Wildlife Archives

Band-e Amir National Park

Graeme — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 05:01:00 -0400

Afghanistan just created it's first National Park, named Band-e Amir. Band-e Amir (meaning "Dam of the Amir") refers to five lakes high in the Hindu Kush Mountains of Central Afghanistan. They were created by the carbon dioxide rich water oozing out of the faults and fractures to deposit calcium carbonate precipitate in the form of travertine walls that today store the water of these lakes. Band-e Amir is situated at approximately 75 kilometers to the north-west of the ancient city of Bamyan.

View Larger Map

Source : Wikipedia

Wildlife Archives has a Facebook group

Graeme — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 14:48:00 -0500

I created some time ago a Facebook group, wich you can find here.

I'll post some news about WLA and the new posts of the blog.

Feel free to join this group !

Giant Panda

Graeme — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 14:07:00 -0500

The Giant Panda is a mammal classified in the bear family, native to central-western and southwestern China.

It is easily recognized by its large, distinctive black patches around the eyes, over the ears, and across its round body.

Though belonging to the order Carnivora, the Giant Panda has a diet which is 99% bamboo. It may eat other foods such as honey, eggs, fish, yams, shrub leaves, oranges, and bananas when available.

The Giant Panda lives in a few mountain ranges in central China, in Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Gansu provinces. It once lived in lowland areas, but farming, forest clearing, and other development now restrict the Giant Panda to the mountains.

The Giant Panda is an endangered species and highly threatened. According to the latest report, China has 239 Giant Pandas in captivity and another 27 living outside the country. It also estimated that around 1 590 pandas are currently living in the wild.

Giant Panda distribution map :

Source : Wikipedia

Baobab

Graeme — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:41:00 -0400

Baobab is the common name of a genus (Adansonia) containing eight species of trees, native to Madagascar (having six species), mainland Africa and Australia (one species in each).

The species reach heights of 5–30 m and trunk diameters of 7-11 m. A specimen in Limpopo Province, South Africa, often considered the largest and oldest example alive, has a circumference of 50 m and an average diameter of 15 m, and coul be about 2 200 years old.

Adansonia grandidieri (Grandidier's Baobab), the most famous of Madagascar’s six baobabs, is an endangered species. It is endemic to Madagascar.

Baobabs store water inside the swollen trunk (up to 120 000 liters) to endure the harsh drought conditions particular to each region.

Source : Wikipedia

Mount Etna

Graeme — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 15:02:00 -0400

Mount Etna is an active stratovolcano on the east coast of Sicily, south of Italy. It is the largest active volcano in Europe, currently standing 3 329 m high, though it should be noted that this varies with summit eruptions; the mountain is 21 m lower now than it was in 1981. Etna covers an area of 1 190 km² with a basal circumference of 140 km. This makes it by far the largest of the three active volcanoes in Italy, being about two and a half times the height of the next largest, Mount Vesuvius, wich is near Naples.

Very large image :

Map of Mount Etna :

Agrandir le plan

Source : Wikipedia

Addax

Graeme — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:33:00 -0400

The Addax (Addax nasomaculatus), also known as the screwhorn antelope, is a critically endangered desert antelope that lives in several isolated regions in the Sahara desert. This species of the antelope family is closely related to the oryx, but differs from other antelopes by having large square teeth like a cattle and lacking the typical facial glands. Although extremely rare in its native habitat, it is quite common in captivity and is regularly bred on ranches where they are hunted as trophies. There are fewer than 500 addax left in wild, with fewer than 860 in captivity.

In ancient times, Addax spread from Northern Africa through Arabia and Palestine. Pictures from Egyptian tombs show them being kept as domesticated animals in around 2500 BC. More recently, Addax were found from Algeria to Sudan but due to several reasons, they have become much more restricted and rare. The population became critically endangered from both destruction of their habitat for commercial projects and hunting for horns or use as leather. Since the addax are slow by comparison with other antelopes, and are known to ride themselves to death, they have been an easy target for mounted hunters.

Addax live in desert terrain where they eat grass, and leaves of what bushes are available. They are amply suited to live in the deep desert under extreme conditions. Addax can survive without free water almost indefinately, because they get moisture from their food and dew that condenses on plants. Addax are nocturnal: they rest during the day in depressions they dig for themselves.

Source and images : Wikipedia, Arkive

Coconut Crab

Graeme — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 11:13:00 -0400

The coconut crab is the largest land-living arthropod in the world. It is a highly apomorphic hermit crab and is known for its ability to crack coconuts with its strong pincers in order to eat the contents. It is the only species of the genus Birgus (Birgus latro).

Coconut crabs distribution map :

Source and images : Wikipedia

Leptotyphlops carlae

Graeme — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 11:26:00 -0400

Leptotyphlops carlae is a blind species of threadsnake discovered in 2006 on the island of Barbados by S. Blair Hedges. The average length of Leptotyphlops carlae adults is about 10 cm, wich make them the smallest snakes in the world. They are said to be "as thin as spaghetti".

Sources and image : Wikipedia

Koala

Graeme — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 17:17:00 -0400

The Koala is a thickset arboreal marsupial herbivore native to Australia.

The Koala is found in coastal regions of eastern and southern Australia, from near Adelaide to the southern part of Cape York Peninsula.

Populations also extend for considerable distances inland in regions with enough moisture to support suitable woodlands. The Koalas of South Australia were largely exterminated during the early part of the 20th century, but the state has since been repopulated with victorian stock.

However, it remains near threatened of extinction, australian roads are very dangerous for the koala populations.

Source and images : Wikipedia, Stéphanie Le Rouzic

Kangaroo

Graeme — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 00:57:00 -0400

A kangaroo is a marsupial from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, the antilopine kangaroo, and the eastern and western grey kangaroo of the macropus genus. The family also includes many smaller species which include the wallabies, tree-kangaroos, wallaroos, pademelons and the quokka, some 63 living species in all. Kangaroos are endemic to the continent of Australia, while the smaller macropods are found in Australia and New Guinea.

Source and images : Wikipedia, Stéphanie Le Rouzic