Mountain Goat Mortality Rates

The mortality rate of mountain goats is rather high.

Picture from Outdoors International

It is a struggle for mountain goats to survive in such high alpine regions, resulting in an average 60-70 percent mortality rate within the first year of life.  By the second year the rate drops to 50 percent.  Avalanches, falls, predators, parasites and stressful winter conditions are the main causes of death in mountain goats.

Otter Eating Habits

Otters sometimes use tools to hunt and catch their prey.

Picture from Archies

An otter will sometimes use rocks to smash open clams, mussels, or other small shellfish. They also will sometimes dive up to 330 feet to find their prey.  Adult sea otters can eat 25 to 30 percent of their body weight per day in order to stay warm. Feeding is a very important activity for sea otters, and occurs mainly in the morning and afternoon.

Lazy Lounging Lions

Lions lie around for approximately 21 hours a day.

  

Picture from San Diego Zoo

A lion has a busy schedule of sleeping, napping and resting.  In a 24 hour period, a lion will have several short bursts of intense activity, following by long periods of rest.  A lot of the times you will find lions sleeping in trees, or in a crazy pose, like on their backs with their feet in the air.

A lion’s life is filled with sleeping, napping, and resting. Over the course of 24 hours, lions have short bursts of intense activity, followed by long bouts of lying around that total up to 21 hours! Lions are good climbers and often rest in trees, perhaps to catch a cool breeze or to get away from flies. Researchers have often noticed lions lying around in crazy poses, such as on their backs with their feet in the air or legs spread wide apart! - See more at: http://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/lion#sthash.ZHZR68FM.dpuf

A lion’s life is filled with sleeping, napping, and resting. Over the course of 24 hours, lions have short bursts of intense activity, followed by long bouts of lying around that total up to 21 hours! Lions are good climbers and often rest in trees, perhaps to catch a cool breeze or to get away from flies. Researchers have often noticed lions lying around in crazy poses, such as on their backs with their feet in the air or legs spread wide apart! - See more at: http://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/lion#sthash.ZHZR68FM.dpuf

A lion’s life is filled with sleeping, napping, and resting. Over the course of 24 hours, lions have short bursts of intense activity, followed by long bouts of lying around that total up to 21 hours! Lions are good climbers and often rest in trees, perhaps to catch a cool breeze or to get away from flies. Researchers have often noticed lions lying around in crazy poses, such as on their backs with their feet in the air or legs spread wide apart! - See more at: http://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/lion#sthash.ZHZR68FM.dpuf

Killer Whales: Powerful Predators

An Orca, or killer whale as they are often known, is one of the most powerful predators in the world.

Picture from National Geographic

They feast on marine life such as seals, sea lions, fish, squid, sea birds and sometimes even whales.  They have been known to grab seals right off the ice.  They make use of their teeth that can be up to four inches long to snag their prey.

Long Live The Komodo Dragon

The Komodo dragon is the largest living lizard in the World!

Picture from Earth Times

There are over 3,000 lizard species in the world, but the Komodo dragon is the largest living one.  It's ancestors date back more than 100 million years.  They were an unknown species until discovered in 1912.

Huge Humpback Whales

It's hard to tell the size of a humpback whale due to the fact that we never get too close to them, however, for comparison's sake, a humpback whale is about the size of a city bus.

Picture from The Sea Monster

Fully grown, most humpback whales measure 40 to 50 feet in length and weigh between 20 and 40 tons.  Females are slightly larger than males and newborn calves are roughly the length of their mother's head.

Hedgehog Health Problems

Hedgehogs suffer from many diseases common to humans, including cancer and fatty liver disease.

Picture from Rose City Hedgehogs

Cancer is very common in hedgehogs. The most common is squamous cell carcinoma which spreads quickly from the bone to the organs in hedgehogs, unlike in humans.  Fatty liver disease is believed by many to be caused by bad diet. Hedgehogs are known to eat foods that are high in fat and sugar. Having a metabolism adapted for low-fat, protein-rich insects, this leads to common problems of obesity.

Roadrunner's Dating & Mating Bribery

 Food is an important component of the mating ritual for roadrunners.

 Picture from Birding Information

Courtship behavior between roadrunners involve the male’s foot pursuit of the female, with frequent rests. The male will tempt the female with a morsel such as a lizard or snake dangling from its beak. If the female accepts the offered food, the pair will probably mate. Often times roadrunners will mate for life.

Grazing Gazelles

A gazelle's diet consists of grass, scrub and leaves keeps them constantly grazing.

Picture from Bite

The Grant’s gazelle obtains the moisture it needs from its food, so they have little use for water.  It has unusually large salivary glands, possibly an adaptation for secreting fluid to cope with a relatively dry diet.

Dense Dove Population

The Mourning Dove is the most widespread and abundant game bird in North America.

 Picture from All About Birds

Every year hunters harvest more than 20 million mourning doves, but the it remains one of the most abundant birds with a U.S. population estimated at 350 million.  They are at least part-time residents throughout the entire continent as well as Central America, and live year-round in most of the United States.

Co-exsiting With Coyotes

Coyotes have never been domesticated with the exception of the Hare Indian Dog, which is a dog-coyote hybrid.

 Picture from WDFW

Except when raised from a very young age, coyotes are very difficult to tame, thus making them almost impossible to have as a pet.  Their wild temperament comes out as they reach puberty.  Coyote attacks on humans are uncommon and rarely cause serious injuries, due to the relatively small size of the coyote, but have been increasingly frequent in the US.

A Raven's Natural Weapon

 A raven itself has few natural predators, but several animals are after a raven's eggs.

Picture from All About Birds

Ravens are quite vigorous at defending their young and are usually successful at driving off perceived threats from owls, martens and other ravens.  They attack potential predators by flying at them and lunging with their large bills. Humans are occasionally attacked if they get close to a raven nest, though serious injuries aren't likely.

Black Bear Population Boom

It is estimated that there are at least 600,000 black bears in North America, split fairly equally between the United States and Canada.

 Picture from Tom Sears

Total black bear population in Canada is between 395,000 and 475,000, an in the United States it is estimated that their population is between 340,000 and 465,000.  They inhabit much of their original Canadian range, but no not live in the southern farmlands of Alberta, Saskatchewan or Manitoba.  They have been extinct in Prince Edward Island since 1937.  In the US, the black bears range is constant throughout the Northeast, northern Midwest, the Rocky Mountain area, west coast and Alaska.

Armadillos Can Spread Leprosy

 Armadillos are often used in the study of leprosy, since they are among the few known species that can contract the disease systemically. 

Picture from Armadillos.info

It's the armadillos unusually low body temperature that makes them susceptible to the leprosy causing bacterium. Humans can acquire a leprosy infection from armadillos by handling them or consuming armadillo meat.  It is believed that armadillos originally contracted the disease from humans sometime in the late 15th Century.

Rockin' Robins

 Ever wonder why a robin is sometimes referred to as a "Rockin' Robin", like the song by Bobby Day?

Picture from Wikipedia

 It's because the male American Robin has an almost rocking!  He has a continuous song, most commonly described as a cheerily carol.  It's made up of discrete units and repeated with brief pauses in between.  In addition to its song, the American Robin has numerous calls used for communicating specific information, such as when a ground predator approaches or when a nest or Robin is being directly threatened.

Where Oh Where Are The Wolverines?

Although wolverines are often associated with Michigan, only one has been spotted in the state in over 200 years.

 Picture from National Geographic 

Wolverines mainly live in secluded arctic and alpine regions of northern Canada, Alaska, Siberia, and Scandinavia; they are also native to European Russia, the Baltic countries, the Russian Far East, northeast China and Mongolia. In 2008 and 2009, wolverines were sighted near Lake Tahoe for the first time since 1922. They are also found in low numbers in the Rocky Mountains however most New World wolverines live in Canada.

Tasmanian Devil Tumour Disease

 Since 1996, facial tumour disease has accounted for nearly 50% of tasmanian devil deaths.

Picture from Marty Bugs

The disease is contagious and passed from one animal to another. Scientists are removing the sick animals and quarantining healthy devils in case the wild population dies out.  Individual devils die within months of infection.

14 DIY Items Using Toy Animals

Last week BuzzFeed.com came up with a list of 14 cool DIY items using toy animals!  There are some great ideas here, including some things your kids will love!

 

Party Cups with Animal Holders

 

Animal Magnets

 

Animal Storage Jars

All you need is some Schleich figurines, and your imagination and you're set!

Click here to see BuzzFeed's full list of ideas, complete with links with instructions!

Social Spiders

 Have you ever noticed when you see one spider you're likely to see another not too long afterwards?

 Picture from Live Science

It's because some species of spiders are very social animals who build webs and live together in large colonies.  Some species can form colonies of up to 50,000 individuals.  Members of other species have also been known to be social within the same family.  They will form smaller colonies, but share webs when feeding together.

Very Venomous Platypus

 The male platypus is one of the few venomous mammals.

 

Picture from Zoos Victoria

Both male and female platypuses are born with ankle spurs, but only the male's spurs produce venom.   While the venom is powerful enough to kill smaller animals such as dogs, it is not lethal to humans.  However, the pain can be so excruciating that the victim may be unable to move.

Ostrich Myth Busted

 One of the biggest myths about an ostrich is that it buries it's head in the sand.  It is exactly that though, a myth.

Picture from NBC News

An ostrich does not bury it's heads in the sand. It only appears so because when they aren't able to run away from danger, they drop to the ground and lay very still. The color of their head happens to blend in with the sand.

The Real Octo-Mom

 The female octopus dies shortly her eggs hatch.

Picture from ACurious

Many scientists believe that the female octopus dies shortly after mating.  She will lay her eggs and live long enough to guard them until they hatch.  The female octopus will gently blow water currents over them so they growing fetuses will get enough oxygen to survive.  Once the eggs hatch, the babies will begin to rise towards the upper waters of the sea as the mother dies.