Friday, January 01, 2016

Friday’s Hunt v1.1 -- "A" is for

Starts with A…Anteaters, aardvarks, and Australia

Mrs. Jim and I had this 'discussion' about the comic strip in Saturday's Houston Chronicle (Friday, January 1, 2016).

Old people don't have too many worldly things to worry about, like ISIS, Mexican immigrants, who will be our next president, etc.  Except that neither of us are for Trump or Cruz.  We think either would ruin our country.

Our discussion about the comic strip was about the creatures in the strip.  I called them Aardvarks, Mrs. Jim knew the weren't, just merely Anteaters.  My position was that they were the same creature by another name.

I was wrong.  Read on. Sorry I have no personal pictures.
BTW, January 1 is Mrs. Jim's Birthday.  We have had a nice day.

Anteaters -- They are cute (?) smallish creatures originally from Mexico, Central America, and South America. [picture from today.com, Feb 21, 2014](Anteater Wikipedia link)

A distinguishing feature they have is a long tongue which can wrap around an ant or termite.

Other species are commonly confused with the anteater, including the common aardvark featured below.

The aardvark doesn't have the pointy nose like the anteater but does have a long tong to catch the insects. (See the baby's long tongue in the picture above.)

Aardvarks originated in Africa.  They are often confused with the other similar animals with anteater characteristics. [picture from Wikipedia, a commons release (link)]

This chart from Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anteater_(disambiguation) , helps distinguish the various animals similar but not related to the African Anteater.

Australia is a nice place to visit.  One of my favorites was the wildlife animal rescue and reserve that we visited in Tasmania, Australia in 2003.  I blogged about this, click here.  I am sure that they had a Numbat or two there but I can't find a picture of any of them.  By going to the 'disambiguation' link above and clicking on the Numbat link you could see one. 

Below is Mrs. Jim feeding a kangaroo on our Australia visit to the state of Tasmania.

  
I did have this picture (below) of what I thought might be a Chinese Pangolin, scaly anteater common name (link), but now I think he was more of some species more like an Iguana.  I sure wish I knew what he is.  I spotted him at the Tasmanian wildlife rescue center also.
Perhaps maybe you know?
 
.
 The fine print:  Teresa of Eden Hills is running this meme, Friday's Hunt. She has three alternatives for us to post about but this one, Alphabet series, will be the one I will try to follow and post about. 
 - Her rules are: "Welcome to the first linkup for Friday’s Hunt. It’s very simple. Anyone can participate. The link opens at 7pm Central time and will close Sunday at 7pm, so you have plenty of time to enter."
 - The Mr. Linky address here has others who are participating if you would to read what these folk are doing for the Friday post.

Labels: , , ,


Comments:
Hello, great shots for Teresa'a photo hunt. I love the kangaroo. May your New Year be filled with peace, love and joy! Happy New Year to you and yours!
 
Great shots!
 
Hi, Happy Birthday to Mrs. Jim! I have only seen these critters in a zoo. I am not sure what the last one is, possibly a lizard or skink? Happy weekend! Thanks for visiting my Costa Rica post.
 
You sure found a good "A" subject to post about!
 
Hahaha! It had never occurred to me until I read that cartoon that maybe someone would want to ATTRACT ants. ;)
 
Thanks so much for joining in. Happy belated birthday to Mrs. Jim! Cute cartoon, and I would not have thought about how similar the two were.
 
Happy belated birthday to Mrs. Jim.

I don't think we have anyone running for president that's worth anything. No more Clinton's and nor more Bush's. The rest of them are pretty sad too. We never chose who'll be president. We just lead to think we do.

Have a fabulous day. ☺
 
I thought they were the same too. Thanks for the elucidation. Happy belated birthday to your wife.
I'm here by way of Eden Hills
 
Hi Jim, I do remember you from many a meme years ago - and an happy to be reacquainted! Anteaters seem to be stylish, cool and very functional due to their diets. I am not a fan of ants :)
 
Good photos and great info. I'm visiting from Friday Hunt.
 
Happy Birthday to Mrs. Jim! No Trump nor Cruz for me either. I shudder thinking what either would do to our country. I wonder if the anteater and aardvark share a common ancestor.
The View from the Top of the Ladder
 
Mrs Jim is very nice-looking! The picture you are asking about is a blue-tongue lizard, I do believe. If not, something very closely related. All Tassie lizards are skinks. I had a look at your post on the rescue reserve too. I like that you visited my birth island. (I lived in Launceston; was moved to the mainland against my will at 15.)
 

Post a Comment





<< Home

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?