Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Antelope vs Deer

Animals: Deer and antelope
Numbers of species (deer): over 100
Number of species (antelope): Exactly 135
Diet (deer): Any plants they can reach
Diet (antelope): Mostly any plant they can reach, but some species eat insects, small mammals, and birds
Range (deer): Anywhere on earth other than Antarctica and Australia
Range (antelope): Throughout Africa and the Rocky Mountain region
Other differences: Antelope's horns are hollow, deer's antlers branch off, and deer shed antlers (so do prong horn antelopes)












Thursday, December 17, 2015

Blobfish


Animal: Blob fish
Overshadowed by: Puffer fish
Endangered status: Endangered
Size: Up to 1 foot long
Diet: Unknown
Habitat: 2000 to 4000 feet below sea level, off the coasts of Australia, Tasmania, and Papa New Guinea.
Facts: Have no skeleton, exoskeleton,or muscles, in fact it's way of surviving
down there is by using the water to support its frame. 
Blob fish out of water 
Blob fish in water

Thursday, December 10, 2015

Elephant Shrew



Animal: Elephant Shrew
Scientific name: Rhynchocyon Cirnei
Size: 9 to 12 inches, up to 1.5 lbs
Classification: Mammal
Endangered Status: Near endangered
Habitat: Anywhere in the Congo, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia
Diet: Ants, termites, beetles, spiders, millipedes, and worms
Closest Relatives: Elephants and antelopes
Facts: They live in couples in a range of several acres. Although they rarely see each other they track each other's whereabouts through scent, and They live 2 to 4 years.

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Tasmanian Devils


Animal: Tasmanian Devils
Overshadowed by: Kangaroos (because they both live in Australia).
Endangered status: Endangered
Classification: Mammal/marsupial
Size: 20 to 31 inches tall and 9 to 26 lbs
Diet: Any thing they can find but mostly small animals.
Habitat: Forests in Tasmania (a large island in Australia) mostly by rivers.
Closest relative: Quolls
Scientific name: Sarcophilus harrisii
Predators: large quolls and large birds of prey.
AKA: T-devil
Facts: T-devils ears will turn red when excited or threatened, they see moving objects better than still ones, T-devils used to range all throughout Australia, until settlers brought dingoes.


Saturday, December 5, 2015

Chinese Water Deer


Animal: Chinese water deer
Overshadowed by: Musk deer
Scientific name: Hydropotes Inermis
Diet: herbs, grasses, and sedges
Endangered status: endangered
Closest relative: Korean Water Deer
Size: 26.42 to 40.72 lbs, 55 cm tall
Habitat: swamp lands and grasslands
Classification: mammal
Hunting strategy: doesn't hunt
Predators: tigers and wolves in Asia, no natural predators in Britain or France
Facts: Good swimmers, can give birth to 6 to 8 fawns, rarest deer in Britain, only deer species without antlers.

Friday, December 4, 2015

Okapi


Animal: Okapi
Over shadowed by: zebra
Closest relative: Giraffe
Scientific name: Okapi johnstoni
Size: 2.5 meters long and 1.65 meters tall to the shoulder
Diet: leaves, fruit, seeds, ferns, and fungi
Endangered status: Endangered
Classification: mammal
Predators: Leopards, and servals.
Hunting strategy: Eats plants.
Habitat: mountain rain forests of central Africa.
AKA: Forest Giraffe, forest zebra, and African unicorn.
Facts: Can lick ears (inside and out), live up to 30 years, Okapi eat up to 100 different types of plants, and is the symbol of the Congo.

Saturday, November 28, 2015

Pangolins


Animal: Pangolins 
Overshadowed by: armadillos
Classification: mammal  
Scientific name: Pholidota
Endangered status: very endangered
Habitat: Forests, savannas, and grasslands in Asia, and Africa.
Predators: leopards, and hyenas
Size: 30 to 40 lbs and 12 to 39 in long
Diet: termites, ants, worms, bee larva, and earth worms
Hunting strategy: digs through their nests then slurps them up with their tongues.
Closest relatives: bears, wolfs, and hyenas.
AKA: scaly aardvarks
Facts: 1 pangolin can eat 70 million insects each year, pangolins, like aardvarks, live in burrows, pangolins can also live in nests in trees, they don't have teeth and have bad eye sight due to small eyes, pangolin scales are made out of the same substance as our finger nails, their tongues are longer than their bodes, can release a smell much like that of a skunk.


Friday, November 27, 2015

Low Land Streaked Tenrecs


Animal: Low land streaked tenrecs
Overshadowed by: Porcupines
Scientific name: Hemicentetes semispinosus
Predators: Dumeril's boa, Malagasy ring tailed mongoose, Malagasy fossas, and Malagasy cives
Habitat: Only found on Madagascar's east side
Diet: mostly earth worms or similar animals otherwise small invertebrates.
Classification: mammal
Size: 4.41 to 9.87 pounds and around 5.51 inches long
Hunting strategy: stomps to invoke earth worm activity then digs them up and eats them.
Endangered status: right in the middle
Closest relatives: other tenrecs like the high land streaked tenrec, and the common tenrec.
Facts: The low land streaked tenrecs live in small groups, can rub their retractable quills together to communicate, can drop body temperature to the surrounding temperature, the low land streaked tenrec has no tail, and they are active at day and night.


Sunday, November 15, 2015

Aardvarks


Animal: aardvarks
Overshadowed by: anteaters
Scientific name: orycteropus afer
Predators: lions, leopards, African wild dogs, hyenas, and pythons  
Classification: mammal
size: 88 to 140 lbs
diet: mostly termites and ants, but sometimes small mammals, and is a carnivore.
Hunting strategy: digs through termite mounds and uses their long tongues to slurp up the insects
population: not even close to endangered                  
closest relatives: elephant,elephant shrew, manatees, hyrax, dugongs, golden moles, and tenrec.
AKA: living fossil, and earth pig.
Facts: aardvarks tongues can be up to 12 in long,  aardvarks can dig a burro 2ft deep in 30sec,  an aardvark can give birth to 1 cub per year, aardvarks can live up to 23 years in captivity, aardvarks are the only living species of tubuild, and aardvarks live in burros under the African savanna, grasslands, and forest.