jngomez's blog

It seems to be that the creature with the most exotic spikes and one that has many is what draws a female’s attention. Males compete for females that they wish to reproduce with by using their spikes and claws to obtain a female’s attention. Their means of communication is through a call which sounds like a whistle and squeal. Unlike the hedgehogs they love the social life instead of being solitary and not interacting with others of their kind. For shelter these organisms climb trees and make a home within the canopy and tall emergent trees. Their coat color of brown resembles that of tree bark making them able to camouflage underground as well as life above ground. 

Their spikes would slowly develop and at the age of about 3 they were fully developed and able to survive on their own. However, they stayed in packs and families protecting each other and helping one another. They a species that is able to adapt to both daytime and nighttime having no preference since their spikes seemed to give them confidence in being able to withstand their predator if they were smart and careful. Their movement was not slow or fast. They moved at a moderate speed of about 25 miles/hour which was determined by a radar gun but when they spotted their predator they would erect their spikes ready to defend themselves. 

I have concluded that this creature is a mammal given that when examining the born of their young ones they looked altricial with their mother providing lactation for the altricial newborns. When the young were born they were hopeless and depended on their mother for guidance and nutrient’s. They would suck milk from one of the mothers 6 mamae and remain in their mother’s pouch until they were ready to look for food on their own with the guidance of their mother and father. This took about 6-8 months until the young were a bit stronger and could leave but still had their mother’s guidance. Throughout this time the male father would help the mother and grab food for her and the young ones as she stood behind to protect them from their predators since development of their spikes didn’t start until they were about one year old. 

Their forelimbs are a bit bigger than their hind limbs. There spikes are located posteriorly ranging from sizes of about 8-12 inches long. Their spikes are used as an extra defense mechanism from their predators like eagles, vultures, or hawks. I’ve tried to stay as far away from them as possible but still at an observable distance from them. Since at times if they felt my presence was too close their spikes will erect, and it showed that they were able to defend themselves easily. They have heterodont teeth and in particular bunodont molars that help them eat insects and plant species like leaves from the shrub trees. Their digestive tract is similar to that of an insectivore species in which they have no cecum and a short intestine. Their favorite plant species is the monkey brush vines also known as Combretum rotundifolium, which are due to its vibrant colors.

During my travels in the continent of South America in the diverse country of Brazil I encounter an unusual creature, one I have never seen before and was intrigued. This organism was located in the tropical rainforest. Where precipitation exceeds 70 inches annually. This biome contains approximately 50 % of the world species in simply about 11% of its terrestrial vegetation cover so I was really excited to have found it here. This biome experiences warm seasonally invariant temperatures. This habitat contains broad leveled evergreens and deciduous trees with sunlight being a key resource that contributes to the vegetation structure (Cain et al. 2014). 

Plants species are known to grow continuously throughout the year. In this biome there are also emergent trees that rise above the other trees that make up the canopy of the forest. The canopy being made up primarily by evergreen tree leaves, that make a constant layer about 30-40 meters above ground (Cain et al. 2014). Woody vines and the plants species that grow on the branches of the trees draped or clinging over the canopy and emergent trees There are also shrubs and forbs present that make up a majority of the forest floor (Cain et al. 2014). I first spotted this creature hanging from one of the evergreen trees and that’s when it all started. It caught my attention   

I have just spotted an unusual that resembles feature of a sloth and a hedgehog. After months of examining these organisms I have compiled a serious of entries ranging from their habitat of choice and environment to their behavior, mating, communication, and eating lifestyle. They are mammals given the characteristic of the mother being able to provide lactation to the altricial young that are produced. Who are helpless on their own and depend on their mother for guidance and nutrient’s. They have learned to adapt to life above ground meaning they have stronger and longer limbs with claws that have allowed them to climb up trees and expanded their way of obtaining food. 

In Spring 2018, as part of the Writing in Biology course at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, each group designed a distinct proposal project examining a variety of factors. This experiment will examine Morrill buildings III and IV located in the University of Massachusetts, Amherst which are situated at opposite ends of each other. Arthropods thrive where there are plants or where the environment is warm. It is not well understood what other factors contribute to this notion. In this proposal, we aim to observe the distinct types of arthropods living or nonliving. In addition, factors that drive to the diversity of arthropods that are present on the Morrill Buildings III and IV window sills will be analyzed. Each group will be assigned a particular floor of either Morrill III or Morrill IV building. 

At the end of this experiment, it will illustrate what kinds of environments the arthropods thrive in within the buildings examined. This proposal project will provide insight into the Morrill buildings of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and the diverse sets of arthropods that inhabit within them. It will enable colleagues to study window sills and take note of what they inhabit and how these conditions contribute to number of arthropods present. Understanding factors that contribute to arthropod presence could be used to develop a management strategy of the buildings.

We will apply this founding to Morrill Buildings III and IV. The Morrill Greenhouse and Reptile exhibit will serve as factors to the reasons a closer distance to these locations will mean that a higher number of arthropods will be observed. In Morril Greenhouse there are a variety of plant species and arthropods as well that could travel to Morrill III given its very close proximate to the building.