Lutung

 Now for the last of the Monkey Kitten Litter. Lutung. 

Or, these guys. Like Langur, Lutung is a family of monkeys, not just a single species. They actually have a lot of crossover, in that a lot of monkeys that are officially named Langur/Lutung often have another common name of the other. 

Silvery Lutung, from the Our Breathing Planet link below. 

These are from the New England Primate Conservancy, and are still Silvery Lutungs. They're babies. When Silvery Lutungs are born, they're golden and white, then they quickly turn black and silver over the first few months of life. You can see the baby turning darker in the pictures here. Scientists aren't sure why they start out orange, but there are two theories on it. Either it's so their parents can track them, or so color-blind predators can't. 

Silver Lutungs are also known as Silver Leaf Monkeys. Probably because they live in dense forests, which are threatened and causing some problems for their continued existence. They might also be called that because they mostly live on leaves. Eating leaves means they have to lay around and relax for a while so that they can digest the fiber-rich food. 

Like a lot of monkeys, these guys live in groups of one male and several females, though occasionally there are roving groups of bachelors looking for ladies to start a new group with. 

There are also Javan and Laotion Lutungs, and a few others, but I couldn't find as much information on them and my internet is being really slow still, so those pages didn't want to load and I'm not going to push it. Besides, I thought the Silvery Lutung worked well for my silver-gray kitten. 

Hopefully you enjoyed reading this. If you want more pictures of these babies, let me know and I'll be happy to share. Links below if you want to know more. I know I don't tell you a lot about things, but that's because I tell you what I think is really cool about them and if you're interested, I share my sources so you can look into things more. If you want me to tell you more of the stuff I find boring, feel free to tell me and I will. Thanks for your time though, and I'll hopefully see you again soon. 

Sources: 

Animal Diversity Web-- Silver Lutung

Nature Rules Fandom Wiki-- Silver Lutung

Our Breathing Planet-- Silver Lutung

Animalia-- Silvery Lutung

New England Primate Conservancy-- Silver Lutung

Patas

If I go to jail for killing someone working at our internet provider's company, I apologize for disappearing on you again for that. Hopefully it won't. Since I'm 15 miles away from anywhere with decent internet that I can hang out and use, that makes things a bit hard sometimes. I'll try to catch up quickly though, if the internet allows. 

But, on with the monkey kittens. Then I'll try to figure out what to name the others, so I can tell you about them and what they got named after. 

Today, it's Patas. 

Sorry, I mean, it's Patas.

Pictures of monkeys from the New England Primate Conservancy link below. 

Pictures of kittens are from me and absolutely adorable. 

So, Patas Monkeys are also called several other things, including Dancing Red Monkey, Military Monkey, Hussar Monkey, and a few others. Patas comes from an African language, meaning 'tailless'. Military Monkey, on the other hand, comes from their red coats and white mustaches. 

Unlike the New World monkeys, these guys live in Africa, primarily in grasslands. There are three subspecies of Patas-- East, West, and Aïr, named after the regions they live in, to the East, West, and the Aïr Massif in between. There's also a pocket of Patas Monkeys that were introduced in Puerto Rico. 

Patas Monkeys live in groups of one male and their harem of females. If a predator gets too close to the group, the male will puff up and draw attention, then scram, so the females are safe. For that, I think they deserve some credit. It makes sense that they would plan for something like that though, considering that they are the fastest primates on the planet, running up to 35 miles an hour. That's not quite highway speed, but it's pretty close. It's also fast enough that sometimes they get mistaken for cheetahs. 

So, I think that a monkey that can be mistaken for a big kitty is an ok name for a little kitty. Don't you think? 

Hopefully, I'll be back tomorrow to tell you more about another monkey-kitty. Have fun until then. 

Sources:

Encyclopedia Britannica-- Patas Monkeys

New England Primate Conservancy-- Patas Monkeys

Animal Diversity Web-- Patas Monkeys

A-Z Animals-- Patas

Southwick Zoo-- Patas Monkey

Animalia-- Patas Monkey

Rosamond Gifford Zoo-- Patas Monkey

San Diego Zoo Fact Sheets-- Patas

SQUIRREL! Monkeys

 Squirrel Monkey, actually. 

You've probably noticed a theme here, so I'll flip the script a bit. Here's my reason for talking about Squirrel Monkeys. 

Ok, I might have a favorite kitten from this litter. But she keeps purring for me, and I can't help cuddling more for those tiny purrs. 

But, I named her after Squirrel Monkeys, which is another group of monkey types, and now I'm going to justify it by telling you how awesome they are. Even if they don't purr like my bitty-babe. 

Squirrel monkeys are usually pretty small, weighing only 1-3 pounds, and have large tails that may not be fluffy, but are still pretty impressive. They live in South America, which makes them New World Monkeys, if that definition means anything to you. It does to me, but that's because it's something I've come across in my love of random knowledge. One of the interesting things about those two facts though, is that they are the only New World Monkeys that don't have prehensile tails, which means they can't grab things with their tails. Since the New/Old World Monkey distinction is based on where they live, these guys are definitely New World, but it's mostly the Old World that just have tails for balance. 

This is a Humboldt's Squirrel Monkey, picture taken from the New England Primate Conservancy link below. They're also the ones to say that squirrel monkeys can be considered one of the most intelligent of the primates because their brain-to-body size is twice that of humans, and that they have 26 different calls, which is more than most primates have. Aside from humans, who figure out new sounds every day. Or, it seems like that. 

This one comes from the Oakland Zoo link. They don't specify which subspecies this is, but it's a great picture. They do say that these guys can jump horizontally up to 2 meters. Which is about 6 times their body length. Or you jumping 30 feet. Wow. 

Encyclopedia Britannica Kids is the source for this one. They're the ones that say I might be wrong about my little Squirrel kitten being the only one to purr because it's on the list of sounds they make. They also talked about how seriously social these guys are, coming together in groups of up to 500, which is basically a large enough group that being exact is hard, so probably a guesstimate. Either way, these guys are a lot more social than I am or ever will be. 

A-Z Animals, link below, is the first to state outright that these tiny monkeys are named for their speed and agility as much as their size, which is important. They've also got some great pictures, if you want to see more of these adorable monkeys. Another thing from them, and from others, is that these guys are pretty much omnivorous, in part because they eat whatever is around, but also because they don't always have access to a lot of food if the larger monkeys get there first. 

So, now that I've listed out a lot of cool things about Squirrel Monkeys, and shared pictures of my adorable little Squirrel, is it ok for her to keep her name? Because she needs a name worthy of her, and these quick, acrobatic, brilliant, social little monkeys might be good enough. 

Thanks for reading, I hope you liked it. 

Sources:

Animal Diversity Web-- Squirrel Monkeys

San Francisco Zoo-- Squirrel Monkeys

New England Primate Conservancy-- Humboldt's Squirrel Monkeys

Oakland Zoo-- Squirrel Monkeys

London Zoo--Black Capped Squirrel Monkeys

Encyclopedia Britannica Kids-- Squirrel Monkeys

Earth's Endangered-- Red Backed Squirrel monkey

A-Z animals- 10 facts about Squirrel monkeys

Peru Wildlife-- Squirrel Monkeys

Gee's Golden Langur

 Also known as Golden Leaf Monkeys or just Golden Langur, this is an endangered old world monkey that lives in a tiny area of Bhutan and India, where they are considered a sign of good luck. 

Picture from New England Primate Conservancy, link below. 

These guys are primarily leaf eaters, but they seem willing to eat whatever they can get their hands on, like fruit, flowers, insects, snails, and farm crops, among other things. The picture below is from the Discover Wildlife link in the sources section, which is actually an article talking about them raiding farms, so that's rather appropriate here. 

Despite what you might think, these guys actually got named after a naturalist that first brought them to the attention of the rest of the world. E. P. Gee. I find this name hilarious for reasons I'm not sure I want to go into, and I was very surprised that this was actually a name instead of them using a native name or something. 

Again, from the New England Primate Conservancy link below. 

There isn't a lot known about these guys because they only got really noticed recently, in the 1950's, and they're rather shy. Plus, their numbers are decreasing, so it's hard to find them for study in the wild. 

One of the things that is rather amusing about Gee's Golden Langur is that they're another one of those species that has had their scientific name shuffled about a bit as scientists tried to figure out what group they fit in best, ending on the family of Langurs. 

The thing that brought them to my attention was a search for a golden monkey name for this little one. 

Yeah, he looks a lot like his brother Sifaka, but this is Langur. He's adorable and cuddly, but a bit less sure of himself than Sifaka. Surely you can see the similarity between the monkeys and my kitten? 

Either way, I hope you enjoyed seeing these cool pictures of a really cool monkey, and I hope you'll enjoy seeing whatever I come up with next. If you want to know more about the monkeys, there are links below that have a lot of awesome information. Thanks for reading, I'll see you again soon. 

Sources:

New England Primate Conservancy-- Gee's Golden Langur 

iNaturalist-- Gee's Golden Langur

Animalia-- Gee's Golden Langur

Madras Courier-- Gee's Golden Langur, World's Rarest Primate

Animal Diversity Web-- Golden Langur

Earth's Endangered Creatures-- Golden Langur

Palm Oil Detectives-- Golden Langur

Discover Wildlife-- Endangered Monkeys Raiding Farms

Creatures of the world Wiki-- Golden Langurs

Sifaka

Sifakas are lemurs, named for the call they make in the forests of Madagascar. They're known for their strange way of jumping from tree to tree, staying upright but still managing to cover 30 feet of air-time. Pretty impressive when you consider that they're only about 3 feet long. 

There are 9 known species of Sifakas, including the Silky Sifaka, which is sometimes called the Angel of the Forest. The picture below is from the Lemur Conservation Foundation link below. 

This one is a Coqerel's Sifaka, from the New England Primate Conservancy. 

And this is my Sifaka, just in case you were curious why I brought this up. 

That's why I decided to write about them. Since Mo is Monkey, her babies are Monkeys too. This little one became Sifaka. 

Sifakas, as Lemurs, spend pretty much all their time in the trees, not on land much, but they're rather recognizable on the ground because they walk bipedally, and their walk is often compared to dancing or skipping. The picture below is from the Duke University link, and shows their interesting walk at least a bit. 

These guys eat a lot of fruits, nuts, berries, and leaves, which is a bit different from most Lemurs. The leaves are hard for them to digest, like they are for a lot of animals, so their digestive system is pretty long, to allow for them to handle their fibrous diet and get all the nutrition from it they can. While this is great in the wild, it can cause a few problems in zoos and whatnot if they don't have enough variety. 

These guys aren't nearly as populous as anyone would like, but people are trying to help repopulate them through conserving their territory, or through careful breeding programs. Hopefully, they'll be around for a long time coming. Either way though, they're cute enough that they got another cutie named after them...and it has nothing to do with me wanting something that can sound insulting for when they're slow on learning litterbox-training and pee somewhere they shouldn't. They're orange, we have to give them some leeway for when they aren't in possession of the single orange cat braincell.

I'll see you guys later to tell you about my other adorable babies. Have fun, and let me know if you need more pictures of cute kitties. I have a ton. 

Sources:

National Geographic-- Sifakas

New England Primate Conservancy-- Sifaka Types

Lemur Conservation Foundation-- Silky Sifaka

Encyclopedia Britannica-- Sifaka

Duke University-- Lemurs

Wobbegong

 This actually covers 12 different species of shark, but I'm going to mostly refer to the group, also known as Carpet Sharks, as a whole mostly. I just couldn't pick a single one to focus on. 

So, first thing- Wobbegong is from an Aboriginal word meaning 'shaggy beard', which is...appropriate. You can see that from the pic below, which is from the Meridian Adventure link below. Despite what you'll probably think at first, that is actually a picture of a shark. 

They're also called Carpet Sharks because they have flattened bodies and tend to hang around the ocean floor and pretend to not be there. They also have highly decorated bodies that tend to be what leads to their other names-- like Tasseled, which sounds a lot like a carpeting term, and Floral Banded. I want it stated for the record that I've never really considered that any shark could be considered 'floral'. There's also an Ornate Wobbegong, which is another thing I hadn't thought a shark could be described as. 

Picture from Fact-Animal, link below. 

These guys are generally only about 4 feet long, but they might be able to grow up to 12 feet long, and they don't move a lot. Unlike most sharks, they don't need to keep swimming to breathe. These guys evolved to be able to lay in wait for their prey. They also evolved the ability to dislocate their jaws so they can eat things almost as large as they are. If they do come across something larger though, they might just grab it and hold on until it dies, then munch as they are able. Usually though, most of their food is smaller and they basically suck it in and swallow it whole. 

Ocean Earth Travels link below gave me this picture. It doesn't specify which Wobbegong species this is. 

Before I close out, I have something else to add that means this weird and wonderful creature is also murderous somehow. They live around Australia, the place where everything wants to kill you. That means, as cool as these guys are, they should be treated with caution. 

Either way though, aren't these guys cool? The links below can tell you more about them if you want. I hope you liked learning about them as much as I liked writing this up about them. Thanks for your time, I'll see you soon. 

Sources:

Smithsonian Ocean-- Wobbegong

Live Science-- Tasseled Wobbegong

Fact Animal-- Wobbegong

iNaturalist-- Wobbegong

Original Diving-- Wobbegong

Florida Museum-- Spotted Wobbegong

Marine Bio-- Banded Wobbegong

Meridian Adventure-- Wobbegong

Australian Museum-- Spotted Wobbegong

Ocean Conservancy-- Weird and Wonderful Wobbegong

Mikumba Diving-- Wobbegong

Ocean Earth Travels-- Wobbegong

Papicolist

Definition: A person who worships a pope. 

Seemed appropriate considering everything happening recently, with the death of a pope and election of a new pope. 

I do want to throw a second part onto this though. 

The guy who lives at the Vatican? He doesn't have the title of Pope. It's from the word Papa, meaning Father, which got shifted a bit into Pope. On the other hand, the Coptic Church has a guy in the lead who has the title of Pope. So if anyone asks you if the Pope's Catholic? Nope. The guy is Coptic. Have fun with explaining that to someone. 

I'll see you again soon, with something else interesting. 

Sources:

OED-- Papicolist

Taylor Marshall-- Papicolist-- a religious website with a lot of info if you want it

Collins Dictionary-- Papicolist

uCatholic-- The Pope's Actual Title

St. Shenouda Monastery-- The title of the leader of the Coptic Church

National Limerick Day

 I'm getting really annoyed at myself for disappearing on you again. I'm starting to consider posting more than once a day sometimes to make up for not posting on other days. This time isn't entirely my fault though, since my internet kinda died for the last 10 days and it's hard to write a post about stuff when I can't look anything up or load pictures or anything like that. 

But, for today, I've got a post for you about National Limerick Day, and that sounds hilarious to talk about for me. 

It's one of the more recognizable forms of poetry, one that most people can recognize even if they don't know many of them. They're usually...interesting commentaries about a girl from Nantucket, or someone from Kent, in public knowledge. The form is 5 lines long, with a rhyme pattern of A-A-B-B-A, and usually rather humorous, though it isn't a requirement. 

This is taken from the King Of Limericks link below. He's got a lot of limericks on his site. If you're interested, go for it. 

Today got chosen for this because it's the birthday of Edward Lear, who spent a long time writing a lot of limericks in the 1800's. They weren't called that then, but the form is still very recognizable in his works. 

To close this out, I've got sources below of the history of a limerick, just a bit, and a few links to a list of limericks, if you're interested. As a final thing, before the sources for you though, is this. My favorite limerick:

A funny old bird is the pelican, 

His beak holds more than his belly-can,

He can hold in his beak,

enough food for a week,

and I'll be damned if I know how the heli-can.  

Sources:

National Day Calendar, May 12

Days of the Year-- Limerick Day

Smithsonian Institute Archives-- Happy National Limerick Day (There's a kinda funny limerick here from a Smithsonian worker that's getting in on the fun of the holiday.)

The Poetry Foundation-- Limericks, a list of them

King of Limericks-- 14 of the most famous

Poets.Org-- Limericks

Gnathonize

To flatter someone. 

Butt-kisser. 

One of my joys in life is coming up with old or obscure words to describe people with. I tend to forget them pretty quickly because I'm anti-social enough that I don't encounter the need for them often, but that's a different issue. I like to imagine using this word against someone though. I hope you'll tell me if you ever use it, and how it turns out. 

Sources:

Quora--Daily Dose of Vocabulary-- Gnathonize

An English Dictionary of Old English Terms

Mental Floss-- 50 Verbose Verbs to Drop Into Conversation

OED-- Gnathonize