Panthers

Some panthers can be black. Some panthers can be yellow, but they are called jaguars. Black panthers are very rare and are more camouflaged into the forest.  If a mama panther has two kittens, one of them could be yellow and one could be black.  Maybe like your sister or brother -- you have different eyes maybe.  When a panther catches food for later, she might dig a hole and put it into the ground, and bury what she caught, and eat it later.

Proboscis Monkey

What's that?  Oh, a proboscis monkey.  Proboscis monkeys have big noses, and I will tell you why.  To attract females.  Whichever male in the group has the biggest nose will mate with the female they want to.  And to send warnings.

Snowy Owl

Where did that come from?  I didn't hear it.  It's a snowy owl!  Their feathers are special.  They are very quiet so that rodents (like lemmings) can't hear them.  Every four years, there will be an event (sometimes every year) where they will fly south to warm areas because the lemmings go to the subnivean zone where it is warmer by 30 degrees. So there are no lemmings or rodents to catch, but there are rodents other places in the south.

Wood-Boring Beetles

Today, me and my Dad were hiking.  We found a piece of wood that a whole bunch of squiggly line marks on it.  Me and my Dad were wondering, was it done by a human?  Was it done by a worm?  Or something else?  When we got home, we looked it up.  It was actually wood-boring beetles.  Their larvae eat the wood and make squiggle lines.  Those are one of the creatures I never knew about!

Jaguars

Jaguars are in the cat family. Some jaguars are yellow, some are black. The black color helps them hunt and be very sneaky and hard to see. Yellow jaguars also are very sneaky, but not as hard to find. They pretty much will eat anything that they can find. They'll eat little stuff to big stuff. Jaguars can swim in water if they have to. Jaguars even eat crocodilians. They'll sometimes kill a crocodilian or another animal just for no reason.
 

Animal Quiz

Dodo

Dodos were a member of the pigeon family.  Dodos have gone extinct because their habitat was destroyed and it was an easy meal for hungry sailors.  And the sailors brought other animals to the islands, like goats, monkeys, and wolves.  And those ate dodo chicks and destroyed dodo habitats.  Dodos evolved to be flightless birds.  They ate rocks before they ate their food.  Dodos could not chew their food; they actually ate berries.  The rocks helped grind up the berries.

Frogfish

Frogfish are sea animals that can change color and they look like coral, so when a fish is passing by, their jaw shoots out in a millisecond bite.  It has a lure on its head to lure in fish, so the fish comes closer for it to grab with its mouth.

Zebras

Zebras are covered in stripes because when predators look at them for a very long time, the zebra starts to get blurry and hard to see.  So it is hard for the lion to see the zebra.

                                    

Ice worms

Ice worms live in ice.  If they get to be over 40 degrees they will melt.

Hippopotamuses

A baby hippopotamus can weigh 500 pounds in one month.

Lions

Lions are at the top of the food chain.  Lions will eat pretty much everything that they can get to.  They'll even try to eat cheetahs.

Cheetahs

Maybe you think cheetahs are the fastest ever.  But that's a different blog post.  We are talking about cheetahs.  Cheetahs cannot run forever.  They have to take stops.  Cheetahs are endangered just because of their patterns.  People kill them and take off the skin and use it for scarves and jackets.  Cheetahs also fight each other.  Their favorite food is gazelles and antelopes.  Lions are their main predators.

Sea Otters

Sea Otters
Do sea otters get wet?  No.  Their fur is like a fur coat.  Their nerves are under their fur.  How sea otters feel and touch things is their hands have webbed fingers.  And their hands are not covered in fur.  So sea otters can touch clams and other animals that they eat.

A sea otter can dive for five minutes.

Do sea otters have predators?  Yes, they do.  Sharks and seals.

Sometimes sea otters go to sleep on kelp so that they won't float away, but some of the things that they eat, also eat the kelp, which causes them to float away.

Crocodiles

Crocodiles
Crocodiles bury their eggs in the ground.  How or cold the eggs are affects whether the egg will be a boy.  If it is under 50 degrees, it will be a girl.  It seems like crocodiles are really good at protecting themselves, but sometimes lizards or honey badgers try to eat eggs or baby crocodiles.  Sometimes turtles lay their eggs in the nest of a crocodile so their eggs will be more protected, so that the mother turtle does not have to take care of them.

Octopuses

Octopuses have more than 200 suction cups.  They have 8 arms.  And on each arm, there are at least
80 suction cups.  The ink comes out of an ink sac.

Sharks

Sharks have five rows of teeth.  If a tooth gets knocked out, in one week the new tooth from the back row will grow in.  If all five rows come out, the shark does not have any teeth in that spot.

Kittens

Kittens eyes can see in the dark better than our eyes. The outer green or blue layer glows to see better.

Peregrine Falcons

Peregrine Falcons can dive 242 miles per hour, and they reach out with their talons to stab their prey.  They bring it up to a high place so ospreys or other birds cannot get it.

Tasmanian Tigers

Tasmanian tigers have the biggest yawn, but scientists are not sure if it is a yawn or a growl.  It could just be something to stretch out their mouths.  They are extinct.