Showing posts with label wildlife. Show all posts

Monday, March 11, 2013

2013 Endangered Animals, Amur Leopard, Black Rhino

This is a truly horrifying list of natures near extinct wild animals. The horrifying part is that man is the reason for the animals being on this list. Instead of natural selection as a way to kill off a species man has taken it upon himself to single-handedly wipe the planet free of all animals not beneficial to his daily needs and greedy wants.These are only those animals that are listed as CRITICAL by the WWF, World Wildlife Fund. Not to be confused with the World Wrestling Federation. This post contains only facts and links to WWF for donations and / or the purchase of adopting their cute stuffed animals.

Photo credit: konjure / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND

Amur Leopard

Photographs thanks to WWF
STATUS
Critically Endangered
~~~~
POPULATION
Around 30 individuals

SCIENTIFIC NAME
Panthera pardus orientalis

WEIGHT
70 -105 pounds

HABITATS
Temperate, Broadleaf, and Mixed Forests

It is usual for leopards living in the savannas of Africa but beautiful and rare the Amur Leopard has adapted to the Russian Far East. Similar to other leopards, the Amur leopard can run at speeds of up to 37 miles per hour. This incredible animal has been reported to leap more than 19 feet horizontally and up to 10 feet vertically.

Black Rhino

Photograph thanks to WWF

STATUS
Critically Endangered
~~~~~~
POPULATION
4,848

SCIENTIFIC NAME
Diceros bicornis

HEIGHT
5.2 feet

WEIGHT
1,760 -3,080 pounds

HABITATS
Tropical and Subtropical Grasslands, Savannas, Deserts and Xeric Shrubland

as per WWF

1961
"DOOMED." That was the front page headline of the UK newspaper, the Daily Mirror, in 1961, accompanied by a full-page photo of two African rhinos. The article said that rhinos were "doomed to disappear from the face of the earth due to man's folly, greed, neglect".
2013
Record Number of Rhinos Killed in South Africa
Poaching statistics released by the South African government reveal 668 rhinos were slaughtered-a 50% increase over 2011 and a staggering 5000% increase since 2007.

Poached Horn Anyone ?

Photo credit: VonShawn / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND

The rhinos horns are being poached for many different reason. To increase longevity and increase sexual appetite to curing cancer. The horns are made of keritin, the same as our fingernails and have no medicial or magical properties.

To be continued ....

Friday, January 11, 2013

Animals Living Through Winter

These great photographs are for viewing and identification purposes. Many of the photos I find have no reliable link so I am asking viewers to please add a comment and link if they know who took any of the photos. Photos will be removed at artists request. In the meantime enjoy today's post.

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Funerals for the Birds

Birds hold 'funerals' for dead

By Matt WalkerEditor, BBC Nature

Some birds, it seems, hold funerals for their dead.

When western scrub jays encounter a dead bird, they call out to one another and stop foraging.

The jays then often fly down to the dead body and gather around it, scientists have discovered.

The behaviour may have evolved to warn other birds of nearby danger, report researchers in California, who have published the findings in the journal Animal Behaviour.

The revelation comes from a study by Teresa Iglesias and colleagues at the University of California, Davis, US.

They conducted experiments, placing a series of objects into residential back yards and observing how western scrub jays in the area reacted.

The objects included different coloured pieces of wood, dead jays, as well as mounted, stuffed jays and great horned owls, simulating the presence of live jays and predators.

Alarming reaction

The jays reacted indifferently to the wooden objects.

But when they spied a dead bird, they started making alarm calls, warning others long distances away.

The jays then gathered around the dead body, forming large cacophonous aggregations. The calls they made, known as "zeeps", "scolds" and "zeep-scolds", encouraged new jays to attend to the dead.

Do animals mourn?

The jays also stopped foraging for food, a change in behaviour that lasted for over a day.

When the birds were fooled into thinking a predator had arrived, by being exposed to a mounted owl, they also gathered together and made a series of alarm calls.

They also swooped down at the supposed predator, to scare it off. But the jays never swooped at the body of a dead bird.

The birds also occasionally mobbed the stuffed jays; a behaviour they are known to do in the wild when they attack competitors or sick birds.

The fact that the jays didn't react to the wooden objects shows that it is not the novelty of a dead bird appearing that triggers the reaction.

The results show that "without witnessing the struggle and manner of death", the researchers write, the jays see the presence of a dead bird as information to be publicly shared, just as they do the presence of a predator.

Spreading the message that a dead bird is in the area helps safeguard other birds, alerting them to danger, and lowering their risk from whatever killed the original bird in the first place, the researchers say.

Other animals are known to take notice of their dead.

Giraffes and elephants, for example, have been recorded loitering around the body of a recently deceased close relative, raising the idea that animals have a mental concept of death, and may even mourn those that have passed.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Hummer Time - Hummingbird Feeding Video

This is a view from my room - Ruby Throated Humming Birds at feeder. They can be playful and at times down right mean when it comes to their feeding time. I can hear their high pitched chirps right now while I am listing this post. They are so wonderful to watch. This is a shortened video, for a longer look check the entire video at Hummer Time

Enjoy today's post.

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Wildlife Photography by Marina Cano - Amazing Photos

This is a family photograph - Mom and Dad with big smiles :)

There is a special love among the animals in all these stunning photographs

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Mother and Baby Animal Photograph Layout

These great photographs are for viewing and identification purposes .I am asking viewers to please add a comment and link if they know who took any of the photos. Photos will be removed at artists request.In the meantime enjoy today's post.

Most of these animals are easy enough to identify except the first one. This is a newborn confiscated baby pangolin clinging onto its mother inside a cage during a press conference in Bangkok.