From wolphins to ligers to beefalos, hybrid animals may not be true species yet, but they are still fascinating both biologically and visually. The Daily Beast has a great article featuring twelve such species with some cool photos to go along with them. Enjoy!

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When it comes to “discovering” new species of animals, I think it’s more about having found where they’ve been hiding themselves from humanity and less about discovering brand new species.

I mean, most of the animals in this gallery look like the result of genetic evolution and adaptation, not some brand spanking new little critter.

But they are cute, and great fun to read about, considering that they’re so rare to see in nature. So take a look at this gallery and see what the animal guides were missing up until last year.

Link  image credit: Indraneil Das

Do you see anything strange in the picture above? Here’s a hint, it’s not just a tree… yup, there’s a spider in there too. Don’t miss the rest of the great camouflaged creatures in the gallery over at BuzzFeed.

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From spiders who can live underwater for a whole day at a time to underwater rivers with their own wave systems, it’s simply amazing what can happen below the surface.

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Wind, rain and waves can do some amazing things to rocks, which is precisely what made these amazing rock formations seen over at BuzzFeed. Be sure to click on the link, the formations are certainly all worth a view.

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Let’s face it, humans can be just awful to animals, and it’s only a matter of time before critters come looking for a little payback. These rebellious heroes of the animal kingdom are out to show humanity that they’re not to be taken for granted.

–via Crenk

I’ve lived by the ocean my whole life and have visited the ocean over and over, but I’ve never seen a wave from this angle or one that looks this amazing. Clark Little’s takes pictures like these inside of waves up to 40′ tall and the results are simply stunning. Don’t miss the link for more unbelievable shots.

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So, you know how nature is absolutely terrifying? Finally there’s a blog that details all the terrible ways that mother earth wants to destroy you. Filled with terrifying animal pictures and short details of how terrifying any given animal actually is, Nature Wants To Eat You might not have much content yet (it’s still new), but what it does have is a whole lot of promise.

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There’s something about these Care Bears that’s not quite right. Maybe it’s the massive fangs, or sharp claws, or the fact that the symbol on the bear’s stomach seems to be running. Something tells me these bears don’t want to hug and sing songs!

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Parasites are raising an army of zombie wasp queens to do their bidding, and it’s a good thing that these parasites aren’t more ambitious,  because they’d probably be well on their way to taking over the world by now!

The parasites cause common wasps to believe that they are queens, rejecting their normal caste and acting as self serving loners in wasp society:

Infected P. dominulus — better known as common European paper wasps — reject their genetically preordained roles, abandon their hives and embark on a long, macabre journey during which a few live for a time as queens, albeit murderous queens.

Read on about this fascinating example of parasitic mind control at the Wired link below, and pray these little critters don’t develop a taste for human blood!

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Hermit crab homelessness is reaching critical levels, leaving many of these fine clawed fellows without a shell of their own.

Now, thanks to 3d printers and our tireless search for new things to print out, there’s a solution: custom printed hermit crab shells! The printed shells will last longer, look cooler and are sure to stir up feelings of jealousy among other hermit crabs. If only we could print houses for homeless humans!

Link –via PopSci

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This poor little guy wandered into a woman’s yard in Australia due to it being a particularly hot day, so the woman decided to let him drink from the hose. Apparently koalas don’t understand how hoses work, because he gets more water on his arm than he does in his mouth!

-via BuzzFeed

Previously: Sam gets a Drink

Dark Roasted Blend has a great article on turtles right now, complete with tons of great pictures and some interesting facts about the creatures. For example:

The rigid shell means turtles cannot breathe as other reptiles do, by changing the volume of their chest cavity via expansion and contraction of the ribs. Instead, turtles breathe in two ways. First, they employ buccal pumping, pulling air into their mouth, then pushing it into the lungs via oscillations of the floor of the throat. Secondly, by contracting the abdominal muscles that cover the posterior opening of the shell, the internal volume of the shell increases, drawing air into the lungs, allowing these muscles to function in much the same way as the mammalian diaphragm.

I don’t know about you guys, but this article makes me want to run off and adopt some new hard-shelled pets.

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The feather starfish may be pretty just sitting there, but when it starts swimming, that’s when it’s true beauty shines. In fact, it’s downright hypnotic.

Via I Am Bored

I know you guys like tree houses based on how many of you comment every time we share links like this, so I’m really happy to get to share this great collection of tree houses with you guys. Which one is your favorite? I like the middle one on the bottom row of the pics above.

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You probably already know about the devastating poaching trade in the Congo, but Environmental Graffiti has a great slideshow presenting a fascinating look at the tale from an entirely new point of view -that of the park rangers fighting the poachers on a day to day basis. Their jobs are deadly and the pay is practically nothing, but their love of animals keeps them working to stop the slaughter. Be warned, many of the images are extremely graphic.

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The nursery takes in orphan elephants from all over Kenya, many victims of poaching or human-wildlife conflict, and raises them until they are no longer milk dependent. Once healed and stabilized at the nursery, they are moved more than a hundred miles southeast to two holding centers in Tsavo National Park. There, at their own pace, which can be up to eight to ten years, they gradually make the transition back into the wild. The program is a cutting-edge experiment in cross-species empathy that only the worst extremes of human insensitivity could have necessitated.

Be sure to read the whole thing to learn all kinds of fascinating information about the group, the elephants and the amazing people working to improve the lives of these majestic creatures.

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Humans might be one of the only animals to use tools as weapons, but Crack has a great list of animals born with weapons built right into their bodies -like the Giant Amazonian Centipede’s ninja skills, which allow him to catch and eat whole bats. Read about the rest at the link.

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Environmental Graffiti found ten oases in the middle of cities that provide a good dose of nature for urban dwellers. Some are big enough to have hiking trails, lakes, zoos, forests, gardens, and even observatories. These 26 pictures are a refreshing treat for the eyes! Pictured is the gorgeous Butchart Gardens on Vancouver Island in Victoria, B.C. Link

(Image credit: Flickr user WisDoc)

We’ve all heard about snakes eating food bigger than them, but this is just ridiculous. The black swallower eats fish that are 3 times larger than it by grabbing it by the tail and swallowing as the fish coils up inside the swallower’s stomach. The Proceedings of the Ever So Strange have more about this bizarre fish that has never been seen alive.

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This World Wildlife Fund poster features a ton of hidden animals in the bushes.I know it’s hard to see at this size, but if you click on the link, you can enlarge the picture and try to see them all. How many can you find?

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During two expeditions on Friday, adventurous eaters, amateur botanists, and a handful of curious locals descended on the Mt. Pleasant neighborhood of the Nation’s Capital in search of edible plants and wild foods with the renowned forager, ‘Wild Man’ Steve Brill. Our tour, co-hosted by Roadside Food Projects, Atlas Obscura, and Think Local First D.C., covered all of one block. But the number of foods we found, many of which were weeds you’d walk by without a second glance, didn’t even begin to scratch the surface of the available bounty growing between the city’s streets.

Read about the safari and the things they found at Atlas Obscura. Link

(Image credit: Dallas Lillich)

Greg In the Desert shot this photo of pier in Ohio where the water stains formed a sunset-styled western scene complete with a cowboy on his horse. Sometimes it’s amazing what coincidence can do.

Link Via BoingBoing

Dark Roasted Blend has an amazing collection of stunning and interesting trees right now, including the African tulip tree above, which is apparently very invasive. With a tree that pretty though, I don’t think I’d mind if it took over my whole neighborhood. How about you?

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I know just as well as anyone else how easy it is to hate rats, mosquitoes and wasps, but like many other pests, these creatures are entirely necessary for our survival and for the ecosystems we call home. This great Cracked article explains why.

Warning: Some  of the language is NSFW.

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Most of us have heard of strychnos owing to its use in rat poison – as well as the occasional murder! – but it has been used for centuries as an arrow poison in the jungles of Assam, Burma, Malaysia and Java. A chieftain of the Limba people of Sierra Leone is holding iron-tipped arrows dipped in strychnos poison in the image above. The seeds contain 1.5% strychnine, but the flowers and bark contain the poison too. People and animals exposed to the substance will suffer paralysis, severe convulsions and, finally, death. On the plus side, medical science has used it in minute doses to help people as well.

Read about seven of these traditional poisons at Environmental Graffiti. Link

(Image credit: Flickr member John Atherton)

When I was a kid I planted a tree that grew over the rooftop of my house. At the time I thought that was pretty cool, but now I have seen this great gallery of The Strangest Trees on Earth, which you will agree are pretty strange. See full gallery at the link.

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Elephants

After a 22 month long pregnancy followed by delivery of the world’s largest babies (around 250 pounds), elephants deserve to be on this list even if they immediately abandoned their babes. But they don’t just say “thanks for all the stretch marks,” and get on their merry way, elephant mothers continue raising their babies. Baby elephants are born blind and completely dependant on their mother and the rest of the herd. While the baby is growing, they are fortunate enough to have a great support system consisting of multiple full-time babysitters, called “allmothers.” While the allmothers take care of the precious little one, the mother will work to eat as much as she can so she can make the most possible milk for her bundle of joy.

Image by Googie man [Wikipedia]

Alligators

We don’t tend to think of cold-blooded animals as the most caring parents, but alligators certainly break that mold. The female alligator creates nests of rotting organic matter that not only self-incubates, but also determine the sex of the babies. Nests that are constructed with leaves are warmer than those made with wet marsh, and thus, produce more males than cooler nests.

Once mama gator has planned the sex of her litter, she will guard her nest from threats, including other alligators, who love to munch on baby gator nests. When the eggs hatch, she will load them into her mouth and then carry them into the water where she will continue to care for them for the following year, assuming they decide to stay near home.

Image via Catholic 85 [Wikipedia]

Orangutans

Female orangutans have to wait eight years between births (the longest interbirth time of any great ape), so they make sure their time with each baby counts. Infant orangutans are completely dependent on their mother for their first two years of life. In fact, during the first four months of a baby’s life, it will never break physical contact with its mother, clinging to her belly the whole time. Each night, the mother will make a nest and she and her baby will cuddle in bed during the duration of its infancy.

Even as they mature, they continue to stick close to mother and even breastfeed until they are five years old –making them the species with the longest dependence period. The girls stay with their mothers longer than the boys, sticking around to learn necessary baby rearing skills.

Image via JohnBurke [Flickr]

Greater Hornbills

Greater hornbills have the distinction of being the only animals that made it on both of our best animal parents lists. And there’s a good reason for that. When the hornbills lay eggs, they find a hollowed-out tree and then the mother seals herself inside with the eggs while the father returns every day to bring food for her. While he deserves recognition for caring for his wife and kids during the incubation period, mommy certainly deserves some respect for sitting inside a dark nest all day, surviving only on what her mate brings her to eat.

Once the chicks hatch, the parents continue to split their duties, alternating who feeds the babies that have been left inside the sealed up nest.

Image via Goldy fk [Flickr]

Octopuses

Female octopuses have good odds when it comes to reproductive success. After all, each mother lays anywhere between 50,000 and 200,000 eggs, depending on her species. She then takes the time to carefully place the eggs in an elaborate grouping, again based on her species. Once laid, she’ll spend the next month or two caring for the eggs by protecting them against predators and even pushing water currents in their direction so the eggs get enough oxygen.

During this entire period, she will not hunt and will often end up ingesting her own arms for sustenance. When the eggs start hatching, she will leave her lair too weak to defend herself from predators. As a result, most octopus mothers die shortly after their babies hatch.

Image via Foxtongue [Flickr]

Earwigs

Most insects, particularly those that tend to roll solo, aren’t exactly the most caring parents. But the female earwig is a very notable exception. The mother will provide her eggs with warmth, clean them to protect them from fungus and protect them from predators. During this period, the only thing she’ll eat is any eggs that have gone bad and will not hatch.

When the eggs hatch, she will help the babies break through their shells and continue to protect the little ones for another few months until they have molted a second time. She will even feed her babies regurgitated food and if anything happens to her during this time, the babies will then eat their mother for sustenance.

Image via Nabakov [Wikipedia]

Polar Bears

After getting pregnant, female polar bears need to eat enough to nearly double their weight, as they will soon enter a long fasting period where they will still need to provide nourishment to their cubs. As temperatures start to fall during autumn, mothers-to-be will dig a maternity den that comprises of a narrow entrance tunnel and one to three chambers. Once secluded in her den, the mother will enter a hibernation-like state –unlike hibernating animals, her body temperature does not decrease and she will not sleep continuously.

The mother bear has one of the easiest birthing sessions around, often sleeping through the experience. When the cubs are born, they will be blind and weigh less than two pounds. While the mother will continue to refrain from eating while in the den area, the cubs will nurse, growing up to 30 pounds by the time they leave the den in spring. For the first couple of weeks outside the den, the mother will nibble on vegetation while the cubs adapt to walking and playing in the outdoors. Finally, they will leave the den area and head toward the sea ice where the mother can start catching seals after a fast of up to eight months.

Over the next few years, the mother will teach her babies how to hunt while protecting them from predators, including male polar bears. Interestingly, while male bears will eat the cubs, female bears have been known to adopt abandoned cubs on occasion.

Wolf Spiders

Like earwigs, wolf spiders are notable for being one of the more caring mothers of the arachnid world. While most spiders hang their eggs in a web and then go on their merry way, wolf spiders actually strap their egg sac to their bodies and carry it wherever they go. Then, once the eggs hatch, mommy wolf spider continues to take care of her little ones, letting them ride on her back until they are old enough to fend for themselves.

Image via Ugly Overload

As humans, we are fortunate to have some of the best mothers in the animal kingdom –women who are willing to take care of a whining, tantrum-throwing and manipulative (although occasionally really cute) child for at least eighteen years. Let’s take some time to thank all of our Neatorama mothers, Miss C, Stacy, The Nag, and Tiffany –and of course, all of you readers who also happen to be mothers. Happy Mother’s Day!

Sources: Wikipedia #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8

Marlice Van Der Merwe is a Namibian conservationist who really knows how to stick her neck out for her job. This video footage at the link shows her wandering through a Cheetah filled field with nothing but a motor bike and a stick as the wild animals hiss and growl at her. Link

The Gippsland Lakes are a chain of lakes in eastern Victoria, Australia. A combination of fire and floods changed the conditions of the water and led to the proliferation of Synechococcus, a photosynthetic cyanobacteria. But that wasn’t what knocked everyone’s socks off.

As summer took hold at the end of 2008, what happened surprised everyone – a new species called Noctiluca Scintillans began to prosper, by feeding on the Synechococcus.

In contrast to the widespread bright green of the Synechococcus, Noctiluca Scintillans was visible during the day as localised murky red patches, often building up on sections of shoreline facing the wind during the day. At night though, Noctiluca Scintillans produced a remarkable form of bioluminescence (popularly referred to as ‘phosphorescence’) – the water glowing brightly wherever there was movement – in the waves breaking on the shore, in ripples in the water and wherever people played in the water.

See more pictures of this phenomena at Phil’s Blog. Link -via Monkeyfilter

Even today I am saddened whenever I learn about a species becoming extinct, but the worst part is when you know it was caused by human activity. Here are seven such animals that are no longer on earth thanks to mankind.

Thylacine

Also known as the Tasmanian tiger, this carnivore wasn’t related to dogs, tigers or hyenas, as many people believe. It was actually a marsupial, closer related to kangaroos and wallabies than any of those other animals. It was originally found in Australia and New Zealand, but its was essentially extinct in those areas long before Europeans discovered it. Even so, it thrived on the island of Tasmania until European settlers issued began fearing that the animals were eating their livestock. Like wolves, the Tasmanian tiger was often accused of slaughtering sheep in the fields. As a result, the Van Dieman’s Land Company issued a bounty on the creature, offering one pound per adult and ten shillings for each pup.

Scientists have still not been able to verify accusations of the animals eating livestock, but it would be too late to help the thylacines anyway, as the last known individual was captured in 1933 and died in a zoo in 1936. That’s her in the video. Sadly, she died two months before the Tasmanian government enacted a law dedicated to protecting the animals.

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Quagga

While it looks like a strange cross between a horse and a zebra, a quagga was actually a subspecies of a typical plains zebra with a brown rear end and a striped head. It was once found in great numbers in southern Africa until Europeans started hunting the animals for their meat and their hides. It is believed that the last wild quagga was shot in the late 1870s. A number were sent to zoos before that point though and the last captive individual was killed in 1883. At the time, people still believed these were the same as other zebra species, the individuals just had different markings. It wasn’t until after the subspecies was eradicated that people realized the animal had become extinct. Some historians have noted, the story is particularly sad because if the same thing happened in modern times, the breeding programs of zoos could help rebuild the population of the animal and release them back into the wild.

Interestingly, because the animal was so closely related to other subspecies of zebra, South African researchers have attempted a selective breeding program to create a new stock of the animals. The third and forth generation animals created through this project do look similar to the extinct creatures, but scientists debate whether or not looks are enough to declare these animals quaggas.

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Steller’s Sea Cow

As a slow-swimming marine mammal that never completely submerged itself and was loaded with blubber, the Steller’s sea cow was doomed from the beginning. These massive herbivores were once abundant in the North Pacific, but aboriginal peoples hunted them until their population was limited to only the Commander Islands. Unfortunately for the sea cow, they were then discovered in 1751 by George Wilhelm Steller on an expedition led by Vitus Bering.

The Stellar sea cows were over 25 feet long. They were slow swimmers who couldn’t submerge themselves. There were only about 1,500 when Europeans first laid eyes on them and it wasn’t long before those remaining were hunted down for food, pelts and blubber, which could be used in oil lamps. Within 27 years of Steller’s discovery, the animals were extinct.

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Dodo

The dodo is probably one of the only animals to be famous because it went extinct. In fact, the bird inspired two expressions related to its eradication, both “dead as a dodo” and “to go the way of the dodo” are commonly used 300 years after the birds disappeared.

The dodo was related to pigeons and doves, but was flightless and much larger than either of these groups of birds. They weighed over forty pounds and stood more than three feet tall. They were native the island of Mauritius and first discovered by Dutch travelers in 1598. The birds weren’t afraid of people, which made them easy targets for hunters, but the importation of dogs, cats, pigs, rats and crab-eating macaques is what really killed the species. Some of the animals brought diseases to the birds, others ate them, but the worst were the macaques, which ate the eggs of the dodos. Within one hundred years of their discovery, the bird was wiped off the earth.

Interestingly, it wasn’t until the 19^th century that the general populace actually took notice of the animal’s disappearance. Up until that time, many people believed that the animal was a myth, but then the first set of dodo bones were discovered in the Mauritian swamp. After the find, a schoolmaster named George Clarke wrote a report on the bird. The public soon gained interest and the bird quickly became a symbol for the human impact on animals.

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Great Auk

Like the dodo, the great auk was a large, flightless bird. In fact, they were close to the same height and weight, but the auk was a little smaller. While the auk might not have been too coordinated on land, it was an excellent swimmer and could even dive down to 3000 feet under the water, while holding its breath for up to fifteen minutes.

As a black and white sea bird that was an excellent swimmer, the great auk seems to be related to penguins, but the two are not genetically similar. Interestingly though, the auk was responsible for the naming of the penguins. The Spanish and Portuguese called the auks pingüinos and the Welsh called it pengwyn, meaning “little wing.” When European sailors discovered penguins, they thought they were related to auks and thus, gave them the same name.

While auks were relatively widespread throughout the North Atlantic, spreading all the way from New England to Iceland to Norway to Spain, they only had a handful of nesting spots due to their demanding breeding needs. Their breeding areas had to be rocky and isolated with easy access to the ocean and a large population of their favorite fish had to be close by. All of these needs ended up leaving them with no more than 20 breeding colonies, even when they had a massive population. To make matters worse, they only laid one egg per year, so when their numbers did start to dwindle, it took a long while for them to increase their population.

Despite these risks, the great auk was hunted by Native American cultures for over 100,000 years without any problems. The bird was more than just a food source, it was a status symbol. Archeologists even found one native buried with a cloak made from over 200 auk skins –he was certainly a revered member of the tribe while alive.

While many other species were wiped out shortly after being discovered by European explorers, the great auk was used as a source of down feathers in Europe since at least the 8^th century. Early explorers also used them as an easy source of food and bait since they often ran low on provisions. Even so, the bird managed to survive off of the European coasts until the mid-16^th century. When these populations were wiped out, scientists realized the great auk was in danger and the bird became one of the first animals to receive legal protection in an attempt to prevent its extinction.

Unfortunately, the fact that the bird was acknowledged to be rare garnered intense interest from museums and private collectors who wanted specimens for their collections. They offered high rewards to people who could bring them eggs or skins of the birds. Eggers would collect eggs from the nests, keeping those that were unfertilized and throwing away the rest.

The last colony of auks was located on the island of Eldey off of Iceland. As soon as it was discovered, museums started hiring people to collect the birds from the colony. The last pair was found incubating an egg on July 3, 1844. The parents were strangled by two of the collectors and just to ensure there would never be another great auk, a third man made sure to stomp on their egg.

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Passenger Pigeon

When Europeans first arrived in America, the passenger pigeons were present in such great numbers that it was said to take several hours for a flock to fly overhead. The flocks were often more than a mile wide and 300 miles long and made up of more than two billion birds. The birds went from being one of the most abundant animals on earth in the 19^th century to being completely extinct by the 20^th century.

The bird’s population started to decrease as Europeans started chopping down forests to make way for civilization, but even this didn’t thin their population too much. But by the 1800’s, people realized they could feed their slaves and servants passenger pigeon for practically nothing. Whole boxcars of pigeons were shipped to the cities, where a pair of pigeons would go for two cents.

If the passenger pigeons were like most other birds, they wouldn’t have been so easy to wipe out. Unfortunately, they were incredibly social and could not breed unless they were in a communal breeding area, which would stretch hundreds of miles –each tree could contain up to one hundred nests. Some nesting sites were estimated to hold more than 100 million individuals. This meant that hunters could go to the nesting sites and wipe out the birds at record numbers. At one of the last major nesting sites, there was a five-month long hunt that would generally result in the deaths of about 50,000 birds per day.

By the 1890s, it was obvious that the passenger pigeon was seriously endangered. The Michigan legislature enacted a law outlawing the killing of the birds within two miles of a nesting area, but authorities rarely enforced the rule. By this time, it was already too late anyway. The birds had to have massive nesting colonies in order to successfully breed and there were too few pigeons left. Some people even tried to help the population through captive breeding programs, but there were just too few birds to coax the animals into mating. The last passenger pigeon died in the Cincinnati Zoo in 1914.

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Tecopa Pupfish

It might not be as exciting as a Tasmanian tiger, but the Tecopa Pupfish has an important role in the history of extinction, as it was the first animal to be officially declared extinct according to the Endangered Species Act of 1973. The Tecopa Pupfish was endemic only to the Tecoopa Hot Springs of the Mojave Desert. They were first discovered in 1942 and completely wiped out within a few decades after the hot springs were canalized into bath houses. It was officially delisted from the endangered species list in 1981.

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As an animal lover, this was a really hard article to write, but I do think it is important to learn from our history so we can help protect animals that are currently at risk. This is only a small sampling of the many animals that humans have brought to extinction, but with any luck, we can help stop that number from increasing in the future.

A Difficult Childhood:

While most people know Roosevelt was an avid sportsman with an outgoing personality, he wasn’t always like that. As a child, he was asthmatic and constantly sick. Much of his childhood was spent propped up in bed or slumped over in a chair. He was also rather shy and spent much of his time reading rather than engaging with others his age. As a result, he ended up being incredibly brilliant and well-read and was known to read several books a day throughout his presidency. In fact, he and Thomas Jefferson are considered to be the two most well-read presidents ever. Roosevelt wrote 18 books as well as numerous articles throughout his lifetime.

Despite his sickliness, he developed a deep interest in zoology at only seven years old when he saw a dead seal at a local market. He immediately set about learning taxidermy and created a “Roosevelt Museum of Natural History” at home with two of his cousins. The supposed museum featured a number of animals he caught, killed and stuffed. By age nine, he used his observations to write a paper entitled “The Natural History of Insects.”

As his health started to improve a little, his father started encouraging Theodore to take up exercise to improve his overall well-being. As a result, Roosevelt started taking boxing lessons, which became a lifelong interest, although he had to give up the sport during his presidency when a blow detached his left retina and left him blind in that eye.

A True Romantic:

While many presidents are known for their playboy behaviors, Roosevelt seemed entirely dedicated to his two wives. His first wife, Alice, died two days after giving birth to their child. Theodore also lost his mother that same day and he wrote about the events in his diary by simply stating “the light has gone out of my life.” Throughout the rest of his life, Roosevelt refused to talk about Alice, leaving her out of his biography and ignoring his daughter’s inquiries to learn more about her mother.

While you’ve probably heard Roosevelt called “Teddy”, it was actually a name he loathed throughout most of his life because it was Alice’s nickname for him. Throughout his presidency, those close to him always called him by his military rank or his full name –although the press insisted on calling him Teddy throughout his lifetime.

His First Rise And Fall:

In 1880, Roosevelt graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard and began attending Columbia Law School, but he dropped out a year later when he had the chance to run for New York Assemblyman. He won and served as the youngest member of the Assembly. In 2008, the school awarded him a posthumous law degree.

During his years in the Assembly, Roosevelt was a dedicated activist, writing more bills than any other legislator in the state. Unfortunately, his first attempt at a political career turned sour when he became disenchanted with the results of the Republican National Convention in 1884. He soon announced his retirement from politics and then moved to the Badlands of the Dakota Territory.

The Cowboy of the Dakotas:

While living out west, Roosevelt served as deputy sheriff and wrote about his frontier life for magazines back east. He learned to raise cattle, ride horses and hunt down outlaws. While he loved his time in the Badlands, he gave up his cowboy life after the severe winter of 1886 wiped out his entire herd of cattle. He returned to his home in New York, where he lived throughout the rest of his life (with the exception of his time in office). Upon his return, he attempted to get back into politics, running for Mayor of New York City with the title of “The Cowboy of the Dakotas,” but he lost.

Cleaning Up The Streets (And The Offices):

Prior to the 1888 presidential election, Roosevelt traveled the Midwest and avidly campaigned for Benjamin Harrison. After Harrison’s inauguration, he appointed Roosevelt to the U.S. Civil Service Commission where Theodore served until 1895, fighting the corrupt spoils system that was in place at the time.

In 1895, he left his position in the Civil Service Commission to serve as the president of the New York City Police Commissioners board. Rather than just work on fighting crime in the streets, Roosevelt cleaned up the department itself and radically changed the way the department ran. When he entered the office, the NYC force was one of the most corrupt in the nation, but Roosevelt soon established new rules, standardized the use of pistols by officers, established meritorious service medals and introduced annual physical exams to the force. He also created a bicycle squad to help deal with traffic problems in the city.

Rough Riding Ahead:

Roosevelt left his commissioner position when he was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Navy by William McKinley in 1897. Despite the fact that he had never served in the Navy, Roosevelt displayed unique qualifications due to his groundbreaking study of the U.S. and British roles in the War of 1812 that was published after he left Harvard. Unlike other studies of the war, his book was unbiased and looked at specific facts of the naval strategies involved. The book was so well-written that it is even considered applicable today and is still in publication.

Because the Secretary of the Navy was largely inactive, his assistant Roosevelt was able to take full control of the department, where he played a critical role in preparing the Navy for the Spanish-American War. As soon as war broke out though, he resigned and formed the First U.S. Volunteer Cavalry Regiment, although you probably know this group by the name used by the press, the “Rough Riders.”

Interestingly, Roosevelt was the only Rough Rider that actually had a horse, as the rest of the horses were left behind due to limited access to transport ships. Theodore was originally given command of the regiment and promoted to Colonel, where he would ride back and forth between two fronts of the force to pass along news and orders.

At one point during the war, Roosevelt and other officers sent a number of letters demanding they be returned home and these letters were leaked to the press.  Many, including Roosevelt himself, believe this is why he was denied a Medal of Honor. He was posthumously awarded the medal in 2001. In 1944, his son was also posthumously awarded a Medal of Honor for his actions in WWII, making them one of only two father and son duos to share the honor. Roosevelt is also the only American president to have won a Medal of Honor.

Governor and Vice President:

Roosevelt was elected governor of New York in 1898. True to form, he worked to eliminate corruption and nepotism during his term. He also helped end segregation in the state schools during his office. He made such a strong impression that he was forced upon McKinley as a vice presidential candidate in 1900. He was a strong asset for the president, who won by a landslide. While giving a speech at the Minnesota State Fair in 1901, he first used his soon-to-be-trademark saying, “Speak softly and carry a big stick.”

Carrying On While Making Changes:

When McKinley was shot and killed by a crazed anarchist, Roosevelt became the youngest president in U.S. history at only 42.While he was known for being incredibly progressive, he did promise to continue McKinley’s policies and he also kept his cabinet in place. One of his first notable presidential acts was to deliver a 20,000 word speech to congress asking for control of monopolies and trusts. Roosevelt stayed dedicated to labor rights and curbing the power of big business throughout his presidency.

McKinley was known for effectively rallying the press and Roosevelt took advantage of this by providing regular interviews and photo opportunities to keep the White House in the news. He also helped establish the first presidential press briefing when he noticed the reporters huddled in the cold one day and opted to give them their own dedicated room inside the White House.

Roosevelt was an incredibly active and effective president, maintaining his exercise throughout his presidency while still reading multiple books every day and fighting for progressive legislation. In fact, he was said to be able to dictate letters to one secretary while giving memoranda to another, all while reading.

During a hunting trip in 1902, Roosevelt ordered the mercy killing of a wounded black bear and when a cartoonist illustrated the president with a bear, a toymaker asked him if he could use the name on a stuffed toy…thus the teddy bear was born.

Some of Roosevelt’s most important contributions to our society though were his passing of the Meat Inspection Act and Pure Food and Drug Act, which helped curbed the sickening state of the meat packing industry detailed in Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle and prevented drugs and food from being falsely labeled or impure.

The president also helped negotiate an end to the Russo-Japanese War and was honored with a Nobel Peace Prize as a result. This made Roosevelt the only person in history to win a country’s highest military honor along with a Nobel Peace Prize.

Roosevelt is also largely remembered for his role in establishing the National Park System. During his presidency, he established 150 national forests, 5 national parks and 18 national monuments. All in all, he helped conserve 230 million acres of land.

While he was a wildly successful president, he opted to give his support to William Taft for the election in 1908, rather than running for a third time.

Safari Time:

After Taft was inaugurated, Roosevelt went on safari in Africa on an expedition in an attempt to collect specimens for the Smithsonian Institution and the American Museum of Natural History in New York. He and his companions killed and trapped over 11,000 animals ranging from insects to elephants. The number of animals shipped back to Washington was so massive that after years of mounting, the Smithsonian opted to send a number of duplicate specimens to other museums.

Dividing The Party:

Upon returning home, he soon became disillusioned with Taft and his policies and in 1911, he announced his intention of running for president in the next election. Unfortunately, Taft had already been campaigning and had garnered the support of many of the party leaders. Because most states still used caucuses instead of primaries to select candidates, Taft was given the Republican nomination despite the fact that Roosevelt had more pull with the public. So Roosevelt and his followers had to start out with a new party, The Progressive Party, that was commonly referred to as the “Bull Moose” party.

Roosevelt’s platform was based on the politics of his presidency, namely fighting greedy corporations in the name of the little man. During one speech, he explained, “‘This country belongs to the people. Its resources, its business, its laws, its institutions, should be utilized, maintained, or altered in whatever manner will best promote the general interest.”

During a Milwaukee stop in his campaign, a saloon keeper shot Roosevelt in the chest, but his steel eyeglass case and 50 page speech slowed the bullet enough that it did not penetrate his lungs. Roosevelt still gave his speech, which took a full 90 minutes, before agreeing to go to the hospital. He even laughed off the assassination attempt by starting his speech saying, “Ladies and gentlemen, I don’t know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot; but it takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose.” At the hospital, doctors decided that it would be more dangerous to remove the bullet than to leave it there, so Roosevelt carried it with him for the rest of his life.

Roosevelt’s split with the republican party is often cited as one of the critical reasons America remains dedicated to a two party system. Given that he won 27% of the popular vote and Taft won 23%, the Republicans would have undoubtedly beat Wilson, who received 42% of the vote, if they had just unified under one candidate.

The Beginning of The End:

After losing the election, Roosevelt embarked on a trip to South America with his son and a Brazilian explorer. The team decided to find the headwaters of the River of Doubt and then trace it to the Madeira and the Amazon. No one had ever taken on such an ambitious expedition and it ended up an exceptionally dangerous trip, particularly to Theodore, who contracted malaria and a major infection in a minor leg wound. At one point, he had to be attended to day and night by the team’s physician and he could no longer walk. He eventually told the rest of the party to leave him and complete the expedition so he would not exhaust their already low supplies. Only his son was able to convince him to continue.

Upon returning home, critics questioned the expedition’s ability to navigate the entire 625 miles of uncharted river that made up the River of Doubt. However Roosevelt was able to satisfactorily convince the National Geographic Society and others of his claims. Later on, the river was renamed after him, the Rio Roosevelt.

Roosevelt noted the trip cut his life short by ten years. And as it turns out, he may have been right. He was plagued by malaria flare-ups and later had to get surgery in his leg to treat the infection. To add to matters, his youngest son, Quentin was later shot down behind enemy lines in WWI a few years later. This devastated him and many claim he never recovered from the loss.

Goodbye Mr. President:

Roosevelt died from a heart attack during his sleep on January 6, 1919. At the time, Vice President Thomas R. Marshall proclaimed, “Death had to take Roosevelt sleeping, for if he had been awake, there would have been a fight.”

A Series of Notable Firsts:

If you can’t already figure out why Roosevelt was such an important figure in American history, then perhaps you should take these important firsts into account:

• Roosevelt was the first president to invite an African American to dinner. On October 16, 1901, he and Booker T. Washington discussed politics and racism over dinner.
• He was also the first president to appoint a Jewish person, Oscar, S. Strauss, to his cabinet.
• In 1902, Roosevelt was the first president to be seen in an automobile in public. He rode in a Columbia Electric Victoria Phaeton surrounded by a squad of bicycle cops.
• After his return from South America, Roosevelt was a major proponent of the Scouting movement and he was named the first (and only) Chief Scout Citizen by the Boy Scouts of America.

Obviously, I have a mini crush on Roosevelt, but I’m curious to know what you all think about him? In your opinion, is he good, bad, overrated? Let’s talk about it!

Sources: Wikipedia #1, #2, PBS, American Chronicle

A little more than 500 miles west of Ecuador lie the Galápagos Islands, a veritable treasure-trove of endemic wildlife. One of the islands’ most famous residents is the blue-footed booby, a seabird with distinctive turquoise-blue feet. While those colorful toes certainly catch the eyes of human fans, the birds are more concerned with impressing each other: Male blue-footed boobies show off their blue feet while “dancing” during courtship.

Link -Thanks, Jenny!

When they become frightened, they retract their heads backward into themselves, causing that bulge that looks like the head of a snake. The snake “eyes” are just spots on the caterpillar’s sides.

Yes, it’s a caterpillar. There are several species of caterpillar that can make themselves look like snakes (although small ones). See all nine animal disguises in this post that contains NSFW text. Link -via Interesting Pile

Day after day the passionflower vine and the handsome heliconius butterfly engage each other in a dramatic fight for survival in the tropical forests of Central and South America. The outcome is still uncertain, but the battle rages on.

Heliconius butterflies choose to lay eggs on the leave of passionflower vines. When the eggs hatch, the offspring feed hungrily on the leaves, threatening to eat the vines out of existence. But the vines have learned to fight back; they have evolved a series of defenses to limit the damage.

Link

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by MrGhaz.

Imagine a tree, 3500 years old, and the history and knowledge it must possess. The Senator is a species of Bald Cypress situated at Big Tree Park in Longwood, Florida. For year, travelers flocked to the tree, jumping log to log in the swamps, to catch a glimpse of this world wonder.

The Senator Bald Cypress tree measures close 18 feet in diameter and stands 118 feet high. The Senator’s age is estimated between 3,400-3,500 years old, the 5th oldest tree in the world.

Link

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by lannaxe96.

When British scientist Jason Chapman told us (listen to the radio piece or watch our video) there are 3 billion insects passing over your head in a summer month, he was talking about his survey in Great Britain. Closer to the equator, he says, the numbers should rise. He wouldn’t be surprised, for example, that in the sky over Houston or New Orleans there could be 6 billion critters passing overhead in a month.

Link -via reddit

Bill McHugh creates kinetic sculptures that are driven by natural forces like wind, sun, water, squirrels or even birds!

Keeping the sculptures running literally costs peanuts — or birdseed, as the case may be. The Swirl-a-Squirrel runs on 30 peanuts a day, McHugh estimates. All combined, he figures he goes through 2,000 peanuts per week, or a 50-pound bag every three weeks.

But as he has refined them, he has also incorporated other elements. The bird-oriented one he calls “The Hitchcock” works this way: as many as 32 birds can land on the tiny metal cups that are spaced around a wheel. If they do, that sets a second wheel in motion; on it, other cups dip into a reservoir of water at the bottom and are carried up until they empty into a basin at the top. Then the water trickles down into the bottom reservoir and the process begins again.

Link – Via Notcot

Scientists have successfully reintroduced giant tortoises to a Galápagos island where the species once teetered on extinction, raising conservation hopes for the rest of the archipelago.A survey of Española, the southernmost island, confirmed last week that a pioneering effort to repatriate giant tortoise hatchlings has produced a thriving, reproducing population of more than 1,500 specimens. The project aims to turn the clock back to before human beings all but wiped out a species that helped to inspire Charles Darwin’s theories on evolution and natural selection. “It’s a great end to a sad story,” said Johannah Barry, president of Galápagos Conservancy, a Virginia-based organisation which partly funded the study.

There were hopes that Pinta Island could be similarly repopulated but Lonesome George, the only surviving Pinta Tortoise, has so far failed to produce offspring. Scientists are now introducing the Pinta’s close relation, the Espanola tortoise to that island.

Link

The turritopsis nutricula species of jellyfish may be the only animal in the world to have truly discovered the fountain of youth.
Since it is capable of cycling from a mature adult stage to an immature polyp stage and back again, there may be no natural limit to its life span. Scientists say the hydrozoan jellyfish is the only known animal that can repeatedly turn back the hands of time and revert to its polyp state (its first stage of life).

I might like to turn back the hands of time for my next high school reunion, provided I wouldn’t wind up looking like a youthful jellyfish.
Link – Via Clusterflock

Isabella Rossellini has a new video series called Seduce Me, in which she acts out the bizarre mating rituals of different animal species. Besides the cuttlefish shown, there are videos for bedbugs, salmon, snakes, and duck mating. Warning: adult themes. Link -Thanks, Jelena!

Previously at Neatorama: 30 Strangest Animal Mating Habits

Take a look at this lovely and cute collection of miniature copies of some animals, like the horse. Several breeds of horse are less than three feet tall!

People sometimes train them as service animals (be the first on your block with a “Seeing Eye Horse”), and even as house pets, since I presume they make tiny road apples. However, they are still horses when it comes down to it, and their natural reaction to being scared is to run like hell, so they won’t be replacing your Black Lab anytime soon for those long walks in the woods playing fetch.

Link – via weirdworm

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by euphoriajoca.

There’s a lot going on in a small garden pond! Mirko Faienza blends beautiful macrophotography and music in My Father’s Garden. -via Metafilter

Did you know there’s a word for those stunning light beams that shoot through trees, clouds and stained glass windows? I sure didn’t, but apparently the proper term is Crepuscular Rays and Environmental Graffiti has a great collection of photos that have perfectly captured these beams of light.

Link Image by Mila Zinkova

If you have a serious phobia of frogs, rats, bees or snakes, you probably shouldn’t read WebEcoist’s article on the most invasive species in the world. On the other hand, if you don’t have any phobias, it’s fascinating to know just how devastating a pair of bunnies ended up being to Australia and how Florida and other areas of the South are being taken over by released and escaped Burmese pythons.

Link

You may well be thinking ‘The mystery of what?’ but resin (the type from trees) is still something of a mystery. The jury is still out about why exactly plants secrete (or excrete, depending on what side of the argument you are on) the sticky oozy stuff on which you may well have at some point inadvertantly put your hand or your clothes while taking a stroll through the woods. Plus at the right time it looks simply amazing, especially with insects inside it.

Some plants produce explosive resin. The Jeffrey Pine of California produces resin which is highly volatile – that mean it has, under the right circumstances – a tendency to vaporize. When people tried to distil it in nineteenth century America, they thought it was Ponderosa Pine resin. A number of distilleries exploded as a result of this mis-classification and the mistake was put right in something of a hurry. The reason behind the explosion was that the Jeffrey Pine resin was made up largely of pure heptanes – highly flammable. Distillation of Jeffrey Pine resin continues to be very dangerous to this day but the denizens of California have managed to get it right since the great pine explosions of 1852.

Link

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by taliesyn30.

Image Composite: Left: flickr/wallyg. Right: Twitter/@GarySoup

If you’ve been to the Fisherman’s Wharf part of San Francisco in the past twenty years, chances are you’ve seen (and heard) the resident sea lions that call Pier 39 home.  I’d spend long stretches of time just observing them and their behavior patterns, and always found them neat.

Since about a month ago, when they collectively slipped into the bay and disappeared, the pier has been quiet and barren.

The sea lions’ disappearance is as strange as their initial colonization of the pier about 20 years ago, in late 1989. They just started showing up one day and as their numbers increased, their traditional hang out, Seal Rocks, became less populated. There are all sorts of theories about why the pier became a favorite haul-out spot for the sea lions, but no one knows for sure why the animals’ behavior changed.

It doesn’t appear that local weather conditions could have influenced the animals. The weather in San Francisco has been normal, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Rick Canaepa. “It’s pretty typical winter conditions,” Canaepa said.

There is also no apparent population increase on Seal Rock; apparently hundreds of them just decided to move on.

Link

(YouTube Link)

The last thing seen by many a field mouse.  1000 frames per second.  (via Cynical-C)