Category Archives: Animals

Waterbuck

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Waterbuck

Waterbucks do not buck water.

  • Waterbucks are native to Africa’s sub-Saharan area, and their are two main categories of the animal – ‘ellipsen’, that has a white ring on it’s rear end, and ‘defassa’, which has a white patch instead of the ring.
  • Waterbucks grow to be approximately 1 to 1.3 metres (3.3 to 4.3 feet) in height to the top of their shoulder and weigh 160 to 300 kilograms (350 to 660 pounds).
  • Waterbucks are scientifically known as ‘Kobus ellipsiprymnus’, and are from the family bovid, the family of mammals with unbranched horns, and are one of six species of African antelope.
  • Contrary to popular African belief, the meat of a waterbuck is edible, although it may not be tasty.
  • Only male waterbucks have horns, and they are long and slightly curved, and they grow longer with age.

Cape Waterbuck, Svannah, Alert, Tanzania, Africa, Antelope, Animal, Ten Random Facts, National Geographic

Waterbuck
Image courtesy of National Geographic
  • Waterbucks live in habitats of scrubs and grassy plains, that have much grass and close access to water to fulfill dietary needs.
  • Waterbucks usually live in small herds, in all male groups, all female groups, or mixed groups, although the number of animals in a herd can be quite numerous.
  • Waterbucks may enter bodies of water to hide from predators such as hyenas, lions and leopards, and even though they don’t enter the water much, they are good swimmers.
  • Waterbucks generally live up to an age of 18 years, and the females usually give birth to a single calf each year, which is hidden away for a number of weeks.
  • Waterbucks have an off-putting odour that comes from their sweat glands, that deters prey and affects the flavour of their meat.
 Bibliography:
Huffman B, Waterbuck, 2004, Ultimate Ungulate, http://www.ultimateungulate.com/Artiodactyla/Kobus_ellipsiprymnus.html
Waterbuck, 2013, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterbuck

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Warthog

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Warthog

Warthogs do not have a wart virus.

  • ‘Warthogs’ are sometimes called ‘common warthogs,’ and are known as the ‘pig of the plains’ or ‘vlakvark’ as the Afrikaans call them.
  • Warthogs are scientifically known as ‘Phacochoerus africanus’, and are from the family Suidae, the family of pigs.
  • Warthogs are native to sub-Saharan Africa, and are usually found in their natural habitat of grassy plains and wooded areas.
  • Warthogs grow to be 0.9 to 1.5 metres (3.0 to 4.9 feet) in height and weigh 45 to 150 kilograms (99 to 330 pounds) depending on the gender.
  • Warthogs have four ivory tusks that curve from the mouth at a 90° angle that they use for digging, fighting or for defence against predators such as humans who hunt them for their meat and tusks, hyenas, leopards, lions and crocodiles.

Warthog, Four, Tusk, Pig, Hog, Ugly, Mane, Zimbabwe, Ten Random Facts

Warthog
Image courtesy of National Geographic
  • Warthogs have four ‘warts’ or bumps on their face, that are said to be used as fat reserves and for protection.
  • Warthogs typically have a thin fur coat in black and brown colours, and birds often sit on their backs to eat the small insects that can be found on the mammal.
  • Warthogs have a diet that mainly consists of grass and other vegetation, various fruit and berries, and insects, although sometimes they are meat eaters.
  • Warthogs are more likely to run away than fight, and can run up to 48 kilometres per hour (30 miles per hour).
  • Warthogs generally breed during seasons of wet and rain, giving birth to piglet litters from two to four, although a greater number are sometimes born.
Bibliography:
Warthog, 2014, National Geographic, http://animals.nationalgeographic.com.au/animals/mammals/warthog/
Warthog, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warthog

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Greater Flamingo

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Greater Flamingo

Tall, pink flamingos are greater flamingos.

  • Greater flamingos have the scientific name Phoenicopterus roseus, and are from the wading bird family, Phoenicopteridae, that only consists of six species of flamingos.
  • Greater flamingos are native to areas in Africa, Europe’s south and South Asia.
  • Greater flamingos are titled as the world’s largest flamingo, with figures of approximately 110 to 150 centimetres (43 to 60 inches) in height and 2 to 4 kilograms (4.4 to 8.8 pounds) in weight; with records of 187 cm (just over 6 feet) and 4.5 kg (10 lb).
  • Greater flamingos have red feathers in some areas, and black flight feathers, but they are well known for their pink-white feathers that are best seen when the bird is standing, although flamingos are born with white and grey feathers that are absent of pink colouration for two years or more.
  • Greater flamingos obtain their pink coloured body and plumage by eating organisms that contain carotenoid pigments, that are mostly found in the algae they eat, and if their diet consists mostly of algae, they will be a deeper colour pink than those that feed mainly on shrimp and the like.

Greater Flamingo, Pink, White, Adult, One Leg Full, Zoo, Bronx Zoo, New York, United States, statuesque, Ten Random Facts, National Geographic

Adult Flamingo
Image courtesy of National Geographic
  • The Greater flamingo’s diet mainly consists of shrimp, tiny fish, seeds, blue-green algae and other algae, molluscs and plankton, and they obtain their food by filtering the food from water in their bill.
  • Greater flamingos can live to be over 60 years old in captivity, with the oldest Greater in captivity dying at an age of around 83 years old in Australia’s Adelaide Zoo, in early 2014.
  • The tongues of Greater flamingos were historically eaten luxuriously by Roman emperors.
  • Greater flamingos generally live in colonies, which helps to protect them from predators, that can be as large as a thousand or more birds, in habitats of lakes, particularly alkaline lakes, and mudflats.
  • When calling, greater flamingos produce a sound like a honk of a goose, and they lay one white egg per season in a nest of mud.
Bibliography:
Greater Flamingo, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Flamingo
Greater Flamingo, n.d, Adelaide Zoo, http://www.zoossa.com.au/adelaide-zoo/animals-exhibits/animals/birds?species=Greater%20Flamingo

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Proboscis Monkey

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Proboscis Monkey

Proboscis monkeys: unusual monkeys, unusual facts.

  • ‘Proboscis monkeys’ are also known as ‘long-nosed monkeys’, and in the Malay language, ‘bekantan’ and ‘monyet belanda’, the latter literally meaning ‘Dutch monkey’, referring to the perceived appearance of some Dutchmen.
  • Proboscis monkeys are endangered primates from the family Cercopithecidae, the family of Old World monkeys and they can only be found in the wild on Asia’s Borneo, an island that has regions that belong to Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.
  • Proboscis monkeys can grow to be 53 to 76 centimetres (21 to 30 inches) in height and typically weigh 16 to 22.5 kilograms (35 to 50 pounds) in males or 7 to 12 kilograms (15 to 26 pounds) in females, and greater weights for both genders have been recorded.
  • Proboscis monkeys have a fur coat that differs in colour, that can include orange shades, red-brown, yellow-brown and shades of grey in colour.
  • Male proboscis monkeys have exceptionally large noses, growing up to at least 10 centimetres (3.9 inches) in length, that are believed to be used to project sound, and both genders have protruding bellies.

Proboscis Monkey, Male, Sitting in tree, big nose, primate, Ten Random Facts, National Geographic, Borneo, Malaysia,

Male Proboscis Monkey
Image courtesy of National Geographic

  • Proboscis monkeys generally live in single-male or male-only bands or harems, of up to 60 and 19 monkeys respectively, and the females give birth to their young most commonly during night or early in the morning.
  • Proboscis monkeys are preyed on by leopards, monitor lizards, pythons, eagles and crocodiles.
  • Proboscis monkeys usually live a close distance to water, usually in forests near rivers, oceans, and swamps, and they have webbed feet and are accomplished swimmers, reaching depths of 20 metres (65.5 feet), sometimes ‘belly flopping’ into the water from trees.
  • Proboscis monkeys commonly use honk noises to vocalize when communicating, although they use roaring or snarling sounds when aggressive.
  • Proboscis monkeys’ diet mainly consists of fruit, seeds, and leaves, and the fruit is usually eaten when it is not ripe due to the sugar content in ripe fruit that can cause death due to bloating.
Bibliography:
Proboscis Monkey, 2014, National Geographic, http://animals.nationalgeographic.com.au/animals/mammals/proboscis-monkey/
Proboscis Monkey, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proboscis_monkey

 

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Tapir

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Tapir

Tapir: A piggish elephant.

  • Tapirs are typically nocturnal and solitary pig-like mammals, that are often great swimmers, and they have strange feet with four and three toes on the front and behind respectively.
  • There are five species of tapirs; the Mountain tapir, Kabomani tapir, Brazilian tapir, and Baird’s tapir, in Central and South America, and the Malayan tapir in South East Asia.
  • Tapir’ means ‘thick’, in the Tupi language belonging to some of the indigenous Brazilians, that refers to the animal’s hide, and the scientific name is ‘Tapirus’, from the family Tapiridae, the family of tapirs, that is also related to horses and rhinoceroses.
  • Depending on the species, tapirs grow to be approximately 0.8 to 1 meter (2.6 to 3.3 feet) in height, and 1.3 to 2.4 metres (4.2 to 7.8 feet) in length, and range from 110 to 320 kilograms (242 to 705 pounds) in weight, with females being generally larger than males.
  • Tapirs are typically red-brown to grey-black in colour, although the Malayan species are part white and part black, and the Mountain species have a woolly coat.

Tapir, Baby, Brown, Black, adult, Ten Random Facts, National geographic, Melbourne Zoo, Australia

Adult and Baby
Image courtesy of National Geographic
  • Tapirs have a free-moving snout to poke in hard-to-get places, grip vegetation, or use as a snorkel, and it is often raised when it smells something.
  • Tapirs live on vegetation, mainly fruit, berries and leaves, and can consume 34 kilograms (75 pounds) or more in a single day, and they have an approximate lifespan of 25 to 30 years.
  • Tapirs have an interval of at least two years after every birth of one calf, and the young have sand coloured stripey and spotty markings for up to six months.
  • Tapirs are mainly preyed on by jaguars, tigers, crocodiles and anacondas, as well as humans, who hunt them for their meat and hides, and along with loss of habitat, this is causing them to be either endangered or vulnerable, depending on the species.
  • Although tapirs do not generally attack humans, they have a bite that can cause severe damage, if threatened.
Bibliography:
Tapir, 2014, National Geographic, http://animals.nationalgeographic.com.au/animals/mammals/tapir/
Tapir, 2014, San Diego Zoo, http://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/tapir
Tapir, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tapir

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Meerkat

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Meerkat

Stay alert like a meerkat.

  • ‘Meerkats’ are also known as ‘suricates’, while their scientific name is ‘Suricata suricatta’, and they are from the family Herpestidae, the family of mongooses.
  • Meerkats are mammals native to the grassy plains and desert areas of southern Africa, residing in burrows, sometimes sharing them with fellow mongoose or squirrels, and they live in clans, generally consisting of 10 to 30 individuals, but up to 50.
  • Meerkats have a typical lifespan of 4 to 14 years, often depending on their position in the mob that they live in, and are mainly preyed on by birds such as hawks, vultures and eagles, although jackals and snakes also take an interest in them, and the venom of some potentially dangerous animals, such as snakes or scorpions, do not affect them.
  • ‘Meerkat’ comes from the Dutch word for a long tailed monkey and ‘lake cat’ and they have a thin tail that is used for balance and signals, and they have small ears that can be closed to prevent dirt entering them.
  • Meerkats generally weigh between 720 to 900 grams (1.6 to 2 pounds), can grow to be a height of 25 to 35 centimetres (10 to 14 inches) from the head to the body, and have a tail length of 17 to 25 centimetres (6.7 to 9 inches).

Meerkat, Family, Guard, Clan, Burrow, Botswana, africa, Ten Random Facts, National Geographic Stock

Meerkats on Guard
Image courtesy of National Geographic
  • Meerkats are typically brown in colour, with their own, individual decorative patterns, such as stripes of black or with a red tinge, and they have a wide range of vision with dark coloured skin around their eyes, that work a bit like human sunglasses.
  • Meerkats’ diets typically consist of insects, small birds, reptiles and mammals, and vegetation, and they usually gain moisture from the foods they eat.
  • Individual meerkats in a clan will stand erectly on guard to lookout for danger, while the rest scavenge for food, using barks or whistling noises as warnings.
  • Meerkats can have up to four litters in a year, of one to five pups, and they are taught to defend and forage for food by older clan members.
  • Meerkats have a dominant pair in the group, that are the main breeders, and sometimes they will kill the offspring of other meerkats to give their’s the best chance of survival.
Bibliography:
Meerkat, 2013, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meerkat
Meerkat, n.d, Melbourne Zoo, http://www.zoo.org.au/melbourne/animals/meerkat

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