Black-and-Rufous Elephant Shrew (Rhynchocyon petersi)

This lovely, lovely creature is for my friend Dana. I'm happy that there are several other elephant shrew species left to draw, though this one is the most colorful, I think. In fact, I almost wish I had saved it for my planned Colorful Mammals Week, but I couldn't wait. An interesting thing about elephant shrews, also called sengis, is how many times they've been miscategorized by the scientific community, who have thought they were related to just about every possible group of mammals. Now, though, they think they're unique, not closely related to any other living family.

California Academy of Sciences sengi site

Brown-Throated Three-Toed Sloth (Bradypus variegatus)

I didn't know much about sloths, but my friend Laura requested one, and boy, I think they're one of my favorite mammals now. I just love the way they look, like a cross between Chewbacca and E.T., and I love that they sleep 20 hours a day and hardly move even when they're awake. I love their claws and their coarse fur. A few things you should check out:

a three-month-old three-toed sloth on Flickr

a three-toed sloth swimming (they swim really well!)

"The Propagation of the Species," a poem by Jennifer Michael Hecht, also recommended by Laura, that contains a joke about a sloth

Bearded Pig (Sus barbatus)

This fellow lives in Sumatra and Malaysia. Although he's called a bearded pig, he's actually a mustachioed pig. Enhancing the cut of his jib is the fact that he's the slenderest of all the pigs. He wears it well, doesn't he? Ted thinks he should wear a monocle, while I picture him in a top hat.

Abert's Squirrel (Sciurus aberti)

The Abert's squirrel lives in the ponderosa pines of the southwestern United States, including my own mountains, the Sandias. These guys are also called tassel-eared squirrels, and they are great friends of the mule deer, who eat the twigs and pine needles that the squirrels discard on the ground.

A lovely subspecies of the Abert's squirrel is called the Kaibab squirrel and lives only at the Grand Canyon. It has the same ears, but it's a dark reddish-brown all over. Since my mammal names book doesn't tell me who Abert is, I'll tell you that I happen to know that Kaibab is also the name for one of the geological formations at the Grand Canyon (as well as a Paiute word and band of Paiute Indians). Want to know more of them? Toroweap, Coconino, Hermit, Supai. Bright Angel, Tapeats. They are beautiful names.

Hartebeest (Alcelaphus buselaphus)

This particular hartebeest is a red hartebeest. Hartebeests live in Africa, and they are popular among hunters. Especially after they're dead. Their coloring is quite lovely, as are their spiraling horns. Thanks to the hartebeest, I've discovered a new source for profiles of mammals: ESPN.com's hunting section! It has illustrations, rather than the more standard photographs of dudes grinning over the carcass, thank goodness.

Nocturnal Week: Northern Night Monkey (Douroucouli) (Aotus trivirgatus)

Scientists once thought all night monkeys (also called owl monkeys, for fairly obvious reasons) were subspecies of this guy, the Northern variety, or douroucouli. But now they think there are actually eight distinct species, so I get to draw seven more of these guys! Perhaps I'll do one every other year to space out the pleasure, because they are fun to draw. But then what if scientists change their mind again? Who knew that mammal classification was such a fluid, living art? Anyway, night monkeys live in Central and South America. Here's a great photograph of a night monkey skull, with gigantic holes for its eyeballs.

This concludes the Daily Mammal's first Nocturnal Week. I plan to have more theme weeks, so give me your requests and suggestions in the comments!

Nocturnal Week: Yapok (Chironectes minimus)

The yapok, also known as the water opossum, is a solitary aquatic marsupial, with webbed hind feet and black-and-white fur. (Like yesterday's spotted bat, the yapok is one of Herman's favorites from the Daily Mammal comments. He seems to like black and white spots!) When the yapok is building its nest, it carries leaves rolled up in its tail to line its home and make it cozy.

Nocturnal Week: Spotted Bat (Euderma maculata)

Bats are the classic nocturnal mammals, to the point of their nightmarish association with vampires and death. But they're not so bad! I have a couple of books about building bat houses, and when Ted and I get our new place, we're going to set one up. This particular bat, which has lovely black-and-white spots and gigantic, complicated ears, was a request from Herman in the comments of this blog. Keep the requests coming, everybody!

Also, I did fall behind on the mammals again this past week. I'm getting them all caught up tonight, and then we'll just keep on going.

Nocturnal Week: Spotted Cuscus (Spilocuscus maculatus)

When I was a girl, I had a subscription to these wildlife cards. Once a month or so—maybe more often—I'd get a small pack of informational cards about animals. There was one species per card. On the front was a photograph of the animal, with its name and some symbols that indicated its class and family, its habitat, and such. On the back was a dense profile of the animal and more specialized information, like gestation period and lifespan. The cards belonged in a special file box, and you organized them taxonomically.

One day, a card came that had a picture of an animal called a cuscus. (It was this picture, actually.) I had never heard of it before, and in fact have only very rarely heard of it since, but I fell in love with it. It was pretty much the cutest thing I'd ever seen, and so mysterious and weird, with its big eyes, orange spots, and cinnamon-roll tail. I kept the cuscus card on my bulletin board for years, and when I finally threw away my wildlife cards (how I wish I hadn't now!), it was the only one I kept. I can picture the front of that card perfectly even now, from the light green bar at the top to the black silhouette of Australia to the typeface the word Cuscus was printed in.

Incidentally, they are nocturnal marsupials, and the spotted cuscus is only one of several species. They're also called phalangers. In this species, the male has the rust-colored spots and the female is a solid creamy color.

Even more incidentally, since now that I think about it, the above paragraph wasn't really incidental at all, I ran out of my beloved paper rolls several days ago. You may have noticed that the nocturnal mammals and the ones from last weekend have a sort of mottled background; that's from the only similar paper I could get quickly enough to get caught up. Today I bought a roll from Artisan in Santa Fe, but it's more like vellum than the paper I need—very smooth, slick even, with no tooth so my colored pencil just sits on top of the paper. Nothing looks or feels right, and I'm out of sorts about drawing this week. But I did order what should be the right stuff tonight (actually, Ted ordered it for me), so I hope that next week will be back to normal. And the slick, weird roll from Artisan might be good for a drawing of a dolphin or a seal.

Nocturnal Week: Fennec Fox (Vulpes zerda)

The fennec fox is one of my favorite mammals; I wish I had done him justice. Someday when I have time for an extra mammal, I'm going to redraw this guy.

If you're not familiar with fennecs, check out some photographs (these are of someone's pet fennec fox, and are quite nice). They are the smallest canid, topping out at around 3 pounds. They live in the desert of Africa, where their huge ears help dissipate their body heat. And, of course, they're nocturnal!

Nocturnal Week: Common Raccoon (Procyon lotor)

Continuing with our first theme week, here's a nocturnal raccoon, and a cute one, if I do say so myself—just like my cousin Hilary, who requested this mammal.

Nocturnal Week: Pygmy Mouse Lemur (Microcebus myoxinus)

This pygmy mouse lemur inaugurates The Daily Mammal's first-ever theme week! To celebrate my recent revelation that I'm actually not nocturnal, but rather a morning person who has difficulty waking up, I am pleased to introduce Nocturnal Week! The nocturnal pygmy mouse lemur is the world's smallest primate. Andy requested this fellow. You will often see photographs of the little lemur in a person's hand, which shows how tiny he is. They really are the size of a mouse.

Babirusa (Babyrousa babyrussa)

This fellow is a babirusa, a Malaysian wild hog whose Latin name means "pig deer." See the top tusks? Well, those are his upper incisors, which curve up through the roof of a male babirusa's snout and cross in front as they grow. The best guess as to why the babirusa has these tusks is that they protect his eyes from his fellow babirusa's lower tusks. I also love how this guy's common and Latin names together are the same name, spelled three different ways. I can think of several more ways to spell it that I might suggest they add in there.

The St. Louis Zoo has a good page about babirusas.

Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus)

If you want to be sad, watch the "Ice World" episode of Planet Earth, in which the papa polar bear goes out to find food for his family.

Long-Tailed Chinchilla (Chinchilla lanigera)

My 7th-grade science teacher, Mrs. Kleinbeck, had a rabbit named Bun-Bun and a chinchilla named Chin-Chin. Mrs. Kleinbeck also had orange nail polish about an eighth of an inch thick—every day, during my class at least, she'd put on a new coat, and as far as I could tell, she never took an old one off. Kids would actually have their books out and open on their desks, riffling through them, when we were taking tests. I loved science until that year.

California Sea Lion (Zalophus californianus)

This here is a California sea lion. California sea lions make me miss San Francisco, and then I get sad because I think of all the other things I miss about San Francisco. Strangely, male California sea lions weigh up to 1,000 pounds, while females weigh only 350 pounds tops! Yet the males, at 7 feet long, are only one foot longer than the females!

As for the differences between sea lions and seals: sea lions have visible ears and they walk on their flippers when on land. Seals' ears aren't easily seen and they crawl along on their bellies.

Black-Footed Ferret (Mustela nigripes)

This ferret is the rarest mammal in North America, and one of the rarest in the world. Ninety percent of a black-footed ferret's diet consists of prairie dogs, and since prairie dogs have not been in favor with ranchers et al. in the recent past, the poor black-footed ferret's cupboard has been bare, and the species very nearly went extinct. But with prairie-dog-control methods trending away from poison and other destructive measures lately, along with aggressive captive-breeding and species reintroduction programs, it looks like we can guardedly say that the black-footed population is on an upswing.

UPDATE: Earlier, I said that you could see black-footed ferret tracks in the Sandias. I was confused. I had read that about ringtails (see them sometime in the next 14 years right here!), not black-footed ferrets. So ignore that. I don't know if black-footed ferrets are in the Sandias. I'll look it up and get back to you.

Gorilla (Gorilla gorilla)

This gorilla is for Andres, who loves King Kong! For the most part, the difference between monkeys and apes is that monkeys have tails and apes, like the gorillas and us, don't.

(If the title of this post, featuring the gorilla's scientific name Gorilla gorilla, struck you as funny, you'll like to know that there's a subspecies—or maybe it's a subtribe or subfamily—called Gorilla gorilla gorilla!)

Deer Mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus)

This little guy here, unfortunately, is the most threatening vector of hantavirus in the United States. Four Corners hantavirus (or FCV) is a very real danger here in New Mexico where I live, particularly in rural areas. The virus is contracted when humans breathe in dried mouse droppings or urine that have been aerosolized, or released into the air. You're advised to take great precaution in cleaning areas where rodents have been—no sweeping or vacuuming, just wet-mopping and wiping!—and in disposing of dead rodents. Here's the CDC's hantavirus website.

This deer mouse means The Daily Mammal is all caught up again!

Zebu (Bos indicus)

The zebu is a domestic cow from Asia and Africa; zebus are also known as Brahmas. I was reminded of the zebu's existence this week when Andy Merriell, my employer, showed me a wonderful book called The 100 Best Animals. Zebus have floppy dewlaps and shoulder humps and curved horns and they're amazingly tolerant of heat.

It seems there's a lot of disagreement as to whether the zebu is a species—Bos indicus—or a subspecies of Bos taurus or Bos primigenius. And it further seems that B. primigenius is either another name or a subspecies of B. taurus. All I know right now is what Mammal Species of the World tells me. I am getting interested in the taxonomy and nomenclature, though, and I imagine I'll be something of an expert by the time I'm finished with this project.

Kirk's Dik-dik (Madoqua kirkii)

Ramona requested a dik-dik drawing, and I believe Carlos did, too. Dik-diks are the world's smallest antelopes. There are several species of them; this one was named for Sir John Kirk, a 19th-century British diplomat in Zanzibar. The dik-dik part of the name is an onomatopoetic word for the animal's whistle of fear. Dik-diks, which top out at 12 or 13 pounds and live in arid African bush country, remind me of Italian greyhounds.

Nile Hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius)

First, apologies for falling behind on the mammals! My Internet was down and I just started my new job this week, etc. I will be all caught up by tomorrow. In the meantime, please consider this a Thursday hippopotamus, and it's for Sandra! More soon...

American Bison (Bison bison)

Happy independence day! Here is a symbol of America, the American bison. I drive past a small herd of them every day on my way home from work. Sometime I want to try to draw one when it's shedding its winter coat, when just the shoulders are padded with the thick, matted fur.

The New York Times had an article a few months ago about how most of the bison herds in the US are diluted with the DNA of cattle. There are two federal herds that are pure bison, one state herd in Utah, and then there's Ted Turner's herd on his Vermejo Park ranch in New Mexico, where you can hunt them.

Spotted Hyena (Crocuta crocuta)

Thank goodness for A.F. Gotch, author of the aforementioned Mammals—Their Latin Names Explained! I chose to draw the spotted hyena simply because I hadn't yet drawn anybody with spots, but Mr. Gotch* sweetened the deal by illuminating this mammal's intriguing Latin name, Crocuta crocuta. It comes from the word crocus (a word I love in English), which in turn comes from the Greek krokotos, or saffron-colored. Isn't that lovely? (And wouldn't Crocuta crocuta also make a nice Latin name for a saffron-colored frog?)

Another interesting thing about the spotted hyena is chronicled here, on Animal Diversity Web. In the physical description section, the passage about the females being "extremely masculinated" is rather fascinating. The Animal Diversity Web write-up also informs us that hyenas are not as sought after for hunting trophies as some of their fellow African carnivores because they're just not considered good looking!

* A "retired schoolmaster"! And goodness, "in addition he is one of the few people to have made a complete circumnavigation of the English inland waterways in a canal boat, a cruise of some 900 miles"!

Eastern Gray Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis)

Maggie asked for a gray squirrel doing yoga, so here's a fellow practicing his balasana! And it's another tree sleeper, sort of a companion piece to the red panda from a couple of weeks ago. (That red panda is my favorite of my drawings so far.)

The eastern gray squirrel is an animal I don't see much now that I've moved back to New Mexico. While his name indicates that he's from the Carolinas, he's actually widespread throughout eastern North America. The Sciurus part of squirrels' Latin names comes from the Greek words skia, or shade, and oura, which means tail: squirrels are shade-tails, like this one here.

Amazonian Manatee (Trichechus inunguis)

There are three species of manatee: Amazonian, like this guy, African, and American. Unlike the other two species, the Amazonian manatee cannot survive in salt water. Manatees are unusual because they're water mammals like whales and porpoises—they spend a lot of their time sleeping in the water, coming up for air every 20 minutes or so—but they're strictly vegetarian. The Amazonian manatee is the smallest of the three species. Dave Gold and my aunt Laura both asked me to draw a manatee.