We Suddenly Lost Our Dog To Hemangiosarcoma

SAVING SAN BERNARDINO KANGAROO RATS

Bouncing around on their giant hind feet, seed-eating San Bernardino kangaroo rats are highly adapted to southwestern deserts and the natural flood cycles found there. Though these kangaroo rats require only the moisture in their food to survive, the triple threat of dams, sand and gravel mining, and urban sprawl has driven the charismatic critters to the brink of extinction. Kangaroo rats are known to use their hind feet to create their very own Morse code to send warning signals to fellow rats, and what greater danger is there than the imposing habitat destruction wreaking havoc across Southern California?

In 1999, the Center came bounding to the aid of San Bernardino kangaroo rats with a lawsuit that eventually secured federal protections in the form of 33,295 acres of critical habitat. But while a scientific review panel originally concluded that additional critical habitat should be designated for San Bernardino kangaroo rats, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, under pressure from development and mining interests, has repeatedly attempted to undermine this desert dweller's future by removing hard-won protections. In October 2008, the Service in fact slashed the species' critical habitat by a shocking 76 percent. Three months later, we sued, and in 2010 a federal court reinstated the scientifically valid decision to protect more than 33,000 acres.

Besides fighting for federally protected habitat for the rodent, the Center has also effectively litigated to provide the animal with permanent protection from urban sprawl. A lawsuit we filed resulted in 1,200 acres of quality kangaroo rat habitat being saved from development at Lytle Creek. The construction of a planned "mini-city" for this area would have jeopardized the species' continued survival. We've also launched a lawsuit to save the species from a massive water-development project within the San Jacinto River channel, in the heart of the one of three remaining places in the world that support a viable population of San Bernardino kangaroo rats.

Texas Kangaroo Rats Proposed For Endangered Species Protection

For Immediate Release, August 16, 2023

Contact:

Michael Robinson, (575) 313-7017, michaelr@biologicaldiversity.Org

Texas Kangaroo Rats Proposed for Endangered Species Protection

WICHITA FALLS, Texas— Responding to a Center for Biological Diversity lawsuit, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today proposed to protect the Texas kangaroo rat as an endangered species. The agency also proposed protecting 597,069 acres in Childress, Cottle, Hardeman, Wichita and Wilbarger counties in North Texas as critical habitat for the animals.

"These handsome rodents are rapidly disappearing from their dwindling native grassland habitat, which is at grave risk from climate change," said Michael Robinson, a senior conservation advocate at the Center. "The Endangered Species Act can save kangaroo rats and the once grand prairies they need to survive."

Texas kangaroo rats are threatened by historic and ongoing conversion of their short-grass prairie habitat to agriculture, elimination of natural fires, extermination of bison and large-scale eradication of prairie dogs.

The animals are further imperiled by climate change that is making the southern plains hotter and drier, including a potential tenfold increase in the number of days over 100 degrees each year, resulting in a nearly complete loss of the kangaroo rat's habitat.

The Service first identified the species as needing protection under the Endangered Species Act in 1982 but failed to grant that protection.

"It shouldn't take 40 years for the Fish and Wildlife Service to protect an animal that's been losing habitat for more than a century," said Robinson. "The Service badly needs an overhaul to truly protect imperiled species. The Biden administration and the Service's director, Martha Williams, are failing to timely safeguard plants and animals at risk of disappearing forever."

The agency has protected just 35 species under the Endangered Species Act during the Biden administration, a rate of about 14 species per year. By comparison, the Obama administration protected 363 species, for a rate of 45 species per year and the Clinton administration protected 521 species for a rate 65 species per year. Scientific organizations have identified thousands of species in the United States that should be considered for protection.

Texas kangaroo rats have long tails and long hind feet that enable their kangaroo-like leaping movements which help them evade predators. They collect grass seeds in an external cheek pouch and then dine in their long but shallow burrows dug into loose soils.

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.7 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.

Festo Creates Bionic Kangaroo; Steve Austin Unimpressed

[Dr. Wilfried Stoll] and a team at Festo have created an incredible robot kangaroo. Every few years the research teams at Festo release an amazing animal inspired robot. We last covered their smartbird. This year, they've created BionicKangaroo (pdf link). While The Six Million Dollar Man might suggest otherwise, Bionics is use of biological systems in engineering design. In this case, Festo's engineers spent two years studying the jumping behavior of kangaroos as they perfected their creation.

Kangaroos have some amazing evolutionary adaptations for jumping. Their powerful Achilles tendon stores energy upon landing. This allows the kangaroo to increase its speed with each successive jump. The kangaroo's tail is essential for balancing the animal as it leaps through the air. The Festo team used a thick rubber band to replicate the action of the tendons. The tail is controlled by electric servomotors.

Festo is known for their pneumatic components, so it's no surprise that the kangaroo's legs are driven by pneumatic cylinders. Pneumatics need an air supply though, so the team created two versions of the kangaroo. The first uses an on-board air compressor. The second uses a high-pressure storage tank to drive the kangaroo's legs. An off the shelf Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) acts as BionicKangaroo's brain. The PLC monitors balance while controlling the pneumatic leg cylinders and electric tail motors. Unfortunately, BionicKangaroo isn't completely autonomous. The Thalmic Labs Myo makes a cameo appearance in the video. The Kangaroo's human controller commands the robot with simple arm movements.

While the BionicKangaroo is graceful in its jumps, it still needs a bit of help when turning and taking simple steps. Thankfully we don't think it will be boxing anytime soon.

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