Saturday, March 13 2010
By Graeme on Saturday, March 13 2010, 07:42
The Bornean Clouded Leopard (Neofelis diardi), or Sundaland Clouded Leopard, is a medium-sized wild cat found on Borneo, Sumatra and the Batu Islands in the Malay Archipelago. The Bornean Clouded Leopard has a stocky build, weighing around 12 to 25 kg. It is the largest felid in Borneo.
image : WWF-Canon / Alain Compost
Distribution map :
Source : Wikipedia
Thursday, January 15 2009
By Graeme on Thursday, January 15 2009, 14:07
The Giant Panda is a mammal classified in the bear family, native to central-western and southwestern China.
It is easily recognized by its large, distinctive black patches around the eyes, over the ears, and across its round body.
Though belonging to the order Carnivora, the Giant Panda has a diet which is 99% bamboo. It may eat other foods such as honey, eggs, fish, yams, shrub leaves, oranges, and bananas when available.
The Giant Panda lives in a few mountain ranges in central China, in Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Gansu provinces. It once lived in lowland areas, but farming, forest clearing, and other development now restrict the Giant Panda to the mountains.
The Giant Panda is an endangered species and highly threatened. According to the latest report, China has 239 Giant Pandas in captivity and another 27 living outside the country. It also estimated that around 1 590 pandas are currently living in the wild.
Giant Panda distribution map :
Source : Wikipedia
Friday, September 5 2008
By Graeme on Friday, September 5 2008, 11:33
The Addax (Addax nasomaculatus), also known as the screwhorn antelope, is a critically endangered desert antelope that lives in several isolated regions in the Sahara desert. This species of the antelope family is closely related to the oryx, but differs from other antelopes by having large square teeth like a cattle and lacking the typical facial glands. Although extremely rare in its native habitat, it is quite common in captivity and is regularly bred on ranches where they are hunted as trophies. There are fewer than 500 addax left in wild, with fewer than 860 in captivity.
In ancient times, Addax spread from Northern Africa through Arabia and Palestine. Pictures from Egyptian tombs show them being kept as domesticated animals in around 2500 BC. More recently, Addax were found from Algeria to Sudan but due to several reasons, they have become much more restricted and rare. The population became critically endangered from both destruction of their habitat for commercial projects and hunting for horns or use as leather. Since the addax are slow by comparison with other antelopes, and are known to ride themselves to death, they have been an easy target for mounted hunters.
Addax live in desert terrain where they eat grass, and leaves of what bushes are available. They are amply suited to live in the deep desert under extreme conditions. Addax can survive without free water almost indefinately, because they get moisture from their food and dew that condenses on plants. Addax are nocturnal: they rest during the day in depressions they dig for themselves.
Thursday, August 21 2008
By Graeme on Thursday, August 21 2008, 11:13
The coconut crab is the largest land-living arthropod in the world. It is a highly apomorphic hermit crab and is known for its ability to crack coconuts with its strong pincers in order to eat the contents. It is the only species of the genus Birgus (Birgus latro).
Coconut crabs distribution map :
Source and images : Wikipedia
Monday, August 4 2008
By Graeme on Monday, August 4 2008, 11:26
Leptotyphlops carlae is a blind species of threadsnake discovered in 2006 on the island of Barbados by S. Blair Hedges. The average length of Leptotyphlops carlae adults is about 10 cm, wich make them the smallest snakes in the world. They are said to be "as thin as spaghetti".
Sources and image : Wikipedia
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