Lovebird: Winged Romancer

“Eight days a week, I love you, love you, love you,” goes the Beatles hit song. It could well have been dedicated to the lovebird for whom it’s Valentine’s Day every day of the year!

Lovebirds are the smallest parrots in the world, with a stocky build, a short, blunt tail and a disproportionately large beak - no wonder it is such a smoocher and loudmouth! But it puts the beak to good use too: for cracking open seeds and stripping bark for nesting material.

Also known as Les inséparables in French, a pair will form an extremely close bond for life. For this reason, many people feel strongly that lovebirds in captivity should be kept in pairs.

They show each other their affection by cuddling up together and scratching each other’s heads. And you don’t have to be a peeping Tom to catch them in their cages beak-to-beak, eyes closed, blissfully unaware of the self-imposed restrictions of public display of affection on their ‘free’ captors. Guess that’s what the Beatles meant in their song, “Free as a bird.”

But even lovebirds cannot live on love and fresh air alone - they need to eat too. Since they are non-migratory, they have to find seeds, grains, berries and fruits in their home range itself, sometimes even having to eat insects and grass. But there are at least two species that are very particular about their diet: the black-collared lovebird eats wild figs off treetops while the grey-headed lovebird humbly eats grass seeds off the ground.

These garrulous birds are sociable, living in colonies ranging from 20 to 100, chattering and twittering as they work together in search of food and caring for their young.

Lovebirds breed once a year in trees and cliff faces, building nests or lining tree hollows with twigs, grass, feathers and even bark from trees.

The female lays one egg on alternate days until the clutch of about 3 to 4 eggs is complete. The eggs hatch in 3 weeks’ time.

Lovebirds are popular pets despite legal protection, which is nevertheless helping to increase wild populations. While the lifespan of the lovebird is six to seven years in the wild, it is about 12 in captivity! The Beatles were right - “All you need is love, love, love...”

Copyright © 2007 Noël Gama
www.noelgama.com

Strawberry (Blue-Jean) Poison-Dart Frog: Jewel of the Rainforest

Found along the Atlantic coast of Central America from northern Guatemala to Panama, with the greatest concentration in Costa Rica, it seems as if they are all headed to the land of beauty queens - to find a princess for that spell-breaking kiss that would turn the lucky one into a prince.

But think twice - it could be the kiss of death - you could soon find yourself singing ‘when the saints go marching in’ in strawberry fields, forever!

The strawberry poison-dart frog is no prince in disguise. It gets its first name, ‘Strawberry’ from the close resemblance its body has to a dewy strawberry; its surname, ‘Poison-Dart’ because certain South American Indian tribes rub their blowgun dart tips in the poisonous mucous of the frog’s skin; its middle name, ‘Blue-Jean’ because of its purple-blue legs. It is also known as the ‘Jewel of the Rainforest’ because its vivid colours contrast strikingly with the dull greens and browns of its habitat making it look like a precious gem on the velvet-like mossy floor of the forest – talk about aliases!

The poison glands in the skin of this frog produce one of the most toxic alkaloids in nature. However, it cannot kill by touch alone. The toxin must enter the bloodstream through a cut or by ingestion. This will cause convulsions and ultimately, death.

But the frog does not use its poison for capturing prey – it uses it as a back-up defense mechanism, in case its ‘Red-Alert’ warning colours fail to keep predators at bay. When it spots insects with its sharp eyesight, it sits perfectly still. As the unwary prey passes within range, it shoots out its long, sticky tongue, which retracts into its mouth, insect and all, in the blink of an eye! Oh, and a bad-tasting insect is spat out with as much speed.

Living near water, in leaf litter and moss and on low, overhanging branches, these frogs are highly territorial, sometimes wrestling intruders to the death.

Attracting his princess with elaborate calls, the prince leads her to a site near where she lays 4 to 6 eggs per clutch and he fertilizes them.

After 10 to 12 days, when the eggs are ready to hatch, the female steps into the egg mass to release the tadpoles.

The female carries one or two tadpoles at a time on her back and places them in separate tree hollows so they don’t eat each other.

Besides their diet of insect larvae, the mother lays an unfertilized egg into each of these water filled hollows every few days, for the tadpoles to feed on.

In three weeks, the tadpoles emerge as froglets and disappear into the forest.

Interestingly, when Blue-Jean is in captivity, it loses its lethal toxicity. It has been deduced that something in its diet in the wild, possibly ants, produces the toxins. This in turn has made strawberry poison-dart frogs popular as exotic pets!

Copyright © 2007 Noël Gama
www.noelgama.com