~ ANIMAL ~

[MysteRy]

Lion




The lion (Panthera leo) is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae.

With some males exceeding 250 kg (550 lb) in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger.

Wild lions currently exist in Sub-Saharan Africa and in Asia with an endangered remnant population in Gir Forest National Park  in India, having disappeared from North Africa and Southwest Asia in historic times.

About 10,000 years ago, the lion was the most widespread large land mammal after humans.

They were found in most of Africa, across Eurasia from western Europe to India, and in the Americas from the Yukon to Peru.

The lion is a vulnerable species, having seen a possibly irreversible population decline of thirty to fifty percent over the past  two decades in its African range.

Lion populations are untenable outside designated reserves and national parks.

Although the cause of the decline is not fully understood, habitat loss and conflicts with humans are currently the greatest  causes of concern.

Lions live for ten to fourteen years in the wild, while in captivity they can live longer than twenty years.

In the wild, males seldom live longer than ten years, as injuries sustained from continual fighting with rival males greatly  reduce their longevity.

Lions are unusually social compared to other cats.

A pride of lions consists of related females and offspring and a small number of adult males.

Groups of female lions typically hunt together, preying mostly on large ungulates.

Highly distinctive, the male lion is easily recognised by its mane, and its face is one of the most widely recognised animal  symbols in human culture.

[MysteRy]

Zebra




Swahili Name: Punda Milia

Scientific Name: Burchell’s zebra (Equus burchellii); Grevy’s zebra (Equus grevyi)

Size: 45 to 55 inches at the shoulder (Burchell’s); 50 to 60 inches (Grevy’s)

Weight: Burchell’s: 485 to 550 pounds (Burchell’s); 770 to 990 pounds (Grevy’s)

Lifespan: 40 years in captivity

Habitat: Woodlands to open plains

Diet: Herbivores Gestation: 12 months (Burchell’s); 13 months (Grevy’s)

Predators: Lions, hyenas, hunting dogs, leopards, cheetahs

Zebras, horses and wild asses are all equids, long-lived animals that move quickly for their large size and have teeth built for grinding and cropping grass. Zebras have horselike bodies, but their manes are made of short, erect hair, their tails are tufted at the tip and their coats are striped.

Three species of zebra still occur in Africa, two of which are found in East Africa. The most numerous and widespread species in the east is Burchell’s, also known as the common or plains zebra. The other is Grevy’s zebra, named for Jules Grevy, a president of France in the 1880s who received one from Abyssinia as a gift, and now found mostly in northern Kenya. (The third species, Equus zebra, is the mountain zebra, found in southern and southwestern Africa.)

Physical Characteristics
The long-legged Grevy’s zebra, the biggest of the wild equids, is taller and heavier than the Burchell’s, with a massive head and large ears.

Zebras have shiny coats that dissipate over 70 percent of incoming heat, and some scientists believe the stripes help the animals withstand intense solar radiation. The black and white stripes are a form of camouflage called disruptive coloration that breaks up the outline of the body. Although the pattern is visible during daytime, at dawn or in the evening when their predators are most active, zebras look indistinct and may confuse predators by distorting true distance.

The stripes on Grevy’s zebras are more numerous and narrow than those of the plains zebra and do not extend to the belly. In all zebra species, the stripes on the forequarters form a triangular pattern; Grevy’s have a similar pattern on the hindquarters, while others have a slanted or horizontal pattern.

Habitat
Burchell’s zebras inhabit savannas, from treeless grasslands to open woodlands; they sometimes occur in tens of thousands in migratory herds on the Serengeti plains. Grevy’s zebras are now mainly restricted to parts of northern Kenya. Although they are adapted to semi-arid conditions and require less water than other zebra species, these zebras compete with domestic livestock for water and have suffered heavy poaching for their meat and skins.

Behavior
Family groups are stable members maintaining strong bonds over many years. Mutual grooming, where zebras stand together and nibble the hair on each other’s neck and back, helps develop and preserve these bonds. Family members look out for one another if one becomes separated from the rest, the others search for it. The group adjusts its traveling pace to accommodate the old and the weak.

The females within a family observe a strict hierarchical system. A dominant mare always leads the group, while others follow her in single file, each with their foals directly behind them. The lowest- ranking mare is the last in line. Although the stallion is the dominant member of the family, he operates outside the system and has no special place in the line.

Diet
Zebras are avid grazers. Both Burchell’s and Grevy’s zebras are in constant search of green pastures. In the dry season, they can live on coarse, dry grass only if they are within a short distance (usually no farther than 20 miles away) of water holes.

Caring for the Young
When a foal is born the mother keeps all other zebras (even the members of her family) away from it for 2 or 3 days, until it learns to recognize her by sight, voice and smell.

While all foals have a close association with their mothers, the male foals are also close to their fathers. They leave their group on their own accord between the ages of 1 and 4 years to join an all-male bachelor group until they are strong enough to head a family.

Predators
Zebras are important prey for lions and hyenas, and to a lesser extent for hunting dogs, leopards and cheetahs. When a family group is attacked, the members form a semicircle, face the predator and watch it, ready to bite or strike should the attack continue. If one of the family is injured the rest will often encircle it to protect it from further attack.

[MysteRy]

Fish




Fish have been on the earth for more than 450 million years.

Fish were well established long before dinosaurs roamed the earth.

There are over 25,000 identified species of fish on the earth.

It is estimated that there may still be over 15,000 fish species that have not yet been identified.

There are more species of fish than all the species of amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals combined.

40% of all fish species inhabit fresh water, yet less than .01% of the earth’s water is fresh water.

The spotted climbing perch is able to absorb oxygen from the air and will crawl overland using its strong pectoral fins.

Some fish like sharks don’t posses an air bladder to help keep them afloat and must either swim continually or rest on the bottom.

Some fish make sounds by grating their teeth and others like some catfish make sounds from their air filled swim bladder.

Some species of fish can fly (glide) others can skip along the surface and others can even climb rock.

Fish have a specialized sense organ called the lateral line which works much like radar and helps them navigate in dark or murky water.

The largest fish is the great whale shark which can reach fifty feet in length.

The smallest fish is the Philippine goby that is less than 1/3 of an inch when fully grown.

Some species of fish have skeletons made only of cartilage.

Fish have excellent senses of sight, touch, taste and many possess a good sense of smell and ‘hearing’.

Fish feel pain and suffer stress just like mammals and birds.

[MysteRy]

Prawn




Prawns are decapod crustaceans of the suborder Dendrobranchiata. There are 540 extant species, in seven families, and a fossil record extending back to the Devonian.

They differ from other, similar crustaceans, such as Caridea (shrimp) and Stenopodidea (boxer shrimp) by the branching form of the gills and by the fact that they do not brood their eggs, but release them directly into the water.

They may reach a length of over 330 millimetres (13 in) and a mass of 450 grams (1.0 lb), and are widely fished and farmed for human consumption.

Shrimp and prawns

While in biological terms shrimps and prawns belong to different suborders of Decapoda, they are very similar in appearance.

In commercial farming and fisheries, the terms “shrimp” and “prawn” are often used interchangeably.

However, recent aquaculture literature increasingly uses the term “prawn” only for the freshwater forms of palaemonids and “shrimp” for the marine penaeids.

In the United Kingdom, the word “prawn” is more common on menus than “shrimp”, while the opposite is the case in North America.

The term “prawn” is also loosely used to describe any large shrimp, especially those that come 15 (or fewer) to the pound (such as “king prawns”, yet sometimes known as “jumbo shrimp”).

Australia and some other Commonwealth nations follow this British usage to an even greater extent, using the word “prawn” almost exclusively.

When Australian comedian Paul Hogan used the phrase, “I’ll slip an extra shrimp on the barbie for you” in an American television advertisement, it was intended to make what he was saying easier for his American audience to understand, and was thus a deliberate distortion of what an Australian would typically say.

[MysteRy]

Porcupine




The porcupine is the prickliest of rodents, though its Latin name means “quill pig.” There are about two dozen porcupine species, and all boast a coat of needle-like quills to give predators a sharp reminder that this animal is no easy meal.

Some quills, like those of Africa’s crested porcupine, are nearly a foot (30 centimeters) long.

Porcupines have soft hair, but on their back, sides, and tail it is usually mixed with sharp quills. These quills typically lie flat until a porcupine is threatened, then leap to attention as a persuasive deterrent.

Porcupines cannot shoot them at predators as once thought, but the quills do detach easily when touched.

Many animals come away from a porcupine encounter with quills protruding from their own snouts or bodies. Quills have sharp tips and overlapping scales or barbs that make them difficult to remove once they are stuck in another animal’s skin. Porcupines grow new quills to replace the ones they lose.

The porcupines found in North and South America are good climbers and spend much of their time in trees. Some even have prehensile (gripping) tails to aid in climbing.

The North American porcupine is the only species that lives in the U.S. and Canada, and is the largest of all porcupines. A single animal may have 30,000 or more quills.

North American porcupines use their large front teeth to satisfy a healthy appetite for wood. They eat natural bark and stems, and have been known to invade campgrounds and chew on canoe paddles.

North American porcupines also eat fruit, leaves, and springtime buds.

Other porcupine species live in Africa, Europe, and Asia. These animals usually live on the ground and can inhabit deserts, grasslands, and forests.

Female porcupines have between one and four young, depending on the species. Babies have soft quills at birth, which harden within a few days. Most young porcupines are ready to live on their own at about two months of age.

[MysteRy]

Ants Fact

1. Ants are capable of carrying objects 50 times their own body weight with their mandibles.

2. Soldier ants use their heads to plug the entrances to their nests and keep intruders from gaining access.

3. Certain ant species defend plants in exchange for food and shelter.

4. The total biomass of all the ants on Earth is roughly equal to the total biomass of all the people on Earth.

5. Ants sometimes herd or tend to insects of other species, like aphids or leafhoppers.

6. Ants will enslave other ants, keeping them captive and making them do work for the colony.

7. Ants lived alongside the dinosaurs.

8. Ants started farming long before humans.

9. Some ants form “supercolonies,” massive communities of ants that can stretch for thousands of miles.

10. Ants follow scent trails laid by scout ants to gather food.

[MysteRy]

Kiwi Bird



The Kiwi’s name doesnt come from its call, but from the Polynesian name for the Bristled- Thighed Curlew, the Kivi.This bird has the same way of feeding as the Kiwi, by poking it’s long beak into soft ground.

It has very strong legs for burrowing and ripping apart rotton logs.

The Kiwi cannot fly, and lives in burrows on the ground.

Its diet is mainly worms, spiders, bugs, grubs and fruit.

Kiwi’s mate for life, some have been together for 30 years.

A Kiwi’s egg is large compared with the size of its body (An egg averages 20% of the females weight, compared to 2% for an Ostrich).

The female is larger than the male. In some varieties the males are the ones that sit on the egg.

It is the only known bird to have external nostrils at the end of its beak, and one of the few birds to have a good sence of smell. At night a Kiwi can often be heard making snuffling noises, which is caused by the bird trying to clear dirt out of its nostrils when it is searching for food.

The Kiwi is the smallest member of the family of birds called Ratities. This group includes some of the worlds biggest birds like the Emu, Ostrich, as well the extinct Moa and the Elephant Birds of Madagascar.

It has an average body temperature of 38 degrees C, which is 2 degrees lower than other birds and two degrees higher than humans.