Ten Things I Like About... Podcast

Vaquita: Conservation

Episode 15: Vaquita: Conservation
Summary: The vaquita is balancing on the edge of extinction. With only 10 left, can we save these beautiful porpoises? Join Kiersten as she talks about the conservation efforts surrounding the vaquita.
 
For my hearing impaired listeners, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean.
 
Show Notes: 
https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/west-coast/science-data/vaquita-conservation-and-abundance
https://seasheperd.org/milagro/
Robinson, Jacqueline; Kyriazis Christopher; Nidenda-Morales, Sergio; Beichman, Annabel; Rojas-Bracho, LOrenzo; Robertson, Kelly; Fontaine, Micheal; Wayne, Robert; Lohmueller, Kirk; Taylor Barbara, and Morin, Phillip. “The critically endangered vaquita is not doomed to extinction by inbreeding depression.” Science, May 2022: Vol 376, Issue 6593, pg 635-639; DOI:10.1126/science.abm1742
 
Vaquita: Science, Politics, and Crime in the Sea of Cortez by Brooke Bessesen
Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp
Vaquita Conservation Organizations
porpoise.org
 
Transcript
(Piano music plays)
Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife.
(Piano music stops)
 
Kiersten - Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… I’m Kiersten, your host, and this is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we’ll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating. 
 
This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won’t regret it.
 
This episode continues the vaquita and the fifth thing I like about the vaquita is how much effort we are putting into conservation of this species! Regrettably, this will be my last episode about the vaquita. I wanted to do a full ten episodes but we know so little about this animal that I could only gather enough information to do five episodes. Also, a word of caution about this episode, it will be hard to listen to and it was incredibly emotionally for me to write, but this is an important part of the vaquita’s story and must be told. Have some tissues handy.
 
At the posting of this episode, in December 2022 there are only 10 vaquitas alive in the Sea of Cortez. They are the only vaquitas alive on the planet. There are no individuals in captivity. We have the slimmest of chances to save them from extinction and the odds are not on our, or their side, but we haven’t given up.
 
Conservation efforts concerning the vaquita began in 1972 when the United States gave them protection under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. In 1975 Mexico also listed them as endangered. By this time, it was determined that the gill net fishing in the Sea of Cortez was greatly impacting not only the totoaba fish the nets were intended to catch but also the vaquita. 
 
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s website gill nets are described as a wall of netting that hangs in the water column, typically made of monofilament or multifilament nylon. Mesh sizes can vary depending on species that you wish to catch but they are designed to allow the fish’ s head to get through but not the body. As the fish struggles to get free it gets more and more tangled keeping it captured until fishermen retrieve the nets. This type of fishing is not manned, it is a passive form of fishing that means fisherman can come by at different times to retrieve the fish caught in the nets. Commercial fisheries have been using this method to catch the totoaba, a fish that can grow to 6 feet long and is in great demand in Chinese markets, since the 1930s. 
 
These nets are huge risks to oxygen breathing animals that live in areas where they are used. Animals such as sea turtles, sea lions, dolphins, whales and porpoises can all die when caught in these nets because they become trapped under water and suffocate. 
 
In 1996 vaquita were listed as critically endangered by the International Union of Conservation of Nature, aka IUCN. In 1997, the first reliable estimate of the vaquita population was obtained through a cooperative Mexican-American survey. A total of 567 individuals were estimated by this survey. In 2008 another survey found only 245 vaquitas. This is a loss of 57%. That’s 322 individuals in eleven years. 
 
Now gill net fishing for totoaba had been outlawed in 1975 because of the severe decline seen in this species, but the swim bladder of this fish can bring a very high price on the black market, so fisherman were willing to risk punishment for the huge payday. In 2010 the totoaba were listed as critically endangered by the IUCN. Gillnets are still used illegally to catch this fish and these nets are also the main reason vaquitas are balancing on the edge of extinction.
 
In the last episode, I mentioned the Sea Shepherd Organization and the conservation efforts they are involved in. Let’s start with two projects focused on helping keep the vaquita safe in the Sea of Cortez.
 
Operation Milagro is a program in which the Sea Shepherd ships work in conjunction with Mexican authorities to crackdown on illegal fishing in the Sea of Cortez. The ships go out on daily tours looking for illegal fishing activity. When they spot someone or something suspicious they contact the Mexican Navy to investigate further. This is a band-aid on a fatal wound but the volunteers of Sea Shepherd are willing to do everything they can to help this marine mammal. 
 
Another project they are involved in, now that gill net fishing has been outlawed in the Sea of Cortez, is retrieving ghost nets. These are nets that have been abandoned by fisherman but still remain in the waters. They may not be used for fishing anymore but they still pose a threat to the aquatic life in the sea. 
 
Sea Shepherd ships use specialized equipment to find these nets and haul them aboard freeing any animals caught but still alive and untangling those that have perished. They throw these individuals overboard with heavy hearts knowing that they may help feed other animals in the water. The nets are dismantled and sent to an organization that is making shoes out of them. Parley for the Oceans has joined forces with Adidas to turn ocean trash and gill nets into running shoes.
 
The question that haunts conservationists is whether all of this work is too little too late? With only ten individual vaquitas left on the planet, are our efforts to save them from gill nets even worth it?
 
For those of you that remember the basics of high school genetics you probably know that when you have a small pool of mammalian genes, inbreeding can cause some serious problems. If animals, especially mammals, breed with family members that have genes that are too closely related it leads to genetic diseases, infertile offspring, underdeveloped offspring that may not survive, and other serious problems. 
 
A new study looking at the genetics of the vaquita sponsored by NOAA Fisheries, UCLA, University of Washington, United Nations Development Program in Mexico, the Center for Research in Ecology and Evolution of Disease in France, and Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences in the Netherlands may have an answer for us. The study published in May 2022 used tissue samples collected by Mexican researchers beginning in the 1980s. In an article on the NOAA Fisheries website, Lorenzo Rojas-Bracho, a co-author of this study, is quoted as saying, “Genomics gives us clues into the species’ past but also lets us peer into the future. Despite the small numbers, the species could recover if we stopped killing them.”
 
What the study reveals is that the vaquitas population has always been small, compared to other marine mammals, fluctuating between 1,000 to 5,000 individuals over a period of 250,000 years. Why does this give researchers and conservationists hope for their survival? Quoting from the NOAA Fisheries article, “Smaller populations have less genetic variation from one animal to another, and fewer harmful mutations. Over time, when two animals with harmful traits occasionally mated, they produced compromised offspring that likely died. That process gradually purged many harmful traits from the population.”
 
The scientists involved with this research ran computer simulations based on the archived vaquita genetic samples. The simulations found that if we immediately stop the deaths of vaquitas in gill nets, they have a chance to recover. We can still save this amazing mammal from extinction, if we stop using gill nets in the Sea of Cortez. 
 
I hope that they next thing we hear r about the vaquita is that their population numbers are on the rise. If not they will most likely become extinct by the end of 2023.
 
Thank you for joining me in learning about the vaquita.
 
Please visit porpoise.org to find out even more about the vaquita and to discover what you can do to help this unique animal.
 
Join me next week for a look at our first misunderstood animal, tarantulas.
 
(Piano Music plays) 
This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, piano extraordinaire.

Vaquita: Research Techniques

Summary: Scientific research into the natural history of animals is incredibly important. Join Kiersten as she talks about the ways we are researching the vaquita.
 
For my hearing impaired listeners, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean.
 
Show Notes: 
Vaquita: Science, Politics, and Crime in the Sea of Cortez by Brooke Bessesen
Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp
Vaquita Conservation Organizations
porpoise.org
 
Transcript
(Piano music plays)
Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife.
(Piano music stops)
 
Kiersten - Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… I’m Kiersten, your host, and this is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we’ll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating. 
 
This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won’t regret it.
 
This episode continues the vaquita and the fourth thing I like about the vaquita is how we are researching them!
 
There are two incredibly important ways we are researching vaquitas. If you’ve listened to the preceding episodes you know that vaquitas are very shy animals. They are notoriously hard to spot when looking for them from boats, but visual observation is one of the best ways we have of studying them. 
 
Researchers with a lot of patience, have actually compiled an identification guide using the dorsal fins of the vaquitas. Each dorsal fin is unique unto its owner. They have a particular curve, a notch or scar from some injury or encounter in its life that makes them easy to recognize. The dorsal fin always breaches the surface each time a vaquita needs to breath, so it makes them the perfect identification tool.  
 
To study an animal that lives in the water you need a boat or a ship that can get you where you need to go. Most researchers can’t afford to buy a boat or even rent a boat when they need to gather data, and some research institutions do not have their own boats either, but luckily, there are non-profit conservation organizations that are often willing to save a seat for a scientist. 
 
The Sea Shepard is one of those organizations. The Sea Shepherd’s main goal is to protect marine wildlife all over the world. Since the time we have determined that the vaquitas population is declining, the Sea Shepherd Organization has been involved. I’m going to discuss the vaquita conservation efforts this organization is helping with in the next podcast, but they are always happy to provide spotting opportunities to researchers. 
 
The Sea Shepherd organization has several ships of different sizes that they pilot for the various missions they are involved in. Some of these ships have been used in the Sea of Cortez for both conservation efforts and research opportunities. These ships are often staffed by volunteers that help scan the horizon for animal activity in the water. High-powered military binoculars called Big Eyes are mounted to the deck of most of their ships and are capable of swiveling to search the horizon easily. These binoculars have a magnification power of 25x150 which allows for visual clarity at exceptional distances helping scientists see activity clearly up to a mile away. Which is a good thing because the shy tendencies of the vaquita make it hard to approach too closely.
 
Volunteers and scientists will also use their own personal binoculars, as well ,increasing the chances of spotting vaquita activity. Since the Sea of Cortez is one of the most biologically diverse bodies of water on the planet, many variety of animals are often spotted and each sighting is documented and rejoiced no matter what species it is. Visual sightings are only one way we are currently studying the vaquita, though.
 
The second way we are researching the vaquita has to do with sound, but it’s not sound that we can hear. All porpoises use echolocation to hunt for food. The vaquita does this too. Using special equipment, researchers can use their echolocation calls to find the vaquitas.
 
Mexico’s National Institute of Ecology and Climate Change, also known as INECC, is using devices called c-pods to “listen” for vaquitas in the Sea of Cortez. Brooke Bessesen, in her book Vaquita: Science, Politics, and Crime in the Sea of Cortez, describes c-pods as “self-contained ultrasound monitors that select tonal clicks and record the time, duration and other features of each click to 5-microseconds resolution.” These devices are essentially recording the echolocation calls of the vaquita.
 
Okay, how exactly do they work? These are water proof devices that run on batteries and record data onto memory cards that can be removed to access the data later. They are deposited throughout a chosen range within the Sea of Cortez, specifically within the Vaquita Refuge area. Passive acoustic monitoring technology, also known as PAM, is loaded on these devices. This technology triggers the recording function whenever it detects the sounds of vaquita echolocation clicks. The c-pods used by INECC can run for up to five months recording every encounter the whole time.
 
The c-pod can record vaquita clicks up to 1300 feet away and  also documents time, duration, center frequency, intensity, bandwidth, and can even extrapolate a frequency trend. When analyzing the data, researchers need to focus on individual clicks and the number of clicks emitted by vaquita to obtain the most precise analysis of the data. These c-pod excel at this type of recording. 
 
C-pods are typically deployed from mid-June to mid-September. This is the off season for fisherman. This time of year is chosen because there is much less traffic on the water which decreases the odds of these expensive research devices being accidentally, or purposely, caught up and carried away by fisherman. 
 
To make sure the incredibly important data these devices record can be used, precise maps must be kept as to where the c-pods are positioned in the water. Each device is attached to a rope with a buoy on the end to mark where it has been dropped. Every few weeks employees of INECC with the help of local fisherman employed during the off season will retrieve the c-pods and replace them with fresh units. The c-pods will be placed in different areas throughout the Sea of Cortez. Moving them around has provided us with a more accurate idea of how much of this area is used by the vaquitas. It has also offered us a more reliable count of how many vaquitas are living in the Sea of Cortez.
 
I find it interesting sounds that we cannot hear have given us the most accurate count of an animal that is so difficult for us to see!
 
Thank you for joining me on this journey into how we are researching the vaquita it is my fourth favorite thing about the vaquita. 
 
Please visit porpoise.org to find out even more about the vaquita and to discover what you can do to help this unique animal.
 
Join me next week for an in-depth look at the conservation status of the vaquita and the efforts we are taking to ensure the survival of this mysterious porpoise. 
 
(Piano Music plays) 
This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, piano extraordinaire.
 

Vaquita: Behavior

Summary: Vaquita behavior is another fascinating thing about this unknown animal! Join Kiersten as she gives you a glimpse into the behavior of vaquita marina.
 
For my hearing impaired listeners, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean.
 
Show Notes:
https://www.aquariumofpacific.org/onlinelearningcenter/species/vaquita
https://porpoise.org/save-the-vaquita/
Vaquita: Science, Politics, and Crime in the Sea of Cortez by Brooke Bessesen
Vaquita Conservation Organizations
Porpoise.org
 
Transcript
(Piano music plays)
Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife.
(Piano music stops)
 
Kiersten - Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… I’m Kiersten, your host, and this is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we’ll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating. 
 
This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won’t regret it.
 
This episode continues the vaquita and the third thing I like about the vaquita is their behavior!
 
As we have already established in the first episode, vaquita’s are marine mammals, specifically, cetaceans. That means they live their entire lives in the water. The vaquita is a porpoise that lives in warmer waters than other cetaceans, but they are still sea dwelling animals. Being mammals, they do breath air and, just like many other cetaceans, they have a hole on the top of their head that allows them to release carbon dioxide when they surface and breath in fresh oxygen. This hole is called a blowhole and it’s a lot like our nose. They are able to open and close it with muscles, so they can hold their breath under water and keep the water from flooding in when they dive down. Okay! We have to use our fingers to do that with our noses, but still both orifices that we breath through!
 
Because of this physical need they must come to the surface, but they are extremely shy, secretive animals. Unlike their dolphin cousins, you will not see vaquitas leaping out of the water performing gravity defying acrobatics or frolicking in the wake of passing ships. They are very subdued when they visit the surface and rise slowly with a forward-rolling motion that hardly disturbs the water as they take a breath and then quickly disappear back into the depths of the Sea of Cortez. 
 
These small marine mammals are incredibly sensitive to passing ships and will not surface if they sense one. It is extremely difficult to observe them in the wild because they can be disturbed by boats passing within a mile of their location. This makes it incredibly difficult to study them, and this created another unforeseen challenge for conservationists. Many people do not believe vaquita even exist. 
 
For residents of the region surrounding the Sea of Cortez, the myth of the vaquita has been around for decades. Many residents do not believe they are real, living, breathing animals. They are like a unicorn or the Loch Ness monster, just something you talk about but never see because they’re not actually real. (Before anyone gets too upset, I’m not saying unicorns or the Loch Ness monster aren’t real, just that we have no tangible evidence to prove their existence….yet.  That’s a whole other podcast! On the other hand, we have a lot of evidence proving the vaquitas existence!) 
 
The main problem for conservationists is how do you encourage people to save an animal if they think it’s a mythological creature. When dead vaquita began to wash up on shore with more frequency, as sad as that is, devastatingly sad, conservationists thought this would prove their existence but some still believe they are a myth and these are photoshopped pictures or man-made dummies. Most fisherman know that they are real as thy have seen them or seen evidence of them, but they often deny it because it’s better for them if the vaquita remains a myth. Take my word for it listeners, vaquita are real! I promise you!
 
Vaquita are often solitary or travel in pairs, which is another reason they are not easily seen, but a few groups up to 8 individuals have been found. It is more likely when a couple is seen together, it’s a mother and a calf. 
 
Now, little is actually known about vaquitas reproduction, but researchers believe it is similar to harbor porpoises, which is their closest relative. Based on this, we are comfortable making a few assumptions about vaquita reproduction.  Vaquitas probably reach sexual maturity between 3 to 6 years. They can live uo to 20 years. The gestation period is 10-11 months and vaquita will give live birth to one calf every other year. The calves will be about 2 1/2 feet long at birth and can weigh 17 pounds. They will most likely nurse for about 6 to 8 months. All of this combined means that vaquita are very slow at reproducing.
 
When they are ready to eat sold food, they’ll become hunters like their mothers. Just like other species of porpoises, vaquitas echolocate to find food. How exactly does this work? Excellent question listeners? 
 
As Brooke Bessesen, I apologize if I’m saying that incorrectly, describes in her book Vaquita: Science, Politics , and Crime in the Sea of Cortez, “Porpoises make high-frequency clicks that bounce off objects and echo back, giving them an auditory “image” of scenes and objects. The fatty crown on the porpoise’s head, called the melon, emits and focuses ticks like a sound lens, while incoming reverberations, received through the thin, lipid-covered bones of the lower jaw, are directed to the inner ear.” Using this method is how porpoises can hunt and find their food. 
 
Through the research of Mexican acoustic expert Armando Jaramillo Legorreta we know that vaquita clicks are typically between 128 and 139 kilohertz. This is well above the ability of human hearing, which is 20 kilohertz max, but with specialized equipment their clicks can be recorded. According to Armando, vaquita make narrow band clicks. 
 
In your mind you may be thinking about the noises dolphins make, the whistles and clicks we can hear. Those of you who have been to a dolphin experience or show or those of you who remember the television show Flipper, ( I have just revealed my age with thane!) know what I mean! They have a much wider range of acoustic ability than vaquita. Our small vaquita marina is not capable of dolphin-like chatter, but it doesn’t make them any less adorable.
 
In some animals, such as dolphins, acoustic clicks are used for more than just hunting prey. They are also used for communication. We do not know whether this is something that vaquitas do as well, but we do know that their clicks increase in frequency when they are hunting. Vaquita will hunt at least 20 different marine species such as bronze-striped grunts, gulf croakers, small crabs, and squid. These are all mostly bottom dwelling species. 
 
It makes total sense that vaquita rely on their echolocation skills to hunt because the Sea of Cortez is very turbulent, making the water murky. Vision is fairly useless in these waters. The terrain under the water is also filled with ridges and valleys that vaquita can learn by using their echolocation.
 
By slowing down the clicks and click trains recorded using fancy acoustic equipment, humans can hear the sonar of certain animals, such bats and blue whales. When Brooke Bessesen was researching her book she asked if any researchers had done that to the vaquita calls. Someone had tried, but they’d only done it one because when you slow down their click trains it sounds too much like a fart to take it seriously. 
 
 I’m glad you all joined me in this glimpse at the vaquita’s behavior, it is my third favorite thing about them.
 
Please visit porpoise.org to find out even more about the vaquita and to discover what you can do to help this unique animals.
 
Join me next week for another ten-minute episode focusing on the vaquita. 
 
(Piano Music plays) 
This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, piano extraordinaire.
 

Vaquita: Habitat

Summary: The vaquita lives in the most biodiverse body of water on the planet! Join Kiersten as she take you on a journey through the Sea of Cortez.
 
For my hearing impaired listeners, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean.
 
Show Notes: 
https://www.nmmf.org/marine-mammal/vaquita-porpoise/
https://www.britannica.com/place/Gulf-of-California
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1182
“Birth of an Ocean” by Annie Reisewitz: https://scripps.ucsd.edu/news/birth-ocean
https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/totoaba
https://porpoise.org/save-the-vaquita/
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/dolphin_porpoise.html
Vaquita Conservation Organizations
Porpoise.org
 
Transcript
 
(Piano music plays)
Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife.
(Piano music stops)
 
Kiersten - Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… I’m Kiersten, your host, and this is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we’ll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating. 
 
This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won’t regret it.
 
This episode continues the vaquita and the second thing I like about the vaquita is their habitat!
 
Now, the vaquita is only found in one place on Earth and that is the Sea of Cortez also known as the Gulf of California. This gulf is surrounded by land with the northwestern Mexican states of Sonora, Sinaloa, and Nayarit on the eastern side of the water and the mountainous peninsula of Baja California on the west side. The bottom of the gulf opens into the Pacific Ocean. There are 244 islands in the Gulf of California. The unique geographical characteristics of this area make it a perfect region for isolated habitats that are ideal for hosting endemic species. Endemic species by definition are species that are evolutionarily native to a specific area. There is a total of 160,000 square kilometers in the Gulf of California.  
 
The vaquita only lives in 2235 square kilometers of this area. That’s smaller than the state of Rhode Island. Vaquitas favor the shallow lagoons about 25 kilometers or 16 miles off shore in the northern portion of the gulf. They prefer water only 10 to 28 meters or 33 to 92 feet deep where the water is warm. I have to admit I like warmer water too!
 
The vaquita is the only porpoise that chooses to live in warm water. This is probably why their adult size is so small and why their dorsal fin is large in comparison to their body. The large dorsal fin most likely helps dissipate heat. Please listen to the first episode of my vaquita series, if you have not yet done so, to find out more about the physical characteristics of the vaquita.
 
We don’t know why they choose warmer waters when all other porpoises prefer cooler water,    but what we do know is what the waters of the Sea of Cortez are like and from this we can make an educated guess about why this particular area appeals to this small porpoise.
 
The Sea of Cortez is an area teeming with aquatic life. After thousands of years of run-off from the Colorado River, life-supporting nutrients have built up on the bottom of this body of water. Strong currents stir up these nutrients and many species of animals take advantage of that.
 
In this natural inlet, there are 23 priority sites for marine biodiversity, 42 priority sites for terrestrial biodiversity, and 62 priority sites for bird conservation. Dubbed as the “Aquarium of the World” by Jaques Cousteau, the Gulf of California is recognized as an area of global marine conservation significance. Five of the seven existing species of sea turtle are found in the Sea of Cortez. It is home to 891 different fish species, 90 of them are endemic. It also contains 40% of the world’s total number of species of marine mammal. 40 sea lion colonies are spread throughout the area with an estimated population of over 30,000 individuals. And 1/3 of the world’s marine cetacean species can be found here at some time throughout their lives. There is even a healthy coral reef community off the coast of the seaside town of Cabo Pulmo. It is considered the only coral reef at such a high latitude in the Pacific Ocean. 
 
Another remarkable fact about the Sea of Cortez is that almost all major oceanographic processes occurring in Earth’s oceans are present in this body of water. Oceanographic processes are defined on the USGS website as recurrent natural changes that are physical, biological, or chemical, actively affecting the the seas and oceans. In the Sea of Cortez sediment runoff from the land occurs depositing minerals into the water, this area is also still actively expanding essentially creating a new ocean, turbulent tides and currents mix up the sediments from both expansion and runoff.  Of course not all sediment from runoff is good but this area has been protected as an important natural refuge since 1995. 
 
The sea floor below the gulf is actually made up of 2 types of crust, oceanic and continental. This combination creates a unique environment where marine mammals can thrive. The bay is an underwater marvel with 4,000 foot deep submarine canyons, enormous underwater mountains, and hydrothermal vents crawling with life. The hydrothermal vents were discovered about 50 years ago, and in 2008 biologists from the Scripps Institute of Oceanography documented marine animals previously never seen alive. All of this activity makes the Sea of Cortez the most biologically rich body of water on the planet. It’s no wonder that this is where the vaquita calls home.
 
Being a porpoise, the vaqutia are toothed mammals. Their teeth are spade-shaped   and flat, so they kinda look like the head of a shovel. They are perfect teeth for eating fish, squid, and even crab or lobster. We’ve actually found 17 different species of fish in the stomach of one vaquita. They are not terribly picky about who they eat and what a perfect place to live with so many species of fish found in the Gulf of California!
 
Now, as many of you know, when something has this much biodiversity it attracts more than just animas in nature, it also attracts humans. Many of the animals that live in and around the water make for good eating for humans. This means fishing occurs in the area. If it was just a few humans fishing for their daily dinner this wouldn’t be a problem. Even if it was the local town fishing to provide food for everyone that lived there, it wouldn’t be a problem. But humans rarely take only what they need for themselves, sadly, we are often motivated by how much profit can be made from a natural resource. This has put the vaquita in danger. I will focus another episode on the conservation status of the vaquita, but I’d like to touch on one of the fish in the area that our overfishing of has impacted the vaquita population, as well as, the fish itself.
 
The totoaba fish are found in the same exact area of the gulf as the vaquita. This fish can be 200 pounds and reach a length of 6.5 feet. It’s scientific name is Totoaba macdonaldi. It is considered a drum fish but it is the only fish classified in the Totoaba genus. What does that mean? There is no other fish like them on the planet.
 
The totoaba is endemic to the Gulf of California where it spawns each year in the Colorado River Delta. This fish is listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act because it has been overfished for entirely too long. Large fish, such as the totoaba, typically take many years to reach sexual maturity. When we fish for them, we often want the largest specimens and those are the ones that are sexually mature, which removes the individuals that will create the next generation from the environment.  
 
What is it that makes this fish so sought after? Their swim bladder. This is the organ in a fish that allows the fish to control its buoyancy. The totoaba’s swim bladder is used in traditional Chinese medicine. They dry it out and use it in a soup called fish maw. This is a pretty big swim bladder, when dried it is about the size of a laptop computer. Why do the Chinese want it? It is believed to boost fertility. 
 
How exactly is this impacting the vaquita. The adults of this species are not something the vaquita would eat because they are larger than the small porpoise. The problem comes with the fishing method. Most fisherman that commercially fish for totoaba want to catch as many as possible and; therefore, use gill nets. Gill nets are cast out and catch whatever they catch,  they are not a targeted fishing method. Vaquita get caught in the nest and cannot surface to get air and die. Because of overfishing of the totoaba, the vaquita are also incredibly endangered.
 
I hope you all enjoyed this trip to the Sea of Cortez because it is my second favorite thing about the vaquita. 
 
Please visit porpoise.org to find out even more about the vaquita and the totoaba and discover what you can do to help these unique animals.
 
Join me next week for another ten-minute episode focusing on the vaquita. 
 
(Piano Music plays) 
This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, piano extraordinaire.

Vaquita

Summary: What is a vaquita? Join Kiersten as she takes you under the sea to learn about this amazing porpoise.
 
For my hearing impaired listeners, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean.
 
Show Notes:
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/525704/facts-about-the-vaquita
https://www.aquariumofpacific.org/onlinelearningcenter/species/vaquita
https://porpoise.org/save-the-vaquita/
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/dolphin_porpoise.html
Vaquita Conservation Organizations
porpoise.org
 
Transcript
(Piano music plays)
Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife.
(Piano music stops)
 
Kiersten - Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… This is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we’ll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating. 
 
Just a bit about my background: My name is Kiersten and I have a Master’s Degree in Animal Behavior and did my thesis on the breeding behavior of the Tri-colored bat. I was a zookeeper for many years and have worked with all sorts of animals from Aba Aba fish to tigers to ravens to domesticated dogs and so many more in between. Many of those years were spent in education programs and the most important lesson I learned was that the more information someone has about a particular animal the less they fear them. The less they fear them the more they crave information about them and before you know it you’ve become an advocate for that misunderstood animal.
 
This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this fascinating journey, you won’t regret it.
 
This series of episodes will focus on the vaquita and my first favorite thing about the vaquita is, well, the vaquita!
 
What exactly is a vaquita? I’m so glad you asked. The vaquita is the smallest cetacean on the planet. Cetaceans are marine mammals in the order Cetacea which includes whales, porpoises, and dolphins. The vaquita is a porpoise. It is the smallest porpoise alive. 
 
The vaquita is also known as the Gulf of California porpoise, Gulf of California Harbor porpoise, cochita, and vaquita marina. Vaquita means “little cow” in Spanish and cochita means “little pig”. Both names are a reference to the grunting sounds they make. Their scientific name is Phocoena sinus which means “porpoise of the gulf” in Latin.
 
The vaquita was not officially named until 1958. The discovery of the vaquita is actually a strange but fascinating story involving three skulls found on the beach. In 1950, a University of California scientist named Kenneth Norris was walking along a beach north of Punta San Felipe in Baja, California when he came across a skull. It looked like the skull of a porpoise but not quite like others he had seen, so he decided to keep it for possible further research. (As a side note: he was able to do this because he was professor at a university with the correct permits to keep such items. Please do not pick up and keep skulls that you find on the beach today.) 
 
A year later colleagues of Professor Norris’s found two more similar skulls on the beach. Now that more than one example had been found, comparing them to other known cetacean skulls was the next step. When comparing the three skulls to other already identified cetacean skulls the scientists noticed enough considerable differences to conclude that this was a new, never-before-seen species of porpoise! Kenneth Norris published his findings in the Journal of Mammalogy in 1958 giving the vaquita the scientific name of Phocoena sinus meaning “porpoise of the gulf”.
 
It’s been 64 years since the discovery of the vaquita and we still know very little about their natural history, but we do know what they look like, so let’s talk about that. 
 
  As I mentioned before, the vaquita is small at only 4 to 5 feet in length and can  weigh up to 100lbs. Females tend to be larger than males. They have a typical porpoise shaped body that is curved and robust. The middle of the body will measure about 68% of the total body length. They have a small mouth with a slight protrusion of the upper jaw at the base of the melon, aka their head. Their dorsal fin, the fin on their back, is upright and relatively large when compared to other porpoise species. They have two front flippers on the under side at the front of the body with a double lobed tail. 
 
Their coloration is like a painted masterpiece with medium gray on the upper body fading to light gray halfway down their sides. The throat and belly are streaked with white like the organic strokes of a master painter. The mouth is ringed in black like perfectly applied lipstick, giving them the look of a know-it-all smile. A dark gray steak runs from the mouth to the flippers expanding as it reaches the flippers covering them in the same dark gray color. The eye is ringed with black and outlined with white. They are truly one of the most beautiful porpoises in the sea. 
 
The dorsal fins of vaquitas are unique enough they can be used like name tags. To study vaquitas in the wild, scientists needed a way to identify them without getting so close as to disturb their natural behavior, so they looked for something that would be easily seen from a distance. A big, ‘ole fin sticking up from their back fit the bill. The dorsal fins of marine mammals are often nicked or notched from various activities performed throughout their lives. Each individual vaquita dorsal fin will be unique to themselves. Scientists caught on quickly and took high resolution photos of the fins and created an ID guide for the animals they were researching. In 2008, they complied a photo ID catalog to help record the daily activities of the vaquitas.
 
One last thing before we finish up our first episode of the vaquita. I’ve been using the term porpoise a lot and want to clarify the difference between a porpoise and a dolphin. Many people use these two words interchangeably but they are two completely different animals. 
 
The difference is in their appearance including their faces, their fins, and their figures. Dolphins have elongated mouths called beaks while porpoises have very, short mouths that do not protrude past the head. The dorsal fin of dolphins is more curved or hooked while dorsal fins of the porpoise is more triangular. And in general, the dolphin’s body is more lean while our porpoise is a bit more portly. 
 
Dolphins also tend to be more talkative than porpoises but both are capable of making sound. Dolphins are definitely more prevalent than porpoises with 32 species of dolphin and only 6 species of porpoise. 
 
Just as a funny side note for all you trivia fans out there, the word ‘porpoise’ comes from the Latin porcus meaning ‘pig’ and piscis meaning ‘fish.’ So ‘porpoise’ technically means ‘pig fish’. 
 
Thank you for joining me for the first episode of Ten Things I Like About the Vaquita. 
 
Please visit porpoise.org to find out even more about the vaquita and discover what you can do to help this unique animal.
 
Join me next week for another ten-minute episode focusing on the vaquita. 
 
(Piano Music plays) 
This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, piano extraordinaire.

Pangolins: Conservation Organizations

Summary: Pangolins are in danger of extinction but there are people out there trying to help. Join Kiersten as she highlights four organizations that are working toward saving the pangolin.
 
For my hearing impaired listeners, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean.
 
Show Notes:
Save Pangolins: https://www.savepangolins.org
Zoological Society of London: https://www.zsl.org
Rare and Endangered Species Trust Namibia: https://www.restnamibia.org
Save Vietnam’s Wildlife: svw.vn
 
Transcript
(Piano music plays)
Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife.
(Piano music stops)
 
Kiersten - Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… I’m Kiersten, your host, and this is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we’ll find right outside our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating. 
 
This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won’t regret it.
 
This episode concludes pangolins and my tenth favorite thing about pangolins is all the organizations trying to help keep these amazing animals alive.
 
I want to highlight some organizations that are working to try and help pangolins survive. Each organization that I talk about in this episode is one that I recommend supporting because they are doing amazing work in pangolin conservation.
 
Save Pangolins
Save Pangolins is an organization that supports conservation actions in Africa and Asia and raises public awareness of pangolins around the world. The first step to successful conservation efforts is education and awareness. If people don’t know what’s going on with wildlife they have no idea that they need to help. Save Pangolins publicizes the need for pangolin conservation through their extensive social media campaigns and facilitates communication between conservation organizations about pangolins. 
 
They are also a fund raising organization and offer support through three granting programs
 
1. Pangolin Crisis Fund: Is a program run in connection with Wildlife Conservation Network that invests in the best projects to stop the poaching of pangolins, stop the trade and demand for pangolin products, and raise the profile of the little known pangolin. They work in 26 countries with 45 projects and 31 grantees. PCF maintains a 100% donation model meaning all the money donated goes directly to the projects they support.
 
2. Pangolin Champions Fund: This program supports individual conservationists who are emerging leaders in pangolin conservation. They are currently funding 12 passionate, committed, and inspiring pangolin conservationists.
 
3. Innovation Grants: This funds key projects that are creative and innovative and are often harder to find support for such as ATREE, the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment that is currently researching how many pangolins are left in the Darjeeling Himalaya region of India and how agricultural land my be affecting their survival. In Africa, they are supporting the Tikki Hywood Foundation and Pangolin.Africa to develop new fencing technology to save pangolins from electrocution on electric fences used throughout South Africa.
 
Zoological Society of London
Our second organization is the Zoological Society of London. They have a diverse conservation branch that focuses on saving wildlife from disappearing by working with local communities on monitoring animal populations and habitat use, educating the world about what is happening with the wildlife around the planet, and supporting conservation programs in situ, which means on site where the animal lives, to make the biggest impact for that specific species.
 
ZSL is working on over 50 conservation projects around the world and protecting pangolins is one of those projects. In 2015, ZSL launched the Pangolin Conservation Initiative. This was a two-year program that help protect four species of pangolin, the giant pangolin, the black-bellied pangolin, the whit-bellied pangolin, and the Sunda pangolin from the black market trade through supporting anti-poaching patrols and law enforcement at sites in Cameroon and Thailand. 
 
In Cameroon, the ZSL team trained and equipped eco-guards to undertake anti-poaching patrols using the SMART method. SMART stands for Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool. This technology lets law enforcement agencies focus their resources on hotspots of trafficking activity.
 
ZSL also got the community involved by establishing programs to empower locals to report traffickers through anonymous informants and setting up surveillance networks and secure reporting mechanisms. 
 
In Thailand, ZSL also helped set up the SMART technology with the Department of National Parks and Wildlife and Plant Conservation in two key areas that are important to the Sunda pangolin. They also tested various survey methods to determine the population of the Sunda pangolin so that we can determine whether the conservation efforts in use are effective.
 
ZSL knows that supporting these programs is important, but to save these pangolins from extinction due to poaching we must eradicate the demand for pangolin products. So they delved into the market demand to determine why pangolins are being sold so they could develop a public education outreach program to let people know about how these products are affecting pangolin populations.
 
With the information gained from this program, ZSL was able to do the same in Nepal with the local law enforcement there and to reach out to local hunters to help identify sustainable livelihoods as an alternative to hunting pangolins. 
 
Rare and Endangered Species Trust - Namibia
The third organization I’ll highlight is REST Namibia. It is a non-profit organization founded in 2000 to spotlight the plight of five groups of animals in Namibia including vultures, frogs, snakes, dik dik, and pangolins. REST stands for Rare and Endangered Species Trust and they are based in Namibia. Their mission statement is “To initiate and support the scientific and practical study of rare and endangered species in Namibia and to help develop and facilitate  solutions to conservation problems among these species at community, national, and international levels .”
 
REST has successfully rehabilitated Cape pangolin babies and adults that are rescued from poachers. They are an invaluable source of information about how to keep them alive in captivity and have shone a light on Cape pangolin behaviors in the wild. This is the home to the most famous pangolin named Honeybun. She was a Cape pangolin rescued from poachers and now resides at the facility but forages for ants in the surrounding land. A REST volunteer follows her around whenever she is on a walk-about and we are learning so much about their behavior because Honeybun does not fear humans. She will one day be on her own out in the wild but if you’d like to see Honeybun in action check out the PBS Nature video titled “The World’s Most Wanted Animal”.
 
Save Vietnam’s Wildlife
Our Fourth organization is Save Vietnam’s Wildlife a non-profit organization in Vietnam that was founded on the critical need for more effective solutions to secure a future for Vietnam’s wildlife.
 
They are involved with wildlife rescue and rehabilitation, habitat protection, education outreach, conservation research, and conservation breeding.
 
The wildlife they rescue are individuals confiscated by the authorities from illegal poachers. Vietnam’s wildlife is poached and illegally traded for consumption, traditional medicine, pets, and souvenirs. SVW takes in those confiscated animals, provides veterinary care and releases those they can into protected areas to give them the best advantage for continued survival. 
 
They have rescued 1,591 pangolins. Those that are releasable are taken to places that are difficult for poachers to travel to so they are not re-caught and those that cannot survive in the wild are kept at their facility. By keeping these pangolins in captivity, they are on the forefront of learning how to keep pangolins healthy and alive in a captive setting. This is valuable information to the future of pangolins.
 
SVW also makes it a goal to educate local people about the plight of the pangolin. Their mission statement is bringing communities and conservation together. The only way forward to a future filled with both humans and animals living together successfully is education.
 
If you are looking for a way to help with pangolin conservation, please consider donating to one of these originations. You can find links to their websites in the show notes of this episode.  Also consider recommending this podcast to someone you know. Thank you for joining me on this pangolin journey, I truly hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.
 
Join me next week for the first ten-minute podcast focusing on the vaquita.  
 
(Piano Music plays) 
 
This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, piano extraordinaire.

Pangolins: Tails

Summary: All pangolins have tails, but each species’ tail is unique. Join Kiersten and a special guest co-host as they discuss pangolin tails.
 
For my hearing impaired listeners, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean.
 
Show Notes:
Pangolin ID Guide: https://www.usaidrdw.org//resources/pangolin-species-identification-guide/pangolin-id-guide-rast-english.pdf
pangolins.org
https://arkansasresearch.uark.edu/researcherss-discover-fossil-of-new-species-of-pangolin-in-europe/
Pangolin Conservation Organizations: 
Rare and Endangered Species Trust - www.restnamibia.org
Save Vietnam’s Wildlife - www.svw.vn
 
 
Transcript
(Piano music plays)
Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife.
(Piano music stops)
 
Kiersten - Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… I’m Kiersten, your host, and this is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we’ll find right outside our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating. 
 
This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won’t regret it.
 
This episode continues pangolins and my ninth favorite thing about pangolins is their tails. Today I have a special guest co-host, my friend Cheryl! Cheryl and I co-host another podcast together called The Feathered Desert and it’s all about bird feeding in the Southwest region of the United States.
Thanks for joining me Cheryl!
 
Cheryl: Thank you for having me Kiersten! I’m very excited to be here and pangolins are one of my favorite animals.
 
Kiersten: I know you are as intrigued by pangolins as I am, so I’m glad you could join me for the penultimate episode of my pangolin series! Today we’re going to talk about tails! I know that seems like a strange thing to focus on, but all pangolins have tails. It’s a very important part of their body structure, but each species tail is a little bit different!
 
As always, let’s start off with our Asian pangolins and Cheryl’s going to kick it off with the Chinese pangolin.
 
Cheryl:  The Chinese pangolin’s tail is 25-40 cm long or 10-16 inches in length. It has 16-19 scales along the edge of the tail. This pangolin’s tail is semi-prehensile which means it can curl the end of its tail around an object to hold or grasp it. They use this adaptation to hold onto branches when they are in trees and to steady themselves when walking over rugged terrain.
 
Okay, I have a question. 
 
Kiersten: Yes!
 
Cheryl: The scales on the tail, do they start of larger and get smaller?
 
Kiersten: That depends on the species, but in general, yes. The scales at the base of the tail will be larger than the scales at the tip.
 
The Sunda pangolin’s tail is a little bit longer than the Chinese pangolin’s at 35-57 cm or 14-22 inches. They have 21-29 scales along the edge of the tail and it is more slender than the Chinese or pangolin’s tail. The Sunda pangolin’s tail is fully prehensile which means they are able to manipulate items with their tail like a human hand.
 
Cheryl: Do they do that?
 
Kiersten: I have not seen any evidence that they pick up things and carry them around or move things because they eat ants, so its not like they need to collect fruit or anything but they certainly have the ability to do it if they need to.
 
Cheryl: Our third Asian species is the Philippine pangolin. Their tail is 35-52 cm long or 14-20 inches long. They have 28-32 scales along the edge of the tail. Like the Sunda pangolin’s tail, the Philippine pangolin’s tail is fully prehensile which comes in very handy since this pangolin spends most of its time in the trees. They are able to wrap their tail around tree branches as they tear open ant nests (I didn't even know ants would be in trees! How interesting.)    and even hang their entire body weight from their tail. The Philippine pangolin’s tail is the longest in proportion to their body of all the Asian species.
 
Kiersten: Our last Asian pangolin is the Indian pangolin. Their tails are 40-45 cm in length or 16-18 inches. They have only 14-15 scales along the edge of the tail because their scales are larger in size than our other asian pangolins. Their tails are semi-prehensile and help balance them as they walk along the ground, but can also anchor them if they climb into tree, which they only occasionally. They have the thickest tail of all the Asian species.
 
Okay. I’m going to continue and take us into our four African species. Let’s start with the Tree or White-bellied pangolin. This is one of my very favorite tails. 
 
Cheryl: (laughs)
 
Kiersten: I know its a weird thing to say, but it’s true! 
 
This pangolin’s tail is 30-52 cm or 12-20 inches long. They have 34-37 scales along the edge of the tail. Like the Philippine and Sunda pangolin, the Tree pangolin’s tail is fully prehensile, but it has another very cool adaptation at the end of their tail, a scale-free pad at the tip of the tail. This gives them a better grasping ability which allows them to pick up things with their tail like a human hand and gives them an even tighter, more secure hold on tree branches. 
 
 
Cheryl: That is very interesting. Cool little guys!
 
Next is the Giant ground pangolin. This is the largest of all the pangolin species and its tail holds true to their size with a length of 50-65 cm or 20-26 inches. 
Wow! That’s a long tail.
 
Kiersten: It is!
 
Cheryl: They have 15-19 scales along the edge of the tail and their tails are only partially prehensile. They generally use their tails mainly as a counterbalance  while walking and digging.
 
So, prehensile is just so it gives them more flexibility when they need balance.
 
Kiersten:  Yes, I believe so. They could if they ever needed to hold onto a bush or something they could give themselves a little curvature. But mainly theirs is for counterbalance.
 
Our third African pangolin is the Cape pangolin. They have a tail length of 31-50 cm or 12-20 inches. They have 11-13 scales along the edge. Like the Giant ground pangolin, the Cape pangolin’s tail is partially prehensile. The Cape pangolin is the pangolin species that walks bipedal most often, which mean they only use two feet as they walk. The Cape pangolin will use its tail to counter balance with the front of the body so they don’t tip over as they walk. 
 
Cheryl: (laughs)
 
Kiersten: They look very cute. They look like little dinosaurs.
 
Cheryl: I’m sure they do. 
 
Our final African pangolin is the Black-bellied Tree pangolin, ( I like to say that! Black-bellied tree  pangolin) also known as the Long-tailed pangolin. As their names implies, they have a very long tail with a length of 50-60cm or 20-24 inches. They have 42-44 scales along the edge of the tail. It is fully prehensile with the same unscaled pad at the tip that the White-bellied pangolin has, which is especially useful to them because the Black-bellied pangolin spends their entire lives in trees. They have the longest tail of all the pangolin species. Wow! Their entire life in trees.
 
Kiersten: I discovered a fun fact while researching this podcast and I want to share it with you. The Long-tailed pangolin has more vertebrae in the tail than we have in our entire body! Humans have 33 vertebrae from head to tail bone and the long-tailed pangolin has 47 vertebrae just in their tail! They have 75 vertebrae in total! That’s a lot of vertebrae!
 
Cheryl: That IS a lot of vertebrae. Speaking of vertebrae, did you hear about the pangolin fossil they found in Europe? How often do you get to say that sentence!?
 
Kiersten: Right! I know!
 
I did! Researchers found a bone fossil that dates back to the early Pleistocene era in Europe. It’s just one bone, the humerus or upper arm bone, but its accepted proof that pangolins used to roam the landscape of Europe. It was 2.2 million years ago but they were there! (Laughs)
 
Well, that’s it for pangolin tails. Thank you Cheryl for joining me as co-host.
 
Cheryl: Well, thank you again for having me. It was fun and I love pangolins too!
 
Kiersten: I hope you all enjoyed learning about pangolin tails because it is my ninth favorite thing about pangolins.
 
Please visit savepangolins.org to find out even more about pangolins and discover what you can do to save this unique animal. To help the African Cape Pangolin visit the Rare and Endangered Species Trust at restnamibia.org and to learn more about Asian pangolins and help the Sunda and Chinese pangolin visit Save Vietnam’s Wildlife at svw.vn. 
 
Join me next week for the last ten-minute podcast focusing on pangolins. 
 
(Piano Music plays) 
 
This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, piano extraordinaire.

Pangolins: Habitats and Behavior

Summary: There are many different habitats that pangolins call home. Join Kiersten as she talks about these diverse areas.
 
For my hearing impaired listeners, a transcript of this podcast follows the show notes.
 
Show Notes: 
animaldiversity.org
africanpangolin.org
animalia.bio
Pangolin Conservation Organizations: 
Rare and Endangered Species Trust - www.restnamibia.org
Save Vietnam’s Wildlife - www.svw.vn
 
Transcript
(Piano music plays)
Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife.
(Piano music stops)
 
Kiersten - Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… I’m Kiersten, your host, and this is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we’ll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating. 
 
This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won’t regret it.
 
This episode continues pangolins and my eighth favorite thing about pangolins is their diverse habitats and behaviors! Pangolins have a few basic behaviors in common, such as eating ants and termites, curling into a ball to defend themselves, and carrying their pangopups on their backs but there are also some behaviors that are unique to each species.
 
Asian species:
Let’s start with our four Asian species.   
Chinese pangolin - Chinese pangolins can be found in a variety of forest habitats including Primary and secondary tropical forests. Primary tropical forests are pristine untouched tropical forests that exist in its original condition; whereas, secondary forests are those that have been disturbed in some way, such as logging, and then replanted. They are also found in Bamboo forests, Limestone forests, which are unique ecosystems that consist of a limestone ground upon which a forest grows, Broadleaf forests and coniferous forests. They have been found in forests up to 5000 meters above sea level. They can also be found in agricultural fields and grasslands.
 
Chinese pangolins are mainly terrestrial animals which mean they spend most of their time on the ground. They dig burrows with their strong front claws to sleep in and to raise their pups in. These burrows can be up to 8 feet deep and it can take them only 3 to 5 minutes to dig them. That’s rightI I said 3-5 minutes to dig an 8 foot deep burrow! 
 
When they enter their burrows they close up the entrance behind them to camouflage their location while they are sleeping.
 
Even though they are mainly terrestrial, they have been seen in the forest canopy up to 20 feet above the ground, so they are also good climbers.
 
The Chinese pangolin is nocturnal and fairly secretive and that is one of the reasons we know very little about their day to day behaviors.
 
 
Sunda or Malayan pangolin - The Sunda or Malayan pangolin is typically found in primary and secondary forests typical of southeastern Asia. They can also be found in open savanna country which is defined as an area dominated by grasses with few to no trees. Vegetated areas with thick brush can also be home to the Sunda pangolin. Sometimes they will visit cultivated gardens and plantations.  
 
Just like the Chinese pangolin, they are mainly terrestrial inhabiting burrows when they need to rest. They line their burrows with vegetation for insulation and the burrows can often be found near termite or ant mounds. Why not build your bedroom right nest to the kitchen, right?
 
Sunda pangolins can climb well and will occasionally spend long periods of time in the trees resting or hunting for arboreal ants. 
 
This species is typically nocturnal and solitary, but pairs have been spotted together in the wild. Whether the pairs are males and females seen together before or after mating, or mothers with young that are almost ready to head out on their own, we do not yet know.
 
 
Palawan or Philippine pangolin - The Philippine pangolin is one of the pangolins that we know the least about but when it come to habitat they have been seen in lowland forests, grasslands, and agricultural areas. Due to habitat destruction these pangolins are being forced into more developed areas. 
 
Philippine pangolins are mainly arboreal which means they live in trees. They use their feet and tails to help them climb and cling to tree trunks and branches as they follow their noses to arboreal ant nests. When they sleep they prefer to settle down in a hollow tree. They are mostly nocturnal which is another reason we know so little about them. They are also only found in the Palawan Province of the Philippines. 
 
Indian or Thick-tailed pangolin - The Indian or Thick-tailed pangolins are a bit different from their other Asian cousins in the fact that they prefer slightly drier areas. They are well adapted to desert areas and prefer barren, hilly landscapes. They are often found in subtropical thorn forests. 
 
Thorn forests are defined by their temperate climate, scrub vegetation, and very little rainfall. It is mainly composed of thorny small trees that are deciduous meaning they shed and regrow their leaves yearly.
 
The Indian pangolin can also be found in the Salt range of India, a mountain range with long escarpments, jagged peaks, rolling hills, and desolate ravines. They can be found up to 2500 feet above sea level. They prefer soil that is soft and semi-sandy. Even though they prefer drier habitats they can survive in tropical forest, open land, grasslands, and areas around villages.
 
Indian pangolins are mostly nocturnal spending the day time in burrows or in darker areas of trees. When foraging for food they spend most of their time on the ground, but they are good climbers and do spend some time in trees. 
 
African species:  Now let’s switch continents and talk about the African pangolins.
 
Tree or White-bellied pangolin - The African Tree pangolin, also known as the White-bellied pangolin, is most often found in tropical forests. They have also been able to adapt to use mosaic forests found in their region. Mosaic forests are forests that are more of a patchwork of wooded areas combined with open grassland areas or forests that are in various stages of growth. They are typically the result of humans using the land for various reasons such as logging or cattle ranching.
 
From their name you can probably guess that they are comfortable in trees and they do spend a lot of time there, but they will also spend time on the ground. They are considered an arboreal as well as terrestrial pangolin.
 
They are also one of two pangolins considered to be completely diurnal which means they are awake during the day. Most of their days are spent hunting for ants and termites. We are not sure why they are more active during the day, since the majority of pangolin species are nocturnal.
 
Giant ground pangolin - The Giant ground pangolin is the largest of all the species and is completely terrestrial. They are found in forests and savannas of Sub-Saharan Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa is the term used to describe the area of Africa south of the Sahara Desert. The Sahara desert is located along the northern most boundary of the African continent. 
 
This pangolin seeks shelter under fallen debris or in burrows. They will dig burrows that are several meters deep or they will use burrows abandoned by other animals. 
 
The giant ground pangolin is restricted to the Sub-saharan region of Africa because it has the most consistent year-round source of ants and termites. Giant ground pangolins are thought to completely nocturnal, spending the daylight hours in their burrows. Even though they are found in forested areas they never climb trees and that may be due to their large size. They can weigh up to 77lbs. It could be pretty difficult getting that weight up a tree! 
 
Similar to the other species of pangolins , the giant ground pangolin lives a solitary life. They do establish home ranges in the areas where they live. A home range is a specific area in which an animal travels in search of food or mates.
 
It is very common in ground pangolins for males to have larger home ranges than females. These ranges can be so large that individuals will have several burrows spread throughout the area that they can use when needed.
 
Cape or Temminck’s Ground pangolin - The Cape Ground Pangolin is a bit of an all around habitat pangolin. They can be found in habitats with both high rainfall  and low rainfall, such as forests, thick brush habitat, open grassland and savannas. Because of this, they are the most widespread African pangolin species. Their adult size will vary dependent on region with smaller animals living in arid, or dry, environments and larger animals living in more moist environments.
 
This pangolin is often thought of as nocturnal but this can vary with age and where they live. Pangolins living in the Kalahari region become diurnal during the cooler months of winter. Young juveniles are often more diurnal than adults. 
 
Like the giant ground pangolin, they are completely terrestrial. They are seen walking bi-pedally more often than other species of pangolins. This means they walk on their back feet with their front legs pulled up underneath their chest and balance with their long thick tails. As with many other terrestrial pangolins, they do use burrows to rest when not foraging for food. They can dig their own burrows but often use older burrows dug by other animals such as aardvarks, porcupine, or warthogs.
 
Long-tailed or Black-bellied pangolin - Our last pangolin is the Long-tailed or Black-bellied pangolin. This is a strictly arboreal pangolin spending virtually all of their time in trees. They sleep and rest in hollow trees or epiphytes. Epiphytes are other plans that grow on or in the tree but do not harm the tree, such as ferns or air plants. 
 
They reside in tropical riverine forest, swamp forest, and rainforest. They are excellent swimmers and are almost always found near water. They have actually been seen dropping from tree branches into the water. They prefer the interior of the forest avoiding the outer edges of forests. They spend the majority of their time in the forest canopy. The canopy of a forest is the upper most layer of the forest characterized by the crowns of the trees.
 
The long-tailed pangolin is primarily diurnal and their black coloration helps them blend into the shadows of the trees as they hunt for arboreal ant nests.   
 
Something that all pangolins share is their importance in the ecosystems where they live. Since all pangolins eat mainly ants and termites, and can eat up to approximately 70 million insects a year, they are extremely important in controlling ant and termite populations. 
Our terrestrial digging pangolins are also important in aerating the soil in the ecosystems where they hunt and live.
For more detailed information on the specific regions where these pangolins are found, please listen to the episode titled Pangolins: Species.
 
Join me next week for another ten minute podcast focusing on another thing I like about pangolins. 
 
(Piano Music Plays)
This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, piano extraordinaire.
 

Pangolins: Senses

Summary: Sight, sound, taste, and smell. These senses help pangolins hunt, communicate, and survive. Join Kiersten as she talks about what we know about pangolin senses.
 
For my hearing impaired listeners, a transcript of this podcast follows the show notes.
 
Show Notes: 
“Pangolin genomes and the evolution of mammalian scales and immunity.” View Woh Choo, Mike Rayko, Tze King Tan, Ranjeev Hair, Aleksey Komissarov, Wei See Wee, Andrey A. Yurchenko, Sergey Oliver, Gail Tamazian, Agostinho Antunes, Richard K. Wilson. Welsey C. Warren, Klaus-Peter Koepfli, Patrick Minx, Ksenia Krasheninnikova, Antionette Kotze, Desire L. Dalton, Elaine Vermaak, Ian C. Paterson, Pavel Dodrynin, Frankie Thomas Sitam, Jeffrine J. Rosie-Ryan, Warren E. Johnson, Aini Mohamed Yusoff, Shu-Jin Luo, Kanal Vizi Karuppannan, Gang Fang, Deyou Zheng, Mark B. Gerstein, Leonard Lipovich, Stephen J. O’Brien, and Goat Jah Wong. Genome Res. 2016 Oct; 26(10):1312-1322. Doi: 10.1101/gr.203521.115
www.savepangolins.org
The Encyclopedia of Mammals edited by Dr. David Macdonald
Pangolin Conservation Organizations: 
Rare and Endangered Species Trust - www.restnamibia.org
Save Vietnam’s Wildlife - www.svw.vn
 
Transcript
(Piano music plays)
Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife.
(Piano music stops)
 
Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… I’m Kiersten, your host and this is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we’ll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating. 
 
This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won’t regret it.
 
This episode continues pangolins and my seventh favorite thing about pangolins is their senses! Today we’ll talk about their vision, hearing, sense of smell, and taste.
 
For this podcast I found a fascinating study from some scientists that investigated the pangolin’s DNA. They looked at the genome of the Malayan pangolin and the Chinese pangolin. 
 
Here’s a little scientific background to help this all make sense. 
 
The genome, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is the complete set of genes or genetic material present in a cell or organism. This research paper was published in 2016 and before that a whole-genome map of the pangolin had never been done. Why is this something that we would want to research at all, you may ask? I applaud you for that thought because it’s a great question. The answer is that studying genomes of various mammals helps us understand mammalian evolution which helps us understand current mammalian behavior which in turn helps us understand how to ensure their futures. We still have so many questions about pangolins, such as why they are the only animal alive today covered in keratinous scales. This research can hopefully help us answer those questions.
 
Without getting too in-depth with this process let’s just say the researchers sequenced these two pangolins’ genomes and learned some interesting things that relate to the topic of this podcast. 
 
Let’s start with vision. Most pangolins are mainly nocturnal, meaning they are active at night. There are some exceptions to this rule, just like any rule of nature, such as the daytime activities of Cape pangolins when the weather is cool and that the long tailed pangolin is often active during the day. Outside of these exceptions, pangolins are typically active during darker times. Many nocturnal animals that are not large predators, such as lions or owls, often have poor eyesight. The pangolin is thought to be one of these animals. At the time of publishing this podcast no one has done any visual tests with pangolins. We do know that their eyes are small compared to the rest of their body, so sight is most likely not their best attribute and interestingly the scientists studying the genomes found an absence of two genes important to good vision.
 
One deals with visual clarity. Visual clarity is exactly what it sounds like, clear vision. In humans we call it 20/20 vision. Simply, it means you can see objects clearly. The other gene controls phototransduction, Phototransduction  has to do with the detection of light. This gene helps nerves register the entrance of light into the eye and triggers a reaction in the brain. That’s about as far as I got in my understanding of phototransduction. Sorry! The absence of these two genes tells us that the hypothesis that pangolins have poor eyesight is most likely correct.
 
Okay, let’s move on to their sense of smell. Almost every source I’ve referenced about pangolin senses says they have a strong sense of smell. Once again no scientific testing has been done to determine this in a controlled setting, but considering they eat things that can’t easily be seen and we have just established that pangolins do not rely on their eyesight for much, it becomes obvious that they most likely have an excellent sense of smell. 
 
The scientists that mapped the genome of the Chinese and Malayan pangolin also discovered evidence to support this. As they were evaluating their results, the scientists compared the genomes of other animals such as cats, dogs, horses, and even humans to the pangolins and found that the pangolins had many more genes in the olfactory receptor family (whispers: that’s their nose!) indicating that pangolins have a heightened sense of smell.
 
There is another reason, besides hunting ants, for the pangolins to have an excellent sense of smell and that’s communication. In pervious episodes, I’ve mentioned that pangolins are generally solitary animals, but they do need to communicate with other pangolins. The way they do that is through scent marking. Pangolins have well developed scent glands in the anal region (whispers: that’s their bums) that they use to spray or rub scent on trees and rocks to communicate territory boundaries. Females will also scent mark structures whenthey are ready to mate with males. It’s a great way to communicate when you don’t know when someone will come by to get your message because the scent can last for days, weeks, maybe even months. 
 
Moving on to our next sense, hearing. We don’t know too much about hearing in pangolins. That’s probably not much of a surprise to you by now, especially if you’ve listened to my other podcasts. There is so much we don’t yet know about pangolins. But we believe that they have excellent hearing. They use this sense to help them navigate at night and listen for predators, as well as listen for the tell-tale sounds of ants and termites. With both a heightened sense of smell and excellent hearing it makes them superheroes at finding underground ants and termites. Who needs vision when you can sniff out your prey?!
 
One really cool thing we know about pangolins hearing is that they can close their ears. I wish I could do that without using my hands! They do this when they’ve dug into an ant mound so they can keep ants from crawling into their ears while they’re enjoying a good meal! Brilliant!
 
Our final sense is taste. Pangolins must have some sense of taste because it has been reported that they tend to favor specific species of ants when they are forging for food. Now, ants produce formic acid inside their bodies. They use it to protect themselves and their nest. That’s why an ant bite hurts and itches so bad. But when eaten by other animals, the formic acid has a specific taste. 
 
Apparently in some parts of the world people eat ants. I’m not judging, but I don’t know if that’s going to be on MY menu any time soon. Anyways, it has been reported that different species of ants taste differently. Some may taste spicy, while others taste sour, and some even taste citrusy! I’m not sure which ones the pangolins prefer but it seems that they do have a preference. 
 
There is so much more we have to learn about pangolin senses, but I hope you discovered something fascinating about pangolin senses from this podcast because it is my seventh favorite thing about pangolins.
 
 Please visit savepangolins.org to find out even more about pangolins and discover what you can do to save this unique animal. To help the African Cape Pangolin visit the Rare and Endangered Species Trust at restnamibia.org and to learn more about Asian pangolins and help the Sunda and Chinese pangolin visit Save Vietnam’s Wildlife at svw.vn. 
 
Join me next week for another ten minute podcast focusing on another thing I like about pangolins. 
 
(Piano Music plays) 
This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, piano extraordinaire.
 

Pangolins: Feet

Summary: Pangolins have one of the strangest gaits in the animal kingdom! Join Kiersten and a special co-host as they talk about pangolin feet and gait.
 
For my hearing impaired listeners, a transcript of this podcast follows the show notes.
 
Show Notes:
Pangolin ID Guide: https://www.usaidrdw.org//resources/pangolin-species-identification-guide/pangolin-id-guide-rast-english.pdf
The Encyclopedia of Mammals edited by Dr. David Macdonald
Pangolin Conservation Organizations: 
Rare and Endangered Species Trust - www.restnamibia.org
Save Vietnam’s Wildlife - www.svw.vn
 
Transcript
(Piano music plays)
Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife.
(Piano music stops)
 
Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… This is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we’ll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating. 
 
This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won’t regret it.
 
This episode continues pangolins and my sixth favorite thing about pangolins is the way they walk!
 
For this explode, I have a guest co-host, my husband Georgiy, say hello Georgiy!
 
Georgiy - Hello, everyone!
 
Kiersten - He is going to help me talk about pangolin feet and their gait (G-A-I-T), which is the way they walk.
 
Welcome Georgiy. Are you excited to get started?
 
Georgiy -  Da!
 
Kiersten - (whispers: That means yes! ) I’m excited to have you with me too! Let’s get started with the structure of pangolin feet! 
 
Georgiy -  I know you have done a little research on pangolin feet, can you tell our listeners what you have learned?
 
Kiersten - Absolutely! Pangolins have 4 feet. Each foot has 5 toes. Each toe has a claw. The front feet of each species has 3 long, curved claws and 2 shorter claws. Their back feet also have five toes and five claws. The paws of each species isa bit differnt. The Giant ground pangolin, the Cape ground pangolin, the Chinese pangolin, and the Indian pangolin have front claws that are much longer than their back feet. The claws on the back feet are more like nails, sort of like a dog’s nails, rather than claws. Tree pangolins such as the Black-bellied and White-bellied pangolins have only slightly longer claws on their front feet compared to their back feet. But if we compare tree pangolin back feet to ground pangolin back feet, the tree pangolin’s back claws re longer than the ground pangolin’s back claws.
 
Georgiy - Wow! Why do you think the claws are different between the species?
 
Kiersten - I don’t know, but it may be because they use their feet a little differently. Ground pangolins walk on flatter surfaces more than tree pangolins so the shorter nails on the back may make it easier to walk and help steady themselves when they dig burrows, while tree pangolins spend most of their time in trees and having claws that are a bit longer on all four feet allow them to grasp the tree more tightly, help them propel upwards when they climb up a tree and help steady them when they are sleeping. 
 
Georgiy - That’s fascinating. 
 
Kiersten - Another difference between terrestrial and arboreal pangolin feet can be seen in the shape of their feet. Ground pangolins back feet are a bit more flat than their front feet. Think of a rhino’s feet that are flat and round, that’s kind of what the Cape pangolin and Giant pangolin feet look like. Their front feet are also a bit flatter than tree pangolins but they are more similar to a hand rather than a foot. The more arboreal pangolins front and back feet look more like hands with slightly longer more separated toes, kind of like mouse feet.
 
Georgiy - What else do they use those claws for?
 
Kiersten - To tear open ant mounds, of course, to find their favorite food. Ants! Males will also use the long claws to fight each other during breeding season.
 
Georgiy - Well those long claws sound very useful but it seems like it might be kind of hard to walk with them.
 
Kiersten - It is!  Pangolins do use all four feet to walk but with the longer claws it’s more like a shuffle. Terrestrial pangolins will actually balance on the outer edges of the front feet.
 
Georgiy - How does that work?
 
Kiersten -  Well, Ground pangolins tuck the long claws on their front feet under to protect them and they walk on the edges of their front feet, it’s kind of like if you fold your fingers down flat against the palm of your hand and only use to side of your hand to touch or hold things. That gives them an unusual shuffling gait.
 
Georgiy - That’s cool! But it sounds like they all move pretty slow?
 
Kiersten - On average, they do walk slowly but they can move quicker when the need to. And by quicker, I mean 3 mph which compared to an animal like a cheetah, that can run for short distances at 80 mph, is still pretty slow but for a small ,short legged mammal it’s fairly impressive. To move quicker, though, they have to change their center of balance.
 
Georgiy - How do they do that?
 
Kiersten - I am so glad you asked because this is my favorite thing about how they walk. When they need to move more quickly on the ground pangolins can lean back and hold all of their weight on their back feet, they hold their front feet up under their chest, kind of like a Tyrannosaurus Rex, and use their tail to help balance themselves. Then they can take off like the wind! 
 
Georgiy - Really? The wind?
 
Kiersten - Okay, maybe more like a slight breeze. It is one of the most unusual gaits in the animal kingdom. They look like a hunched over old man.
 
Georgiy - Or a dinosaur!
 
Kiesten - (laughs) Or a dinosaur. I’ll agree with that!
Thanks for helping me talk about pangolin feet Georgiy.  
 
Georgiy - You’re welcome!
 
Kiersten - It is my sixth favorite thing about pangolins.
 
Please visit savepangolins.org to find out even more about pangolins and discover what you can do to save this unique animal. To help the African Cape Pangolin visit the Rare and Endangered Species Trust at restnamibia.org and to learn more about Asian pangolins and help the Sunda and Chinese pangolin visit Save Vietnam’s Wildlife at svw.vn. 
 
Join me next week for another ten minute podcast focusing on another thing I like about pangolins. 
 
(Piano Music plays)
This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, piano extraordinaire.