The awesome blue-footed booby, a marine bird native to subtropical and tropical regions of the eastern Pacific Ocean, is easily recognizable by its distinctive bright blue feet, which is a sexually selected trait and a product of their diet. Males display their feet in an elaborate mating ritual by lifting them up and down while strutting before the female.
Monarch butterflies are very widespread in the United States, but they can also be found in other countries throughout the world.
Though their larvae eat only milkweed, adult monarch butterflies feed on the nectar of many plants. The name "monarch" is believed to have been given in honour of King William III of England, as the butterfly's main colour is that of the king's secondary title, Prince of Orange.
You may wish to check out these butterflies' cute cocoons here: zafoid.com/post/view/7800
Alpine marmots are cute furry creatures that have evolved to deal with the ice-age climate of the Pleistocene era, and today thrive at very high altitudes where it's quite cold. They hibernate for up to nine months per year, and are excellent diggers and can dig into soil that even a pickaxe would find hard to shift. They live in colonies in deep burrows, emerging to feed early in the morning and late in the afternoon, when it's cool.
Manta rays are filter feeders, and eat large quantities of zooplankton, which they gather with their open mouths as they swim.
The giant oceanic manta ray species can grow up to 9 m (30 ft) in maximum length, to a disc size of 7 m (23 ft) across with a weight of about 3,000 kg (6,600 lb), but average size commonly observed is 4.5 m (15 ft).
Humpback whales, gentle giants known for their haunting songs and acrobatic breaches, are a success story of the Endangered Species Act, which has just turned 50, having been signed into law in 1973. Humpback whales were once on the edge of extinction, largely due to commercial whaling, but thanks to conservation efforts, their population has bounced back from around 5,000 in 1966 to an estimated 135,000 today. So spread the word, support conservation efforts, participate in local initiatives, and be eco-friendly.
"Vaquita" is Spanish for "little cow", and is the smallest porpoise in the world. Vaquitas lives exclusively in the shallow, turbid waters within Mexico's upper Gulf of California (also called the Sea of Cortez). The species is instantly recognisable thanks to its characteristic dark rings around the eyes, and its black lips. Unfortunately, this lovely cetacean is currently on the brink of extinction, and currently listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN Red List ; the steep decline in abundance is primarily due to bycatch in gillnets from the illegal totoaba fishery. In fact the WWF estimates that there are only about 10 vaquitas alive today (source: https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/vaquita), and so the species is on the verge of extinction.
Today we celebrate reindeers, who according to urban legend have just pulled Father Christmas' sleight on the magical night of Christmas day. The reindeer in these images are from Norway (notice the Norther lights) and from Finland. May the magic of Christmas touch your heart and mind!
