Who's afraid of the Big, Bad Wolf? Everybody (almost)! Who's afraid of the Small, Good Aardwolf? Nobody! Except the termites. I show you WWF maximum cards / maxicards / dorincards from Eritrea, with The Aardwolf of northeastern Africa (Proteles cristatus septentrionalis)

This is another strange animal species, which has been named after 3 different animals: hyena, wolf ("earth wolf" = aardwolf) and jackal ("maanhaar jackal").

But it's a member of the Hyaenidae family. The "black sheep" of that family. (Here's another animal name...)

"The aardwolf (Proteles cristata) is a small, insectivorous hyena, native to Easternand Southern Africa. The name means "earth wolf" in Afrikaans/Dutch.^[2] It is also called "maanhaar jackal".^[3] Unlike other hyenas, the diet of the aardwolf almost completely consists of termites, other insect larvae and carrion.^[4]

The aardwolf is the only surviving species of the subfamily Protelinae. 

Two subspecies are recognized: Proteles cristatus cristatus of Southern Africa, and Proteles cristatus septentrionalis of eastern and northeastern Africa.^[5][6] 

It is usually placed in the Hyaenidae, though formerly separated into the family Protelidae. 

The aardwolf lives in the scrublands of eastern and southern Africa. 

These are the areas of land covered with stunted trees or shrubs. 

The aardwolf hides in a burrow during the day and comes out at night to search for food. 

It is related to hyenas, but unlike its relatives, it does not hunt large prey."

You think ALL animals are God's creatures? "Like" [= a cliché of young people], he created all of them on purpose, no matter how dubious or nefarious is that purpose to us?

Look what the aardwolf does to the termites, beloved creatures of God.

The aardwolf "is a mass killer of insects. 

It feeds mainly on termites and can eat more than 200,000 in a single night, using its long, sticky tongue to collect them."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aardwolf

What do YOU know about Eritrea?

Me, neither - welcome to the club.

Now let's have a look.

They speak these languages: 

Tigrinya, Arabic, Tigre, Saho, Bilen, Afar, Kunama, Nara, Hedareb.

State of Eritrea ሃገረ ኤርትራ Hagere Ertra دولة إرتريا Dawlat Iritrīya
Flag Emblem

"Eritrea ( /ˌɛrɨˈtreɪ.ə/ or /ˌɛrɨˈtriːə/;^[6] Ge'ez: ኤርትራ ʾErtrā, Arabic: إرتريا Iritrīyā), officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa. 

The capital is Asmara. It is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south, and Djibouti in the southeast. The northeast and east of the country have an extensive coastline on the Red Sea, directly across from Saudi Arabia and Yemen. 

The Dahlak Archipelago and several of the Hanish Islands are part of Eritrea. 

Eritrea's size is approximately 117,600 km² (45,406 sq mi) with an estimated population of 5 million."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eritrea

As seen from AFAR (and ISSA)

"The Afar Depression (also called the Danakil Depression or the Afar Triangle) is a geological depression, includes Afar Triple Junction, near the Horn of Africa, also a part of the Great Rift Valley, where it overlaps Eritrea, the Afar Region of Ethiopia, and Djibouti. 

Afar is well known as one of the cradles of hominids, containing the Middle Awash, site of many fossil hominid discoveries such as Ardi, (ardipithecus ramidus); Gona (Gawis cranium), site of the world's oldest stone tools; and Hadar, site of Lucy [MY NOTE: no, not Lucy from I love Lucy!], the fossilized specimen of Australopithecus afarensis."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afar_Triangle

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Happy PFF (Postcard Friendship Friday)!

Please visit: http://thebestheartsarecrunchy.blogspot.com/ (wait until Beth posts the today's Linky tool for the meme, then make your entry, if you want to join).

Once you know black, you don't go back? That's nonsense, as proven by the females of The Yellow-cheeked Gibbon (Nomascus gabriellae), also called the yellow-cheeked crested gibbon, the golden-cheeked crested gibbon or the buffed-cheeked gibbon. I show you a similar gibbon species, on a maxicard from PR China: The White-handed Gibbon (Hylobates lar)

"The Lar gibbon (Hylobates lar), also known as the white-handed gibbon, is a primate in the Hylobatidae or gibbon family. It is one of the better-known gibbons and is often seen in zoos."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hylobates_lar_pair_of_white_and_black_01.jpg

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Now, back to the Yellow-cheeked Gibbon.

"The yellow-cheeked gibbon (Nomascus gabriellae), also called the yellow-cheeked crested gibbon, the golden-cheeked crested gibbon or the buffed-cheeked gibbon, is a species of gibbon native to Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.^[1]

The yellow-cheeked gibbon is born blond and later turns black, and males carry this colouring through their lifespan and have the distinguishing golden cheeks; 

females are born blonde to blend into their mother's fur but they later turn black and turn back to blond at sexual maturity and only have a black cap on the top of their heads."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow-cheeked_gibbon

Blonde, black, blonde.

"Adult Pair of the Yellow-cheeked Crested Gibbon, also called Golden-cheeked Crested Gibbon or Buffed-cheeked gibbon in Edinburgh Zoo. Left the male, right the female. Source: Own work -> http://www.zoologie.de/grzimek/bild-gelbwangen-schopfgibbon-614.html"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nomascus-gabriellae.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hylobatidae

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BBC Nature - Tyrannosaurus rex videos, news and facts. Also, I show you T-rex maxicards from Romania and USA. UPDATE: FC Barcelona party among dinosaurs, etc.!!! :)

Please explore: BBC Nature - Tyrannosaurus rex videos, news and facts

This postcard drawing is inaccurate: it looks too much like an upright crocodilian, instead of a T-rex. 

The body should have a bulkier aspect, and the forelimbs should be strong, but much smaller.

There should be 2 clawed fingers, not 4, on each forelimb, "along with an additional small metacarpal representing the remnant of a third digit."

The stamp drawing, though, is proportionally accurate. :)

Cast of a specimen nicknamed "Stan" (specimen BHI 3033), at Manchester Museum.

The reason that Barcelona Museum does not have yet a complete skeleton is because the curators keep passing the bones between them, in a subconscious emulation of the "Death by 1,000 passes" football strategy of FC Barcelona.

[Just kidding. But FC Barcelona really IS the greatest team now, and their possession of the ball is phenomenal :) ]

"Tyrannosaurus ( /tɪˌrænɵˈsɔrəs/ or /taɪˌrænɵˈsɔrəs/; meaning "tyrant lizard", from Greek τυράννος (tyrannos, "tyrant") and σαύρος' (sauros, "lizard")) is a genus of theropod dinosaur. The species Tyrannosaurus rex (rex meaning "king" in Latin), commonly abbreviated to T. rex, is a fixture in popular culture. It lived throughout what is now western North America, with a much wider range than other tyrannosaurids. Fossils are found in a variety of rock formations dating to the Maastrichtian age of the upper Cretaceous Period, 67 to 65.5 million years ago.^[1] It was among the last non-avian dinosaurs to exist prior to the Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction event.

Like other tyrannosaurids, Tyrannosaurus was a bipedal carnivore with a massive skull balanced by a long, heavy tail. 

Relative to the large and powerful hindlimbs,Tyrannosaurus forelimbs were small, though unusually powerful for their size, and bore two clawed digits. 

Although other theropods rivaled or exceeded Tyrannosaurus rex in size, it was the largest known tyrannosaurid and one of the largest known land predators, measuring up to 12.8 m (42 ft) in length,^[2] up to 4 metres (13 ft) tall at the hips,^[3] and up to 6.8 metric tons (7.5 short tons) in weight.^[4] 

By far the largest carnivore in its environment, Tyrannosaurus rex may have been an apex predator, preying upon hadrosaurs and ceratopsians, although some experts have suggested it was primarily a scavenger. 

The debate over Tyrannosaurus as apex predator or scavenger is among the longest running debates in paleontology.

More than 30 specimens of Tyrannosaurus rex have been identified, some of which are nearly complete skeletons. 

Soft tissue and proteins have been reported in at least one of these specimens. 

The abundance of fossil material has allowed significant research into many aspects of its biology, including life history and biomechanics. 

The feeding habits, physiology and potential speed of Tyrannosaurus rex are a few subjects of debate. 

Its taxonomy is also controversial, with some scientists consideringTarbosaurus bataar from Asia to represent a second species of Tyrannosaurus and others maintaining Tarbosaurus as a separate genus. 

Several other genera of North American tyrannosaurids have also been synonymized with Tyrannosaurus."

UPDATE, after I have written this post (I didn't know about this party!) Isn't this a weird coinky-dinky [coincidence, in slang]?

Lionel Messi Finding a T. rex Too Much [composite image, evidently]

Picture Credit: Everything Dinosaur

http://blog.everythingdinosaur.co.uk/blog/_archives/2011/5/29/4827647.html

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"The Sunday Mirror says Barca arranged a spectacular post-match bash until 3am at the Natural History Museum in west London.

Messi and co will relax among exhibits including the giant diplodocus skeleton, Charles Darwin statue and 1,300-year-old sequoia tree.

The club is thought to have paid more than £30,000 for the party - the grand Central Hall alone costs £17,200 to hire."

http://footballnewstoday.com/barcelona-celebrate-champions-league-among-dinosaurs/

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"A source told the newspaper: "Barcelona are not really about players falling out of nightclubs and wanted something which befitted the club’s standing.

"The museum is not worried about the exhibits, some of them are insured for more than the players are worth.""

http://www.crunchsports.com/category/Soccer/Champions-League--FC-Barcelona-to-party-at-the-Natural-History-Museum-201105280037/

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T, as in Tyrannosaurus rex.

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