WOLVES

ANATOMY

Weight and size depend on the latitude . Generally it's height is about 35 cm however there are wolves that weight 77kg in Alaska and Canada.

The wildest wolf died in Alaska in 1939.

Wolves have perfect characteristics for long trips. Their chest is narrow. They are able to travel several kilometres with an average speed. Their legs are for walking with faster and with facility, especially in the snow.

Usually they are grey, brown and black and white.

They have a big snout that distinguishes shamans.

Usually one couple of pack reproduces. is between January and April. Pregnancy lasts at least about 63 days.

RELATION WITH THE HUMANS

In most parts of the world, the wolf is respected and revered, while in other parts it is hated.

In some situations, they act as domestic animals, but not without difficulty, because of the problem of socialization that they have with the dogs and their predatory instincts.

For this they need a training and motivation, the same as dogs.

Attack to the humans

The wolves are shy and they avoid the contact with the humans, their reaction depends on experiences with the humans in the past, it isn’t a natural way of behaving.

There are some circumstances for the wolves in which they can appear aggressive, for example: the provocation, the habituation, the rage, cubs, crossing with dogs or few preys.

In simile with other carnivorous predators, wolves don’t attack so much to humans, before, there was more risk than now, for the presence of fury.

In fact, the usually attack for fury.

The attacks normally happen in summer, in June and July, the preys are normally women and children.

HUNTING

Wolves have been routinely hunted for doing sport,to use their skin, to protect the ranching and in some unusual cases to protect the humans. 

Historically,  hunting of the wolves has been enormous,it was something that requires a lot of money and labour, it required thousands of networks, cars and sheds to collect the skins and to dry them. 

The menace for the ranching as well as people were more than enough reasons to ally themselves to hunt them. 

Many cultures, as the apache, hunt the wolves as a rite of passage. 

They are usually difficult to hunt due their instinct nature and they have high-developed senses. 

ALIMENTATION

Wolves feed primarily on ungulates sheep, goats, pigs, deer, reindeer, horses, moose, seals yaks whales, salmon, birds.

A wolf eats 14 kg of food a day and he doesn’t eat in 17 days.

After eating they drink plenty of water. 

If there is no food they don’t eat anything.

They do not have a strategy to hunt, but when hunting large animals they try to hide.

Their bite measures 15cm.

They usually attack diseased animals to hunt and sometimes there is a surplus in the Department of Natural Resources during a spring snowstorm, two wolves killed 21 deer, consuming only two, ithappens a lot in winter.

In addition sometimes they eat plants, in Russia there are wolves attacking watermelon plantations.

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THE WOLVES

The wolf in an animal with a very bad fame. He is always the bad of the popular stories, and not without reason, as it was our competitor and enemy during a long time. 

Their scientific name is: Canis Lupus.

In the present the wolf  inhabits very few places, as it is pursued by the man, either because of their skin, for sport, or other different things. 

In some places, like the United States, the Wolf is in the list of endangered species.  

Until a few years ago,  he could be found in large regions of North America, Eurasia, and Middle Orient. Today, its territory has been greatly reduced.

The wolves are very territorials. The size of the territory of a pack is around the 200 square kilometers. The pack can arrive to go over 25 kilometers for day of their territory in search of preys.

The communication is through the howling wolves. These serve to mark their territory against other wolves, a means of avoiding encounters with neighbouring herds. Lone wolves do not respond to howls.

Body language also has much to do in communicating between the wolves. An aggressive wolf, growls, hebristles fur, and if it is bent it means it is ready to attack. 

When a wolf is angry, the ears are straight, and his coat too, while showing teeth. If you see their ears against the head, it is that they are on the defensive. 

The dominant wolf will remain rigid and tall, with erect ears and forward. When hunting they maintain horizontal and straight tail.

The wolves are carnivorous animals, predators can live in forests, mountains, tundra, taiga and grasslands. 

A wolf can eat 3.5 kilos of food in at once, and if they are hungry, they can eat up to 15 kilos of meat a day. While they can survive up to 15 days without eating. It has been studied that up to two weeks, not weakness recorded in muscle activity of wolves.

POLAR BEAR

HABITAT

The polar bear, also known as: white bear, belongs to a species of biggest carnivorous mammals of the world.

Apart from, some zoos around the world, the only place that polar bears life is in Canada, Greenland, Norway, Denmark, Russia, Alaska and Iceland, they do not live in Antarctica.

Their habitat is more extensive, they can live with snow and without it. In the summer it is different in other places, because there are other temperatures that causes melting. 

They are mammals, adaptable to any habitat.

Polar bears only live where it is colder, around the Artic.

 The unique exception are the polar bears that live in the zoos around the world, they are capable to adapt to the hot climate.

There are more false ideas about the polar bears, for example, we think that they are very dangerous and that they like eating human meat, but they are more protectors and they only attack if they feeling in danger.

REPRODUCTION

Polar bear reaches their sexual maturity when they are 4 years old. Mating is in April and May when the male and female live together. Male can follow the tracks that female do.

Polar bears are polygamous so that, the female can have different calves. When the females are expecting their calves, they store fats and then take refuge.
Calves are usually born being 30 cm tall and 700 cm weight.

They usually have twins. During 5 months they grow very fast. Usually calves remain 10 months with their mother. Polar bears lived about 18 years but in Canada a polar bear lived 30 years.

They are 19 different groups but there aren't subspecies.

Their unique enemy is the human.



FOOD FOR POLAR BEARS

The polar bears are large creatures, so is possible that they need a big quantity of aliments for fillingtheirselves. They feed from many artic animals. In spite of everything, their favourite are the reindeer and the focus offspring. They know that the focus are going to the surface for taking the air. Is for this that quickly they attack with a ball of claw. Thus are meet for squash the cranium of the focus with their powerful jaw.

They can eat 30 kilos of food the day, and the young one kilo. The polar bears don’t drink water, since in its environment it is salty and sour. They take fluids that they need of the blood of their prey. Also it has been found recently that the polar bears can arrive to be cannibals, in special the males, if they suffer too much hunger they don’t have problems to eat other bears, in special the Young or generally died.

There are other forms of food that polar bears consume, if they can’t have focus. One of them is the walrus. They tend to go for the elderly who are weak, or younger. They have also been known to hunt whales.

The polar bears have a very strong stomach so even food that is in an advanced state of decomposition can be consumed by them without any adverse effects.

ANATOMY

The polar bear is a very large animal, males weigh up to 1,500 kg.

Females are only about 800 kg as adults.

Males can be up to 10 meters and females only about 8 meters.

The body of a polar bear is very different from other types of bears.

The claws are walking through the snow and ice, which is abundant in their natural habitat.

They have a skull and long nose, short legs and long feet with pillows, and they can walk and swim.

They are 42 very long teeth. The skin of a polar bear is white and very thick with layers.

It has good sense of smell, hearing and vision.

They can swim and float 200 km long and run at 6km / h.

EXTINTION

Traditionally, polar bear were hunted by the eskimos and other artic towns, for the meat and the skin, avoiding ingesting their liver, which contain extremely high levels of Retinol (Vitamin A form found in the animal kingdom), to consume it is dangerous for humans. 
IUCN believes that the number of polar bears has been reduced by at least 30% over the last 45 years. 
The latest threats include accumulation of pollutants in the atmosphere and Arctic ice and warming that is affecting it's ecosystem.

Giraffe

HISTORY, HABITAT AND FOOD

The giraffes have their origin in Africa. They live in savannahs, pastures and forests. They prefer open forests instead of more closed settings.
They prefer Acacia type trees, which are important sources of calcium and protein needed for their growth. They are also feed by bushes, grasses and fruits.They eat about 34kg of sheets every day. When they are stressed, they chew the branches of trees.During the rainy seasons,  food is abundant. In dry seasons giraffes are concentrated is trees and bushes of perennial trees. The mothers feed their creatures in open areas, to detect predators.The giraffe need less food than other herbivorous animals.The alimentation is concentrated principally during first and last hours of the day.                                                                The height of giraffes has been the subject of several African stories, one relates that giraffe’s necks grow because of eating magic grass.Before, it was believed that they were a mixture of camel and leopard.They were one of the animals captured and exhibited by the romans.

The giraffes continue to have a presence in modern culture. 

They are considerated a symbol of masculinity, and a giraffe on fire is represented as a "cosmic apocalyptic monster."

ANATOMY

The adult giraffes can reach a height of 5-6 meters; adults males are bigger than the females. Their eyes allow them to distinguish colors and their senses of the ears and smells also are sharp. For their protection against the sand storms and the ants, they can close their nasals hole. They have a tongue of 50 cm long. The giraffes are dark purple, possibly to protect themselves against the sun burn. Their tail measures one meter and finishes with a long lock of dark hair that can be used as defense against the insects.

Cranium: Both sex have two structures similar to horns that are used in the male combats. The appearance of the horns permit to distinguish the sex and the age of the giraffe. The craniums of the male are heavier and more similar to a stick of golf when are more aged which helps them to be more dominant in combat. 
The superior jaw have a grooving palate and they have no front teeth.

Legs and position: Their front legs and rears of a giraffe have approximately the same length. Their foot have a diameter of 30 cm, in the males the hoof is 15 cm high and 10 cm in females. Only have two path: walk and hit.
To lay down, the giraffe kneels about her front legs and after descend the rest of the body. 
To get up, they first put the knees and extend stretch her rear legs to stand up. In some cases the giraffes of advanced age sleep standing.

Neck: The giraffes have a long neck, it can reach 2 meters long. Principally after the birth the neck grow, because the females can´t give birth with the adult neck.

NECK

The giraffe has a long neck which can be up to 2 meters high and it is most of the height of the animal.

The neck is the result of the elongation of the cervical vertebrae, and not due to additional vertebrae.

Each cervical vertebra measures more than 28 cm.          

It represents 52-54% of the height of the giraffe.

The elongation of the neck occurs after birth, because otherwise the females would have difficulties when giving birth to the criatures.

There are two main hypotheses about the evolutionary origin and maintenance of the elongation in the neck of the giraffe.

This hypothesis say that’s pressure among giraffes, made the elongation of the neck of the giraffe, to give them access to food.

Because giraffes feed on leaves which are to a height of 4.5 meters.

The second major theory, sexual selection hypothesis, proposes that the long necks evolved as a secondary sexual characteristic, since it gives an advantage to the males for fighting with their necks (necking).

BIRTH OF GIRAFFES

Giraffes are usually found in groups. The most stable groups are composed by  mothers with their calves.

Calves remain with her mother 2 or 3 weeks. The males prefer young females rather than old females. When the male detects the female in heat, the male will try to woo her.

Pregnancy lasts 400-460 days. 

The female usually have one calf but in remote occasions, the female can have twins.

The female has the calf standing. Later the female cleans the newborn.

Baby giraffe has a height about 1,8m or less.

A few hours after the calf can run.

Females are usually grouped in herds.

Adult males don’t have an important role with their calf.

The males reach their sexual maturity when they are 7 years old but the females reach their sexual maturity when they are 3 years old.

Life expectancy is 25 years in the wildness.

NECKING

The males use his necks as a gun in the combat with the rivals, this way of behaving is known with the name <<necking>>.

Necking is used to stable the domination between the males, the males which win this duel has most success with the reproduction.

This behavior is produced in low or high intensity.

In duels of low intensity, the combatants rub and lean with the neck one by one. In the duel of high intensity, the males extend their frontal legs and pivot the neck to hit the opposing male.

After the duel, it is common than the males cares and court to lead the hook up and the climax. The hook up with two males is most common than the hook up with one male and one female.

Koala

WHERE THEY LIVE AND THEIR EXTINCTION

Apart from in the zoos of the world, the only place where koalas live is in Australia.

The areas around Australia where koalas live are New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and the south of Australia.

In New South Wales and Queensland, near 40% of the animals have died since 1990. Koalas are in serious decline suffering from the effects of habitat destruction, domestic dog attacks, fires and road accidents. They are species in extinction due to sexually transmitted diseases and drought. In one area at the southeast of Queensland, they have lost about 80% of the koalas because of sexually transmitted diseases.

Other reasons of their extinction are the hunt for his hair because his hair is very soft and when koalas are used for pieces of collection and to make coats.

Across the remainder of the state are not listed as 'vulnerable'. In parts of South of Queensland, the decline of Koala habitat is of major concern.

The size of population is unknown, although some estimate only survive 43.000 of these animals. His predators are dingoes, owls, eagles, vultures and snakes.

This is an animal of low activity, similar to the lazy.

His body is robust and covered of soft brown and gray hair. His head is big and round and his ears are big and round. His denture is adapted for his feeding and it is similar to the other marsupials.

    REPRODUCTION

Usually between December and March. Males wait to the female respond to the squeak.
They feel the natural instinct with less intensity than other animals.
The ritual lasts 2 minutes or less.
The male bites the female in the neck. If they feel stressed or they are hungry they do not reproduce.
The females have a baby koala every two years.
Pregnancy lasts 35 days.
The baby koala are born hairless blind and deaf.
They remain in the pouch of her mother for six months. When they finish this time they remain in the back of her mother six more months, they can be in the pouch sleeping or drinking milk.
The female remain with her mums one year.
The male remain with her mums three years.
Koalas reach their sexual maturity when they are two years old.

    

                                                                                             

ALIMENTATION

The koala is herbivorous and feeds mainly on eucalyptus leaves. You can spend up to five hours a day to eat. Although they can eat at any hour of the day, they tend to do it overnight. Take time to chew the leaves of eucalyptus trees and have little competition for food. In fact, this type of food would be toxic to most animals and could kill them. The reason it takes so much time to chew the leaves because they need to become a pasty substance. This allows food to be processed in the body without the presence of toxins, the liver can happen without negatively affecting the body. Koalas adults consume about 1 ½ pounds of food every day.

The koala has a lot of energy, experts believe that the cause is the low nutritional value of eucalyptus. When they do not have a lot of food in the trees, the trees in search of food on the ground. Sometimes you can see the koalas past soil and ground food itself. His usual diet is high in fiber, but low in protein. The leaves and the leaves of mistletoe is part of your diet.

HUNTING

In the 1920 hunting this animals was very popular, its population decreased considerably. But reintroduction programs have reappeared in the wild, but they are few. Koalas need lots of space, a hundred trees by koala, which is a serious problem due to the decline in Australian forests.
Many people think that the koala is a very boring animal because eat sleep 18 hours and 5 hours.In 1930 more than 2 million were hunted for their skin, but it is currently illegal to hunt them.80,000 of them remain today in the wild but there are also a large number found in zoos.In the last six years it is believed that about half of the population of koalas to extinction. This animal will not survive more than 30 years.
By studying fossils are known to the koala species it has been on Earth for About 40 million years.There are tests to verify that the koalas have always existed in the pattern known.

LIFE EXPECTANCY

 

Female that live in this wild condition can live about fifteen years old. However, male can live a middle of ten years old. Generally, koalas that life in liberty have less life expectancy that the others koalas in captivity.

The koala is adapted to the life in the trees and it is found in the woods of eucalyptus at the east of Australia, this is their only habitat and their only aliment. The koalas that life in climes less warm  are  in general bigger and they have the coat darker and thicker than the koalas that live in warm climes.

The population of koalas only can recreate if they find in the appropriate habitat.

Approximately the aborigines indigenous arrived to Australia at least 60,000 years ago. Koalas, as at all the Australian animals, were a important part of the indigenous culture, and they appear in  many of their myths and legends.

In 1816, the koalas received her scientific name, Phascolarctos cinereus, that mean “Grey bear with pouch”. Later it was discovered that the koalas don’t have any relation with bears, but it was a member of a special group of  mammal  called “marsupial”, which give birth to an immature baby, which they bring inside its bag.