Vampire Deer

Everyone knows that a deer’s most recognizable feature is its antlers, with many prongs branching skyward to create a regal crown. But did you know that some deer come equipped with honest-to-goodness, real-life fangs? Musk and water deer, commonly lumped together as “fanged” or “vampire” deer, have long, sharp canine teeth that even jut out past the lower jaw!

Although you might imagine these fanged deer running around at night trying to find and stalk unsuspecting victims, the truth is a little more reassuring. Like antlers in other deer, deer fangs are mostly used as weapons by competing males vying for territories and access to breeding females.

Most of these deer are also very tiny and only grow to about two to three feet high. This makes them a bit of a comical sight: they may look vicious in pictures, but their size is pretty underwhelming in person.

The (Evolutionary) Road Less Travelled

Why don’t larger deer come equipped with fangs? The answer lies in the distant past. When deer were first evolving, they were tiny creatures that had both fangs and antlers; it was actually their default mode. In fact, they looked pretty much like the fanged deer of today. These guys haven’t changed much through the course of history.

Big deer, on the other hand, went a different route. As they grew larger, they lost their fangs and began to grow larger and larger antlers, until we arrived at the iconic deer species that we see today like moose, caribou, and elk.

Big Money From Little Deer

Although fanged deer are quite awesome, most of them are actually pretty secretive and you’re not likely to see them in the open very much. This is probably a good thing, too, because most of the remaining species of fanged deer left in the world are now endangered due to poaching and habitat loss.

Musk deer in particular are heavily targeted by poachers for their musk glands, which are used in perfume and traditional Asian medicine. Musk is so valuable that it’s worth several times its own weight in gold – big money for a potential poacher. But at the rates that these animals are being killed it’s not a sustainable business.

The Great Britain Fanged Deer Population Bomb

Despite most fanged deer being endangered, one area where they’re doing really well is Great Britain, where a few species of fanged deer escaped from zoos or were introduced in the wild by some well-meaning (but ill-informed) people many years ago.

Thanks to plentiful plants, no natural predators, and a fast reproductive rate, these deer are now taking over the island! There are so many deer now that they are considered a pest because they cause a ton of damage to gardens and natural areas, not to mention thousands of car accidents per year.

Despite the varied success of fanged deer in the different areas of the world, one thing is certain: fanged deer are unique and are worth preserving. The next time you see a full-size deer, just imagine it with fangs!

Giant Panda

If you have seen a picture of a giant Panda once, you will likely never forget what they look like. Their unique black and white fur makes them easy to distinguish from all other animals. This is also represented in its latin name Ailuropoda melanoleuca, which literally means “black and white cat-foot.” Though they are referred to as “giant” pandas, they don’t grow that big. An average adult weighs somewhere between 100-115 kg and measures 150-190 cm long. They’re only giant in comparison to the much smaller Red Panda in the family Ailuridae (which is not all that related to the Giant Panda).

A vegetarian meat-eater

The Giant Panda is a bear in the order Carnivora. Sounds perfectly normal, right? Most people expect bears to eat meat. This is not the case for the Giant Panda. About 99% of its diet consists of bamboo. What makes things even more interesting is that it still has a digestive system like that of other carnivores, which makes it very difficult to get enough energy from eating almost exclusively bamboo. The Giant Panda has several adaptations to cope with this lifestyle. It has symbiotic microbes in its gut that helps break down the cellulose in the bamboo and facilitate energy uptake. Even with this the animals still have to eat a lot of bamboo to get enough energy to survive: more than 10kg every day. Eating this much also means it has to get rid of a lot of waste. This helps spread a lot bamboo seeds and thus the Panda helps maintain its forest.

Distribution and Habitat

The Giant Panda once roamed a large area of Southern and Eastern China. It was also found in northern Vietnam and Burma (Myanmar). Today it is found only in 20 or so smaller patches of mountain forest in the Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Gansu provinces (China). The patches are largely isolated from each other, making populations more or less geographically separated. They are found in temperate mountain bamboo forests at an elevation between 1200 and 4100m.

Protecting the Panda

The Giant Panda is classified as ENDANGERED (EN) on the IUCN Red List. Its biggest threat today is habitat loss. Poaching was a big problem in the past, but strictly enforced laws and high penalties seems to have got rid of this problem. Although some Giant Pandas are still killed in snares targeted for other species.

By the latest count (2004) it was estimated that 1600 individuals remain in the wild.
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has been working to protect the pandas for a long time. Learn more about how you can help WWF in their work to protect the Giant Pandas here.

African Wild Dog

WWF refers to the African Wild Dog as one of the world’s most endangered mammals with an estimated remaining global population of somewhere between 3,000-5,500 individuals left. Once roaming most of the African continent, the African Wild dog is now only found in a few wildlife parks mostly around the southern part of Africa. The animal is so endangered that I remember many guide books not mentioning its specific distribution.

It is the only today living species of the genus Lycaon (Gr. word for “wolf”).
One thing that separates it from other canids is that it only has four toes on its front legs. Other canids have five.

Twinflower (or Linnea)

The Twinflower is the only member of the Linnaea genus with three recognized subspecies. The European Linnaea boralis borealis is most commenly found in northern Europe. Its European range does also include parts of the taller mountain ranges of the Alps, the Caucasus and the Carpathian mountains.

The Twinflower was one of Carl Linnaeus’s favorite flowers. When he in 1735 first published his famous Systema Naturae he gave the plant the name Rudbeckia after two explorers of the northern Scandinavian wilderness, Olaus Rudbeck and his son Olof Rudbeck. Some years later the genus name was changed to Linnaea by one of Carl Linnaeu’s collegues as a tribute to Carl Linnaeus appreciation for this flower. An interesting note is that Carl Linneus later re-used the name Rudbeckia for a completely different plant genus in the Asteracea family (Sunflower family).

Just like Linnaeus, Untamed Science members Jonas and Louise have always loved the Linnea flower and now the name is brought into the family through their firstborn daughter.

Herb Robert

In traditional herbalism, Herb Robert was used as a remedy for toothache and nosebleeds and as a vulnerary. Freshly picked leaves have an odor resembling burning tires when crushed, and if they are rubbed on the body the smell is said to repel mosquitoes. The active ingredients are tannins, a bitter compound called geraniin, and essential oils. It was carried to attract good luck, and due to its analogical association with storks, to enhance fertility.

Hops

First, our short video

Here are a few facts about Hops

Hops grow vertically on bines, not vines. The difference in the two is a bine grows upward climbing around a separate support, whereas vines grow on a structure using tendrils and roots.
One IBU (International Bittering Unit) is defined as one part-per-million (ppm) of the chemical isohumulone, the alpha acid in hops that contributes to its bitter flavor
Essential hops oils are easily lost to oxidation. One USDA study found losses of 28% to 90% after six months of storage at room temperature, depending on the hop varietal.
Only female hops have the gland that produces oils desirable for brewing. Male and female hops grow on separate plants, so male hops are removed to prevent fertilization. Large commercial hops fields are entirely female.
On a related note, hops are one of the plant species (along with soybeans, legumes, flax seed and many others) that contain phytoestrogens, plant-derived nonsteroidal compounds that mimic the human sex hormone, estrogen. The health effects of consumption of phytoestrogens by either men or women is largely inconclusive at this point.
Hops contain complex organic compounds such as xanthohumol, which is currently under research as a potential cancer chemopreventative and treatment for postmenopausal symptoms.
The alpha acids in hops have a mild antibacterial effect against Gram-positive bacteria such as Lactobacillus and Pediococcus, giving a slight advantage to the Gram-negative spores of brewer’s yeast, Saccharomyces. This property is one of the reasons why hops won out over many other herbal bittering agents when brewers noticed less spoilage in batches brewed with hops.
As widely reported in craft beer literature — for no apparent reason — hops belong to the same taxonomic family (Cannabaceae) as cannabis, hemp and sativa, along with 170 other plant species. Other than possessing mild antiseptic properties, there is little similarity among any of these plants other than their shared academic classification.
Hop resins are insoluble in water. It takes the application of heat during brewing to isomerize (change the chemical structure of) alpha acids so their flavors can dissolve into the wort.
Hops are toxic to dogs and cats, sometimes even in small amounts depending on the breed. Keep an eye on your hops pellets if home-brewing.

Rough Chervil

Ok, if you’re not a culinary connoisseur, you may have no idea what chervil is. Here’s a crash course. Chervil is fine French herb that is often used in cooking fish and poultry, a bit like parsley but finer. Here, we’re talking about its close relative: rough chervil (Chaerophyllum temulum). Granted, it’s a bit of an unknown plant for most people; I couldn’t find much on it myself. It is widespread in Europe and apparently invasive in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. So it’s nice to learn how to identify it, especially since it looks quite similar to one of the deadliest plants in the world, Water Hemlock.

Rough Chervil (Chaerophyllum temulentum) is similar to Cow Parsley and Upright Hedge Parsley but is distinguished from the others by its rough and red-colored stem. Though it appears much like Cow Parsley, it is later to flower and rarely takes over the area that it is planted in.

Description: The stem of Rough Chervil is what helps to distinguish it from other similar plants. It is tall, rough, and red in color with purple spots. The leaves number around 2 to 3 on a stem, are toothed and dark green in color, eventually turning purple. The flowers are typically white and reach roughly 2mm long. The flowers bloom from around May to July and are great for attracting a wide range of insects, beetles and hoverflies in particular. Rough Chervil does really well in a bit of shade but can also make it in the full sun.

If you have any more information about this plant, including pictures, send them over to us. We’d love to share more about it.

Barbary Macaque

The Barbary macaque is the only species of macaque found outside of Asia. They are native to forests of Algeria and Morocco and a couple of places in northern Libya.

Except for humans, they are the only wild primates found in Europe, with a population of about 300 individuals living in a nature reserve located on the top of Gibraltar.

(Here is a hi-res version of the Barbary Macaque for you – copyright by Jonas Stenstrom).

Ape or Monkey?

Barbary macaques are unique in that they lack a tail. For this reason we often hear them referred to as Barbary “apes,” even though they really are monkeys. (True apes include gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos, gibbons, and humans.

Diet

Normally these animals eat primarily fruit and insects, but since they live so close to humans in certain areas, they have picked up the bad habit of stealing food from unwary tourists. Even if this may seem funny at the time, feeding the monkeys has lead to some aggressive attacks and should be discouraged. So pack your food well and hold on to your belongings; these monkeys are smart!

Conservation

The number of wild Barbary macaques has seen a major decline in recent years; in 2009 they were declared endangered by the IUCN and were put on the IUCN Red List.

The reasons for their decline are habitat destruction (mainly logging) and local farmers seeing them as pests and actively trying to get rid of them. Their population, once an extensive and continuous distribution across northern Africa, is now fragmented into smaller patches and forests in mainly Algeria, Morocco, and Libya.

In addition, Barbary macaques have also been heavily poached for the illegal pet trade.

Great Plains Yucca

Where is Yucca glauca found

Great plains Yucca grows well in xeric (dry) habitats throughout the great plains region. It’s found from Canada south to Texas and New Mexico.

Interesting Yucca Facts:

The Great Plains Yucca is pollinated by the honey ant (Myrmecocystus mexicanus) among other species.
Seeds can be used for food.
Yucca was a traditional Native American medicinal plant.
You can make bread out of the roots
It forms colonies of plants via rosettes.
You can make soap out of it.

Fly Agaric

The Fly Agaric, Amanita muscaria, is one of the most recognizable mushrooms in the world even if most people have no idea what you’re supposed to call it. People have seen it depicted in drawings and video games their entire life. (The Mario World games depict a red and white spotted mushroom that helps them grow bigger, no doubt a nod to the hallucinogenic Fly Agaric.)

Still, this mushroom is one of the most influential mushrooms in all of mankind. Some have even considered it the original Soma, the inspiration for the Hindu religion. To understand this, you have to understand the entire mushroom. That’s why we’ve listed it among the top 25 mushrooms to know.

Where is the fly agaric found?

Today the Fly Agaric is a circumglobal fungi. Some authors claim that this species was introduced to South America and Africa through the timber industries. While this could very well be true, it does seem hard to validate the claim. It is most common in areas where it can grow with its host trees: pines and birches. Yet, it will grow occasionally with other trees. It already had a distribution in the northern hemisphere, particularly abundant in Siberia, northern Europe and North America.

Identification of the Fly Agaric Mushroom

Cap: Immature caps are globose to hemispherical. Later in life they are plate-like. They can reach 8-20 cm in diameter. They are generally bright red with white “warts.” These are the remnants of the universal veil. The red color of the cap can fade with age. Some subspecies are more yellow to almost white.
Gills: The gills are free and white.
Spores: Spores are white. They do not turn blue with iodine.
Stipe: White, 5-20 cm high by 1-2 cm wide. It has a slightly brittle, fibrous texture. At the base of the stipe is a bulb that bears the universal veil remnants in the form of two to four distinct rings or ruffs. Along the stem there should also be remnants of the partial viel. These look like a ring around the stem.
Taste: Better not taste it. There are many mixed reports. Some say it tastes like chicken. Others say it tastes like fish snacks.
Odor: No associated smell other than mild earthiness

Is it poisonous or hallucinogenic?

One question that often pops up when talking about Fly Agaric is its potential as a hallucinogen. Many books list this species simply as a poisonous amanita and give no time to its historical or present use as a mind-altering compound. Truth be told, it is poisonous at certain doses. Some people have proposed a lethal dose closer to 15 caps. There are almost no substantiated deaths though. But, it is also a psychotropic mushroom if taken in the right quantities. We are not promoting the use of this mushroom and should explain that it doesn’t provide the greatest trip. However, should you want to use it, we provide information on preparing Amanita muscaria here.