The Wildlife

Friday, 30 December 2011

Emperor Penguin | Info and Photos

Emperor penguins are the largest of all the penguins. They stand almost 4 ft. (1.2 meters) tall and weigh 70 to 90 lbs. (30 to 40 kg.). They live and breed at the beginning of winter, on the fast ice all around the Antarctic continent. The total population is estimated to be about 200,000 breeding pairs. Emperor penguins can mate when they are 4 years old and can live to be 20 years of age.

Emperor penguin lives in the arctic some other kinds of penguins live in other parts of the Southern Hemisphere. No penguins live in the Northern Hemisphere. The emperor penguin eats fish, krill, squid, and shrimp. The emperor penguin enemies are the killer whales, leapord seals, and walrus.

Emperor pengiun male does not eat for 62-64 days.They speak by sounds. The emperor penguin can stay under water 850 ft for 18 min. They were discoverd by Johann Reinhold Foster. Sir Francis Drake and his men killed 1000 penguins in only one day! Grownup pengiuns can be made into oil, hats, purses, and the eggs are used for food. Penguins have a sickness called pesticide which can kill people.

Emperor Penguin

Emperor Tamarin | Info and Photos 2012

Emperor Tamarins are found in the southwest Amazon Basin. The countries of their origin are southeast Peru, northwest Bolivia, and northwest Brazil. River drainages in Peru such as the Acre, Purus, and Jurua have populations of emperor tamarins. Emperor tamarins are found in various types of light, dry-bottom to terrestrial dense Amazon forests. There territories are found in areas with 75-100 acres of open woodlands. Emperor tamarins usually dwell in trees below 80-95 feet

Emperor tamarins are usually between 9-10.5 inches in body length with a tail length of around 15 inches. They are very light animals weighing only about 10-14 ounces at mature age. There most distinct physical feature is their long, white, drooping mustache. The emperor tamarins usually have a black or dark grey coat with yellow coats on their back and a brownish-red chest and tail. Emperor tamarins have claws on all of their fingers and toes with the exception of the great toe, which has a nail.

Emperor tamarins are active during the day and are constantly moving. Due to their small size they are very agile and can move from branch to branch with great leaps and jerky movements. They are very playful, affectionate primates and when held in captivity love to be pet by humans. They are usually found in groups consisting of up to fifteen other members. Often the emperor tamarin is found living among other groups of emperor tamarins. Click Here for more details.

Emperor Tamarin

Emu | Bird Info & Photos 2012

Emu is the largest bird in Australia, and the second largest in the world after the ostrich.Emus have long necks, sharp beaks and small ears. They have two sets of eyelids, one for blinking and one to keep out the dust. Their feet are long, with three toes. One toe on each foot has a long talon, for fighting.

Emu are generally very docile. Emu tend to be intensely curious creatures. Emu chicks hatch from eggs ranging in size from 400 to 900 grams in weight, with the average being near 550 grams or about 1.25 pounds. Upon hatching, the chicks will stand nearly 10 inches tall and they will have a yellowish-white and black striping used to camouflage them in the wild. At three months, the chicks have grown to 24 inches and transition through a black head and then black body stage as their feathers grow in. Within 6 months the chick is 4 1/2 feet tall and has attained the black, tan and brown feather coloring of the adult and they begin to fill out in weight. As adults they possess a soft downy feathering [since no vein runs through the center of each double-feathered quill]. Often parts of the head, neck and beak can display a radiant blue coloring.Emus are found only in Australia. They live in most of the less-populated areas of the continent and although they can survive in most regions, they avoid dense forest and severe desert.

Emus have been living in Australia for a very long time. Their ancestors, the Dromornithids, roamed the land when dinosaurs lived. Originally there were three species of emu, but now there is only one. The two other species became extinct because they were hunted for their meat and feathers.

Emu

Falcon | Info and Photos

Falcons have thin, pointed wings, which allow them to dive at extremely high speeds. (Peregrine Falcons, the fastest animals on Earth, are said to have reached speeds of up to 200 mph.) Other falcons include the Gyrfalcon, Lanner Falcon, and the Merlin. Some small falcons with long, narrow wings are called hobbies

Falcons are strong, fierce birds with hooked bills and large feet armed with long, curved talons. Keen-eyed and swift in flight, they commonly pursue their prey—birds and small mammals—with rapid wing beats. Falcons usually nest in depressions scraped out on ledges of cliffs. Some build nests of branches and twigs in trees, and others nest in woodpecker holes. The females lay two to six eggs, usually creamy to buff and mottled with brown.

Falcons nest on high ground such as mountains and cliffs and in the tops of tall trees. This means that the vulnerable eggs and chicks of the falcon are in the safest place possible. Falcons start to breed when they are about a year old. Female falcons lay an average of 3 eggs per clutch and look after their chicks until they are big enough and strong enough to fend for themselves. Falcons are generally solitary birds and only really come together to mate. Although falcons are known to stay in the same place, many species of falcon are migratory birds and have been known to travel more than 15,000 miles per year.

Falcon

Friday, 23 December 2011

Fennec Fox | Wildlife

Fennec Foxes are 2-3 lb. canines with ears as large as 6 inches in length from Africa. Fennecs can make great pets since they can be easily trained to use a litter box and are fed an accessible high-quality dog or cat food, such as the Mazuri Exotic Canine Diet. The fennec fox has thick fur which helps to keep the fennec fox cool in the day and warm during cold nights. The large ears of the fennec fox help to regulate the body heat of the fennec fox helping to keep the fennec fox cool during the hot daytime hours. This is done by blood running near the skin in the ear. This helps dissipate the heat.

The Fennec Fox, sometimes called the Desert Fox, is the smallest member of the fox family. It grows to about 1 1/2 feet high and weighs an average of 3 pounds. The Fennec Fox is dust colored, which helps it blend in with its natural habitat, the Sahara Desert. Probably the most recognizable feature of the Fennec Fox is its large ears, which grow to about 6 inches. The Fennec Fox also has thick fur on its feet to protect them from the hot desert sands.

The Fennec Fox is also considered an exotic pet, and the diet of the Fennec Fox in captivity can be a bit challenging, since most people don't live in the desert. Some people have found that a mix of dog food, cat food, fruits and vegetables is an acceptable diet, with occasional fresh raw meat (not the rancid old package of beef left in the fridge too long). The best diet in captivity is the wild canid diet that zoos feed their wild creatures.

Fennec Fox

Ferret | Info & Photos 2012

Ferret is a small, warm blooded mammal in the weasel family (mustelidae). Ferrets are long in body with short legs. There are two kinds of ferrets--the domestic ferret and the black-footed ferret. The domestic ferret is the type widely kept as a pet. Domestic ferrets vary in color from white to nearly black usually with a dark mask and tail. Black-footed ferrets have dull yellow fur that is slightly darker on the back. Black-footed ferrets have black feet, black tail tips, and black fur around the eyes. The scientific name for the domestic ferret is Mustela putorius furo and black-footed ferret is M. nigripes.

Ferrets are fairly clean animals and do not require a lot of grooming. They can be brushed occasionally. If they get dirty you can give them a bath. Another alternative to bathing is sprinkling a powder such as talcum, cornflower, or chalk powder on the coat and brush it off. Nails must be kept trimmed. The ears should be checked for any signs of parasite; a ferret can get the same kinds of ear parasites as cats and dogs. Teeth should be checked on a regular basis for signs of sore gums or clumps of food which can be wiped away. Getting your ferret used to you looking at his teeth will make it easier for you to give your ferret a pill if you ever need to do so. You can also brush your ferrets teeth with a toothpaste made for dogs.

Ferrets are subject to getting the same diseases as a dog can contact. Therefore it is important to get a ferret its necessary shots. They are also prone to adrenal gland disease, lymphoma, and pancreatic tumors. Young ferrets often eat foreign objects and become obstructed.Ferrets are able to breed when they are only 5 to 6 month old. In the United States, almost all pet ferrets are neutered. This is generally done while the pets are very young (4-6 weeks of age)

Ferret

The Fin Whale | Info & Photos 2012

The Fin Whale is found in oceans all over the world, from the tropics to the polar areas. They are known as a pelagic species, often occuring in shallow waters close to the shore. Even though they are found in oceans across the world, they are not as common in tropical waters or ice laden seas.

Fin whales are more sociable than the other rorquals often being found in small pods of 2-7 individuals (but rarely up to 20). This kind of behavior is often associated with feeding techniques and it is likely that this is the reason. Fin whales are known to dive deeper than most baleen whales, to 200m again for feeding reasons. These behavioral characteristics and feeding behavior add up to Fin whales occupying a different "niche" to the other large filter feeding whales and so allowing them to co-exist in similar regions as they feed on different types or sizes of food.

Fin Whale often feed by swimming at the surface on their sides scooping up water and prey as they go, this is done on their right sides so that the white lower jaw and baleen are pointing downwards and may be the reason for this asymmetrical colouration. Though smaller than blue whales and not having quite the same prodigious appetite, Fin whales have been calculated as consuming as much as 2.8 tonnes of food a day while feeding in the Antarctic in the summer months.

Fin Whale

Monday, 19 December 2011

Fire-Bellied Toad | Wildlife

The Fire-Bellied Toad is small to medium-sized species of toad that is found naturally across mainland Europe and northern and central Asia. The fire-bellied toad is most commonly known for the brightly-coloured markings on its body, which are predominantly found on the underside of the fire-bellied toad. The fire-bellied toad is found close to water in a variety of different habitats. Forest, woodland, temperate rainforests, marshlands, swamps and even farmland, often provides the perfect home for the fire-bellied toad. The fire-bellied toad also spends a great deal of time in water from tiny freshwater, mountain streams to large slow-flowing rivers and lakes.

The fire-bellied toad is a carnivorous animal as the fire-bellied toad has a diet that mainly consists of small invertebrates like bugs and insects. The fire-bellied toad is able to catch its prey by shooting out its long, sticky tongue which grabs onto the insect and pulls it into the open mouth of the fire-bellied toad. The fire-bellied toad is also known to eat spiders, larvae and the odd worm. Due to its small size, the fire-bellied toad has numerous predators within its natural environment. Foxes, cats, snakes, lizards and birds are the most common predators of the fire-bellied toad along with some species of large fish. The eggs and tadpoles of the fire-bellied toad also have a number of aquatic predators in the water.

The fire-bellied toad mates during the late spring, when the female fire-bellied toad lays between 50 and 300 sticky eggs onto a plant stem or leaf that hangs over the water. The eggs of the fire-bellied toad are joined together and are known as toadspawn, but it can take a couple of years before the fire-bellied toad tadpoles have full transformed into adult toads.

Fire-Bellied Toad