Phil Coffey

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Phil is a photographer and has shared many of his photographs of animals with The Wild Ones.

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Zoo Questions

Brachiation
Endangered Species
Seal eyesight
Endangered Amphibians
Gorilla skulls
Animals that start with 'X'
Endangered Sharks
Bat Echo-Location and "child care"

Question: Brachiation

If brachiation refers to swinging locomotion, what is the term for traveling on top of branches? -Katinka

Answer:

The term that refers to travelling on the top of branches is "arboreal quadrupedalism".

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Question: Endangered Species

What does it mean for an animal to be endangered?

Answer:

Endangered Species are animals that are threatened with extinction. The Red List published by IUCN, is a list of the animals that are threatened with extinction. It is an incomplete list because there are likely to be many species that have not been described by science and that are likely to become extinct before they are classified. The 1990 Red Data Book lists 698 mammals, 1047 birds, 191 reptiles, 63 amphibians, 762 fish and 225 invertebrates as endangered.

Extinction of species is part of the natural process of evolution. Since life on earth began, many millions of species have become extinct and every species that shares the planet with us today will eventually become extinct.

Causes of Extinction hunting for food or pelts, killing because people are scared of the animal, habitat destruction, introduction of a harmful species, and pollution.

Vulnerable - likely to move to the endangered category in the near future if the causal factors keep operating.

Rare - small world populations that are not yet endangered or vulnerable but are at risk.

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Question: Seal Eyesight

I would like to understand better the mechanism that allows aquatic and amphibious mammals to see both in air and under water. -Katinka

Answer:

The eyes of seals are large, and they don't have tear ducts and so secretions fall down the face giving them a weeping sort of appearance. It is this that gives them an appealing look to human beings.

The retina (back-inside of the eye is adapted for low-light conditions. It contains only rod cells which are able to respond to changes at low light intensity. As the animal swims deeper, the less light there is. Also, there is often much turbulence. There are no cone cells in the retina which are responsible for detail and also for colour vision, so seals do not have colour vision. The retina is backed by a reflective tapetum (as in cats) which reflects light back through the sense cells a second time.

Seals can see clearly in both air and water by changing the shape of eye. In air, the pupil constricts to a vertical slit I think it would be fair to say that the sight of seals is not so acute as that of humans (and other primates), but never-the-less, they are perfectly adapted to their amphibious environment.

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Question: Endangered Amphibians

I was wondering if you have done anything to help make people notice the extinction of amphibians at the zoo. This is a very important subject to me.

Answer:

We have breeding groups of a number of amphibians including: Mallorcan midwife toad, agile frog, Trinidad stream frogs, and three species of poison-arrow frogs. The Mallorcan midwife toad has been bred so successfully that hundreds have been returned to their natural habitat - the plunge pools high in the mountains, north of Mallorca. We produced a poster of the toad with text in Catalan for distribution in Mallorca informing local people about their toad. The agile frog is found in Jersey where its existence is threatened and we have participated in a conservation program in conjunction with local groups. We have produced a poster of the Amphibians of Jersey (common toad, palmate newt and agile frog) for distribution to local schools, government offices etc. The Trinidad stream frogs and the poison-arrow frogs are breeding very successfully and they are all featured in our education programs. They are all very popular with our zoo visitors who can learn about them from the labels on their cages.

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Question: Gorilla Skull

What is the purpose of the sagittal and occipital crest of a gorilla (skull)? -Mike

Answer:

The sagital crest of a gorilla is for the attachment of the muscles that control the lower jaws. When you think abou the gorilla's diet, they would have to spend long periods of time chewing fibrous material, so they need powerful muscles.

The nuchal crest is for the attachment of muscle, this time down the back of the neck to support the heavy weight of the gorillas' head on its spine.

The occipital part of the skull is that which links the skull to the spine and allows the skull to rotate.

Photos of gorillas at the Jersey Zoo taken by Phil.

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Animals that start with 'X'

My grade 1 primary class is compliling an alphabetical list of animals. We are stuck for an animal that begins with the letter X can you please help?

Answer:

There's not a lot of choice and I attach here a list of a few:

Xenopus toad or clawed toad (Xenopus laevis)
Xantusiidae (famly of night lizards)
Xenarthra (suborder of mammals including anteaters pangolins etc.)
Xenicidae (family of New Zealand wrens)
Xenopeltidae (family of reptiles including sunbeam snake - Xenopeltis unicolor)
Xenipirostris (genus of birds from Madagascar)
Xenopterygii (order of fishes including clingfishes)

I think the Xenopus toad is the best-known example of an animal beginning with X The toad has claws on its front and hind toes. The hind toes have webbing that helps with swimming. They are adapted to life in muddy waters and live in central and southern Africa. They eat smaller amphibians, fishes, arthropods and even carrion. They are a browny-green colour mottled with black on top and underneath are rather pale to almost white.

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Question:

Are there any species of shark that are endangered? If so, what is being do to protect them from extinction?

Answer:

Looking at my IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals, I can only see three species of shark listed. They are: whale shark (Rhincodon typus); great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias); and basking shark (Cetorhinus maximus). I am not aware of any conservation programmes to save these species, although it may be that they are protected by law in some of the areas in which they are found. Perhaps you could contact one of the Australian Zoos (try Melbourne) and ask them about the great white.

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Question:

Do mega bats take their young with them to get food? And also, what exactly is echolation? -"The Bat Kids", Bank Street School for Children

Answer:

Megabats, including fruit bats carry their young with them when they go off in search of food. They do this when the babies are small. Naturally, at this stage, the babies are still feeding on mother's milk, so they don't eat fruit. Eventually, the babies get too heavy and the mothers leave them 'at home' at the roost, whilst they go off to find fruit for themselves. At this stage, the young are still feeding on mother's milk. When the young can fly, then they go off in search for their own food, although they may stay close to mother for guidance.

Echo-location is something that bats use to help them find their way about. They create sounds of a high frequency (so high that human ears can't detect them without the aid of special equipment - bat detecters). The sound comes out from the bat either through its mouth of nose (depending on the species). The noise then spreads out and when it hits an object, the noise bounces back (like an echo) and the bat detects the sound with its ears. Many bats have huge ears like radio dishes to help them hear the sound better. Bats can interpret what the echo means. When bats are flying they make thousands of sound bleeps a minute, but when they are resting, they hardly make any.

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