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The Canary Islands lie in the marine current of the same name and marks the southern end of the cold waters of the North Atlantic, which is why we can find animals from both cold and tropical seas. This makes the archipelago one of the places in Europe with the highest diversity of cetaceans, with at least 29 different species. One of the odontocetes –toothed whales– from the Canaries is the Atlantic spotted dolphin (Stenella frontalis), owing its name to the many spots adults have on their entire body. It is also recognizable by a pale-colored line on each side. It’s endemic to the warm waters of the Atlantic, and here it is a sporadic species that appears in autumn and is present until late spring. They form vast groups of hundreds of animals. They’re very active and sometimes swim in boat wakes. They have the particularity of presenting two different morphologies depending on their habitat; coastal individuals are larger and ore robust than their oceanic counterparts. The maximum length is around 2.5 m (8'3"), although dolphins from the Canary Islands are usually smaller. It feeds on fish and cephalopods it finds by echolocation, an adaptation that was developed by odontocetes 34 million years ago. Non-selective fishing, contamination and whaling industry are some of the threats the Atlantic spotted dolphin is facing. There is no sufficient data available to determine the conservation status of the species, but in the Canary Islands it does not enjoy any kind of protection. In spite of this, it is increasingly abundant in the archipelago. #dolphin #CanaryIslands

The Teide National Park is located in the heart of the island of Tenerife, which comprises the stratovolcano of the same name and the enormous volcanic caldera of Las Cañadas that surrounds it. The harsh and extreme climate of the park creates an environment that favors speciation. The arachnids are the most well represented invertebrates of the park: of the 101 species present, 70 are endemic and 22 are exclusive of the park. The Teide tiger spider is included in this last group. The attractively patterned Teide tiger spider (Aculepeira annulipes) is characterized by the oak leaf mark on its abdomen and its banded legs, hence the specific name (Latin: «annulus», "ring" and «pes», "foot"). They build their spiriform webs of remarkable resistance on plants of Spartocytisus supranubius. They can be found in abundance during the spring, when a large number of arthropods –and their predators– are attracted by the bloom. They prey on a wide array of arthropods, from bees and butterflies (Cyclyrius webbianus) to robber flies and other spiders (Thomisus onustus). The sexual dimorphism is very evident and cannibalism is a common behavior. For this reason, during the courtship, the small male approaches the female while vibrating the silk with caution to be recognized by her. In case she confuses him with prey, he would be devoured without regard. #spider #CanaryIslands

The southern grey shrike (Lanius meridionalis) is a passeriform distributed throughout the Iberian Peninsula, North Africa, the Sahel, the Middle East and South Asia, and it is present in the central and Eastern Canaries. It’s similar to its parapatric relative –of different but adjacent distribution– the northern grey shrike (L. excubitor), that inhabits wooded grasslands, unlike the southern shrike that prefers arid shrublands. Both are known as grey shrikes. It possesses a black mask, grey back and white belly, whereas its long tail and compact wings are black. The juvenile has brown breast bands. It usually perches upright on its lookout seeking for birds, small mammals, reptiles or arthropods with its excellent eyesight. Its scientific name «Lanius» means “butcher” in latin and refers to its feeding habit of impaling its preys on thorns of plants like the «aulaga» (Launaea arborescens). This way it manages to store food, and due to the fact they lack sufficient strength in its talons, it can hold its preys while it tears them appart with its robust and curved beak that resembles that of birds of prey. It captures preys with its beak and kill with a blow to the head or by biting the neck and sever the spinal cord with its strong notch, or “tooth” near the beak tip. It has a hoarse call, but it can imitate other birds in order to lure them in close and capture them. This masked raptorial passerine is a fierce bird capable of fighting much larger birds for a territory and taking down large prey. Likewise, it’s very caring for its offspring and shows a great intelligence by using ingenious hunting strategies. #CanaryIslands