Animals

Did you know? The rainforests, which serve as nature's plant for the production of clouds, moisture, and oxygen, are disappearing. In the past, rainforests covered 14% of the earth and today only 6% of the earth's surface is covered by rainforests. The Amazon forest, which is considered the green lung of the earth, is disappearing. That is why many organizations, including Greenpeace, are conducting a widespread public struggle against deforestation of the Amazon rainforest, hoping to stop the phenomenon and save the rainforests before it is too late.

Did you know? On the Origin of Species is a book published in 1859 by the English scientist Charles Darwin, the founder father of evolutionary biology. Darwin's book presented the scientific theory and evidence he had collected on the HMS Beagle voyage in the 1830s that all species of life on Earth have evolved over time from common ancestors. Natural selection one of the main mechanisms of evolution suggested by Charles Darwin. It explains the process through which populations of living organisms change and adapt to their environment over time through selectively reproducing changes in the genotype (complete set of genetic material).

Did you know? Microorganism, or microbe, is a small living organism, that can be seen only ְthrough the microscopic. The word originated from ancient Greek, combining the words mikros, which means "small", and the word organismós, which means "organism". Microorganism was first discovered by Antonie van Leeuwenhoek in 1674. An example of a microorganism can be a single cell or multicellular living organism bus also includes bacteria, some fungi, and algae. Some microbiologists also include viruses in this group, however, others consider viruses as nonliving. Microorganisms are essential to nutrient recycling in different environments since they serve as decomposers.

Did you know? Sir David Frederick Attenborough (born in London in 1926) is a famous English naturalist and television broadcaster of educational programs, acknowledged for writing and presenting many nature films. Attenborough grew up at the campus of the University College, Leicester, where his father was principal. As a child, his hobby was collecting rocks and fossils. In 1945, Attenborough won a scholarship to Clare College at Cambridge University, where he studied natural sciences and specialized in the fields of zoology and geology.

Early in his career, he worked for a publishing company as an editor of children's science textbooks. In 1952 Attenborough joined the BBC as a producer, and soon he produced and presented a miniseries named “The Pattern of Animals” together with the naturalist Julian Huxley, presenting animals from the London Zoo. In 1954 he produced a series about an animal-collecting expedition named “Zoo Quest” together with Jack Lester, in which live animals were watched and studied in the wild and in the zoos. In 1965 Attenborough has been appointed to be the controller editor-in-Chief of the BBC’s new and second television channel - BBC-2, however, he continued making nature programmers, among them about elephants in Tanzania. In 1969, he completed a series about the cultural history of the Indonesian island of Bali. Between the years 1968 and 1972, he was the general director of the BBC television programming, until he resigned in order to produce television series as a freelance.

In 1979 he produced the award-winning television series “Life on Earth” and published a bestseller on the topic. Other famous series produced by Attenborough are “The Living Planet” (1984), “The Trials of Life” (1990) with 74 episodes, and “The Life of Birds” (1998). His television series the “State of the Planet “(2000) and “Are We Changing Planet Earth?” (2006) dealt with the effects of climate change, global warming, and other environmental issues. In 1985 he was knighted as Sir David Frederick Attenborough.

Did you know? The giant panda, also known as panda bear or simply panda, is a black-and-white bear, generally solitary, who lives in south-central China, mainly in Sichuan province. The giant panda has black fur on eye patches, ears, muzzle, shoulders, and legs. The rest of its body is coated with white fur. The giant panda’s nutrition diet is based mostly on bamboo, however, some giant pandas in the wild will also eat other grasses. The panda bear eats 12 hours a day. Average adult panda weight around 100 to 115 kilogram, but some panda bears weight around 160 kg, and its size varies between 1.2 to 1.9 m long, including its tail, which is about 10–15 cm long. Giant pandas reach maturity at the age between four and eight years, but they start to reproductive at the age of 20. Giant panda cubs usually stay with their mothers for up to three years. The panda bears usually live between 18 to 20 years. Since only about 1,600 giant pandas were left in the wild, the giant panda is listed in the World Conservation Union's (IUCN's) list of threatened species.

Did you know? Kangaroo, also known as "wallaroo" and "wallaby", is a common Australian social (live in groups) marsupial mammal. The kangaroos have a small head with long pointed ears, large hind legs with big feet adapted for leaping, short fur, and a long tail. The female kangaroos have a marsupium, which is a pouch that includes mammary glands, where the infant kangaroo completes its post-delivery development. Kangaroos belong to the Macropodidae family, which also includes wallabies, wallaroos, tree-kangaroos, pademelons, and quokkas. Kangaroos are herbivores, they eat grasses, leaves, flowers, as well as insects. The red kangaroo, which is the largest kangaroo, weighs 90 kilograms and its length is up to 1.6 meters. Kangaroos can cover up to 7 meters in a single hop.

Did you know? The lion (Panthera leo), also known as the "the king of the jungle”, is one of the five biggest cats. Its closest relatives are the tiger, the leopard, and the jaguar. The lion's name is derived from the Latin word Leo and the Ancient Greek word Leon. African lion male average weight is 250 kg and its average height is 1.2 m. Lions are keystone predators. The female lions in the group hunt together. Since lions frequent fight is with their rival males reduce their longevity dramatically, lions in the wild live no more the 10–14 years in the wild, but in captivity, they can live until the age of 20. A group or family of lions consists of few related females and one or two related adult males.

Did you know? – California sea lions started to visit the docks of Pier 39 in 1989, probably because they felt safer inside the Bay. The majority of the sea lions at Pier 39 are male. Sea lions are sea mammals characterized by thick hair, visible ear flaps, long flippers, and the ability to walk on land using their four flippers. Their average lifespan is between 20 to 30 years. Male sea lions reach between 300 to 400 kg and around 2.5 m in length, and female sea lions can reach around 110 kg and between 1.8 to 2 m in length. Sea lions in the wild may live up to 25 years.

Did you know? Frogs are small amphibians’ animals, which means they live part of their life in water and another part on land. The word amphibian comes from ancient Greek, where "Amphi" means "both" and "bios" means "life". Scientific dating suggests that their origins extend 265 million years ago. Frogs are cold-blooded animals, which means that their body temperature is identical to the surrounding temperature. Frogs' skin absorbs water, so they do not need to drink water in order to survive. They have short front legs, but their hind legs are strong. That enables them to leap forward at a great distance. Most frog species are found in tropical and subarctic areas, mostly in tropical rainforests. The largest frog, called the giant or Goliath frog of West Central Africa, can grow up to 30 cm long. The frog's nutrition consists mostly of insects. There are about 4,800 recorded species of frogs. Frogs live in dryland and freshwater (they typically lay their eggs in water), however, some adult species live on trees and other species live underground.

Did you know? Penguin is a black and white aquatic flightless bird, living almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere, especially in the area between Antarctica and the Galapagos Islands. Penguins cannot fly because their bones are too heavy, and their wings serve as flippers. The larger penguins are generally found in cold regions and the small penguins are typical to warmer tropical climates. The largest penguin is the emperor penguin, with an average adult height reaches 120 cm and an average weight of 35 kg. The Penguins’ body is covered with dense and hard insulating feathers that keep them warm and enable them to swim in the frozen water. Penguins live in dense colonies, they are social birds that swim, feed, and nest in groups, and the seal is their main enemy. The penguins spend half of their time on land, where they raise the young, and half of their time in the ocean’s underwater searching for food. They eat fish, crustaceans, krill, and squid. During the breeding season, some penguin species form enormous groups that include thousands of individuals.

Insects are animals that belong to the arthropod class. Their body is composed of a forehead, chest and abdomen, and three pairs of legs. Some insects have wings while others are wingless. More than a million species of insects are known in the scientific literature (this is the family with the largest number of species in the wild), and it is estimated that there are close to another ten million species that have not yet been identified.

The relationship between men and insects is diverse. While butterflies are considered noble and symbolizing grace and beauty, the mosquito and the fly are considered a nuisance, the cockroach is considered a sewer animal that transmits diseases, while the ant is considered hardworking. Many insects feed on flower nectar and are used as a central pollinator for many types of plants. Insects also serve as food for a variety of animals such as birds and various rodents, so insects are an important part of the food chain on Earth.

Did you know? Bees are flying insects known for producing honey and beeswax and for their role in pollination. Construction bee workers build the beeswax foundation, in which the workers store the honey and the queen honey bee lays up to 1,500 eggs per day, and up to 1 million in her lifetime. A honey bee colony can contain up to 60,000 bees at its peak. The bees are closely related to other insects, such as wasps and ants, and there are nearly 20,000 known species of bees. Many plants depend on bee workers to spread pollen and as a result helping them to reproduce. For example, an industrial bee worker can visit up to around 2000 flowers a day. There is often confusion between bumblebees and honeybees. Bumblebees are social insects, having a round body covered in soft fuzzy hair. Bumblebees form small colonies, each with one queen and up to 50 individuals in a nest. A honeybee is a group of seven bee species (as well as 44 subspecies), distinguished from other bee species by their ability to produce and store honey in perennial colonial nests made of wax.

Did you know? Butterflies are Insects that have large colored wings, known for their complete life cycle (egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, and adult butterfly). The butterfly’s egg is tiny, round, or oval in shape. The female usually attaches the eggs to leaves or stems, supplying the future caterpillars with their food. The caterpillar (larva) is the worm-like stage of the butterfly, often with patterns of stripes or spine-like hairs. This stage is the feeding and growth stage. The chrysalis (or pupa) is a brown or green cocoon. This is a transformation stage, within the cocoon the caterpillar tissues are broken and the adult butterfly is formed. The adult (imago) butterfly is usually colorful. Butterflies, in their adult stage, can live from one week to nearly a year, depending on their species.

Did you know? – Hummingbirds are small colorful birds that flap their wings typically around 50 times per second. However, they can reach up to 200 times per second, resulting in a humming noise. More than 300 species of hummingbirds exist and their average lifespan is 5 years. Hummingbirds can fly forwards (right, left), up, down, as well as backward, and upside down. Most hummingbirds’ sizes vary between 7.5 and 13 cm long, nevertheless, the bee hummingbird (5 cm long) is the smallest extant bird, weighing less than a U.S. penny. Hummingbirds' nutrition is based on flower nectar, pollen, and insects.