Super Science Days

The Atlantic Walrus (Odobenus rosmarus) is an easily recognizable Arctic mammal due to their large ivory tusks. Both male and female walruses have tusks and use them to make and maintain ice holes and pull themselves out of the water. This is how the walrus gets its scientific name—odobenus literally means “tooth walk.” Male walruses will also use their tusks to fight.

Walruses search for food in the shallow waters along coastlines and prefer to eat bivalve mollusks (like clams), but are opportunistic feeders. This means walruses will eat whatever types of aquatic animals are available including crustaceans (like crabs), sea worms, and fish. Their special whiskers, called vibrissae, are blood-and- nerve fed, which make them more sensitive than the whiskers we see on cats, dogs, or rodents. Those sensitive vibrissae help them feel small animals on the sea floor when they are foraging.

Walruses are well-suited for their chilly habitat. A layer of blubber, or fat, keeps them warm, even when swimming in freezing water. That layer of blubber can be almost 4 inches thick! Their blood vessels near the skin also constrict, or become smaller, when they swim in cold water, which helps keep more warmth on the inside of their body. When on land, walruses like to cuddle together to stay warm, and this is why they are known for being friendly and agreeable, at least with other walruses.

The Atlantic walrus is considered “vulnerable” or “near threatened” which means that this species is not endangered, but the numbers of wild walruses are decreasing and they may become endangered if that continues. Threats to wild populations include habitat loss and noise disturbance from ships and airplanes—walruses get startled easily and can stampede if a loud noise disturbs them.

It’s a lion…it’s a leopard…it’s a jaguar, or Panthera onca! Jaguars are the largest cats native to the Americas and although they’re related to lions, tigers, and leopards, they don’t live anywhere near these big cats. Their range extends from Mexico through Central and South America, including much of the rainforests known as Amazonian Brazil. Historically, jaguars once lived in the southern United States, but due to habitat loss and overhunting, only a few individual jaguars are still occasionally seen in states like Arizona, Texas, and New Mexico.

The majority of a jaguar’s habitat includes dense, forested areas with high humidity and frequent rainfall. Jaguars are known as apex predators, meaning they are highest on the food chain and aren’t hunted by other animals. Because of this, scientists often call them a keystone species; because they are opportunistic hunters and prey on a variety of animals, jaguars unintentionally help keep the forests they live in from becoming overpopulated and destroyed by one specific species of animal.

Jaguars are obligate carnivores—they eat meat and only meat. While they prefer larger prey like capybaras and giant anteaters, they will hunt smaller prey if desperate for food or if they are still young and inexperienced. Like their relatives, jaguars will often stalk and catch their prey by surprise rather than chasing their prey out in the open. They are excellent swimmers and have been known to ambush animals near or in rivers or during seasonal floods.

There are several adaptations jaguars have to help them survive—one of the most important being their spots. Although similar to a leopard’s spots, jaguars have far less spots and a distinctive dot—sometimes called an “eye”—in the middle of their spots that leopards lack. These spots provide them with camouflage to hide from prey or other jaguars competing for territory. They also have short and stocky limbs which allow them to climb and swim quickly and effortlessly.

Even though jaguars are apex predators, they are still considered “Near Threatened” on the IUCN Red List and their populations are currently in decline. A number of factors, including habitat loss, poaching, and increasing competition with humans. However, many steps have been taken to protect these big cats, like prohibiting hunting jaguars in a number of countries including Argentina, Brazil, Columbia, French Guiana, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Suriname, the United States, and Venezuela. Large areas of open wild areas, called “Jaguar Units” have also been preserved for jaguars to live and breed safely.

Gila monsters were one of the first venomous lizards discovered, and the first found within the United States! Found in Arizona, New Mexico, and the Mojave, Sonoran, and Chihuahan deserts of Mexico, gila monsters prefer dry, desert habitats. They’re also burrowers, which means they dig underground holes to live in to help them stay out of the sun on super-hot days.

A full grown gila monster is a little under two feet long. They have stout, flat bodies with bright orange stripes to warn would-be predators of their venom. Unlike snakes, a gila monster doesn’t use fangs to inject venom into their prey. Instead, venom flows into the wound created by the bite. Gila monsters’ venom is an important adaptation that helps paralyze prey like small birds, mammals, smaller lizards, and insects. However, they usually prefer to eat “helpless” prey like eggs and carrion.

Like all reptiles, gila monsters are ectothermic, which means they receive heat from external sources such as the sun, sand, and the hot rocks they live on. And because their bodies aren’t using energy to keep their bodies warm like birds and mammals, gila monsters in their natural habitat don’t need to eat too much in order to stay alive. A gila monster, when observed in the wild, only needs to eat five to ten times per year. Imagine if you only needed to eat a few times a year!

Since gila monsters prefer prey that doesn’t move, scientists believe they mainly use their venom to stay safe! In the wild, gila monsters need to worry about predators like coyotes and raptors, birds of prey. However, the biggest threat to gila monsters are people. Since these reptiles are large and venomous, a lot of myths began circulating around pioneers settling in the American North West, including the myth that gila monsters possessed a deadly, noxious breath and that their bites were fatal! Today, we know this isn’t true, but in the past, people feared gila monsters and hunted them to the point that they were once endangered; however, strict laws in states like Arizona have helped them recover, and they are now considered “Near Threatened.”

On the rare occasion that a gila monster does bite a human, its venom can cause paralysis, make it difficult to breath, and cause convulsions. But a gila monster bite is rarely fatal to people! Despite being called “monsters,” these lizards don’t often attack people. This is because they’re sluggish and react slowly. However, like any wild animal, gila monsters are best left alone and should be appreciated from a safe distance.