Amazon river dolphins live in the wide rivers of the Amazon Basin. During the rainy season, they move into flooded areas of forest and up swollen streams into lakes. They may become isolated in pools when waters recede, but most are able to survive by eating the river fish that are trapped with them.
Dolphins live in small groups. They are thought to defend the areas among them and will stay in an area as long as there is enough food. They breathe at least once a minute, through the nostrils on the tops of their heads. They dive down to the bottom of rivers to search for food, using their bristled snouts to root through mud and weeds.
Like other dolphins, Amazon river dolphins may use echolocation to find their way in the murky river waters. They sometimes feed in the same area as giant otters. It may be that the hunting behaviour of otters drives fish out of the shallows towards the dolphins.
October 1, 2008
Guanacos are considered the wild relatives of domestic llamas and alpacas. They are distant cousins of the camels of Africa and Asia. Like camels, guanacos have adapted to living in dry areas. Like their domestic relatives, guanacos are fast runners. They have more haemoglobin (oxygen-carrying pigment) in their red blood cells than any other mammal. This allows them to survive at a high altitude. Guanacos mainly graze on grass, but they also pluck leaves from shrubs. They live in herds of about 15 individuals. Each herd is controlled by one adult male. Once a young guanaco reaches adulthood, it is chased away by the dominant male.
September 30, 2008
Galapagos tortoises are the largest of all the tortoises and turtles. They are found on the islands of the Galapages Archipelage in the Pacific and off the coast of Ecuador. Mainly, the shell folds around the body like a saddle. However, the different subspecies located on other islands have varying shell shapes. The general saddle shape allows the forefeet and neck to move more freely than for most tortoises. Galapagos tortoises are plant-eaters. They use their long necks to reach up to bushes and shrubs, foragain for leaves with their toothless jaws. They also eat grass and even cacti. Their giant size is most likely due to this diet. The Galapagos Islands area arid places and plants are not widely available. Plant food contains only small amounts of energy, and larger animals use energy more efficiently than smaller ones. For most of the year, the tortoises live in herds. During the breeding season, males defend territories. The dominant males are the ones that can lift their heads higher than the other males.
September 30, 2008
The largest species gets to about 6.5-24 pounds living in Alaska and Canada. The red fox is most commonly a rusty red, with white underbelly, black ear tips and legs, and a bushy tail usually with a distinctive white tip.
The majority of their diet includes insects, mollusks, earthworms and crayfish. They do also eat some plant material such as blackberries, apples, plums, and other fruits. Common vertabrae prey includes rodents (mice), rabbits, birds, eggs, amphibians, small reptiles and other fish.
The red fox is one of the most common foxes in North America, next to the Gray Fox. Red foxes prefer sparsley-settled, hill areas with wooded tracts, marshes and streams. However, gray foxes prefer bushy areas, swamplands, and rugged mountainious terrain.
Please don’t buy any furs made from real animal fur. This includes foxes, wolves, rabbits, minks, beavers, otters, seals, cats, dogs, coyotes, and chinchillas.
September 12, 2008
A coati is nosy. That long and flexible snout sniffs out food in crevices and holes.
It weighs a little less than half a loaf of bread. Babies are born in a nest that Mom builds in a tree.
An adult male coati leaves his band to strike out on his own. Coatis travel in groups-called bands-of 4 to 65 females and young. When a male turns about two years old, he leaves his band to live alone.
Speaking of bands, coatis love the “Beetles.” For dinner, they also enjoy ants, termites, spiders, scorpions, and fruits.
They live deep in the heart of Texas. They also live from New Mexico and Arizona to northern South America.
July 12, 2008
A giraffe-necked weevil’s body is the size of a kernel of corn.
Males use their necks to roll leaves. The males protect their mates’ eggs by rolling them up in leaves.
Their necks are twice as long as the females’ necks.
There are more than 50,000 species of weevils.
You won’t spot giraffe-necked weevils in your yard unless you live in the rain forest of Madagascar, an island nation off the southeast coast of Africa.
These weevils live on the small rain forest trees that have the leaves they like to eat.
July 12, 2008
A strawberry hermit crab is about the size of your palm.
Adult strawberry land hermit crabs live on land but need water in order to breathe. The moisture makes their gills work, so these crabs are always near water.
The usual size of a colony is 25 animals, and some colonies have as many as 100 hermit crabs.
They’re good models for beach clean-up programs. Strawberry land hermit crabs keep beaches clean by eating anything dead and rotting.
They can live for about 30 years in the wild, but have known to live 32 years in captivity.
July 11, 2008
A sand cat’s paws work like the desert version of a snowshoe. Fur bottomed feet prevent sinking in the sand. The special design also protects paws from the searing hot sand, muffles sounds, and doesn’t leave tracks.
You could bounce a tennis ball higher than a sand cat can jump. The sand cat is a poor jumper and climber. Then again, there aren’t many trees in the desert. (A tennis ball can bounce more than five feet high).
A sand cat barks like a dog. It also mews, growls, and screams.
Sand cats hunt vipers. They also eat gerbils, hares, spiders, and other small animals.
More interesting facts:
The sand cats are distributed among African and Asian deserts. It lives in the spots too hot for a desert cat: the Sahara, Arabian desert, and the deserts of Iran and Pakistan. It lives for about 13 years. The length is about 20 inches with a 12 inch tail. The sand cat can survive in temperatures ranging from 25 degrees F-125 degrees F.
July 11, 2008
Northern Bluefin Tuna
Bog Turtle
Hawksbill Turtle
Blue Whale
Gray Whale
Humpback Whale
Killer Whale
Wildcat
Gray Wolf
Ivory-Billed Woodpecker
Mountain Zebra
June 29, 2008
The king cobra is the world’s largest venomous snake, growing to be 18.5 feet long and a weight of up to 20 pounds. It’s diet consists of eating other snakes, including pythons. The cobra is fully capable of killing a human with a single bite, though the mortality can be as high as 75 percent. Most bites to a human do not have enough venom to kill them. One very large cobra at the London Zoo, grew to be at 18.8 feet before it had to be euthanized upon the outbreak of World War II.
A cobra’s skin can be olive-green, tan, or black and it has faint, yellow markings down the length of it’s body. The King Cobra’s diet consists of other snakes, lizards, birds, and rodents.
June 19, 2008
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