|
Animal Facts -
Wild Animals
|
- Lions are Africa's most powerful predators. Heroic size, strength, and speed enable them to conquer even such mighty animals as the rhino and the Cape buffalo, to overtake sprinters as fast as the antelopes. Their only deadly enemy is man. Lions live on grassy plains in groups called "prides," which may number from five to fifteen, or as many as forty. Prides often occupy one tract of land and will drive off any strange lions that intrude. Within the pride, members are loyal and affectionate, nuzzling and licking each other when they meet. Cubs are born in litters of two or three, and by two years of age only the females are still with the pride. A grown lion may measure 9 feet from nose to tail and weigh about 400 pounds. Females run a foot shorter and 100 pounds lighter. The mane is a male characteristic, but it varies with the individual: some have a great mantle, others a neck ruff, and some no mane at all.
- Lions when fed and content are the picture of relaxation. Let others graze and hunt in the heat of the day; the lion prefers to loll those hours away in tall grass or the shade of a tree. But a hungry lion is a different story. Prodded by hunger, it becomes active, bold, determined,m and very much the King of Beasts. Lions will eat almost anything, but prefer animals, like the zebra and wildebeest, that are big enough to feed the pride. Hunting is done at night, and the lioness usually makes the kill, although males will help bring down large animals, like the giraffe and the Cape buffalo. Often the male circles upwind of the prey and then, with a mighty roar, stampedes it into the path of the waiting female. Over a short distance, she can run at a speed of 35 miles per hour, fast enough to keep up with all but the swiftest grazing game. The kill is made by gripping the prey's throat in a suffocation bite, or by leaping onto its back and clawing its muzzle to turn the head, so that the animal stumbles and falls. Young lions go through a long and arduous training period in learning to hunt. As cubs they are taught to attack game caught and held for them by the lioness. In the first year of life the cubs do plenty of playful mauling and wrestling and learn to use their fangs and claws. At eighteen months they have the size and weight to try bringing down game in the field. It is often a painful lessons, as the biting, kicking victims throw off the awkward student. In time, however, the young lion learns to coordinate his strength, weight, and weapons. When this time comes, nothing in his domain can stand up to him. From then on, he is monarch of all he surveys.
|
|
Animal Facts -
Wild Animals
|
- The rhinoceros family is about 60 million years old. Back then, many types of rhinoceros lived all over the world - in Europe, Asia, and Africa, as well as in North America. Now there are only five species left in the world: the black, the white, the Indian, the Sumatran, and the Javan. All of these rhinoceroses are in danger of extinction, where they live. No on is allowed to kill rhinoceroses for any reason.
- The black and white rhinoceroses live in Africa. Once they were found in many parts of Africa, but today they are scarce. Too many have been killed by people. The Indian rhinoceros used to be common all over India. The Sumatran and Javan rhinoceroses are also at risk. There are only about 500 Sumatran rhinoceroses left in all of Malaysia and Indonesia. The last fifty Javan rhinoceroses live on a reserve in Indonesia.
- Rhinoceroses are vegetarians. They do not eat other animals, but live on a diet of coarse grass and leaves. There is always plenty for them to eat in the wild, whether they live in the African grasslands or the Indonesian jungle. Rhinoceroses are big, powerful animals. The largest, the Indian rhinoceros, stands six feet high at the shoulder. No other creatures in the wild dare to attack them. Only humans threaten the survival of the rhinoceroses.
- The problem with humans is two-fold. First of all, the human population is growing so fast that there is little room left for animals. In India and the Far East, the forests and jungles are being cleared to make room for people. The rhinoceroses are being pushed into smaller and more isolated areas, where they do not have room to live. An even bigger problem is that over the centuries, humans hunted the rhinoceros almost to extinction. They killed them for their horns.
|
|
Read more...
|
|
Animal Facts -
Wild Animals
|
- Polar bears are the biggest and most powerful animals in the Arctic pack ice. The fear no other animal. None are larger enough to challenge the polar bear. Polar bears belong to the bear family. They are closely related to brown bears. Polar bears are as comfortable on land as in the water. They spend a lot of time on land and use the sea as a feeding ground.
- Polar bears are covered in thick, creamy white fur. This fur keeps them warm and gives them good camouflage in the snowy landscape. An average male polar bear weighs over 1,000 pounds and is around ten feet long. Female polar bears are smaller, about about eight feet long. Some Alaskan polar bears have weighed well over 1,500 pounds.
- Polar bears are found only in the Arctic pack ice. When the ice melts in the summer, the bears move north. They return to the southern limits of the pack ice in the winter. Polar bear populations live in five countires: the United States, Canada, Greenland, the Soviet Union, and Norway. The governments of all these countries have forbidden the hunting of polar bears.
- Polar bears are curious animals. They often stand up on their hind legs to get a better look or sniff things. They will follow the tracks of snow vehicles for miles. Like all animals, they have to rely on their senses to find food and fend off suprise attacks. Polar bears do not have very good eyesight. Luckily their sense of smeill is excellent. Polar bears can smell a tasty seal from far away!
|
|
Read more...
|
|
Animal Facts -
Wild Animals
|
- Not everyone knows that there are two kinds of pandas. One is the red panda and the other is the giant panda. The best known kind, loved by everyone is the beautiful black-and-white giant panda. The smaller red panda is quite common, but giant pandas are now very rare. Giant pandas are the national animal of China. They are also the emblem of the World Wildlife Fund, an organization that gives money to projects to save rare animals and plants.
- Giant panda used to live in many parts of China. A few lived in the neighboring country of Burma. Scientists guess that only about one thousand giant pandas are now left. They live only in one area of China. Most pandas are found in the province of Sichuan in southwest China, on the edge of the Tibetan plateau. The giant pandas live deep in the mountainous bamboo forests.
- Giant pandas were originally meat-eating animals, or carnivores. Pandas are very gentle animals and are not suited to hunting other animals for food. Over the years they have changed their eating habits. They began to eat a bushy plant called bamboo instead. But giant pandas' bodies, which are made for eating meat, cannot digest the bushy plant properly. Because of this, less than one-fifth of the pandas' food intake gives them any nourishment. They have to eat enormous amounts of bamboo to get the vitamins they need.
|
|
Read more...
|
|
Animal Facts -
Exotic Animals
|
- A hedgehog's heart beats 300 times a minute.
- All hamsters are descended from a single female (and her mates) found in a Syrian tomb in 1930.
- The poison-arrow frog has enough poison to kill about 2,200 people.
- Armadillos can walk under water.
- A single pig gave birth to 34 piglets in Denmark in 1961.
- Pigs will eat any Ben and Jerry's ice cream flavor but for one, Mint Oreo.
- The ferret (Musteia putorius furo) is a domestic pet. It is not a wild animal, though ferrets are descendants of the European polecat (weasel) and are, therefore, close relatives of skunks, mink, otters, and badgers.
|
|
Read more...
|
|
|
