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NAVIGATION
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The roadrunner is a ground cuckoo famous for its distinctive appearance, its ability to eat rattlesnakes and its preference for scooting across the American deserts, as popularized in Warner Bros. cartoons. Roadrunners are large, black-and-white, mottled ground birds with distinctive head crests. They have strong feet, a long, white-tipped tail and an oversized bill. The birds range in length from 20 to 24 inches. Roadrunners are members of the Cuckoo Family, Cuculidae, characterized by feet with 2 forward toes and 2 behind. When the roadrunner senses danger or is traveling downhill, it flies, revealing short, rounded wings with a white crescent. But it cannot keep its large body airborne for more than a few seconds, and so prefers walking or running (up to 17 miles per hour) usually with a clownish gait. Roadrunners inhabit open, flat and rolling terrain with a scattered cover of dry brush, chaparral and other desert scrub. The roadrunner is uniquely suited to a desert environment by a number of physiological and behavioral adaptations. Its carnivorous habits offer it a large supply of very moist food and it reabsorbs water from its feces before excretion. Roadrunners also hold a nasal gland that eliminates excess salt, instead of using the urinary tract like most birds. It can reduce its activity 50% during the heat of midday and its extreme quickness allows it to snatch a humming bird or dragonfly in midair. The Roadrunner feeds almost exclusively on other animals, including insects, scorpions, lizards, snakes, rodents and other birds. Up to 10 % of its winter diet may consist of plant material due to the scarcity of desert animals at that time of the year. Because of its lightening quickness, the Roadrunner is one of the few animals that preys upon rattlesnakes. Using its wings like a matador's cape, it snaps up a coiled rattlesnake by the tail, cracks it like a whip and repeatedly slams its head against the ground till dead. It then swallows its prey whole, but is often unable to swallow the entire length at one time so it will continue to meander about with the snake dangling from its mouth, consuming another inch or two as the snake slowly digests. When spring arrives, the male roadrunner, in addition to acquiring food for himself, offers choice morsels to a female as an inducement to mating. He usually dances around her while she begs for food, then gives her the morsel after breeding briefly. Both parents collect the small sticks used for building a shallow, saucer-like nest, but the female actually constructs it in a bush, cactus or small tree. She then lays from 2 to 12 white eggs over a period of 3 days, which results in staggered hatching. Incubation is from 18-20 days and is done by either parent, though preferably the male, because the nocturnally incubating males maintain normal body temperature. The first to hatch often crowd out the late-arriving runts, which are sometimes eaten by the parents. Usually only 3 or 4 young are finally fledged from the nest after about 18 days. These remain near the adults for up to 2 more weeks before dispersing to the surrounding desert.  A Roadrunner stands tall in the tall grass. |
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Dromedary Camels in Australia
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The Dromedary Camel is one animal that is not native to Australia, but has made itself right at home in the outback. Dromedary camels, the species of camel with one hump, were brought to Australia in the mid-19th century by explorers.
With their ability to adapt to the harshest desert conditions and go days without food or water, camels were the perfect choice to help early settlers conquer the arid interior of Australia.
The first camel arrived in Australia at Port Adelaide in 1840, and by the 1860's the animals were arriving by the hundreds. But by the 1920s, they had worn out their use and many were simply released into the wild.
Today, it's estimated that as many as 200,000 camels roam the dry regions of the Northern Territory, Western Australia and western Queensland.
Dromedary camels are right at home in the desert. To maintain strength in the hot, dry conditions, they can draw energy for their hump, which is actually a mound of fatty tissue. Camels can also change their body temperature by as much as 6 C, keeping it cooler than the air temperature, preventing perspiration and loss of fluid. And they can store heat accumulated during the scorching day and use it to keep warm in the cold desert night. Thanks to their unique digestive system, camels can eat and extract nutrition from almost anything - thorny scrub, dry twigs and leaves, bones and seeds. The animals even have two eyelids on each eye to help keep out sand and dust.
A small herd of Dromedary Camels run through the Australian grasslands |
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Velociraptor was a fast-running, two-legged dinosaur. This meat-eater had about 80 very sharp, curved teeth in a long, flat snout; some of the teeth were over an inch long. This predator had an S-shaped neck, arms with three-fingered clawed hands, long thin legs, and four-toed clawed feet. Velociraptor's head was about 7 inches long. Velociraptor lived during the late Cretaceous period, about 85 - 80 million years ago. Among the contemporaries of Velociraptor were Protoceratops, Gallimimus, Oviraptor, Edmontosaurus, Maiasaura, and Saurolophus. Velociraptor lived in a hot, dry environment. Velociraptor was about 5 to 6 feet long, and 3 feet tall. It may have weighed about 15 to 33 pounds. It had a stiff tail that worked as a counterbalance and let it make very quick turns. A 3.5 inch long, sickle-like, retractible claw was on the middle toe of each foot. This claw was its main weapon, and could probably kill most of its prey easily. Velociraptor walked on two slender legs; it was certainly among the fastest of the dinosaurs, considering its long legs and light weight. Velociraptor may have been able to run up to roughly 40 mph for short bursts. Velociraptor could probably also jump. Velociraptor, along with the other Dromaeosaurids, were the smartest dinosaurs, as calculated from their brain:body weight ratio. This made them very deadly predators. Velociraptor may have hunted in packs, perhaps attacking even very large animals. Velociraptor was a dromaeosaurid, whose intelligence was the highest among the dinosaurs. Velociraptor was a carnivore, a meat eater. It probably ate just about anything it could slash and tear apart. It may have hunted in packs. It ate Protoceratops and probably ate many other plant-eaters, like hadrosaurs (duck-billed dinosaurs). Velociraptor was first found and described by paleontologist H. F. Osborn in Mongolia in 1924. In 1971, fossils of a Velociraptor and a Protoceratops were found together. They died together; the Velociraptor was attacking the Protoceratops with its claws and the armored head of the Protoceratops had apparently pierced the chest of the Velociraptor. About a dozen Velociraptor fossils have been found, including one who died in a battle to the death with Protoceratops and two hatchling Velociraptor skulls that were found near an oviraptorid nest in Mongolia (they may have been a meal). Fossils have been found in Mongolia, Russia, and China. 
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The sloth bear is a small, endangered bear with a usually black, shaggy coat, especially over the shoulders. Brown and gray hairs may be mixed in with the dark coat, and cinnamon and reddish individuals have also been reported. It has a distinctive whitish or yellowish chest patch in the shape of a wide U, or sometimes a Y if the lower part of the white hairs extends down the chest. The snout is light colored and mobile. The nostrils can be closed voluntarily. It is thought that the reduced hair on the muzzle may be an adaptation for coping with the defensive secretions of termites.
Adults are 60 to 75 inches long. Males weigh 175 to 310 pounds, and females weigh 120 to 210 pounds.
Sloth bears are found in forested areas and in grasslands, predominantly at lower elevations. They apparently favor drier forests and have been reported to prefer areas with rocky outcrops. Most sloth bears are found in India and Sri Lanka, but they have also been reported from Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan.
Sloth bears feed extensively on termites and have special adaptations for doing this: The naked lips are capable of protruding, and the inner pair of upper incisors are missing, which forms a gap through which termites can be sucked. The sucking noises made by feeding in this manner can apparently be heard from over 100 meters (330 feet) away. They also eat eggs, other insects, honeycombs, carrion, and various kinds of vegetation. In Nepal, they eat fruits extensively when in season, from March to June.
There is little information on social organization, but observations in the wild suggest sloth bears live as solitary individuals, except for females with cubs. Limited observations suggest sloth bears may have small home ranges. They give several vocalizations, but their functions are not understood.
Mating occurs in May, June, and July. In captivity, mating pairs come together for only one or two days during which time there may be considerable vocalizing and fighting. Gestation lasts from six to seven months. Most litters consist of either one or two cubs, but litters of three cubs have been reported. Cubs are born in earth dens and apparently do not leave them until they are two to three months old. The cubs stay with their mothers until they are nearly adult, at two or more years of age.
A mother Sloth Bear and her two cubs at the National Zoo in Washington, DC. |
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Perhaps the most famous New York legend of all is that alligators live in its sewer system. The story goes like this: A few decades back, Florida tourists would return home with baby gators as souvenir pets. People soon grew tired of the scaly critters, and got rid of them by flushing them down the toilet. Hundreds of discarded reptiles ended up in the city's disposal system, where they fed on raw sewage, rats and the occasional sanitation worker. Deprived of sunlight for decades, the alligators became blind and albino. Today, they still inhabit system, making a snack of whatever is unlucky enough to get in their way. The earliest published reference to the legend can be found in Robert Daley's 1959 book, The World Beneath the City, a history of public utilities in New York City. Daley's primary source was a retired sewer official named Teddy May, who claimed that during the 1930s he investigated workers' reports of subterranean saurians and saw a colony of them with his own eyes. He also claimed to have personally seen to their extermination. May was known as colorful storyteller, if not a particularly reliable one. Most herpetologists agree that city sewers do not provide an environment in which alligators could long thrive, let alone reproduce. The species require warm temperatures year-round and would probably be succumb to diseases caused by the bacteria found in sewage. Interestingly, this urban legend has its basis in a sliver of truth. Back in February 10, 1935, newspapers reported a seven-and-a-half foot alligator was caught and killed in an East Harlem sewer, spawning rumors of more giant lizards below.  An Albino Alligator resembling description of reported "sewer-gators." Link to article on capture and killing of the alligator in East Harlem: New York Times 1935 Alligator Article |
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The Saltwater Crocodile is the largest crocodilian and the largest living reptile. With its large head and powerful jaws, the saltwater crocodile is one of the world’s most terrifying and deadliness predators. Known as “salties” to Australian inhabitants, it is a reptile that can inhabit both fresh and salt water. Young saltwater crocodile are a pale yellow with black stripes and spots along its body and tail, while adults are a dark color with occasional tan or yellow spots. The crocodile’s underbelly is a pale white color to help it remain unbeknownst to prey below it while swimming along the surface. Male crocodiles can reach lengths of 23 feet, while females can reach over 10 feet in length. Crocodiles can reach up to a ton in weight. Saltwater crocodiles can be found in coastal waters between Northern Australia and the southern coast of India. They are also found in freshwater rivers and swamps. The saltwater crocodile is able to travel over great distances over open sea. Their great distribution is probably due to this trait. Juvenile crocodiles will eat from a range of small mammals, insects, shellfish, and fish. The larger the crocodile the more it can eat. Adults will eat anything from snakes, buffalo, domestic cattle, and pretty much anything else it can hold in its jaws. They have been even known to eat people who invade their territory. Saltwater crocodiles live in loosely organized social groups. They spend a lot of their time trying to keep their body temperature constant. Saltwater crocodiles are also territorial with the best territory realm being held by the strongest male. However, territory is usually kept through posture and vocalizations and not violence. Young crocodiles are in danger from other crocodiles and other various predators like large birds and fish. Adult saltwater crocodile has no natural enemies and does not really have to worry about anything but poachers. Saltwater crocodiles breed in freshwater areas. Females lay between 40 to 60 eggs in mound nests made of plant matter on the banks of bodies of water. The female crocodile stays remains close to the nest to protect its eggs and helps the young hatchlings dig their way out of the mound when they hatch. The female saltwater crocodile will then carry the hatchlings to the water in her mouth for safety.  A Saltwater Crocodile wades in the water of an Australian tributary. Suggested by African Raptor |
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Often called the “panda bear”, the Giant Panda is the most recognized endangered species on the planet. With its sharply contrast fur of black and white, stocky bear-like body, and just cuddly appearance, makes the giant panda appear to be just an enormous teddy-bear. But looks can be deceiving. These “giant teddies” require respect and caution when being handled.
The giant panda’s head, upper neck and rump are white, while small patches of fur around the eyes, the ears, shoulders, front legs, and rear legs are black. When compared with other bears, the head of the giant panda is large in relation to its body. The front paw has six digits as a result of the radial sesamoid, the wrist bone, becoming extended to form an awkward, but functional, opposable thumb. The male genitalia are small and pointed to the rear, more similar to the lesser or red panda (Ailurus fulgens) than to bears.
Full-grown pandas range in body length, from about 64 to 76 inches. Males are slightly longer than females, have stronger forelegs, and are 10 to 20% heavier. In the wild, males weigh from 190 to 275 pounds, while females weight range is between 155 and 220 pounds. At birth, cubs weigh only 3 to 5 ounces.
Giant pandas live at an altitude of 4,000 to 11,500 feet in mountain forests that contain dense stalks of bamboo. Home ranges average 3.3 square miles for males and 1.8 square miles for females.
More than 99% of the food consumed by giant pandas consists of the branches, stems, and leaves of at least 30 species of bamboo, the species eaten varying from region to region. Adults consume 26 to 33 pounds of food per day when feeding on bamboo leaves and stems. However, when feeding on new bamboo shoots, they are capable of eating up to 84 pounds per day, which is about 40% of their average body weight. Although the proportion is small, pandas also feed to a limited degree on other plants and a small amount of meat. They feed mainly on the ground but are capable of climbing trees as well. They are active mainly at twilight and at night.
Pandas are found only in southwestern China, along the eastern edge of the Tibetan plateau. Although they were once more widespread, today they are limited to six small areas in Sichuan, Gansu, and Shaanzi provinces, totaling only 5,400 square miles.
Except for females accompanied by cubs, giant pandas live a solitary life. During the breeding season, several males may compete for access to a female. Home ranges of females are usually mutually exclusive, although they overlap occasionally, while the home range of each male may overlap those of several females. Pandas communicate by rubbing an acetic-smelling substance-secreted by glands surrounding the anogenital area onto tree trunks and stones. They also scratch trees. Most territorial marking is thought to be done by males. Pandas are quite vocal and eleven distinct calls have been identified in the wild, although the function of each is not understood. In captivity, females vocalize during estrus as well.
The giant panda reaches sexual maturity at four-and-a-half to six-and-a-half years of age and mate during the spring, from March to May. Females are in estrus for one to three weeks, but peak receptiveness lasts for only a few days. Litters of one, two, or occasionally three cubs are born in August or September, usually in a hollow tree or cave. Normally, only one cub is raised. Although cubs are usually weaned at about nine months of age, they remain with their mothers for up to 18 months.
A Giant Panda is viewed by visitors at the National Zoo in Washington, DC. |
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