Amazing Killer Whale

The Killer Whale (Orcinus orca) is the fastest sea mammals. It speeds through the ocean at 45 kilometers per hour (km/hr). The killer whale hunts fish and larger mammals. It has a mouthful of pointed teeth shaped to hold slippery food  like squid. A killer whale is also known as the Orca. They hunts in packs. So also known as wolves of the sea.

Killer whales are regarded as apex predators, lacking natural predators and preying on even large sharks. Like dolphins, orcas use echolocation i.e. bouncing sound off of objects to determine their location  to hunt and use a series of high-pitched clicks to stun prey.
Orcas are very fast swimmers. They can swim up to 30 mph

Recent studies have found that orcas are among the most contaminated marine mammals in the world. Pollution and chemical contamination make orcas more susceptible to disease and likely cause reproductive difficulties.
The IUCN currently assesses the orca's conservation status as data deficient because of the likelihood that one or more killer whale types are separate species. Some local populations are considered threatened or endangered due to prey depletion, habitat loss, pollution.

Great White Sturgeon Facts

The white sturgeon Acipenser transmontanus also known as the Pacific sturgeon, Oregon sturgeon, Columbia sturgeon, Sacramento sturgeon, and California white sturgeon. It is the largest freshwater fish in North America and is the third largest species of sturgeon, after the Beluga and the Kaluga.
The white sturgeon has a slender, long body, head and mouth. This fish has no scales; instead it has large bony scutes that serve as a form of armor. A sturgeon's taste buds are located on the outside of its mouth. The underside is a clean white. It can smell food with four barbels, used for sensing food, near its huge toothless mouth. 

White Sturgeon can live to be over 100 years old. White sturgeon in the Kootenai River are at such a low level that they were listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act in 1994. 

In addition to overfishing, dams constructed along the Columbia and Snake Rivers have also become a threat to sturgeon.

Tribal fishery managers have experimented with spawning sturgeon artificially and raising sturgeon in hatcheries with the goal of releasing juvenile sturgeon in the upstream areas of the Columbia and Snake Rivers to help rebuild sturgeon populations in these areas. Initial results are promising. 

Lice Facts

Lice (singular: louse) Pediculosis capitis or head lice.

The order has traditionally been divided into two suborders, the sucking lice (Anoplura) and the chewing lice (Mallophaga)the Mallophaga are paraphyletic and four suborders are recently recognized:

Anoplura: sucking lice, occurring on mammals exclusively.

Rhyncophthirina: parasites of elephants and warthogs.

Ischnocera: mostly avian chewing lice- one family parasitizes mammals.

Amblycera: a primitive suborder of chewing lice, widespread on birds.

Most lice are scavengers, feeding on skin and other debris found on the host's body, but some species feed on sebaceous secretions and blood. 

Head lice are tiny insects that live on the skin covering the top of your head, called the scalp. They are not dangerous and do not cause any bodily harm. Lice can be spread by close contact with other people. Head lice infect hair on the head. Tiny eggs on the hair look like flakes of dandruff. However, instead of flaking off the scalp, they stay put. Head lice can live up to 30 days on a human. Their eggs can live for more than 2 weeks.

Jellyfish Facts

A jellyfish is 98% water. Jellyfish also known as jellies or sea jellies or a stage of the life cycle of Medusozoa are free-swimming members of the phylum Cnidaria. 

Medusa is another word for jellyfish. Jellyfish are classified in the phylum Coelenterata, which means they have a very simple body with a large center mouth where food comes in and waste goes out.

Jellyfish have tiny stinging cells in their tentacles to stun or paralyze their prey before they eat them. Sea turtles relish the taste of jellyfish. 

Jellyfish are invertebrates and don't have a backbone. All jellyfish sting, but the stings of small specimens and those with short tentacles often are not painful to humans.

Even dead jellyfish can sting. One of the smallest adult jellies is the Australian Irukandji, which is about the size of a fingernail. The lion's mane jellyfish, Cyanea capillata, were long-cited as the largest jellyfish. The rarely-encountered deep-sea jellyfish Stygiomedusa gigantea is another solid candidate for 'largest jellyfish'.

Jellyfish are also harvested for their collagen, which can be used for a variety of applications including the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Most jellyfish do not have a brain or central nervous system, but employ a loose network of nerves, located in the epidermis, which is called a 'nerve net'.

Jellyfish are the favorite meal of many seaturtles. Jellyfish are fish-eating animals that float in the sea  only a few jellyfish live in fresh water. They have soft bodies and long, stinging, poisonous tentacles that they use to catch fish. Venom is sent out through stinging cells called nematocysts. 

Crows Facts

House Crow - photo © Rajiv Lather

 Crows form the genus Corvus in the family Corvidae. 

Crows are now considered to be among the world's most intelligent animals.  Crows and ravens often score very highly on intelligence tests. Certain species top the avian IQ scale. Crows have been found to engage in feats such as tool use, the ability to hide and store food across seasons, episodic-like memory, and the ability to use individual experience in predicting the behavior of environmental conspecifics. Recent research suggests that crows have the ability to recognize one individual human from another by facial features. Crows make a wide variety of calls or vocalizations. Whether the crows' system of communication constitutes a language is a topic of debate and study. 

Two species of crow have been listed as endangered by the US fish and wildlife services: The Alala and the Mariana Crow.

Millipedes Facts

Millipedes / Diplopoda are arthropods that have two pairs of legs per segment.
Most millipedes are poisonous. This protects them from being eaten. 
They are usually slow movers.  
Centipedes move faster, and only have one pair of legs per segment. Millipedes were among the first animals to colonize the land. 
Millipedes all have relatively short antennae with 8 segments. 
The oldest know fossil millipede is probably Kampecaris tuberculata from Silurian Red Sandstone. 
Most millipedes have very elongated cylindrical bodies, although some are flattened dorso-ventrally, while pill millipedes are shorter and can roll into a ball, like a pillbug. 
Illacme plenipes which has an amazing 750 legs or 350 pairs.

Centipede Facts

Centipede 'hundred legs' is the common name for any member of the arthropod class Chilopoda, comprising species with long, flattened bodies with many segments, and with one pair of jointed appendages on each segment except the last two. The appendages on the first segment take on the form of jaw-like, venomous claws with poison glands that are used in capturing prey. Centipedes are covered by a hard exoskeleton, made out of protein and a tough polysaccharide called chitin. Centipedes play key roles in food webs. moreover, the house centipede, which may be seen as a household pest to be exterminated, actually is one of the most beneficial creatures to inhabit human dwellings, consuming actual household pests like bedbugs, termites, cockroaches, and so on.

The largest centipede, Scolopendra gigas , also eats mice and some small lizards. Scolopendra gigas grows to be about 10 inches. House centipedes feed on spiders, bedbugs, termites, cockroaches, silverfish, and other household pests. They kill their prey by injecting venom through their fangs. The house centipede is capable of biting a human, but this seldom occurs. Scientists who study centipedes are called myriapodologists.

Gazelles Facts

Gazelles are known as fast animals - some are able to maintain speeds up to 60 miles per hour for long periods of time, or run at a speed of 30 mph for several miles. they can bounce off all four legs held in a rigid position, which is called pronking. Gazelles are herbivores (plant-eaters). They eat desert shrubs, acacias, young shoots, and grasses. They spend most of their time grazing. Gazelles are nimble and beautiful animals.

Chimpanzees - Amazing Facts

Chimpanzees are members of the Hominidae family, along with gorillas, humans, and orangutans. The chimpanzee is the animal that is closest to people genetically Chimpanzees are great apes that are closely related to humans. 
Recent studies have shown that chimpanzees engage in evidently unselfish behaviour within groups like 
-adopting an orphan chimpanzee 
-chimpanzee spirituality 
-incipient romantic love 
-rain dance 
-empathy toward other species.
Chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans show laughter-like vocalizations in response to physical contact, such as wrestling, play chasing, or tickling. The average sleep time of a chimpanzee in captivity is said to be 9.7 hours per day. 
Chimpanzees use large sticks and branches as clubs or throw them at enemies like leopards and humans. 
Chimps supplement their diets with meat, such as young antelopes or goats. Their most frequent victims, however, are other primates such as young baboons, colobus monkeys and blue monkeys. 
These clever primates live in a variety of environments in western & central Africa. Because of the fast deforestation of their habitats, chimpanzees are an endangered species.

Duiker Facts

A duiker  is antelope species from the subfamily Cephalophinae native to Sub-Saharan Africa. Duiker is a tiny, shy antelope with only the males having short horns. They eat fruit, pods and seeds, roots, bark, flowers, fungi, they supplement their diet with meat duikers take insects and carrion from time to time, and even stalk and capture rodents or small birds. The Blue Duiker has a fondness for ants. The alarm call is a nasal snort, if caught bleats loudly, a sound that attracts other Duikers, and calls mothers to assist lambs.

Amazing Facts- The elk or wapiti

The elk or wapiti (Cervus canadensis) is one of the largest species of deer in the world. The elk is a large animal of the artiodactyle ungulate order, possessing an even number of toes on each foot, similar to those of camels, goats and cattle. Only the males have antlers, which start growing in the spring and are shed each winter.


Elk are susceptible to a number of infectious diseases, some of which can be transmitted to livestock.
Elk die from hunting, predation, starvation, disease and harsh winters. Mountain lions are their main predators, but wolves and grizzly bears can also prey upon the elk. their group is called Gang.

Bobcat or Lynx rufus Facts

Bobcat /Lynx rufus , sometimes called wildcats , it is smaller than the Canada lynx but is about twice as large as the domestic cat. Its tail appears to be cut or'bobbed' so named as bobcat. The bobcat is the most abundant wildcat in the U.S. Bobcats have been hunted extensively by humans, both for sport and the fur. 

Bobcats are elusive and nocturnal, so they are rarely seen by humans. Although the bobcat prefers rabbits and hares, it will hunt anything from insects and small rodents to deer.