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animals - Photos

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Beautiful Polar Bear Pictures

April 21st 2008 08:03

Today's post features some of the most beautiful pictures of polar bears you will find anywhere. See many more majestic photos at Paul Nicklen Photography here.

Polar bears are the world's largest land carnivores, with most adult males weighing 300-600 kg (660-1320 lb); adult females are about half the size of males. A Polar Bear's fur is hollow and translucent, but usually appears as white or cream coloured, thus providing the animal with effective camouflage. Its skin is actually black in colour. Its thick blubber and fur insulate it against the cold. The bear has a short tail and small ears that help reduce heat loss, as well as a relatively small head and long, tapered body to streamline it for swimming.

A semi-aquatic marine mammal, the polar bear has adapted for life on a combination of land, sea, and ice, and is the apex predator within its range. It feeds mainly on seals, young walruses, and whales, although it will eat anything it can kill.

The polar bear is a vulnerable species at high risk of extinction. Zoologists and climatologists believe that the projected decreases in the polar sea ice due to global warming will reduce their population by two thirds by mid-century.

Polar Bears are also popular attractions at theme parks and zoos around the world.

*These images used with permission from Damn Funny Pictures.

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Posted By: Ian - Category: animals

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Cougars

March 31st 2008 11:00

The cougar, also puma, mountain lion, or panther, is a mammal native to the Americas. This large, solitary cat has the greatest range of any wild terrestrial mammal in the Western Hemisphere, extending from Yukon in Canada to the southern Andes of South America. It is the fourth heaviest cat in the world, after the tiger, lion, and jaguar, although it is most closely related to smaller felines.

A capable stalk-and-ambush predator, the cougar pursues a wide variety of prey. Primary food sources include ungulates such as deer and bighorn sheep, as well as domestic cattle, horses, and sheep, particularly in the northern part of its range, but it hunts species as small as insects and rodents. It prefers habitats with dense underbrush and rocky areas for stalking, but it can live in open areas. The cougar is territorial and persists at low population densities. Attacks on humans remain rare, despite a recent increase in frequency.

*These images used with permission from Damn Funny Pictures.

**This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation Licence. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Cougar.

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Toucan Birds

March 17th 2008 11:14

Toucans are near most closely related to American barbets. They are brightly marked and have large, colorful bills. The family includes about forty different species. The name Toucan is derived from Tupi tucana, via French.

Toucan's bodies are short (of comparable size to a crow's) and compact. The tail is rounded and varies in length, from half the length to the whole length of the body. The neck is short and thick.

The colorful, giant bill, which in some large species measure more than half the length of the body, is the hallmark of toucans. Despite its size it is very light, being composed of bone struts with little solid material between them. The bill has forward-facing serrations resembling teeth, which historically led naturalists to believe that toucans captured fish and were primarily carnivorous, but today we know that they eat mostly fruit. Why the bill is so large and brightly colored is still unknown. As there is no sexual dimorphism in coloration it is unlikely to be a sexual signal, and their diet does not require a bill that size. It has been theorised that the bill may intimidate smaller birds, so that the toucan may plunder nests undisturbed. Also, the beak allows the bird to reach deep into tree holes to access food unavailable to other birds, and also to demolish suspended nests built by smaller birds.

A toucan's tongue is long (up to 14-15 cm, or 6 inches), narrow, grey, and singularly frayed on each side, adding to its sensitivity as an organ of taste.

*This image used with permission from Damn Funny Pictures.

**This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation Licence. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Toucan.

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Hummingbird

February 25th 2008 10:58

Hummingbirds are small birds native only to the Americas. They are known for their ability to hover in mid-air by rapidly flapping their wings, 15–80 times per second. Capable of sustained hovering, the hummingbird has the ability to fly deliberately backwards (this is the only group of birds able to do so) or vertically, and to maintain position while drinking nectar or eating tiny arthropods from flower blossoms. They are named for the characteristic hum made by their wings.

The Bee Hummingbird is the smallest bird in the world, weighing 1.8 grams (0.06 ounces) and measuring about 5 cm (2 inches).

With the exception of insects, hummingbirds while in flight have the highest metabolism of all animals, a necessity in order to support the rapid beating of their wings. Their heart rate can reach as high as 1,260 beats per minute. They also typically consume more than their own weight in nectar each day, and to do so they must visit hundreds of flowers daily. At any given moment, they are only hours away from starving.

*These images used with permission from Damn Funny Pictures.

**This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation Licence. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Hummingbird.

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Animals in the Womb

February 13th 2008 14:50

Incredible pictures of baby animals developing in the Uterus!

Baby dolphin developing in its mother's womb

*These pictures used with permission from Damn Funny Pictures.

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Robert Bateman Art

January 23rd 2008 10:47

Robert Bateman (born 1930-05-24) is a Canadian naturalist and painter. He was born in Toronto. Even as a child he was interested in art and wildlife. He found inspiration from the Group of Seven, making abstract paintings of nature. It wasn’t until the mid 1960’s that he changed to his present style, realism.

Bateman was always interested in art, but he never intended on making a living from it. He was fascinated by the natural world in his childhood. As a child he recorded the sightings of all of the birds in the area of his house in Toronto. Although the stage was set for an expert wildlife artist, Bateman moved on to be a high school history teacher. However, he still painted in his free time. It wasn’t until the 1970’s and 1980’s that his work started to receive major recognition. Robert Bateman's show in 1987, at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, drew the largest crowd a living artist ever has there

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Weasels

January 18th 2008 11:30

Weasels vary in length from fifteen to thirty-five centimetres (six to fourteen inches), and usually have a light brown upper coat, white belly and black fur at the tip of the tail; in many species, populations living at high latitudes moult to a white coat with black fur at the tip of the tail in winter. They have long slender bodies, which enable them to follow their prey into burrows. Their tails are typically almost as long as the rest of their bodies. As is typical of small carnivores, weasels have a reputation for cleverness and guile. They also have tails that can be anywhere from 22-33 cm long and they use these to defend the food they get and to claim territory from other weasels.

Weasels feed on small mammals, and in former times were considered vermin since some species took poultry from farms, or rabbits from commercial warrens. Certain species of weasel and ferrets, have been reported to perform the mesmerizing weasel war dance, after fighting other creatures, or acquiring food from competing creatures. In folklore at least, this dance is particularly associated with the stoat

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Wallabies

January 14th 2008 11:24

A wallaby is any of about thirty species of macropod. It is an informal designation generally used for any macropod that is smaller than a kangaroo or wallaroo that has not been given some other name.

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Bear Cub

January 4th 2008 14:22

Today's picture is a fantastic photo of a mother and her baby, featuring the cutest bear cub you've ever seen!

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Polar Bears

December 28th 2007 12:46

The polar bear is a bear native to the Arctic. Polar bears and Kodiak bears are the world's largest land carnivores, with most adult males weighing 300-600 kg (660-1320 lb); adult females are about half the size of males. Its fur is hollow and translucent, but usually appears as white or cream colored, thus providing the animal with effective camouflage. Its skin is actually black in color. Its thick blubber and fur insulate it against the cold. The bear has a short tail and small ears that help reduce heat loss, as well as a relatively small head and long, tapered body to streamline it for swimming.

A semi-aquatic marine mammal, the polar bear has adapted for life on a combination of land, sea, and ice, and is the apex predator within its range. It feeds mainly on seals, young walruses, and whales, although it will eat anything it can kill

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Moose

December 19th 2007 12:27

Moose (plural Moose) is the North American name for the largest extant species in the deer family. The same animal is called the elk in Europe. Moose are distinguished by the palmate antlers of the males; other members of the family have antlers with a "twig-like" configuration. Moose are hunted as a game species.
Below is a painting and some photos of Moose. You can find more here.

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Arctic Fox

December 7th 2007 10:51

The Arctic fox has evolved to live in the most frigid extremes on the planet. Among its adaptations for cold survival are its deep, thick fur, a system of counter current heat exchange in the circulation of paws to keep them from freezing, and a good supply of body fat. The fox has a low surface-area-to-volume ratio as evidenced by its generally rounded body shape, short muzzle and legs, and short, thick ears. Since less of its surface area is exposed to the cold, less heat escapes the body. Its furry paws allow it to walk on ice floors in search of food. It is also able to walk on top of snow and listen for the movements of prey underneath. It has the warmest fur of any mammal. The thick fur on the fox helps keep him or her warm.

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Mongoose

November 21st 2007 10:27

A mongoose (plural mongooses or mongeese) is a small cat-like carnivore. Mongooses are widely distributed in Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, and southern Europe. There are more than thirty species, ranging from one to four feet in length. Some species of mongeese will usually lead solitary lives, seeking out food only for themselves, while others travel in groups, known as mongaggles.

A mongaggle. Group of Mongooses or Mongeese

In these larger groups, they will tend to cooperate and share food amongst themselves. Mongeese mostly feed on insects, crabs, earthworms, lizards, snakes, chickens, and rodents. However, they will also eat eggs and carrion. Some species, such as the Indian mongoose, are popularly used to fight and kill venomous snakes, even king cobras. They are able to do this because of their agility and cunning, thick coat and high resistance to the venom, but typically avoid the cobra and have no particular affinity for consuming their meat

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Cobras

November 14th 2007 12:13

A cobra is a venomous snake of family Elapidae. Cobras generally inhabit tropical and desert regions of Asia and Africa.

The most common cobra is the Indian cobra or Spectacled cobra Naja naja, native to the Indian subcontinent and associated with snake charming there. The Black cobra, found in Pakistan and North India, is generally considered to be a sub-species

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