HKS (Healthy, Kind Support) Accountability Group Monday 1 December
Heya sweet folks
Substitute teacher today. Sharon very kindly took my PPals thread on Friday while I was overloaded on cooking, so I'm covering her shift today. Thanks heaps Sharon, I really appreciate it.
I don't have a motivational quote for you, but I do have some echidna photos from my hike last week. I saved my favourite for last but haven't had a chance to share them. Until last weekend I had only ever seen two wild echidnas, and then on my hike saw another two. I was very excited.
Echidnas are sturdy critters that live on the ground and snuffle around in the dirt and leaf litter looking for tasty grubs. They have a "beak", which is a long snout type thing like an anteater, which they use to plow through the dirt. They have very short but very strong legs that they use to dig, similar to moles. And they are covered in quills, similar to porcupines. The first time I saw one I had gone for a long run and was very tired, and then when the echidna walked out on the path in front of me I thought it was a porcupine. Then I remembered I am in Australia and there are no porcupines here. I had to stop and try and get my brain into gear, figure out where I was...things were very rusty for a minute.
Echidnas are monotremes, which is a very ancient group of mammals related to reptiles. There are 4 extant species of echidnas, and then the only other living monotreme is the platypus. Which doesn't look a thing like an echidna. Monotremes lay eggs like reptiles but feed milk to their young and are warm blooded like mammals. They have various anatomical bits that are closer to reptiles, including a venemous spur on male platypus, and genetics that have more in common with birds. They have fur, but echidnas at least are also covered in quills made of keratin. In short, they're kinda weird.
So where are all the other monotremes? Why are there only echidnas and platypus, which aren't even very closely related? Presumably there were others many millions of years ago, but they went extinct and we don't know about them. So why have echidnas and platypus survived? Why do the extant monotremes only live in Australia and New Guinea? Australia is already unique with all its marsupials, the rest of the world being full of eutherians (placental mammals). I find this all very mysterious and wonderful, and I hope you do too. (And if not, thank you for indulging me.)
Moving on, we have had the coldest start to summer in 30 years, I have had an enormous amount of sleep today and yesterday, and after all that cooking and socialising am feeling significantly more restored. And very behind on work, I really need to get cracking. Food remains leftovers, exercise is going to be a walk later to do a couple of errands, I really need to do some cleaning, and I think I'll save the strength training for tomorrow. Come chat with us about workouts, food, life, monotremes, and your day generally.
HKS (Healthy, Kind Support) Accountability Group Monday 1 December
Heya sweet folks
Substitute teacher today. Sharon very kindly took my PPals thread on Friday while I was overloaded on cooking, so I'm covering her shift today. Thanks heaps Sharon, I really appreciate it.
I don't have a motivational quote for you, but I do have some echidna photos from my hike last week. I saved my favourite for last but haven't had a chance to share them. Until last weekend I had only ever seen two wild echidnas, and then on my hike saw another two. I was very excited.
Echidnas are sturdy critters that live on the ground and snuffle around in the dirt and leaf litter looking for tasty grubs. They have a "beak", which is a long snout type thing like an anteater, which they use to plow through the dirt. They have very short but very strong legs that they use to dig, similar to moles. And they are covered in quills, similar to porcupines. The first time I saw one I had gone for a long run and was very tired, and then when the echidna walked out on the path in front of me I thought it was a porcupine. Then I remembered I am in Australia and there are no porcupines here. I had to stop and try and get my brain into gear, figure out where I was...things were very rusty for a minute.
Echidnas are monotremes, which is a very ancient group of mammals related to reptiles. There are 4 extant species of echidnas, and then the only other living monotreme is the platypus. Which doesn't look a thing like an echidna. Monotremes lay eggs like reptiles but feed milk to their young and are warm blooded like mammals. They have various anatomical bits that are closer to reptiles, including a venemous spur on male platypus, and genetics that have more in common with birds. They have fur, but echidnas at least are also covered in quills made of keratin. In short, they're kinda weird.
So where are all the other monotremes? Why are there only echidnas and platypus, which aren't even very closely related? Presumably there were others many millions of years ago, but they went extinct and we don't know about them. So why have echidnas and platypus survived? Why do the extant monotremes only live in Australia and New Guinea? Australia is already unique with all its marsupials, the rest of the world being full of eutherians (placental mammals). I find this all very mysterious and wonderful, and I hope you do too. (And if not, thank you for indulging me.)
Moving on, we have had the coldest start to summer in 30 years, I have had an enormous amount of sleep today and yesterday, and after all that cooking and socialising am feeling significantly more restored. And very behind on work, I really need to get cracking. Food remains leftovers, exercise is going to be a walk later to do a couple of errands, I really need to do some cleaning, and I think I'll save the strength training for tomorrow. Come chat with us about workouts, food, life, monotremes, and your day generally.