Animal of The Week

Welcome to Animal of the Week!

I will be posting a new animal every week. The animal is selected through a random list with Latin family names and then I randomly pick the specific species! So if the animal has a Wikipedia page, then I will be able to post about it. This means almost any animal is able to be chosen!

Schedule:

Monday: Meet the animal! I will post an introduction of the animal this week

Tuesday: Conservation! I will post about the animal's conservation status and what might be threatening it or why it might be invasive, depending on the animal

Wednesday: Weirdness! Weirdest or coolest facts about the animal

Thursday: Info dump! This day will be packed with information so you can really start to understand this animal

Friday: Fun Fact! I will find a fun fact I haven't mentioned yet about the animal and post about it

Saturday: Support! I will find ways to either support conservation of the animal, ways you can show support, or if nothing else, I will find artists you can support who have made stickers/keychains/art about the animal

Sunday: Say goodbye! One last post about the animal for a final farewell

I want to do this weekly format to help you see these animals for the complex and beautiful creatures they are! I want everyone here to really get to know and love each animal I share.

I am anti-AI, so if you see that I accidentally used an AI generated image, please call me out on it and I will fix it right away

Note: Some of the animals I end up picking will be very obscure or not well researched. This means I could end up getting something wrong due to lack of information, or the known information around that animal can change as we understand it more, so don't blindly trust what I say

Regarding asks: I will take asks about anything animal related or personal questions! Want to show me a cool/your favorite animal? Go ahead! Want to show off your pets? Great! Have a question about an animal, how I run this blog, or things about me? I will try my best to answer! You can even send requests for another animal of the week!

Info about myself:

Call me Russet! She/her

I am an aspiring zoologist and I want to make a non profit rescue or sanctuary! As a busy student, I may occasionally miss a few days of posting, so please be patient!

Tags I will use: #animaloftheweek, #meetanimalmonday, #conservationtuesday, #weirdnesswednesday, #infodumpthursday, #funfactfriday, #supportsaturday, #saygoodbyesunday, #askanimaloftheweek, #aotw, #asksotw

Thank you everyone and have a good morning/day/night!!!!

Image Credit: Henry Hart

Image Credit: David Hancock

This week has been so fun as we got to know this fearsome predator and aotw's first marsupial! But now it's time to say goodbye to the Brush-Tailed Mulgara(Dasycercus blythi) to meet next week's animal. Goodbye, Brush-Tailed Mulgara!!

Research Credits under the Cut!

Image Credit: Owen Lishmund

Image Credit: Unknown

Fun Fact! Brush-Tailed Mulgaras(Dasycercus blythi) are part of the family Dasyuridae(this group includes quolls and Tasmanian devils), which is a family known for males dying after mating only once. However, Brush-Tailed Mulgara males do not die after fathering only one litter and live just as long as females(3-5 years).

Image Credit: Jiri Lochman

The Brush-Tailed Mulgara(Dasycercus blythi) is an Australian marsupial that lives in hot deserts. They are carnivorous and eat bugs, reptiles, mammals, and frogs.

They dig deep burrows to live in to escape the heat. In some areas, up to half of all burrows dug are only used once as temporary shelter.

Image Credit: Unknown

Image Credit: Alexander Rich

Image Credit: Unknown

Image Credit: James Maughn

The image above is of a Red-Bellied Newt(Taricha rivularis)(right) and one of its close relatives, the California Newt(Taricha torosa)(left). Note the lack of yellow in the Red-Bellied Newt's eyes when compared to the California Newt. This is one of the ways you can tell a Red-Bellied Newt from any of its relatives!

It's been so fun to learn about this wonderful amphibian, the Red-Bellied Newt(Taricha rivularis). However, we need to get ready to meet a new animal. So long, Red-Bellied Newt!

Research Credits Below the Cut

Image Credit: Wildlife Adventures

Image Credit: stop4snakes

Fun Fact! Red-Bellied Newts(Taricha rivularis) have incredible homing instincts and always return to the same exact section of creek they were born and have spawned at in the past to breed.

Image Credit: Gary Nafis

The Red-Bellied Newt(Taricha rivularis) is a small newt native to Northern California that grows up to around 5.5-7.5 inches(14-19 cm) long including its tail.

They eat any sort of invertebrates they can, and sometimes eggs of fish or amphibians.

They are mostly terrestrial newts, and mostly only return to the water as an adult for breeding. As juveniles(efts), they are fully aquatic and have an almost axolotl-like appearance.

Image Credit: Maren Pedersen

Red-Bellied Newts(Taricha rivularis) are extremely poisonous. They excrete a toxic substance all over their skin that can kill a human if ingested or if it enters your body through open wounds. This neurotoxin is tetrodotoxin (TTX), the same toxin that is found in pufferfish. When threatened, they raise their head and tail to warn predators that they are poisonous.

Picture of this threat display under the cut!