Animals

Not all cats play with prey, most felines are fairly quick about killing so they can get proceed with eating it. A cat’s typical method of catching a big animal is to hold on with its claws while clamping its jaws around the prey’s neck to quickly break its spinal cord or suffocate it, smaller … Read more

The cheetah was previously believed to be the primitive species among the big cats and evolved approximately 18 million years ago. Recent studies have suggests that the last common ancestor of all species of felines lived only about 11 million years ago. The same research shows that the cheetah, does not have ancient lineage, and … Read more

Cheetahs are currently on the US Endangered Species Act, and listed as a threatened species. Cheetah cubs have a high mortality rate because of genetic factors and predation by carnivores in such as the lion and hyena. Recent inbreeding of cheetahs that cause birth defects have led a few biologists to believe it is unlikely … Read more

Almost all cats have retractable claws. The cheetah has semi-retractable claws like the Iriomote Cat and Flat-headed Cat, offering extra grip in its high-speed chases. The ligament structure of the cheetah’s claws is the same as other cats, but it lacks the sheath of skin and fur present in other cat species, and the claws … Read more

Unlike true big cats, the cheetah can purr as it inhales, but cannot roar. By contrast, the big cats can roar but cannot purr, except while exhaling. There’s no such thing as a cheetah’s roar, since cheetahs don’t roar. They do, however, purr like a kitten, hiss, whine, and growl. And when they want to … Read more

Cheetahs love to eat gazelles, which are also known for their speed. Cheetahs usually watch for gazelles that has strayed from the herd. The cheetah then tries to sneak within 50 yards of its prey before attacking, since a cheetah can go its top speed for only about 300 yards. If the gazelle manages to … Read more

The AKC recognizes 150 breeds of dog in seven main categories. Sporting dogs (setters and the like) are used to hunt animals. Hounds (bassets, dachshunds, greyhounds, and beagles) are used to aid hunters with their keen eyesight and sense of smell. Working dogs (St. Bernards, boxers, and Great Danes) are bred to rescue, guard, and … Read more

Toto in the movie The Wizard of Oz was a Cairn terrier. Snoopy was beagle which often battled the Red Baron. There’s no denying the strong bond between human and canine. Mark Twain once said, “Heaven goes by favor. If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in.” What … Read more

The American Foxhound a mix of English hounds that were brought to the United States in 1650, and a French hound that was given as a present to President George Washington. The American Foxhound is also known as cousin to the English Foxhound, which is also a scent hound, bred to hunt foxes by scent. … Read more

Dog shows are also known as conformation shows, or breed shows. The first modern conformation dog show was held in England in June 1859, and the only breeds scheduled were pointers and setters. Dog show judges try to pick dogs that epitomize the published standards for each breed, but this can be challenging, as the … Read more

Domestication of dogs by humans can be traced back to at least 10,000 years ago. Evidence of the oldest known breed of dog, the saluki, a Middle Eastern dog, appeared on artifacts as long ago as 7000 B.C. Ancient Egyptians were breeding hunting dogs that resembled large mastiffs before 1500 B.C. The irresistible, fluffy Maltese … Read more

The way most of us pamper cats, you could say that many modern Americans worship the feline. You’ll also find cat-based religions in past or present Thailand, China, India, and among the Incas in South America. It may be hard to believe, but the Bible doesn’t mention cats of any sort, not even once. However, … Read more

Animals of all kinds were respected and revered in ancient Egypt, as they were in close contact with deities and gods. Egyptians discovered very early that cats, though not particularly loyal, at least had the virtue of being useful. By catching rodents, cats protected the food supply. Egyptians also used cats as retrievers in bird … Read more

Hippos do not sweat blood, but it’s an understandable misconception based on a glandular condition of the Nile hippo. This aquatic beast has a mucous gland that, when its owner is startled, nervous, or excited, produces an oozing, reddish-tinted liquid that’s easily mistaken for blood. The oily liquid normally helps keep the hippo’s skin from … Read more

Hippos spend the day in the water to keep their body temperature down, and to keep their skin from drying out. Each night, under the cover of darkness, hippos wade out of their pools and march as far as six miles in search of food. Hippos spend four to five hours grazing and can consume … Read more

Mali means “hippopotamus” in the African Bambara language. The Republic of Mali, also known as République du Mali in French, is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali is next to Algeria, has Niger on its east border, and is Guinea on the south-west. The country’s economy is based on agriculture and fishing, and some … Read more

To mark their territory, hippos spin their tails while defecating to distribute their excrement over the greatest possible area. Most of the hippos defecation occurs in the water, creating deposits of organic matter along the river beds. It is not clear what the ecological function of these deposits are. They also pee backwards, and are … Read more

The Rhinoceros, also known as rhino for short, is a name used to group five extant species of odd-toed ungulates in the family rhinocerotidae. The word rhinoceros comes from the Greek words ῥῑνο-, (rhino-), meaning nose, and κέρας (keras), meaning horn. The plural for rhinoceros in English is rhinoceroses, and a group of rhinoceros is … Read more

The hippopotamus, or hippo for short, got its name from the ancient Greek words ἵππος (hippos), which means “horse”, and ποταμός, (potamos), for “river”, and put together meaning “horse of the river”. The plural for hippopotamus in English is hippopotamuses, but hippopotami is also acceptable. A male hippopotamus is known as a bull, a female … Read more

Hippopotamuses do indeed communicate with each other, and they do so rather loudly. Hippos appear to communicate verbally, through grunts and bellows, and it is believed that they may practice echolocation, but the purpose of these vocalizations is currently unknown. Hippos are able to hold their head partially above the water and send out a … Read more

It’s sad but true, but the poor Hippopotamus is bearing the brunt of the effort to save the elephant. Currently, hippos are still threatened by habitat loss and poaching for their meat and ivory canine teeth. Since the United Nations Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species officially imposed a ban on ivory trading in … Read more

There are two types of hippopotamus, the common hippopotamus and the pygmy hippopotamus. The common hippopotamus is about five feet high and fourteen feet long, and the pygmy hippo is about a yard tall and four and a half feet long. The pygmy hippo weighs only about 400 or 500 pounds, as opposed to the … Read more

The mammoth and mastodon were animals from the ice age, and were closely related to one another. Both the mammoth and mastodon were similar to each other in overall structure, and both looked similar to our modern-day elephant. However, there were a few differences. Mastodons were browsers while mammoths were grazers. The mastodon also had … Read more

Mastodons were large tusked mammal species which inhabited much of the earth from the Oligocene through the Pleistocene era about 11,000 years ago. Mastodons first appeared on earth almost 40 million years ago, and the oldest fossil was found in the Republic of the Congo. While mastodons looked similar to elephants and mammoths, they were … Read more

Elasmotherium was a member of the rhinoceros family back in the days of the Ice Age. The name Elasmotherium means “plate monster.” It was huge, and much larger than even an elephant. Fossils have been found that measure between sixteen and twenty-six feet tall. It’s been estimated that its horn measured up to six and … Read more

Ice Age marsupials from Australia were pretty freaky-looking for sure. But America had some interesting creatures too during the Ice Age. For example, the giant sloth, which resembled the modern-day tree sloth but was much bigger, about the size of a bull ox, and lived exclusively on the ground. There was also an interesting armadillo … Read more

Lions and Tigers never mate in the wild. But they sometimes do in in big cat refuges in the United States, resulting in hybrid cross-breed babies. The offspring are called ligers and tigons, or sometimes, illogically, tiglons. A liger is the result of a male lion mating with a tigress, while the tigon, or tiglon, … Read more

Tigers are pretty easy going about breeding in captivity and in the wild for that matter. Mating of tigers can occur all year round, but it is usually more common between the months of November and April. Enough tiger kittens are born in captivity that live captures are no longer necessary to keep zoos and … Read more

There is no name for a group of tigers, because groups of tigers don’t really exist in the wild or in captivity. The relationships between tiger individuals can be quite complex, and there aren’t any set rules that tigers follow with regards to territorial rights. Although tigers avoid each other for the most part, both … Read more

Tigers mark their territory by peeing on trees because they are solitary and very territorial animals. Male tigers are more intolerant of other males inside their territory than females are of other females, and territorial disputes are usually resolved by displays of intimidation, rather than actual fighting. Once dominance has been established, a male may … Read more

If you’re concerned about being attacked or eaten by tigers, staying in America and away from zoos and circuses is a safe bet. On their own turf, tigers can be a real menace, more so, even, than the other big cats. For example, one female tiger in Champawat, India, was blamed for killing at least … Read more

White tigers have white or almost white fur, and their unique coloration is caused by a recessive gene. There aren’t many white tigers left in the wild due to over-hunting of their pelts, and they are considered an endangered species. White tigers are a rare sight, and their eye-catching whiteness puts them at a disadvantage … Read more

There’s a good reason why different kinds of cats have different kinds of patterns. In forests, with the sun shining through leaves, irregular spots work best to disguise something. Not surprisingly, all of the forest cats, like cheetahs, jaguars, leopards, and ocelots, are spotted. Tigers can live in a variety of surroundings, from forests to … Read more

Humans actually have better vision than cats, except in dim light. But we digress. Domestic cats have rather poor color vision and can only see two colors: blue and green, and are less able to distinguish between red and green, although they can do so in some conditions. Animals and humans have rods and cones … Read more

Cats have excellent night vision and can see at only a fraction of the light level required for human vision. But even with their powerful night vision, cats cannot see in complete darkness. No animal can see in the dark without at least a little light, however, cats have a distinct advantage on us in … Read more

Cats can sometimes seem very psychotic, sensing things that are not there. Their psychotic behavior is more likely because cats have excellent hearing and can detect an extremely broad range of frequencies. The highest frequency people can hear is in the low 20,000 vibrations per second. Cats can hear frequencies as high as 70,000. Cats … Read more

Are you a cat owner? Do you really want to know if cats would eat their owners if they died? If not, skip to the next question, and we’ll meet you down there in a second. Okay, then. As you know, there have been dozens of stories of loyal dogs standing guard over their owners’ … Read more

Lions can climb trees, but they don’t do it very often. They are usually found resting under the shade of trees instead. Unlike some other cats, lions don’t lie in trees waiting for unsuspecting prey to come waltzing along below. Lions seem to climb trees when they want to escape from the heat of the … Read more

Lions spend about twenty hours a day resting, just like the average house cat. Lions use the rest of the time looking for food, either by hunting, by scavenging things that have died from disease or other natural causes, or by stealing food from hyenas and vultures. Since they spend so little time hunting, they … Read more

Although lions are not exactly the most cooperative animals, people have been training them since nearly the beginning of recorded history. The annals say that the Egyptian pharoah Ramses II (1290-1224 B.C.) had a tame lion that he took into battle as a mascot, and the Roman emperor Elagabalus (A.D. 218-222) paraded in a chariot … Read more

The White Rhinoceros, also known as the Square-lipped rhinoceros, is one of the five species of rhinoceros that still exist and is one of the few megafaunal species left on earth. Found on the African continent, it is the most social of all rhino species, and has a wide mouth that is used for grazing. … Read more

In the play Rhinoceros by Eugène Ionesco, Berenger watches as the people in his life turn into rhinoceroses, including his coworkers, his best friend, Jean, and his secretary, Daisy. Berenger is left alone to fight all of the rhinoceroses. In the classic play that bolstered the playwright’s career in America, Engene Ionesco was illustrating his … Read more

The mystery of the behemoth mentioned in the Bible has stumped quite a few. In modern Hebrew, the word translates to “cattle,” but it’s unlikely this is what the author meant, as cattle are named very specifically in other parts of the Bible. What do we know for sure? The behemoth was a large beast, … Read more

The oxpeckers are two species of bird from the Buphagidae family which live in the savanna of Sub-Saharan Africa. Their names come from their habit of perching on large mammals such as cattle or rhinoceroses, and eating ticks, botfly larvae, and other parasites. The oxpeckers are related to mockingbirds and starlings, and possibly evolved from … Read more

Many experts in the scientific community disagree on whether the second biggest animal is the white rhinoceros or the hippopotamus. Since the debate rages on, we’ll throw in our two cents. On average, the rhinoceros measures taller than the hippo, making it the second largest land animal by height. However, on average, the hippopotamus weighs … Read more

For the longest time, scientists thought there were only two different species of elephants, the African and the Asian. They believed that the African elephant had two subspecies, the savannah elephant and the forest elephant. However, some scientists began to doubt that classification. For one thing, forest elephants are smaller than savannah elephants. Furthermore, their … Read more

Elephants make several sounds when communicating, and are famous for their trumpet calls made by blowing through its nostrils. Trumpeting is often made when an elephant is excited or startled. Researchers have known for years that elephants use their trunks to interact socially. However, they’ve more recently discovered that elephants use low-frequency verbal communication as … Read more

Elephants love to paint, and many would put the smugs in expensive arts schools to shame. We have also known since ancient Roman times that elephants have a keen ear for musical notes. For instance, they are able to follow complicated musical cues when working in the circus. Their natural musical ability inspired Richard Lair … Read more

The elephant as a symbol and mascot for the Republican Party started out in 1874 as a cruel joke by political cartoonist Thomas Nast. Four years earlier, Thomas Nast had revived the equally demeaning Democrat donkey symbol, which was threatening to fade into historic oblivion, decades before, Democrat Andrew Jackson had been compared to an … Read more

Elephants are not afraid of mice, it’s a myth, and there are quite a few. The one about the “elephants’ graveyard,” where all pachyderms go to die is also a myth. The myth about elephants never forgetting is also quite popular, despite their obvious intelligence. Still, Westerners aren’t the only ones who have given the … Read more

Dr. Seuss came up with the idea of putting an elephant in a tree for his book, Horton Hatches the Egg, more haphazardly than you might think. Theodore Geisel, a.k.a. Dr. Seuss, was drawing one day at his cluttered desk. As fate would have it, he left his window open, and a big gust of … Read more

The average African forest elephant consumes over 300 pounds of leaves, bushes, and grasses every day. Of that, about 45 percent is fully utilized by the elephant, leaving about 165 pounds of excrement to be dumped on the ground. Now, that’s a lot of poop, but luckily for us it’s really good poop. Thanks to … Read more

Civil War General John Sedgwick didn’t say anything about an elephant before he died. He was talking about the Confederate enemy’s inability to hit a target, even a big one, like an elephant. Here’s an excerpt from The Death of General John Sedgwick, an account recorded by Martin T. McMahon, Brevet Major-General, U.S.V. Chief-of-Staff, Sixth … Read more

A white elephant is an idiom for a valuable possession which its owner cannot get rid of, and whose cost of ownership is way more than what it’s worth. Similarly, a white elephant sale isn’t just your standard yard sale, but a sale in which you get rid of things have become a burden but … Read more

Giraffes have long necks which enables them to browse tree leaves which they love to eat. The African plains giraffe is the tallest mammal on earth. This giraffe has a neck that extends up to eight feet above its shoulders. The giraffe’s neck has seven highly lengthened vertebrae, the exact same number of vertebrae that … Read more

The giraffe heart is quite a powerful pumping machine. A giraffe’s heart can weigh up to 22 pounds and about 2 feet long in size. It must produce about double the normal blood pressure compared to other large mammals to maintain blood flow to the brain. The giraffe’s heart has to be big enough to … Read more

A giraffe holds its legs out straight to the side when bending to get a drink of water. Giraffes have a unique circulatory system, and its heart, which can weigh up to 22 pounds, must generate about twice the normal blood pressure for an average large mammal to maintain blood flow to the brain. The … Read more

Giraffes are herbivores and love to browse and eat the twigs of Acacia trees, and they also eat grass and fruit. The giraffe has developed a specially-adapted tough tongue and lips due to their diet, which may occasionally include tree thorns. As a ruminant, the giraffe first chews its food, then swallows for processing and … Read more

There are only two different species in the family Giraffidae on earth. One is the okapi, also called a forest giraffe, which looks like a cross between a zebra, a mule, and a giraffe. The other is the steppe giraffe, the one we’re most familiar with. But there are seven different subspecies of steppe giraffes, … Read more

The giraffe has one of the shortest sleep requirements of any mammal. Giraffes sleep between ten minutes and two hours in a 24-hour period, averaging about 2 hours per day. Since an adult giraffe would make a good supper for a lion on the African plain, they’ve evolved some very interesting sleep patterns. When they … Read more

The name the giraffe calf that was born in 2001 at the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington is Jana, which means “large child” or “fine child” in Swahili. Jana was the second girl offspring for Griff. Griff has also birthed four males. The survival rate of a baby giraffe in the wild is relatively low. … Read more

A giraffe calf is born into this world by experiencing gravity and a shocking thud. The 5 foot plus baby giraffe must drop 6 feet or more from the mother’s womb to the ground because giraffes give birth standing up. Giraffe gestation lasts between 400 and 460 days and usually a single calf is born. … Read more

Miniature horses are bred for their small size, and are found in many nations, particularly in Europe and the Americas. Miniature horses are the size of a very small pony, most have regular horse characteristics and are considered “horses” biologically. They are usually friendly and have good people skills, which makes them good household pets, … Read more

Mister Ed was an American television sit-com that first aired on January 5, 1961 and ended on February 6, 1966 on CBS. The stars of the show were Mister Ed, an intelligent horse who could talk, and his owner, an eccentric and klutzy architect named Wilbur Post. Mister Ed’s real name was Bamboo Harvester, and … Read more

Zebras and Horses can indeed mate and produce offspring, and they do this regularly. And Zebras can mate not just with horses, but with donkeys as well. Zebras and horses are crossbred, usually a zebra stallion with a horse mare, not just for curiosity’s sake but because they also make good pack animals. They’re usually … Read more

Jack is the diminutive or short form of the common name John, although it is also often used as a proper name. The name Jack was so common at one point that it was used for addressing any male. It was eventually used to designate any male person, male animals, and even a variety of … Read more

Braying is the characteristic sound made by donkeys and most mules. Donkeys use braying to communicate with other donkeys and they will bray more frequently when a new donkey is encountered. Braying usually lasts for twenty seconds, and may be written onomatapoeically as “eeyore”. Eeyore is also the name of the donkey in Winnie-the-Pooh. Braying … Read more

Mules are not native to America. The mule made it from Europe to America because George Washington developed an interest in the animal. He had heard that farms throughout Spain were using an amazing work animal that was stronger and more surefooted than either the horse or the donkey. Best of all, it ate less, … Read more

The term megafauna comes from the words mega, meaning “powerful, big,” and fauna, which means “animals.” While megafauna is most often used to describe the huge and now extinct Ice Age creatures like the woolly mammoth or the mastodon, the term can also be applied to the large African and Asian animals which are actual … Read more

Elephantiasis is sometimes mistakenly spelled elephantitis, and it’s not actually a disease but a condition. It’s a condition caused by a malfunctioning lymph system. When the body’s lymph system is taxed or not working correctly, it can’t effectively fight off bacteria. Sometimes this can lead to swelling in various body parts and a hardening of … Read more

Big elephant ears are all the better to hear you with my dear. But seriously. Elephants have big, floppy, oversize ears that can be six and a half feet long and nearly as wide. They have several functions, but helping them hear is not one of them. One is to make the elephant look even … Read more

It’s not true that elephants love to eat peanuts. Spending most of the day eating the leaves, bark, and fruits of trees and shrubs, Elephants are herbivores, and they may also eat grasses and herbs. Digesting about half of what they eat, Elephants are browsers in the wild, and are known to love pumpkins and … Read more

It is possible to cross a llama with a camel, but not easily. First, the basics. Camel sex is difficult, as far as these things go. The male can’t do the do unless he is all the way into the she-camel’s cervix, not just the outside. The female has to be totally receptive to sex, … Read more

The word “Jerky” comes from the Quechua or Amerindian word “Charqui”, which means dried llama meat, or llama jerky. Charqui or charque, is a form of jerky popular in South America made from dried and salted horse or llama meat, and sometimes beef. The people of the Inca Empire used a freeze drying process that … Read more

People of the Inca Empire in the Andes mountains have been using llamas for at least 5,000 years, probably making them the first large domesticated pack animal, or beast of burden. The llama were of symbolical significance to Inca royalty and llama figures were often buried with the dead. Even the Inca deity Urcuchillay was … Read more

The vicuña is a wild South American camelid which lives in the high alpine areas of the Andes. It is a relative of the llama, and the vicuña is believed to be the wild ancestor or relative of domesticated alpacas, which are raised for their fibre. The vicuña is smaller and more graceful than the … Read more

There are four variants of Peru’s national coat of arms. They are, the Coat of Arms per se, the National Coat of Arms or National Shield, the Great Seal of the State, and the Naval Coat of Arms. All four versions of Peru’s national coat of arms include the vicuña, because it is the national … Read more

Llamas are not too picky about their food and will eat hay, grass, and grain. Domesticated Llamas are usually fed a mixture of bromgrass hay, alfalfa hay and corn silage, and a llama owner has a wide variety of commercial and farm based food products to choose from. Young llamas, which are still growing, require … Read more

Llamas give quite a few warning signals before they actually spit, and when properly raised, spitting at a human is a rare event. If you’re not sure, ask yourself, “If I were a llama, would what I’m doing scare me or make me so angry I could spit?” If the answer is yes, there’s your … Read more

Many people use llamas for packing, and they are perfect for long backpacking trips. Because of the llama’s easy-going nature, many people are enjoying wilderness treks that they would not be able to with other pack animals. Most places don’t allow you to rent one of their animals without a guide and a specific trek … Read more

It is highly unlike that you will hurt or injure a llama if you pack too much load on it. However, Llamas have this great mechanism that kicks in when you load them with more weight than they can handle. They just sit down and refuse to budge. In the Inca empire llamas were the … Read more

The only Llama we know of in Tibet would be the Dalai Lama, although he currently doesn’t live there anymore. Llamas are believed to have originated from the central plains of North America about 40 million years ago. They migrated to South America and Asia about 3 million years ago, and by the end of … Read more

The water buffalo is a large bovine animal, and is commonly used as livestock in southern Asia, and in South America, north Africa, and even southern Europe. The domestic variety of the water buffalo is the product of thousands of years of selective breeding in South Asia and descend from one common ancestor, the Wild … Read more

There are no wild reindeer on earth, but that’s only by a technicality. Reindeer are by definition smaller, domesticated caribou, which means technically that there are no “wild” reindeer in the world. So what do people do with captive reindeer, you may be wondering? Think of them as an arctic camel. Their feet are wide … Read more

Reindeer got their name because they belong to the deer family, and they can wear reins, but that’s the simple version. More likely, the name rein (deer) is of Norse origin from the Old Norse word “hreinn”, which goes back to Proto-Germanic hraina and Proto-Indo-European kroino, meaning “horned animal”. In Finnish the reindeer is known … Read more

The name Caribou is believed to have come from its Micmac Indian name xalibu, “the one who paws,” hinting at the caribou’s trait of pawing in the snow for lichen. Caribou is a term used in North America for wild reindeer. Originally, the reindeer was found in Scandinavia, eastern Europe, Russia, and northern China. Large … Read more

Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer made his debut in 1939. Not surprisingly, Rudolph was originally created as part of an ad campaign. The Chicago-based Montgomery Ward department store asked an employee, veteran copywriter Robert May, to come up with a character the store could use in holiday coloring books to pass out at Christmas. As he … Read more

In Clement Moore’s 1822 Christmas poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” which we call ” ‘Twos the Night Before Christmas,” the reindeer is named Donder, from the Dutch word meaning “thunder.” However, in the popular song “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” the reindeer is called Donner. Donner means “thunder” in German, so it’s not such a … Read more

Some elephants are still used as transportation in India and Asia, but not nearly as many as in the past. This is primarily because most forests have been cut away, reducing the number of elephants needed for logging, a once dependable job for the beast. Also, motor vehicles are rapidly displacing elephants as transportation in … Read more

The African Elephant is hardly ever used as a working animal. In the Congo, people have had some small success training African forest elephants. But as a rule African Elephants are difficult to train, and even then are never fully docile, so the practice never really caught on in other parts of Africa. If you … Read more