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GLT and Fruits

Golden Lion Tamarins live in the coastal lowland rain forest of south eastern Brazil. In the wild there are only about 1000 left. They eat fruits, insects and small animals such as lizards, mice and birds. The threats are snakes, ocelots and owls. But the habitat loss is the worst disaster for Golden Lion Tamarins to face. They are active during the day and spend most of their time above the forest floor.

Jabuticaba
The fruits grow directly from its trunk. The color is dark purple.

Canistel
Rounded fruit has pointed tip. Its color will turn orange or yellow from green when it matured.

Surinam cherry
The color varied from green to yellow, orange or dark red.

Cashew
Pear-shaped upper part is red or orange. Comma-shaped nut stuck in beneath.

Jackfruit
The fruit looks like an egg and has rugged surface. The color is yellowish green. Jackfruit is not native species of Brazil.

Amazon River look around

Amazon River dolphins live in Amazon River and Orinoco River. They eat shrimps, crabs, small turtles, catfish, piranhas and other small fish. Male dolphins grow up to about 8.5ft (2.6m) and 400lb (180kg) in weight. Some of them turn their skin color from grey to pink when they become adults. So they are called pink dolphins as well.

Another peculiarity of pink dolphins is that their necks can turn 180 degrees. During the rainy season since Pink dolphins have such flexible necks, they can slip themselves among tress in flooded jungle to find prey.

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Bugs and Roses

Insects are very important components of a rose garden. Some of them are in fact pests which eat leaves and flowers but others are predators of those. For instance plant lice are very annoying insects in gardens, but lady beetles, crab spiders and some wasps feed on them.

Some insects such as bees and flower chafers are agents for pollination between male flowers and female flower. Unfortunately crab spiders and other bugs eat bees. Using pesticide is easy way to kill off those bugs, but bees and flower chafers also die.

Although a garden is manmade, it will become naturally balanced ecosystem with pests and beneficial insects. Then roses will be in full bloom.

Speed is life     - Cheetah-

Top speed reaches about 110km/h (70mph), while the cheetah is chasing prey. Unlike other big cats the cheetah has semi-retractable claws which give a hard grip on the ground. The diet of cheetahs is varied, but most of them are mammals under 40kg (88lb) such as Thomson’s Gazelles, Springboks, Impala, Warthogs and hares. Sometimes they take down larger prey like a wildebeest or a zebra when they hunt together.

After successful hunt the cheetah must eat a kill as soon as possible, otherwise other predators such as lions, hyenas, leopards or even baboons intercept it.

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Giraffe chewing

Giraffes live in Africa. The size is approximately 4 m (14 ft) to 5 m (16 ft) tall and weighs about 600 kg (1300 lb) to 2 tons (4400 lb). There are 9 subspecies of Giraffe. Each of them has unique pattern of colors.

Giraffe eat leaves, grass and fruits. Especially several kinds of Acacia trees are their favorite. Although Acacia has sharp thorns on its twigs, the tongue and the lip of Giraffe are tough enough to bear. Giraffe can munch up about 29 kg (65 lb) of leaves and twigs a day, but it is not necessary to take them so much.

Giraffe chews food many times in order to extract t as much nutrition as possible. So Giraffe can survive dry season.

Lions are only threat to adult giraffe. But even lions have to be cautious when they attack a giraffe. Because the kick of giraffe is so powerful that it can smash the skull of lion.

Amazingly giraffes sleep only between ten minutes and 2 hours in a 24 hour period. They live up to 25 years in the wild.

The calf and mother in this coloring page are Masai Giraffes which inhabit Kenya and Tanzania. Masai Giraffe has dark brown spots on yellow coat. The tongue is dark purple.

Flying High  - California Condor –

The population of California condor is about 180 in the wild and 163 in captivity.

California condors live in the coast of southern California, the Grand Canyon of north Arizona and Baja California in Mexico. They favour staying at the area of mountains and ravines, which creates updraft they can use to sore and glide. The nesting sites are often found in caves and crevices on cliffs or hillsides.

California condors clean up carcasses of animals such as deer, goats, horses, rabbits, cougars and bears. They also eat the carrion of marine mammals such as whales and sea lions. Searching for food extend up to 160miles (250km).

The wing span is about 9.6ft (290cm) and weighs approximately 29lb (13kg). They live up to 60 years. The bill is light grey and the face is pink, yellow or orange. The eye is black pupil and dark red. The wing and body are black. There are white patches underside of the wings.

The recovery plan is successful so far, but there are still threats. Some of them died from the collision with manmade construction and food poisoning from eating lead contaminated carcasses.

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Panda country

The habitats of giant panda are the mountains of three provinces, Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu in China. Those mountains are also homes for some of the rare animals in the world such as Golden Snub-nosed Monkey, Takin and Red Panda.

Golden Snub-nosed Monkeys live together with their family. The family group has about 10 to 20 members or sometime several hundred depend on climate and food availability. They are active during the day and spend most of their time on trees. The diets are mainly lichens, but they also eat bark, leaves, fruits and seed. In winter snow covers mountains for months but they can resist cold temperature with their thick long coat.

Golden takin is goat-antelope and listed in endangered species.　One of their features of the thick short legs can get over steep slope of mountain area. Golden takins form small herds. They eat leaves, buds, bark and bamboo. They are adapted to harsh winter with their thick coat and oily skin. Their long snouts also help warming up air before reaching their lung.

Red panda need lots of bamboo leaves and shoots a day. Since red panda mostly eat bamboo which contains not much nutrition, red pandas use food energy very effectively in their body. They also forage fruits, flowers, fungi and seeds. Occasionally eggs, small birds and rodents are also in their diets.

All species are losing their habitat because of deforestation and developments.

Wildlife in Alaska

Alaska has the most Brown bear population in North America. They live in every part of Alaska except a few islands. Brown bears in Alaska are divided into two groups, grizzly bears and Kodiak bears. Grizzly bears are commonly found and Kodiak bears are only found in the Islands of Kodiak Archipelago. Kodiak bear is the largest brown bear in the world. The male is about 3 m (10 ft) long and weighs about 680 kg (1500 lb).

Moose in Alaska is also enormous. The male stands about 2 m (7 ft) tall at the shoulder and about 720 kg (1600 lb) in weight. Moose feed on plants and fruits. The full-grown adults are not often attacked by predator, but calves, young and mothers are. The population of moose is controlled by predator such as wolves, bears and humans.

In Alaska North American river otters eat fish, frogs and insects. In water they can swim fast and flee from predator, but they have to be more careful in land. Various animals prey on them such as Black bear, Grey wolf, Coyote, Red fox, Mountain lion and Bobcat. North American river otter live in diverse watery environments, including rivers, lakes, wetland, marshes and sea shore.

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Philippine Sailfin lizards are living in the tropical jungle of Philippine islands. They are often found closed to rivers and streams. Since swimming is the specialty of them, they can escape from danger to dive into water.

The size of adult lizard is about 1 m (3 ft). The body is dark green and the belly is light yellow. The males have violet color on the crest, the sail and face.

They eat leaves, flowers, fruits and insects.

Tiny primate clinging to a branch is a Philippine Tarsier. The Philippine crocodile is endemic in Philippine and critically endangered species. The main threat now is habitat loss.

The Ocean is vast. You cannot tell what you are going to discover next. The Whale shark is the largest fish known so far, which is about 12 m (40 ft) long and probably grows more. The lifespan may reach to over 100 years. By the way the Basking shark is the second largest fish.

Whale sharks are swimming around in all tropical and warm temperature oceans except the Mediterranean Sea. They are usually found in the high seas, but some reach to coasts.

They eat mainly plankton with filtering. The tiny teeth, which are on the gill and the throat, catch plankton and small animals such as krill and schooling fish while draining out water through the gill.

The upper part of the body is grey with creamy white spots. The belly is white. They are gentle shark and can swim with divers no problema.

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Burrowing owl

The range of Burrowing owls is from West-central Canada to South America. They are also found in Florida and Caribbean Islands. The habitat is dry short –grass prairie.

They are relatively small owls; the size is about 25 cm (10 in). The long slender legs are a characteristic of this bird. The upper parts of wings and head are brown with white spots. The body is yellowish white base with light brown fleck. The eyebrows are white. The eyes and beak are yellow.

The nest of burrowing owl is a den abandoned by small mammals such as prairie dogs, ground squirrels and badgers. To avoid midday heat, burrowing owls go hunting at sunrise and sunset. They eat insects, lizards, frogs, birds and mice.

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Bull elephant walks

Lions do hunt an elephant, but they aim at young or weak one. Full grown bull elephant is too powerful for lions to attack. Even male lions will be nervous if they are beside an angry bull elephant.

Bobcat blues

Bobcats range from southern Canada to southern Mexico. The other wildcats, Canadian Lynxes are similar to Bobcats, but they are larger and have thicker limbs than Bobcats.

Canadian lynxes need dense forest to survive; on the other hand Bobcats accommodate themselves to several environments such as woodlands, swamps, desert and agricultural area.

The coat of Bobcats is tan or grayish brown with black spots on the body and stripes on the forelegs. The size is about 70 to 105 cm (28 to 41 in) in length. They hunt hares and rats, but also eat small animals such as birds, fish and insect. The selection of the menu depends on the availability.

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Orca

The Killer Whale or Orca is a member of the dolphin family. You can find Orcas in all the oceans of the world. Although only one species is recognized as the Orca, it can be divided by the diet, the distribution and the appearance.

In North America there are three groups of orcas. First ones live in family and feed on mainly fish such as salmon and herring. They are observed in British Colombia, Canada, Washington, U.S.A. and Alaska. The second hunt only marine mammals including sea lions, elephant seals, walruses and even large baleen whales such as Mink whales and Gray whale. They travel from Alaska to California. They usually live in small groups. The third live in open Ocean and eat fish. They form large groups up to 100. Each group has different patch patterns or shapes of dorsal fin.

Some Orcas Attack even large sharks in other part of the world but never humans.

Brown Bear Seasoned

Brown bear cubs born in January or February and emerged from winter den in April or May. Until then they depend on her mothers' milk.

Brown bears are omnivores, so they feed on wide range of food. Some brown bears eat variety of berries, leaves, flowers, roots, fungi and some prefer insects or animals. The diet is varied because of the food availability which changed by the habitat.

Cubs must learn important survival skills, such as where to find edible vegetation, how to hunt, how to fish, how to avoid predator and where to den. They absorb those by watching and imitating their mother for about 2 to 3 years.

Total population of Brown bear is approximately 200,000 in the World. Mainly they inhabit countries such as Russia, U.S.A., Canada, Romania, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Finland.

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Harp Seal

The Harp Seals live mainly in three areas, the White Sea in Western Russia, The West Ice around Greenland and the Northwest Atlantic off Canada.

They migrate for about 4,000 km to chase after food except breeding seasons. The main foods are fish like cod and crustaceans such as shrimps and krill.

The babies are born in late February. The pup is covered with white fur, unable to swim. After the birth, the mother seal stays with her pup to feed for about 12 days, then she disappears. The pups need about 4 weeks to learn swimming and hunting by themselves. So it is very vulnerable to attack by the predators including polar Bears, Orcas, Walruses or human hunters. The pups hide themselves behind a chunk of ice. The white fur helps the pup to blend well with the snow and ice.

Bald Eagle depend on fish

The habitat of Bald Eagle spreads out throughout North America. Bald Eagles mainly eat fish such as salmon and trout, so they live near seashore, rivers and lakes. They also eat carcass of animals if those were available. Bald Eagles migrate if they cannot get sufficient food during the winter.

The grown has white head and tail. The feature of adult is also yellow beak and irises. The juvenile is completely brown except feet. The chick has white body with black beak.

Bald Eagle is the national bird of U.S.A. and sacred for all people.

Do you want to watch the photos of Bald Eagle? Click HERE!

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The Park for animals

Yellowstone National Park is in the state of Wyoming, U.S.A. It also covers part of Montana and Idaho.

The variety of North American Wildlife lives in the Park. Mountain lion is one of them. The color is Yellow ocher but the tip of nose, the chin and the abdomen are white. A male Mountain lion is about 8 ft (2.4 m) long. A Female is smaller. In the Yellowstone National Park they eat elks, mule deer, pronghorn and small mammals such as mice, porcupine and hares.

Pronghorn is a fast runner. The speed reaches up to 50 miles per hour (80 km per hour). The length is about 5 ft (1.5 m). The most part of body is reddish brown except the hip, the abdomen, the flank and the chin are white. It also has white stripes on the neck. The Bullsnake is not venomous. The average length is about five feet. The color is yellow with brown or black blotches along the body. Bullsankes eat mice, lizards, insect, and birds. Young ones are vulnerable to raptors and skunks.

American Bison was once the verge of extinction. Now they are back. Bison usually live with herd. He is probably lost and looking for his family.

Do you want to watch the photos of Pronghorn? Click HERE!

Sea Otters

Sea otters lives along the coast of California, Alaska, the Aleutian Islands and Hokkaido in Japan. They mainly eat animals lives on sea floor such as sea urchins, molluscs and　crustaceans.

The Giant kelp which is large seaweed provides the place to hunt and hide to sea otters. They can also rest without drowning by the current by wrapping themselves with kelp.

It is also very important for otters to keep cleaning their fur which protect them from cold temperature.

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Great white shark is not the strongest

The range of Great white sharks is wide. They live coast of North and South America, Mediterranean, South Africa, Australia, New Zeeland and Japan. The large one is about 6m (20ft) long and weighing about 2000kg (4400lb).

They are certainly fearsome creature but not the strongest in the ocean. Bottlenose Dolphins poke the abdomen of Great white shark to protect their babies. Great white sharks could be fatally injured by that attack because they do not have the hard bones to protect the internal organs. Orca mother also does not want sharks around when they are with babies. The ocean is dangerous world even for Great white sharks.

In the coast of California they attack Northern Elephant Seals. A male is about 4m (14ft) and 640kg (1400lb), so Northern Elephant Seals are not easy meal. They also eat seals, sea lions, tunas, rays and sharks.

Fossa

Fossa is not a cat. The relative of fossa is the Mongoose. Although fossa is not a large, 80 cm (32 in) in length excluded tail, it is top predator of Madagascar. The body color is reddish brown, but the belly is white. Black lemur is one of the diets of Fossa. Only male is black. Female has yellow eyes and black face with white whiskers. The body and tale are golden brown, but only hands are black. Aye-aye is nocturnal primate. The far is black with scattered grey hair.

Chameleon is the Ninja. It blended into the surroundings.

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The Smooth Japanese Bun Crab

The Smooth Japanese bun crab is a species of red reef crabs. The shell is about 5cm long (about 2 inches). The body color is red wine with grey patch. This small crab has venom which is strong enough to kill a person in its muscle.

You usually see Yellow Longnose Butterflyfish around coral reefs. Batfish (platax teira) have black striped light grey body. Blue humphead parrotfish sleeps while covering itself with mucus during the night. The meat is edible, but guts of this fish contain venom.

The common Octopus is like a chameleon of the sea. Crabs and shrimps are prey to this octopus. Clownfish acquire the immune to the poison of sea anemone when they are young. Please do not forget the blow fish above the Manta ray

Insects' Paradise

Costa Rica has the highest density of biodiversit of the world. Let's see the beautiful insects in the rainforest.

The Hercules Beetle is the largest rhinoceros beetle. The forewings are in dark yellowish green like green olive, the horn, head and legs are in dark brown and the hair under the horn is in orange. Marcella Daggwerwing is a beautiful butterfly found in the Central America. The part in shadow is in brown, the white triangle shape close to the body is in purple, the other part is in orange. The Leaf Mantis mimics the leaves around him. Another butterfly underneath of the Hercules Beetle is the Prepona. The part in shadow is dark purple, and the white part is in shiny blue.

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Dry Season

Giraffes can take water from their favorite twigs of acacia tree. So they don’t need drink water for 2 to 3 days. But when they are really thirsty, they drink up 40 little of water at once. African Elephants come to water side and bathe to cool themselves down and remove any dirt or parasites from their skin. Hippopotamuses need to keep their skin moist, so they are in or around the water most of the time. Lions need to drink a lot of water, too. They also get hydrated from their preys, or tsamma melon.

Dry Season is a very challenging season to survive for any animals.

Blooming Season

Flowers start blooming in early spring. Their colors and sweet aroma are fascinating for not only us humans but also all the animals, birds, and insects.

By the way, the Arctic Bumblebee habitats in the arctic regions. In Ellesmere Island in Canada, the bees collect nectar from arctic plants during the short summer. The bees have a very important roll of pollinating other plants in the area while they are hovering over from flower to flower. During winter, they stay close together to keep their body temperature in their colony. Their amazing behaviour is that they can regulate the body temperature by shivering their abdominal and chest muscle to warm up their bodies.

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Borneo rain forest

Borneo Orangutans mostly spend their time in the forest canopy. The female make a nest and even gives birth at a treetop. Western tarsier is also tree dweller. Big eyes and ears can detect subtle movement of insects at night. Flying frogs can glide between trees. Their back is green and abdomen is yellow with red wavy lines. The back of the hands and feet has red color. They have the webs between fingers and toes. There are also lateral flaps on the arms and the legs.

Wild cat is the Bornean Clouded Leopard. The base color of coat is tawny and trapezoidal black lines are on it. All of them are in deep in the rain forest of Borneo Island in Indonesia.

Desert Life

Not in Zoo. Wild Jaguars do live in U.S.A. Although numbers are extremely low, they are roaming around Southern Arizona and New Mexico.

In those regions there are deserts such as Sonoran and Chihuanhuan. Despite of harsh condition of desert, many animals dwell in and thrive. Because desert is not actually "desert". Especially Sonoran Desert has considerable rainfall as a desert.

Desert Tortoises can survive on water from their diet such as flowers and grasses. In spring Horned Lizards wake up from hibernation. Ants are the mostly eaten food by Horned Lizards, but they also prey on other insect such as termites, beetles and crickets.

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In the Jungle

There are many animals in the tropical rainforest. The Plumed Basilisk is patiently waiting for his preys like bugs or spiders. The hummingbird has a purple face and green body. She stops by flowers one after another and carries pollen. There is a guy who has red eyes, green body, orange legs and blue and yellow strip in his side. He is called Red-eyed tree frog. Squirrel Monkey on the tree has dark brown head and yellow body. Her belly is white.

Haven't you ever seen a Plumed Basilisk? Jack the Lizard took a picture of the one at London Zoo. Click Here!

There is a zoo which creates the jungle environment for the rainforest animals. Click HERE!!
More images of Squirrel Monkey HERE.

Alpine meadow

In early spring alpine meadow woodchuck (groundhog) has already woke up from hibernation. Least chipmunk also gets out of their winter den. In this picture only red fox does not hibernate because he has winter coat.

As dangerous sleepy hungry bear is approaching, woodchuck is on high alert.

Haven't you ever seen a woodchuck or a groundhog? Jack the Lizard took some pictures of those at Smithers, Blitish Colombia in Canada. Click Here!

Do you want to know more about woodchuck? Click Here!!

Here is a very interesting story about Bear's hibernation. Click Here!!

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How many fish are around the coral?

Water Buffalo is one of the preys of tiger. But it won’t be going down without fight.

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The Adelie Penguin and the Emperor Penguin, which is the biggest among the penguin family, live in the Antarctica. They eat fish, squid, and so on. You may see both of them at Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium.

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