Category Archives: Animals

Do not hide in a shell like a hermit crab.

• Hermit crabs are a superfamily of 1100 species of crustaceans, and are a type of decapod, a ten legged creature.
• Hermit crabs can be coloured red, orange, yellow, white, brown, blue, pink or green, and have abdomens that are soft and tender and usually shaped as a spiral.
• Hermit crabs typically carry an abandoned shell, that they use to protect their abdomens and withdraw into when they wish to hide from predators.
• Hermit crabs have a lifespan of between 1 to 10 years in the wild, and some species do not live in shells, but instead in structures of other organisms such as coral.
• When hermit crabs grow larger they need to replace their shell, which can become dangerously competitive when there is limited number of vacant shells.

Hermit Crab
Image courtesy of Tim Parkison/Flickr

• Hermit crabs are generally found in salt water habitats, in a range of depths, worldwide, and are most commonly found on coastlines, although approximately 16 species live on land.
• Hermit crabs have the scientific name Paguroidea, and as such, are not close relatives to crabs as they belong to a different infraorder, and for this reason they are not true crabs.
• Hermit crabs, although not limited to, range from 2 to 10 centimetres (0.8 to 4 inches) in length and weigh 200 to 500 grams (7 to 18 ounces), and the females can have 200 eggs at one time, that hatch into the sea.
• Terrestrial (land dwelling) hermit crabs are often kept as pets, and live for a few months to a few decades.
• Hermit crabs’ diet mainly consists of small fish, plankton and worms, while they are preyed on by fish, sharks, octopuses, and other sea creatures.

Bibliography:
Hermit Crab, 2013, A-Z Animals, http://a-z-animals.com/animals/hermit-crab/

Hermit Crab, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermit_crab

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These are the bright and colourful Toco toucans.

• Toco toucans are colourful birds found in the central to eastern South American tropics.
• Toco toucans are from the family Ramphastidae, the family of toucans and aracaris.
• ‘Toco toucans’ are also known as ‘toucans’ and ‘common toucans’ and they have the scientific name Ramphastos toco.
• Toco toucans have a body predominately black in colour, with a throat coloured white, a yellow to orange coloured bill, and have eyes surrounded with blue skin.
• Toco toucans grow to be approximately 55 to 65 centimetres (22 to 26 inches) in length and weigh from 500 to 876 grams (1.1 to 1.9 pounds).

Toco Toucan
Image courtesy of Dario Sanches/Flickr

• Toco toucans vocalise with croaks, rattles and clacks, and they do not fly well, so they generally glide or move via tree lines.
• Toco toucans’ diet mainly consists of fruit, but they also eat small lizards, amphibians and birds, insects and eggs.
• The bill of a Toco toucan is very large in comparison to the size of the bird, that can grow to be 15.8 to 23 centimetres (6.2 to 9 inches) in length, and is used for reaching, picking and peeling fruit, and for the purpose of heat transfer.
• Toco toucans usually live in groups of six or so birds, and typically have two to four chicks each year, which hatch after around 17 to 18 days.
• Toco toucans can live up to 20 years in the wild, and are popularly kept in captivity, although they are susceptible to disease.

Bibliography:
Toco Toucan, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toco_Toucan

Toucan, 2014, National Geographic, http://animals.nationalgeographic.com.au/animals/birds/toucan/

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Aaaah! The skunk stinks!

• Skunks are a family of nocturnal mammals native to the Americas, that typically have striped or spotted fur, in colours of black or brown and white or cream.
• Skunks have the scientific family name Mephitidae, meaning ‘stench’, which is the family of skunks and stink badgers, that consists of 12 or 13 species, and the more well known striped Mephitis mephitis species is sometimes domesticated.
• ‘Skunks’ are also known as ‘polecats’ in the United States of America, and while they were originally in the same family as typical polecats, in the Mustelidae family, they are only distantly related.
• Depending on the species, skunks measure 40 to 94 centimetres (1.3 to 3 feet) in length, and weigh 0.2 to 8.2 kilograms (0.4 to 18 pounds).
• Skunks eat a variety of food items including fruit, nuts, plant material, honeybees, larvae, worms, small mammals, small reptiles and eggs, and others.

Striped Skunk
Image courtesy of Dan Dzurisin/Flickr

• Skunks have glands on their rear under their tail, that produce a very stinky spray that contains sulphur, that is able to reach enemies up to 3 metres (10 feet) away and can be smelt up to a kilometre (0.6 miles) away.
• Skunks have good hearing and smelling capabilities, but can only see up to 3 metres (10 feet) away.
• Skunks live in burrows where they stay during winter and cooler weather for lengthy periods, but they do not genuinely hibernate.
• Female skunks give birth to two to ten babies a year, known as kits, that are born deaf and blind, and they have an average three year lifespan, although it ranges from one to seven years in the wild, and up to ten years in captivity.
• Skunks are preyed upon by great horned owls and some other species of birds, as well as some land dwelling animals, particularly from the dog family, Canidae, even though most are deterred by the stripey colouring and the strongly scented spray of the animal.

Bibliography:
Skunk, 2014, National Geographic, http://animals.nationalgeographic.com.au/animals/mammals/skunk/

Skunk, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skunk

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Orcas are beautiful, cheeky whales dolphins.

• Orcas are mammals found in large ocean bodies that are from the Odontoceti suborder known as ‘toothed whales’, that also includes dolphins, sperm whales and other similar families and species that have teeth.
• Orcas are also known as ‘killer whales’, ‘orca whales’ and ‘blackfish’, and are often misunderstood to be ferocious killers, but, in reality they rarely attack humans, although some of those kept in captivity have caused human fatalities.
• Orcas have the scientific name Orcinus orca, and are from the family Delphinidae, the family of oceanic dolphins, and are therefore technically dolphins, even though they are referred to as whales.
• Orcas were first documented scientifically in the mid 1500s, by Swiss naturalist Conrad Gessner, in the book called Fischbuch (Fish Book), after he analysed a dead killer whale.
• There are ‘resident’, ‘transient’ and ‘offshore’ orcas, that are all slightly different in appearance, diet and behaviour, and the ‘residents’ are found near shore and tend not to roam; ‘transients’ tend to stay near the coast but move significant distances along it; and the ‘offshores’ travel long distances away from the coast.

Orca
Image courtesy of Spencer Wright/Flickr

• Orcas are coloured mainly black, with white patches, and can grow to be 5 to 9.8 metres (16 to 32 feet) in length, and weigh as much as 3 to 10 tonnes (3.3 to 11 tons).
•  Each orca has a unique saddle patch design (the area around the dorsal fin) and a triangular dorsal fin, and the male’s is larger than the female, and can be as tall as 1.8 metres (5.9 feet).
• Orcas have developed eyesight; an amazing echolocation system; and they vocalise with clicking sounds, whistles and pulses; and when underwater, their heart beats 30 beats per minute, while at the water surface, the heart beats 60 beats per minute.
• Orcas live in ‘pods’ which are family groups, and have a typical lifespan ranging from 50 to 80 years in the wild, and up to 25 years in captivity, and the females give birth to a calf, on average, once every five years.
• An orca’s diet varies among different groups, which can consist of 30 fish species, some whales and 32 aquatic mammal species, including seals, dolphins and porpoises, and they can consume 227 kilograms (500 pounds) of food per day.

Bibliography:
Killer Whale, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_whale

Killer Whale (Orca), 2014, National Geographic, http://animals.nationalgeographic.com.au/animals/mammals/killer-whale/

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Blue poison dart frogs are brilliant, beautiful and baleful.

• Blue poison dart frogs are paralysing toxic frogs native to the rainforests of the country Suriname, in north-eastern South America.
• ‘Blue poison dart frogs’ are also known as ‘blue poison arrow frogs’ and, in the native language, ‘okopipi’.
• Blue poison dart frogs have the scientific name Dendrobates tinctorius ‘azureus’, referring to the frogs azure blue skin colour, and they are from the family Dendrobatidae, the family of poison dart frogs.
• Blue poison dart frogs can reach lengths of 3 to 4.5 centimetres (1.2 to 1.8 inches) and be as heavy as 8 grams (0.3 ounces) in weight.
• Typically, blue poison dart frog females are larger than males in size, but males have four larger toes that end with heart shapes, compared to the female’s four smaller toes that end rounded.

Blue Poison Dart Frog Image courtesy of Tom Thai/Flickr

• The blue poison dart frog has a vibrant azure blue skin colour, and is spotted with a unique pattern of black spots, which alerts predators of the frog’s poisonous content, and if a predator is poisoned by the glands in the skin, they are usually paralysed by them, which can cause the predator to die.
• Blue poison dart frogs breed during the wet season, with two to ten eggs per clutch, which take two to three weeks to hatch.
• Blue poison dart frog tadpoles measure around one centimetre (0.4 inches) in length and are not toxic like adult frogs, and although the adult frogs are found near water bodies, they do not swim.
• Blue poison dart frogs’ diet mainly consists of insects, including ants, beetles, caterpillars and flies, and sometimes spiders.
• In the wild, blue poison dart frogs live an average of five years, but in captivity they can live up to ten years.

Bibliography: Blue Poison Dart Frog, 2014, National Aquarium, http://www.aqua.org/explore/animals/blue-poison-dart-frog

Blue Poison Dart Frog, 2014, Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo, http://www.lowryparkzoo.com/bio_florida_bluepoisondartfrog.php

Blue Poison Dart Frog, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_poison_dart_frog

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Chameleons are one of a kind.

• Chameleons are a family of reptilian lizards native to Africa, southern Asia and southern Europe, and the family includes over 160 species and has the scientific name Chamaeleonidae.
• The word ‘chameleon’ is also spelt ‘chamaeleon’ and it comes from the word ‘chamaeleō’, a Latin word that in turn comes from the Greek word ‘khamailéōn’ meaning ‘ground lion’.
• Chameleons are commonly known for their profound ability to change colour, which is done by distributing the pigment cells that they have in three layers in various ways to create different colour patterns, although some species do no have this ability.
• Chameleons can range from 1.5 to 68.5 centimetres (0.6 to 27 inches) in length, and can move at speeds of 35 kilometres per hour (21 miles per hour).
• Chameleons can appear in various shades and colours of blue, green, red, orange, yellow, pink, purple, black and brown, due to their colour changing ability, and change colours for the purposes of camouflage, communicating to others of their kind, and response to environment and temperature.

Chameleon
Image courtesy of Imke.StahlmannFlickr

• Chameleons can see small objects up to 5 to 10 metres (16 to 33 feet) away, are able to see in ultra violet as well as normal light conditions, have 360° vision, and, despite lacking an eardrum and visible ear, can hear.
• Chameleons have free moving eyes, pincer-like feet, a very long darting tongue and a head with a horn or crests.
• Chameleons have a diet that mainly consists of insects, while berries, leaves and other vegetation are also consumed, although some species are believed to be more herbivorous, and for some of the larger species they consume prey like small birds and small reptiles.
• Chameleons are mostly found on trees or shrubs in rainforest, desert or savannah habitats, in their native countries, however they can been found in some areas of North America where they have been introduced.
• Depending on the species, chameleons lay egg clutch sizes of around 2 to 100 eggs in a hole they dig in the ground, and the young will hatch in four to twelve months, or up to two years in some species.

Bibliography:
Chameleon, 2013, A-Z Animals, http://a-z-animals.com/animals/chameleon/

Chameleon, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chameleon

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