The Key Deer is a relative of the White tailed deer, that lives in Big Pine Key areas of Florida. The Key deer is the smallest of all white tailed deer, and are not found in any other areas of the world. Key Deer are only 24 inches tall at the shoulder and weigh at
The Kiwi is a very tiny member of an ancient order of birds which are flightless. The kiwi, as difficult as it is to believe, is a member of a family we all know well. The ostrich and emus are related to this tiny bird. The Kiwi got its name from the Maori tribes of
The Civet is a group of nocturnal animals that include the mongoose. Not exactly a mongoose, but not exactly a cat, they have very catlike bodies, very long tails and faces that look rather like a weasel. Their fur is gray or brown and has some patterned markings in several varieties. All civets have glands
The Aardwolf is a very small animal that is reminiscent of the Hyena, but eats insects and flying bugs. Its name means earth wolf in the Afrikaans language and it is also known as a maanhar jackal. It is a very defenseless animal and eats mostly termites and other insets as well as carrion animals.
The Tiger is one of the big four in the cat world. Tigers are native to Asia, and are a predator cat. They are the largest cat in the world. Bengal Tiger The Bengal tiger is the most common tiger that exists today, and makes up about eighty percent of all tigers. Tigers live a
Lions are very large cats, part of what is known as the big four, in cats. They live on the grassy areas, what are called the savannah of Africa, and in some grassy areas of India. They are a beautiful gold in color and can grow to be up to 6 feet long and weigh
Thirty million years ago there were already rabbits that inhabited the earth. They were very tiny, according to the fossilized skulls which have been discovered. The skull size would indicate rabbits that were three to four times smaller than our little cottontails or the European rabbits that look nearly exactly alike. Some rabbits have simple
The Pallas cat is also known as the Manul cat. Pallas is a fairly small cat that is native to Asia. The Pallas cat is about the size of a large house cat, and is about 2 feet long in the body, and has a ten inch tail. They average in size to about 10
The common Eland will be found in Central and South Africa. They are found mainly on the savannah, but will also sometimes live in the forest or even on the deserts edge. Eland are the very largest of all antelopes. A male eland can stand 5 to 6 feet at the shoulder. Eland They are
The giraffe is an African mammal, the very tallest of all those which live on the land. The male may be 16 to 18 feet tall, and weigh nearly 3000 pounds. Imagine having him step on your toes! Females are a little shorter, but not much, and weigh somewhat less than the males do. The
Mountain Bongos have beautiful reddish brown coat which has long thin white striped that offer it good camouflage in the forests in which they live. They are one of the largest antelopes with males weighing between five hundred and nine hundred pounds and females weighing about half that. Both males and females have extremely long
The capybara (“Water pig”) is a semi aquatic animal which is an herbivore. The capybara is also the world’s largest rodent. Capybaras are native to much of the tropical and subtropical aspects of South America which lie east of the Andes Mountains. It has also been brought to Florida to live in the subtropics of
The Okapi is a native African animal that is dark brown or deep purple red, with a pattern of stripes that move horizontally like those of a zebra. They lower legs are white, with dark circles on the joints. The Okapi’s head looks a great deal like a horse with a long black muzzle and
The pronghorn has often mistakenly been called an antelope. It is not even related to the antelopes of Africa or those of Asia. It is also not closely related to deer or goats or cattle. Its ancestor’s fossils have been found on the American plains dating back millions of years. The miniature pronghorns were not
Twenty nine million years ago there were beavers living in North America. They were the size of kittens and they lived in spiral burrows on dry land. Their burrows were in “beaver towns” similar to the way prairie dogs live. There have also been skulls discovered from that long ago time that were beavers who
