we’re weird as well: notable runners-up
Bubbling under our list of the most fascinating oddities of B.C.’s animal kingdom is a menagerie of other quirky creatures. Here are a few runners up:
▶ The spadefoot toad: Actually, scientists say it’s neither toad nor frog. Whatever it is, it grows up fast.
This amphibian roars from egg to finished spadefoot in as little as two weeks as it races to maturity before its water-puddle home dries up. That gives it the fastest known cycle of any frog or toad.
▶ The mountain beaver: A shy rodent that lives in mountain streams, the mountain beaver is like nothing else in the world.
It has no close relatives going back many millions of years, says Simon Fraser University biology professor Arne Mooers.
“I was told by my grad student that they must live very close to running water because they have only one poorly working kidney, so spend hours just sitting in the stream, peeing,” Mooers says.
▶ The humpback whale: If the humpback could see human cowboys, it might think: “Herding cattle with whips? How primitive. And those songs they sing around the campfire? Awful.”
These whales have evolved a sophisticated way to herd and harvest fish. They spiral beneath a school of fish, blowing a wall of bubbles through which the fish will not swim.
Trapped fish are forced to the surface in a concentrated mass. The humpbacks then move in for a meal, grabbing large mouthfuls as they transform themselves from shepherds to fish-processing plants.
The humpbacks are even more accomplished as singers. Males warble complex songs that last up to 30 minutes.
In Canada, humpbacks are a species of special concern.