Category: Flora and Fauna

Wild Wednesday: Camouflage
Can You See Me?

Camouflage is a big deal in the natural world. It’s employed by both predators and prey species for a variety of reasons. They employ many techniques to mask their presence to hide from other animals. So if you’ve ever wondered why zebras have stripes or how a chameleon can change colour, you’re in the right place. Let’s get into it!

Some Definitions
- Crypsis: the ability of an organism to avoid observation or detection.
- Disruptive colouration: a form of camouflage that works by breaking up the outlines with a strongly contrasting pattern. Military camouflage uses this.
- Countershading: where the colouration is darker on top and lighter on the underside, which counters the effect of light coming from above on a 3D object, making it harder to detect.
- Counterillumination: a related mechanism that uses illumination to match the brightness of a background, often employed by marine organisms like squid that have bioluminescence.
- Mimicry: some animals have evolved to look like other things in order to hide from prey or predators, especially common in insects.
Background Matching

Bjørn Christian Tørrissen, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Background matching is what it sounds like, animals that have colouration and patterns that match the background of their natural environment. So animals that live in the desert are coloured in sand, buff, ochre and brownish grey colours. Lions, gerbils, fennec foxes and desert reptiles like skinks or horned vipers are great examples.

Disruptive Colouration

This method uses strongly contrasting, non-repeating markings to break up the outline of the animal to help it blend in. This is the same principle behind military camouflage, which uses irregular patches of contrasting colours to hide their presence, matched to the environment they are in.

Leopards use it to hide from prey while many prey species use it to hide from predators. So let’s play a little game, shall we? The image below is a ptarmigan and its chicks that are hiding in plain sight. Can you count how many chicks are in this photograph? (I’ll put the answer at the end!)

Paxson Woelber, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

They’re very well hidden, aren’t they? It is incredibly effective. These features evolve due to natural selection. Animals that can evade predators better as babies will have a better chance to survive and pass on those traits to their own offspring.

Counter Shading

Original: Ian AlexanderVector version: CheChe, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

This image demonstrates how countershading works. It’s a method that reduces the animal’s shadow and makes it look flatter. The light hitting a darker part will create the flat colour and we see this in gazelles, sharkes and dolphins among others. This is known as Thayer’s Law and he created the next image.

Thayer painted two model birds. The one the left is painted in the same colours as the background. The one on the right is there, I promise. You can make out an impression of the circular wire base to the right of the visible model, if you look closely. This model bird is counter shaded and makes it almost entirely invisible.

Abbot Thayer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

A horned lizard flattening itself – Public Domain

Animals use other measures to eliminate their shadows. Horned lizards can flatten their bodies and their sides thin to an edge to blend in and avoid creating shadows at all. The horned lizards are found in North America. Bearded dragons also have this capability and they come from Australia. It’s obviously an effective technique for two species that have evolved so far apart.

Crypsis

This is a catch-all term for organisms that have methods of avoiding detection from other animals, such as camouflage, nocturnal living, underground living and mimicry. Concealment involves visual, olfactory or auditory concealment, or a combination of them.

A pair of Sponge Decorator Crabs (Hyastenus elatus) grappling. Pipeline, Port Stephens, NSW
Richard Ling, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Decorator crabs collect items from the local area and add them to their carapace (shell) in order to blend in.

Olfactory concealment involves hiding scents to avoid detection by prey or predators, or even trick other species. The large blue butterfly caterpillar can mimic ants to trick them into feeding the caterpillar. Puff adders make use of this type of crypsis as well.

The reason most mammals lick their new-borns clean and eat the placenta is to mask the scenes. The idea is to make it less obvious that there are new-born animals around. So if anyone tells you that they eat the placenta for nutrients, that’s not quite correct. It has nutrients in it, of course, but it’s not essential. Humans have no natural predators so you do not have to eat your own baby’s placenta, unless you really want to.

Mimicry

Philipp Psurek, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/deed.en, via Wikimedia Commons

Can you see the mantis in this image? It is on top of the flowers closes to the camera. Stick insects, flower mantises like the orchid mantis, and even cuckoos employ mimicry.

Cuckoos lay their eggs in the nests of other, smaller bird species. The egg looks similar so it won’t be rejected by the nest owner. Then the chick hatches and kicks out the other babies from the nest, so only it survives and is fed by the parent. Cuckoos are the real deadbeats of nature.

Motion Dazzle

Most of the camouflage methods we’ve discussed are broken by movement. Bold, contrasting markings help them hide by making it difficult to estimate their speed and direction when they move. The stripy horses, zebras, use this. They are striking to see as an individual but with an entire herd huddled together, it’s incredibly difficult to pick out one prison pony from the crowd. You have to really focus your eyes, even when they are moving. Nature invented optical illusions first.

Colour Changing

Panther Chameleon – Sapporo Maruyama Zoo (Public Domain)

Some animals can change colour. They have specialised chromatophore cells in their skin that can alter the wavelength of light they absorb, which creates the change in colour. This might be used to blend in to the environment, a trick octopuses use a lot.

However, it can also be a form of signalling and communication. Meet nature’s mood ring: the chameleon. They usually change colour to show their mood. The change is very quick, before your eyes.

There are some mammals that change colour but it’s far slower and generally seasonal. Arctic animals are brown or grey in the summer but they turn white in winter, via a seasonal moult that responds to changing temperatures and daylengths. Arctic foxes, arctic hares and stoats are great examples.

Hiding

Many animals burrow or hide their nests in remote spots. Maybe even using objects around them to disguise it’s presence. They might be more active at night when it’s easier to hide. Or they can disguise themselves underwater to ambush prey like alligators and crocodiles do. That’s why they don’t tend to chase you, they lunge at prey as it stops next to the water. If they miss, they give up quickly and wait for the next possible lunch to come along.

Just to give ostriches some credit here. The whole ‘burying their head in the sand’ thing is not an indication that they’re so stupid they think they’re invisible when they do this. Yes, their brains are smaller than their eyeballs but they’re not that stupid. They dig in the sand to build their nests for their gigantic eggs.

Ostriches don’t need to hide. They can run up to 45mph/72kmph. Even better, they can sustain 30mph/48kmph for a long time. They are faster than lions and they are faster than Usain Bolt. Why hide when you can run faster than basically anything else? Except maybe cheetahs. So let’s stop laughing at ostriches because they don’t deserve it.

Aposematism – The Opposite of Camouflage

Now for something completely different. Aposematism is the opposite of camouflage. There are some creatures that want you to see them. They want you to know they are there. And they want you to leave them the heck alone!

Aposematism is defined by bold, bright colouration to serve as a warning. It means ‘I am dangerous. Go away. Get lost. I will destroy you.’ It is a warning you absolutely need to take seriously. In most cases.

The danger could be a number of things. They might be poisonous – you die if you eat them. They might be venomous – you die if they bite or sting you. Or they might taste bad. Or they might just be very aggressive and want to give you a fair warning in rainbow hues. It’s nature’s way of saying FAFO. You shouldn’t want to find out.

See wasps, poison dart frogs and nature’s own most fearless animal. The honey badger. Yes, really, this large mustelid will destroy you with prejudice. It is found across Africa, Southwest Asia and the Indian subcontinent. They are so feared that the people of Somalia believe one bite will make a man infertile! I’m sure the honey badger wants to make sure you know this is true, as well.

Mark Norman, CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The colours involved are often yellow, red and black in high contrast patterns but there’s a whole rainbow of danger out there. Here’s one of my favourite examples, the blue-ringed octopus. One of the deadliest sea creatures out there. He’s just a little guy but do not touch! No matter how small and cute it is. Blue means death. Like an old PC.

I know the name’s not the most creative but it’s accurate and that makes it easily identifiable. Blue rings on an octopus means potential death. If in doubt, no matter how small, cute or colourful, just leave them be. Or call in an expert if there’s immediate danger.

Which Snake Is Safe?

A Milk Snake – The original uploader was Dawson at English Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 2.5 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

Another example is the milk snake and the coral snake. These snake species can resemble each other very closely. One is venomous and the other isn’t. Coral snake venom is rarely deadly to humans but it’s still useful to learn the difference if you live where they live.

This is the milk snake. The yellow bands are surrounded by black bands, with the red ones in between them.

The next image is of a coral snake, and this is the venomous version. It also has red, yellow and black bands but the pattern is different. However, I would always advise caution if you cannot confidently identify a snake species and leave them alone. Snakes rarely attack unprovoked.

A Coral Snake – Public Domain

Copying the Aposematism

Some species have caught on to the aposematism and use it to their advantage. They mimic similar species that have aposematism to share in the ‘back off’ message even though they are actually harmless. The hoverfly mimics wasps to deceive potential predators and be left alone. This is what’s known as Batesian mimicry.

There is also Müllerian (note the u should have an umlaut) mimicry where harmful species have evolved to resemble each other. Many bee and wasp species do this and it is honest because both of them can sting. The yellow and black striping is common to many bee and wasp species. Batesian mimicry is deceptive, in contrast.

Evolution of Camouflage

It’s all pretty amazing stuff. Animals evolve in response to environmental pressures, in order to keep surviving. Many of these traits came about as random chance, mutations that were beneficial to survival. That allowed them to be genetically passed down and eventually shaped the species’ appearance or behaviour. Remember that evolution is a very slow process. It takes many, many generations to happen.

It’s faster in simpler organisms like bacteria, because their reproductive generation takes hours. They’re single cells, mitosis is fast. Bacterial growth is exponential, their numbers double at regular intervals, depending on the kind of bacteria but it’s a matter of minutes. If you get a swab done for bacteria, entire colonies can grow within 24 hours on a petri dish. A colony is millions of bacteria.

Larger organisms produce a new generation more slowly. In humans it’s around twenty years, give or take. So my grandmother is part of the Silent Generation (1928-1945ish), my parents are Boomers (1946-1964ish) and I’m an elder Millennial (1981-1996). That’s not a lot of generations for evolution to occur. It’s about 70 years for three generations to exist. But what will humanity look like in 10,000 years? Will we still have appendices (probably because it turns out they do have a function)? What about in 500,000 years? A million? We’ll not be around to see it, but maybe we can leave our mark on the world for future generations to learn from.

Answer to the Ptarmigan Chick Question

I didn’t forget, don’t worry. There are five chicks hidden in plain sight. Let me show you where they are. I have placed blue circles around the adult ptarmigan and the five chicks so you can see where they are. How many did you find?

Paxson Woelber, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons – Circles added to highlight where the chicks are in the image.

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13/08/2026
Mythology Monday – Selkies
Harbor seal on an ice floe: Public Domain from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

I’m continuing my coverage of Scottish Mythology with the Selkies. Selkies are shapeshifters, an entire subgroup of mythological creatures that can change form. Often they have a human or human-like form and can change into something else. The change may be voluntary but it may not be, as is sometimes the case with werewolves.

The name comes from the Scots word for seal. It can be written as ‘silkies,’ ‘sylkies,’ or ‘selchies.’ The Scots language doesn’t have standardised spelling for most words. They are the seal folk and they are associated with the northern isles of Scotland: Shetland and Orkney. They also feature in many Celtic and Norse myths and stories are also told of them in Iceland and Ireland.

What Are Selkies?

Selkies are sometimes conflated with the finfolk and merfolk. In the Gaelic languages they are named as mermaids, most of the time.

Like many mythological creatures, especially in Scotland, they have a duality to their nature. They can be friendly and helpful to humans, but they are also capable of being dangerous or vengeful.

Selkies live as seals in the sea and shed or remove their skin to become human on land. They are depicted as beautiful and seductive in human form. Many stories involve them having romantic or sexual relationships with humans.

Many stories involve coercion or trickery, into marrying a human. Usually the human steals and hides their seal skin so they can’t return to the sea. This leaves them trapped in an unhappy marriage, unless they can find their skin and escape. Here’s an example from Orkney.

Male selkies exist and are handsome and seductive to human women. They tend to look for women who are unhappy with their lives, such as those married to fisherman who are at sea for long periods of time.

Superstitions About Selkies

Unsurprisingly, folk stories like this create superstitions. For example, there is a common belief that killing a seal would result in misfortune. This is why people living on the isles would only kill seals during hard times, if they had no other option.

One tale involves crofters grazing their sheep. It is common on the islands for crofters to have communal grazing for their livestock instead of fenced off fields. One man put seven sheep on the largest holm and killed a seal on his way home.

That night, all of his sheep disappeared, while the other crofter’s animals were safe and unharmed. It suggests that the selkies took the sheep as revenge.

Similar stories of seal shapeshifters are found across the world. A similar creature exists in Swedish legend and the Chinook people of North America have a similar tale of a boy who turns into a seal. Iceland also has a lot of selkie-type stories. If the story includes any offspring of a selkie and a human, the child is born with physical characteristics like webbed fingers.

Origins of Selkie Myths

The likely origin of these myths came from the early days of settlements when health conditions and congenital abnormalities were blamed on fairies or changelings. Before people had scientific explanations for these things, they would be attributed to deities or the supernatural.

The tales of seals removing their skins likely originated with early settlers in Scotland encountering Finnish and Sami women who wore sealskin clothing. They removed it and let it dry, when it got waterlogged. There is also lore that suggests selkies are supernaturally formed from the souls of drowned people.

Selkies have made frequent appearances in films and books. They have seen a resurgence in popularity in the last few years with novels and films featuring them. I love that, as long as the origins of the myths are preserved and respected.

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10/08/2026
Rodents for Writers: Squirrels
Rodents for writers: squirrels. The final part of the series on common rodents, to help writers better understand them. This time we’re covering the other major class of rodents, the squirrel family of rodents.

This family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels (chipmunks and prairie dogs) and flying squirrels. The focus of this article is the most common tree squirrels. The eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) and the Eurasian red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris).

Biology

Squirrels eat tree bark, buds, flowers, berries, seeds, acorns, nuts, fungi and truffles as the main part of their diet. They will forage from garden crops like wheat, tomatoes, corn and strawberries and eat insects, frogs, small rodents, small birds and eggs, making them omnivores.

In urban areas they will raid bins and trash cans and steal food from bird feeders in people’s gardens. They stash excess food away in the ground or inside trees for later. These stashes are known as ‘middens’, although they sometimes lose track of them.

Since they are rodents, their incisors are open-rooted and grow continuously, while their molars do not. Squirrels have sharp claws to grip tree bark and climb, gray squirrels can even turn their hind feet in order to climb down a tree head first. Unlike most other climbing animals, who are incapable of doing this.

Their long fluffy tails help them with balance and steering when climbing and running, as well as being adorable. Squirrels build nests in trees or take over abandoned bird nests, which they then line with moss, dry grass and feathers for warmth.

Interestingly, in warm weather, squirrels exhibit a behaviour, they ‘sploot’ or lie flat on the ground with their limbs spread out. Apparently, this helps them lose heat.

FASTILY, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Invasive Species and Conservation

Gray squirrels were introduced to the UK in the 1870s from North America. They quickly established themselves across England, Wales and southern Scotland. Unfortunately, they displaced the native red squirrels by taking over habitats, competing for food sources and transmitting squirrel pox. The squirrel pox virus is often fatal to the red squirrels, however, it doesn’t harm the gray squirrels.

hedera.baltica from Wrocław, Poland, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Because of this, conservation programs were implemented to protect the native red squirrels and the population has stabilised in Scotland and on the Isle of Wight.

Culture, Mythology and Folklore

In Norse mythology, a red squirrel plays an important role. Ratatoskr runs up and down the world-tree Yggdrasil, bringing messages between the hawk at the top of the tree and the dragon at the roots.

Beatrix Potter’s children’s literature features many UK native wildlife species. Squirrel Nutkin the red squirrel features in her works. Denmark’s national mammal is the red squirrel.

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this series. Stay tuned for next months themes, I’m excited to bring you more useful content in April. I’m also participating in a new writing challenge, ZAPWHAMPOW. For updates, follow my socials.

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28/03/2025
Creature Features: Snakes Cultural Impact
Snake’s Cultural Impact

© Patrick JEAN / muséum d’histoire naturelle de Nantes, Attribution, via Wikimedia Commons

Let’s discuss the cultural impact of snakes. Snakes form an important part of many cultures in the world, both modern and historical. Ophidiophobia (phobia of snakes) is commonplace. Last week, we discussed the potential dangers certain snakes pose. The main risks include venomous bites and the largest constrictors. Non-venomous snakes are not a threat to humans.

Snake Charming

You will know this from various cartoons and movies. Snake charming is an Indian roadside show where the charmer plays a flute-like instrument and the snake responds to the music. Typically, the Indian cobra species.

The snake is actually responding to the movement of the instrument, they lack external ears so they don’t hear in the conventional sense. Animal welfare laws prohibit snake charming.

Snake Catchers

The Irula tribe from India have been catching snakes for generations professionally. The snake skin industry was outlawed in 1972. The Irula tribe now catch the snakes to milk their venom. The venom is collected and used for producing antivenom, biomedical research and other medicinal products.

There are modern day experts elsewhere in the world, who specialise in catching snakes both for study and to remove them from homes and property.

Consumption

Many people eat snakes, especially in Asia: China, Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and Cambodia. Snakes are believed to have health benefits and aphrodisiac properties. Snake wine, which is wine infused with whole snakes, is used in Chinese traditional medicine.

Pets

People keep snakes as pets, especially the more docile smaller snakes like the corn snake and the ball python. Snakes require specialist housing for optimum health but usually only need fed once every week or two. You need to seek expert veterinary care for snakes as well, not all vets are knowledgable or comfortable handling them.

Symbolism and Mythology of Snakes

Ancient Mesopotamia

Nirah means ‘little snake’ in Sumerian. Nirah is a messenger god and may be lord of the underworld. Sumerian art features representations of two intertwined serpents. Ancient deities iconography in Assyria and Babylon feature snakes.

Hopi Tribe of Arizon

The Hopi Native American tribe celebrate snakes as a symbol of fertility. They release snakes into the fields to guarantee good crops. So they represent the umbilical cord joining all humans to mother Earth.

Egypt

Ancient Egyptian iconography commonly incorporates snakes. The Nile Cobra adorns the crown of the pharaoh. Snake iconography associated with Ra, Wadjet, Renenutet, Nehebkau and Meretseger.

More sinister purposes for snakes exist in Ancient Egypt – using them to murder an adversary or to comit a ritual suicide. Cleopatra is famous for allowing an asp (Egyptian Cobra) to bite her, according to popular belief.

Ouroboros

Found in Ancient Egyptian iconography and Greek magical tradition, the symbol of a snake eating its own tail. Gnosticism, Hermeticism and alchemy adopted the ouroboros icon.

The ouroboros represents the eternal cyclic renewal, or a cycle of life, death and rebirth. Snake’s shed their skin as they grow, hence this is representative of the transmigration of souls or immortality.

The act of biting its own tail is a fertility symbol in some religions: the tail is a phallic symbol and the mouth is a yonic or womb-like symbol. So, the ouroborous represents sexual intercourse and reproduction.

Ancient Greece: Medusa

The legend of Medusa depicts a monster with snakes for hair that can turn those who look at her into stone. The hero Perseus slayed Medusa. She had two sisters, Stheno and Euryale who were both gorgons as well. Her image symbolises warding off evil.

In Ovid’s Metamorphoses the tale of Medusa is a bit different by comparison. Medusa, a priestess of Athena and suffered sexual assault by Poseidon, the god of the sea. Athena turned her into a gorgon after this. Some say as punishment, others believe it was so she could protect herself. Because of this, Medusa is an important symbol for sexual assault survivors in the modern day.

Asclepius

The Greek god of healing, Asclepius, represented by a rod or staff with a serpent wrapped around it. The sick and injured went to Asclepius’ temples for healing and care. Hence, the staff of Asclepius became a symbol for medicine.

Similarly, Hermes’ staff, Caduceus has wings and two serpents intertwined around it. With a V included in the symbol, it represents veterinary medicine. Hermes was messenger to the Olympian gods.

India

Indian traditions and deities feature snakes a lot. Shiva has a cobra around the neck. Vishnu is sometimes depicted as sleeping on a seven-headed snake or within the coils of a serpent.

Temples dedicated to cobras called Nagraj are common. Snakes symbolise fertility and people celebrate them during the Hindu festival of Nag Panchami.

China

The Chinese Zodiac features snakes as one of the twelve celestial animals. 2025 is the year of the snake, hence my choice of topic for this month. Snakes associate with traits like intelligence and unscrupulousness. Ancient China related snakes to the river deities.

Christianity and Judaism

The Garden of Eden

We can’t talk about snakes in culture and society without discussing this. In the book of Genesis, a serpent tempts Eve to eat the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. God throws Adam and Eve out of the Garden as punishment and this confers the concept of ‘Original Sin’ on humanity. Whether you believe it or not, nobody can deny the importance of this story on shaping our society and culture. Genesis doesn’t name the serpent, but it is a common belief that the serpent is the Devil.

Moses

In the book of Exodus, Moses turns his staff into a snake as proof of God’s power. In the book of Kings, God instructed Moses to create the Nehushtan – a bronze snake on a pole that cured people of snake bites in the desert.

Satan

The final book in the New Testament, the book of Revelation contains the final mention of serpents in the Bible. There, serpents are symbolic of Satan, the fallen angel who tempts people towards sin. He plays a role in the apocalypse described by the book of Revelation.

It’s clear that snakes represent evil and sin in Christianity. There is less of this in Judaism and Islam.

Conclusion

It’s clear that snakes play an important role in a lot of cultures. They can symbolise fertility, the cycle of life, rebirth, evil and temptation. People fear and revere snakes across the world. Often maligned and misunderstood, yet they have played an important role in shaping society as it is today.

However, snakes also represent healing, recovery and caring for people and animals alike. I love snakes, they are fascinating creatures and get a bad rap. They have personalities, unique abilities and an important place in the ecosystem.

I hope you enjoyed this summary of the snakes cultural impact and why they matter so much. They have a number of representations which you can use in your writing to symbolise different things. As always, if you have any thoughts or questions, I’d love to hear them.

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28/02/2025

Understanding Medical Terminology – Colour, Position and Quantity

Roots of Colour

Understanding medical terminology – colour, position and quantity. These word roots are essential for accurate descriptions of medical and anatomical items.

Many words used to describe the colour of something in the medical world exist. Both Latin and Greek roots are used for the most part with the exception of yellow which also has a French prefix. These roots are combined with suffixes to describe many things. Here’s the list of prefixes:

*Colour*	Greek Root	Latin Root	French Root
Black	Melan-	Atr- or Nigr-	–
Blue	Cyan-	Cerule-	–
Gold	Chrys-	Aur-	–
Grey	Poli-	Can-	–
Green	Chlor-	Vir-	–
Purple	Porphyr-	Purpur- or Purpureo-	–
Red	Erythr- or Rhod-	Rub-, Rubr- or Ruf-	–
Red-Orange	Cirrh-	–	–
Silver	–	Argent-	–
White	Leuc- or Leuk	Alb- or Cand-	–
Yellow	Xanth-	Flav-	Jaun-

Once you know these roots you will spot them in medical words and in Latin names for species. You’ll find that you recognise some of these words already. So let’s take a look at a few examples:

Cells

The suffix ‘-cyte’ refers to a body cell. So melanocytes (black cells literally) are the cells in the skin that contained melanin pigment. Melanoma means a cancer of these cells. Erythrocyte translates literally as ‘red cell’ so it’s referring to red blood cells. Leucocyte (also spelled leukocyte) is a white cell – white blood cells.

-osis

This suffix means ‘condition, disease process or increase’ and is used a lot. Cyanosis means a blue discoloration of the skin/lips due to hypoxia (low oxygen). You describe someone as ‘cyanotic’ which is the adjective form. Poliosis describes a localised patch of grey or white hair. Chlorosis describes a yellow/green tinge to the skin in cases with severe iron deficiency.

Bile Pigments

Two of the main bile pigments use the latin roots. Bilirubin is the red bile pigment. It is produced in the liver by breaking down dead red blood cells. Another bile pigment, which is responsible for the green/yellow colour is biliverdin. You can guess that the prefix ‘bili’ relates to the bile.

These pigments build up in the body due to liver or gall-bladder disease or a condition causing high destruction of red blood cells. This leads to the bile pigments moving into the body tissues and causing a colour change. It’s usually first noticable in the white of the eye (sclera) but eventually will change the skin and mucous membranes. This is called ‘jaundice’ and uses the French root. A fancy way of saying you look like a Simpson.

Albumin

Albumin is a protein that is found in the blood. It has a lot of functions, including transporting other substances and osmotic pressure to maintain the right balance of fluid between the cells and the circulation of the body. It is also found in egg whites, hence the name!

Porphyria

Porphyria is a disorder where porphyrins build up in the body. Porphyrins are used to make haem, the protein and iron molecule within red blood cells that carry oxygen around the body. Porphyria causes seizures, vomiting and all kinds of horrible symptoms, but it’s usually genetic.

One of the key characteristics is the change in urine colour in response to sun exposure. The urine will turn purple. Porphyria causes an extreme sensitivity to sunlight. It has been theorised that this might explain some aspects of legends around vampires and werewolves but this may not be true. There are a number of historic royals who are suspected to have had this disease, including Mary, Queen of Scots and Maria I of Portugal. Vincent Van Gough, the artist, may have suffered from acute intermittend porphyria.

Medical Terminology – Roots Of Position

These roots describe locations in a lot of adjectives and nouns in the medical world. They can tell you where something is located, or which isomer of a molecule is present. Isomers are molecules that are identical in terms of properties, except for the direction they rotate polarised light. Such as ‘levothyroxine’ which is an L isomer of thyroxine (T4), the main thyroid hormone. Only the L isomer is active, the D isomer has no effect on the body.

*Description*	Greek Root	Latin Root
Around/Surrounding	Peri-	Circum-
Internal/Within	Endo-	Intra-
Left	Levo-	Laev- or Sinistr-
Middle	Meso- Mes-	Medi-
Right	Dexi-	Dex-, Dextr- or Dextro-

So here’s a few examples: Pericardium is the tough capsule that surrounds the heart. It contains a small amount of fluid and is there to protect the heart. So ‘peri-‘ means around and ‘cardium’ means the heart.

Endometriosis

Endometriosis is a topical condition right now, because it takes an average of seven years to diagnose. As we mentioned before the suffix ‘-osis’ means condition or disease. Endometrium is the term for the lining of the uterus, the part that is shed every monthly cycle. ‘Endo-‘ means inside and ‘-metrium’ is related to the uterus. So endometriosis means that the cells normally found inside the uterus start growing in other places in the body and cause severe symptoms. It’s extremely debilitating.

Mediastinum

Mediastinum is the anatomical term for the space between the lungs. The middle of the chest, in essence. This is where there are mediastinal lymph nodes, the thymus and the heart. A rare but interesting condition is ‘dextrocardia’ where the heart is on the right side of the chest instead of the left. There’s even an extreme version called ‘situs inversus’ where all the organs are flipped left to right and mirrored.

Medical Terminology – Quantity or Amount

There are a few prefixes that denote the number of something or the amount of something. You will encounter these a lot in medical terminology and other scientific writing. There is one that could trip you up but we’ll get to that.

*Description*	Greek Root	Latin Root	Other (French)
Double	Diplo-	Dupli-	–
Equal	Iso-	Equi-	–
Few	Oligo-	Pauci-	–
Half	Hemi-	Semi-	Demi-
Many/Much	Poly-	Multi-	–
Twice	Dis-	Bis-	–

One you’ve probably heard a lot is ‘isotonic’. This term describes a fluid that has the same concentration as another. Intravenous fluids are usually isotonic, meaning they have the same concentration of electrolytes as the blood.

Hemivertebrae is a condition where the vertebrae of the spine don’t form properly, only half of the vertebrae is present. It can cause all kinds of pain and difficulty. It’s congenital, meaning it is present from birth.

When writing instructions for medication, we use a shorthand Latin acronym. Not for patients, of course, but between doctors, nurses and pharmacists they will use these. B.I.D stands for bis in diem – that means twice a day.

‘Equi-‘ means equal in Latin. Don’t get caught out by this anatomical term! The ‘cauda equina’ describes the tail end of the spinal cord where a bundle of nerves extend past the end of the cord. It looks like a horses tail so in this case ‘equina’ is referring to ‘equine’, that is to horses. ‘Cauda’ refers to the tail – a term used a lot more in animal medicine than humans.

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed this rundown of medical terminology – colour, position and quantity. If you missed the previous ones you can find them here and here. Subscribe to be updated when a new post is live and find me on my social media channels.

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17/02/2025

Creature Features: Snake Senses and Physiology
Snake Senses and Physiology

Snake Eyes

Python Close Up showing eyes and labial pits
Alias 0591 from the Netherlands, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

No, not when you roll a one on a dice. Actual snake eyes, on actual snakes. We’re talking about snake senses and physiology. Snakes generally have good vision, some of them have slitted pupils like cats. All snakes lack eyelids, instead they have a clear scale covering the eye called the spectacle.

You can tell if a snake is due to shed its skin because the eyes go cloudy. Fluid is secreted under the old skin to lift it off to be shed, and this causes the cloudiness. Snakes are vulnerable during this process so they can be more aggressive than usual if disturbed as they are blind.

Some snakes also have the ability to ‘see’ infrared to find prey in the dark. Pythons, boas and pit vipers have indentations on their upper lips called the ‘labial pits’ which sense infrared. The image shows the little holes along the top lip of the snake, these are the labial pits. Each group of species evolved these things separately, and they are also believed to play a role in temperature regulation as well as hunting. Like night-vision goggles essentially, isn’t that cool?

Snake Tongue and Sense of Smell

Snakes use their tongues to detect scents. So when you see their little forked tongue flicker out, that’s what they’re doing. Most people know this. The tongue collects airborne particles and feeds them to the ‘vomeronasal organ’ also known as the ‘Jacobson’s organ’ inside the mouth. This organ is present in most animals, but not humans and aids in scent detection, especially pheromones. So it’s important for detecting prey, predators and potential mates.

Snake Skin

Snake skin is highly specialised to protect their bodies and provide grip for their unique form of movement. Lacking legs means that snakes must move flat along the ground, so their scales help them grip the surfaces. Many species can make use of this to climb trees as well and even smoother surfaces to an extent.

Rainbow Boa showing it’s beautiful scales
Damien Farrell, CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Snakes are covered in scales – some are smoother, others are ‘keeled’, meaning they have a ridge down the centre. Their dorsal scales, the upper body scales, are usually loosely diamond-shaped and arranged in interlocking rows. Their ventral scales (belly scales) are usually singular and wide until the vent, after which they are paired until the end of the tail.

Ecdysis means shedding of the skin. This is something all snakes go through as they grow. Younger snakes will shed more frequently than older snakes. The process takes a bit of time. The new scales grow underneath, and fluid lifts off the old scales.

This is when the spectacle goes cloudy. The snake will not feed during this process, but usually will feed soon after. Normally the snake sheds its skin in one long piece. They rub their chin on something rough like a rock or tree, and slowly wiggle their way out of the skin.

Rattlesnakes have a unique set of scales on the end of their tails. They build up from previous sheds and form a hardened collection of scales which makes a sound when shaken. They use this as a warning to predators, and it gives them the name.

Reproduction

Snakes reproduce sexually, with internal fertilisation. Most species lay a clutch of eggs, which are left to hatch and fend for themselves. Some species stay with the eggs and care for them until they hatch, like pythons.

A few species are classed as ‘ovoviviparous’, which means they keep the eggs inside until they hatch and are ‘born’. So this is a kind of inbetween egg layers and live birthers, if you will. Rattlesnakes are an example of this.

There are a couple of species that have true live births. The boa constrictor and green anaconda both have placentas as well as yolk sacs for their young and give birth to live snakes. They don’t produce eggs.

A phenonemon called parthenogenesis is seen in a couple of snake species. Parthenogenesis is a form of asexual reproduction, where a female animal can produce fertile eggs without mating. Copperheads and Cottonmouths are capable of this, although they can also do it the old-fashioned way.

Feeding Snakes

Snakes are carnivores and eat animals, occasionally eggs but mostly smaller animals. They eat their prey whole and take a while to digest their meal. Some even eat other snakes in some cases. Snakes can’t bite off or chew their food, and are specialised towards this as discussed last week.

Snakes tend to be ambush predators and will strike quickly to catch their prey. Venomous snakes bite and inject venom to kill their prey before eating it. Other snakes will use constriction – wrapping their bodies around the prey and squeezing it until it dies before they slowly swallow it.

Cobra showing it’s hood
© Patrick JEAN / muséum d’histoire naturelle de Nantes, Attribution, via Wikimedia Commons

They then go and rest to digest their prey. Ideally they would keep their body temperature around 30 °C (86 °F) and as they are ectothermic they will move to a location to keep their temperature around that level. It takes some time to digest but they can digest everything but hair, feathers and claws. These indigestible parts are excreted within the faeces of the snake. Snakes don’t eat often, depending on the species and size of the previous meal this can range from once a week to a couple of times a year! Younger snakes need to eat more frequently so they have energy for growth. In captivity it’s important not to overfeed snakes. But they can also go a long time without food as well, over a year in some cases.

Thanks for reading!

Thanks for reading this rundown of snake senses and physiology. Next week we’re going to talk about venomous snakes and the dangers snakes can pose to us. If you missed the first part, you can read about snake anatomy here. Don’t forget to subscribe to be updated when a new post is live and find me on my social media channels.

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14/02/2025
Creature Features: Snakes and Serpents
In honour of this being the Year of the Snake, I thought we could talk about snakes. They are a common phobia, and culturally they have had quite an impact on human society. From the Garden of Eden to Cleopatra’s death, snakes are often thought of as evil or dangerous. Yet other people love them and they are a common exotic pet.

A warning for those with ophidiophobia, fear of snakes, this series of articles will contain photographs of snakes occasionally. So feel free to skip these ones if you like. The anatomical diagrams will hopefully be less of a problem. That said, let’s get into it. We’ll start with some snake anatomy and physiology – discussing some of the unique features of serpents. Then we’ll look at the real life dangers of snakes, and finally a discussion of the cultural impact these creatures have had.

I have a video going through these details here, if you’d prefer that format.

Basic Snake Anatomy

Snakes are limbless reptiles, with long thin bodies and protective scales. They lack eyelids but generally have good vision. Their diet is carnivorous and they strike with venom or constrict their prey, before swallowing it whole. Most snakes lay eggs, but there are a few that deliver live young.

Like all reptiles, they are ectothermic. You might know this as ‘cold-blooded’ but it means that they control their body temperature by using their environment instead of generating body heat internally. So they bask in the sun to increase their temperature and hide in the shade or burrow to cool down.

Internal Organs of Snakes

Here’s a quick overview of their organ layout. They only have one full lung, the right lung. The left lung is small and not involved in oxygen exchange, but may have an immune function. Air sacs extend from the functional lung, storing air and allowing snakes to hold their breath for a long time. The heart has three chambers: a single ventricle and two atria. It is located near the end of the first third of the body length. There is no diaphragm to separate the chest and abdomen.

The rest of the organs are as expected: a liver, two kidneys, a spleen, a gallbladder, stomach and intestines and reproductive organs. A male snake has a pair of testes and a pair of hemipenes (yes, they have two penises essentially) that lie within the tail when not in use. Female snakes instead have ovaries and an oviduct (kind of like a uterus.) Eggs are formed and held in the oviduct until they are ready to be laid, or hatch before the live young are born.

Uwe Gille, CC BY-SA 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/, via Wikimedia Commons
1. oesophagus
2. trachea
3. tracheal lungs
4. rudimentary left lung
5. right lung
6. heart
7. liver
8. stomach
9. air sac
10. gallbladder
11. pancreas
12. spleen
13. intestine
14. testicles
15. Kidneys
Snake Skeleton Anatomy

Snakes have no limbs and there is nothing left of the pectoral girdle: shoulders, collar bones etc. Boas and pythons do have vestigial pelvic bones and claws, but most of the more recently evolved species don’t have this at all.

dbking, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The body skeleton is made up of vertebrae and ribs: from 175 to 400 vertebrae can be present. Almost all of them have a pair of attached ribs, except the first couple attached to the skull, and the caudal vertebrae that make up the tail of the snake. The division between body and tail can be seen externally when the belly scales change from one single scale to paired scales – just beyond the vent (the genital opening.)

Snake Skull and Jaws

The snake’s skull is extremely complex. The jaw has an extra bone called the quadrate bone and extra joints that allow for the snake to open its mouth wide enough to swallow prey larger than its head. Each side of the mandible, the lower jaw, can move independently as well.

There is significant variation in anatomical structure between different species. The details of this are beyond the scope of this article but if you are interested you can find an in-depth explanation here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snake_skeleton#Joints_of_the_snake_skull

Mokele at English Wikipedia, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Lateral view of the skull of a Burmese python, with visible kinetic joints labeled. Red = highly mobile, green = slightly mobile, blue = immobile.
- Red A: the joint between the mandible and quadrate. It is analogous to the joint in mammalian jaws.
- Red B: the joint between the quadrate and the supratemporal. It is highly mobile in most directions, allowing a wider gape (i.e., the snake can open its mouth wider) and greater jaw flexibility.
- Red C: the joint between the prefrontal and maxilla. It allows the maxilla to pivot in the plane of the photograph, and while it does not increase gape, it does facilitate the complex action by which the snake draws prey into its mouth.
- Green A: the joint between the frontal bone and nasal bone. It allows the nose to upturn slightly, increasing gape and assisting in swallowing.
- Green B: allows the lower jaws to bow outwards, further increasing the gape.
- Blue: the joint between the supratemporal and parietal. Immobile, except for Dasypeltis.
Snake Teeth

The teeth are curved and point backwards towards the throat to allow for the snake to slowly ingest the whole prey. Venomous snakes have specialised teeth that can deliver venom after a bite such as the ‘fangs’ with grooves to deliver the poison.

Snakes can strike fast, curling their bodies and arching forward to bite and deliver venom or grab hold of the prey so they can constrict it and kill it. The above link has more details on the different kinds of dentition seen in snake species.

Bernard DUPONT from FRANCE, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Thanks for reading this brief introduction to snake anatomy Next week we’ll discuss a bit more about snake physiology and some of their unique features, so I hope you’ll come back for that. See you soon!

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07/02/2025
Creature Features: Colour Strategies
Survival Strategies Using Colour

Tarantula Hawk Wasp

Animals use colour strategies in all kinds of ways to avoid being detected, eaten or to express themselves in some way. Some creatures can see colours we can’t, like infra-red and ultraviolet, which are not on the ‘visible spectrum’ of light. The visible spectrum is defined as what we can see as humans. For animals, and some people, the range of colours they can see vary from this ‘default’ setting. So let’s have a look at some of the ways animals can use colour.

Camouflage Strategy

The obvious, and best known reason animals have the colours and coat patterns they have is to blend in to their environment. Blending in is advantageous for both predator and prey species. This is why you see a lot of browns and greys in the colouration of many species. Colour strategies involving camouflage are a huge part of why animals look the way they do.

Octopus on the sea floor

Of course some species can actually change their colouration to blend in. A lot of octopus and squid species are extremely skilled at this, as are chameleons but we’ll get into them a bit more later. They have specialised chromatophore cells that can change what wavelength of light the skin reflects, which changes the colour. Chromatophore cells are the cells containing pigment, such as melanocytes, the cells in human skin that contain melanin.

Disruptive colouration uses contrasting markings that don’t repeat to break up the outline of an animal or hide features like their eyes to hide in their environment. This is employed by a lot of cats, the spots or stripes helping them blend in to get close to their prey without being spotted, as well as ambush predators and prey species.

A flat-tailed horned lizard blocking its shadows

Some species can stop themselves from producing shadows to hide. The horned lizards found in North America can flatten their bodies against the ground, the fringing along their sides disrupting the shadows and allowing them to blend in to the ground.

Decorating themselves with material from the environment can help with blending in and hiding their body parts. Decorator crabs employ this, covering their body with sponges. The Ghillie suit used by military snipers uses this same principle.

Underwater Camouflage

Jellyfish with a transparent body

Transparency is another method, particularly seen in marine animals such as jellyfish. Their bodies are gelatinous with a similar refractive index to sea water so they are almost invisible. This is a trade-off as it means their mobility is poor. Another cool example are glass frogs, which are transparent around their main body, which helps them blend in to the environment around them.

A lot of fish have reflective scales, called ‘silvering’ which uses guanine crystals to give a reflective surface. The marine hatchet fish is a notable example of this. For deep sea fish, ultra black colouration absorbs light and allows the animal to hide in the depths. This is used by anglerfish, which improves the effectiveness of their bioluminescent lure to attract prey into their ambush.

Mimicing another object involves both colour and body shape. Either to hide or to lure prey into an ambush. A lot of insects mimic leaves or twigs to hide in the plants they live in. Some preying mantises make themselves look like flowers to attract insects.

Danger! Warning! Aposematism Strategies

Some animals have colouration that makes them stand out, instead of blending in. This is called aposematism, and the idea is that the animal is noticed and avoided by potential predators. Colour is used to warn that the animal is dangerous and not worth eating.

The colours used are often the same, with combinations of red, yellow, black and white employed. We use these same colours for warning signs. Wet floor signs, stop signs, police tape!

A coral snake showing it’s bright warning colours

The colours can indicate a number of things, from tasting bad like the cinnabar moth, foul-smelling like skunks, aggressive like honey badgers, or venomous like the coral snake. Aposematism works because either predators have the instinct to avoid animals with these colours or they have learned the hard way to avoid them.

Some species will mimic this kind of colouration to fool predators into avoiding them. Batesian mimicry is where an edible animal looks like a dangerous one such as hoverflies who resemble bees but have no sting. Müllerian mimicry means a number of species that resemble each other and are dangerous, so they’ve evolved in a similar way. This kind is common among bees and wasps, who are capable of stinging.

Chameleons, Nature’s Mood Ring – Communication Strategies

Anyone who grew up in the 80s or 90s will remember ‘mood rings’, the cheap rings with a gem that changed colour to indicate your mood. They weren’t exactly accurate but chameleons have this ability and it works really well.

Panther Chameleon in Sapporo Maruyama Zoo, Japan

While they do use their colour changing abilities to blend in, the main purpose for colour changing is to indicate their mood and feelings. The males are more flamboyant than the females but they can display a wide range of colours.

Bright greens and yellows or blues usually indicate a happy chameleon. Black indicates anger, fear or distress. Reds and oranges can indicate excitement or readiness to mate. Again this is down to the presence of guanine crystals within the skin cells. Changing the distance between these nanocrystals shifts the wavelengths of light reflected and thus changes the colour of the skin.

It’s such a cool ability, and it’s surprising how quickly the change happens. As a vet, I treated a few chameleons and they’re one of my favourite reptile species. The black colour means pain or anger, and it can be localised. If you give a chameleon an injection or if they have a wound, the skin around the area will turn black.

Other reptiles have some capability for this colour change. Bearded dragons can turn their beard black and puff it out if they feel threatened. But none are more spectacular than the chameleon.

Looking for Love?

The most common reason for bright and flamboyant colours in animals is for selection of suitable mates. Most notably this happens with a lot of birds, you only need to look at the different kinds of bird-of-paradise and the peafowl. These colour strategies can make them more vulnerable to predators in exchange for sex appeal!

A Handsome Peacock

Peafowl have dramatic sexual dimorphism (where the male and female look different). Peacocks are brightly coloured with the distinctive massive fan tail, while peahens are brown and drab looking.

You could spend hours looking at the different species of bird-of-paradise and see the fabulous fashion styles of the males compared to the females. They put on elaborate displays to impress the females enough to be allowed to mate with them.

Another favourite of mine is the eclectus parrot. These birds have such dramatic sexual dimorphism that they were believed to be different species at one point. The males are bright green with red and blue highlights and an orange beak, while the females are red and purple with a black beak.

Thanks for Reading!

As you can see, the animal world uses colour strategies in so many ways. It’s a really interesting topic and worth considering if you are featuring creatures in your writing. Or designing your own. So have a think about the creatures environment, role in the ecosystem and diet before deciding which colours you should use.

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13/01/2025
Reproduction Strategies: Creature Features
Reproduction Strategies

So, we discussed last time the difference between prey and predator, and how this impacts animal behaviour and physiology. Different species employ different strategies to ensure their species survives, and nowhere is that more apparent than in reproduction.

I know in school, lots of people spent this part of biology making crude jokes and stuff, but it really is a wildly interesting subject. No other system of living things is more varied than reproductive systems. Essentially every species has a different system. So let’s have a look at some examples.

Good at Multiplying – Rabbit Reproduction Strategy

A joke in Zootopia that probably went over most kids heads, but it’s well known that rabbits are good at making more rabbits. Does, female rabbits, reach sexual maturity between 3 and 8 months of age and can concieve at any time of the year for the rest of her life.

They are induced ovulators, meaning that the mating process causes the ovaries to release eggs. The gestation period is short, around a month. The young are born blind and helpless, and are kept in the nest underground, only feeding once or twice a day. She leaves them to feed.

The doe can get pregnant again the next day after giving birth. In theory, they can have 12-13 litters per year. With the young reaching maturity in a few months, it’s no wonder that left unchecked, rabbits reproduce exponentially. Just ask Australia!

I’m not joking, either. Rabbits were introduced to Australia and New Zealand by European settlers, and having no natural predators, they multiplied and are considered a huge pest due to damage done to crops. Infectious diseases were deliberately introduced to try to control their numbers.

So that’s one strategy – overwhelming numbers means that odds are, at least a few offspring will live long enough to reproduce. Even if there’s a high rate of mortality from predation and disease. It only takes a couple of buns to make more. So high reproduction rates ensure the species continue to exist.

Safety In Numbers – Herd Reproduction Strategy

Another common strategy is staying within the herd or flock. It’s rare to find prey species that live solitary lives. Most ruminants like deer, giraffes, cattle, goats and sheep will live in a large group or herd. This has a number of benefits for their offspring.

Firstly, more eyes and ears mean it is harder for predators to go unnoticed and sneak up on the group. If all the adult animals are keeping an eye out, the offspring will be safer. Young animals can stay near the group and will be harder to isolate.

These kinds of animals have young that are precocious, meaning they are quite mature at birth. Capable of standing, walking and running within hours of being born. They are born with their eyes and ears open. They are capable of keeping up with the adult animals of the herd if something happens.

Embryonic Diapause

You ever wish you could hit the pause button on life? Well, some animals can do that for developing embryos. Embryonic diapause means the mother can halt cell division in the blastocyst (a very early embryo) and delay implantation into the uterus wall.

Why would they want to do this? Often it is to ensure the offspring are born at the best time of year for factors like availability of food and temperatures. This gives the offspring the best possible chance of survival. Some species always have a period of diapause but for others it happens in response to day length and controlled by melatonin production in the pineal gland.

Species that have been observed to employ this strategy include marsupials such as kangaroos, bears, rodents and mustelids (weasels, skunks and badgers.) It is very common among insects, fish and other non-mammalian vertebrates.

Essentially the mother can pause the pregnancy or development of the embryo until it suits her better. Not something humans can really do but it is a good strategy for ensuring survival of the offspring.

Nests and Burrows

A common strategy in smaller prey species, hiding the offspring away in burrows or nests puts them out of reach of predators. The nest may be well hidden or defended by adult animals.

A lot of reptiles will bury their eggs. Sea turtles are a famous example of this. They go onto the beach, lay their eggs and bury them in the sand to keep them safe until they hatch. Once they hatch, the young ones must make the trek from nest to the water safely. This period of travel makes them vulnerable to predation of course, but they employ the overwhelming numbers strategy too.

Hiding evidence of newborn animals is another essential part of this. Contrary to popular belief, eating the placenta is a behaviour that has nothing to do with extra nutrition for milk production. Basically all animals that have a placenta do this, even herbivores.

So why? To hide the evidence of a newborn animal. That’s it. Simple as that. Giving birth is a messy business, there’s blood and amniotic fluid and stuff and it gets everywhere. Licking off the newborn and eating the placenta helps remove the scents and hide it.

Different Reproduction Strategies

So we can see there’s a few different ways that animals will endeavour to protect their young and ensure their survival. Direct parenting varies by species but it really depends on the environment and the predators in question.

Many prey species employ a few of these strategies. It’s really interesting to compare the differences, I think. Being able to pause development to ensure the young are born at the optimal time of year is really clever. Hiding young away, or keeping them safe within a large herd. Just reproducing at high rates, like rabbits do.

Of course, if you are creating your own creatures, you should consider this factor. How often do they reproduce and how to they ensure their offspring survive long enough to reproduce themselves? Bottom line is the need for survival of the species, so you need to have an idea how they approach this.

Thanks for reading, I hope you found this helpful. As always, any questions or thoughts, leave them in the comments. If you want some advice or help working through ideas, I’m happy to be of assistance. Subscribe to see more like this, and find me on my social media channels for behind the scenes.

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06/01/2025
Prey vs Predators: Creature Features
Prey vs Predators

I’m back with another creature feature for writers. Today we are looking at prey vs predators. I will discuss the difference between prey and predatory animals, and how this affects their behaviours and physiology. There’s a lot of interesting biology going on here, so let’s get into it.

Predators

Predators are defined by their feeding behaviour, where they kill and eat another organism. It is different from scavenging or carrion eating, meaning they eat animals that are already dead, although many predatory animals do this as well.

There are two main types of strategy predators use to hunt their prey. Ambush predation means they lie in wait, often hidden or camouflaged and strike when the prey passes by their hiding place. Crocodiles are a great example of this, as they hide in the water, and catch animals as they stop to drink.

The other method is pursuit predation, where the predator will stalk the prey and give chase. Sometimes this is solitary, other species work as a group such as we see with wolves and hyenas. Team work makes the dream work, at least if you want to take down larger prey animals!

Predators are often opportunists, taking advantage of weakened or injured animals in a group of prey. Or seeking out younger animals that can’t spot them or evade them as quickly.

Predatory species have a huge number of different adaptations to aid them in getting their prey. I’ll cover the details in a future article. They employ sharp teeth and/or claws, speed, strength and camouflage techniques to be able to hunt. Their senses are geared towards making hunting easier as well.

Wild predatory species are used to not eating every single day and consume as much as possible at each meal to keep them going until their next catch. For this reason, many of these species are not fed every single day when kept in captivity such as zoo collections.

Prey

Prey species have two main aims in their lives. To avoid being eaten, and to reproduce enough to ensure their species continues. Prey species have a number of adaptations and tricks to keep themselves safe.

Prey animals almost always live in large groups or herds, because there’s safety in numbers. A large group means more eyes, ears and noses on alert for nearby predators. It also helps if you can run faster than another member of your group.

A lot of prey species will either hide when predators are active or flee. A lot of the larger animals like goats, deer, wildebeest, giraffes and other ungulates have speed on their side. Their offspring must be able to get up and walk within hours of birth, to ensure they can keep up with the herd.

Smaller prey species will often hide underground in burrows or warrens, where their predators may not be able to reach them. Especially if they have young, as they are more vulnerable to predation.

You may hear people touting the ‘benefits’ of eating the placenta after birth because animals do it. I’m afraid the reason for this isn’t because of any nutritional benefit. It’s because the mother wants to hide any evidence that there are newborn animals around, to protect them from predation. That’s why, so you really don’t need to eat your placenta if you don’t want to. I promise.

Why Not Both?

You might be surprised to learn that some animals are both prey and predator. I know, I know, Zootopia/Zootropolis made it clear it was one or the other. But plenty of animals are both, and this means there behaviour reflects this.

Want an example? You might well have one or two of these fuzzy little chaos gremlins yourself. Yup, I’m talking about cats. I mean, all cats are cats, but specifically I mean small cats, including Felis domesticus. Cats prey on small rodents, birds, house spiders and hair ties. But larger predators can and will hunt cats, especially if you live somewhere where there are wolves, larger cats or really big snakes.

Why does it matter? Because a lot of feline behaviour we find odd, is reflective of the dual role that cats play. If you ever wondered why your cat likes to sleep inside your sock drawer, or hide in that cardboard box… this is why. The reason a lot of cats bite if you rub their belly, is because they feel vulnerable.

The cat-nap, or cats being light sleepers is another indication. They need to be able to be alert to flee or fight at any time, especially when they are vulnerable. This can be the reason for them burying their droppings in the litter tray too.

Plenty of other species fit in to the ecosystem as both prey and predator. Seals are another example, as they eat fish but are also a common prey species for polar bears and orcas. Welcome to the real circle of life, it’s not as cute as Mufasa would have us believe. Nature is beautiful, but brutal.

Why Does This Matter?

A number of reasons. All animal behaviours are geared towards survival and reproduction. Survival meaning finding food, water and shelter. Reproduction obviously means mating, rearing offspring and the species continues to exist. Every aspect of their behaviour and physiology is designed to maximise these things.

It can help in real life, if you have behaviour problems with a pet. But as a writer, it’s also quite important if you are going to include animals in your stories, whether real world ones or magical, mythical ones. If you are creating your own, you need to figure out where they fit in to the ecosystem of your world.

Over the coming weeks I’ll discuss some of these strategies in more detail, with real world and possibly fictional examples of things that demonstrate these points. Even if you don’t believe in the Theory of Evolution (which is called that because there’s plenty of scientific evidence it is a thing, by the way), there’s no denying that each species has its role to play.

I hope you find this useful when considering the creatures to include in your world. There will always be a prey vs predators scenario somewhere in the ecosystem so it’s worth considering how to include it. For more useful tips on creatures, check out my quick tips. Subscribe for more and check back regularly as the website will be updated monthly with new information for you. I also talk about this kind of thing on my YouTube channel, focusing on gaming.

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30/12/2024