Wild Animals

There are many different types of animals that call the jungle "their home." They are all unique in their own way. Come and explore the life of the jungle animals!

Tiger

The tiger is the biggest cat in the world. They live in very hot jungles. There are six different types of tigers. They are the Amur or Siberian, Sumatran, Malayan, North Indo chinese, Bengal, and South China or Amoy. The male tiger is about eight to ten feet long. A female tiger is about seven to nine feet long. Tigers mostly hunt and eat food during the night time. They hunt and kill animals such as deer, pig, antelope, cattle, etc. Females give birth to two to three cubs. They raise them for about two years until they become adults. Tigers enemies consist of wild dogs, elephants, etc. They are endangered species. They are wonderful at swimming, but horrible at climbing.

Elephant

Jaguars

The jaguar is the largest fellness in the Americas. It can weigh from 175 to 250 pounds! It is usually about two and a half to three feet tall. It has spots all over its body. These spots are called rosettes. Rosettes are two to four spots inside of a black ring. Many people get the jaguar confused with the leopard because of its appearance. However, the jaguar is stockier and has a shorter tail. Jaguars are also sometimes black. It is then known as the panther. When you see a panther's coat in the sunlight, you will be able to identify the spots on its coat.

Black bears

As you can probably tell from its name, the black bear is usually black. Male black bears can weigh from one hundred thirty pounds to three hundred ten pounds! The female black bear can weigh from ninety to one hundred fifty pounds! They are usually around six feet long. The black bears' diet includes nuts, berries, fruits, acorns, roots, deer, moose, carrion, and spawning salmon.

Cheetahs

The cheetah is the fastest land predator in the world. An adult cheetah's fur is yellow with black spots all over its body. The only part that isn't that color is the throat, which is white. The cheetah uses its color to help it blend in shadowy grass. This is called camouflaging. Cheetahs have black markings around their eyes which helps to give shade from the sun. Cheetahs usually weigh from one hundred ten to one hundred thirty pounds. Most of them are about thirty-two inches tall from their shoulder to the ground and most are around fifty-six inches long. Their tails alone are thirty to thirty-two inches long.

Gorillas

Gorillas are the largest apes. Even though they are the biggest, they are also the shyest. They are social vegetarians that come from Africa. There are three subspecies of gorillas. These subspecies are the western lowland gorilla, the endangered mountain gorilla, and the eastern lowland gorilla.

Chimpanzees

Chimpanzees are large, brown-to-black apes who are very smart. These intelligent tree-dwelling apes come from Africa. Chimpanzees have hairless faces, large ears, and big hands, which are used for knuckle-walking. They are amazing animals!

Orangutan

Orangutans are large, rare apes. They are usually a reddish-brown color. Like chimpanzees, orangutans are tree-dwelling apes. They have long arms and big hands. They use them to swing from branch to branch. They are really cool!

Snakes

To make it simple, a snake is pretty much a reptile without legs. What is a reptile, you ask? Well, a reptile is an animal that is usually cold-blooded, has scales, lays eggs, breathes air, and doesn't’t spend much time taking care of its babies. The snake is one of these types of animals. Snakes are often very cold in the winter and hot in the summer. The reason for this is that they stay in burrows when the weather is very hot or very cold. Snakes are animals that are meat-eaters. They often eat bugs and frogs. Larger snakes tend to eat fish, birds, mice, and rabbits. However, you better be careful! Sometimes a snake may decide to take a bite out of a person. Don't ever come too close to a snake unless they are a trained pet! Snakes use their sharp teeth and strong muscles to catch their prey. When the prey animal is larger than the snakes mouth, the snake decides to dislocate its bottom jaw to fit the big animal in. Isn't that amazing?

What Animal is That?

Have You Ever Heard of The Snake Bird?

The snake bird is very remarkable in appearance and also interesting in its actions. The snake bird has many different names. In some habitats, the snake bird is known as water turkey and in other places it is known as darter. However, the name snake bird is probably the most appropriate name for it because the shape of its head and neck cause it to have a snake look when really it is a duck. In Florida, they call the snake bird the Grecian Lady and at the mouth of Mississippi they call it Water Crow. In Louisiana, it is known as Bec a Lancette.

The snake bird often swims. It usually swim s with its entire body under the water and its head and long neck out with no fear. The snake bird is the best diver out of all the ducks. It can vanish within a few moments and swim a far distance and then reappear in a slightly different direction then it was originally supposed to go.

Aside from swimming, the snake bird also creates its own nest to stay in. These nests are located in many different places. They are sometimes located in low bushes at a height from the ground of only a few feet, or in the high branches of tall tress. However, they are always located over water. Although the snake bird is web footed, it is still strong enough to grasp the perch on which it nests very tightly. This gives it an advantage over the other ducks that can only nest on the ground. Snake birds sometimes breed in colonies with different species of herons. Snake birds usually lay from three to five eggs each time they lay. These eggs come in bluish white or dark-greenish white.

The snake bird consists of only one species. It stays in the warmer parts of each of the great divisions of the Earth. The number seen together varies from eight or ten to several hundred.

When the snake bird goes to sleep, it stays in a standing position with its body straight up. When the weather is rainy, it often spends the greater part of the day asleep, motionless, with its neck and head stretched upward so that the water may glide off its tail, which is very thick and gorgeous.