Cheetahs Facts

The cheetah is the world's fastest land animal. Over short distances, it can sprint upto 112 kms per hour. The cheetah has long, slim, muscular legs, a smal, rounded head set on a long neck, a flexible spine , a deep chest, special pads on its feet for tractio, and a long tail for balance , distinctive tear stripes that stretch from the corner of the eye to the side of the nose.. They use tail to help them steer and turn in the direction they want to go. like the rudder of a boat. Cheetahs are found in open and partially open savannas.  They usually prey on small mammals and birds. The cheetahs are tan in colour with black spots all over their bodies. 
Males are territorial. Males mark their territory by urinating on objects that stand out, such as trees, logs, or termite mounds. The whole coalition contributes to the scent. Males will attempt to kill any intruders, and fights result in serious injury or death. 
Females' home ranges can be very large and a territory including several females' ranges is impossible to defend. Females always hunt alone, although cubs will accompany their mothers to learn to hunt once they reach the age of five to six weeks.

The cheetah can not roar, but has the following vocalizations:

Chirping - When a cheetah attempts to find another, or a mother tries to locate her cubs

Churring or stuttering - This vocalization is emitted by a cheetah during social meetings

Growling - is exhibited by the cheetah during annoyance, or when faced with danger.

Yowling - This is an escalated version of growling

Purring -  usually during pleasant social meetings mostly between cubs and their mothers. 

Lung Fish Facts - Amazing Facts

Most fish will die if removed from water. Yet Lung Fish of africa, Austrilia and South America oftern spends long periods out of water. Its body is adapted to breathe air and during drought the lung fish digs a hole in the mud. Slime from its body forms a protective cocoon until the water returns. Lungfish also known as salamander fish are freshwater fish.All lungfish have two lungs, with the exception of the Australian lungfish, which only has one. The lungs connect to the pharynx. The modern lungfishes have a number of larval features, which suggest paedomorphosis. They also demonstrate the largest genome among the vertebrates.

Porcupine Fish Facts - Amazing Facts

It is sometimes confused with pufferfish. Porcupine fish are closely related to pufferfishes but porcupine fish have heavier spines. Also unlike the pufferfish, have only a single plate of fused teeth in each upper and lower jaws
 A porcupine fish inflates, or puffs up when under the threat and covered with hundreds of prickly spines. If an enemy scares it, the porcupine fish swallows water and blows up like a balloon. Its second line of defence is its sharp teeth.  The porcupinefish has two fused teeth in each jaw, making a sharp, bird-like beak with which it crushes hard-shelled prey such as crabs, mollusks and sea urchins.Porcupine fish are about 10 to 12 inches long and live in the warm waters of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans. These fish eat snails, crabs, and sea urchins.

The ocean sunfish (Mola mola) Facts - Amazing Facts

The ocean sunfish (Mola mola) is the world's largest known bony fish (sharks and rays are cartilaginous, not bony).The mola are the heaviest of all the bony fish, with large specimens reaching 14 feet vertically and 10 feet horizontally and weighing nearly 5,000 pounds. Sunfish live on a diet consisting mainly of jellyfish, but because this diet is nutritionally poor, who consume large amounts to develop and maintain their body bulk. Females can produce as many as 300 million eggs at a time, more than any other known vertebrate.

The Coelacanth Facts

The coelacanth has been nicknamed a “living fossil”, because its fossils were found long before the actual discovery of a live specimen. The coelacanth is the only surviving species of a prehistoric group of fish, the crossopterygii, from which some scientist suspect the first vertebrates evolved.

Coelacanths are elusive, deep-sea creatures, living in depths up to 2,300 feet. Its population figures are, predictably, not well known, but studies in the Comoros suggest that only about 1,000 remain there. They are considered an endangered species.

The Red Bellied Piranha Facts

The red-bellied piranha is one of more than a dozen species of piranha found in northern South America. The red-bellied piranha has the reputation for being one of the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world. A school of these ferocious creatures can tear a victim to pieces in seconds. The red bellied piranha is considered non-threatened. It is illegal to have piranhas as pets in the state of Texas.

Bluefish Facts -Amazing Facts

The bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix), called tailor in Australia, Other common names are blue, chopper, and anchoa. Bluefish are cannibalistic. Blue fish hunts in schools that may extend upto 4 miles in length, This vicious predator has earned the nickname 'sea piranha'. The largest bluefish ever recorded was caught in 1903 in Nantucket, Massachusetts, and measured 3 feet, 9 inches and weighed 27 pounds.

Hover flies Facts - Amazing Facts

          
 Hoverflies  (family Syrphidae), sometimes called flower flies or syrphid flies. Hover flies, with their yellow markings, resemble wasps or bees but do not bite or sting. Hovering is a speciality although other flies can also hover - the head of the insect remains absolutely still whilst in flight. Hoverflies are harmless to most other animals despite their mimicry of the black and yellow stripes of wasps, which serves to ward off predators. Hoverflies generally have no major "enemies aside perhaps opportunistic Spiders and Birds.

Stick Insect Facts - Amazing Facts

The Stick insect is so called because it looks like a stick. It is same colour as a stick and when very still on a branch it is almost impossible to spot. One of the most efficient natural camouflages on Earth. Stick insect species, often called walking sticks. Females are normally larger than males.

Phobaeticus kirbyi of Borneo -This giant measures over 21 inches. With legs extended, making it one of the longest insect in the world.

The Brush Turkey Facts

It is a spectacular large bird with black feathers and a red head. Its total length is about 60-75 cm and a wingspan of 85 centimeters. Brush-turkeys are common birds, and have communal nests. A typical group consists of a dominant male, one or more younger males and several females. The brush turkey bulids enormous mound some five metres high, for its nest with leaves, other combustible material and earth. The mound, on which the bird lays its eggs, covers a pile of rotting vegetation. The heat produces by the decaying plant material keeps the eggs warm. Each day the male bird tests the temperature of the nest and if it becomes too warm he makes ventilation holes to cool it down. 

Social Weavers Birds Facts

The Social weavers of south Africa build a large umbrella-like structure in trees. They then build individual nests inside this protective covering. There can be as many as several hundred birds living under one main roof!!

Ptarmigan Facts - Amazing Facts

The ptarmigan, a type of bird, changes its colour to match the seasons. In summer its feathers are speckled to match the earth and grasses where it lives. But when winter comes the bird loses its  speckled features and grows white ones, making the ptarmigan more difficult to spot in the snow.  It is known simply as Ptarmigan in Europe and colloquially as Snow Chicken or Partridge in North America.

Tailorbird Facts -Amazing Facts

The Common Tailorbird or Orthotomus sutorius is a songbird found across tropical Asia. Tailor bird ,  basically does a bit of sewing to make its nest, firstly the bird pokes holes through some leaves. Then , using its beak as a sewing needle, it threads vines through holes to sew the leaves together. This passerine bird is usually present in open farmland, scrub, forest edges and gardens. Tailorbirds get their name from the way their nest is constructed. The edges of a immense leaf are pierced and sewn together with plant fibre or spider silk to make a cradle in which the actual nest is built. The crown of the head is chestnut. It has short rounded wings, a short tail, strong legs and a long decurved bill. The tail is typically held upright, like a wren.The common tailorbird is brightly-colored and has a long erect tail. The males and females look the same, except in the breeding season when the male grows long central tail feathers. 

Kiwi Bird Facts

Kiwi are flightless birds . Kiwi gets its name from its shrill cry 'kee-wi', 'kee-wi'. It has no tails and its small, almost non existent wings are hidden under its feathers. Several species of kiwi are found in New Zealand. 

There are 3 types of common, or brown kiwi and two types of spotted kiwi i.e. the great spotted or large grey and little spotted or little grey .

Kiwi have a highly developed sense of smell, unusual in a bird, and are the only birds with nostrils at the finish of their long beak. Kiwi eat small invertebrates, seeds, grubs, and plenty of varieties of worms. They also may eat fruit, small crayfish, eels and amphibians. Because their nostrils can be found at the finish of their long beaks, Kiwi can locate insects and worms underground without actually seeing or feeling them, due to their keen sense of smell. The kiwi is a national symbol of New Zealand indeed, the association is so strong that the term Kiwi is used, all over the world, as the colloquial demonym for New Zealanders. The New Zealand dollar is often referred to as "the kiwi dollar"

Amazing Facts about Bactrian Camels

Bactrian camels have two humps on their backs where they store fat. Arabian camels are also called dromedaries have one hump, but both these types of camels use their stored fat as energy & water when they are far away from food and a freshwater source. Their humps get soft and flabby when their fat stores run out. Bactrians seldom sweat, helping them preserve fluids for long periods of time. Bactrian's nostrils close to block sand, and their bushy eyebrows and rows of long eyelashes protect their eyes from blowing sand and ice.The only truly wild camels that still exist are Bactrian camels. These herds survive in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia and China, but number less than  500. Bactrian camels have been the focus of artwork throughout history.They are critically endangered in the wild. They call their mothers with a "baa" like a lamb.

The Female Hornbill Facts

Hornbills {Family Bucerotidae} are a group of birds whose bill is shaped like a cow's horn. Hornbills are omnivorous birds, eating fruit, insects and small animals. 

The female hornbill nests in a hole in a tree while she waits for her eggs to hatch. The entrance is plastered up with mud and twigs by the male. Just a small hole is left open and the male feeds his mate through the hole while she incubates the eggs. when the eggs have hatched, the female breaks out of her prison to help the male gather food for the chicks.