Very Interesting facts about Squirrels

Squirrel is one of the cutest animals on this planet. But there are very few facts which we know about them. This article will try to give you some insights about this wonderful animal.

The word “Squirrel” comes from the Greek word Skiouros which means shadow tail. They belong to the order rodentia. Click here to know more about orders of class mammalia.

They are found naturally in every continent except Australia (now introduced by humans) and Antarctica. Usually they live in trees and the holes created by the trunk.

Like all other members of the rodent family they have a large incisor which never stop growing through out their life.

Squirrels have a special liking for nuts. Apart from nuts they also like to eat small insects, leaves, tree bark, roots etc.

There are 200 species of squirrel around the world. Among all African pigmy squirrel is the smallest. The full height of the species is 10 centimeter only and can weight just 10 gm. The largest squirrel is the Alpine Marmot which can reach up to 73 centimeter and can weights 5 to 8 kilos.
Being a mammal they have sweat glands but those are present only in their feet.

They have strong and long muscular hind legs and small front leg. The hind legs help them to jump up to a distance of 20 feet.They have 5 toes in their back feet but only four on their front. Their thumbs have not developed properly and the paws have padding (like cats) inside.

While falling from a height they use their tail both as balance and as a parachute.

They show camaraderie while living in a group. This feature is prominent if a group comes under any type of danger. They produce alarming sound to the group to alert them from possible danger.

The outer coating of a squirrel is filled with soft and silky fur. This is one of the reasons why they appear so cute to us. They also have a very large (compared to their body size) eye. This justifies their excellent vision which is very essential for tree living.

They have a gestation period of 44 days. Baby squirrels are blind at the time of birth.

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Interesting Facts about Rhinoceros

Today’s article is about Interesting facts of Rhinoceros. Whenever we think about a Rhinoceros a first thing comes to our mind is their horn/horns. But there are many other interesting facts which we generally don’t know about them. We hope this article will give you some insights about that.

The word Rhinoceros comes from two words: rhino which means nose and ceros meaning horn.

Various types of rhinoceros are found viz. white, black, greater one horned, Javan and Sumatran. Black, white and Sumatran Rhinos have two horns where as Javan and one horned rhinos have only one horn.
Among Rhinos White rhinoceros is the largest. They can weight up to 2500 kgs. They are the largest terrestrial animal after Elephants. Javan Rhinos are the smallest among Rhinos. They can reach a maximum of 900 kgs.

They are herbivorous animal. Black rhinos have prehensile upper lip which helps them to grasp grass. A rhino consumes a lot of plant matter like leaves, grass, bushes etc. and in a normal condition produce close to 50 kgs of dung per day. The unique feature of their dung is that the smell of the dung is different for male female and juvenile.

They have a very thick layer (In an average about 1.5 cm) of skin. Despite this huge thickness their skin is relatively very sensitive towards sunburn or insect bites. Sumatran Rhino has long hair through their body whereas all the rest of the rhinos are hairless.

They are not known for their eye sight which is usually very poor. But they compensate that with excellent sense of smell and hearing.

The famous horn of the rhinoceros is made up of hairs and not bones. Rhino calves are born without horns. These horns continue to grow through out their lifetime.

Rhinoceros is a perissodactyle animal i.e. only one toe of their feet has modified to became the hoof. So they are much more closely related to horse and Zebra than many others. To know more about animal classification click here.

Though they appear to be a slow moving animal they can reach a top speed of 60 km per hour. If you want to know about all the animals which have amazing speed check out this article.

Male rhinos are solitary animal whereas the female rhinos are much more social and stay in groups. A group of Rhino is called a Crash. Rhinos have a very long (close to 2 years) gestation period. Only elephants in the animal kingdom have a greater gestation period than rhinos.
They can live for a period of 35 to 40 years.

Due to their large size and aggressive nature not many animals hunt Rhinos. However Lions, Tigers, crocodiles and wild dogs have sometimes preyed on baby or sick rhinoceros but humans are by far the biggest threat to Rhinos. It is believed particularly in Asia that Rhino’s horns have medicinal properties. But there are no evidence of this has been found. Among all the species 3 (black, Sumatran, and Javan) have been registered under critically endangered in IUCN Red list.

As for you all rhino lovers to know September 22 has been celebrated as world rhino day.

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Horses: some interesting facts

Horses are very interesting animals; they are a part of human civilization from a very early period. Here in this article we will discuss some interesting facts about them.

Horses are the member of the order perisodactyla in class mammalia. The details of classification can be found here.

The horse has evolved from a small multi-toed creature to a large single toed animal over 55 million years.

They have been domesticated at around 3500 BC.

The male horse is called stallion, the female horse is called mare and the newborn is called a foal.

Foals are born with larger legs (90% of their adult length). Most of them are born at nights. After 1 hour from their birth, they can stand.

Though horses are famous for their galloping movements, there are 3 other types of movement: walk, trot, and canter. They are known for their speed and can reach up to a speed of 70 km/h. they are one of the fastest animals on this planet.

They have a very good sense of balance.

There are 150 different breeds and types of horses found in the world.

Horses sleep only two to three hours in a day. Most of the time, they sleep standing. Though they lay down but it is for short time.

Unlike ruminants, their digestive system is a one way traffic. They don’t re-chew the food particles one it reached the stomach. They can’t burp, vomit or even take breathe with their mouth.

Arabian horses have 17 ribs (one less than other horse breeds), 5 lumber vertebrae (one less than other horse breeds) and 16 tail vertebrae (others have 18).

Horses have 64 chromosomes. They have 205 bones in average. They don’t posses the collar bone like a human.

They have the largest eye of any land animal. The eyes are laterally place and have a 350 degree span. The external ear can rotate 180 degree.

The hoof of a horse is like finger nail and it constantly grows. For a domestic horse it needs to be clipped after 5 to 6 weeks. They have 4 toes in front and 3 toes in the back foot.

Horses are measured in ‘Hands’. Their size varies from breed to breed. Their average size ranges from 14 to 18 hands.

The gestation period of a horse is approximately 340 days.

Horse can breed with donkey. The result of their breeding is Mule (male donkey and female horse) or Hinny (male horse and female donkey).

Horses have an average life span of 30 to 35 years. The age of a horse can be estimated by its teeth.

Horses are herd animals. In the wild they live in herds. The herd is usually dominated by a mare. They are very social animal and are more comfortable living in company than alone. It can be very stressful for a horse to live alone. They can form companionship along with their own species, and other animals including humans.

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Funny Facts About The Kangaroos

Today’s animal is a very interesting and funny in many senses. They are a part of marsupials. In ancient days this animal was described as an animal whose head is like a dear, who can stand like human and which can leap like a frog. Today’s animal is The KANGAROO.  Let’s discuss some Kangaroo facts here:

Kangaroos naturally can be found only in Australia.

There are 4 types of Kangaroos which can be found:

The Red Kangaroos (Macropus rufus): They are the largest Kangaroo species. Found in arid and semi-arid area of the country.

The Western Grey Kangaroos (Macropus fuliginosus): they are slightly smaller than their other cousins and found only in the southern part of Western Australia.

The Eastern Grey Kangaroos (Macropus giganteus): they are most often seen in the eastern part of Australia and have the largest population amoung the 4 species.

The Antilopine Kangaroos (Macropus antilopinus): their far is some what similar to that of an antelope.

Kangaroos are herbivorous. Tree leaves, shrubs, grasses are their usual food. They don’t drink much water and get most of their water from their food.

Like cow and other ruminating animals, kangaroos have chambered stomach which helps them in digestion.

The average height of a kangaroo can reach up to 8 ft and can weight up to 100 kg.

Their hind leg is much larger and stronger than their fore limb.

The tail of a kangaroo is muscular at the base and it helps keeping balance while hopping.

The primary means of locomotion for a Kangaroo is hopping. This is the only large animal which uses this type of locomotion in their adult stage. The jump can be up to 30 ft in distance. The speed of this type of locomotion can reach up to 60 kmph. They are good swimmers but can not walk backwards.

They are social animal and lives in groups. Usually 10 to 100 kangaroos live in a group. In case of danger, they inform others by thumping their feet into the ground.

Kangaroos give birth to immature babies. A newborn baby can be the size of a rice grain to maximum of a honeybee, which then nursed in their mother’s brood pouch. The newborns stay in their mother’s pouch for 120 to 400 days.

The adult male Kangaroo is called buck and adult female is called doe. The newborns of a Kangaroo are called joeys.

The Kangaroos like all other marsupials have a pouch to rear their young ones.

The gestation period of a female kangaroo is very short 30 to 35 days. As the kangaroo can get pregnant immediately after giving birth, there can be more than one joey in the brood pouch. The milk meant for the newborn are of two types; one for the older one and another for the younger one.

The western grey kangaroos smell like curry.

The Kangaroo is often used as a symbol of Australia.

As per the IUCN Red List Kangaroos are in the list concerned category. They are hunted for their meat and skin.

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Some interesting facts about Zebras

Today we will discuss some interesting features of ZEBRA.

According to mammalian classification, they are the members of the order Perissodactyla in class mammalia. Zebras are found only in wild Africa.

 

There are 3 species of zebras

Plain Zebra: Equus quagga

Mountain Zebra: Equus zebra

Grevy’s Zebra: Equus grevyi

A Zebra can be of 4-5 feet till shoulder and can weighs up to 350 kgs. Males are slightly taller and heavier than the female. Zebras are social animal and they live in herds.

They are herbivorous, and mainly graze on tough grasses.

The most interesting and unique feature of a zebra is the stripes. They are vertical on head, neck, and main body and horizontal on rear ends and legs. Like human fingerprints, each Zebra has unique stripes. Different species have different stripes. Some species have wider stripes than the other. These stripes make it harder for the predators to separate a single zebra and catch. It has also been proved that these stripes help the Zebra to deter insects which tend to such their blood.

Zebras have black with white stripes and not white with black stripes as it was popularly believed.

Zebras can be very unpredictable in their nature and due to this they are not trained like horses.

They are single-toed hoofed (perissodactyle) animal.

Grevy’s Zebra has been named after French President Jules Grevy.  

Zebras are generally slower than horses in terms of top speed but they possess a greater stamina and that helps zebras outpacing predators.

Zebras have rounded (compared to horses), larger ears and excellent hearing. They have excellent eye sight and also have night vision.

They have acute sense of smell and taste.

Like horses zebras sleep standing up.

The life expectancy of a Zebra is 20-30 years in the wild.

It is a matter of shame that Zebras are still hunted for their skin and meat and still are in endangered category.

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Elephants: Some interesting Facts

Today in this article we will discuss some interesting facts about Elephants, the largest terrestrial (which lives on land) animal. These mammals are the members of order Proboscidea. You can find the main article on Mammalian classification here. They are very important species when we consider their impact on environments. Due to this they are considered as keystone species.

There are 2 types of elephants which are found in the world:

African Elephants (Loxodonta africana): They are much bigger than their Asian counterpart. They are found in countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

 And

Asian Elephants (Elephas maximus): smaller in comparison to the African Elephants. They are found mostly in India, Nepal, and south-east Asian countries.

The trunk of an elephant contains more than 50000 muscles. The trunk in an elephant is the most important part of their body. It helps them in breathing, smelling, grasping, and also in sound production. They can carry up to 2 gallons of water in their trunk.

Though the trunk is very powerful and can lift up to 300 kg with ease, it can also perform delicate tasks such as breaking a peanut shell without damaging the seeds.

The tusk in an elephant’s life performs many works. It helps in digging, fighting, or moving tree-branches. Unlike other mammals their teeth (not the tusk only the chewing teeth) got replaces many a times in their life cycle.

Beside their trunk and tusk one of the characteristic features of an Elephant is two huge fans like ears. Besides hearing, their huge ears help them in body heat controlling. The ears of an elephant contain huge numbers of blood capillaries. It helps them to release the excess heat from their body. Elephants can increase the rate of heat release by increasing the flapping the ears.

The skin of an elephant is relatively thick (up to 2.5 cm) when compared with other animals. The skin of an elephant is so sensitive that it can even sense a fly in their skin. Though in most of the part the skin is thick, back of their ear (also called knuckle) is covered with very thin layer of skin and is also one of the softest part of their body. Elephant trainers control elephants by using this soft part of their body.

Elephants cannot rotate their forearms. It is a fact that their forearms carry 60% of their huge body weight.

They are very slow movers. But can swim for a long distance despite their huge built up.

The brain size of an elephant is largest in the animal kingdom.

Height of a fully grown Elephant can reach up to 13 ft (African elephant) and can weight over 6000kg.

They can live up to 70 to 80 years.

Elephants have been reported to be killed for their tusk. They have also suffered loss of habitat due to human encroachment. The African elephants are listed as vulnerable and Indian elephants referred as endangered species in the list of IUCN red list. Find the detailed list of categories here.

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The Giant Panda: the Cute & Adorable Animal

Let us talk today about a very cute animal. We generally call them The Panda. They are also known as The Giant Panda. This article will focus on some of the interesting features of these cute adorable animal.

They are belong to the order carnivora under class mammalia. They are the rarest of the bear family. But unlike other members of this order, 99% of their diet is bamboo.and they spend most of their days time eating bamboo.

They are around 3 ft tall and weighs around 90 to 140 kgs. A new born cub weighs less than 5 ozs. A panda cub is one-nine-hundredth the size of its mother. This is the second most smallest ratio after the kangaroos(the newborn were the size of a jelly bean).

The cute round face of the giant panda is a result of their strong chick muscle. It starts from the head till the jaws. It is so strong that a panda can easily bite through a thick bamboo stalk that humans find tough to cut with an axe.

The major portion of the food eaten by the panda is not digested. They can absorb only 25-30% of the nutrient of a bamboo. the giant panda can defecate up to 40 times a day.

Pandas have plantigrade feet i.e, entire palm(toe and heel) touches the ground like us while walking unlike horse and cattles(where only the toes touch the ground).

The giant panda have 42 teeth.

If you are thinking about keeping one of them as your pet, consider this: Keeping a single panda in a zoo is very  very expensive. It cost more than 5 times of the rearing cost of an Elephant(the next most expensive). 

They eat on an average 30 lbs of bamboo in a day. In the spring time it can reach up to 100 lbs.

They have developed a unique thumb(which is a modified wrist bone) which is helpful in holding the bamboo stalks.

The female panda ovulate only once in a year and they are fertile only for 3 days of a year.

Unlike other bears living in temperate climate, the pandas do not hibernate.

The pandas are the symbol of peace in China. In China giant pandas are consider to be national treasure.

In 1987 the law passed by the china government ensures life sentenced or even death for the crime of killing a panda. In present the law is revised and made 10 to 20 years imprisonment.

The Giant pandas are the symbol of WWF(World Wildlife Fund) for nature.

As per the IUCN red list the panda are endangered species. Just over 1000 pandas are left in the world. The threats are basically from loss of habitat and poaching.

Hope you liked the article and able to know some of the facts which were unknown to you.