Transcript Wild animals

Wild animals
By Louise Cracknell and Sian
Floyd gunner
The Cheetah
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When the moment is right a cheetah will sprint
after its quarry and attempt to knock it down.
Such chases cost the hunter a tremendous
amount of energy and are usually over in less
than a minute. If successful, the cheetah will
often drag its kill to a shady hiding place to
protect it from opportunistic animals that
sometimes steal a kill before the cheetah can
eat. Cheetahs need only drink once every three
to four days.
Female cheetahs typically have a litter of three
cubs and live with them for one and a half to
two years. Young cubs spend their first year
learning from their mother and practicing
hunting techniques with playful games. Male
cheetahs live alone or in small groups, often
with their littermates.
Most wild cheetahs are found in eastern and
south-western Africa. Perhaps only 12,000 of
these big cats remain, and those are under
pressure as the wide-open grasslands they
favour are disappearing at the hands of human
settlers.
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Giraffe
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Favourite food – Acacia Leaves
Tongue is 18 inches long
Have a four chambered stomach and will
regurgitate their food for additional chewing
– similarly to a cow.
Typically get most of their water from the
Acacia leaf, but will drink up to 10 gallons of
water per day.
Horns are called Osicones
Although rarely heard, Giraffes can moo,
hiss, roar and whistle to communicate with
one another
Have the longest tail of any land mammal –
up to 8 feet long, including the tuft at the
end.
Giraffes at the San Diego zoo enjoy raw
onions as a special treat
Ancient Romans and Greeks thought that
the Giraffe was a mix between a camel and
a leopard. This is where their scientific
Genus name of "camelopardalis" comes
from.
The Dingo
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Dingoes cannot bark - but they can howl.
A dingo can turn its head through almost
180 degrees in each direction.
Dingoes have permanently erect ears.
Dingoes live in Australia and Southeast Asia,
mainly Thailand.
Australian dingoes are larger than Asian
dingoes. Wild dingoes can live for up to ten
years but usually live for more like five or six
years.
Dingoes cared for by people can live up to
15 years or more.
Domestication of dingoes has been difficult.
Dingoes are intelligent animals. They are
more independent and harder to train than
other dogs.
The plural of dingo is dingoes, not dingo's.
Male dingoes are larger than females. Males
weigh 26 to 43 pounds (12 to 20 kg) and
females weigh 21 to 35 pounds.
Most Australian dingoes are ginger-coloured
or sandy coloured with white chests. There
are also dark coloured dingoes.
The Leopard
• Leopards are not unlike
other carnivorous animals
when it comes to hunting.
A leopard must expend
precious energy in the
pursuit of capturing its
prey, whether the hunt
ends successfully or not.
Source: Biological
Science, Third Edition, by
William T. Keeton of
Cornell University, page
532.
The wolf
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Loss of habitat and persecution by Humans
are leading factors in the Wolves
"Endangered Species Status".
The weight of the North American Wolf can
be as little as 40 pounds or as large as 175
pounds.
The length of the North American Wolf
varies between 4'6" and 6'6" from muzzle to
tip of tail.
The height of an average Wolf is between
26 and 32 inches at the shoulder.
Wolves have large feet, the average being 4
inches wide by 5 inches long.
Wolves can live up to 13 years in the wild
but the average is only 6 to 8 years.
Wolves in captivity have been known to live
up to 16 years.
Wolves have 42 teeth.
Wolves breed once a year, December
through March, depending on latitude, the
gestation period is 63 days.
Wolf pups are born in northern climates as
late as early June and in southern climates
as early as late February
The average litter size is 4 to 6 cubs.
The horse [black beauty]
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The horse starts as a foal (male) or filly
(female). During the first 12 months the
foal/filly has long legs compared to its
body. After two months the foal/filly sheds
its milk hairs. Two months later it would stop
drinking milk from its dam (mother). After it
has passed drinking milk from it's dam, it is
considered a horse.
A 12 month becomes a Yearling on January
1. At 12 months the baby horse is still
uncoordinated in movements, and quite
leggy, but their frame is beginning to fill
out. This is an ongoing process until
maturity, when it's hind quarters, or croup,
are in line with it's withers, the part right
below the neck. The last parts of growth are
the epiphyses or the growth plates on the
very long bones of the legs. Until these are
closed, the horse isn't able to keep working
because they are too weak. This happens
particularly when they are under weight,
without the risk of the legs being
damaged. The epiphysis is located at the
end of the cannon bone, over the fetlock
joint, an\ usually is closed in the middle of
nine and twelve months.
The zebra
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As one of the great survivors, Zebras have
excellent eyesight, a keen sense of smell
and are capable of running 40 mph. Every
zebra has its own pattern of stripes (which
makes it easier for researchers). Zebra
belong to the family Equidae, hoofed
animals characterized by one toe. This
includes all horses and horse-like animals of
the world. This single hoof is probably an
adaptation for fast motion on hard ground.
The stripes help them confuse predators by
making it hard for them to single out any one
of them while in motion. They also interfere
with the depth perception of predators.
Although there is no color variation between
the sexes, plains zebras do vary in color and
pattern across their range. Moving from the
north to the south of this specie's range,
there is a tendency for the stripes on the
hindquarters to become less well defined.
They have long jaws, so that when they are
grazing, their eyes are still high enough to
watch for predators. With eyes located on
the side of their head, zebras have a much
wider field of vision. They require constant
water supplies and they need to drink every
day.