Wild Life and Nature

African Elephant

2011-09-01T05:27:00.000-07:00

African elephants are the largest of Earth's land mammals. Their enormous ears help them to keep cool in the hot African climate.

Photograph by Beverly Joubert

Map

African Elephant Range

Audio

Fast Facts

Type:: Mammal
Diet:: Herbivore
Average life span in the wild:: Up to 70 years
Size:: Height at the shoulder, 8.2 to 13 ft (2.5 to 4 m)
Weight:: 5,000 to 14,000 lbs (2,268 to 6,350 kg)
Group name:: Herd
Protection status:: Threatened
Size relative to a 6-ft (2-m) man:

African elephants are the largest land animals on Earth. They are slightly larger than their Asian cousins and can be identified by their larger ears that look somewhat like the continent of Africa. (Asian elephants have smaller, rounded ears.)

Elephant ears radiate heat to help keep these large animals cool, but sometimes the African heat is too much. Elephants are fond of water and enjoy showering by sucking water into their trunks and spraying it all over themselves. Afterwards, they often spray their skin with a protective coating of dust.

An elephant's trunk is actually a long nose used for smelling, breathing, trumpeting, drinking, and also for grabbing things—especially a potential meal. The trunk alone contains about 100,000 different muscles. African elephants have two fingerlike features on the end of their trunk that they can use to grab small items. (Asian elephants have one.)

Both male and female African elephants have tusks they use to dig for food and water and strip bark from trees. Males use the tusks to battle one another, but the ivory has also attracted violence of a far more dangerous sort.

Because ivory is so valuable to some humans, many elephants have been killed for their tusks. This trade is illegal today, but it has not been completely eliminated, and some African elephant populations remain endangered.

Elephants eat roots, grasses, fruit, and bark, and they eat a lot of these things. An adult elephant can consume up to 300 pounds (136 kilograms) of food in a single day.

These hungry animals do not sleep much, and they roam over great distances while foraging for the large quantities of food that they require to sustain their massive bodies.

Female elephants (cows) live in family herds with their young, but adult males (bulls) tend to roam on their own.

Having a baby elephant is a serious commitment. Elephants have a longer pregnancy than any other mammal—almost 22 months. Cows usually give birth to one calf every two to four years. At birth, elephants already weigh some 200 pounds (91 kilograms) and stand about 3 feet (1 meter) tall.

African elephants, unlike their Asian relatives, are not easily domesticated. They range throughout sub-Saharan Africa and the rain forests of central and West Africa. The continent’s northernmost elephants are found in Mali’s Sahel desert. The small, nomadic herd of Mali elephants migrates in a circular route through the desert in search of water.

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Pictures: Baby Gorilla Rescued From Poachers

2011-09-01T05:24:00.000-07:00

In Good Hands

Photograph courtesy MGVP, Inc.

A young mountain gorilla (pictured) is in safe hands after being rescued from poachers in Rwanda early this month, according to Virunga National Park officials.
Poachers had tried to smuggle the eight-month-old female—likely taken from the Bukima area of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) park—into Rwanda before being caught by Rwandan police.
The infant—which rescuers named Ihirwe, or Luck, in the Rwandan language Kinyarwanda—was likely captured for the international pet trade. How the animal was poached, and whether her family members were killed in the process, is still unknown, according to park officials.
The Congolese and Rwandan poachers had kept the ape for about six days, feeding her bananas and sugarcane, until Rwandan police in the town of Gisenyi jailed the smugglers for illegal possession of a gorilla.
Police contacted the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project, and vets set off for the prison.
"When we walked into the jail, one of the poachers almost immediately sneezed right on the baby, who was asleep in a tight, tense ball on the bed," gorilla veterinarian Jan Ramer said in a statement, adding that the gorilla will be quarantined for 30 days.
Despite the apparently happy ending, the event could be a "really ominous sign" of yet another threat to the species, noted Matthew Lewis, senior program officer for African species conservation at WWF. The nonprofit is part of the International Gorilla Conservation Program.
Mountain gorillas are considered critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, with only 786 individuals remaining in the mountains of the DRC, Rwanda, and Uganda, according to WWF.
Even so, due to intense antipoaching patrols and habitat protection, the apes have been steadily bouncing back.
"Now is not the time to be complacent and say we've had great success. … We have to remain vigilant and keep on top of it," Lewis said.
(Read about another baby gorilla rescued in the Congo in 2010.)
—Christine Dell'Amore

Published August 19, 2011

WILD LIFE IMAGES

2011-05-31T11:33:00.000-07:00

Destruction

2011-05-31T11:30:00.000-07:00

This subsection focuses on anthropogenic forms of wildlife destruction.
Exploitation of wild populations has been a characteristic of modern man since our exodus from Africa 130,000 – 70,000 years ago. The rate of extinctions of entire species of plants and animals across the planet has been so high in the last few hundred years it is widely considered that we are in the sixth great extinction event on this planet; the Holocene Mass Extinction.
Destruction of wildlife does not always lead to an extinction of the species in question, however, the dramatic loss of entire species across Earth dominates any review of wildlife destruction as extinction is the level of damage to a wild population from which there is no return.
The four most general reasons that lead to destruction of wildlife include overkill, habitat destruction and fragmentation, impact of introduced species and chains of extinction.^[3]

[edit] Overkill

Overkill occurs whenever hunting occurs at rates greater than the reproductive capacity of the population is being exploited. The effects of this are often noticed much more dramatically in slow growing populations such as many larger species of fish. Initially when a portion of a wild population is hunted, an increased availability of resources (food, etc.) is experienced increasing growth and reproduction as Density dependent inhibition is lowered. Hunting, fishing and so on, has lowered the competition between members of a population. However, if this hunting continues at rate greater than the rate at which new members of the population can reach breeding age and produce more young, the population will begin to decrease in numbers.
Populations are confined to islands, whether literal islands or just areas of habitat that are effectively an “island” for the species concerned have also been observed to be at greater risk of dramatic population declines following unsustainable hunting.

[edit] Habitat destruction and fragmentation

Deforestation and increased road-building in the Amazon Rainforest are a significant concern because of increased human encroachment upon wild areas, increased resource extraction and further threats to biodiversity.

The habitat of any given species is considered its preferred area or territory. Many processes associated human habitation of an area cause loss of this area and decrease the carrying capacity of the land for that species. In many cases these changes in land use cause a patchy break-up of the wild landscape. Agricultural land frequently displays this type of extremely fragmented, or relictual, habitat. Farms sprawl across the landscape with patches of uncleared woodland or forest dotted in-between occasional paddocks.
Examples of habitat destruction include grazing of bushland by farmed animals, changes to natural fire regimes, forest clearing for timber production and wetland draining for city expansion.

[edit] Impact of introduced species

Mice, cats, rabbits, dandelions and poison ivy are all examples of species that have become invasive threats to wild species in various parts of the world^{[citation needed]}. Frequently species that are uncommon in their home range become out-of-control invasions in distant but similar climates. The reasons for this have not always been clear and Charles Darwin felt it was unlikely that exotic species would ever be able to grow abundantly in a place in which they had not evolved. The reality is that the vast majority of species exposed to a new habitat do not reproduce successfully. Occasionally, however, some populations do take hold and after a period of acclimation can increase in numbers significantly, having destructive effects on many elements of the native environment of which they have become part.

[edit] Chains of extinction

This final group is one of secondary effects. All wild populations of living things have many complex intertwining links with other living things around them. Large herbivorous animals such as the hippopotamus have populations of insectivorous birds that feed off the many parasitic insects that grow on the hippo. Should the hippo die out, so too will these groups of birds, leading to further destruction as other species dependent on the birds are affected. Also referred to as a Domino effect, this series of chain reactions is by far the most destructive process that can occur in any ecological community.
Another example is the black drongos and the cattle egrets found in India. These birds feed on insects on the back of cattle, which helps to keep them disease-free. If we destroy the nesting habitats of these birds, it will result a decrease in the cattle population because of the spread of insect-borne diseases.

Food, pets, traditional medicines

2011-05-31T11:27:00.002-07:00

Anthropologists believe that the Stone Age peoples and hunter-gatherers relied on wildlife, both plant and animal, for their food. In fact, some species may have been hunted to extinction by early human hunters. Today, hunting, fishing, or gathering wildlife is still a significant food source in some parts of the world. In other areas, hunting and non-commercial fishing are mainly seen as a sport or recreation, with the edible meat as mostly a side benefit.^{[citation needed]} Meat sourced from wildlife that is not traditionally regarded as game is known as bush meat. The increasing demand for wildlife as a source of traditional food in East Asia is decimating populations of sharks, primates, pangolins and other animals, which they believe have aphrodisiac properties.
In November 2008, almost 900 plucked and "oven-ready" owls and other protected wildlife species were confiscated by the Department of Wildlife and National Parks in Malaysia, according to TRAFFIC. The animals were believed to be bound for China, to be sold in wild meat restaurants. Most are listed in CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) which prohibits or restricts such trade.

“	Malaysia is home to a vast array of amazing wildlife. However, illegal hunting and trade poses a threat to Malaysia’s natural diversity.	”
—Chris S. Shepherd^[1]

A November 2008 report from biologist and author Sally Kneidel, PhD, documented numerous wildlife species for sale in informal markets along the Amazon River, including wild-caught marmosets sold for as little as $1.60 (5 Peruvian soles).^[2] Many Amazon species, including peccaries, agoutis, turtles, turtle eggs, anacondas, armadillos, etc., are sold primarily as food. Others in these informal markets, such as monkeys and parrots, are destined for the pet trade, often smuggled into the United States. Still other Amazon species are popular ingredients in traditional medicines sold in local markets. The medicinal value of animal parts is based largely on superstition.

[edit] Religion

Many wildlife species have spiritual significance in different cultures around the world, and they and their products may be used as sacred objects in religious rituals. For example, eagles, hawks and their feathers have great cultural and spiritual value to Native Americans as religious objects.

[edit] Media

The Douglas Squirrel (Tamiasciurus douglasii) is an example of wildlife.

Wildlife has long been a common subject for educational television shows. National Geographic specials appeared on CBS beginning in 1965, later moving to ABC and then PBS. In 1963, NBC debuted Wild Kingdom, a popular program featuring zoologist Marlin Perkins as host. The BBC natural history unit in the UK was a similar pioneer, the first wildlife series LOOK presented by Sir Peter Scott, was a studio-based show, with filmed inserts. It was in this series that David Attenborough first made his appearance which led to the series Zoo Quest during which he and cameraman Charles Lagus went to many exotic places looking for elusive wildlife—notably the Komodo dragon in Indonesia and lemurs in Madagascar. Since 1984, the Discovery Channel and its spin off Animal Planet in the USA have dominated the market for shows about wildlife on cable television, while on PBS the NATURE strand made by WNET-13 in New York and NOVA by WGBH in Boston are notable. See also Nature documentary. Wildlife television is now a multi-million dollar industry with specialist documentary film-makers in many countries including UK, USA, New Zealand NHNZ, Australia, Austria, Germany, Japan, and Canada. There are many magazines which cover wildlife including National Wildlife Magazine, Birds & Blooms, Birding (magazine), and Ranger Rick (for children).

[edit] Tourism

Fuelled by media coverage and inclusion of conservation education in early school curriculum, Wildlife tourism & Ecotourism has fast become a popular industry generating substantial income for developing nations with rich wildlife specially , Africa and India. This ever growing and ever becoming more popular form of tourism is providing the much needed incentive for poor nations to conserve their rich wildlife heritage and its habitat.

Wildlife

2011-05-31T11:27:00.000-07:00

Wildlife includes all non-domesticated plants, animals and other organisms. Domesticating wild plant and animal species for human benefit has occurred many times all over the planet, and has a major impact on the environment, both positive and negative. Wildlife can be found in all ecosystems. Deserts, rain forests, plains, and other areas including the most developed urban sites, all have distinct forms of wildlife. While the term in popular culture usually refers to animals that are untouched by human factors, most scientists agree that wildlife around the world is impacted by human activities.
Humans have historically tended to separate civilization from wildlife in a number of ways including the legal, social, and moral sense. This has been a reason for debate throughout recorded history. Religions have often declared certain animals to be sacred, and in modern times concern for the natural environment has provoked activists to protest the exploitation of wildlife for human benefit or entertainment. Literature has also made use of the traditional human separation from wildlife.

The History of Elephants

2011-02-05T10:35:00.000-08:00

Elephants are the largest land mammal and can be found in both Asia and Africa. African elephants live in areas that are south of the Sahara Desert while Asian elephants are found in India and other countries in Southeast Asia. Elephants are interesting animals because of the way they travel together and care for their young. They're also interesting to many people living in Asia and Africa because of their size and the way they can contribute to the economy. Learning about elephants can be fun for people of any age, so starting off with the basic facts is the best way to start learning about these huge creatures.

FACT FILE:
Swahili Name:	Tembo or ndovu
Scientific Name:	Loxodonta africana
Size:	Up to 11 feet
Weight:	31/2 - 61/2 tons (7,000 13,200 lb)
Lifespan:	60 to 70 years
Habitat:	Dense forest to open plains
Diet:	Herbivorous
Gestation:	About 22 months
Predators:	Humans

Environment & Nutrition
The natural environment of the elephant depends on the type of elephant. African forest elephants typically roam the forests while African savannah elephants roam open African plains. The Asian elephant also lives in forests. Elephants need a large range of land to roam so that they can find enough food and water to survive. They often follow elephant trails to get from one area to another to look for more food. Elephants eat bark, grasses, twigs, and leaves and they drop seeds in their dung, making them act as gardeners as they go about their travels.

Elephant Adaptations
The elephant has several adaptations that help it survive in its natural habitat. To stay comfortable in the heat, an elephant can flap its ears and create a cooling effect. The large molars in the elephant's mouth are used for chewing and grinding very fibrous plant materials. An elephant's trunk has many uses including picking up food, drinking water, and communicating with other elephants. Elephants also have very low-pitched sounds that allow them to communicate with each other.

Elephants & the Ecosystem
Elephants are a very important part of the ecosystems they inhabit. By dropping seeds with their dung, they are helping to create new plant life. Their large bodies can also knock down small trees and other obstacles so that smaller animals can get through to find food. If there is some kind of water drought, elephants will dig to find water deep beneath the ground surface.

Elephant Family Life
Elephants are very family-centered animals. They travel together under the supervision of a female called a matriarch. The matriarch of a herd has knowledge of food and water sources and is responsible for helping her sisters, cousins, and other family members to stay safe and healthy. When it's time to reproduce, the female elephants mate with bull elephants after a period of courtship. The female stays pregnant for 22 months while her baby elephant grows and develops inside of her. During labor, the pregnant elephant is given help by another female elephant. Once a baby elephant is born, it may drink its mother's milk for up to four years and will be cared for by everyone in its herd.

Elephants & Society
Elephants have had a number of key places in society. Asian elephants have been used as work animals for many years and often haul heavy loads from one place to another. They have been also used as a method of transportation in Asian and African countries. Some elephants are taken out of Asia and Africa to travel with the circus and provide entertainment. Still others are used for their tusks so that ivory products can be made. Other members of society have revered elephants and worked to protect them from harm.

Amazing Wildlife Videos

2011-01-21T03:07:00.001-08:00

This video is really Amazing

LEOPARDS vs ZEBRA VIDEO

2011-01-19T05:49:00.000-08:00

Leopards vs Zebra - BBC wildlife

TEA PLANTATION VIEWS

2011-01-18T11:09:00.000-08:00

WATER FALL WITH NATURE

2011-01-18T11:08:00.000-08:00

WILD BIRD

2011-01-18T11:06:00.000-08:00

WILD MONKEYS

2011-01-18T11:04:00.000-08:00

ORCHIED

2011-01-18T10:57:00.000-08:00

WILD LION

2011-01-18T10:53:00.001-08:00

Lion

FACT FILE:
Swahili Name:	Simba
Scientific Name:	*Panthera leo*
Size:	48 inches high
Weight:	330 to 500 pounds
Lifespan:	13 years in captivity
Habitat:	Grassy plans and open woodlands
Diet:	Carnivorous
Gestation:	About 105 days
Predators:	Humans

The lion is a magnificent animal that appears as a symbol of power, courage and nobility on family crests, coats of arms and national flags in many civilizations. Lions at one time were found from Greece through the Middle East to northern India, but today only a very small population remains in India. In the past lions lived in most parts of Africa, but are now confined to the sub-Saharan region.

Most cat species live a fundamentally solitary existence, but the lion is an exception. It has developed a social system based on teamwork and a division of labor within the pride, and an extended but closed family unit centered around a group of related females. The average pride consists of about 15 individuals, including five to 10 females with their young and two or three territorial males that are usually brothers or pride mates.

Physical Characteristics
Generally, a tawny yellow, lions, like other species, tend to be lighter in color in hot, arid areas and darker in areas of dense vegetation. Mature male lions are unique among the cat species for the thick mane of brown or black hair that encircles the head and neck. The tails of lions end in a horny spine covered with a tuft of hair.

Habitat
Lions are found in savannas, grasslands, dense bush and woodlands.

Behavior
Females do 85 to 90 percent of the pride's hunting, while the males patrol the territory and protect the pride, for which they take the "lion's share" of the females' prey. When resting, lions seem to enjoy good fellowship with lots of touching, head rubbing, licking and purring. But when it comes to food, each lion looks out for itself. Squabbling and fighting are common, with adult males usually eating first, followed by the females and then the cubs.

Lions are the laziest of the big cats. They usually spend 16 to 20 hours a day sleeping and resting, devoting the remaining hours to hunting, courting or protecting their territory. They keep in contact with one another by roaring loud enough to be heard up to five miles away. The pride usually remains intact until the males are challenged and successfully driven away or killed by other males, who then take over. Not all lions live in prides. At maturity, young males leave the units of their birth and spend several years as nomads before they become strong enough to take over a pride of their own. Some never stop wandering and continue to follow migrating herds; but the nomadic life is much more difficult, with little time for resting or reproducing.

Within the pride, the territorial males are the fathers of all the cubs. When a lioness is in heat, a male will join her, staying with her constantly. The pair usually mates for less than a minute, but it does so about every 15 to 30 minutes over a period of four to five days.

Lions may hunt at any hour, but they typically go after large prey at night. They hunt together to increase their success rate, since prey can be difficult to catch and can outrun a single lion. The lions fan out along a broad front or semicircle to creep up on prey. Once with within striking distance, they bound in among the startled animals, knock one down and kill it with a bite to the neck or throat. Hunts are successful about half the time.

Diet
Cooperative hunting enables lions to take prey as large as wildebeests, zebras, buffaloes, young elephants, rhinos, hippos and giraffes, any of which can provide several meals for the pride. Mice, lizards, tortoises, warthogs, antelopes and even crocodiles also form part of a lion's diet. Because they often take over kills made by hyenas, cheetahs and leopards, scavenged food provides more than 50 percent of their diets in areas like the Serengeti plains.

Caring for the Young
Litters consist of two or three cubs that weigh about 3 pounds each. Some mothers carefully nurture the young; others may neglect or abandon them, especially when food is scarce. Usually two or more females in a pride give birth about the same time, and the cubs are raised together. A lioness will permit cubs other than her own to suckle, sometimes enabling a neglected infant to survive. Capable hunters by 2 years of age, lions become fully grown between 5 and 6 years and normally live about 13 years.

Predators
Lions have long been killed in rituals of bravery, as hunting trophies and for their medicinal and magical powers. Although lions are now protected in many parts of Africa, they were once considered to be stock-raiding vermin and were killed on sight. In some areas, livestock predation remains a severe problem.

Did you know?

Most lions drink water daily if available, but can go four or five days without it. Lions in arid areas seem to obtain needed moisture from the stomach contents of their prey.
When males take over a pride, they usually kill the cubs. The females come into estrus and the new males sire other cubs.

DEER

2011-01-18T10:52:00.000-08:00

Ococoileus virginianus (whitetail)

Odocoileus hemionus (blacktail or mule deer)

Description - A tan or reddish-brown in the summer and greyish-brown in the winter, the belly, throat, nose band, eye ring and insides of the ears are white. There are black spots on the sides of the chin. The antlers have individual tines that grow upward from each of the main beams.

Distribution - The mule deer has the widest distribution of the deer found in British Columbia, occurring as far north as the Liard River Valley and throughout the interior as far west as the coast mountains. The whitetail deer resides in the lower south-east corner of the province. Found only in BC is the Northwest Whitetail deer.

Biology - Deer are browsers rather than grazers and feed on a variety of vegetation including green plants, nuts and corn, and trees and twigs. Although the deer is a good swimmer and runner (reaching speeds of 35 mph) it falls prey to a number of animals including the cougar, domestic dog, wolf, coyote, lynx, bobcat and bear. Once this species was endangered but it is now more abundant than ever.

Tracks - The mule deer has a distinct "bound" in which all four feet come down together as if on springs. The tracks will vary from a rough "V-shape" while running to a straight line with slower speeds. The track varies according to the surrounding landscape. In soft, woodland areas the print is more pointed and on harder ground where the hoof may be worn, the track may appear with a blunter tip. The hoof print may be described as two paisley shapes facing one another with smaller "dots" of the dew claws at the wider end of these paisleys.

Straddle: 15.5 cm (6.2 in)
Stride: 50 - 61 cm (20 - 24.4 in)
Track: 8.5 cm (3.4 in) long / 6.5 cm (2.6 in) wide

The key difference in distinguishing the gallop of the white-tailed and mule deer is while the mule tends to bound as if on springs, the white-tailed deer "rocks" by swinging its hind feet ahead of the front ones. The white-tailed deer is known to drag its hooves between steps creating troughs between each print. The hoof print itself is nearly indistinguishable from that of the mule deer.

Straddle: 15.5 cm (6.2 in)
Stride: 33 - 50 cm (13.2 - 20 in)
Track: 7 - 9 cm (2.8 - 3.6 in) / 4.5 - 6.5 cm (1.8 - 2.6 in)

LEOPARD

2011-01-18T10:48:00.000-08:00

Leopard

FACT FILE:
Swahili Name:	Chui
Scientific Name:	Panthera pardus
Size:	About 28 inches at the shoulder
Weight:	Up to 140 pounds
Lifespan:	21 years in captivity
Habitat:	Bush and riverine forest
Diet:	Carnivorous
Gestation:	Approximately 21/2 months
Predators:	Humans

The most secretive and elusive of the large carnivores, the leopard is also the shrewdest. Pound for pound, it is the strongest climber of the large cats and capable of killing prey larger than itself.

Physical Characteristics
Leopards come in a wide variety of coat colors, from a light buff or tawny in warmer, dryer areas to a dark shade in deep forests. The spots, or rosettes, are circular in East African leopards but square in southern African leopards.

Habitat
Dense bush in rocky surroundings and riverine forest are their favorite habitats, but leopards adapt to many places in both warm and cold climates. Their adaptability, in fact, has helped them survive the loss of habitat to increasing human settlement. Leopards are primarily nocturnal, usually resting during the daytime in trees or thick bush. The spotted coat provides almost perfect camouflage.

Behavior
When a leopard stalks prey, it keeps a low profile and slinks through the grass or bush until it is close enough to launch an attack. When not hunting, it can move through herds of antelopes without unduly disturbing them by flipping its tail over its back to reveal the white underside, a sign that it is not seeking prey.

Leopards are basically solitary and go out of their way to avoid one another. Each animal has a home range that overlaps with its neighbors; the male's range is much larger and generally overlaps with those of several females. A leopard usually does not tolerate intrusion into its own range except to mate. Unexpected encounters between leopards can lead to fights.

Leopards growl and spit with a screaming roar of fury when angry and they purr when content. They announce their presence to other leopards with a rasping or sawing cough. They have a good sense of smell and mark their ranges with urine; they also leave claw marks on trees to warn other leopards to stay away.

Leopards continually move about their home ranges, seldom staying in an area for more than two or three days at a time. With marking and calling, they usually know one another's whereabouts. A male will accompany a female in estrus for a week or so before they part and return to solitude.

Diet
As they grow, cubs learn to hunt small animals. The leopard is a cunning, stealthy hunter, and its prey ranges from strong-scented carrion, fish, reptiles and birds to mammals such as rodents, hares, hyraxes, warthogs, antelopes, monkeys and baboons.

Caring for the Young
A litter includes two or three cubs, whose coats appear to be smoky gray as the rosettes are not yet clearly delineated. The female abandons her nomadic wandering until the cubs are large enough to accompany her. She keeps them hidden for about the first 8 weeks, giving them meat when they are 6 or 7 weeks old and suckling them for 3 months or longer.

Predators
Leopards have long been preyed upon by man. Their soft, dense, beautiful fur has been used for ceremonial robes and coats. Different parts of the leopard the tail, claws and whiskers are popular as fetishes. These cats have a reputation as wanton killers, but research does not support the claim. In some areas farmers try to exterminate them, while in others leopards are considered symbols of wisdom. Leopards do well in captivity, and some have lived as long as 21 years.

Did you know?

The elegant, powerfully built leopard has a long body, relatively short legs and a broad head. Its tawny coat is covered with dark, irregular circles called "rosettes."
Both lions and hyenas will take away a leopard's kill if they can. To prevent this leopards store their larger kills in trees where they can feed on them in relative safety.

PEACOCK

2011-01-18T10:45:00.000-08:00

Type:

Bird

Diet:

Omnivore

Average life span in the wild:

20 years

Size:

Body, 35 to 50 in (90 to 130 cm); Tail, 5 ft (1.5 m)

Weight:

8.75 to 13 lbs (4 to 6 kg)

Group name:

Party

Did you know?

A male peafowl is one of the largest flying birds when the combined length of its train and its large wingspan are considered.

Size relative to a 6-ft (2-m) man:

Peacocks are large, colorful pheasants (typically blue and green) known for their iridescent tails. These tail feathers, or coverts, spread out in a distinctive train that is more than 60 percent of the bird’s total body length and boast colorful "eye" markings of blue, gold, red, and other hues. The large train is used in mating rituals and courtship displays. It can be arched into a magnificent fan that reaches across the bird's back and touches the ground on either side. Females are believed to choose their mates according to the size, color, and quality of these outrageous feather trains.

The term "peacock" is commonly used to refer to birds of both sexes. Technically, only males are peacocks. Females are peahens, and together, they are called peafowl.

Suitable males may gather harems of several females, each of which will lay three to five eggs. In fact, wild peafowl often roost in forest trees and gather in groups called parties.

Peacocks are ground-feeders that eat insects, plants, and small creatures. There are two familiar peacock species. The blue peacock lives in India and Sri Lanka, while the green peacock is found in Java and Myanmar (Burma). A more distinct and little-known species, the Congo peacock, inhabits African rain forests.

Peafowl such as the blue peacock have been admired by humans and kept as pets for thousands of years. Selective breeding has created some unusual color combinations, but wild birds are themselves bursting with vibrant hues. They can be testy and do not mix well with other domestic birds.