Tamandua tetradactyla by Márcio Motta
Zoo Sao Paulo - Brazil
Source: amosphotography.com
Germ-killing Molecules Identified in Alligator Blood
by Curtis Abraham
Thick armour and jaws packed full of teeth aren’t the only defences that alligators and crocodiles have. They also have formidable immune systems and some of the protective molecules that enable this have now been identified. Their discovery in the blood of the American alligator might even pave the way for a new generation of antibiotics.
Crocodilians have existed on Earth for at least 37 million years. Over the course of their evolution, they have developed a very strong defence against infection. “They inflict wounds on each other from which they frequently recover without complications from infection despite the fact that the environments in which they live are less than sterile,” says Barney Bishop of George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, co-author of the new study.
American alligators have an enviable innate immune system, the “primitive” first line of defence that is shared by all vertebrates. In 2008, chemists in Louisiana found that blood serum taken from the reptiles destroyed 23 strains of bacteria and depleted reserves of the HIV virus. The germ-killing molecules were identified as enzymes that break down a type of lipid…
(read more: New Scientist)
photograph by Jody Watt/Design Pics/Corbis
(via libutron)
lemur-conservation-foundation:
Twins Moose and Duffy love to play!!
#lemur #ringtailedlemur #play #babies #endangered #conservation #funny #instaanimals #cute (at Lemur Conservation Foundation)
Anteaters in love by Joaquim Mello
Southern Tamandua at ZSL London Zoo by Sophie L. Miller
Say cheese! A Southern Tamandua gives visitors a glimpse of that excellent tongue, in the Clore Rainforest Lookout at ZSL London Zoo.
Giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla)
The giant anteater is a large insectivorous mammal native to Central and South America. The giant anteater is the largest of its family, 182–217 cm in length. It is recognizable by its elongated snout, bushy tail, long fore claws, and distinctively colored pelage. The anteater can be found in multiple habitats, including grassland and rainforest. It forages in open areas and rests in more forested habitats. It feeds primarily on ants and termites, using its fore claws to dig them up and its long, sticky tongue to collect them. Though giant anteaters live in overlapping home ranges, they are mostly solitary except during mother-offspring relationships, aggressive interactions between males, and when mating. Mother anteaters carry their offspring on their backs until weaning them. The giant anteater is listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN.
photo credits: wiki, wiki, wiki, John White
photos by michael poliza in churchill, manitoba of a polar bear amongst the fireweed waiting for the hudson bay to freeze over. noted michael, “the polar bear was all by himself as they are very solitary animals anyway. but this one looked particularly sad as it wandered around, almost as though it didn’t understand where the snow had gone.”
(via moreanimalia)
Source: nubbsgalore
This is the skull of a kind of giant lemur from Madagascar that became extinct shortly after humans arrived on the island.
#giantlemur #lemur #skull #extinct #animal #Madagascar #humans #killed #dead #creature #giant @naturalhistorymuseum #naturalhistory #history (at Natural History Museum, London)
Southern Tamandua, Southern Pantanal, Brazil by Shaun Stanley
