Komodo Dragon

The Komodo dragon is the largest living lizard. The largest verified specimen reached a length of 10.3 feet (3.13 m) and weighed 366 pounds (166 kg). This may have included a substantial amount of undigested food. More typical weights for the largest wild dragons are about 154 pounds (70 kg). Although the Komodo can run briefly at speeds up to 13 mph (20 kph), its hunting strategy is based on stealth and power. They can spend hours in one spot, waiting for a deer, boar, goat, or anything sizable and nutritious.

Monitors can see objects as far away as 985 feet (300 m), so vision does play a role in hunting, especially as their eyes are better at picking up movement than at discerning stationary objects. Their retinas possess only cones, so they may be able to distinguish color but have poor vision in dim light. They have a much smaller hearing range than humans. The result is an animal that can not hear such sounds as a low pitched voice or a high pitched scream.

Vision and hearing are useful, but the Komodo's olfaction is its primary food detector. The Komodo detects odors much like a snake does. It uses its long, yellow forked tongue to sample the air, after which the two tongue tips retreat to the palate, where they make contact with the Jacobson's organs. The chemical analyzers "smell" a deer by recognizing airborne molecules. If the concentration present on the left tongue tip is higher than that sampled from the right, it tells the Komodo that the deer is approaching from the left. This system, along with an undulatory walk in which the head swings from side to side, helps the dragon sense the existence and direction of odoriferous carrion from as far away as 2.5 miles (four km), when the wind is right.

When the Komodo is hunting and catches its prey, a deer for instance, it attacks the feet first, knocking the deer off balance. When dealing with smaller prey, it may lunge straight for the neck. The dragons basic strategy is simple : try to smash the quarry to the ground and tear it to pieces. Strong muscles driving powerful claws accomplish some of this, but the Komodo's teeth are its most dangerous weapon. They are large, curved, and serrated, and tear flesh efficiently. If the deer fails to escape immediately, the Komodo will continue to rip it apart. Once convinced that its prey is incapacitated, the dragon may break off its offensive for a brief rest. The deer is now badly injured and in shock. The dragon then launches the final blow, a belly attack. The deer quickly bleeds to death, and the Komodo begins to feed.

Previous Post : Jaguar

Jaguar

The jaguar is the largest cat in the Americas. The jaguar has a compact body, a broad head and powerful jaws. Its coat is normally yellow and tan, but the color can vary from reddish brown to black. The spots on the coat are more solid and black on the head and neck and become larger rosette-shaped patterns along the side and back of the body.

Jaguars are known to eat deer, peccary, crocodiles, snakes, monkeys, deer, sloths, tapirs, turtles, eggs, frogs, fish and anything else it can catch.

The total number of jaguars throughout their range is unknown.

The jaguar can be found in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas and from Mexico all the way down to Patagonia. It is rare in the United States and is a federal endangered species.

The jaguar makes its home in a wide-variety of habitats including deciduous forests, rainforests, swamps, pampas grasslands and mountain scrub areas. They are solitary animals and live and hunt alone, except during mating season. The male's home range is between 19-53 square miles. The female's home range is between 10-37 square miles. A male jaguar may share his home range with several females. He will aggressively protect his home range from other males to ensure that any females in his territory mate only with him.

The jaguar hunts mostly on the ground, but it sometimes climbs a tree and pounces on its prey from above. It has very powerful jaws and sharp teeth and usually kills its prey with one crushing bite to the skull. Unlike most big cats, the jaguar loves the water. It often swims, bathes and plays in streams and pools. It will also hunt for fish in the water.

Previous Post : Killer Whale - Orca

Killer Whale - Orca

Orcas have long, rounded bodies with large dorsal fins at the middle of their backs. Their full radiator are marked with white patches on the underside and near the eyes.

Orcas feed on fish, squid, birds, and marine mammals. Like dolphins, orcas use echolocation - bouncing sound off of objects to determine their location - to hunt and use a series of high pitched clicks to stun prey.

Orca pods often work together to catch a meal. Pods sometimes will force many fish into one area and take turns feeding or will beach (slide out of the water onto the shore) themselves to scare seals or penguins into the water where other whales are waiting to feed.

Orcas are highly social animals that travel in groups called pods. Pods usually consist of 5 to 30 whales, although some pods may combine to form a group of 100 or more. Orcas establish social hierarchies, and pods are lead by females. The animals are thought to have a complex form of communication with different dialects (slightly different language) from one pod to another.

Orca gestation is 13 to 16 months. A calf is born in autumn weighing almost 400 pounds and measuring up to 7 feet in length. A calf will remain with its mother for at least two years.

Previous Post : Snowy Owl

Asiatic Lion

Common Name - Asiatic lion

Scientific Name - Panthera leo persica

Geographic habitat - Gir Forest National Park, Gujarat

Height - Approx 90cm

Length - 200-280cm

Weight - 200-275kg

Population - Around 300 (359)

The Asiatic Lion is only slightly smaller than the tiger and averages two metres in length (excluding its long tail) and about one metre at shoulder height. Males can vary between reddish-yellow and dark brown, while females are designed to blend in with savannah grasses and are, therefore, a sandy, light brown or beige colour. Their tales have a black tuft on the end. They differ from African Lions in several ways – they have a shorter mane, are generally fluffier and have much longer strands of hair on their elbows and the tips of their tails.

Asiatic Lions live in prides of up to approximately 15 animals. This is unique behaviour amongst the big cats of the wild, as the rest tend to be very territorial, preferring to inhabit their area alone. These lion prides comprise approximately three males, a number of females and their offspring. The males are seen as dominant, despite the females’ doing all the work. She will hunt for food, bring her catch back to the pride and then wait with her young while the males enjoy the takings. Once they are replete, the females and cubs are able to enjoy the leftovers. Still, each lion and lioness within the pride is closely bonded to the others, enjoying cooperation and unity within the wild. The females are particularly loyal to their pride, while the males are evicted at three years of age. Because hunting and stalking prey is generally done as a group, a single lion does not fare well on his own in the wild. Therefore, he does well to find another pride to join as soon as possible.

Indian Lions are carnivorous and depend upon hunting for food. Their prey mainly comprises of Deer, Antelope, Wild Boar and Wild Buffalo. At times, lions have also been observed attacking young hippopotamus and elephants.

These males then reach sexual maturity at about five years old (while females reach this stage at around four). After mating, she will incubate her cubs for between 100 and 120 days and she will give live birth to about three to five cubs.

Previous Post : Asian Elephants

Asian Elephants

Common Name: Asian elephant

Scientific Name: Elephas maximus

Location: Asia

Weight: 11,000 pounds (5,000kg)

Height: 3, 5 m (11 feet)

Asiatic elephants have accommodated to their surroundings as it changed over vast periods of time. Today they still interact with and form their surroundings. Their foraging natural actions assist to maintain the areas in which they live. by pulling down trees to eat leaves , branches, and roots they make clearings in which new immature trees and other flora grow to provide future nourishment for elephants and other organisms. Elephant tracks through the brush are routes that other creatures can use. White ants eat elephant fecal matters and often start out structure of termite heaps under piles of fecal matters! .

The Asian elephants' forest habitations are being devastated today because of commercial demand for forest educed productions such as coffee , tea, rubber , and hardwoods. Crop cultivation, excavation for iron ore, and flooding by hydroelectric undertakings have as well acted to diminish the large pieces of land of land commanded by elephants for adequate food provisions. Only about 35,000-40 ,000 Asian elephants make it today throughout a discontinuous range in southeast Asia.

The elephant's ivory tusks are incisors used for excavation, rooting out trees and displaying. The dominant elephant in the herd is a female , the matriarch. She is frequently the oldest, largest or most experienced elephant in the herd of related females and their young . Elephants can utilize low frequency sound waves for communication between fellow members of the herd and individuals outside the herd. These sounds may transport for distances of up to 10 miles.

Asian elephants are one of the largest herbivores (plant eaters) preferring grasses, leaves, trees, and even shrubs. Their diet varies from acacia trees to wild mangos.

Sometimes called the Indian elephant, this beast is likewise found in the dense forests and grassy plains of Sri Lanka, Burma , Thailand , Malaya, and Sumatra.

Previous Post : Amur Leopard -- A Solitary Hunter

Amur Leopard -- A Solitary Hunter

Scientific Name: Panthera pardus orientalis

Habitat: temperate forests

Location: Russian Far East and Northern China

Population: Fewer than 40 individuals

The Amur or Far Eastern leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis) is a subspecies of leopard and rates one of the world's most endangered big cats, with merely 2540 individuals making it in the eastmost regions of Russia. In the 19th century, the reach of the Amur leopard covered from southeast Russia, through Northeast China, and into the Korean peninsula. But after decades of home ground demolition, poaching, and hunting of its prey , the Amur leopard has been restricted to a small sherd of its previous range .

The Amur Panthera pardus is an rarity among leopard species . Unlike its relatives who populate the warm savannahs of Africa, the Amur leopard is well accommodated to the cold mountain home grounds of Russia's Far East. The Amur leopard has long limbs that enable it to walk through deep snow. When the seasons turn cold, the Amur leopard casts off its shorter, gold coloured coating in favor of a longer, lighter coloured coating which provides it with supplied insulant and camouflage .

The Amur leopard lives in the forests of the Sihote Alin Mountain Range where practically of the year it takes on deep snow and coarse moods. It relies on roe deer, sika deer, wild boar, musk deer, and little mammals such as rabbits and badgers for its solid food provision.

Female Amur leopards maintain home ranges that range in size from 15 to 38 square miles, while males can have territories as large as 155 square miles. They hunt mainly roe and sika deer, hares, badgers, mice, and other small animals.

Previous Post : Penguins -- Birds that can't fly

Penguins -- Birds that can't fly

Population: 2.5 million pairs

Location: Antarctic region

Size: About 30 inches tall

Weight: 11 pounds

Diet: Fish, krill, & other small crustaceans

Nests: Circle mounds of small stones

When one thinks of Antarctic wildlife, penguins are often the first animals that come to mind. Indeed these graceful, yet amusing ; hardy yet elegant animals are considered by many to be the signature species of the polar south. That is why we adjudicated to create a separate subdivision dedicated to the many penguin species and their enchanting characteristics .

Early Antarctic explorers really called up penguins were fish and sorted them accordingly. In fact, as birds, they are marvellously designed for their job , fleeing underwater with great skill . Their compact bodies have a breastbone that causes an excellent keel and they have massive paddle muscles to propel them at speeds up to 25 miles per hour. Their heads retract to create a complete hydrodynamic form. When locomoting speedily, penguins will jump clear of the water every few feet -- an activity called 'porpoising.' This enables them to take a breath, and lessens their chances of being taken by a predator . South polar penguins have besides developed the ability to leap out of the water to a significant height on land, enabling them to promptly reach the base hit of lifted ice edges or stone shelfs. Penguin legs are positioned far down on their bodies , so they walk with a really erect posture . Ashore they are often awkward, toddling and skipping over stones ; on snow they sometimes push themselves along on their stomaches.

Penguins are straight flightless birds. Some species drop equally much as 75 % of their lives at sea, however they all breed on land or sea-ice attached to land. To hold out the harsh conditions of the Antarctic, their bodies are insulated by a thick layer of fatness and a dense network of waterproofed plumage . Penguins' bones are solid and heavy, which help them to stay underwater and cut down the energy required for pursuance diving .

Previous Post : Orangutans

Orangutans

Orangutans are lonesome creatures . Adult males inhabit mainly alone and only come together with females to mate . Adult females live with their young. From time to time, adults will live with other grownups for short time periods in small temporary groups . Orangutans spend most of their lives in a "home range" of 0.4 to 3.7 square miles. Females have a smaller home range than males. Sometimes the home ranges of individual orangutans overlap.

Females are able to give birth after age seven, but in wild they generally do not mate until age 12. They give birth to one immature at a time, which clings to its mothers belly until it is about a year old . When an Pongo pygmaeus passes on adolescence at about four or five years , it gets more independent but may look for protective covering from its mother until it passes on seven to eight years .

Orangutans feed chiefly on fruits , specially wild figs. They besides eat other kinds of vegetation , insects, little vertebrates and birds eggs.

Orangutans are arboreal creatures , which means they spend most of their lives slowly walking, swinging and climbing through dense rain forests.

Species

Bornean Orangutan

Common Name: Bornean orangutan; Orangoutan de Borneo(Fr); Orangután de Borneo(Sp)

Scientific Name: Pongo pygmaeus

Habitat: Tropical and Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests

Location: Borneo

Population: Central Bornean = 38,000; NW Bornean = 3,000

The Bornean orangutan is now recognised as a different species from its Sumatra relative. Three subspecieses are recognised : Pongo pygmaeus pygmaeus, P.p. morio, and P. p. wurmbii, the most common Bornean subspecies. Although extensive , the latter's habitat is progressively fragmentized in the remaining drench and lowland dipterocarp forests of Central and West Kalimantan.

It is approximated that about one third of Borneo's orangutan populations were lost during the 1997 98 forest fires. On the Indonesian side of Borneo, populations of this subspecieses are not getting along substantially either.

Although some populations inhabit inside protected surface areas, illegal logging stock still takes place within these area and therefore continues a major threat to the survival of this species .

Sumatran Orangutan

Common Name: Sumatran orangutan;Orangoutan de Sumatra (Fr);Orangután de Sumatra (Sp)

Scientific Name: Pongo abelii

Habitat: Tropical and Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests

Location: Northern Sumatra

Population: Approximately 7,500 individuals in the wild

The Sumatran orangutan is the most critically endangered of the two orangutan species, and differs from its Borneo relative to upto some extents in physical appearance and behavioural language. Found only in the northern and western provinces of Sumatra, Indonesia, the species is losing fast its natural habitat to agriculture and human settlements.

Previous Post : Green Turtle

World Environment Day 2011: Come celebrate nature

The World Environment Day is observed every year on the 5th of June. As such, it will be held on the same date in 2011. This day is special because it is the occasion when the United Nations (United Nations) creates a world wide consciousness of keeping the environment . Withal, it is not a public holiday.

World Environment Day is the day for worldwide activity and resoluteness toward continuing the environment goodly for one and all. The United Nations Environment Programme focuses on creating a cleaner and greener surround. Under this opening, activities are carried out throughout the class. Nonetheless, World Environment Day is the juncture when the natural processes pass on the climax. The United Nations has been taking exceptional openings and noticing this Clarence Day since 1972.

The World Environment Day 2011 idea is Forests : Nature at Your Service. The purpose of this melodic theme is to find out that extra importance is given to timberlands by different areas. In fact, this is the reason why the United Nations has declared 2011 as the International Year of Forests.

Under the United Nations Environment Programme, India has been declared the emcee of 2011 World Environment Day. The intent is to let India and other areas endeavor heavily through the process of modernizing a fleeceable saving. Holding this in mind, the World Environment Day 2011 musical theme has been declared as one which should assist peoples cosmopolitan understand why timberlands are important. This will assist them indulge in actions to conserve the timberlands and ascertain a gullible surroundings.

The locales for the ceremonial of World Environment Day 2011 in India are the cities, Delhi and Mumbai. A number of activities will be held in these locales just to create peoples aware of the positive aspects of a fleeceable surroundings.

World Environment Day is feted oecumenical amidst parades and progressions, concerts and hunting expeditions. You may ascertain similar kind of festivities on this extra day in 2011. Tree-planting and clean-up causes may be contracted to make sure the intact world creates an endeavour to maintain a fleeceable and clear surroundings. There are several areas which create utilisation of the consequences on the World Environment Day in order to look for political attention toward amending the surroundings. You may find out the same thing occurring this class as well.

The World Environment Day 2011 will hopefully reestablish the fact that the environment calls for to be written. This is important, as other than the present and future generations cant hold a healthy living out front.

Previous Post : Green Turtle

Green Turtle

Common Name: Green turtle; Tortue comestible, tortue franche, tortue verte (Fr); Tortuga blanca, tortuga verde (Sp)

Scientific Name: Chelonia mydas

Population: Approx. 203,000 nesting females

This big, thoroughly aquatic turtle seldom comes to land except to bask and sleep and to lay eggs . Males have slimly longer, narrower shells than females and enlarged curved claws on the front flippers for grappling the female when mating . Green turtles are mainly herbivorous creatures and have serrated jaw surfaces, considerably suited to feeding on sea grasses and seaweed ; some crustaceans and jellyfish may also be eaten .

Scope of Green TurtleThe best feeding lands, where there are immense submerged pastures of plants , are often far away from the best nesting beaches, and green turtles have evolved astounding migratory habits . At nesting time they locomote hundreds of sea miles to the beach of their birth to lay eggs, and as a result, there tend to be a limited number of significant nesting sites , to which hundreds of turtles go. One such site is Ascension Island in the mid atlantic . Every second or third year, green turtles travel to their nesting site and mate . The female heaves herself up the beach well away from the tidal area . With her foreflippers she sweeps away sand to create a hollow to lie in, her shell flush with the beach. She then utilizes her hind flippers to dig a hole about 40 cm (16 in) deep , immediately beneath her tail. She deposits her eggs into the hole, covers the area with sand and returns to the sea. The average grip contains about 106 eggs. Sometimes a female lays several clutches in a season at 2-week intervals. After a 2 - to 3-month incubation period, the young turtles hatch and dig their way through the sand to the surface. Having oriented themselves, they rush for the sea, past a horde of eager predators. Deathrate is high, and those which do reach the sea will have to face so far more predators.

The green turtle is now an endangered species, and the population has been eliminated in some areas , although it is still reasonable in others. The turtles have been overexploited for their meat, hides and eggs, and the predictability of their nesting habits has created them easy dupes. Exploitation is now strictly mastered, and imports are banned in many countries. The closely related flatback turtle, C. depressa, is a little smaller than the green turtle and inhabits off the sea coast of Northern Australia.

Previous Post : Polar Bear

Polar Bear

Common Name: Polar bear Ours blanc; ours polaire (Fr); Oso polar (Sp)

Scientific Name: Ursus maritimus

Habitat: Arctic

Location: Arctic (northern hemisphere)

Biogeographic realm: Nearctic and Palearctic

Ecological region: Alaskan North Slope Coastal Tundra, Canadian Low Arctic Tundra, Taimyr and Siberian Coastal Tundra, Chukote Coastal Tundra, Bering-Beaufort-Chukchi Seas, Barents - Kara Seas, Grand Banks, Canada

The polar bear has many unique adaptations inorder to deal with the Arctic cold. The polar bear's skin is black in actual, which allows it to soak up as much heat as possible from the sun. They are great swimmers and will swim from one ice floe to othe ice floe. They have been seen swimming at a distance of 50 miles away from any ice or land.

Range: Polar bears spend their entire life associated with pack ice. Females usually prefer ice along the shoreline while others prefer moving sea ice at the floe edge -usually within 180 miles of shore.

Diet: Polar bears eat mostly ringed and bearded seals. They occasionally eat other mammals, eggs, vegetation and beach-cast carrion. They don't drink water. They get all the liquids that they need from the animals that they consume.

Polar bears have fur that is basically made up of "hollow guard hairs". The ones that are kept in zoo's that are in warmer climate, can have algae growind inside hollow guard hairs of fur. This makes them have a greenish tint to their fur. These hollow hairs also keep their hair from matting down when they swim in water.

Polar bears have a technique for catching the seals present in the freezing water under the ice floor. They find a seal air hole and sneak up on it slowly and sit there until a seal comes up to breathe and then they scoop him right out of the hole.

Previous Post : Vaquita -- Smallest Porpoise in the world

Rhinoceros--Very few of them survive outside

One more species, that is very rare in the world now, is a huge weighted, giant beast -- Rhinoceros

Rhinos once roamed Europe, Asia and Africa and were known by early Europeans who depicted them in cave paintings. In historical times, rhinos were still widespread in the African savannas and the tropical forests of Asia.

Today, very few rhinos survive outside national parks and reserves. Rhinos are threatened by poaching due to the demand for their horns, and habitat loss, a result of human populations encroaching on the land and the destruction of forests. WWF works to strengthen protected areas in Africa and Asia and stop illegal trade of rhino horns.

The southern white rhino, once thought to be extinct, and the Indian rhino are thriving in well-protected sanctuaries and their numbers are increasing. Black rhino populations have increased too, but total numbers are still a fraction of what they were fifty years ago.

Rhinoceroses are universally recognized because of their massive bodies, short legs and one or two horns. In some rhino species the horn is small and not easily visible. Rhinos have poor eyesight, but their sense of smell and hearing are well developed.


Five species of rhinos

Black Rhinoceros
Scientific Name: Diceros bicornis
Habitat: tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas and deserts
Location: East, Central, West and South Africa
Population: approximately 3,725 individuals

Sumatran Rhinoceros
Scientific Name: Dicerorhinus sumatrensis harrissoni
Habitat: lowland swamps and forests with thick vegetation
Location: northern Borneo. Borneo is the third largest island in the world, located north of Australia. The island is made up of the countries of Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei.
Population: Fewer than 25

Indian Rhinoceros
Common Name: Indian rhino, greater one-horned rhinoceros; Rhinocéros unicorne de l'Inde (Fr); Rinoceronte unicornio índico (Sp)
Scientific Name: Rhinoceros unicornis
Habitat: Tropical and Subtropical Grasslands, Savannas, and Shrublands
Location: Southern Asia, northern margin of the Indian subcontinent adjacent to the southern slope of the Himalayas
Population: Around 2,400 individuals

Javan Rhinoceros
Common Name: Javan rhinoceros, lesser one-horned rhino
Scientific Name: Rhinoceros sondaicus
Habitat: Tropical and Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests
Location: Western Indonesia, Eastern Indochina
Population: 40-60 in Ujung Kulon National Park, Java, Indonesia; no more than 8 in Cat Tien National Park, Vietnam

Previous Post : Tiger-Somewhat back from 'low' now