a news feature for all wildlife lovers. it focuses on one animal from every alphabet and explains a bit about them. of course, i'm going to look for the best photographs possible.....



A for

Addax - The addax is gray-brown in winter and sandy to white in summer, with long, thin, spiral horns that slant back and upward. It stands about 1.1 m at the shoulder and has large splayed hooves for walking in soft sand. It is the most desert-adapted of antelopes, being well adapted to heat, a diet of coarse grasses and the absence of water. It lives most of its life without drinking, deriving sufficient moisture from dew and the plants on which it feeds. The addax weighs up to 135 kg (300 lb). It is found in sandy and stony regions of the Sahara Desert, particularly dune regions. When grasses are absent, it browses acacia species and leguminous herbs. Because of the extreme aridity of its habitat, the addax moves over considerable distances in search of food. It is principally nocturnal and crepuscular and rests during the heat of the day. Currently it only occurs singly or in groups of up to 4.



B for

Bats - Fruit bats constitute a single suborder, the Megachiroptera, within the order Chiroptera (i.e., bats). They include the solitary family Pteropodidae. While the microbats are represented on all continents (excluding Antarctica), the fruit bats live only in the tropical and subtropical regions of the Eastern Hemisphere: Africa, Asia, Australasia and Oceania. megabats are large: the smallest species is 6 centimeters (2.4 inches) long and thus smaller than some microbats. The largest reach 40 cm (16 inches) in length and attain a wingspan of 150 cm (5 feet), weighing in at nearly 1 kg (more than 2 pounds). Most fruit bats have large eyes, allowing them to orient visually in the twilight of dusk and inside caves and forests. The sense of smell is excellent in these creatures. In contrast to the microbats, the fruit bats do not, as a rule, use echolocation (with one exception, the Egyptian fruit bat Rousettus egyptiacus, which uses high-pitched clicks to navigate in caves).



C for

carabao - The wild Asian buffalo weighs 800 - 1200 kg (1800 - 2600 lb). It is a massive, powerful animal, with the widest horn span of any bovid - more than 6.5' (2 m). The wild Asian buffalo is very dependent on the availability of water. Historically, its preferred habitats were low-lying alluvial grasslands and their surroundings. Riparian forests and woodlands were also utilized. The wild Asian buffalo eats grass and leafy aquatic vegetation. It is mainly a grazer, feeding in the morning and evenings and lying up in dense cover or submerging in wallows during midday. During the midday heat, the wild Asian buffalo frequently wallows in water or muddy pools, sometimes almost completely submerged, with only its nostrils showing. In addition to keeping it cool, wallowing helps to remove skin parasites, biting flies, and other pests. Where there is substantial human disturbance, the wild Asian buffalo is mainly nocturnal.



D for

Dolphin - Dolphins are aquatic mammals which are closely related to whales and porpoises. There are almost forty species of dolphin in seventeen genera. They vary in size from 1.2 metres (4 ft) and 40 kilograms (88 lb) (Maui's Dolphin), up to 9.5 m (30 ft) and ten tonnes (the Orca or Killer Whale). They are found worldwide, mostly in the shallower seas of the continental shelves, and are carnivores, mostly eating fish and squid. The family Delphinidae is the largest in the Cetacea, and relatively recent: dolphins evolved about ten million years ago, during the Miocene. Dolphins are considered to be amongst the most intelligent of animals and their often friendly appearance and seemingly playful attitude have made them popular in human culture.



E for

Elephant - The Asian elephant can weigh up to 5400 kg (11,900 lb). It currently occupies forested habitats in hilly or mountainous terrain, up to about 3600 m (11,800'. An adult eats approximately 150 kg (330 lb) per day - mainly grasses but also leaves, twigs and bark. It feeds during the morning, evening and night and rests during the middle of the day, requiring shade during the hot season to keep from overheating. Elephants cannot go for long without water (they require 70-90 liters (19-24 gal) of fluid/day) and sometimes must travel long distances each day between their water supplies and feeding areas.



F for

Fox - Fox is a general term applied to any one of roughly 27 species of small to medium-sized omnivorous canids in the tribe vulpini with sharp features and a brush-like tail. By far the most common species of fox is the Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes), although different species are found on almost every continent. The presence of fox-like carnivores all over the globe has led to their appearance in the popular culture and folklore of many nations, tribes, and other cultural groups. Most foxes live 2 to 3 years but can survive for up to 10 years, or even longer, in captivity. Foxes are generally smaller than other members of the family Canidae such as wolves, jackals, and domestic dogs. Fox-like features typically include an acute muzzle (a "fox face") and bushy tail. Other physical characteristics vary according to their habitat. For example, the Desert Fox has large ears and short fur, whereas the Arctic Fox has small ears and thick, insulating fur. Another example is the Red Fox which has a typical auburn pelt ending normally with white marking.



G for

Giraffe - The giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis) is an African even-toed ungulate mammal, the tallest of all land-living animal species. Males can be 4.8 to 5.5 metres (16 to 18 feet) tall and weigh up to 1,360 kilograms (3,000 pounds). The record-sized bull was 5.87 m (19.2 feet) tall and weighed approximately 2,000 kg (4,400 lbs.).[2] Females are generally slightly shorter and weigh less than the males do. The giraffe is related to deer and cattle, but is placed in a separate family, the Giraffidae, consisting only of the giraffe and its closest relative, the okapi. Its range extends from Chad to South Africa.



H -

Heron - The herons are wading birds in the Ardeidae family. Some are called egrets or bitterns instead of herons. Within the family, all members of the genera Botaurus and Ixobrychus are referred to as bitterns, and—including the Zigzag Heron or Zigzag Bittern—are a monophyletic group within the Ardeidae. However, egrets are not a biologically distinct group from the herons, and tend to be named differently because they are mainly white or have decorative plumes. The classification of the individual heron/egret species is fraught with difficulty, and there is still no clear consensus about the correct placement of many species into either of the two major genera, Ardea and Egretta. Similarly, the relationship of the genera in the family is not completely resolved. For example, the Boat-billed Heron is sometimes classed as a heron, and sometimes given its own family Cochlearidae, but nowadays it is usually retained in the Ardeidae.



I for

Iguana - Iguanidae is a family of lizards composed of iguanas and related species, including the green iguana commonly kept as a pet. The green iguana (Iguana iguana) is a large, arboreal lizard from Central and South America. The green iguana is found over a large geographic area, from Mexico to southern Brazil and Paraguay, as well as on the Caribbean Islands and Florida (populations are feral). They are typically about 1,5m in length from head to tail, and only very few specimens reach a length of more than 2m and can weigh up to 20+ pounds (10 kg). Some green iguanas have small horns on their snouts between their eyes and their nostrils, while others do not. Naturalists once classified green iguanas with horns and those without as belonging to different subspecies; however, they now consider this classification inaccurate.



J for

Jaguar - The jaguar (Panthera onca) is a New World mammal of the Felidae family and one of four "big cats" in the Panthera genus, along with the tiger, the lion and the leopard of the Old World. The jaguar is the third-largest feline after the tiger and the lion, and on average the largest and most powerful feline in the Western Hemisphere. The jaguar's present range extends from Mexico (with occasional sightings in the southwestern United States) across much of Central America and south to Paraguay and northern Argentina. This spotted cat most closely resembles the leopard physically, although it is of sturdier build and its behavioural and habitat characteristics are closer to those of the tiger. While dense jungle is its preferred habitat, the jaguar will range across a variety of forested and open terrain. It is strongly associated with the presence of water and is notable, along with the tiger, as a feline that enjoys swimming. The jaguar is a largely solitary, stalk-and-ambush predator, and is opportunistic in prey selection. It is also an apex and keystone predator, playing an important role in stabilizing ecosystems and regulating the populations of prey species. The jaguar has developed an exceptionally powerful bite, even relative to the other big cats. This allows it to pierce the shells of armoured reptiles and to employ an unusual killing method: it bites directly through the skull of prey between the ears to deliver a fatal blow to the brain.



K for

Koala - The Koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) is a thickset arboreal marsupial herbivore native to Australia, and the only extant representative of the family Phascolarctidae. The Koala is found all along the eastern coast of Australia from near Adelaide to the southern part of Cape York Peninsula, and as far into the hinterland as there is enough rainfall to support suitable forests. The Koalas of South Australia were largely exterminated during the early part of the 20th century, but the state has since been repopulated with Victorian stock. The Koala is not found in Tasmania or Western Australia.



L for

Lemur - Lemurs are found naturally only on the island of Madagascar and some smaller surrounding islands, including the Comoros (where it is likely they were introduced by humans). Fossil evidence indicates that they made their way across the ocean after Madagascar broke away from the continent of Africa. While their ancestors were displaced in the rest of the world by monkeys, apes, and other primates, the lemurs were safe from competition on Madagascar and differentiated into a number of species. These range in size from the tiny 30 gram (1 oz) Pygmy Mouse Lemur to the 10 kilogram (22 lb) Indri. The larger species some of which weighed up to 240 kg have all become extinct since humans settled on Madagascar, and since the early 20th century the largest lemurs reach about 7 kilograms (15 lbs). Typically, the smaller lemurs are active at night (nocturnal), while the larger ones are active during the day (diurnal).



M for

Macaw - Macaws are large colorful New World parrots, classified into six of the many Psittacidae genera: Ara, Anodorhynchus, Cyanopsitta, Primolius, Orthopsittaca, and Diopsittaca. They are the largest birds in the parrot family in length and wingspan, though the flightless Kakapo is heavier. Parrots are zygodactyl, like woodpeckers, having 4 toes on each foot – two front and two back. Macaws are native to Mexico, Central and tropical South America. Most species are associated with forest, especially rainforest, but others prefer woodland or savanna-like habitats.



N for

Newt - Newts are members of the Salamandridae family in which the adult form is aquatic or semi-aquatic. In some species the larva leave the water as a brightly-colored terrestrial form called an eft, returning to the water when mature and changing to adult colors. Newts have the ability to regenerate limbs, eyes, spinal cords, hearts, intestines, and upper and lower jaws. The cells at the site of the injury have the ability to de-differentiate, reproduce rapidly, and differentiate again to create a new limb or organ. One theory is that the de-differentiated cells are related to tumour cells since chemicals which produce tumours in other animals will produce additional limbs in newts. Many newts produce toxins in their skin secretions as a defense mechanism against predators. Taricha newts of western North America are particularly toxic; the Rough-skinned Newt (Taricha granulosa) of the Pacific Northwest produces more than enough tetrodotoxin to kill an adult human foolish enough to swallow a newt. In order to cause harm, the toxins have to enter the body by being ingested or entering a break in the skin.



O for

Orangutan - The orangutans are the species of great apes known for their intelligence and their long arms and reddish-brown hair. Native to Indonesia and Malaysia, they are currently found only in rainforests on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra, though fossils have been found in Java, Vietnam and China. They are the only extant species in the genus Pongo and the subfamily Ponginae (which also includes the extinct genera Gigantopithecus and Sivapithecus). Their name derives from the Malay and Indonesian phrase orang hutan, meaning "person of the forest". Orangutans are the most arboreal of the great apes, spending nearly all of their time in the trees. Every night they fashion nests to sleep in from branches and foliage. They are more solitary than the other apes, with males and females generally coming together only to mate. Mothers stay with their babies until the offspring reach an age of six or seven years. There is significant sexual dimorphism between females and males: females can grow to around 4 ft 2 in or 127 centimetres and weigh around 100 lbs or 45 kg, while fully mature males can reach 5 ft 9 in or 175 centimetres in height and weigh over 260 lbs or 118 kg. Fully mature males can be distinguished by their prominent cheek phalanges and longer hair.



P for

Panda - The giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca, "black-and-white cat-foot"; Chinese: 大熊貓, Hanyu Pinyin: Dàxióngmāo) is a mammal classified in the bear family, Ursidae, native to central-western and southwestern China. It is easily recognized by its large, distinctive black patches around the eyes, over the ears, and across its round body. Though belonging to the order Carnivora, the panda has a diet which is 99% bamboo. Pandas may eat other foods such as honey, eggs, fish and yams. The Giant Panda is an endangered animal; an estimated 2,000 pandas live in the wild and over 180 were reported to live in captivity by August 2006 in mainland China (another source by the end of 2006 put the figure for China at 221), with twenty pandas living outside of China.[citation needed] Reports show that the numbers of wild panda are on the rise. The giant panda is a favorite of the human public, at least partly because many people find that the species has an appealing baby-like cuteness. Also, it is usually depicted reclining peacefully eating bamboo, as opposed to hunting, which adds to its image of innocence. Though the giant panda is often assumed docile because of their cuteness, they have been known to attack humans, usually assumed to be out of irritation rather than predatory behavior. Research shows that in cases in which its offspring may be under threat, the panda can and most often will react violently.



Q for

Quail - The New World quails are small birds only distantly related to the quails of the Old World, but named for their similar appearance and habits. The American species are in their own family Odontophoridae, whereas the Old World birds are in the pheasant family Phasianidae. The California Quail, Callipepla californica, also known as the California Valley Quail or Valley Quail, is a small ground-dwelling bird in the New World quail family. It is the state bird of California. These birds have a curving crest or "plume" that droops forward - black in males and brown for females; the flanks are brown with white streaks. Males have a dark brown cap and a black face with a brown back, a grey-blue chest and a light brown belly. Females and immature birds are mainly grey-brown with a light-colored belly.The California Quail is a highly sociable bird that often gathers in small flocks known as "coveys", and one of the daily communal activities is the taking of dust baths. A family of quail will select an area where the ground has been newly turned or is soft, and using their underbellies, will burrow downward into the soil some 1-2 inches.



R for

Reindeer - The reindeer is distributed throughout a number of northern locales. Reindeer are found in northern Scandinavia; at Spitsbergen; in European parts of Russia including northern Russia and Novaya Zemlya; in the Asian parts of Russia; northern Mongolia; northeastern China to the Pacific Ocean; in North America (where it is called the caribou); on Greenland, Canada and Alaska. Until the early nineteenth century it still occurred in southern Idaho. In 1952 reindeer were re-introduced to Scotland, as the natural stock had become extinct, probably in the 10th century. The weight of a female varies between 60 and 170 kg. In some subspecies of reindeer, the male is slightly larger; in others, the male can weigh up to 300 kg. Both sexes grow antlers, which (in the Scandinavian variety) for old males fall off in December, for young males in the early spring, and for females, summer. The antlers typically have two separate groups of points (see image), a lower and upper. Domesticated reindeer are shorter-legged and heavier than their wild counterparts. The caribou of North America can run at speeds up to 80 km/h (50 miles per hour) and may travel 5,000 km (3,000 miles) in a year.



S for

Seahorse - Seahorses are a genus of fish belonging to the family Syngnathidae, which also includes pipefish and leafy sea dragons. The seahorses are found in tropical and subtropical coastal and reef waters all over Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans.Seahorses range in size from 16 mm (the recently discovered Hippocampus denise) to 35 cm. Seahorses and pipefishes are notable for being the only species in which males become "pregnant". The seahorse has a dorsal fin located on the lower body and pectoral fins located on the head near their gills. Some species of seahorse are partly transparent and are rarely seen in pictures. Sea dragons are close relatives of seahorses but have bigger bodies and leaf-like appendages which enable them to hide among floating seaweed or kelp beds. Seahorses and sea dragons feed on larval fishes and amphipods, such as small shrimp-like crustaceans called mysids ("sea lice"), sucking up their prey with their small mouths. Many of these amphipods feed on red algae that thrives in the shade of the kelp forests where the sea dragons live.



T for

Tiger - The tiger (Panthera tigris) is a mammal of the Felidae family, one of four "big cats" in the Panthera genus. Native to the mainland of southeastern Asia, the tiger is an apex predator and the largest feline species in the world, comparable in size to the biggest fossil felids. The Bengal Tiger is the most common subspecies of tiger, constituting approximately 80% of the entire tiger population, and is found in India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, and Nepal. It is the national animal of India. An endangered species, the majority of the world's tigers now live in captivity. Tigers are the heaviest cats found in the wild, but the subspecies differ strongly in size. Large male Siberian Tigers (Panthera tigris altaica) can reach a total length of 3.5 m and a weight of well over 300 kg. Apart from those exceptional large individuals, male siberian tigers usually have a head and body length of 190–220 cm and an average weight of 227 kg (The tail of a tiger is 60–110 cm long.) The heaviest Indian Tiger (P. t. tigris), which is confirmed through reliable sources weighed 389 kg (857 lb). Females are smaller, those of the Siberian or Indian subspecies weigh only between 100 and 181 kg. Isle tigers like the sumatran subspecies (P. t. sumatrae) are much smaller than mainland tigers and weigh usually only 100–140 kg in males and 75–110 kg in females. The extinct Bali Tiger (P. t. balica) was even smaller with a weight of 90–100 kg in males and 65–80 kg in females.



U for

Urchin - Sea urchins are small, spiny sea creatures of the class Echinoidea found in oceans all over the world. (The name urchin is an Old English name for the round spiny hedgehogs sea urchins resemble.) Their shell, which is also called the "test", is globular in shape and covered with spines. The size of an adult test is typically from 3 to 10 cm. Typical sea urchins have spines that are 1 to 3 cm in length, 1 to 2 mm thick, and not terribly sharp. Diadema antillarum, familiar in the Caribbean, has thin spines that can be 10 to 20 cm long. Common colors include black and dull shades of green, olive, brown, purple, and red.



V for

Vulture - Vultures are scavenging birds, feeding mostly on the carcasses of dead animals. Vultures are found in every continent except Antarctica and Oceania. A particular characteristic of many vultures is a bald head, devoid of feathers. This is likely because a feathered head would become spattered with blood and other fluids, and thus be difficult to keep clean. A group of vultures is occasionally called a venue in literature. When circling in the air, a group of vultures is called a kettle.Vultures seldom attack healthy animals, but may kill the wounded or sick. Vast numbers have been seen upon battlefields. They gorge themselves when prey is abundant, till their crop bulges, and sit, sleepy or half torpid, to digest their food. They do not carry food to their young in their claws, but disgorge it from the crop. These birds are of great value as scavengers, especially in hot regions. They can eat rotten flesh containing anthrax, botulism, and cholera bacteria, which are destroyed in the stomach



W for

Woodpecker - Woodpeckers are near passerine birds of the order Piciformes. They are found worldwide and include about 180 species (including the famous ivory-billed). Woodpeckers gained their English name because of the habit of some species of tapping and pecking noisily on tree trunks with their beaks. This is both a means of communication to signal possession of territory to their rivals, and a method of locating and accessing insect larvae found under the bark or in long winding tunnels in the tree.

X - sorry, really tried, but couldnt find anything. if you do, please let me know and i'll edit this item. thanks



Y for

Yak - The yak (Bos grunniens) is a long-haired humped domestic bovine found in Tibet and throughout the Himalayan region of south Central Asia, as well as in Mongolia. In Tibetan, the word yak refers only to the male of the species; a female is a dri or nak. In most languages which borrowed the word, including English, however, yak is usually used for both sexes. Wild yaks stand about two meters tall at the shoulder. Domesticated yaks are about half that height. Both types have long shaggy hair to insulate them from the cold. Wild yaks can be either brown or black. Domesticated ones can also be white. Both males and females have horns.Wild yaks can weigh up to 1,000 kg (2,200 lb). They usually form groups of between 10 and 30 animals. Their habitat is treeless uplands like hills, mountains and plateaux between 3,200 m (10,500 ft) and roughly 5,400 m (18,000 ft). They eat grasses, lichens and other plants. They are insulated by dense, close, matted under-hair as well as their shaggy outer hair. Yaks secrete a special sticky substance in their sweat which helps keep their under-hair matted and acts as extra insulation. This secretion is used in traditional Nepalese medicine. Many wild yaks are killed for food by the Tibetans; they are now a vulnerable species.



Z for

Zebra - Zebras were the second species to diverge from the earliest proto-horses, after the asses, around 4 million years ago. The Grevy's zebra is believed to have been the first zebra species to emerge. Zebras might have lived in North America in prehistoric times. Fossils of an ancient horselike animal were discovered in the Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument in Hagerman, Idaho. It was named the Hagerman Horse with a scientific name of Equus simplicidens. There is some debate among paleontologists on whether the animal was a horse or a bona-fide zebra. While the animal's overall anatomy seems to be more horselike, its skull and teeth indicate that it was more closely related to the Grevy's Zebra. Thus it is also called the American zebra or Hagerman Zebra. Like most members of the horse family, zebras are highly sociable. Their social structure, however, depends on the species. Mountain zebras and Plains zebras live in groups consisting of one stallion with up to six mares and their foals. The stallion defends his group from bachelor males. When challenged, the stallion would issue a warning to the invader by rubbing nose or shoulder with him. If the warning is not heeded, a fight breaks out. Zebra fights often become very violent, with the animals biting at each other's necks or legs and kicking. While stallions may come and go, the mares stay together for life. They exist in a hierarchy with the alpha female being the first to mate with the stallion and being the one to lead the group.