Penguins are aquatic flightless birds living in the southern hemisphere especially in Antartica. They are highly adapted for life in the water, their wings have become flippers! Most penguins eat krill, fish, squid, and other animals underwater. They spend half of their lives in land and half in the oceans.  They are not only found in cold climates such as Antartica, in fact, only a few species of penguin live so far south. One species, the Galápagos Penguin, lives near the equator.

The Emperor penguin is the largest living species, The adults average about 1.1m tall and weigh 35 kg or more. The smallest species is called the little blue penguin. which is 40 cm tall and weighs 1kg. The smallest penguins are generally found in temperate or even tropical climates, while the largest penguins are generally found in the colder regions. But there are exceptions!!

These pictures are funny, and penguins are very beautiful animals. When I saw these images I decided that penguins are extraordinary when they are swimming. Penguins are famous animals widely regarded as cute and lots of people adore them… there are lot’s of documentaries and movies about them!

Photo1, Photo2, Photo3, Photo4, Photo5, Photo6, Photo7, Photo8, Photo9, Photo10, Photo11, Photo12, Photo13, Photo14

The worldwide illegal trade in wildlife is valued at tens of billions of USD’s and is believed to have the same significance now, as the blood diamond trade during the peak of the African civil wars. In 2006 alone, eleven metric tonnes of illegal ivory were seized from ships bound for countries like Taiwan, China and Japan.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) says that immediate action is needed to be taken to protect these mammals from complete extinction. The group calls for the European Union and Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) members to stop supporting legal sales of ivory products in the open market of developing countries. Instead these members have been urged to back Kenya’s new proposal to extend the current “resting period” on elephants and ivory sales from nine to twenty years at the next CITES meeting which is to be held in March 2010.

The alarming level of illegal hunting could drive the African elephant to extinction across the entire in just 15 years from now says the director of IFAW UK. He adds: Most people will be shocked to hear that, although 20 years on from a ban on international ivory trade, elephants in Africa are the biggest threat by commercial poaching. The ivory trade must be banned once again, and this time with strict laws need to be enforced, if we want to prevent the extinction of these huge mammals. Sadly, the truth is that ivory trade is a threat to elephants anywhere on this planet.

Chad’s Zakouma National Park had 3,785 elephants in the year 2005 but by 2009 the figure had dropped to 617. At least 11 forest rangers were killed by poachers there during the same period.

Elephants are not the only one’s in the illegal trafficking of wildlife parts. In the last few years, 57,00 reptile skins from India, 18,000 big-eye thresher shark fins in Ecuador and 24 metric tonnes of pangolin in Asia have been seized by commercial wildlife part poachers. This indicates there are many other animal species which are on the verge of extinction by poachers and we humans should intervene and stop this illegal trafficking of wildlife parts.

Polar Bear

Polar bears are the largest species of bear and biggest carnivores on land. Males commonly weigh in around 1,300 pounds while females are typically smaller and weigh up to 650 pounds. Warming temperatures are shrinking the polar bear’s arctic habitat, and some scientists believe the bears could be extinct by the end of the century.

Dinosaurs

According to USGS, “The largest complete dinosaur we know of was Brachiosaurus; it reached 75 feet in length and 40 feet in height. The smallest dinosaurs were just slightly larger than a chicken; Compsognathus was 3 feet long and probably weighed about 6.5 pounds.” Regardless of size, though, barely any dinosaurs survived the mass extinction 65 million years ago.

Hippo

Common hippos, Hippopotamus amphibious, are the second heaviest land mammals on Earth. Hippos in Congo have been reduced to less than 900, and scientists think this population will be extinct by the end of the century.

Saber-Toothed Tiger

Fossil evidence indicates that the saber-toothed tiger (Smilodon californicus) , known for its 8-inch upper canine teeth, was somewhat shorter than a modern lion, but weighed more. This meat-eater was very common in California during the late Pleistocene epoch that ended about 11,000 to 10,000 years ago.

Whales

Whales are the largest animals on Earth. Some can be 100 feet long and weigh up to 150 tons. Yet many of them feed on tiny shrimp-like crustaceans called krill.

Manatee

The average adult manatee grows to be about 10-12 feet long and weighs about 1,000-1,800 pounds. Known as the “cows of the sea,” these endangered beasts hear 10 times better than humans underwater.

Sea Turtle

A sea turtle can grow to 200 pounds or more, but despite its size, many die from being choked by six-pack holders or from getting trapped in abandoned fishing nets.

Buffalo

Weighing in at 2,000 pounds, the American buffalo is the largest terrestrial animal in North America. Also known as the bison, millions of the animals roamed the plains until they were hunted to near extinction in the 19th century. Now conservation efforts have brought the population up to 350,000.

African Elephant

The African elephant is one of only four species of elephants still alive. African elephant generally weigh in around 16,000 pounds, and illegal poaching and habitat reduction has cut their population in half in the last 30 years.

Rhino

The heaviest white rhinoceros can weight as much as 5,000 pounds. Rhinos also suffer from habitat reduction, and poachers value the beast’s magnificent horn.

Lion

Our first dad just barely makes the cut. While the lion earns points for being fiercely protective of his family, unfortunately he’s also a real snoozer, more often than not sleeping when he should be keeping a closer eye on his kids. But beware, because when this dad IS awake, you don’t want to mess with him. A lion’s eyesight is five times better than a human’s, and the king of the jungle can hear prey across the savanna up to 2 miles away! Also, this is one dad that could use a minivan — actually, make that a bus. Lions head up large family units called prides that can include up to seven lionesses and 20 cubs!

Antechinus

This marsupial mouse from Australia makes the list due to his sheer tenacity when it comes to making love. While most guys would die to get a little action, this guy actually dies WHEN he gets a little action. Well not a little, more like a LOT. The antechinus can spend up to 12 hours having sex! In fact, this super-mouse gets so distracted he forgets to eat, drink and sleep. Between that and the steroids that build up in his blood, he doesn’t stand a chance. His mate makes the most of it, filling herself up with sperm until the end of the breeding season. But don’t feel too sad about the passing of dear old Dad. With him out of the picture, there’s more food for those left behind — plus he likely died a very happy mouse!

Emperor penguin

There are few examples in nature of a father more dedicated than the emperor penguin. After the female lays the egg, her nutritional reserves become depleted and she must return to feed in the ocean for two months. This leaves the responsibility of keeping the egg warm through the freezing Antarctic winter to the father.
The father spends the two months holding the egg precariously between the tops of his feet and his brooding pouch, without feeding, throughout the brutal winter (when freezing winds can reach 120 mph). If he moves too suddenly or the egg becomes exposed to the freezing temperatures, the chick will perish. But his dedication — and his balance — ensures the survival of a new generation. What a dad!

Marmoset

Sure, the small and furry tree-dwelling primates known as marmosets are outrageously cute, but male marmosets take their roles as fathers very seriously. With the help of other family members, including older siblings, the typical marmoset dad grooms, feeds and give his infants piggyback rides while momma marmoset steps away and takes on a decidedly “disinterested” parenting role after a few weeks. Marmoset fathers will often act as attentive midwifes during the birth of their newborns, going as far to clean up the afterbirth and bite off the umbilical cord.
Jeff French, primatologist at the University of Nebraska Zoo, tells National Geographic that one reason the marmoset daddy is so involved is because of the tremendous physical strain put on the expectant mother. “It’s like a 120-pound (55-kilogram)

Seahorse

Seahorses are unique because they belong to a fish family known for an oddity: male pregnancy.
Male seahorses have a pouch where females deposit their eggs. Once deposited, the male fertilizes the eggs and incubates them for a period of up to 45 days, until they emerge as fully developed little seahorses. Seahorse fathers even experience contractions as they give birth.

Golden Jackal

A native of India, the golden jackal is a real stand-up kind of dad. Hunting three times more effectively when working in pairs, these skillful scavengers remain remarkably loyal partners; unlike so many other animals, jackals mate for life. On top of earning gold stars for being the poster dad for monogamy, the golden jackal also knows a thing or two about keeping the grocery bills down — this dad feeds his kids with regurgitated food. Hm. On second thought, that may be taking the “hand me down” concept a little too far.

Jacana

The jacana is also known as the “lily trotter,” thanks to its ability to “walk on water” by balancing on lily pads, but this Dad could use a little more balance in his personal life. This determined bird will go to extremes to become a dad. After building his nest, he finds his mate and they do the deed. But after the female has laid her eggs, she abandons the poor sap to run off with other guys. Meanwhile, Dad remains on the nest, watching over the eggs to protect them — sometimes from their own mother! Female jacanas often return and smash their own eggs; however, this is a surprisingly forgiving dad. Instead of pressing charges, he just jumps back in the sack and gives it another go, regardless of the fact that his lady has so many partners and he never really knows if he’s raising his own. Quick, someone page Maury Povich and get these guys a paternity test!

Giant African bullfrog

The giant African bullfrog is a dad with a very special talent — he can eat anything that he can fit into his mouth. Not sure how much that helps in terms of child rearing, but with over 6,000 little ones to raise it’s got to come in handy sometimes. The South American Darwin frog is also a remarkable dad, thanks to his unique method for protecting his eggs: he swallows them, keeping them tucked inside his vocal sacs for six weeks. When they’re ready to hatch, it’s like morning sickness gone wrong — very wrong. This dedicated father essentially “vomits” up his children. Ew. Anyone got some mouthwash?

Wolf

Despite their fearsome reputation as apex predators, male wolves are attentive, monogamous and fiercely protective dads that live with their she-wolves for life. A wolf pack is essentially a classic nuclear family consisting of a mom, dad and kids.
After a female wolf gives birth, she sticks close to her helpless pups and doesn’t leave her den for several weeks. Dad stands guard and hunts for food to share with his new family, and doesn’t skimp when it comes to sharing edibles with his progeny. Whereas a female wolf will regurgitate meat to share with a litter (pups can start eating meat at three weeks), dad will provide entire pieces of fresh kill. As a young pup grows, dad takes on the role of stern, sometimes playful mentor helping integrate the pup into the pack.

Rhea

At first glance it might seem like these South American flightless birds have a rather unusual mating arrangement. A polygamous species, the male runs around with a harem of anywhere between two and 12 females. But before you raise an eyebrow, take note: these dads carry their weight and then some when it comes to child rearing. Females leave their eggs with Dad, running off to get some action from other males. Meanwhile, Dad looks after the kids, not only incubating up to 60 eggs for over two months with just two weeks of food to sustain him, but also raising the newborn chicks as a single parent for nearly two years. And this dad is not afraid to charge at anyone — be it other female rheas or even humans! — who make the mistake of trying to get near his brood.

Description: The polar bear has many unique adaptations for dealing with the cold and snow of the Arctic. The polar bear is covered in thick fur that keeps water away from his/her skin. It also has large, furry feet which act as snow-shoes.

It has an excellent sense of smell(they can smell a dead seal from 20 miles away), and they can bound across the snow at high speed. Polar bears are also great swimmers and they have been seen swimming up to 50 miles from the nearest land.

Home: The Polar Bear is the largest bear on Earth, and lives  in the Arctic.

Fun fact:   On a clear day a polar bears nose can be seen from up to six miles away with a pair of binoculars.

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

A polar bear cub is no bigger than a rat when it’s born.

Penguins

Description: Penguins are only found down near the south pole.  The world’s largest penguin, the Emperor, lives on the Antarctic mainland. Adult Emperor penguins are typically 1.2 metres tall. Juveniles are slightly shorter, only about 90cm to 1m.  Emperors live on the snow and ice, close to the sea, all year long.

Food: squid and fish

Particularity: after the female penguin lays an egg,  the males keeps it warm between his belly and his feet for about 60 days. During this period they don’t eat and thus loose half their weight (20kg). In order to prevent themselves getting cold, the males gather together in ‘turtles’ which are a large group of penguins huddled together. After August, both partners take care of the only chick, recognised by its voice, taking turns to get food at sea every 2 weeks.

Diving: Penguins are really fast swimmers, up to 60 km/h. The deepest dives recorded lasted 16 minutes at 534m. The average dive is 5 to 6 minutes around 100m. Depth and duration of a dive vary from place to place and availability of surface food.

New born emperor penguins stay warm by standing on their parent’s feet.

The Arctic Fox

Description: The arctic fox lives farther north than any other fox. They are well adapted for the cold harsh weather of the Arctic.  They have a warm fur coat which turns white for the winter months.  Also, because they are white they can camouflage themselves in the snow.

Diet: The arctic fox can hunt lemming that they can’t see beneath the snow, but if the arctic fox can’t kill enough to eat, it will settle for leftovers from other animals.

Young Arctic Fox cub in the summer.  Their dark coat turns white for the winter.

Collared Lemming

Description: The collared lemming is one of the most interesting Arctic animals because of how it has adapted to the cold Arctic temperatures.  It is a small rodent that burrows under the snow or ground making many tunnels and nesting areas. The collared lemming has large claws on the third and fourth ‘fingers’ of its front feet that it uses for burrowing.

Home: Only in the Arctic tundra. During the summer collared lemmings live on the high, dry areas of the tundra. They burrow under the rocks. During the winter the collared lemmings move to lower meadows where there is more snow.

Diet:  Summer Tender shoots of grasses, in the winter they eat bark and twigs off the willow tree.

Lemming during the summer

The Snowy Owl

Description:   They are called snowy owls because their colouring is almost pure white when they are full grown. The feet of snowy owls are covered with feathers and have extra thick pads.

Vision:   Snowy owls have incredible vision. They can see from high up in the sky and swoop down silently to capture their prey. Like all owls they have good night vision.

Diet:  They stay in the Arctic during the winter unless their food sources are scarce. If they leave the arctic in the winter they overwinter in northern Greenland, the Canadian islands, or North America.

Newborn winter owl

Text Source

Weighing a mere 5 kg, the Kirk’s Dikdik is one of the smallest members of the antelope tribe. Its most distinctive features are its huge eyes and trunk-like snout with down-pointing nostrils. This flexible nose is an adaptation to a semi-arid environment, serving as a radiator to cool blood which flows through the nasal passages to the brain. This evolutionary device allows the dik-dik to be completely independent of surface water, for it gets all its moisture requirements from its leafy diet.

Territorial Borders

In common with all dwarf antelope, the dik-dik is a browser rather than a grazer, favouring dry acacia-dominated scrubland. Pairs are strictly monogamous and defend a territory of between 0.3 and 35 hectares. The borders of the territory are rigorously demarcated by a number of conspicuous dung middens, and by scent-marking prominent twigs with a paste from the antelope’s preorbital glands.

Sounding the Alarm

Male dik-dik make a loud whistle when they are disturbed or sense danger. This alarm call sends females and young scurrying for cover – often into an impenetrable Sanseivera thicket. When danger has passed, pairs come together to rub noses and scent-mark their territorial borders.

Many Predators

Dikdik are active during the night and day, but usually keep to dense cover at midday. They are particularly active on moonlit nights. Among their predators are Caracal, Leopard, Rock Python and Martial Eagle. Outside of protected areas, feral dogs pose a major threat.

Kirk’s Dik-dik is abundant throughout the Serengeti-Mara scrublands and also in the Lake Manyara National Park. This little antelope is very common in the dry landscapes west of the Ngorongoro Crater, particularly at Oldupai Gorge.

If an animal moves from one habitat to another – or if their habitat changes around them – there’s no guarantee that the new environment will have the resources necessary for the species’ continued survival. Successful ecosystems have to pull off a tricky balancing act so that predators can maintain their numbers without ever quite hunting their prey to extinction, and a new predator in an existing ecosystem is just as likely to wipe out their food resources as anything else.

Humans are notoriously hungry predators – most infamously, European settlers in the Americas reduced the numbers of local bison from 50 or 60 million heads to just a few hundred in a matter of decades. But humans aren’t the only apex predators who do this. Indeed many researchers feared polar bears would, in their effort to survive the loss of seals (their preferred food), eat everything in sight. And thus they would fatally mismanage their best shot at survival too.

But a couple years ago, researchers discovered that polar bears might have a new food source to sustain them – the eggs of the snow goose, a bird that lives in slightly warmer climates than where the bears currently live. As temperatures increase and the bears’ access to seals becomes more limited, goose eggs will become a vital new resource.

In this new model, the polar bears can come ashore and raid the geese nesting grounds, eating as many eggs as they need to stay alive. It’s a nutrient-rich, easily acquired resource, which is pretty much ideal. The problem is that the polar bears won’t have any sense of how many eggs they can eat without endangering the snow geese.

The polar bears appear to have a good shot at survival, but their situation isn’t likely to be typical. The bears are lucky, as are the snow geese (admittedly to a somewhat lesser extent). A closer match in the bears’ time onshore or the geese’s incubation periods could easily have resulted in the bears driving the geese to extinction, which would likely sign spell their species’s doom as well.

Text source

The Large Blue Butterfly was re-introduced to the UK from Sweden, about 25 years ago, and is doing well again thanks to a prop in the habitat of certain red ants on which the Large Blue caterpillars feed.  The ants first disappeared due to changes in grazing practices, and the butterflies vanished as well.

Subsequently, suitable habitat for the ants, caterpillars – and of course, the butterflies – was restored on 50 sites in south west England.

Things are going so well now that population levels are now close to numbers not seen since the 1950s.  Some are calling it the most successful insect re-introduction program in the world, as a matter of fact!

But not all butterfly news is so peachy.   In April this year, the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme determined that 12 butterfly species have suffered the worst summer on record, and that numbers of the fragile beauties are at their lowest levels in a quarter century.  To blame?  Wet summers and cool temperatures that many believe to be the result of global climate change.

So, while the Large Blue Butterfly is making a comeback, other species are dwindling in numbers.

We have about 180 kinds of monkeys the entire world. Gorilla, Chimpanzee, Orangutan, Baboon, Savanna monkey, Spider monkey, Squirrel monkey, Red hair monkey and others. Almost of them are inhabited in Torrid Zone and subtropics.
Japanese monkey is inhabited in the north area. And northern part of Japan has a lot of snow during a few months. Generally, the temperature is minus 10 degree C. Japanese monkey is living in the natural environment, so they have called snow monkey.

Image Source

Image Source

Where can we watch the monkey?
Japanese monkeys are inhabited in the mountainous district of every place except Hokkaido and Okinawa.
The way to watch the monkeys is looking for the mountain where they can live in the location of the broad-leaved trees by walk.

Image Source

Image Source

But, it’s very difficult to see them because of the mountains are very steep and forests are very profound. Even if we could see them, we can’t observe their ecology because they make a move immediately.
In that case, what can we do? We can watch them at the zoological garden. Every place of zoo in Japan has bred a lot of Japanese monkeys, so you can watch them certainly. Naturally, they don’t go out of the place. Another way to see the Japanese monkeys is visiting the institution called Yaenkouen.

Image Source

Image Source

Japanese monkeys are living by group. You can observe their essential life and behavior in the natural field. Abinocular is useful because of extensive fields.Yaenkouen is existence in other places.

Image Source

Monkeys are quite similar to human and interesting animals.We recommend you to observe them closely. You will enjoy observation.

Image Source

Image Source

Dietary life of Japanese monkey
Their main food item is plants. They eat shoots, young leaves and weeps in spring. In fall, they eat fruits, and nuts and so on. Also they like insects too. Japanese monkeys in heavy snow area eat bamboo leaves, winters shoots or bark of trees and prevent from starving.

Image Source

Society of Japanese monkey
Several adult males compose their society; the number of adult females is nearly three times of adult males, and their children. Basically, females stay in her natal group, on the other hand, most of male leave their group before they become adults. Some of males become solitary male, but in someday, he will join the new group. They continue to move from group to group. So, the basic composition of group is adult females and their children, forming a matrilineal society.

Image Source

Image Source

A life of Japanese monkey
Japanese monkeys are diurnal animal. At night, they sleep on the tree, with the posture of holding each other or sitting alone. They never made nests to sleep, and sleeping sites change everyday. From dawn to dust, troop moves slowly and during that, they search food, rest, or play. Mating season is from October to December. Their babies are born from April to June. Conception period is at average 173days and bear only one baby, whose interval is usually a year. They live for 25-30 years.

Image Source

Image Source

Face
Each monkeys has different face. It’s very difficult to distinguish monkey’s face, like we can’t memorize foreigner’s face. But, if you keep up to observe them, it’s become easier and easier to distinguish their face.
They are good at living on trees. They developed the vision system to measure the distance between branches when they leap and jump onto.

Image Source
In addition, they live in a society, which need to identify each other by eyes. In various situations, they depend on their eyes. So, it’s easy for us to identify each monkeys, and also easy for them to memorize our faces who often visit the monkey park. They can detect you even if you change the clothes.
The method to memorize monkey’s faces and identify each monkey is called individual identification. It’s known that Japanese primates study is the top level of the world because of they uses individual identification method and conducted a detailed observation in many provisioned troops of Japanese monkeys, in that monkeys do not fear the humans. The first step to study about monkeys is to know the faces of monkeys.

Image Source

In fact, SOS Lynx, a conservation group, predicts that the Iberian Lynx may be the first feline extinction in 10,000 years.

Iberian Lynx cats live on the Iberian Peninsula in Spain and Portugal.  At current populations levels, it could be nearly impossible to secure the wild cats’ survival.

Sadly, the Iberian Lynx’s endangered species status is largely due to human activities: loss of habitat, hunting and predator control, road kills and reduction in their prey have all contributed to a drastic decline in population over the past few decades.

Over 95% of the Iberian Lynxes have been killed off in just 50 years.  Populations hover between 150-220 cats, down from over 4,000 Iberian Lynx animals in 1960.

Today, the habitat of the Iberian lynx is protected and the hunting of the wild cats is prohibited.  But could it be too little, too late?

Conservation efforts are underway to help save the Iberian Lynx.

Since 2005, several female Iberian Lynxes have given birth to kittens through captive breeding programs.  In addition, conservationists are working to monitor site conditions in the areas in which Iberian Lynxes are found, including Doñana National Park.

Eventually, the hope is to begin re-introductions this year and next, in areas of Spain that the wild cats once called home.

Source

The Violet sea snail is one weird gastropod. Its lovely lavender shell is paper-thin and fairly fragile – not really a problem because it spends its entire life floating on the surface of tropical oceans. It manages this by whipping up a froth of bubbles with its foot, then sealing the bubbles in mucus to form a foamy raft.

2. Purple Beetles

In most cases, beetles that appear to be purple display this hue by virtue of iridescence. These beautiful, jewel-like insects display purple hues along with shades of blue and green.

3. Purple Emperor Butterfly

Purple Emperors are large butterflies found in southern England, most of continental Europe and in northern Asia as far east as Korea.
Purple emperors normally live in forest treetops but males will descend to the forest floor and to roadsides in search of mineral salts. Sources for these essential salts are fresh animal dung or puddles infused with road salt.

4. Purple Starfish

Starfish are a varied order of creatures that sport a surprisingly varied range of colors, including some striking hues of purple and violet.
It may be that the blue-green tint of seawater screens out some of the redder wavelengths of sunlight, therefore making a starfish that looks purple on dry land much more elusive when viewed underwater.

5. Orchid Dotty Back

Orchid Dottybacks are popular aquarium fish and it’s no wonder why: though it only grows to a length of 2 inches (5cm), they add a jolt of brilliant violet to any indoor seascape. Keep in mind, however, that dottybacks are carnivorous and need a steady diet of meat (shrimp will do) to thrive in captivity.

6. Indian Purple Frog

A bizarre purple burrowing frog discovered in 2003 doesn’t just look unlike any other frog, it is unlike them, having split off from a common ancestor approximately 130 million years ago. The frog, Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis, shocked biologists into awarding it status as a new species in a wholly new family of amphibians.
Nasikabatrachus lives in the Western Ghats region of southern India. The bulbous, bloated, pointy-snouted frog bears the distinction of being the first new family of amphibians to be discovered since 1926. One of the frog’s more unusual features are its turquoise-rimmed tiny eyes… the better to see you with?

7. Indigo Snake

The Eastern Indigo Snake is North America’s longest snake, though some rattlers can outweigh them. At up to 10 feet (3.05m) long, these Colubrid snakes make an instant impression. As big as they are, few people are familiar with the Eastern Indigo Snake or its southwestern relative, the Texas Indigo Snake, which often does not work to the snake’s advantage and that’s unfortunate: these snakes are immune to rattlesnake venom and will often take on rattlers… for lunch.

8. Purple Martin

Purple Martins are among America’s best loved birds, and they seem to like us as well. So thoroughly have these largest members of the Swallow family taken to the multistory Martin “apartments” homeowners have set out for them that they prefer living in them to more natural woodland nesting places.

9. Pete, the Purple Squirrel

Squirrels aren’t naturally purple, so when a certain Grey Squirrel appeared sporting a distinctive, violet-tinged coat, naturally it attracted a lot of attention from British park-goers. The squirrel, quickly dubbed “Pete”, was seen by a number of witnesses in and around the grounds of Meoncross School in the town of Stubbington, Hampshire, UK.

10. Pelusa, the Purple Polar Bear

Though the name is not an official one, it is one that reflects the normally snow white bear’s current abode at the Mendoza, Argentina, zoo. According to Julio Alvarez, a veterinarian at the zoo, “At the moment and for a few days longer Pelusa will look purple because we’ve applied an ointment as a treatment for skin problems.”

The Chimpanzee

Chimps are wild animals with incredible strength and unknown personalities.

The Cape Buffalo

These fluffy buffalo may not be the most adorable creatures in the wild, but they are kind of cute in their own way. The Cape buffalo, which resembles a large hairy cow, is one of the most dangerous animals in Africa. These creatures are often hunted as big game, making man ones of its biggest predators. Because of this, the male buffalo acts extremely vicious towards humans and will actually charge after a person with intent to kill. Definitely not passive herbivores, these creatures will knock you dead with a single blow!

The Raccoon

Raccoons are the most common carrier of rabies in the wild.

The Hippo

Hippos are incredibly territorial and kill hundreds of people every year who approach them and their space. Hippos are also fast runners despite their large size and slow behavior on land. These guys can kill with sheer force via their weight or their bite. Although, not meat eaters, they will still use their mouths and large teeth for protection and fighting. Any human caught in a clash with a hippo will lose and regardless of how cute they might look on television, these creatures are a force you do not want to mess with.

The Puffer fish

These guys are quite cute at first, but once you startle them, you just want to poke them. This Family of fish (I couldn’t choose just one) is able to swallow water (or even air) quickly, so much so that they become spherical, scaring off predators. This often saves both of their lives, since most puffer fish species are poisonous.

The Leopard seal

Beautiful and Dangerous – this leopard seal is a major predator in Antarctica.

The Wolverine

This cute creature has the ability to take down prey as large as a moose.

The Slow Loris

This sweet and innocent looking fellow is actually one of the more poisonous animals on the planet due to his ability to create a toxin which it secretes from the Brachial glands in his elbows.

The Australian Bat

A large number of them are infected with Lyssavirus, a fatal disease similar to rabies.

The Northern Short-Tailed Shrew

The saliva of the Northern Short-tailed Shrew contains an enzyme that is used to paralyze and subdue its prey.

Megalodon

Everyone probably remembers the terrifying great white shark of the movie Jaws. Yet this shark species had a larger brother, aptly named the giant white shark, or megalodon. Based on recovered teeth from this shark (its skeleton was composed of cartilage, which decomposes, leaving only the teeth), its official length was estimated at 40-55 ft. long, compared to 20-25 ft. for the great white shark. Megalodon is thought by evolutionists to have died out millions of years ago.

Terror birds

Terror birds, formally known as Phorusrhacids, were the top predators in South America and parts of North America during the Miocene, Pliocene and Early Pleistocene periods, before they were replaced by big cats and other carnivorous mammals. They were unable to fly, but could run very fast (as fast as a cheetah, according to some scientists!) and were very large; the largest species could grow up to three meters tall and weigh up to half a ton. Their main weapon was their head, which could be up to one meter long, allowing them to swallow prey as large as a dog in one single gulp! However, thanks to the hooked tip of the bill, similar to that of eagles and hawks, the terrors birds could kill and devour prey much larger than a dog, including horses, camels, etc.

Smilodon

Smilodon often called sabre-toothed cat or sabre-toothed tiger, is an extinct genus of machairodontine saber-toothed cats endemic to North America and South America. The genus is currently divided into three species : Smilodon gracilis, Smilodon populator,  and Smilodon fatalis.

Estemmenosuchus

Estemmenosuchus is a genus of large, early omnivorous therapsid that lived during the middle part of the Middle Permian  period. It was the largest animal of its day, and is characterised by distinctive horns-like structures, probably for intra-specific display.

Azhdarchid

Azhdarchids were a kind of pterosaur (most popularly known as pterodactyls) which included the largest flying creatures ever to have existed. Some of them had wingspans of 12 to 15 meters, making them as large as a small plane (although they were obviously not as heavy). But what makes Azhdarchids really strange are their body proportions; they had ridiculously long legs, necks and beaks, and very small bodies, as well as relatively short wings. Scientists believe that they did not hunt on the wing, but rather walked on the ground hunting for any animal they could catch and swallow whole- that included dog-sized, perhaps even man-sized creatures! Standing on all fours, the largest Azhdarchids were as tall as a modern day giraffe… and almost as tall as a T-Rex.

Purussaurus

Purussaurus was a giant caiman living in South America during the Miocene epoch, 8 million years ago. It is known from skull material found in the Brazilian, Colombian and Peruvian Amazonia, besides in the north of Venezuela. The skull is about 1.5 meters (5 ft) long, and paleontologists estimate that the whole body would have measured around 12 meters, which means that Purussaurus is one of the largest crocodilians known to have ever existed. Two other extinct crocodilians, Sarcosuchus and Deinosuchus, have similar proportions, but both are geologically much older, dating from the Early and Late Cretaceous, respectively. They were probably predators of vertebrates, perhaps grabbing large mammals, but also eating turtles, smaller crocodilians, fish and other prey.

Entelodon

Although pigs, wild boars and warthogs today are known to eat meat on occasion, they are basically vegetarian. On the other hand, the Entelodon, a prehistoric pig relative, was a full time carnivore and possibly one of the most monstrous-looking mammals ever. Standing on all fours, this beast was as tall as a man, and had an immense head armed with powerful jaws and sharp teeth. Scientists believe that it was able to hunt live prey, but that it also scared other predators away from their kills (which should have been very easy). Its bite marks also suggest that it fought viciously with its own kind, and it is even possible that Entelodonts were cannibalistic. Entelodons were quite successful beasts, existing for about 9 million years.

Gigantopithecus

Gigantopithecus is an extinct genus of ape that existed from roughly one million years to as recently as three-hundred thousand years ago, in what is now China, India, and Vietnam, placing Gigantopithecus in the same time frame and geographical location as several hominin species.The fossil record suggests that the Gigantopithecus blacki species were the largest apes that ever lived.

]]> http://www.animals-zone.com/forgotten-monsters/feed 1 http://www.animals-zone.com/5-animals-your-kids-may-never-see-in-their-lifetime http://www.animals-zone.com/5-animals-your-kids-may-never-see-in-their-lifetime#comments Sat, 04 Sep 2010 08:12:43 +0000 draganescu http://www.animals-zone.com/?p=1705 Can you imagine your grandchildren visiting a museum to look at the mere bones of animals that are alive today? We all expect to see a T-Rex in ancient, skeletal form, but an orangutan? When we were kids and we heard about animals becoming extinct in science class, the finality seemed grave but distant, like there was still hope and time, and their impending doom was so far off into the future we didn’t really need to worry about it.

Cut to twenty-five years later, and these endangered species are truly on the brink of being wiped off the planet. So let your kids get a good look at that polar bear at your local zoo, because they may not be around for another generation to see in the flesh. Here are five animals that will probably become extinct in your child’s lifetime.

Sumatran Orangutan

The Sumatran Orangutan seen above is threatened due to poaching and habitat destruction of the rainforests in Indonesia, where this species makes their home. Only about 6,500 remain in the wild, and they are poised to become the first great ape species to become extinct.

Black Rhinoceros

During the 1970s half of the world’s rhino population disappeared. There are fewer than 2,500 Black Rhinos left on the earth. Considered the world’s most endangered mammal, the Black Rhinoceros faces severe endangerment due to poaching for his horn, which can fetch up to $24,000 in the Far East. The rhino’s horn is used in folk medicine in India and China as it is believed to cure headaches, and as a weapon and status symbol among men in North Yemen.

Bactrian Camel

The Bactrian Camel is critically endangered due to habitat loss and drought. There are approximately only 950 Bactrian Camels left in the wild, struggling to survive in their native desert habitat in northwest China and Mongolia, which used to be used as a Chinese nuclear test range. These animals are also hunted for sport and killed because they are competition to domestic livestock for food and water resources.

Polar Bear

Iconic images of the polar bear swimming and sometimes drowning between melting patches of ice in his dwindling habitat have become synonymous with the case for global warming. Currently, between 20-25,000 polar bears still roam the wild, but if climate change trends continue, scientists predict that polar bears will be extinct within the next 100 years.

Mountain Gorilla

Forest clearing and degradation are main contributing factors to the Mountain Gorilla’s pending extinction, and only 720 animals of this species remain on the planet. Additionally, in 2007, there were 10 Mountain Gorilla killings in the Dominican Republic of the Congo, which severely threatened the conservation progress that had been made on their behalf.

Source

.

As the name implies, fish is the main prey of this cat, of which it hunts about 10 different species. They hunt along the edges of watercourses, grabbing prey from the water, and sometimes diving in to catch prey further from the banks. It also hunts other aquatic animals such as frogs, waterfowl, and crayfish, as well as terrestrial animals such as rodents, birds, snakes, and even chital fawns.

Fishing cats reach the full adult size at around eight and a half months, acquire their adult canine teeth at eleven months, and are sexually mature at fifteen months. They live for up to ten years in captivity, and on this photos you can see what behavior it can cause.

1. The coyote has a very developed sense of smell which he uses for finding food and avoiding dangerous predators. They use their smell to spot a prey that is scurrying below the snow.

2. Coyotes use a wide variety of vocalizations in order to communicate with one another. Howls, yelps, and high-pitched cries are best known, but they also bark, growl, wail, and squeal sometimes. Family groups yelping in unison can create the illusion of a dozen or more performing together. Coyotes are most often heard around dawn and dusk. However, they may respond to sirens and fire whistles at any time of day or night.

3. In order to not get detected by predators, sometimes coyotes walk on their toes to make as little noise as possible.

4. Just like dogs, coyotes use their urine in order to mark their territory.

5. Coyotes use holes for sleeping and when they give birth to their pups.

6. The coyote doesn’t hunt alone; usually they hunt in groups of 2-3.

7. Their diet consists of rabbits, insects, mice, fruits, lizards and other foods as well.

8. The coyote is able to detect hunters coming from a mile away or even more.

9. The coyote reaches a respectable speed of 40 miles per hour.

10. The main enemies of the coyote are bears, wolves and of course, humans. Coyotes are able to escape their enemies easier as they have great swimming abilities. They also regulate their body temperature by panting.

All in all, the coyote is one of the most interesting creatures on this earth and people should try giving them the attention they need.

1. Not all black bears are actually black as some of them are blue-black, brown, cinnamon, dark brown or even white.

2. Black bears are known for their swimming capabilities, they can swim for about 1- ½ miles in fresh water.

3. Black bears use different sounds to express a wide variety of emotions. For example, when they are relaxed they combine a lot of grunting sounds and when they are scared, they make a loud blowing noise.

4. A black bear that is standing on its hind legs is not necessarily about to charge. Sometimes he just attempts to smell and see whatever it is that made him curious.

5. Although many people affirm that black bears aren’t able to run downhill, as a matter of fact they are excellent runners and have the ability to run uphill and downhill as well as they do on flat ground. They have the possibility to run with a remarkable speed of up to 60 km/h.

6. Black bears are known to be very intelligent animals that have a remarkable long-term memory and far better navigation skills in comparison with the humans. All of them are individuals and very often they share resources, security and friendships.

7. Although many consider them to be a real threat, black bears are actually tolerant and gentle animals that can be very playful, empathetic, fearful, social and quite joyful. They show very predictable behavior and this bad reputation as mean, harmful animals is entirely false. The mother bears are known to be extremely protective and devoted, very sensitive and attentive and very affectionate with their little cubs.

8. Black bears enjoy large forests as these can offer them a wide variety of foods which they need. They enjoy eating a wide variety of foods, for example: succulent greens, insects, acorns, and mixes of fruits, acorns, assorted nuts and of course, meat. Wetlands and lowlands provide tender, succulent vegetation and woodland pools and streams are important for drinking and cooling off.

9. Male and female black bears cannot tolerate each other’s company with the exception of the breeding period.

10. Black bears compensate their poor eyesight with very developed senses of hearing and smell.

11. In the autumn, black bears eat all that they can find in order to put on weight for the long and difficult winter’s hibernation. An average woman eats about 1,600 calories a day and in comparison with a female bear that scoffs 15,000 calories per day, it is a piece of cake. Naturally, bears drink a great deal of liquids to wash down all this food.

12. Speaking of the hibernation period, black bears have the ability to survive without food for up to seven months during this period.

This would be the end of this post. We hope that you enjoy, if you have some interesting facts about black bears , share it with us and leave it in the form of comments on this site.

1.GRIZZLY BEAR

Bears should be actually latest animal to be afraid of, because all of us used once to have a little teddy bear toy. The most concerning facts about grizzly bears is that they are amazingly fast even they weight several hundreds of kilos. If you’re planning a trip to the wood please check if there is some kind of guide how to avoid them.

Image source:1

2.WOLF

Wolf has been a subject of different horror stories for a long time. It has been an unavoidable way to scare the kids in rural areas. With the development of movie industry, wolfs and werewolves have became a part of plenty of horror movies.

Image source:2

3.MOUSE

For the most of males this could be pretty funny. Small fast nasty animals can really be scary for some people out there, in this case, mouses often scare females. It is interesting that they are not dangerous at all and they even can’t bite but some people are freakingly afraid of them.

Image source:3

4.PIRANHA

Unlike the mouse, piranha is some real threat. It has been the subject of several horror movies and I have to admit that they scared me a little bit since I never knew before watching those movies that such kind of fish even exists. But the truth is that this kind of fish prefers to eat already dead bodies, however, if you see some of them, keep the distance from them.

Image source:4

5.GREAT WHITE SHARK

Here is one more animal, that often has a villain role in horror movies. The fact that there is about hundred shark attacks reported every year worldwide scares a lot of swimmers. Only a several species of sharks are potentially dangerous for human.

Image source:5

6.SPIDER

Small bugs and spiders, especially the fast ones, always scared me a little. Some people have extreme phobias of spiders and they can be scared even with the picture of spider. In tropical areas this fear is pretty justified because there are some poisonous species of spiders.

Image source:6

7.BAT

When I was kid, I was running home in sunset and I experienced to be hitten by some crazy bat right in my head. I was pretty surprised and little bit scared at the time but later I found that there is not much reason to fear of them. There is a very few of species of bats who can drink the blood like vampires, but one good slam will probably take any bat from the course of attacking you again.

Image source:7

8.BEE

Bees can be very dangerous because there is a lot of people who are allergic to their venom. Those who are allergic, they have to be very careful not to be bitten by bee because a single bite can be deadly for them. There is a several movies which includes bees as major villains who try to overtake the world from humans.

Image source:8

9.SNAKE

There is not much to tell about the fear of snakes. They are often poisonous and they are sneaky that is enough reasons not to like them. About 30.000 people are killed by snake’s bite every year. It is important to know that, despite the fact that they have so deadly weapon like their venom is, they attack when they feel unsafe and when they see a threat in your behavior.

Image source:9

10.LOA LOA WORM

This one is pretty unknown worm but that doesn’t stop me to put it as the most horrific animal on this list. They can be found in Central Africa’s rainforests and they can cause really scary disease which may cause some worms to grow in human’s eye. In order to remove them from the eye, medics are forced to do not so comfortable operations on eye which includes scalpel and cutting.

Image source:10

.

1.Anglerfish

Anglerfish looking like something out of a science fiction movie.It is quite possibly the ugliest animal on the planet, and it lives in what is easily Earth’s most inhospitable habitat: the lonely, lightless bottom of the sea.
There are more than 200 species of anglerfish, most of which live in the murky depths of the Atlantic and Antarctic oceans, up to a mile below the surface, although some live in shallow, tropical environments. Generally dark gray to dark brown in color, they have huge heads and enormous crescent-shaped mouths filled with sharp, translucent teeth. Some angler fish can be quite large, reaching 3.3 feet (1 meter) in length. Most however are significantly smaller, often less than a foot.
Their most distinctive feature, worn only by females, is a piece of dorsal spine that protrudes above their mouths like a fishing pole—hence their name. Tipped with a lure of luminous flesh this built-in rod baits prey close enough to be snatched. Their mouths are so big and their bodies so pliable, they can actually swallow prey up to twice their own size.

2.Viperfish

The viperfish is one of the most unusual-looking fish in the deep sea. It is also one of the most popular and well-known species. Known scientifically as Chauliodus sloani, it is one of the fiercest predators of the deep. This fish can be easily recognized by its large mouth and sharp, fang-like teeth. In fact, these fangs are so large that they will not fit inside the mouth. Instead, they curve back very close to the fish’s eyes. The viperfish is thought to use these sharp teeth to impale its victims by swimming at them at high speeds. The first vertebra, right behind the head, is actually designed to act as a shock absorber. This fearsome looking creature has a long dorsal spine that is tipped with a photophore, a light-producing organ. The viperfish uses this light organ to attract its prey through a process known as bioluminescence. By flashing the light on and off, it can be used like a fishing lure to attract smaller fish.

Viperfish are found in tropical and temperate waters throughout the world at depths of up to 9,000 feet (2,800 meters). They are rarely seen by humans, although specimens do sometimes show up in the catches of deep water trawlers. These occasional catches provide scientists with unique opportunities to study this elusive animal. Because they live in such deep waters, it is believed that human activity has very little impact on their populations.

3.Giant Isopod

A giant isopod may be one of approximately nine species of large isopods  in the genus Bathynomus. They are thought to be abundant in cold, deep waters of the Atlantic.

Giant isopods are of little interest to most commercial fisheries owing to the typical scarcity of catches and because ensnared isopods are usually scavenged beyond marketability before they are recovered. However, in northern Taiwan and other areas, they are common at seaside restaurants, served boiled and bisected with a clean lateral slice. The white meat, similar to crab or lobster in texture, is then easily removed. The species are noted for resemblance to the common woodlouse or pill bug, to which they are related. The few specimens caught in the Americas with baited traps are sometimes seen in public aquaria.

4.Black dragonfish

The deep sea dragonfish, or Grammatostomias flagellibarba, is a ferocious predator in spite of its small size. It is one of many species known to inhabit the deep oceans of the world. This fish grows to about six inches in length. It has a large head and mouth equipped with many sharp, fang-like teeth.

The dragonfish has a long barbel attached to its chin. This barbel is tipped with a light-producing organ known as a photophore. The dragonfish uses this organ like a fishing lure, flashing it on and off and waving it back and forth. Once an unsuspecting fish gets too close, it is snapped up in the dragonfish’s powerful jaws.
The dragonfish also has photophores along the sides of its body. These light organs may be used to signal other dragonfish during mating. They may also serve to attract and disorient prey fishes from deep below. Dragonfishes live in deep ocean waters at depths of up to 5000 feet (1,500 meters). They are found in most tropical regions around the world.

5.Vampie squid

The vampire squid, known to scientists as Vampyroteuthis infernalis, looks more like something that swam out of a late-night science fiction movie. The squid has large fins at the to of its body that resemble large ears. It is very gelatinous in form, resembling a jellyfish more than the common squid. The vampire squid has the largest eyes relative to its body size of any animal. Though it is relatively small, growing to a length of only about six inches, it has globular eyeballs as large as the eyes of a large dog.

The Vampire Squid is almost entirely covered in light-producing organs called photophores. The animal has great control over the organs, capable of producing disorienting flashes of light for fractions of a second to several minutes in duration. The intensity and size of the photophores can also be modulated. Appearing as small white discs, the photophores are larger and more complex at the tips of the arms and at the base of the two fins, but are absent from the underside of the caped arms. Two larger white areas on top of the head were initially believed to also be photophores, but have turned out to be photoreceptors.

Vampire Squid is able to live and breathe normally in the OMZ at oxygen saturations as low as 3%; a feat no other cephalopod, and few other animals, can claim.

6.Bathysaurus

The deepsea lizardfish, Bathysaurus ferox, is a lizardfish of the family Synodontidae, found in tropical and subtropical seas worldwide at depths of between 600 and 3,500 m. Its length is between 50 and 65 cm.
The deepsea lizardfish is a heavy-bodied fish, rounded in cross-section with a broad flattened head containing a large wide mouth. The lower jaw protrudes further forward than the upper. Both jaws and all the mouth bones are heavily covered with conical barbed teeth and most of the jaw teeth are visible outside the edges of the mouth. The strong thick pelvic fins probably serve as props when the fish is resting on the bottom waiting for prey.
Deepsea lizardfish are covered in tough scales and are dark brown or black with black eyes and a black lining to the mouth and gill cavity.

7.Frilled shark

The frilled shark is one of two extant species of shark in the family Chlamydoselachidae, with a wide but patchy distribution in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. This uncommon species is found over the outer continental shelf and upper continental slope, generally near the bottom though there is evidence of substantial upward movements. It has been caught as deep as 1,570 m (5,150 ft), whereas in Suruga Bay, Japan  it is most common at depths of 50–200 m (160–660 ft). Exhibiting several “primitive” features, the frilled shark has often been termed a “living fossil”. It reaches a length of 2 m (6.6 ft) and has a dark brown, eel-like body with the dorsal, pelvic, and anal fins placed far back. Its common name comes from the frilly or fringed appearance of the gill slits, of which there are six pairs with the first pair meeting across the throat.

Seldom observed, the frilled shark is speculated to capture its prey by bending its body and lunging forward like a snake. The long, extremely flexible jaws enable it to swallow large prey whole, while the many rows of small, needle-like teeth prevent escape. It feeds mainly on cephalopods, while also consuming bony fishes and other sharks. Frilled sharks are occasionally captured as bycatch by commercial fisheries but have little economic value. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has assessed it as Near Threatened, since given its very low reproductive rate even incidental catches may deplete its population.

The Indonesian government has announced plans to sell tigers as pets for £67,000 a pair in what it claims is a move to protect the critically endangered species.
However, environmental groups have criticised the scheme as a money-making scam that will do nothing to save tigers, which face an increased risk from poachers on the eve of the Chinese Year of the Tiger.

Three people have already applied to follow in the footsteps of Michael Jackson and Mike Tyson and keep a tiger as a pet.

The criteria for taking ownership of 30 available tigers is having a spare billion rupiah (£67,000) and a minimum of 5 sq kilometre of land on which to keep the animals.

The government said the tigers would be constantly monitored in their new homes and any mistreatment would be punished by fines or jail.

“This idea of selling the tigers to the public came about after several wealthy businessmen proposed buying them,” said Didi Wuryanto, a forestry ministry official.

“They don’t just want to own horses. They want to be acknowledged as special people with prestige, so they want to keep tigers.”

Environmentalists warned selling off tigers as pets would encourage tiger poachers. Tiger poaching is on the rise across Asia ahead of Feb 14, the start of the Chinese Year of the Tiger.

“It is an irresponsible move by the Indonesian government,” said Bustar Maitar, a Greenpeace forest campaigner.

“Selling tigers is not the solution. The government must protect the animal’s habitat and stop palm oil plantations taking over. This move will just encourage poaching among locals at a time when poaching is on the rise because of the Year of the Tiger.”

There are just 3,200 tigers remaining in the wild across Asia, according to the World Wildlife Fund, and they are nearing extinction due to habitat loss.

“There are over 600,000 species of these amazing critters, and we owe them a lot. If it weren’t for parasitoids and other natural enemies, we would be knee-deep in pest insects.”
The tiny insects lay their eggs inside often much larger hosts, including caterpillars. When the eggs hatch, they kill the unsuspecting host from the inside out.
But the wasps only target specific insects, acting like “smart bombs,” according to Prof Werren.
“Therefore, if we can harness their full potential, they would be vastly preferable to chemical pesticides, which broadly kill or poison many organisms in the environment, including us.”
The wasps, which all fall in the Nasonia genus, also offer promise for genetic research.
Like the fruit fly, a common genetic research subject, the wasps are small, easily grown in a laboratory and reproduce quickly, but the wasps have only one set of chromosomes.
“A single set of chromosomes, which is more commonly found in lower single-celled organisms such as yeast, is a handy genetic tool, particularly for studying how genes interact with each other,” Prof Werren said.

The scientists also uncovered that the wasps have acquired genes related to the human smallpox virus, a discovery that may have applications for the study of evolutionary processes.
“Emerging from these genome studies are a lot of opportunities for exploiting Nasonia in topics ranging from pest control to medicine, genetics, and evolution,” Prof Werren said.

Fortunately, most of these road injuries are not life-threatening and the lucky ones will end up at the national swan sanctuary in Shepperton where they are examined, treated and rehabilitated before being finally released back into the wild.

Founded in the early Eighties by Dorothy Beeson in her back garden, when she came to the aid of a male swan with fishing line stuck in its bill, the sanctuary now treats more than 3,000 swans a year on the new five- acre site in Shepperton. The size and scale of the operation has surprised Beeson, who has been awarded the British Empire Medal for her work with swans. “I never set out to run the largest swan hospital in the country; I actually prefer cats. But back in the Eighties, swan numbers were reaching critically low numbers due to lead poisoning and I knew I had to do something.”

The new sanctuary has been developed on the site of an old gravel pit and consists of a hospital wing complete with operating theatre, a heated intensive care section and a recovery area with an exercise pond. A long corridor lined with boxes of lettuces leads to the operating theatre where a swan has just been operated on to repair a wound. It was picked up by the RSPCA that morning from a park in Southall and brought to the hospital. Now safely installed in the intensive care area, it looks remarkably well and should make a full recovery. “We expect to return 86 per cent of our patients to the wild,” explains Beeson. “Euthanasia is rarely used and only the really disabled birds stay permanently.”

Outside the hospital building, in a small wooded area dotted with ponds and aviaries, is a noisy community of web-footed wonders. For as well as swans, Beeson takes on a wide variety of other rejected and injured species, including storks, herons, geese, gulls, grebes and even a few owls and parrots. Beyond this is a large five-acre lake that connects to the Thames. It is packed with swans, waddling on the banks or gliding serenely on the water like huge meringues.

So why are swans so accident-prone? “The majority of the injuries we see are to do with human activities,” says Beeson. “Fishing line and hooks left behind by anglers, out-of-control dogs and then there are the roads. Swans are not the best flyers. If they miss a wing beat they can easily plummet.” Some people think that swans mistake roads for rivers but it’s apparently more to do with the turbulence caused by the heavy traffic, which can literally suck birds out of the sky. Once landed they need a long run before they can take off again.

Wing amputations from road accidents and air-rifle injuries are all in a day’s work for Beeson who, together with a skilled vet and an anaesthetist nurse, witness triumphs and tragedies in equal measure.

She still remembers a horrific incident when some young swans were lured by bread, only to be doused with petrol and set on fire. “Swans mate for life and so if one is injured we will always bring the partner, and sometimes the whole family. I’ve seen a male [cob] rear an entire brood when his mate died. It was very moving.” Once the birds recover they will be returned to where they were found and, if they can’t protect their territory, they may be sent to a private protected water.

Next spring sees the opening of a new visitor centre. It will be the first time that the general public will be able to see the sanctuary and will bring in much-needed funds. “It costs £150,000 a year to run this place and up until now we have had to rely on the generosity of corporate sponsors.” It will also be a chance to educate people about the dangers that face swans everyday. “Swans are very spiritual creatures,” says Beeson. “They can communicate their feelings and, at the end of a busy day, nothing cheers me up more than disappearing down the lake with a few loaves.”

Weighing over 500 pounds, Bouya Blan is one of only 12 white alligators in the world.

The 22-year-old, whose name means white fog, lives along with three other giant leucistic alligators at the world famous Gatorland theme park in Florida.

‘People are awestruck when they see them, and just one look into those icy, blue eyes will give you chills,’ says Mark McHugh, President & CEO of Gatorland.

‘We’re excited to bring these thrilling animals to Florida.’

Collected from deep in a Louisiana swamp, the ivory reptiles were part of a clutch of seventeen infants recovered by workers from the Louisiana Land and Exploration Company while surveying the area in 1986.

The group later brought the hatchlings to the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans where only a few of the rare reptiles survived, before they were brought to Gatorland last year.

‘This is the largest group of giant white gators in the world,’ says Tim Williams of Gatorland.

‘These are not albino animals, they are what we call leucistic, which means they have a little bit of pigmentation around the mouth and a ‘little touch on the tail and they have piercing blue eyes.’

Leucistic animals have rare genetic condition that reduces the colour pigmentation in their skin.

Out of the five million American alligator population there are thought to be only 12 leucistic gators.

‘They are just like alligators and they eat the same food,’ explains Tim.

‘The biggest concern is that they never would have survived in the wild. They are like little beacons out shining “come eat me”.

‘They are each ten to eleven plus feet in length and vulnerable to many predators because their lack of skin pigmentation deprives them of natural camouflage.’

Due to their condition, the alligators are housed in special enclosures to protect them from sunlight – and the unwanted attention of other males.

‘We have four white alligators here at Gatorland and because they are all males they cannot be in the same enclosure as they are all very big and they would all fight with each other,’ says Tim.

‘They are also very sensitive to direct sunlight, so we have to keep them in an environment where they get a tiny bit of sunlight during the day.

‘They need to have a bit of Vitamin D but that is supplemented in their diet where we feed them chicken, fish, red meat and vitamin supplements.

‘They each have their own pool and a haul out area and wooden decking they crawl out and bask in the heat.’

Tim and his team are now hoping to breed white alligators with two female American gators who carry the leucistic gene.

‘We also have two normal females who carry the gene for the leusitic offspring,’ he says.

“‘Our hope is that with some candle light, soft music and maybe a little wine we are hoping to breed some leusitic gators in the near future,’ he added.

The Jamaican sprinter’s sponsorship of the three-month-old male cheetah is part of an effort to boost Kenyan conservation efforts. The survival of the country’s famous wildlife is threatened by trophy hunting, climate change and human encroachment.

The world record holder in the 100 and 200 metres paid $13,700 (£8,300) to formally adopt the cub. He will also pay $3,000 a year to care for Lighting Bolt, who will be raised at an animal orphanage in Nairobi.

The money will go to the Kenya Wildlife Service, and some will be used to protect Kenya’s endangered species, said Julius Kipngetich, the KWS director.

Bolt, who was on a four-day visit to Kenya, said he was looking forward to seeing Kenya’s diverse wildlife, but was scared of meeting lions.

He nearly ran away when asked on Monday to pet a fully grown cheetah named Sharon for a photo shoot with Raila Odinga, the Kenyan prime minister.

The world record holder appeared more comfortable later while handling his baby cheetah, which was the size of a fully grown domestic cat. He cradled the fuzzy-headed cub while feeding it bottled milk as cameramen snapped away.

When asked if he was afraid of cheetahs, Bolt said: “Yes, I was, but not any more.”

Lighting Bolt is among three cubs rescued by Kenya Wildlife Service officials after their mother abandoned them in a game park.

David C Schultz, the photographer, spent five days in the Wapusk National Park in Manitoba, Canada, capturing this series of wonderful images.

He sat just 40 metres away from the bears, along the shore of the Hudson Bay, as they waited for it to freeze over.

They will soon head out to hunt ring seals for the winter.

Mr Schultz, 53, said: “I watched for about three hours as four polar bears lay sleeping and rolling around in the snow, basically being lazy.

“The tundra buggy driver positioned us so we could take advantage of the wind blowing the powdery snow off their coats and surroundings.

“That gave me an opportunity to get some beautiful and more dramatic back-lit images when the bears decided to show a little more activity.

“You sit for hours with the cameras at the ready then all of a sudden the bears go at it – but that only lasts a few minutes.”

He added: “They were extremely playful at times and they managed to entertain themselves and me.

“I had seen this group of bears almost every day and they do have their individual personalities.

“There was one bear which seemed to be the troublemaker of the group – the one that would go and start a fight with one of the others while it was sleeping.

“Or he would go over and fall on top of another only to use it for a pillow.

“He had the scars to prove he had been in a few sparring matches.

“Most of the fights are more in play this time of year with the bears testing each other’s fighting skills and strength.

“I was able to observe them day after day just being themselves in their natural environment.”

The world population of tigers has fallen by 95 per cent in the past century.

The WWF said it intends to intensify pressure to save the Panthera tigris by classifying it as the most at risk on its roster of 10 critically endangered animals.
It hopes to increase patrols and work with politicians to eradicate poaching and thwart illegal trade of tiger skins and body parts.
The wildlife charity also aims to work with governments to encourage more responsible forest management and compensation for farmers whose livestock are killed by tigers to avoid them being hunted.
Diane Walkington, head of species programme for the WWF in Britain, said: “This year has been designated the International Year of Biodiversity by the United Nations and so we have created a list of 10 critically important endangered animals that we believe will need special monitoring over the next 12 months.
“This year will also be the Chinese Year of the Tiger, and so we have put it at the top of our list. It will have special iconic importance.
“Of course, there are thousands of other species on the endangered list. However, there is particular importance in selecting a creature such as the tiger for special attention.
“To save the tiger, we have to save its habitat – which is also home to many other threatened species.
“So if we get things right and save the tiger, we will also save many other species at the same time.”
Also on the WWF’s endangered list are bluefin tuna, whose population has been devasted by overfishing, and leatherback turtles which are slaughtered by fishing vessels.
The polar bear, whose polar ice hunting ground is melting through climate change, also makes the top 10, as does the mountain gorilla, whose population has fallen to just 720 in the wild amid poaching and deforestation.
Tiger numbers have dwindled due to a combination of activities by humans.
Demand for their skins, still regarded as luxury items in some countries, has left them at the mercy of poachers who have increasingly targeted the animals. The threat is compounded by the market for their body parts, which are deemed to hold medicinal properties in some cultures.
Poachers also hunt many species which are tigers’ prey, diminishing their natural food supply, and forcing them to attack farmers’ livestock instead.
At the same time, destruction of forests for timber, agriculture and road building has forced tigers into ever smaller areas where they are increasingly vulnerable.
Climate change also poses a growing threat – 70 per cent of the Bengal tiger’s remaining habitat in the Sunderbans mangrove forest may be lost within 50 years due to rising sea levels.
Of its nine main subspecies, three – the Bali, Caspian and Java tigers – are now extinct, while there has been no reliable siting of a fourth, the South China tiger, for 25 years.
Only the Bengal, Amur, Indo-Chinese, Sumatran and Malayan tigers remain but their the numbers have been reduced to a few hundred per species, save the Bengal and Indo-Chinese.

The vacancy for the job as warden of Skomer Island is expected to attract hundreds of applications from people wanting to get away from it all.It is being described as the British equivalent of The Best Job in the World – the competition held last year to find a warden for Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.Skomer, two miles off the Pembrokeshire coast, has no blazing sunshine, coral reef or exotic wildlife.But to those who want the great escape, it is closest Britain has to a desert island paradise.

It has no mains water, no electricity, no roads, shop, or pub, and is separated from the mainland by Jack Sound, one of the most treacherous stretches of water off the British coast.

It is inhabited by puffins, manx shearwaters, kittiwakes, razor bills and guillemots, along with thousands of wild rabbits.It even has its own unique species – a tiny creature called the Skomer Vole which is not found anywhere else in the world.The island is carpeted by bluebells throughout the spring and surrounded by a marine reserve, rich in sealife, including dolphins and porpoises.And the new warden will live in a clifftop bungalow in the heart of the island’s main puffin colony.Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales chief executive Sarah Kessell said: “We are looking for a very special person to take care of our flagship reserve.”The warden will have to manage people and resources, be familiar with conservation techniques and be confident on board boats.”The vacancy has come up because the current warden Jo Milborrow wants to return to the mainland after six years on Skomer and its sister island Skokholm.She and her husband Dave, the assistant warden on Skomer, want a fresh challenge.Jo, 33, said: “After six unforgettable years we have packed up and shipped our belongings off for the last time.”I feel incredibly lucky to have lived in such an amazing place.”Gaining an intimate knowledge of one place, its wildlife and seasonal rhythms are things I value greatly.”This in-depth relationship with our surroundings is hard to establish in modern life.”The job pays between £14,000 and £16,000 for a 48 hours week with accommodation thrown in free.Part of the work involves greeting the hundreds of birdwatchers and day trippers who arrive by the tiny ferry boat in the spring and summer – weather permitting.But only the warden and a few overnight visitors get to see the island’s greatest spectacle – the nightly arrival of hundreds of thousands of Manx Shearwaters, a rare seabird which lives underground.A third of the world’s breeding population of Manx Shearwaters breed each summer on Skomer before flying off to warmer climes in the winter.Jo said: “To have shared my home with puffins, peregrine falcons, shearwaters and storm petrels and to be able to help protect these birds and inspire other people about them has been a high point of my life.”I wish the new warden as many memorable times as we have been lucky enough to share.”

Same-sex pairings have previously been observed in more than 1,000 species including dolphins and penguins, but now scientists say they also happen among worms, frogs, birds and many, many others.

The findings fly in the face of conventional views of how animal species thrive and are bound to ruffle the feathers of those who believe homosexuality is unnatural.

Evolutionary biologist Dr Nathan Bailey said: ‘It’s clear same-sex sexual behaviour extends far beyond the well-known examples that dominate both the scientific and popular literature – for example, bonobos, dolphins, penguins and fruit flies.’

Almost a third of Laysan albatrosses on the Hawaiian island of Oahu have been raised by two females.

The ‘lesbian’ pairs have got together to raise broods because there has been a shortage of male albatrosses.

They raise fewer chicks than heterosexual pairs, but their efforts are helping to restore the dwindling population of the birds on the island, the study says.

Other animal species tend to show homosexual pairings in lower proportions of about 10 per cent, the same fraction that has long been controversially claimed for humans.

A pair of male penguins recently hatched an egg at Bremerhaven Zoo in northern Germany after its biological parents rejected it.

Half the time male bottlenose dolphins have sex they are having it with other males, while for male bearded vultures same-sex encounters make up a quarter of all couplings.

Ministers yesterday supported the change which means owners of exotic or fierce animals will no longer need an annual visit from a vet and council inspector.

The Government said updating the Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976 would cut red tape. But animal welfare experts warned that hundreds of exotic pets could suffer while the public would be left at increased risk.

The RSPCA said exotic animals needed yearly inspections by specialist vets to ensure they were being cared for properly.

At the moment, anyone keeping a wild creature in their home or garden must obtain an annual licence from their council after a visit from a vet and safety inspector.

Around 375 are issued each year, covering dozens of species. A report proposes extending these to two years and dropping the need for inspections each time a licence is renewed.

Existing licence holders could also buy more exotic animals without an inspection. Zoos, circuses and pet shops are not covered by the Act.

Ian Melass at the Lion Park in  Johannesburg, South  Africa, said: ‘It was late  yesterday after the park was closed and the rangers were rounding up the lions to be put in their enclosure overnight.

‘They noticed one male lion and two female lions sitting on something and under closer inspection they found  it was a human body.

‘They got them off the body and found the lions had broken his neck, chewed out his abdomen and ripped him apart.

‘He didn’t stand a chance – there are 10 animals in that pen. I don’t  know what he was doing in there. He must have known there were lions because there are signs everywhere.

‘We’ve had problems with people from informal settlements round here stealing  fences. I can’t be 100 per cent sure but he was probably trying to steal something or was a small time poacher.’

The police were called but the body had no identification papers.

Mr Melass added: ‘I hate to say this but I hope this acts as a deterrent to people thinking of breaking in here. People, including some staff here,  forget that these are wild animals and their instinct is to kill.

‘This man had no chance and is now dead,’ said Mr Melass, who also stated there  were no plans to kill any of the animals after the death.

The park, which has been running for 40 years, has 100 lions and is a  major tourist attraction in the  Johannesburg area.

In another attack earlier on the same day in North  West province, six caged lions savaged a farm worker who had gone into their cage to feed them, leaving  only his fingers and intestines.

Police said the 49-year-old man had been delivering water  to the animals when he was attacked at the farm near Mafikeng. He had worked at the farm for two  years.

Local environmental officials later visited the game farm to discus what to do with the animals.