

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Florida is Getting Colder

According to this article, it's true! Florida, the warmest and most humid state in the USA, is freezing over and it is causing a tremendous strain on the native wildlife that evolved solely for warm climates. Manatees are among the hardest hit. Florida has been experiencing record numbers of colder days, and manatees with very little in the way of warming blubber and no fur, are dying off due to shock. Fish are also suffering. This is just plain terrible because it could cause a mass extinction. Manatees, American crocodiles and several species of turtles rely on the warm, humid climate to keep them going. When they get too cold for too long, they go into shock and it kills them. Well, this article explains all.


Florida's Wildlife Freezing to Death

Manatees, sea turtles and fish in the Sunshine State are dying in record numbers because of the unusually long cold snap.
By Jennifer Viegas

Thu Feb 11, 2010 01:45 PM ET
With temperature in central Florida dipping down again this week, conservationists are bracing for more animal and plant deaths due to unusually long winter cold snaps that have resulted in record wildlife losses.
Manatees have been among the hardest hit, with over 200 killed in January alone, and carcasses continuing to wash ashore. The highest number of manatee deaths for a single calendar year in Florida waters is 429, so local officials are closely monitoring these endangered marine mammals.
"Manatees can experience what is known as cold stress syndrome when they are exposed to water below 68 degrees Fahrenheit (20 degree Celsius) for long periods," Florida's Fish and Wildlife Research Institute spokesperson Carli Segelson told Discovery News. "This can result in death, or weaken manatees, leaving them more vulnerable to other health issues later."

Fish experience similar problems, and widespread fish kills have been reported throughout the state. Multiple species, from small pilchards to larger snooks and tarpons, were affected. Young fish are particularly vulnerable. Dive teams have found the remains of numerous juveniles from fish such as barracudas, grunts, parrotfish and pinfish.
Officials remain cautiously optimistic about endangered sea turtles, which can suffer from "cold-stunning" when water temperatures drop to less than 50 degrees for prolonged periods. Patricia Behnke, a spokesperson for the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), told Discovery News that "under such conditions, the turtles may be forced into a coma-like state." It renders them nearly immobile at first and can eventually lead to death.
Behnke added, however, that rescue efforts for sea turtles in Florida have been "astounding and unprecedented."
Thanks to tremendous effort from FWC staff and volunteers, she said more than 4,500 sea turtles were rescued from the state's chilly waters in January. The turtles were placed in warm salt water to revive them and allowed to recover. Nearly 80 percent of the rescued sea turtles have since been released.
A benefit of the rescue effort is it has improved the ability of conservationists to monitor sea turtles.
"We've been able to tag many more turtles than ever before, which enables us to learn about their biology," explained FWC biologist Blair Witherington.
A report recently issued by Dave Hallac and colleagues at Florida's Everglades National Park determined that at least 70 crocodiles, more than 60 manatees, and countless plants, butterflies and snakes have died within the Everglades marshes and mangroves so far this winter. Hallac said the impact of the cold weather has been "substantial" in South Florida.
But Behnke believes at least some of the snake deaths could help local ecosystems. Burmese and African rock pythons, along with other animals, are not native to the area and are considered to be "invasive." Because they are tropical species, these animals have very low cold tolerance. Some Burmese pythons have even been found frozen stiff in the Everglades.
Scott Hardin, the FWC's exotic species coordinator, said half of South Florida's python population might have died in the recent cold weather. He speculates that green iguanas, which are also considered to be invasive, have experienced dramatic population drops—literally, as some South Florida residents have reported witnessing dead iguanas fall from trees onto their patios.
Behnke and Segelson indicated it could take months to fully assess the wildlife damage caused by this year's winter weather. The fish, plant, insect and other deaths could impact additional species within those ecosystems, and it remains to be seen how the deaths of juveniles might hurt the ability of species to recover in the spring.


De said...

Woah I heard about this on the news.

I wonder how a Deinognathus would do in that weather?

Timgal said...

It depends on which Deinognathus species you mean. Some, like D. ingens and D. minutus are tropical species, but can handle changes in temperature. The largest, D. robustus, lives in the southern portion of South America, which in the Metazoic would experience sub-antarctic temperatures at times, so the cold wouldn't bother them. They'd simply find ways to adjust to extreme changes.

De said...

I have a few more questions

1. Would there be mammals at 200 MYAM

2. What causes the Metazoic to end. any disater

Timgal said...


1. Yes, but they will be no bigger than medium-sized dogs.

2. I'm guessing a surge in volcanic activity. Perhaps Yellowstone will have a final, major eruption that will end that world.

De said...

What would be the rulers of the 200 Myam world and when does the last Deinognathid die off

Timgal said...

Someone suggested the archosaurs, I hope I spelled that right!!! The Deinognathids live until 100 MYAM. The last of them would probably be the most adaptable, Paricteria.

De said...

I have some ideas for archosaurs in the next period but this is the Metazoic. Maybe some dinosaur like ones as well as ground dwelling birds. What mammals survive the extinction event at 100 Myam.

I am having strange dreams of Deinognathus I had a dream last night of one eating celebraties in Chicago:0

Timgal said...

Sounds cool! The archosaurs I mean. I haven't even begun to think about the next era myself. I'm still trying to reach 10,000 species of mammals for the Metazoic.

Another funny D dream. hehe! Back in 1994 I had a dream that I saw a small child being attacked, dragged and eaten by a pair of Castosarchus. That one had me waking up screaming.

De said...

There was actually two deinognathus in my dream a big one(25 ft tall) and a small one(12 ft tall)

Megan Fox in my dream was torn in half by the big one.

The Jonas Brothers were tail wipped into a building by the big one

Tom Hanks was stepped on by the big one.

Selena Gomez was eaten by the smaller one

Paris Hilton was attacked by the big one and her dog was eaten by the small one.

And there were other VIP's too :0

I think that the smaller one was a juvinile of the big one.

I think Deinognathus are stalking my soul

Timgal said...

LOL! Too funny. I'd love to see Paris Hilton eaten by a Deinognathus!! I can't stand her! But they should leave the dog alone. The poor thing suffered enough just being owned by that wench.

De said...

She had her arm ripped off then the Deinognathus ate her.

Trust me a week ago I had one of Greys Anatomy when they had a patient open on an operation table then a Spathodon came into the room, chased the surgeons out, and started eating the patient. then a Deinognathus came into the room and the two got into tug of war though they ripped the patient in half and the Deinognathus killed the Spathodon afterwards.

Would a Deinognathus be top predator if it went threw a time portal to 200 MYAM?

Timgal said...

If Deinognathus did make it to 200 MYAM it would definitely dominate. Archosaurs may not even have a chance to evolve then.

De said...

Did the long necked gigalope and the normal gigalope share a common ancestor or did they evovle sepratly.

If the extinction event never happened at 100 MYAM what would life be like.

Timgal said...

Both gigantelope species evolved from a single ancestor. One just evolved to feed off trees, and the other evolved to feed on grass and roots.

If the extinction wouldn't happen at the end of the Metazoic, mammals would just continue on.

Anonymous said...

Its actually not as bad as it seems. Peninsular Florida tends to have a cold snap like this every five to ten years or so. While I would worry a bit about species with low populations, it seems like all the species native to Florida should be able to pull through okay given the current situation. All of the species that would have been vulnerable to such changes (such as the tortoise Hesperotestudo) died off from the cold snaps a while back.

Timgal said...

That is very interesting. Manatees did survive then. But the fact that last month they were dying off in record numbers has modern conservationists concerned.

animaloverlord42 said...

yay, the jonas brothers tail slammed?! wooo hoo. i hate those posers. i remember a number of people on zetaboard who seem not to like your work, not for plagiarism, but for other stuff. i think this is a pretty cool website, though. its still more believable than tree living starfish. lol. no offense to canis. or those freakin insect centaur monsters. XD. btw for de said, if you are having recurring dreams about superpredators on this website, no offense but something may be a bit wrong. never mind i have had a few crazy ideas of my own in the past, shame ive never published any on a website.

Timgal said...

Yeah some of the people on the SE forum hate me because I left there and I refused to "follow" their favorite members. But I am beyond that because I know I am better than those people dissing me.

So what could be wrong with someone who dreams about superpredators attacking someone? I'm interested.

Canis said...

FYI animalloverlord42, I do not have tree-living starfish anymore. Those were a relict from my days when I just created creatures for coolness rather than plausibility.

And FYI, those centaur-insect-monsters were created by someone on DeviantArt. That person is not on the SE forums.

Anyway, only JohnFaa shuns you now. Everyone else gangs up on him when he attacks you because it is a petty argument.

But enough about SE. Personally, I don't think this cold snap is much of a problem. What you should be paying attention to (especially for the Metazoic) is white nose syndrome. This is a deadly chiropteran disease killing vast numbers of bats in Indiana and it could eventually spread to other states. Heck, maybe even the rest of the world. Bats will obviously not go extinct because of this disease, but their numbers will decline.

Timgal said...

I still say Faa is only jealous because I will listen to Metalraptor and not him. :) But that's cool that the rest of the forum sees his arguments as being petty. Good hope for the future, and changes my viewpoint of the others on that forum.

White nose syndrome? Wow. That is something. I hadn't heard about that one. Hopefully modern bats will develop some kind of immunity to it before it strikes the Old World.

Where is AnimalLoverLord42? I asked him a question and he has not responded. Sorry Animalloverlord42, but if you are going to say something, like something is wrong with someone because they dream about an animal on the site, at least tell us all why you believe that, because I myself have had dreams about these animals. If you just say that without a reason, well then, no offense but, you're just another JohnFaa, and that is not a good thing at all.

Canis said...

I think animallover just meant it as a joke. Nothing serious by it.

Oddly enough, I don't have dreams about any animals from Metazoica, Snaiad, my projects, or anywhere! It's sad really. The only dream I ever had that was remotely related to speculative biology had to do with "Avatar".

Anyway, I'm sure there are a few bat species somewhere with an immunity to it. From what I've read and experienced, it is mostly concentrated in North America. Since bats rarely (if ever) make transoceanic migrations, I think the Old World is safe.