King Cormorants

Scientific Classification

• Kingdom:Animalia
• Phylum:Chordata
• Class:Aves
• Order:Ciconiiformes
• Family:Phalacrocoracidae
• Genus:Phalacrocorax
• Genus species:Phalacrocorax albiventer

Animal Characteristics
Identification:The king cormorant has black feathers, a long hooked bill, a long thin neck and tail, and their gular area is pointed and yellow. The king cormorant has a white patch on its flank.
Habitat:Coastal and freshwater areas
Diet:Carnivore: fish, aquatic invertebrates
Reproduction:Each brood consists of 3-4 eggs that are incubated for 29-31 days before hatching. The chicks fledge at 50 days of age.
Social Structure:King cormorants nest in well-spaced colonies.
Behavior:Crowded colony conditions and the fact that king cormorants are very unsteady on land is the reason they have very complex behaviors. An adult leaving the nest must let its neighbors know that it is leaving by opening its mouth and displaying its colored mouth and tongue. Each species uses its own set of distinct displays for take off, landing, courtship, and other events.
Status:No special status
Interesting Facts:The expandable throat area is not used to capture fish, but rather it helps to position fish for swallowing, is used as a signaling device, and helps to cool down these primarily dark feathered birds.

Black-Backed Gulls

Scientific Classification

• Kingdom:Animalia
• Phylum:Chordata
• Class:Aves
• Order:Charadriiformes
• Family:Laridae
• Genus:Larus
• Genus species:Larus dominicanus

Animal Characteristics
Head-Body Length:55 cm
Identification:The plumage of the Southern black-backed gull is white. The upper wing and saddle are black with white tips. This gull has a yellow bill with a red spot at the tip.
Habitat:Beaches, rocky areas, grasslands, ledges, glacial islets
Diet:Carnivore: shellfish, invertebrates, fish, carrion, eggs, chicks
Reproduction:Mating takes place in September or October in large, dispersed colonies. The time of breeding is usually staggered in these colonies so chicks do not hatch all at once. Each female lays up to three eggs, which are incubated for 23-30 days. The chicks fledge at 45-60 days of age.
Social Structure:Thousands of kelp gulls will gather to roost. These birds usually live in the colonies into which they were born.
Behavior:Because they have such a varied diet, gulls use a wide variety of feeding techniques. They can be very aggressive, stealing eggs and chicks from neighboring nests.
Status:No special status
Interesting Facts:This is the only gull species found in the southern oceans.

Sidewinder And Egyptian Viper

Scientific Classification

• Kingdom:Animalia
• Phylum:Chordata
• Class:Reptilia
• Order:Squamata
• Family:Viperidae
• Genus:Crotalus
• Genus species:Crotalus cerastes

Animal Characteristics
Head-Body Length:46-81 cm
Identification:The skin of the sidewinder is lightly colored with darker patches and a dark eye stripe along the sides of the head. The scales are keeled, and the head has supraocular scales that are upturned and pointed.
Habitat:Deserts
Diet:Carnivore: lizards, rodents
Reproduction:Mating takes place in April and May. Five to eighteen young are born per female in the late summer/early fall.
Social Structure:Sidewinders are solitary except in the winter where they may hibernate in large numbers.
Behavior:Sidewinders perform combat dancing between two males for the right to breed with a female in the area. Combat dancing includes: entwining necks while raising the fore portions of their bodies, fleet darting movements, and toppling each other.
Status:No special status
Interesting Facts:Sidewinders get their name from their interesting way of moving across the sand. Their body actually moves sideways in an S-shaped curve.

Striped Hyena

Scientific Classification

• Kingdom:Animalia
• Phylum:Chordata
• Class:Mammalia
• Order:Carnivora
• Family:Hyaenidae
• Genus:Hyaena
• Genus species:Hyaena hyaena

Animal Characteristics
Head-Body Length:99-122 cm
Weight:30-40 kg
Identification:The striped hyena is gray or yellowish-gray in color with black stripes on its body and legs. The muzzle, throat, and neck are black. This hyena also has a long, erectile mane down its back.
Habitat:Dry savannas, bush country, semi deserts, deserts
Diet:Carnivore: carrion, young sheep and goats, small mammals, birds, lizards, snakes, insects
Reproduction:After a gestation period of 84 days, 2-4 young are born. Both parents help care for the pups. Striped hyenas can live up to 24 years old in captivity.
Social Structure:These animals are solitary except for breeding pairs during mating season.
Behavior:Striped hyenas establish their own home ranges and are nocturnal.
Status:No special status
Interesting Facts:The ability of the stripped hyena to break up and digest dry bones is undoubtedly its major peculiarity.

African Jacana

Scientific Classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Aves

• Order:Ciconiiformes
• Family:Jacanidae
• Genus:Actophilornis
• Genus species:Actophilornis africanus
• Animal Characteristics
• Head-Body Length:30 cm

Identification:The African jacana has a brown body with a bright blue frontal shield and beak. They have extremely long toes and a white foreneck and face.
Habitat:Tropical wetlands, marshes, rivers, lakes
Diet:Omnivore: aquatic insects, crustaceans, seeds
Reproduction:The breeding season falls between October and April. After her mate builds a nest out of floating vegetation, the female lays four eggs. Males are responsible for incubating the eggs for 25 days while the female moves on to mate with 2-3 other males. The chicks leave the nest within a couple of hours of hatching and are capable of feeding themselves. However, they will remain under their father's protection for three months.
Social Structure:When not breeding, jacanas may be seen in flocks containing hundreds of birds.
Behavior:Jacanas have been known to use other animals such as hippos to attract flies. Besides walking on water, jacanas are excellent swimmers and divers.
Status:No special status
Interesting Facts:The long toes of the jacana are used to walk on floating vegetation such as lily pads. Once a year, they will molt and become completely flightless, so it is imperative that they be excellent swimmers.

Robin

The robin is a small bird, originally found in only Europe and Asia. The robin today can be found across the world in parts of Africa, North America and New Zealand but all of these robin species are believed to be subspecies of the European robin.

The European robin has a bright orange/red chest and is the most distinctive bird of the robin family. Despite the bright chest of the European robin, other species of female robin are fairly plain and brown in colour. The female robin is very similar in both size and appearance to the nightingale and the two are commonly confused.

The New Zealand robin and the North American robin look fairly similar to the female European robin, and all these robins are brown in colour. The North American robin is not to be confused with the American robin which is actually a member of the thrush family rather than being a species of robin. The American robin is named after the European robin due to it's brightly coloured orange chest.

There are thought to be more than 45 different species of robin found on the Australian continent including Australia, Papua New Guinea and numerous other islands in the South Pacific. These birds are known as Australasian robins and are all small sized, with a stocky build and rounded head.

Robins are omnivorous birds feeding on a mixture of both plants and animals. The robin primarily eats insects and worms, which it does so by swooping down on them from the perch it has been watching it's prey from. Robins sit on tree branches and in hedgerows watching their prey moving around on the ground before they suddenly fly down to eat. Robins also eat fruits, seeds and berries when they are in abundance during the warmer months of the year.

Generally, robins do not migrate (particularly those found in the UK). It is known however, that those robins that inhabit areas within the Arctic circle, such as Scandinavia, do migrate south to the warmer climates of the United Kingdom and parts of Europe to escape the bitterly cold winters.

Robins mate in the late winter to early spring. Female robins build a nest not far from the ground generally in trees or dense hedgerows. It is not uncommon however to find robins nesting is slightly strange places such as holes in stone walls and even in letter boxes. The female robin lays 4 or 5 white coloured eggs that hatch after an incubation period of just under 2 weeks. Although the male robin does not help to incubate the eggs, male robins are known to bring the female robins food whilst they are sitting on their nest.

When the robin chicks hatch they are a brown colour and do not develop the bright orange chest of their parents until they are older. The female robin regularly leaves her chicks in order to help the male robin collect food. Both parents are known to feed their robin chicks for the first month, although robin families are known to abandon their original nest after two weeks of the chicks hatching and find somewhere new where food is in greater supply.

Due to their small size, robins have a number of natural predators in the wild including cats, dogs, foxes, raccoons and even larger birds. Other animals such as rats and snakes are known to eat the eggs of the robin if for some reason the female robin cannot protect them.

Masked Palm Civet

The masked palm civet is a smaller species of civet found throughout the jungles of south-east Asia and across the Indian sub-continent. The masked palm civet is also known as the Himalayan Palm Civet and is most well known to the general public as it is thought to have introduced SARS disease to human inhabitants of the native habitats.

The masked palm civet is found inhabiting the tropical jungles and rainforests throughout much of south-east Asia, and throughout India and China. The masked palm civet is also found on a number of the tropical islands surrounding the Asian continent including Taiwan, Borneo and Sumatra. Unfortunately, masked palm civets have been drastically affected by increasing deforestation (and therefore habitat loss) in their native regions.

The masked palm civet is widely spread and fairly commonly found throughout much of south-east Asia and despite their cat-like appearance and behaviours, masked palm civets are not felines at all but are in fact more closely related to other small carnivores including weasels and mongooses. The eyes of the masked palm civet are masked by two black bands and are surrounded by a series of white spots.

The masked palm civet is solitary animal that only comes out under the cover of night to hunt and catch food. These nocturnal animals are primarily ground-dwelling and highly terrestrial as they mark their ranges by dragging their anal glands along the ground. Despite being predominately ground-dwelling though the masked palm civet is known to climb up into the trees either in search of food or to hide from approaching predators.

The masked palm civet is a carnivorous animal, and like other species of civet, it survives on a meat-based diet, supplemented by the odd plant or fruit. Small animals such as rodents, lizards, snakes and frogs make up the majority of the masked palm civet's diet, along with insects and other small creatures scuttling through the under-growth. Masked palm civets are also known to eat the fruits and flowers of palms, mangos and coffee in their natural habitats.

Despite being a secretive yet relatively ferocious predatory animals, the masked palm civet is actually preyed upon by a number of predators within their natural environment. Large predatory cats are the most common predators of the masked palm civet including tigers and leopards along with reptiles such as large snakes and crocodiles.

The female masked palm civet usually gives birth to up to 4 young after a gestation period that lasts for a couple of months. The babies are weaned by their mother until they are strong enough to fend for themselves. Masked palm civets can live for up to 20 years, although most rarely get to be this old.

Today, the masked palm civet is under threat from deforestation and therefore drastic loss of much of its natural habitat. The main reason for such extensive deforestation in the area is either for logging or to clear the land to make way for palm oil plantations.

Manta Ray

The manta ray is a large species of flattened fish, closely related to other cartilaginous fish such as sharks. The manta ray is the largest species of ray in the world with some manta ray individuals reaching up to 9 meters wide.

The manta ray is most commonly found in the warmer, tropical of waters of the world's oceans, typically around coral reefs and along the continental shelves where food is in abundance. However, due to their enormous size, manta rays are also commonly spotted hunting out in the open ocean.

The manta ray is a solitary animal and is also a graceful swimmer. Like other large species of fish, manta rays swim by moving their pectoral fins up and down which propels their enormous body through the surrounding water. The short tail of the manta ray also allows the manta ray to be more acrobatic with it's movement, and they have even be seen leaping out of the water.

Manta rays are known to frequently visit cleaning stations where small fish such as wrasse and angelfish swim in the manta ray's gills and over it's skin to feed, in the process cleaning it of parasites and dead tissue. Manta rays are generally not interested in eating these smaller fish as they are providing a great service to the manta ray.

Unlike many sharks, manta rays do not actually have teeth and instead sieve the food particles out of the water using rows of tiny plates in their mouths, which they funnel in their mouths as they swim. Manta rays eat tiny marine organisms including microscopic plankton, small fish and crustaceans.

Despite it's large size, the relatively docile nature of the manta ray means that it is actually preyed upon by a number of large marine predators. Large species of shark such as the great white shark, killer whales and also humans are known to hunt the manta ray.

After mating the female manta ray lays a couple of eggs which actually develop and then hatch inside her. This process is known as aplacental viviparity and is quite commonly seen in the reproduction of a number of shark and ray species. Within 6 weeks of hatching, the female manta ray gives birth to 1 or 2 manta ray pups, which develop into large adults fairly quickly.

Today, although the manta ray is not considered to be a species that is in imminent danger of extinction in the wild, the manta ray population numbers have been declining more quickly in recent years. Manta rays are particularly susceptible to pollution in the water and are quickly affected by overfishing in certain areas, and therefore a lack of food.

Possum

The possum is a medium-sized marsupial that is natively found in Australia, Papua New Guinea and Sulawesi, which is a tropical island found in the Indonesian Archipelago. Today the possum has also been introduced to New Zealand and parts of China.

There are 69 different species of possum found in the far east, all of which range of size and colour. The pygmy possum is the smallest species of possum in the world, growing to just 10cm tall, where the brushtail possum can reach more than a meter in height.

In general, the possum is roughly the same size and weight of a domestic cat. The possum is not to be confused with the opossum, which is found in North America and is the only marsupial which inhabits areas outside of Australia and it's surrounding islands.

Possums tend to be found inhabiting bush-lands and rainforests where the possums live in hollow trees and logs. The possum lives a predominantly arboreal lifestyle meaning that the possum spends most of it's time in the trees.

Possums are nocturnal animals and therefore, the possum only hunts for food in the cover of the night. The possum spends the lighter daytimes, resting in hollow trees out of site from predators.

Possums have long prehensile tails, which are naked on the underside which gives the possum more grip when it is in the trees. Possums also have sharp claws which enable them to climb up tree trunks more easily.

Possums are omnivorous animals so possums naturally eat a variety of both plants and other animals. Possums feed on almost anything they can find including insects, leaves, flowers, nectar, fruits and even small mammals, birds and reptiles.

The possum has a number of predators in the wild, which vary depending on the region which the possum inhabits. Foxes, cats and birds of prey are the main predators of the possum but other animals such as Tasmanian devils, dogs, dingos and snakes also prey on the possum.

The possum is a very solitary animal, and possum individuals only really come together to mate. The possum is thought to breed throughout the year rather than having a strict breeding season. The female possum gives birth to between 2 and 4 baby possums after a gestation period of just a couple of weeks. As with all marsupials, the female possum has a pouch on her tummy which the new born possum babies crawl into and stay until they are bigger, less vulnerable and able to start feeding themselves. Typically only one of the possum babies will survive and emerge from the pouch after 6 or 7 months.

In some areas, the possum is seen to be a pest as they are known to hunt in urban waste and compost bins in search of food. Possums are generally considered to not be threatened with extinction, although some of the rarer species of possum, such as the cuscus, are threatened animals or even considered to be endangered.

Opossum

The opossum is a medium-sized animal that is found inhabiting farmland and forested areas of North America. The opossum is thought to have evolved from the basic marsupials that lived in the jungles of South America.

The opossum is often referred to as a possum, although there is no direct link between the possums of Australia and the opossum of America. The opossum is the only species of marsupial that is found outside of Australia an it's surrounding islands.

The opossum is found inhabiting areas of grassland, farmland and woodland in North America. The opossum is also found in urban areas where the opossum can be a pest as it feeds on rubbish, and food that it finds lying around. The opossum is generally found in areas that are close to water.

The opossum is known to be one of the world's animals that carries rabies and the opossum is much more likely to have the disease than any other animal. Opossums are also thought to have some immunity towards the venom of certain snakes such as pit vipers and rattlesnakes.

The opossum is an omnivorous animal and will eat almost anything that it can find. Opossums mainly feed on insects, frogs, birds, snakes, small mammals, and earthworms. The opossum is also a great scavenger and will feed on left over kills of other animals along with road-kill.

The opossum has a number of natural predators in it's environment although the main predators of the opossum are birds of prey such as owls and eagles, dogs, foxes and cats. Humans are one of the main predators of the opossum as they hunt them for meat but the opossum is also commonly killed on the roads by cars.

As with all marsupials, the female opossum has a pouch in which it rears it's young. The opossum gives birth to as many as 15 babies, which are born in just a couple of weeks. After birth, the opossum babies, crawl up into their mother's pouch where they continue to grow and develop until they are a couple of months old.

The opossum is an animal that is not threatened with extinction although due to deforestation and habitat loss, opossums are becoming increasingly common in urban and suburban areas.