AnimalsPix : Daily animals pictures !

Armadillo

elo — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 09:43:00 +0200

Armadillos are Tropical American mammals known for their bony armour shell which is their way to defend themselves by rolling themselves into a protective ball. Outside reproduction, Armadillos are quite solitary feeding from insects or worms that they find by digging the floor.

It is interesting to notice that some species like the 9-banded armadillo have a peculiar reproduction system: females give birth only to absolutely identical quadruplets (polyembryony, several embryos from one egg).

source : flickr (Nina Dalmolin) and wikipedia

Scarlet Ibis

elo — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 09:40:00 +0200

This type of ibis lives in South America and in Trinidad and Tobago. They get this name from their alimentation based on crustaceans. Scarlet Ibis colonies can be as big as several thousand of birds.

source : flickr (Tut99 (Roger)) and wikipedia

Praying Mantis

elo — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 09:37:00 +0200

This insect (whose nick name comes from its praying like stance) is a quite an aggressive predator living in tropical and sub-tropical areas (Some smaller kind can be found in more temperate areas). They belong to those rare insects that can actually turn their head. They feed from prey sometimes as long as themselves (up to 17cm) thanks to their mandibles. Males are most of the time smaller than female and it happens that they might be eaten by their female partner after reproduction (See photo).

source : flickr (Dermal Denticles) and wikipedia

Porcelain Crab

elo — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 09:36:00 +0200

This crustacean is not related to the Crab family but looks a lot like one. They measure 1 to 2 cm and can be found in almost every ocean of the planet except arctic and Antarctic.

source : flickr (FUJIBOB) and wikipedia

Goat

elo — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 09:34:00 +0200

These herbivorous and ruminant bovid live in mountains. They can be found in a lot of world’s areas. Goats were domesticated for the first time 10 000 years ago: first for its meat, then for its skin, hairs, and milk.

source : flickr (BoazImages) and wikipedia

Great Egret

elo — Tue, 05 Sep 2006 21:33:00 +0200

This egret is the tallest wading bird in Europe. They look like heron but have black legs instead of the yellow legs of heron. They nest near lakes and ponds, but also near wet fields and paddy fields. They can be found in Europe as much as in Middle East, Asia, and Africa. The ones that live in the northern areas migrate in winter.
The liking for their long white feathers endangered the species, nearly extinct it.

source : flickr (0 W8ing) and wikipedia

Flying squirrel

elo — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 09:29:00 +0200

This rodent, strictly nocturnal (except on the photo) is called flying squirrel, he lives in North American and forests. They are called that way be cause they have some kind of membrane between their arms and legs that gives them the ability to “fly”, gliding in the air, using their tail to stabilize themselves. There are several other species of flying squirrels in the world.

source : flickr (sidleyvalleyranch) and wikipedia

Swans

elo — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 23:27:00 +0200

Swans are aquatic birds well-known for their white feathers (although some have black ones) and their quite bendy neck (from 23 to 25 bones). They can be found almost everywhere in the world: In Europe, in South America, and even in Australia. Swans are mostly monogamous: unless they separate, they stay with the same partner their whole life.

source : flickr (Vanda's Pictures) and wikipedia

Golden pheasant

elo — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 09:26:00 +0200

Golden pheasants are Chinese born gallinaceous birds belonging to the Grey partridge and peafowl family. Their feathers are golden and red for males and brown for females. They live in pinophyta forests where they feed from grains, leaves, and insects. They can fly but prefer running.

source : flickr (Antonio Costa) and wikipedia

Macaws

elo — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 09:24:00 +0200

Macaws are bright coloured parrots (red, green, yellow) living in tropical forests of Mexico and South America. They can live as long as 50 years and are monogamous. Most of macaws’ species are endangered and already five of them don’t exist anymore outside zoos. Deforestation and illegal captures threaten them: These birds are wanted because of their ability to “talk” and are expensive.

source : flickr (fluffballs) and wikipedia

Coati

elo — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 09:18:00 +0200

Three species of these insectivore and frugivore mammals can be found on the American continent from Arizona to Argentina. Those three species are characterized by their fur’s colour. Coatis have ringed tails often held up. They also are diurnal animals (unlike the Procyonidae (raccons) family to which they belong).

source : flickr (no.zomi) and wikipedia

Chipmunk

elo — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 09:19:00 +0200

Chipmunks are North American little rodents belonging to the squirrel family. They live in forests where they eat grains, chestnuts, mushrooms, and birds’ eggs. They keep food in their burrows in order to prepare for winter. Chipmunks’ burrows can be as long as 3 meters organised into different rooms with several closed entries.

source : flickr (SugarbearSteve) and wikipedia

Flamingo tongue

elo — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 09:41:00 +0200

These shellfish can be found in Caribbean Sea. They live inside corals and feed from those (Those are horned corals: Bright coloured and stuck to sandy grounds whereas regular corals are stuck to hard grounds). Their approximately 3 cm long shells is covered by orange spots on black, that they can retract when an animal approaches.
This shellfish used to be a currency, and be so called in French. It’s a quite common shellfish but unfortunately picked up too much by divers; that phenomena threatening this specie.

source : flickr (laszlo-photo), here, here and there

King Vulture

elo — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 09:09:00 +0200

King vultures are tropical vultures that can be found in South and Central America. As all the other vultures, they eat carcass using their little but resistant beak. They have a very developed smell.

source : flickr (True_Bavarian) and wikipedia

Golden toad

elo — Tue, 22 Aug 2006 09:37:00 +0200

Golden toads used to live in high areas in tropical forests up the town of Monteverde of Costa Rica. Those five centimetres long toads’ male are orange almost fluorescent; females are yellow with black spots. They are considered extinct since 1989. Their reproduction’s necessary condition where quite delicate : between April and June, where it rains the most, they get out, reproduce and females then lay eggs in temporary ponds and brooks created by rain. This toad was a lot dependant on rain. Not enough rain, ponds get dry and larva die. Too much, brooks get down the mountains and dispatch larva. 1987 dryness created a bloodbath: 29 on a 43,500 potential larva lived. (This phenomena was observed by Marty Crump, herpetologist, who think El Niño and global warm are responsible for this animal’s extinction.

(This picture is a sculpture, not a real toad.)

source : flickr (Thomas Hawk) and wikipedia | crapaud doré on batraciens-reptiles.com | golden toad on bagheera

Bat

elo — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 09:10:00 +0200

There are 950 species of this unique flying mammal. Bats rarely land where they are quite awkward; as for rest time, they prefer hanging upside down by the claws on their tiptoes. Bats hunt by night. They mainly are insectivore; some tropical ones can eat fruits and three feeds from little mammals’ blood. In order to move and localise their prey, they use ultrasounds (echolocation) thanks to their vocal cords

source : flickr (Thomas Hawk) and wikipedia

Bald Eagle

elo — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 07:35:00 +0200

Bald eagles are North America birds of prey well known for being the USA emblem. Even though the English name is bald eagle, they aren’t exactly belonging to the eagle family. They are recognisable by their head and white tail as much as by their large yellow beak. They live around rivers, lakes, and near coasts where they eat other birds and fish corpses (He can steal those from other predators). They build very large and high nests (sometimes as high as 1 metre) on the ground or in high trees.

source : flickr (creativity+) and wikipedia

Leopard

elo — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 07:32:00 +0200

Leopards or panthers live in Asia and Africa. Their fur is usually with spots but some are entirely black (Black panther). Leopards hunt by night; capture and kill deer or boars thanks to their vivacity (Leopards are almost as quick as cheetahs.), they eat then in trees on which they climb, thanks to their powerful paw muscles, and spend most of their time.

Some of leopards’ species like North China leopards are endangered.

source : flickr (Michael Poliza) and wikipedia

Chameleon

elo — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 21:30:00 +0200

Chameleons are reptiles mostly African from iguana family. They’re characterized by their ability to change their body colours: the can become green to maroon different bright colours in between in order to camouflage, defend themselves, seduce, or just show their mood. In order to eat, chameleons can stay still and hidden in trees for several hours until a prey comes and get eaten by them. Chameleons’ tong can be as long as their bodies.

source : flickr (Michael Poliza) and wikipedia (animal suggestion of rakanishu )

Walrus

elo — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 07:31:00 +0200

Walrus are arctic mammals; they usually look quite calm (whenever they’re not in rut period, when they fight each other). They belong to the same family as seals: they feed and reproduce underwater. They are excellent swimmers who can stay underwater for half an hour about dozen meters deep. They mainly eat fish, and mollusks. Their natural predators are orcas, polar bears and men (because of their ivory tusks).

source : flickr (Andre Boffin) and wikipedia