Gerenuk!

Ivor is a Gerenuk, a giraffe gazelle, found in East Africa. Gerenuks mark their territory using a preorbital gland in front of their eyes that emits a scent-bearing tar-like substance. Their necks are exceptionally long, and their eyes and ears large. Males have stout and heavily ringed horns. Gerenuks’ short tail looks longer because it ends in a tuft of black hair. They also have scent glands on their knees that are covered by tufts of hair and between their split hooves. Gerenuks stand erect on their hind legs to browse on tall bushes and use their front legs to pull down higher branches. They do not eat grass nor require water as they get enough moisture from the plant life they eat. Ivor is a Gerenuk who lives as a solitary male.

Pronghorn

Today Ivor eluded me. I had wanted to see him and Jonathan before they left for Washington, but a dentist's appointment that went too long delayed me, and by the time I got to the office, they were gone!

In honor of Ivor's swift escape from the DC area, Ivor is a pronghorn antelope. The second fastest land animal on Earth, the pronghorn vastly outruns any other animal on the American continents, reaching speeds over 60 mph - faster than my mother drives on the highway.

Evolutionary theorists have suggested that the pronghorn adapted to run so fast in order to escape predators that are now extinct, like the saber-toothed tiger. Others suggest that it is a way for males to show off when competing for mates. It may be some of both. In any case, we know that Ivor is a speed machine today. Or perhaps he would be, if Jonathan (or any of the rest of us) could keep up!

Today Ivor is an Electric Eel

Ivor (Electrophorus electricus), is a species of fish. He is capable of generating powerful electric shocks, which he uses for both hunting and self-defense. He is a
top predator in his
South American
range. Despite his name he is not an
eel
at all but rather a
knifefish.

Amy and Sam are lucky that they can not see Ivor today, because if they were around him they would have to fear being shocked. I am sure that Karla--who always trips on him--will be electricuted before the day is done.

Clouded leopard

Amy says that today Ivor is a clouded leopard!

Few people have seen a clouded leopard, named for its cloud-like spots. Its wild habitat in Southeast Asia. Although officially recorded as a species in 1821, the clouded leopard remains as mysterious today as it was nearly 200 years ago. Clouded leopards have the longest tail, in relation to body size, of any cat's tail. Also, their jaws can open wider than any other cat’s. Their 2-inch-long teeth are the same size as those of a tiger. Using their tail for balance, cloudeds ambush their prey from the treetops, landing on their target’s back and delivering one killing bite. Their flexible ankle joints allow them to climb down tree trunks headfirst. Cloudeds can climb upside down along branches and can hang by the back feet alone, which frees the front paws to snatch at prey.




More from the San Diego Zoo:

Growing up clouded

Like any newborn kitten, clouded leopard cubs are small and helpless at birth. Their eyes are closed, they have no teeth, and they are not able to walk. But at about two weeks of age their eyes open, and a week later the teeth start to emerge and they begin to walk on wobbly legs. By the time they are six months old they are fully weaned and have the full adult coloration.
Secretive lives

Considering its size, the clouded leopard is very secretive and has been difficult for researchers to study in the wild. It is believed the cats live solitary lives, unless a mother is caring for cubs. Never common, its population numbers are dropping outside of protected areas. Its rain forest habitat is often divided into small, unconnected patches of forest. As is true of all rain forest dwellers, the clouded leopards’ main threat to survival is continued habitat loss from a growing number of farms. And although they are protected by law, cloudeds are still hunted for their beautiful coat, and some Asian cultures believe clouded leopard bones and teeth have healing powers.

llama!

Today Ivor is a llama. A domesticated pack animal from South America, Ivor has soft fur that can be used to make textiles, is an intelligent helper animal, and a strong pack animal. He is friendly, but may sometimes spit on unwary humans, or attempt to neck wrestle with them. Moreover, as one of the few domesticated animals native to the region, llamas like Ivor have historically played an important part in South and Central American civilization!

Better late than never: silkworm

Today was so busy that we forgot to post Ivor's animal on the blog! This has to be corrected.

Today Ivor is a silk moth. A species of moth that has actually been domesticated and no longer occurs in the wild, Ivor spent his time as a puppy eating mulberry leaves and fattening himself up for transformation, then made a silk cocoon to transform in. Ivor is old enough now that he has probably already done that, and is now a moth. While he has wings, he can't fly. Most silk moths also don't eat, but Ivor has clearly found a way around this.

Also, one of the interns here, Elizabeth, took a bunch of photos of Ivor on his last day. Thanks Elizabeth! Here's one of them:

Honeybee

Amy forgot to tell me what Ivor is today, so I am picking his animal for the second day in a row! Today Ivor is a European honey bee.

Highly social, Ivor loves to get things done. He communicates through dances and body language to other members of his hive, conveying directions to nearby food sources. He plays a crucial ecological and agricultural role as a large percentage of food crops depend on honeybees for pollination. And while you may see honey bees in the wild, Ivor, like all common European honey bees, is actually domesticated; the numerous honey bees you see in the wild are actually feral cousins of kept bees.

Interestingly, male honeybees are relatively solitary and short-lived, surviving only long enough to mate. This doesn't really seem like Ivor's personality. He seems more like a worker bee - longer-lived, social, and industrious. This means, though, that today he's actually a sterile female.

Mountain Goat

Today is a sad day for me. I'm posting Ivor's animal in the absence of Ivor, Jonathan, AND Amy. I feel like I'm alone in the world.

In honor of Ivor's move to Seattle, Ivor is a nimble mountain goat. Native to the Northwest, Ivor is able to navigate rocky terrain and climb slopes as steep as 60 degrees - that is, he would if he didn't have arthritis now. This helps him keep above the timberline on mountains, thus avoiding predators. He has dense, thick fur that he molts every Spring and Summer - which is why we've been having so much fun pulling clumps of shedded hair off of him. Most of his life consists of eating and lying down.

Ivor also shares his name today with one of Sam's favorite bands, The Mountain Goats.

Ivor is Himself

posted for Amy:


Today Ivor is himself, a german shepherd. He is known for his keen intelligence; self-confidence; trainability; poise; affable, easy-going nature; and strong protective instinct. He is both lively and alert. His body is long and well-muscled, and he bears a look of true nobility.

He moves without effort, smooth and rhythmic, covering the maximum amount of ground with a minimum of steps. Ivor’s eyes indicate the love and affection he has for those who care for him and his sweeping tail shows his mood whether happy or sad. He is a friend for life! He is quick to learn and thrives on work. He loves human companionship and will respond to his owner’s mood. At all times, his one desire is to be with you and to please you. He can live anywhere as he is happy wherever you are happy.He has a keen sense of humor and enjoys playful games yet.

Ivor will be moving soon with Jonathan and Carla to Seattle. We will miss him, but he has promised to visit us. He has been the centerpiece of our office.


“You ask of my companions. Hills, sir, and the sundown, and a dog as large as myself that my father bought me. They are better than human beings, because they know but do not tell.” Emily Dickinson

Flying Fox

Ivor is a flying fox today.

So called because of their large size and canine features (like German shepherds, flying foxes have doglike muzzles and pointy ears), flying foxes feed on pollen and fruits. Unlike smaller bats, Ivor sees quite well (a good thing, since he is a guide animal) and doesn't have the ability to echolocate. The largest of all bats, Ivor has a wingspan of over four feet, even though he weighs only about 3 pounds! While he eats mainly at night, he's still active during the day and eager to interact with others. He's part of larger a family of fruit-eating bats known as fruit bats, and is less feared than other bats because he eats fruit instead of hunting for prey, and because his features so closely resemble those of dogs. This may be why he's called a "flying fox" instead of a "bat."

Today we're giving Ivor lots of water because he loses so much moisture through his wings. Even though he is supposed to eat at night, he's getting a few treats during the daytime too, in between his naps.

Platypus:

Today Ivor stayed home because it is too hot outside and there weren't enough creeks in the office for him to dive into in search of food. Amy sent this email to us telling us what animal Ivor is:

Ivor is a platypus today. His broad, flat, coarse, bristly tail acts as a powerful rudder when he swims and dives for food. He uses his webbed fore-paw to steer in the water, and to walk or burrow while on land.

Unfortunately, for Karla, the spur on the inner side of each hind limb holds poison. But no need to worry. As a platypus, Ivor will spend about 13 hours today foraging for food, using his electro-sensitive bill to locate and probe for worms, insects, crustaceans, molluscs and small vertebrates such as tadpoles. He’ll dive for between 20-40 seconds during foraging, resting on the surface for only 10 seconds between dives. He’ll perform about 80 dives per hour. A great Olympiad! Once he catches it, he will carry his prey in his cheek-pouches and use his small, horny pads to crush them.

Big surprise, Ivor can consume up to half his own body weight a day. Glad Karla doesn’t have to feed him, but seems like she may have to clean up a bit if with all that crushing. As for the poison risk, Jonathan will have to deal with that when he comes home.

Arabian Horse

Amy is posting by proxy today:

Today, Ivor is a Black Arabian horse, quite fitting since Arabians have a reputation for intelligence, high spirit, alertness, and outstanding stamina. Ivor comes from a distinguished line, as Arabians are one of the oldest horse breeds, perhaps dating back 4,500 years, and are one of the top 10 most popular breeds in the world. Surely the most popular at the ABA! The Arabian also has a close relationship with humans and is good-natured, quick to learn, and willing to please. Right on the mark! This combination of willingness and sensitivity requires owners like Jonathan to handle his Arabian with competence and respect.

“The black Arabians seems to have something magical, something that makes people go all starry-eyed and dreamy.” “For us – the Arabian lovers – it's clear that the Black Beauty must have been Arabian as only Arabian horses are so tender, intelligent and brave, combining these features with grace and majesty.”

Opossum

Today Ivor is a Virginia Opossum. You can tell because today he's lying in the middle of the hallway, risking being run over by people walking back and forth! Instead of getting out of the way of foot traffic, Ivor, like many opossums, "plays dead" by lying down, hoping that the source danger will leave him alone. Sadly, this strategy does not work too well, and Ivor risks being kicked accidentally today.

The Virginia Opossum is the only marsupial in North America. They are adaptable and live in all sorts of habitats, including urban areas, and are remarkably resistant to rabies. That's a good thing, since Ivor lives in the city and we don't want him getting sick (he's been vaccinated, of course, but natural resistance always helps). Although they look like rats, they're more closely related to other marsupials - including kangaroos and wombats - than to rodents. Sadly, opossums aren't very long-lived, so overall it's a good thing that he is turning into something else tomorrow.

Lyrebird

Ivor is a superb lyrebird today. He lives in Australia and looks unassuming - like a brown pheasant - except for his elaborate tail. As an adult male, Ivor has curled feathers (roughly S-shaped, like the holes on a violin). Some scientists studying lyrebirds who had not seen a live lyrebird before used to believe that the tail, when displayed, would look like a lyre. However, that is not true.

Ivor's most appealing feature today is his talent for vocal mimicry. The great majority of lyrebird songs - about 80% - are actually impressions of other sounds they have heard. This may include the songs of other birds, but also more "modern" sounds like the click of a camera or the buzz of a chainsaw. You can hear one of Ivor's cousins demonstrating his repertoire in this video on YouTube.

What will Ivor mimic today? The clacking of keyboards? The chatter of a screen reader? Maybe even the voices of his friends? It's really anyone's guess. Today may be confusing. We may be fooled into thinking that a car alarm is going off right in the hallway, that Karla is down the hall saying "hi" to someone, or that John is typing in his office when in fact he's out to lunch.

Ivor is a Tamaraw

Today, Ivor is a Tamaraw. he is a small wild buffalo weighing about 300 kg (660 lb). He lives in dense forest with open glades for grazing, such as are created by fires
or landslides. He also prefers to be close to water for wallowing. He feeds on grasses, bamboo shoots and aquatic vegetation. His small size and great strength enables him to push through dense jungle and climb steep mountains. Tamaraw associate in pairs, rather than herds, except when the cows are about to give birth.

The tamaraw was first documented by Western science in 1888. It has never been recorded from any area other than the island of Mindoro (Philippines). I guess these scientests have never heard of Ivor the Tamaraw who resides in Washington, DC. Prior to about 1900, most people had avoided settling on Mindoro, since it harbored a particularly virulent strain of malaria. Thus human impact on the
tamaraw had been slight. At one time the tamaraw lived throughout most of the island. With the advent of anti-malarial medicines near the turn of the century,
Mindoro became more accessible to human settlement. Since that time, the tamaraw's population has been reduced from abundance to a critically low level.
By 1966 its range had been reduced almost entirely to 3 principal areas: Mt. Iglit, Mt. Calavite, and the vicinity of the Sablayon Penal Settlement.  By
2000, reports suggested that tamaraw were restricted to just 2 areas: the Iglit Ranges, in Mounts Iglit-Baco National Park, and Aruyan, with very few data
about numbers in either site.

The tamaraw has declined mainly because of hunting, especially after the introduction of modern firearms after WWII and the Vietnam war; and habitat loss,
due to settlement, logging and ranching, after malaria was brought under control around 1900. Disease (rinderpest) caught from domestic cattle introduced
to the island in the 1930's has also had a serious impact.

Zorro!

Today, Ivor is a small-eared zorro, also known as the small-eared fox and the small-eared dog. He lives in the rainforests of South America, including the Amazon basin, is nocturnal, and is on the Brazilian endangered species list.

He is very special. Ivor’s long, black bushy tail, called a “sweep”, helps him change direction quickly on the mean D.C. streets and keeps his feet and nose warm when he curls up to sleep in the air-conditioned office. He has short, thick dark grey to black fur, with a dark band running along the back and tail, and his belly is reddish-brown (we colored it over the summer to lighten up his look) mixed with white. He also has sharp, curved claws and sharp teeth.

Jerboa

Today Ivor is an Egyptian jerboa. A small hopping rodent, Ivor lives in the hot African deserts. He looks like a cross between a mouse and a kangaroo, with long hind legs for hopping, small forelegs, and a long tufted tail for balance. He can jump rather far for something so little - over a meter - to escape a predator. Adapted to desert life, he doesn't even need to drink water, obtaining all his moisture from food (unless, of course, it's dry food). To avoid the heat, he only leaves his burrow at night and "estivates" (a form of hibernation that takes place during the summer) during the hottest summer months.

Today is so hot that Ivor is estivating. This sadly means that he stayed home today, and is not around to say hi to us. We wish we were estivating too, but we're not jerboas.

Ivor is a Liger

Today, Ivor is a liger.

The liger is a cat born from the breeding of a male lion and a female tiger. This combination produces an offspring with more lionistic features than if the reverse pairing had occured. That would produce a more tigeristic creature known as a tigon. Both are members of genus Panthera. There is no scientific name assigned to this animal because of it’s human assisted ancestory.

A liger looks like a giant lion with muted stripes but like their tiger ancestors, ligers like swimming. This goes against the nature of a lion but is what makes the creature special. It gets the best of both parents. That is not always the case though with crossbreeds. Sometimes the results go the other way and the animal gets the worst of both parents.

According to the website linked above, ligers have a short life expectency, so it's a very good thing that Ivor will become something else tomorrow.

Black leopard

Amy, posting by proxy today:

"The Black Leopard, probably the most evolved predator cat, most aggressive, and most feared animal in the world—Oh Ivor, impressive! Black Leopards are not fussy eaters—no kidding—and prefer to remain hidden during daylight hours, resting and sleeping—you will find Ivor sleeping near the door of the back elevator. They are generally extremely secretive and solitary animals, only coming out when staff are holding big meetings with lots of food. They are supreme tree climbers and can leap to 6-8 meters up a tree trunk from the ground. Black Leopards are rarely seen—aren’t we lucky!—and live and breed in the UK. Rabbits would probably be the main diet in the UK—hey, has anyone seen Sam’s favorite pet bunny, Emma? Oh, and the Black Leopard has a highly proven track record as a man eater—run now, everyone!"

Raccoon

Today, in honor of Sam's birthday, Ivor decided to be Sam's favorite animal, a raccoon. Raccoons are clever, adaptable creatures and can live in all kinds of environments, both urban and rural, in North America. They're well recognized by their facial markings, which make them look somewhat like bandits. Raccoons are so nifty that tyrannosaurus rexes fear them (transcription of that comic can be found here).

Ivor's raccoonicity is well in keeping with his recent habit of looking for food all the time. Today, Ivor not only badgered his friend Amy for treats, but also started nosing around Sam's desk in search of muffin crumbs. Like other raccoons, Ivor seems willing to eat pretty much anything lately, even when it might not be good for him. He didn't get much muffin or ice cream, though, which is why he's sort of moping in this picture:



Pooooor Ivor.

Ivor is a Mandrill

Today, Ivor is a Mandrill(forest baboon). He can live in Cameroon, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon West Africa, Gabon, Congo, and South Cameroon.

Mandrills have long, dense, olive-brown silky fur, often with mane or cape at the shoulders which is heavier in adult males. Mandrills have dog-like muzzles, white eyelids and long, imposing canine teeth, often 2-2.5 in. long. They have pouched cheeks for storing food. Their shoulders are higher than their hips when walking, due to the lengthening of the arm bones and the addition of the palm to the effective limb length. Their tails are very sort, about 2-3 inches long.

The adult male's face is very brightly colored. A scarlet nose with prominent, bony blue flanges on either side are the unmistakable characteristic of the male. He also has patches of blue skin as well as red skin on the rump. The colors are enhanced by increased blood flow.

Mandrills can live for 20 years in the wild and 35 years in captivity. So, it's a good thing Ivor has been domesticated; he will be able to work until he is at leased 30.

Spiny dog fish

Today Ivor is a spiny dogfish. 7thFloor Media.com says:

Spiny dog fish are actually the smallest sharks in the world. They have five gills, one spine in front of each dorsal fin, and no anal fin. The largest dog fish ever found was 160 cm (63 inches) and 9.1kg (20 lb.). The spiny dog fish lives all around the world, not just in the Pacific Ocean. It is grey with a oval shaped tail, but the top of the fin is longer than the bottom. Spiny dog fish sometimes become a schooling fish and they also will dart toward a diver but then veer away from the diver, showing their speed, grace and power. The active spiny dog fish frequently swims at the surface, finning or thrashing in pursuit of plankton, herring or other small fishes. You should watch this from a wharf, the shore or a boat.

It appears that Ivor, while still not the longest, definitely has broken the record for heaviest dogfish alive. And he STILL WANTS MORE TREATS!

Spectacled bear

Ivor is a spectacled bear today. He lives in South America and eats a variety of foods, from orchid bulbs to small mammals.

He's rather small for a bear - about 60 inches - but pretty big for a guide dog. Which probably explains why he's been so hungry all day - regular dog meals just aren't doing it today, he wants all of our food as well. He had better not eat my orchid bulbs, though. Find your own, Ivor!

Macaroni Penguin day

Most people who meet Ivor think that he's a black German Shepherd who works as a guide dog. Little do they know, however, that each day, Ivor actually becomes a new and different species. While he continues to act as a guide animal, and still looks like a black German Shepherd, his inner essence changes day to day.

For example, this Monday, Ivor was a fairy shrimp. He lived in shallow pools and had eleven sets of legs. The next day, however, he had transformed into a vampire squid from hell living in the deep sea. By Wednesday, he was an eohippus, the dog-sized, five-toed ancestor of the modern horse and the last living specimen of his kind. Yesterday, he was a Morocco orange tip butterfly.

Today, it was so hot that Ivor had to become a macaroni penguin to stay cool. He lives on a subantarctic island near South Africa and mostly eats krill and squid. He has therefore moved up in the food chain a bit since Tuesday (luckily, since macaroni penguins can't dive deep enough, the vampire squid friends that Ivor made on Tuesday are safe from him today).

Many people who learn about Ivor are curious about what species he is each day, so his friends decided to set up this blog so that we can keep people updated. We hope that it will become a way for people around the world to follow the extraordinary metamorphoses of this very talented animal.