The Siberian Tiger, also known as Amur Tiger is the largest “pure blood” wild cat (as opposed to the Liger). Almost all these deadly predators live in the Southeastern part of Russia, east of the Amur river, although in the past, they inhabited vast territories ranging from Northeastern China to as far West as Mongolia.
The Black Swan also known as Cygnus Atratus is quite an uncommon bird that gained its significance through a metaphor, a Lebanese writer and the bird’s homosexuality. The fact that it is a swan and is not white as all his ‘brothers’, but exactly the opposite, is intriguing. Only the South American Black-necked swan has
The interesting creature of the day is the Lungfish a.k.a salamanderfish. As with many animals, the name already tells you what’s so special about this fish – it’s got lungs! The swimming bladders that are common to almost all the fish have modified so that they can also absorb oxygen. In fact some species of
Sometimes called “Mexican walking fish”, the Axolotl is in fact not a fish. It’s an amphibian. If you have ever observed an Axolotl, you will know that they have gills and can clearly breathe underwater, but they also have legs, a tail, but no fins. In fact, the Axolotl looks like a lizard that has
The Mediterranean Moray is an eel of the large Moray family. It is also called the Roman Eel because it was a fine delicacy for the ancient Romans. These large eels, reaching up to 1.5 metres (5 feet) in length and up to 15 kilograms in weight, are on the higher part of the food
The Andean Cock-of-the-rock is a medium sized bird, living in the Andes, from Venezuela South to Bolivia. It’s one of the most spectacular birds, with strikingly bright colours. Spottingthis beautiful bird is not very common, though, as they’re extremely shy and don’t usually fly near humans. It’s notable that both the sexes look very different,
Being the largest of all lynx species, the Eurasian Lynx is bigger and more spotted than the Canadian Lynx and it’s widely known for being one of the most beautiful wild cats. Their natural habitat is European and Siberian leafy forests, rich in wildlife and with plenty of undergrowth for cover. Eurasian Lynx resting The
The Sand Cat is a small wild cat, their natural habitat being deserts across Asia and Africa. The Sand Cat can survive in the most extreme temperatures, ranging from −5 °C (23 °F) to 52 °C (126 °F) and they inhabit areas such as the Sahara, which are too hot and dry for most animals. The cat’s body averages
The European Mink is a member of the Mustelidae family and is a close relative to the American Mink. They are remarkably similar in both appearance and behavior, because the European Mink entered Europe and the two species are believed to have diverged only during the past ten thousand years. European Minks are medium sized,
The Great White Shark, also known as the Great White or White Death has obtained it’s dreadful reputation because of it’s striking appearance and massive size. Also, the novel and the film Jaws helped support this image of the Great White as a man-eating predator. In reality, the stories of this great sea creature hunting
Lower Keys Marsh Rabbit, also known as Sylvilagus palustris hefneri, is a species of the marsh rabbit and is named after the Playboy founder Hugh Hefner. Although the marsh rabbit is widespread all across the southern part of the U.S., the so-called Hefner’s rabbit is endangered and inhabits higher positioned areas with salt marshes or
The hammerhead sharks can be recognized by their flat hammer-shaped head, called cephalophoil. The use of the cephalophoil is unknown, although scientists suggest it maximizes the area of the shark’s sensory organs. The Great Hammerhead Shark is the largest of the hammerhead sharks, reaching up to 6.1 metres in length and weighing up to 450
The Malagasy Civet, also known as the Striped Civet, is the second largest carnivore on the island of Madagascar (second to Fossa). It’s latin name – Fossa fossana – should not be confused to the Fossa, as they’re not closely related. The Malagasy Civet is a small predatory mammal endemic to Madagascar, which means it’s
The Laysan Duck, although from the first view an ordinary bird, is a great story of conservation, how a species extremely close to extinction have recovered to a relatively stable population count. Their natural habitat being only the Hawaiian Islands (just like a number of other animals, for instance Hawaiian Monk Seal), these ducks have
Hawaiian Monk Seal is an endangered seal, native to the Hawaiian Islands and it is believed to have evolved there. The Hawaiian Monk Seal is the most endangered seal in U.S. waters, with a population of about 1200 (the most endangered seal in the world is the Mediterranean Monk Seal). The Monk Seal subclass is
