5 interesting facts about the Brown Bear

A Brown Bear searching for Salmon – Image: Thor Mark

1- The brown bear family is spread all over the lovely planet.  The brown bear inhabits generally in dense forests, in mountains, valleys and meadows and their population is found in the North America, Europe and some parts of Asia. The Brown Bear remains listed as a least concern species by the IUCN with a total population of approximately 200,000.

A Brown Bear in a dense alpine forest – Image: Daniele Colombo

2- Brown bear is a powerful beast which has a phenomenal shoulder hump.  This interesting and mighty shoulder muscles help the brown bear to dig up roots and tear apart logs to find food. Brown bears can move rocks and logs and dig through hard soil and rocky ground using their long sharp claws when making their dens.

A Kodiak Brown Bear Mom with her cub – Image: patrickmoody

3- Brown bears are considered as solitary mammals and they are rarely observed together or in form of a group, especially when thy feed themselves at salmon-rich fishing spots. The cubs remain with the mother brown bear till the age of 30 months until the cubs become  independent. The mother brown bear protects her cubs not only from brown bears but also from many other predators.

A Brown Bear Couple – Image: Brian Digital

4- The biologists classify the brown bears in many sub-species. Some of the more commonly recognized subspecies include the grizzly bear, Kodiak bear, Alaskan bear, Eurasian brown bear, Syrian brown bear, Hokkaido bear, Sibierian brown bear, Tibetan blue bear and Himalayan brown bear. The diet of the brown bear includes grass, fruit, insects, roots and bulbs of plants along with carrion and sometimes the brown bears also hunt small animals.

A Brown Bear busy in feeding himself, Image: Daniele Colombo

5- Brown bears reach sexual maturity at an average age of 5 years. The bears locate potential mates primarily by scent, with mating season generally lasting from early May through mid-July. A female usually mates once every 2 to 4 years, and males vigorously compete for the chance to mate with her. In addition, because females mate with several males throughout the season, a male may attempt to guard a female from other males for a period of 1 to 3 weeks after mating.

A busy Brown Bear family in fishing – Image: RayMorris1

10 Amazing Facts about Dolphins

1- Dolphins are interesting creature of God. They are mammals who nurse their babies with milk. This magnificent mammals has more than 30 marine species out of which some also live in the rivers.

Dolphin is a magnificent mammal – Image: Rick Harrison

2- According to the biologists, the gorgeous dolphins were developed from the land animals. May be the real and first encestor of the dolphin was an animal resembling to wolf. This is the reason the dolphins belong to the family Cataceans.

A Dolphin Show at Loro Parque, Puerto de la Cruz – Image: Nico Kaiser

3- Dolphin is a splendid marine mammal which is well known for its unique intellect and being a wonderful gymnast. Dolphins have the unexampled sense of hearing and incredible vision inside and outside the water.  With the evolution, the dolphins have specially adapted lens and cornea that enable them to see clearly in and out of the water.

Dolphin and Whale Show at SeaWorld, Orlando, Florida – Image: Sztajer

4- Dolphins believe in develping familes and normally one group of dolphins is also lead by a female one. Several members of a group can even help the members of the other group in hunting and travelling.

Dolphins are just fantastic – Image: Nataliej

5- Dolphins take breath from the blowhole, which is an evolved nose that has moved upward to the top of their head. Most of the species also have a dorsal fin, located on their backs which acts like a keel when they swim. Thus it gives them the directional control and stability within the water.

A lovely pose of a dolphin – Image: Sergey Galyonkin

6- The majectic dolphins also have a sense of taste and, like humans, so they can distinguish between sweet, sour, bitter, and salty tastes. Dolphins use some sounds as some of them send out clicks that are returned from other objects in the water (just like an echo). This way a dolphin can locate food, other dolphins, predators or rocks.

Why dolphins always look smiling ? Image: Scott the Hobo

7- Magnificent dolphins are fast learners and they are sonsidered a genius in the whole mammals of the lovely planet. The diet of the Dolphins includes several kind of fish, and squid.

Lovely group of dolphins while swimming – Image: lowjumpingfrog.

8- One of the amazing facts about dolphins is that the dolphins are very entertaining due to the leaps that they make out of the water. Some of them leap up to 30 feet in the air as they do so. They have to come to the surface to for water at different intervals to get air. This can be from 20 seconds to 30 minutes between when they get air.

Dolphins are so entertaining – Image: Burkazoid

9- It is amazing the difference in size of the various species of dolphins. The larger ones can weigh about 11 tons and be close to 30 feet long. The smaller ones are about 90 pounds and 4 feet long. Between those two spectrums you will find all weights and lengths. The species as well as their location play a huge role in their overall size.

Dolphins are superb gymnasts – Image: William Warby

10- The body of a dolphin is designed to help them move through the water quickly and without exerting huge amounts of energy. They rely on their pectoral fins and the fluke (tail) to help them navigate through the water.

A very powerful species in the Eagle family is known as the Crowned Eagle of Africa which is a very large and strong prey bird. It is biologically known as Stephanoaetus coronatus.  The habitat the Crowned Eagle is restricted only to the eastern parts of African continent. Sometimes the Crowned Eagle of Africa is also confused with the South American Crowned Solitary Eagle which is a different species. The Crowned Eagle of Africa preys normally the small mammals like Cape Hyrax,  Chlorocebus monkeys and small antelopes.

African Crowned Eagle

The nature of the prey of the Crowned Eagle of Africa denotes the powerful and strong characteristic of this prey bird.The most prominent feature of the Crowned Eagle of Africa is its extremely strong legs and claws which help him to hunt and kill its prey. The Crowned Eagle of Africa has broad and rounded wingspan and its belly and breast is heavily mottled with black. The range of the Crowned Eagle of Africa includes the dense and hillside woodlands of the forested parts of Africa, at an altitude of up to at least 3,000 meters (9,800 ft). Normally the African Crowned Eagles restrict themselves to their fixed territory so they are non-migratory birds. The vocalization of the Crowned Eagle of Africa is quite noisy and they scream loudly in rise and fall pitches. The Crowned Eagle pairs breed once every two years and a single breeding cycle is of approximately 500 days in duration.

As other endangered species, the Crowned Eagle of Africa is also threatened due to the massive deforestation in its natural habitat. The need of the day is to protect their habitat from illegal logging and destruction.

This beautifully spotted big cat was once found in a large number in the American continent. But today their population is under critical threat due to extreme hunting, habitat destruction and poaching and thus it has become one of the rarest animals on the planet earth. We are telling you about the splendid Jaguar , the rare big cat which loves to live in the tropical woodlands although they can also dwell in the dry forests and grasslands.

A thirsty Jaguar on a nearby water body

Presently the population of Jaguar in the United States specially in the states of Arizona, California , Louisiana , Mexico , New Mexico and Texas are listed endangered by the IUCN , the World Conservation. Sometimes Jaguars are also confused with Leopards but they can be recognized by their fur in tan and black colored rings and dots and some of the jaguars are also found in complete black coat. The tails of the jaguars can be increased up to 30 inches while the adult jaguar can weigh up to 200 lb to 260 lb. One of the distinguished quality of the Jaguars is that they are very good swimmers and they like to eat fish, reptiles and amphibians. On the land the diet of the jaguars includes deer and other small mammals.

Black Jaguar : Wild photo © Sikaris

Like other big cats, in the breading season, the female jaguar attracts her male by advertising the typical urinary smell and roars in a special vocalization. After the sexual mating the pair becomes apart from each other and the female jaguar may give birth to 1 to 4 cubs in one time. Color morphism is also common in the reproduction of jaguars.  The black and melanistic form of jaguar appears regularly with a ratio of 6 % from newly born cubs. Jaguars with melanism emerge entirely black, but with a keen observation their spots can be examined.

The Jaguars are critically in danger as they are mainly hunted in order to obtain their precious coat. The other main factors causing the increasing decline in the population of Jaguar , the rare big cat is deforestation and habitat loss. The natural disasters like hurricanes are also extremely dangerous for the population of Jaguars. Today numerous conservation plans are being implemented in order to safeguard jaguars from elimination. As Jaguars are also listed in the umbrella species , it is the most important to protect their habitat range because the salvation of their area will automatically ensure the conservation of many other species.