We go to Sea World. We take boat cruises. We go deep sea fishing. And though we might see an abundance of sea mammals, we will probably NEVER truthfully say, “Look, there’s a porpoise!” Why not? Dolphins and porpoises are the same, right? Ahhh, no. They look the same, that’s for sure. But there are some big differences. Porpoises have teeth that look like spades; dolphin’s teeth look like pointy cones. Porpoises are small and stocky (in the 2nd video below, you will see a man holding a full-grown porpoise); dolphins are larger and sleeker. Porpoises don’t use underwater whistling to communicate;…
Author: I Spy Animals
What do you know about sledding? Everyone knows about dog-sledding…the Iditarod, etc. So I had to post this gorgeous photo of a dog sledding team. Dogs have been known to sled 90 miles in one day, each one pulling 85 pounds apiece! And then there’s the more traditional sleigh pulled by one or two horses.
his big cat has over 40 names in English; names like Mountain Screamer and Deer Tiger, Swamp Lion and Indian Devil*. But we are more familiar with the names Cougar, Puma, and Mountain Lion. Cougars are the fourth largest cat in the world, but are not considered a true big cat because they cannot roar. They do hiss, growl and purr, and are well-known for their screams*. IK1**: Adult coloring is plain (silvery to tawny to red) IK2: Lighter contrasting fur from underbelly up to chin IK3: black coloring around whiskers Check out the links below for some fun information…
There are secrets in the world. Secrets we would probably never see if it weren’t for hunters and photographers. Like coyotes who are part dog. Strangely colored giraffes. Sea slugs that look like candy. Polar bears that hug sled dogs. But in the woods near you, there lurk deer like you’ve never seen before. See the two deer at the top of this page? The one on the right is a big beautiful buck. The one on the left is a buck with some amazing antlers. His antlers are called “nontypical”. They look almost….melted. But deer antlers can…
You see them by country roads; in dairies and grazing in the fields. They all look the same. They’re just COWS But I bet you haven’t seen some of the hardiest, strangest cattle in the world. Let’s take a look: Cattle in Africa have to be sturdy and heat-resistant. And give milk as well as meat. The Ankole Watusi fills the bill perfectly. I love Longhorns! Did you know that there are English longhorns as well as Texas ones like the above? Below is an English longhorn: Record holder for the longest horns in the world? Poncho Via, a…
Black panthers are any member of the big cat family (roaring and non-roaring) that are born with an entirely black or very dark pelt. They are mostly found among leopards and jaguars. So a black panther isn’t a certain species of cat, but a color. For example, a black panther in South America would be a black jaguar. In Africa and India, it would be a black leopard. What about black cougars,tigers or cheetahs? Well, there’s some evidence of black or melanistic tigers, but almost none on the other two big cats. Let’s look at the most common black panthers:…
Did you know there are rhinoceros that don’t live in Africa? The Black rhino and the White rhino, the ones we are most familiar with, live in Africa. White rhinos have square lips for eating grass, and Black rhinos have hooked lips for grabbing branches, bushes, and fruits. Can you guess which one is being fed at the top of the post? 🙂 But the island rhinos live in Java and Sumatra…islands in Indonesia! And there’s the Indian rhino, who lives in…India 🙂 If you’re like me, you want to see how big are all these rhinos are, so.. …I’ve made…
1. Not all frogs can leap, or even hop. The desert rain frog has legs that are too short to hop. Instead, it walks…take a look below! 2. Before it jumps at a strange frog, the New Guinea Bush frog inflates itself and shows off its blue tongue. See other ewww frogs here 3. Stumpffia tridactyla (it doesn’t have a common name) are only 1/2 inch long, but when they’re startled they can jump 16x their own length…up to 8 inches! 4. The Fuji Tree frog may be the leaping stuntman of the frog world. Each time it leaps, it twists in the air—sometimes…
That Creature Sitting Next to YouYou swing onto the Portland train one rainy morning, find a seat and sit down. You look across the aisle, and there. There is a wild dog of some sort staring back at you. Quite a shock. It looks very like a fox, or a coyote. Maybe…. a wolf? You know that if it’s a wolf, you better back away as quietly as possible, with your umbrella at the ready. But if it’s a fox or coyote, you can probably safely leave him alone. But how will you know what to do?Identifying the creature sitting next to you…
The critically endangered Snow Giraffe can only be found in one spot on earth; at the snowy center of Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa. But their numbers are deteriorating so quickly that finding one to photograph is rare. These giraffes live at snow level because they feed on ice lichens, found growing under the snow on the Kilimanjaro ridge. During deep snowfalls, however, they must dig for long hours to find enough lichens to live on. Though living on Kilimanjaro protects them from poachers, who can get $100,000 for Snow giraffe horns, their feeding grounds are fast disappearing due to the rapid ice…
Alligators and crocodiles can be born albino. This means they are without pigment, or coloration. A true albino has pale skin and red eyes, like Whitie here, an albino alligator at the Serengeti Park in Hodenhagen, Germany.But alligators and crocodiles can also be born leucistic (loo-SIS-tik), which means they are born with a small portion of pigmentation. Their eyes are dark, and they have pale skin with some pigmented areas. Take a look at the pictures below to see what albino and leucistic crocodilians look like.
Photograph by Natalie Manuel The King of Beasts…the lion. Surveys tell us that most people, though they have trouble naming many other animals shown to them, can identify a male lion. That’s a relief! There are eight subspecies of lion, most of which live in Africa. A small number of Asiatic lions, like the one pictured below, live in the Gir Forest in India: Most lions are varying shades of color, but there are some white lions living wild in Tambavati. White lions are not albino, but leucistic South Africa lions; That means their normal tan coat color is suppressed with the chinchilla gene, but their eyes are…