Animals 6-10 in the '50 incredible animals' series

Welcome back!

Today, we have the next five animals that (we hope) you haven't heard of before.

6. Chinese water deer

The Chinese water deer is a small deer originating from Asia. They are noticeable because the males display what looks a bit like a vampire's fangs!

Males have no antlers, just fangs! In fact, they are the only deer species where the males don't grow antlers.

This deer species lives in China and Korea and has been introduced to several countries including the US, France and the UK. They feed on herbs and young grass shoots.

7. Markhor goat

The markhor is the biggest member of the goat family. They mostly live in the mountain ranges of Asia. They eat grass, shrubs and other low vegetation. During the mating season, males will fight over the females. The fights consist of the two males locking horns and then twisting and pushing until one falls over. One to two baby markhors are born at a time. The young are called kids. A markhor will live for up to 13 years.

Probably their most significant feature is their long twisted antlers.

They are classified as endangered.

8. Tonkin snub-nosed monkey

These strange-looking monkeys inhabit Vietnam and other countries in that area. They live in forests and feed on leaves and fruit. Their unusual appearance makes them easy to recognise.

They are one of the most endangered primate species in the world, classified as Critically Endangered. Over 80% of the entire population lives in a single forest. They were first identified in 1912 and are the rarest of all the snub-nosed monkey species.

This is just one of the many animal species on the brink of extinction and it's up to us to do something about it!

9. Yangtze giant soft-shell turtle

The Yangtze giant soft-shelled turtle is an extremely rare soft-shelled turtle that lives in the waters around Vietnam and China. Only three or four (information on websites differs) living individuals are known! Not surprisingly, it's classified as critically endangered. According to another website, the species is functionally extinct unless another wild turtle is found. This species may be the largest living freshwater turtle, losing it forever would be devastating. Horribly, the skull of this incredible species is a 'good' trophy - another reason why humans hunted them to the brink of extinction in the first place.

10. Fossa

Probably the most well-known of this week's animals, the fossa lives on Madagascar island off the coast of Africa. They are known to feed on lemurs and pretty much anything they can get their claws into. Despite being related to the mongoose, the fossa is a bit more like a cat than anything else.

The fossa is one of the main predators on the island - they keep a close eye on the size of lemur and other animal populations. They have long tails, which help them balance while hunting among the trees.

They are classified as vulnerable which is definitely a lot better than the last two animals!

We hope you enjoyed this week's five animals. See you next week.

Images:

chinese water deer with her two fawn's, owned by Nick Goodrum (on flickr.com) is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Markhor IMG_2033, owned by OZinOH (on flickr.com) is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.

Fossa, owned by Arctic Wolf (on flickr.com) is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0.

Sources:
https://worlddeer.org/chinese-water-deer/
https://animalcorner.org/animals/markhor/
https://www.britannica.com/animal/snub-nosed-monkey
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/130703-china-yangtze-giant-softshell-turtle-animal-science
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/facts/fossa

Comments

16.08.2020 Animal of the week: Elephant

Hello. On the 12th of August it was International Elephant Day, so we decided that this week's post should be about elephants. Elephants are the largest living land mammals. There are three types of elephant; the African bush elephant; the African forest elephant and the Asian elephant. African elephants have larger ears, whereas Asian elephants have smaller ears. Elephants use their trunks to breath, bring food and drink to their mouths and to grasp objects. Elephants' legs are like pillars. They carry the Elephant's massive weight. African bush elephants weigh 6000kg, Asian elephants weigh 4000kg and African forest elephants weigh 2700kg. Basically, they are very heavy.Elephants eat grasses, small plants, bushes, fruit, twigs, tree bark, and roots. Elephants can live up to 70 years old in the wild. They communicate by sight, touch and smell. Sadly, these wonderful mammals are in danger. African elephants are listed as vulne...

Energy comparison: wind turbines

Hello, Finally, we are back with another energy comparison. Today we're looking at wind turbines. Wind power is a fast-growing renewable energy source. In the US, the wind power industry currently employs 120 000 people across all 50 states. It could grow to employ hundreds of thousands of people by 2050. 9% of the electricity in the US in 2021 came from wind turbines, that’s 136 000 megawatts. The wind power industry saves 329 million metric tons of carbon dioxide every year. General knowledge and categorisation We should probably start off by clarifying how wind turbines actually work and what types there are. I’m not going to give an in-depth description of how wind turbines work because I don’t want this post to turn into a physics lesson. To put it very simply, the wind turns the blades, which turns the rotor. The rotor then turns the generator, which converts the kinetic energy (movement) into electricity. There are obviously a lot more...

How well do you know the Arctic and the Antarctic? - Quiz

Welcome back to Green World, As announced last week, we're starting our new monthly series: quizzes! This post contains the questions, you have to write down the answers and compare them with the solutions right at the bottom of this post. Questions: True or False? The Arctic is not actually a land mass, it's a frozen ocean. How many people live in the Arctic circle? a) 500 000 b) 4 million c) 10 million True or False? Narwals don't actually have unicorn-like horns. That's just a legend. What percentage of the world's freshwater is frozen within the Arctic's ice? a) 10% b) 15% c) 20% True or False? The Arctic covers parts of 15 different countries. Scientists exploring Antarctica have measured winds of up to... a) 100 km/h b) 150km/h c) 200km/h True or False? The driest (natural) place on Earth is in Antarctica...

Energy comparison: solar (PV) panels

Hi everyone, Today I'm looking into the first on a long list of energy sources: solar (PV) panels. Are they actually sustainable and could they become our main energy source in the near future? After all, enough energy from the sun reaches the earth in 90 minutes to cover the entire world's energy consumption for a whole year! How they work There are a couple of ways to transform energy from the sun into electricity. The one we are looking at today is solar panels also known as solar photovoltaic technology. Photovoltaic (PV) technology is the key to solar panels. A solar panel is made of many PV cells. A single PV cell will produce 1-2 watts of power. They are very thin and are normally protected by glass and/or plastics. This is the best explanation I could find (click here for the source): When the semiconductor is exposed to light, it absorbs the light’s energy and transfers it to negatively charged particles in the material calle...

The life of ... an alcon blue butterfly

Hi everyone, Today we are going to be looking into the life of an alcon blue butterfly (Phengaris alcon). After mating, the females lay their eggs on marsh gentian, a blue-coloured wildflower. The eggs can only be laid on these flowers, as this is what the newly hatched caterpillars will eat. Although in some alp regions, they can also be found on willow gentians, a close relative of the marsh gentian. Once the caterpillars have hatched from the eggs, their main predator and danger are the ants that swarm below. But high on their plant homes, the caterpillars are safe. However, this isn't where the alcon blue caterpillars are going to stay forever. Eventually, they drop down to the ground using silk strings. With no protection, they are soon dragged off by the ants. The most amazing part is, the alcon blue caterpillars give off the same scent and chemicals as the ant larvae. So the ants take the caterpillars back to their brood chamber, wher...

Discussion || Should Everyone Switch To Electric Cars?

Hi Everyone! Thank you so much for joining me today, as I hop on the blog to discuss whether everyone switching to electric cars would really help the environment. In other words, should everyone switch to electric cars? This is the first part of a two-part series, discussing electric cars, so stay tuned for part two!! I would like to start this post by stating that I am by no means an expert. This is knowledge I have from my own experience, and from research I have done. If anything is incorrect please take it as it is and accept that this is a discussion and I am taking on board all opinions from reliable sources on this complex topic. Electric cars are a huge topic when it comes to sustainability and "saving our planet". There is no debating the fact that electric cars are better for the environment than diesel or petrol once they are on the road. But the production of them is often very polluting, with one study show...

The life of ... a koala

Hello everyone, Today we're talking about koalas. Also known as koala bears, koalas are marsupials. So they're actually not bears. Koalas, phascolarctos cinereus , are tree dwelling and probably best known for spending most of the day sleeping. They live for up to 15 years in the wild although captive koalas generally live for longer. Koalas have a stout, gray body and a cream-coloured chest. They have a broad face, small yellow eyes and big fluffy ears. In adaptation to climbing, their feet are strong and clawed. Adult individuals in South Australia weigh 14kg and are 60-84cm big. Their Eastern cousins are considerably smaller. Koalas are found in Eastern and Southern Australia, where they live in eucalyptus trees. They feed on the leaves of these eucalyptus trees, eating up to 1.3kg a day. With a body weight of up to 14kg, this means they eat just under 10% of their body weight every single day. However, the le...

June Top Tips | Fast Fashion and Consumerism

Happy June everyone! This month you'll get introduced to the topic of fast fashion. It is a big thing, not only because of environmental reasons but also touches on topics such as child labour and exploitation. We know this sounds pretty grave once again, but here is some good news (surprise, surprise!): You can do something! Read on to learn about what fast fashion is, where the problems are and what you can do better. 1) What is fast fashion?! Fast fashion is a term for the ever-changing demand and supply loop of the clothing industry. Every season people want to wear different things, and different clothes are in style. That leads to people buying clothes, wearing them as long as everyone else thinks they're great and then jumping to the next wave of clothes. The demand of the masses changes quickly and the clothing industry has to react just a step ahead of them to make money. The goal is to produce the wanted clothes as quickly, as chea...

10 Animals on the edge of extinction - you did not know about No.2

The Kākāpō ~ New Zealand's green teddy bear-parrot The Kakapo is a bird mainly found in New Zealand. It is a rather curious creature, a pretty big, green, nocturnal parrot that cannot fly and looks like a mixture of a parrot, a penguin, an owl and a teddy bear. Kakapos are on the verge of extinction due to their peculiar breeding habits, predators, and hunters. They are flightless and nocturnal and are the biggest parrots in the world. They can also live for up to 120 years! History Like most living creatures, the number of Kakapos in New Zealand was healthy before humans arrived. They waddled across the islands like nothing else. However, when people came to New Zealand, they started hunting the Kakapo for its feathers, meat and skin. They also brought alien species such as rats, weasels or cats that posed a threat to which they were not accustomed to. Their survival "trick" (not really a new thing, maybe the Kakapos like it old-fashio...

10 animals on the edge of extinction you didn't know about no. 7 - tooth-billed pigeon

Hi everyone, We're back with another endangered animal. This time it's a pigeon, but not the kind that we're used to seeing in cities. The tooth-billes pigeon, didunculus strigirostris, is the only remaing species of the Didunculus genus and is one of the closest living relatives of the world-famous Dodo. The adults have chestnut coloured bodies and wings, a greenish head and neck with red skin around the eyes, reddish feet and an orange bill with a characteristic jagges tip (hence the name tooth-billed). They are 31-38cm long and weigh about 400g. The juveniles are duller with a brown head and a black bill. Tooth-billed pigeons are shy and are belived to live in small groups. These terrestrial birds are endemic to the islands of Upolu and Savai'i. They are Samoa's national bird and can be found on the local currency. In Samoa they are known as Manumea and are eaten on a local and national level, but not internationally. They ...

Green World

Search This Blog