(Geochelone pardalis) The Leopard tortoise is a large tortoise that is found in Africa, from the Sudan to the Capes of the southern aspects, and is a type of tortoise that likes the drier areas that are thorny and grassy in nature.
The Cornet fish is a relative small family of fishes that are very elongated and look quite strange when viewed. They are sometimes called rifle fish because of their looks. When viewed they have a very long snout that is snout making up a quarter of the overall length. The cornet fish is sometimes called
This order of insects are known by different names in different countries; in Europe they are called the stick insects while in North America they are called the walking sticks, leaf insects or ghost insects. There are at least three thousand different types of stick insects in the world, ranging in size from under half
The olive is native to the Mediterranean region, parts of Africa and tropical and central Asia. It is one of the oldest known plants to be used by man. Olive seeds found in Spain and tested using carbon dating have shown the olive has been domesticated for eight thousand years. The olive was thought to
The Virginia quail is a game bird native to North and Central America and the Caribbean. It is the official game bird of Georgia, Washington State and Tennessee. Other names include the Northern Bobwhite and the Bobwhite Quail. The name ‘bobwhite’ refers to their characteristic call. A quail in its native habitat, the underbrush Virginia
(bullrush) Typha latifolia The typha is known as cattail in the United States and bulrush in the United Kingdom, is a marshy perennial growing to a height of two and a half meters tall, with light green sword shaped leaves and a seedpod that is cigar shaped and brown in color. Blackbirds, wrens and others
Before the cultivated pansy was developed the wild pansy was the progenitor for the domesticated flowers that we know and plant today. . Known also as the Johnny-jump-up; love-lies-bleeding; banwort and bull weed, the viola was brought to North America from Europe where it is a common weed and was in some places considered noxiious
(Achillea millefolium) Yarrow is a perennial herb that grows up to one meter tall or about three feet tall, having an angular, rough stem and has hairy leaves with an almost feathery type of appearance. The flowers are daisy-like in appearance and can be varied in color from white, lavender and yellow. Knights Milfoil; Old
Pinus Monticola The western white pine is type of pine that grows in the western mountains of the United States and Canada. Other names it is know by are the Idaho white pine; silver pine or mountain white pine. The state tree of Idaho, adopted in 1935, the western white pine often grows to a
Cichorium intybus The chicory plant originally came from the Mediterranean and traveled from Europe to spread across North America with the colonists. The color is usually blue or lavender and the flower remains on the plant only one day, with quantities of stiff hairs on the underside of the chicory flower. It stores a white
Epilobium angustifolium The fireweed also known as the rosebay willow herb in the British Isles, in Ireland fireweed is called Blooming Sally. Thought to be introduced from China by the early Victorians, fireweed is one of the pioneer’s plants native to the Northern Hemisphere that thrives in acidic woods, meadows and areas that have been
Metasequoia glyptostroboides The dawn redwood is also known as the water fir in China and the water larch; it is native to central China. It is a deciduous tree that is closely related to the giant sequoia and is the only living species of Metasequoia that is living. The dawn redwood is critically endangered and
The sequoia tree is a member in the cypress family of Cupressacaea and is one of three species of redwoods. These may be more familiarly known as the Coast Redwood and California Redwood, found in the northern part of the state of California. Known for its height and age, the tallest tree in the world
The Trailing arbutus is one of the best known, and best loved of Eastern American Wildflowers, and was said to be the first flower that the Pilgrims found when they stepped on the shore of the new world. It is a white or whitish pink blossom, and is quite rare in how it function in
Flamingos are one of the more gregarious of birds. They are wading birds to be more precise, found in both Eastern and Western Hemisphere, but are far more well known and more numerous in the eastern hemisphere. There are four varieties of Flamingo in the Americas while two exist elsewhere. Flamingos filter-feed which means that
