JAGUAR

JAGUAR

 The jaguar is the third-largest feline after the tiger and the lion, and the largest in the Western Hemisphere. The jaguar's present range extends from Southwestern United States and Mexico across much of Central America and south to Paraguay and northern Argentina. Apart from a known and possibly breeding population in Arizona southeast of Tucson, the cat has largely been extirpated from the United States since the early 20th century.This spotted cat most closely resembles the leopard physically, although it is usually larger and of sturdier build and its behavioral and habitat characteristics are closer to those of the tiger. While dense rainforest is its preferred habitat, the jaguar will range across a variety of forested and open terrains. It is strongly associated with the presence of water and is notable, along with the tiger, as a feline that enjoys swimming. The jaguar is largely a solitary, opportunistic, stalk-and-ambush predator at the top of the food chain an apex predator. It is a keystone species, playing an important role in stabilizing ecosystems and regulating the populations of the animals it hunts. The jaguar has an exceptionally powerful bite, even relative to the other big cats. This allows it to pierce the shells of armored reptiles and to employ an unusual killing method: it bites directly through the skull of prey between the ears to deliver a fatal bite to the brain.
The jaguar is a near threatened species and its numbers are declining. Threats include loss and fragmentation of habitat. While international trade in jaguars or their parts is prohibited, the cat is still frequently killed by humans, particularly in conflicts with ranchers and farmers in South America. Although reduced, its range remains large. Given its historical distribution, the jaguar has featured prominently in the mythology of numerous indigenous American cultures, including those of the Maya and Aztec.

Gorilla

Behavior

Gorillas live in groups called troops. Troops tend to be made of one adult male or silverback, multiple adult females and their offspring. However, multiple-male troops also exist. A silverback is typically more than 12 years of age, and is named for the distinctive patch of silver hair on his back, which comes with maturity. Silverbacks also have large canine teeth that also come with maturity. Both males and females tend to emigrate from their natal groups. For mountain gorillas, females disperse from their natal troops more than males. Mountain gorillas and western lowland gorillas also commonly transfer to second new groups.Mature males tend to also leave their groups and establish their own troops by attracting emigrating females. However, male mountain gorillas sometimes stay in their natal troops and become subordinate to the silverback. If the silverback dies, these males may be able to become dominant or mate with the females. This behavior has not been observed in eastern lowland gorillas. In a single male group, when the silverback dies, the females and their offspring disperse and find a new troop. Without a silverback to protect them, the infants will likely fall victim to infanticide. Joining a new group is likely to be a tactic against this. However, while gorilla troops usually disband after the silverback dies, female eastern lowlands gorillas and their offspring have been recorded staying together until a new silverback transfers into the group.
Nesting
Gorillas construct nests for daytime and night use. Nests tend to be simple aggregations of branches and leaves about 2 to 5 ft (0.61 to 1.52 m) in diameter and are constructed by individuals. Gorillas, unlike chimpanzees or orangutans, tend to sleep in nests on the ground. The young nest with their mothers, but construct nests after three years of age, initially close to those of their mothers. Gorilla nests are distributed arbitrarily and use of tree species for site and construction appears to be opportunistic.Nest-building by great apes is now considered to be not just animal architecture, but as an important instance of tool use

Roloway

Diet

Roloway monkeys consume a diverse array of varying insects, fruit, seeds, and flowers. They can feed on the plant parts of roughly 130 species of trees, climbers, and epiphytes. Like many omnivores, roloway monkeys also consume mature fruit pulp, arthropods, oil-rich seeds- and young leaves. Their food sources usually consist of twigs and small supports in the terminal branches of trees in their infancy and within large woody climbers.

Social habits
Roloway monkeys dwell in the canopies of jungles and rainforests where they reside and sleep in the branches of primeval trees. They are typically diurnal and sleep throughout the West African nights.The species is arboreal, and forms social groups of 15 to 30 individuals, typically with 1 male,around 10 females, and their children. It is commonplace for the males of groups of roloway monkeys to head off elsewhere on their own, whereas the females will stay with the same group they were born into. This makes it harder for breeding to continue to be as fluent as it was once before, especially given the depreciation of forest areas in Ghana that suits this breed of monkey. They give birth typically to one monkey at a time, with a period of around 5 months required for each baby to be conceived and then born. The life span of a roloway monkey is about 20 years in the wild, and those in captivity can stay alive for more than 30 years. However, their free roaming spirits and style make them quite unsuitable for captive living.

bonobo

Primatologist Frans de Waal states bonobos are capable of altruism, compassion, empathy, kindness, patience, and sensitivity, and described "bonobo society" as a "gynecocracy". Primatologists who have studied bonobos in the wild, have documented a wide range of behaviors, including aggressive behavior and more cyclic sexual behavior similar to chimpanzees, even though the fact remains that bonobos show more sexual behavior in a greater variety of relationships. An analysis of female bonding among wild bonobos by Takeshi Furuichi stresses female sexuality and shows how female bonobos spend much more time in estrus than female chimpanzees. Some primatologists have argued that de Waal's data reflect only the behavior of captive bonobos, suggesting that wild bonobos show levels of aggression closer to what is found among chimpanzees. De Waal has responded that the contrast in temperament between bonobos and chimpanzees observed in captivity is meaningful, because it controls for the influence of environment. The two species behave quite differently even if kept under identical conditions. A 2014 study also found bonobos to be less aggressive than chimpanzees, particularly eastern chimpanzees. The authors argued that the relative peacefulness of western chimpanzees and bonobos was primarily due to ecological factors.

The bonobo is an omnivorous frugivore. The majority of its diet is fruit, but supplements its diet with leaves, meat from small vertebrates such as anomalures, flying squirrels and duikers,and invertebrates. In some instances, bonobos have been shown to consume lower-order primates. Some claim bonobos have also been known to practise cannibalism in captivity, a claim disputed by others. However, at least one confirmed report of cannibalism in the wild of a deceased infant was described in 2008.

douc langur

Some langur monkeys are very handsome and to watch them with their serene, content gaze you might think they are aware of this. The douc for example has very fine coloring: pink and white face; white arms, cheeks and throat; black hands and red legs and red patches – what a distinguished design. The different species do come in a nice variety of colors with black, brown, yellow, gray and white parts. There is even a so-called “purple-faced” one from Sri Lanka but its face is really black. Often the babies are a whole different color than the adults (golden or black) and as they mature they change colors. Sometimes the hairs point upwards making something of a cap.They are the common leaf monkeys of the Orient with maybe 60 or more species in the group or closely related. They are average, medium-large-sized monkeys, a balanced 2 ft (0.6 m) with a tail of the same proportion. They are agile with strong hands and feet, and can leap well.They are not a quarrelsome type and don't often fight with each other. Although they can climb very well, they are mostly interested in exploring for food (mostly vegetation) on the ground. Their deadly enemies are tigers and leopards and scouts are usually on the look out ready to call the alarm if any predators are spotted.

The langurs possess an impressive repertoire of vocalizations with a variety of barks, grunts, honks, growls and screams.

There is generally a male leader in the groups and females give birth to one offspring at a time, which is kept very close for 4 months and weaned after about a year.

de brazza

Although they are locally known by the less flattering name of “swamp monkeys”, the western world has come to refer to De Brazza's monkey in memory of the the Franco-Italian explorer Pietro Paolo Savorgnan di Brazzà (he opened The Congo to French Colonization). This arboreal (living in trees) species stands out because of their interesting look, which features grey fur with a reddish brown back, a white rump, an orange crescent-shaped marking on it's forehead, white eyelids, white muzzle, white beard (Look at that noble beard, like a monkey professor, champion beard of the animal world!), and a crescent-shaped tuft of black fur on top of it's head. Both male and female De Brazza's monkeys have pouches in their cheeks in which they store food during foraging. Males are distinct from females because of their sometimes blue scrotums and larger size of about 15 lbs (7 kg), compared to females weighing about 10 lbs(4.5 kg).

De Brazza's monkeys can be found in the swamps, bamboo forrests, and dry mountain forests of Angola, the Cherangani Hills of Kenya, Central African Republic, Congo, Cameroon, The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Gabon and Uganda. They are active during the daytime and can be agile on the ground.

A shy and sometimes territorial creature, De Brazza's monkey can be found in small social groups headed up by an alpha male who assumes responsibility for protecting all others in the group. Like all monkeys, De Brazza's monkeys have complex communication skills that feature booming sounds, shaking of branches, facial expressions, and body language. Despite having a relatively long life span of about 22 years, the bearded monkey does have predators that include leopards, humans, and other monkeys. However, it maintains it's safety by freezing when alarmed, and camouflaging itself when in danger.

mandrill

The Drill is an endangered primate. In the equatorial region of Africa the drill is known as "bushmeat" and eaten. Their habitat has also been largely destroyed. Drills move on the ground and in the lower levels of trees and eat mostly fruit.What a monkey the mandrill is! Not only is it the world's largest species of monkey, with males occasionally weighing as much as 110 lbs (50 kg) and standing up to 3 ft (90 cm) tall; it's also the most colorful monkey there is. In fact, Charles Darwin once said of this large baboon, “no other member in the whole class of mammals is colored in so extraordinary a manner as the adult male mandrills”. With it's olive green or dark gray coat with yellow and black bands, a white belly, a hairless face, red nostrils and lips, a yellow beard with white tufts, an elongated muzzle with it's own distinctive characteristics (a red stripe down the middle and protruding blue ridges on the sides) and a lower body that can be red, pink, blue, scarlet, and purple, the mandrill is a sight to see! The female is not so massive and scary, she looks small in comparison to the male and is not so brightly colored.

 The mandrill can be found in the forests of Southern Cameroon, Gabon, Guinea and The Congo in huge groups known as “hordes”. Hordes are stable groupings that average around 620 individuals, but can often be even larger. In fact, a horde of over 1300 that was observed at Lope National Park Gabon is the largest grouping of non-human primates ever recorded! These hordes are known to never sleep in the same trees two nights in a row and spend their days migrating and eating. They survive off of fruit, leaves, stems, bark, fibers, mushrooms, soil, ants, beetles, termites, crickets, spiders, snails, scorpions, eggs, birds, tortoises, frogs, porcupines, rats, shrews and occasionally small antelope.The male will leave it's natal group at around six years of age, and will spend the rest of it's long life (in captivity they have been seen living up to 31 years) on the peripheral of the horde, only entering the main group to mate. Mandrills use grunts and teeth baring to communicate over both short, and long distances. They are considered a “vulnerable” species, and are in danger of becoming extinct if their natural habitat continues to be destroyed.

spider monkey

The spider monkey is just that - spidery. Mostly dark brown and black all over they have long tails, spindly legs, little pot bellies, little heads, long hands and bare faces. They make their way through the jungle swinging acrobatically with their gangly long arms.They live in dense, wet, tropical forest and crash through the canopy barking and screaming to other members of their pack. From Mexico south to Columbia the monkey lives but in the last 10 years their numbers have been reduced by 20 percent due to habitat destruction.At night they gather in groups as large as 35 to sleep clustered together in the trees. During they day they usually split up into smaller groups to go foraging for food. They look for juicy fruits mostly and eat a few seeds and leaves.They can share the same territory with howler monkeys peacefully, even acting friendly. The spider males do fight each other a bit when it comes to mating season. And they may shout and throw things at humans.

orangutans

Orangutans are the apes that likes trees best. They may stay up in the trees all the time, even drinking water from where it has collected in the hollows of trees. They have very strong hands and long arms (that can span up to 8 feet) so they are well suited for hanging around in trees. They are an endangered species as their habitat has been rapidly destroyed by palm oil production, logging and other ventures.
Orangutans are intelligent and gentle. They also seem to express emotion more like humans than any other animal. They eat mostly plant matter and like fruit the best. They are known to be fairly solitary as adults. This is probably because it may be difficult to find enough food if they stick together.
Baby Orangutan
The name Orang-utan comes from the Malay/Indonesian for “man of the forest”. Of the apes, the orangutan is the only ape from Asia. They currently live only on two islands, in Malaysian Borneo and Sumatra, Indonesia. There are two species that are very closely related, Pongo pygmaeus abelii, the Sumatran and Pongo pygmaeus pygmaeus, the Bornean. Recently in 2009, a large number of previously unobserved red apes were found deep in jungle of Sumatra.


The Bornean males have enormous cheeks, a big throat sac and a big square face. Sumatran orangutans are more of a bright orange color and the males have light-colored “fu manchu” type beard or mustache. Females are about half the size of the males and don’t have such massive heads. Their color changes with age with some becoming even a dark chocolate or blackish color in old age.

SEA TURTLES

Behavior and ecology

Sea turtles are generally found in the waters over continental shelves. After taking to the water for the first time, males will not return to shore again. During the first three to five years of life, sea turtles spend most time in the pelagic zone floating in seaweed beds. Green sea turtles in particular are often found in Sargassum beds, a brown seaweed in which they find shelter and food. Once the sea turtle has reached adulthood it moves closer to the shore. Females will come ashore to lay their eggs on sandy beaches during the nesting season.The habitat of a sea turtle has a significant influence on its morphology. Sea turtles are able to grow so large because of the immense size of their habitat: the ocean. The reason that sea turtles are much bigger than land tortoises and freshwater turtles is directly correlated with the vastness of the ocean, and the fact that they travel such far distances. Having more room to live enables more room for growth.
Habitat
Sea turtles are generally found in the waters over continental shelves. After taking to the water for the first time, males will not return to shore again. During the first three to five years of life, sea turtles spend most time in the pelagic zone floating in seaweed beds. Green sea turtles in particular are often found in Sargassum beds, a brown seaweed in which they find shelter and food. Once the sea turtle has reached adulthood it moves closer to the shore. Females will come ashore to lay their eggs on sandy beaches during the nesting season.The habitat of a sea turtle has a significant influence on its morphology. Sea turtles are able to grow so large because of the immense size of their habitat: the ocean. The reason that sea turtles are much bigger than land tortoises and freshwater turtles is directly correlated with the vastness of the ocean, and the fact that they travel such far distances.Having more room to live enables more room for growth.

HIPPOPOTAMUS

HIPPOPOTAMUS

The common hippopotamus Hippopotamus amphibius, or hippo, is a large, mostly herbivorous mammal in sub-Saharan Africa, and one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae, the other being the pygmy hippopotamus Choeropsis liberiensis or Hexaprotodon liberiensis. The name comes from the ancient Greek for "river horse". After the elephant and rhinoceros, the common hippopotamus is the third-largest type of land mammal and the heaviest extant artiodactyl. Despite their physical resemblance to pigs and other terrestrial even-toed ungulates, their closest living relatives are cetaceans whales, porpoises, etc. from which they diverged about 55 million years ago. The common ancestor of whales and hippos split from other even-toed ungulates around 60 million years ago. The earliest known hippopotamus fossils, belonging to the genus Kenyapotamus in Africa, date to around 16 million years ago.
Common hippos are recognizable by their barrel-shaped torsos, wide-opening mouths revealing large canine tusks, nearly hairless bodies, columnar-like legs and large size.
They are the third-largest type of land mammal by weight between 1½ and 3 tonnes: the only heavier species on average are the white and Indian rhinoceroses, and the elephants. 

GAINT PANDA

GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION

Giant pandas live in a few mountain ranges in central China, in Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Gansu provinces. They once lived in lowland areas, but farming, forest clearing, and other development now restrict giant pandas to the mountains.

HABITAT

Giant pandas live in broadleaf and coniferous forests with a dense understory of bamboo, at elevations between 5,000 and 10,000 feet. Torrential rains or dense mist throughout the year characterizes these forests, often shrouded in heavy clouds.

SIZE

About the size of an American black bear, giant pandas stand between two and three feet tall at the shoulder (on all four legs), and reach four to six feet long. Males are larger than females, weighing up to 250 pounds in the wild. Females rarely reach 220 pounds.

STATUS

The giant panda is listed as endangered in the World Conservation Union's (IUCN's) Red List of Threatened Species. There are about 1,600 left in the wild. More than 300 pandas live in zoos and breeding centers around the world, mostly in China.

GRAY WOLF

GRAY WOLF

The gray wolf Canis lupus also known as the timber wolf, or western wolf, is a canid native to the wilderness and remote areas of North America, Eurasia, and northern, eastern and western Africa. It is the largest extant member of its family, with males averaging 43–45 kg 95–99 lb, and females 36–38.5 kg 79–85 lb. Like the red wolf, it is distinguished from other Canis species by its larger size and less pointed features, particularly on the ears and muzzle. Its winter fur is long and bushy, and predominantly a mottled gray in color, although nearly pure white, red, or brown to black also occur. As of 2005, 37 subspecies of C. lupus are recognised by MSW3. The nominate subspecies is the Eurasian wolf Canis lupus lupus, also known as the common wolf.
The gray wolf is the most specialised member of the genus Canis, as demonstrated by its morphological adaptations to hunting large prey, its more gregarious nature, and its highly advanced expressive behavior. It is nonetheless closely related enough to smaller Canis species, such as the eastern wolf, coyote and golden jackal.

CHIMPANZEES

Chimpanzees, sometimes colloquially chimps, are two extant hominid species of apes in the genus Pan. The Congo River divides the native habitats of the two species. Chimpanzees are members of the family Hominidae, along with humans, gorillas, and orangutans. Chimpanzees split from the human branch of the family about four to six million years ago. Chimpanzees are the closest living relatives to humans, being members of the tribe Hominini (along

with extinct species of subtribe Hominina). Chimpanzees are the only known members of the subtribe Panina. The two Pan species split only about one million years ago.

Intelligence

Chimpanzees make tools and use them to acquire foods and for social displays; they have sophisticated hunting strategies requiring cooperation, influence and rank; they are status conscious, manipulative and capable of deception; they can learn to use symbols and understand aspects of human language including some relational syntax, concepts of number and numerical sequence; and they are capable of spontaneous planning for a future state or event

Hunting

Chimpanzees also engage in targeted hunting of lower-order primates such as the red colobus and bush babies, and use the meat from these kills as a "social tool" within their community.

RHINOCEROS

RHINOCEROS

Members of the rhinoceros family are characterized by their large size they are some of the largest remaining megafauna, with all of the species able to reach one tonne or more in weight.
They generally eat leafy material, although their ability to ferment food in their hindgut allows them to subsist on more fibrous plant matter, if necessary.
Rhinoceros are killed by humans for their horns, which are bought and sold on the black market, and which are used by some cultures for ornamental or traditional medicinal purposes.
 East Asia, specifically Vietnam, is the largest market for rhino horns. By weight, rhino horns cost as much as gold on the black market.
People grind up the horns and then consume them believing the dust has therapeutic properties. The horns are made of keratin, the same type of protein that makes up hair and fingernails. Both African species and the Sumatran rhinoceros have two horns, while the Indian and Javan rhinoceros have a single horn.
The five living species fall into three categories.
There are two living Rhinocerotini species, the Indian rhinoceros and the Javan rhinoceros, which diverged from one another about 10 million years ago.