to-canberra-sanctuary/7211990  

The okapi https://www.zsl.org/conservation/news/global-plan-aims-to-save-elusive-okapi-from-extinction  

New Arachnid Named for Lord of the Rings Character A new species of cave-dwelling arachnid  discovered in Brazil has been named after Gollum from the Lord of the Rings. Iandumoema smeagol  belongs to the order Opiliones, which represents the diverse group of over 6,500 harvestmen including the ones that are commonly found in gardens. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/11/151119-lord-of-the-rings-arachnid-smeagol-harvestmen-science/ […]

Scottish wildcat – according to BBC’s Winterwatch the world’s most endangered mammal, due to hybridisation with domestic cats http://www.scottishwildcats.co.uk/  

The Christmas beetle https://animalcorner.co.uk/animals/christmas-beetle/ (thank you Carla Broom for this suggestion!)  

(from Becks Spake, thank you!) Red-crowned crane. http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/winged-planet/videos/japanese-crane-courtship-dance/  

Tuatara http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2015/10/27/resurrecting-a-set-of-hundred-year-old-embryonic-genitals/