Ganges River Dolphin

I haven't written in my blog for a while, because I've been so busy! However, I have a brand new animal of the week for today. The Ganges river dolphin looks as though it came from prehistoric times. However, this dolphin is living in our world right now, although they are critically endangered. This toothed whale (dolphins are technically toothed whales) lives only in fresh water. It has a long beak filled with over 70 small, sharp teeth. This dolphin looks a bit frightening sometimes, because some of it's upper teeth fit outside of the beak's tip, creating a cage for fish. The Ganges dolphin catches it's food with echo-location, since it's eyes are small and adapted to the murky river water. As for geographical location, this dolphin lives in rivers in Southern Asia. An a amazing thing about this dolphin is that it can bend it's neck to 90 degrees! They are able to do this so that they can catch fish in a small river environment. They often travel in small groups of 4-6 individuals, but as many as 30 have been seen at one time. Little else is known about this rare and elisive species.

The Honeypot Ant

I have to say that I am fascinated by ants. They are brilliant in their own way! Some species cut up leaves, and store them in their homes. But then the leaves grow a specific type of fungus, which the ants then eat! Other ants, which live in Africa, literally build little roads to transport food. A wall of sticks and other material guide the ants to their destination. If part of the road is destroyed, the ants will repair it in minutes!! Anyways, this post is about the honeypot ants. They live in Australia, in large colonies like almost all ants. However, unlike most ants, they feed in unusual ways. Special ants are selected by the colony, and are fed enormous amounts of nectar and sometimes other essentials, like water and other insect's body fat. These ants are called repletes. Since the replete ant is consuming too much food, the excess food is stored in it's swollen abdomen. Eventually, the abdomen will become so large that the ant will not be able to move. But this is for the good of the colony - when food is scarce, the worker ants will eat the food and nutrients stored in the replete's abdomen. Aboriginal people of Australia used to eat honeypot ants like candy, and are still considered by some people to be a delicacy!