Most Ferocious...
PIRANHA
Pygocentrus nattereri
From the moment tiny baby piranhas hatch from their microscopic eggs, they come into the world armed and dangerous. Baby piranha will feast on tiny crustaceans, fruits, seeds, and aquatic plants. Once they reach about 1.5 inches in length they begin feeding on the fins and flesh of other fish that wander too closely. As they grow larger they begin to venture out in groups (shoals) of about 20 fish where they use a variety of hunting strategies to kill and eat their prey. Heck, they don't kill their prey first, they just start eating the victim alive - that's what makes them so ferocious. Adult piranha have been known to eat their own babies. Talk about brutal!
When a school of piranha are in a feeding frenzy the water appears to boil and churn red with blood. They attack with such ferocity that they strip an animal of its flesh within a matter of minutes, even taking bites out of each other in the process.
There are approximately 20 species of piranha found living in the Amazon River, with only four or five of them posing any danger. Most piranha species are quite harmless and docile, but the ones with the nasty reputation for aggressive behavior are the red-bellied piranha, Pygocentrus nattereri.
Adult piranha will eat just about anything - other fish, sick and weakened cattle, even parts of people. Sickly cattle that have stooped their heads down to drink from the river have been grabbed by the mouth and nose and pulled into the water, completely devoured minutes later. As wicked as it all sounds, piranha have a useful function in the Amazonian jungles just like any other predators in the wild. They are part of the checks and balances Mother Nature employs to eliminate the weak and sick so only the strong survive.
There are approximately 20 species of piranha found living in the Amazon River, with only four or five of them posing any danger. Most piranha species are quite harmless and docile, but the ones with the nasty reputation for aggressive behavior are the red-bellied piranha, Pygocentrus nattereri.
Adult piranha will eat just about anything - other fish, sick and weakened cattle, even parts of people. Sickly cattle that have stooped their heads down to drink from the river have been grabbed by the mouth and nose and pulled into the water, completely devoured minutes later. As wicked as it all sounds, piranha have a useful function in the Amazonian jungles just like any other predators in the wild. They are part of the checks and balances Mother Nature employs to eliminate the weak and sick so only the strong survive.
Bird parenting
Bringing Up Chicks
The job of raising young birds begins with nest building. Once eggs are laid, the parents must keep them from getting cold, or the embryos inside will die. To make that job easier, incubating birds develop a brood patch—a featherless area on the breast that helps warm eggs with body heat.
Parenting Is Hard Work
Watch a nest of robins, House Finches, or other songbirds, and you’ll quickly realize how hard the parents work. The chicks must be fed every few minutes, from sunup to sundown, until they are old enough to leave the nest, usually about two weeks after they hatch. Even after the young birds have left the nest, they must be fed and protected from predators. Gradually, they learn to live on their own.
.
After Hatching
When songbird chicks hatch, they are naked, their eyes are closed, and they are able to do little more than hold up their wobbly heads and open their mouths. But young ducks and gamebirds, such as grouse and quail, are born covered in down and with their eyes open, able to feed almost immediately. A few hours after birth, baby Wood Ducks follow their mother out of the nest hole high in a tree—even though they can’t fly! The babies fall to the ground, bounce a few times, and then waddle off after their mother, unharmed by the drop.
Baby-sitters
A few birds lay their eggs in other birds’ nests and let them raise the babies. The most famous is the Brown-headed Cowbird, which lays its eggs in the nests of other songbirds, often tossing out the host’s eggs first.
Helping Baby Birds
Sometime you may find a baby bird that has just fledged and can’t fly well. Leave it alone; it probably isn’t abandoned even though you can’t see its parents. They may be taking care of its brothers and sisters.
The job of raising young birds begins with nest building. Once eggs are laid, the parents must keep them from getting cold, or the embryos inside will die. To make that job easier, incubating birds develop a brood patch—a featherless area on the breast that helps warm eggs with body heat.
Parenting Is Hard Work
Watch a nest of robins, House Finches, or other songbirds, and you’ll quickly realize how hard the parents work. The chicks must be fed every few minutes, from sunup to sundown, until they are old enough to leave the nest, usually about two weeks after they hatch. Even after the young birds have left the nest, they must be fed and protected from predators. Gradually, they learn to live on their own.
.
After Hatching
When songbird chicks hatch, they are naked, their eyes are closed, and they are able to do little more than hold up their wobbly heads and open their mouths. But young ducks and gamebirds, such as grouse and quail, are born covered in down and with their eyes open, able to feed almost immediately. A few hours after birth, baby Wood Ducks follow their mother out of the nest hole high in a tree—even though they can’t fly! The babies fall to the ground, bounce a few times, and then waddle off after their mother, unharmed by the drop.
Baby-sitters
A few birds lay their eggs in other birds’ nests and let them raise the babies. The most famous is the Brown-headed Cowbird, which lays its eggs in the nests of other songbirds, often tossing out the host’s eggs first.
Helping Baby Birds
Sometime you may find a baby bird that has just fledged and can’t fly well. Leave it alone; it probably isn’t abandoned even though you can’t see its parents. They may be taking care of its brothers and sisters.
Did you know...... Wacky animal facts
Skunks can shoot their bad-smelling spray only about two yards, but you can smell it up to two and a half miles away.
Foxes sometimes nip at the heals of cattle so the stomping of the cattle makes mice and other rodents come out of the ground, for the fox to eat.
The fastest bird is the peregrine falcon. It can fly at a speed of 168-217 miles per hour.
Whether an alligator is a male or female is determined by the temperature of the nest where the egg is hatched. 90 to 93 degrees will make it a male; 82 to 86 degrees will turn it into a female.
An electric eel can produce a shock of 600 volts. That's enough to stun large animals and even knock a horse off its feet.
Some frogs can pull their eyes into their throat and help push food down!
The northern fur seal, rather than using a layer of fat to keep it warm, depends on its thick fur with some 300,000 hairs per square inch.
Fish swimming at depths of 15,000 feet (almost 3 miles down!) can withstand a pressure of 7,000 pounds per square inch. They are able to live in these crushing depths by pumping gas into their swim bladder.
You may have heard someone say, "It's raining cats and dogs." There have been actual documented cases from all over the world of fish, frogs, dead birds, snakes, snails, beetles, worms and jellyfish raining down from the sky in great numbers, but no reports of showers of cats or dogs
The fastest bird is the peregrine falcon. It can fly at a speed of 168-217 miles per hour.
Whether an alligator is a male or female is determined by the temperature of the nest where the egg is hatched. 90 to 93 degrees will make it a male; 82 to 86 degrees will turn it into a female
An electric eel can produce a shock of 600 volts. That's enough to stun large animals and even knock a horse off its feet.
Salamanders are known to come out of wood when it was burning inside a fireplace, this is because Salamanders hibernate in wood.
Some frogs can pull their eyes into their throat and help push food down!
Don't run into a wombats bum! A wombat injures, sometimes kills its predators by letting them chase it then the wombat comes to a sudden stop and the predator crashes into its extremely hard bum bone.
Mosquitoes have 47 teeth, Snails have more than 25000 teeth.
The common garden worm has five pairs of hearts.
Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.
Killer Whales are the only sea animal that outranks the Tiger Shark as top predator of the sea.
There is a certain type of lizard that lives in the desert, and to scare predators off, it shoots blood from its eyes!
Foxes sometimes nip at the heals of cattle so the stomping of the cattle makes mice and other rodents come out of the ground, for the fox to eat.
The fastest bird is the peregrine falcon. It can fly at a speed of 168-217 miles per hour.
Whether an alligator is a male or female is determined by the temperature of the nest where the egg is hatched. 90 to 93 degrees will make it a male; 82 to 86 degrees will turn it into a female.
An electric eel can produce a shock of 600 volts. That's enough to stun large animals and even knock a horse off its feet.
Some frogs can pull their eyes into their throat and help push food down!
The northern fur seal, rather than using a layer of fat to keep it warm, depends on its thick fur with some 300,000 hairs per square inch.
Fish swimming at depths of 15,000 feet (almost 3 miles down!) can withstand a pressure of 7,000 pounds per square inch. They are able to live in these crushing depths by pumping gas into their swim bladder.
You may have heard someone say, "It's raining cats and dogs." There have been actual documented cases from all over the world of fish, frogs, dead birds, snakes, snails, beetles, worms and jellyfish raining down from the sky in great numbers, but no reports of showers of cats or dogs
The fastest bird is the peregrine falcon. It can fly at a speed of 168-217 miles per hour.
Whether an alligator is a male or female is determined by the temperature of the nest where the egg is hatched. 90 to 93 degrees will make it a male; 82 to 86 degrees will turn it into a female
An electric eel can produce a shock of 600 volts. That's enough to stun large animals and even knock a horse off its feet.
Salamanders are known to come out of wood when it was burning inside a fireplace, this is because Salamanders hibernate in wood.
Some frogs can pull their eyes into their throat and help push food down!
Don't run into a wombats bum! A wombat injures, sometimes kills its predators by letting them chase it then the wombat comes to a sudden stop and the predator crashes into its extremely hard bum bone.
Mosquitoes have 47 teeth, Snails have more than 25000 teeth.
The common garden worm has five pairs of hearts.
Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.
Killer Whales are the only sea animal that outranks the Tiger Shark as top predator of the sea.
There is a certain type of lizard that lives in the desert, and to scare predators off, it shoots blood from its eyes!
Frogs vs. Toads
Many people don’t know the difference between frogs and toads. They are quite different animals, although they belong to the same animal group.
Frogs:
Frogs:
- Need to live near water
- Have smooth, moist skin that makes them look “slimy”.
- Have a narrow body
- Have higher, rounder, bulgier eyes
- Have longer hind legs
- Take long high jumps
- Have many predators
- Do not need to live near water to survive
- Have rough, dry, bumpy skin
- Have a wider body
- Have lower, football shaped eyes
- Have shorter, less powerful hind legs
- Will run or take small hops rather than jump
- Do not have many predators. Toad’s skin lets out a bitter taste and smell that burns the eyes and nostrils of its predators, much like a skunk does.
Wolf facts
Wolves are legendary because of their spine-tingling howl, which they use to communicate. A lone wolf howls to attract the attention of his pack, while communal howls may send territorial messages from one pack to another. Some howls are confrontational. Much like barking domestic dogs, wolves may simply begin howling because a nearby wolf has already begun.
Wolves are the largest members of the dog family. Adaptable gray wolves are by far the most common and were once found all over the Northern Hemisphere. But wolves and humans have a long adversarial history. Though they almost never attack humans, wolves are considered one of the animal world's most fearsome natural villains. They do attack domestic animals, and countless wolves have been shot, trapped, and poisoned because of this tendency.
In the lower 48 states, gray wolves were hunted to near extinction, though some populations survived and others have since been reintroduced. Few gray wolves survive in Europe, though many live in Alaska, Canada, and Asia.
Red wolves live in the southeastern United States, where they are endangered. These animals actually became extinct in the wild in 1980. Scientists established a breeding program with a small number of captive red wolves and have reintroduced the animal to North Carolina. Today, perhaps 100 red wolves survive in the wild.
The maned wolf, a distant relative of the more familiar gray and red wolves, lives in South America. Physically, this animal resembles a large, red fox more than its wolf relatives.
Wolves live and hunt in packs of around six to ten animals. They are known to roam large distances, perhaps 12 miles (20 kilometers) in a single day. These social animals cooperate on their preferred prey—large animals such as deer, elk, and moose. When they are successful, wolves do not eat in moderation. A single animal can consume 20 pounds (9 kilograms) of meat at a sitting. Wolves also eat smaller mammals, birds, fish, lizards, snakes, and fruit.
Wolfpacks are established according to a strict hierarchy, with a dominant male at the top and his mate not far behind. Usually this male and female are the only animals of the pack to breed. All of a pack's adults help to care for young pups by bringing them food and watching them while others hunt.
Wolves are the largest members of the dog family. Adaptable gray wolves are by far the most common and were once found all over the Northern Hemisphere. But wolves and humans have a long adversarial history. Though they almost never attack humans, wolves are considered one of the animal world's most fearsome natural villains. They do attack domestic animals, and countless wolves have been shot, trapped, and poisoned because of this tendency.
In the lower 48 states, gray wolves were hunted to near extinction, though some populations survived and others have since been reintroduced. Few gray wolves survive in Europe, though many live in Alaska, Canada, and Asia.
Red wolves live in the southeastern United States, where they are endangered. These animals actually became extinct in the wild in 1980. Scientists established a breeding program with a small number of captive red wolves and have reintroduced the animal to North Carolina. Today, perhaps 100 red wolves survive in the wild.
The maned wolf, a distant relative of the more familiar gray and red wolves, lives in South America. Physically, this animal resembles a large, red fox more than its wolf relatives.
Wolves live and hunt in packs of around six to ten animals. They are known to roam large distances, perhaps 12 miles (20 kilometers) in a single day. These social animals cooperate on their preferred prey—large animals such as deer, elk, and moose. When they are successful, wolves do not eat in moderation. A single animal can consume 20 pounds (9 kilograms) of meat at a sitting. Wolves also eat smaller mammals, birds, fish, lizards, snakes, and fruit.
Wolfpacks are established according to a strict hierarchy, with a dominant male at the top and his mate not far behind. Usually this male and female are the only animals of the pack to breed. All of a pack's adults help to care for young pups by bringing them food and watching them while others hunt.
Shark Facts!
In some form, sharks have been around for about 400 million years.
Even before dinosaurs roamed the earth, sharks hunted through the oceans! They're such good survivors that they've had little need to evolve in the last 150 million years.
These ancient predators fascinate adults and children alike.
Scientific Information: Sharks belong to the class of fish, Chondrichthyes.
Even before dinosaurs roamed the earth, sharks hunted through the oceans! They're such good survivors that they've had little need to evolve in the last 150 million years.
These ancient predators fascinate adults and children alike.
Scientific Information: Sharks belong to the class of fish, Chondrichthyes.
Red Fox
Vulpes vulpes
The sight of a handsome Red Fox against a new fallen snow on a bright winter day will stay with you forever. These foxes are indeed sly, for such a sight is uncommon, even though their tracks reveal their presence almost everywhere. They eat a variety of foods but mainly live on rabbits and voles in winter, shifting to fruits and insects in summer.
Look For : A rusty-red fox with black legs and a bushy long tail tipped in white. Some Red Foxes are black, silver, or a red- and-black mix.
Length : Body about 24" long, tail 14-17" long; 8-15 lb.
Habitat : Woodlands, hay fields, brushy areas, pastures, and parks.
Range : Throughout most of Canada and U.S., except for much of western U.S.
Look For : A rusty-red fox with black legs and a bushy long tail tipped in white. Some Red Foxes are black, silver, or a red- and-black mix.
Length : Body about 24" long, tail 14-17" long; 8-15 lb.
Habitat : Woodlands, hay fields, brushy areas, pastures, and parks.
Range : Throughout most of Canada and U.S., except for much of western U.S.
Hippopotamus
The heaviest land mammal after the elephants, the Hippopotamus feeds by plucking grass with its wide muscular lips. Hippos spend much time underwater, coming ashore to feed at night. They spend the day digesting and socializing in the water. Hippos form dense groups, especially during the dry season when waters recede. Herd members often lie in contact with one another. Males compete for females and their tusks can inflict terrible wounds.
Look For : A thick-skinned animal with a huge rotund body on stubby legs and an enormously wide snout. Smooth, purple-brown skin is pink in creases and underparts. Feet have 4 webbed toes. Can open mouth very wide.
Length : Body 11'-12'4" long, tail 14" long; height 4'4"-5'6"; 1,440-7,000 lb.
Habitat : A deep body of water near grassland.
Range : Africa, south of the Sahara, in rivers, lakes, and swamps; common only in protected areas.
Look For : A thick-skinned animal with a huge rotund body on stubby legs and an enormously wide snout. Smooth, purple-brown skin is pink in creases and underparts. Feet have 4 webbed toes. Can open mouth very wide.
Length : Body 11'-12'4" long, tail 14" long; height 4'4"-5'6"; 1,440-7,000 lb.
Habitat : A deep body of water near grassland.
Range : Africa, south of the Sahara, in rivers, lakes, and swamps; common only in protected areas.
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Sapsuckers get their name from their habit of boring holes into the inner bark of living trees, allowing the sap to leak out and run down the trunk. The birds wipe up or suck the oozing sap with their brush-like tongues. They return again and again to the same tree and also eat the insects attracted to the sap. Unfortunately, sapsucker holes damage trees and sometimes provide points of entry for fungus and other tree diseases.
Look For : Red crown, pale yellow underparts.
Length : 8-9".
Habitat : Forests.
Range : Canada, northeastern U.S.; mountains; winters: southern U.S.
Look For : Red crown, pale yellow underparts.
Length : 8-9".
Habitat : Forests.
Range : Canada, northeastern U.S.; mountains; winters: southern U.S.
Gray Wolf
Canis Lopus
Once feared and hated, today the Gray Wolf is a beloved symbol of the wilderness. In spite of all the stories, there have only been three recorded instances of wolves attacking humans in North America, and none of the attacks were deadly. However, wolves hunt in packs and can kill cattle as well as deer, Caribou, and Moose.
Look For : A large German Shepherd-like canine with a long bushy black-tipped tail. Usually gray, but color varies from white to black.
Length : Body 3-5' long, tail 14-20" long; 57-130 lb.
Habitat : Northern forests and tundra.
Range : Alaska, Canada, northern Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Wisconsin, Isle Royale National Park in Lake Superior, and northeastern Minnesota.
Look For : A large German Shepherd-like canine with a long bushy black-tipped tail. Usually gray, but color varies from white to black.
Length : Body 3-5' long, tail 14-20" long; 57-130 lb.
Habitat : Northern forests and tundra.
Range : Alaska, Canada, northern Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Wisconsin, Isle Royale National Park in Lake Superior, and northeastern Minnesota.
Spectacled Caiman
Caiman crocodilus
This relative of alligators and crocodiles became established in the Miami area after pet caimans were released there. Spectacled Caimans were imported to the United States for the pet trade after it became illegal to sell the native American Alligator in this country. They have extremely quick reflexes and needle-sharp teeth, so you should never try to catch one by hand.
Look For : A yellowish-tan to olive-brown reptile with or without crossbands. Very noticeable bony bump between eyes.
Length : 4'-8'8".
Habitat : Canals, ponds, marshes.
Range : Southern Florida (introduced from South America).
Look For : A yellowish-tan to olive-brown reptile with or without crossbands. Very noticeable bony bump between eyes.
Length : 4'-8'8".
Habitat : Canals, ponds, marshes.
Range : Southern Florida (introduced from South America).