Curious Creatures
I run a small knitting design business where I sell patterns based on weird and wonderful creatures from the natural world. I write instagram posts that share fun facts about my latest creations. These posts are meant to entertain adults and children alike.
Sharks!
What do sharks and trees have in common? No, this isn't the setup for a bad joke! Scientists count their ages by counting their rings. You know what this means for a tree, but what does it mean for a shark?
Shark vertebrae have concentric rings of translucent and opaque cartilage and they grow another ring around their vertebrae about once a year. This isn't accurate for all sharks, but it gives scientists a rough idea of the age of a specimen.
Speaking of shark bones, they are made of cartilage. Fish with cartilaginous skeletons are known as "elasmobranch." This also includes rays, sawfish, and skates.
As sharks age, they deposit calcium into their skeletons. This is helpful for scientists because it means shark skeletons will fossilize. The oldest shark fossil is over 455 million years old! So here's my question: Hollywood, when are we getting a prehistoric shark movie?
Tapirs!
Look at this face. How can you not love it? What's with it, you ask? It's called the Flehmen response. So...what is that?
Flehmen response is when an animal curls its upper lip and inhales. Animals that do this, like tapirs, horses, and cats, have an organ in the roofs of their mouths (vomeronasal organ) that helps them to smell! So that funny face isn’t just for kicks, they’re smelling something interesting or exciting!
Axolotls!
🎶Shake, shake shake that ketchup bottle/ First none comes out, then axolotl 🎶
My friend told me this jingle when I wrote the pattern for Augie the Axolotl. It's been two years and I've never quite managed to get it out of my head.
(BTW, if you aren't sure on the pronunciation, it's Ack-suh-LAH-tul, rhymes with "bottle." You can hear it now, yes? That catchy earworm above. Good, good.)
Speaking of worms, axolotls are carnivores. In the wild, they will eat any fishies, bugs, or wigglers they can swallow, but worms make great food for pet axolotls. They also love shrimp, if it's a special occasion 🎩🦐
In the wild, axolotls are native to freshwater lakes and ponds in Mexico. They're sometimes called "Mexican Walking Fish," which is silly because they are amphibians. Those beautiful pink fronds on the sides of their heads are gills, but they also have fully developed lungs. That's where the "Walking" part in their nickname comes from: they can pop out of the water for a brief stroll if they're in the mood.
Axolotls are neotenic salamanders. This means they can reproduce but don't metamorphose. It's kind of like if tadpoles could reproduce without becoming frogs.
Axolotls also have the ability to regrow limbs and organs after trauma. They can do this up to five times! Now we know why they always have that little grin on their faces -- they've got some secret healing mojo.