Indian Rhinoceros & Indian Rhinoceros Pics
General Big Cat Facts & Big Cat Pics
Unlike most African predators, cheetahs hunt during the daytime. When they spot prey, they can accelerate faster than most cars: from 0 to 60 miles (96 kilometers) an hour in only three seconds.
Big Cats Facts
- The cheetah is the world's fastest land mammal. It can run at speeds of up to 70 miles an hour (113 kilometers an hour).
- An adult lion's roar can be heard up to five miles (eight kilometers) away.
- Long, muscular hind legs enable snow leopards to leap seven times their own body length in a single bound.
- A tiger's stripes are like fingerprints—no two animals have the same pattern.
- The strongest climber among the big cats, a leopard can carry prey twice its weight up a tree.
- The Amur leopard is one of the most endangered animals in the world.
- In one stride, a cheetah can cover 23 to 26 feet (7 to 8 meters).
- The name "jaguar" comes from a Native American word meaning "he who kills with one leap."
- In the wild, lions live for an average of 12 years and up to 16 years. They live up to 25 years in captivity.
- The mountain lion and the cheetah share an ancestor.
- Cheetahs do not roar, as the other big cats do. Instead, they purr.
- Tigers are excellent swimmers and do not avoid water.
- A female Amur leopard gives birth to one to four cubs in each litter.
- Fossil records from two million years ago show evidence of jaguars.
- Lions are the only cats that live in groups, called prides. Every female within the pride is usually related.
- The leopard is the most widespread of all big cats.
- Mountain lions are strong jumpers, thanks to muscular hind legs that are longer than their front legs.
- Tigers have been hunted for their skin, bones, and other body parts, used in traditional Chinese medicine.
- Unlike other cats, lions have a tuft of hair at the end of their tails.
- After humans, mountain lions have the largest range of any mammal in the Western Hemisphere.
African Lion & African Lion Pics
Fiercely protective of his pride, or family unit, male lions patrol a vast territory normally covering about 100 square miles (260 square kilometers).
Lions are the only cats that live in groups, which are called prides. Prides are family units that may include up to three males, a dozen or so females, and their young. All of a pride's lionesses are related, and female cubs typically stay with the group as they age. Young males eventually leave and establish their own prides by taking over a group headed by another male.
Only male lions boast manes, the impressive fringe of long hair that encircles their heads. Males defend the pride's territory, which may include some 100 square miles (259 square kilometers) of grasslands, scrub, or open woodlands. These intimidating animals mark the area with urine, roar menacingly to warn intruders, and chase off animals that encroach on their turf.
Female lions are the pride's primary hunters. They often work together to prey upon antelopes, zebras, wildebeest, and other large animals of the open grasslands. Many of these animals are faster than lions, so teamwork pays off.
After the hunt, the group effort often degenerates to squabbling over the sharing of the kill, with cubs at the bottom of the pecking order. Young lions do not help to hunt until they are about a year old. Lions will hunt alone if the opportunity presents itself, and they also steal kills from hyenas or wild dogs.
Lions have been celebrated throughout history for their courage and strength. They once roamed most of Africa and parts of Asia and Europe. Today they are found only in parts of sub-Saharan Africa, except for one very small population of Asian lions that survives in India's Gir Forest.
Only male lions boast manes, the impressive fringe of long hair that encircles their heads. Males defend the pride's territory, which may include some 100 square miles (259 square kilometers) of grasslands, scrub, or open woodlands. These intimidating animals mark the area with urine, roar menacingly to warn intruders, and chase off animals that encroach on their turf.
Female lions are the pride's primary hunters. They often work together to prey upon antelopes, zebras, wildebeest, and other large animals of the open grasslands. Many of these animals are faster than lions, so teamwork pays off.
After the hunt, the group effort often degenerates to squabbling over the sharing of the kill, with cubs at the bottom of the pecking order. Young lions do not help to hunt until they are about a year old. Lions will hunt alone if the opportunity presents itself, and they also steal kills from hyenas or wild dogs.
Lions have been celebrated throughout history for their courage and strength. They once roamed most of Africa and parts of Asia and Europe. Today they are found only in parts of sub-Saharan Africa, except for one very small population of Asian lions that survives in India's Gir Forest.
Fast Facts
- Type:
- Mammal
- Diet:
- Carnivore
- Size:
- Head and body, 4.5 to 6.5 ft (1.4 to 2 m); Tail, 26.25 to 39.5 in (67 to 100 cm)
- Weight:
- 265 to 420 lbs (120 to 191 kg)
- Group name:
- Pride
- Protection status:
- Vulnerable
- Size relative to a 6-ft (2-m) man:
-
African Elephant & African Elephant Pics
African elephants are the largest of Earth's land mammals. Their enormous ears help them to keep cool in the hot African climate.
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.
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:
-
Adélie Penguin & Adélie Penguin Pics & About Of Adélie Penguin
Wings spread, this Adélie penguin waddles through an Antarctic colony. Its black tail gives it a tuxedo-like appearance.
Adélie penguins live on the Antarctic continent and on many small, surrounding coastal islands. They spend the winter offshore in the seas surrounding the Antarctic pack ice.
Adélies feed on tiny aquatic creatures, such as shrimp-like krill, but also eat fish and squid. They have been known to dive as deep as 575 feet (175 meters) in search of such quarry, though they usually hunt in far shallower waters less than half that depth.
Like other penguins, Adélies are sleek and efficient swimmers. They may travel 185 miles round-trip (about 300 kilometers) to procure a meal.
During the spring breeding season (in October), they take to the rocky Antarctic coastline where they live in large communities called colonies. These groups can include thousands of birds.
Once on land, Adélies build nests and line them with small stones. Though they move with the famed "penguin waddle" they are capable walkers who can cover long overland distances. In early spring, before the vast sheets of ice break up, they may have to walk 31 miles (50 kilometers) from their onshore nests to reach open water.
Male Adélie penguins help their mates rear the young and, without close inspection, the two sexes are nearly indistinguishable. They take turns sitting on a pair of eggs to keep them warm and safe from predators. When food is short, only one of the two chicks may survive. After about three weeks, parents are able to leave the chicks alone, though the offspring gather in groups for safety. Young penguins begin to swim on their own in about nine weeks.
Adélies feed on tiny aquatic creatures, such as shrimp-like krill, but also eat fish and squid. They have been known to dive as deep as 575 feet (175 meters) in search of such quarry, though they usually hunt in far shallower waters less than half that depth.
Like other penguins, Adélies are sleek and efficient swimmers. They may travel 185 miles round-trip (about 300 kilometers) to procure a meal.
During the spring breeding season (in October), they take to the rocky Antarctic coastline where they live in large communities called colonies. These groups can include thousands of birds.
Once on land, Adélies build nests and line them with small stones. Though they move with the famed "penguin waddle" they are capable walkers who can cover long overland distances. In early spring, before the vast sheets of ice break up, they may have to walk 31 miles (50 kilometers) from their onshore nests to reach open water.
Male Adélie penguins help their mates rear the young and, without close inspection, the two sexes are nearly indistinguishable. They take turns sitting on a pair of eggs to keep them warm and safe from predators. When food is short, only one of the two chicks may survive. After about three weeks, parents are able to leave the chicks alone, though the offspring gather in groups for safety. Young penguins begin to swim on their own in about nine weeks.
Fast Facts
- Type:
- Bird
- Diet:
- Carnivore
- Average life span in the wild:
- Up to 20 years
- Size:
- 27.5 in (70 cm)
- Weight:
- 8.5 to 12 lbs (4 to 5.5 kg)
- Group name:
- Colony
- Did you know?
- Adult Adélie penguins have been observed stealing rocks from their neighbors’ nests.
- Size relative to a 6-ft (2-m) man:
-
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