Gibson’s World

Cape Porcupines are really fascinating rodents.  They are also one of my favorite animals because they are so different from most other animals.  Some people don’t like them, though, because they believe that porcupines can shoot their quills, which isn’t true.

Cape Porcupines are big, nocturnal  rodents covered in black fur on the head and legs, but long, sharp quills on the rest of the body.    Porcupines are usually 10-24 kg., the female being bigger than the male.  The quills are about 30 cm. long and are banded with black and white.  The quills are also modified hairs and are hollow to keep warm. On our trip, we have found several porcupine quills and they were really sharp.

These rodents have some interesting habits.  Cape Porcupines eat plants and sometimes insects. They are usually solitary, but may share a burrow with up to three other porcupines.  Its predators are cheetah, leopard, lion, and caracal, so Cape Porcupines need to be able to run fast when they are chased.  They also will back into the predator, growl, snuffle, teeth-chatter, or rattle their tail quills.  The porcupines’ best and most famous defense, though, is the quills.  When the cape porcupine succeeds in jabbing the enemy, the predator will often get infected because porcupines have very dirty quills. 

Porcupines are very well camouflaged because their quills blend in with the tall grasses in Africa. Our guide said that is was very rare to see porcupines  because of their camouflage. Although Cape porcupines have some great defenses, sometimes predators come in large numbers and usually succeed in killing the hopeless porcupines.  They often kill the porcupine by flipping it over to reveal the unprotected throat and belly.

Cape Porcupines are fascinating animals.  While we were at Jack’s Camp, Botswana, we got to see a Cape Porcupine and it was really interesting to see it in the wild.  

A sandfish despite its name is a type of skink (see Super Skinks).  They “swim” in the soft sands of the desert and inhabit Northern Africa and parts of the Middle East.  Often times, you will see a dart of a lizard and then it will be gone into the sand.  This is usually a sandfish.

Sandfish are usually about seven to eight inches long with a tail shorter than the body which is very unusual for lizards.  They are mainly yellow/gold colored with black cross-bands and white sides and belly.  Sandfish also have short legs and a long, pointy snout.  To keep the sand out of its eyes, nose, and lungs, sandfish have very small eyes and nostrils. Because sandfish have such unusual characteristics, they are commonly sold as pets.

Sandfish have some very interesting behaviors.  They are insectivorous and eat three to four times a week with 4 crickets per meal.  To hunt they emerge from the burrow.  They can also hunt by listening to the vibration of insects walking over its burrow.  Then the sandfish will attack.  Since it is very hot in the desert, sandfish have developed the ability to “swim” through the sand in order to cool down.  They also use this method to escape predators like snakes (vipers). Scientists found out only in 2000 that sandfish created less friction than polished steel, glass, or nylon which enables them to swim through the sand so well.

While we visited Dubai, we went on a “desert safari.”  On it, we saw a sandfish, so of course we caught it.  I was amazed at how fast it could disappear into the sand.  Sandfish are very interesting animals and I am glad that we could see, catch, and hold one in the wild.

Jerash is an ancient Roman city 48 km. north of Amman.  It was inhabited for about 6500 years by the Romans and at one point had 20,000 people living there.

If you went to Jerash, the first thing that you would notice would probably be the columns.  They are huge and are in rows.  There is also a hippodrome which held chariot races and gladiator fights.  Nearly 1/2 of Jerash’s population would attend these events every day.  Other items in Jerash were fountains, a city wall, towers, the oval plaza, amphitheaters, and gates.

Jerash developed into a big town in the 4th Century B.C., but it wasn’t until the 3rd Century A.D. that the “Golden Age” took place.  The Golden Age was the most prosperous time in Jerash and it was then that Jerash held 20,000 people.  Then, in 749 A.D., a series of earthquakes took place which caused serious damage to Jerash and the population declined to about 4,000 people.

Today, Jerash is one of the largest and well-preserved ancient Roman cities.  The reason for this is that Jerash was covered in sand, so it wasn’t exposed to wind or rain.  It was rediscovered in 1806 when Ulrich Jasper Sutzen (a visitor) found part of it.

While we were in Jordan, we visited Jerash.  We saw not only the ruins, but also got to see lots of animals.  We ended up seeing Starred Agamas, a Gecko, a lizard, and a Red Whip Snake (Our guide had never seen a snake before in Jerash).  Jerash and Dana National Reserve (see Sterling’s report) were my two favorite places in Jordan and I hope to return some day.

Death-stalker Scorpions are super-cool arachnids. They are one of the world?s most dangerous scorpions and kill a few people each year especially young children and old people. The reason for the name Death-stalker is probably because when it bites you, death is stalking you, but some people keep them as pets, anyways!

Although these creatures are highly feared, they are not completely bad. One good thing about Death-stalkers is that scientists think that parts of the death-stalkers? venom may be able to treat brain tumors and diabetes. Luckily or unluckily, Death-stalkers are very rare, so not many people get bitten by them, but the medicines to cure brain tumors and diabetes are harder to find.

Death-stalkers are super interesting looking animals. They are light yellow colored with black on the end of its long, slender tail and grey on its back. The black on the end of the tail is not always present which only confuses identification. When talking about Death-stalkers, most scientists use the scientific name (Leiurus Quinquestriatus) as not to confuse it with other dangerous species of scorpions. The scientific name (Latin) (Leiurus Quinquestriatus) translates to ?Five-striped Smooth-tail?.

Death-stalkers are native to northern Africa and the Middle East and live in natural burrows and under stones in deserts and scrublands, so right as we got to Dana National Reserve, Jordan, I started flipping over rocks. I was very excited when under the first rock that I flipped over was a Death-stalker Scorpion! Right away I started taking Macro pictures of it and looking at it. Death-stalker Scorpions are really interesting creatures and I am glad that I got to see one in the wild.

King Tut or Tutankhamen was an Egyptian Pharaoh.  He lived from 1341 B.C. to 1323 B.C. and died at only the age of 19. Although King Tut lived for a short amount of time, even by ancient Egyptian’s standards, he still ruled for 10 years starting at the age of nine.

King Tut’s tomb was discovered completely intact by Howard Carter in 1922.  It was only robbed once but nothing valuable was stolen besides some clothes, amulets, and some other small items.  Even though Howard Carter was supposed to be an archeologist, it sadly turned out that he too was a robber and stole some items from the tomb. They haven’t been found yet even today.

The cause of King Tut’s death is unknown.  Some people think that he was murdered and some people think that he died of a  fractured leg bone.  In 1968, a group of Egyptian scientists did an x-ray of King Tut’s mummy.  They found a place in the back of his head that looked like it had been caused by a blow. Therefore they concluded that the King was murdered. Horemheb and Ay were both in line to be king of Egypt, so the scientists thought that one of them may have murdered King Tut.

Then, in 2005 another group of scientists x-rayed King Tut’s body.  This time, they found nothing on the back of the head besides a hole in which the ancient Egyptians used during mummification.  They also found a fracture in his leg.  They found out that King Tut had died soon after the fracture took place, so they thought that he may have died from falling off a chariot.

King Tut did not rule for very long and didn’t do anything great as a pharaoh, yet he is the most famous pharaoh.  The only real reason for this is that his tomb (not pyramid) was the only one found intact in the Valley of the Kings.  Also, his tomb was made for a priest, so it isn’t even half as big as the average pharaoh got. The reason that King Tut had a tomb instead of a pyramid was because every single pyramid had gotten robbed after only 1000 years, so the Egyptians moved to underground in order to protect the valuable buried with each pharaoh or queen.

While we were in Egypt, we got to see King Tut’s tomb, mummy, sarcophagus, and much more.  The tombs of all of the pharaohs were really amazing because the colors were still there. Some tombs  looked almost newly painted.  Ancient Egyptians especially King Tut are really interesting and I hope to learn even more about them sometime.