Some people think so. Not known to exist before 2005, this dolphin is Australia’s only native dolphin species. And it’s in big trouble already! The areas where it lives are popular with boaters and fishermen. In a recent survey, 2 out of every 3 Snubfin dolphins seen showed scars of past injuries from boats and nets. The Snubfin dolphin is named for its small dorsal (back) fin, and looks so similar to the well-known Irrawaddy dolphin, that no one realized the two species were different. Just for fun, I am posting pics below of both the Snubfin and the Irrawaddy…
Author: I Spy Animals
Jingles was a great horse. He was young, but fairly gentle, and coming along in training as a good cowhorse. But one day, he wouldn’t let his owner slide the bridle over his ears. No matter what she did, Jingles thwarted her at every turn. He even nipped at her. The next day, Jingles reared up and struck out when she approached. He shook his head, bared his teeth, and made deep discontented noises. The vet was called to examine Jingles, but he was so wild, he was tranquilized first. And as he looked the horse over, the vet found…
In certain areas, adult male lions delay growing a mane until they are much older; these lions are known as maneless lions. And strangely enough, three of the most notorious man-eating lions were maneless! The largest man eating lion on record, measuring 5 feet from floor to shoulder and 10 feet 6 inches in length, was a maneless lion. It was huge! Called the Man-Eater of Mfuwe, the lion killed six people in two months. It was shot in 1991 in Zambia. Most famous, though, are the Ghosts of Tsavo. During a nine-month period in 1898, two maneless male lions killed between…
They can deter lions and impale birds. Acacia thorns…you’ve seen them as effective wild animal barriers in my post How to Keep Lions Out of Your Garden, and they mean business! The trouble with Acacia trees is that they have juicy leaves on them that giraffes can’t resist. But how can they get to them through those jagged thorns? With a long long tongue. That happens to be blue. See that 18-inch tongue? Add that to the height of the tallest of giraffes, the Masai, and you get an animal that can reach a leaf 23 feet high (over two…
I am not a globe-trotting professional photographer, so all of my photos are gleaned from the riches of the internet. Because my subjects tend to be very narrow, some photos I require are not available to purchase from stock; photos of hybrid animals being an example. Where possible, I purchase from, or obtain permission from, or attribute to, the photographer. A majority of photos, however, have an untraceable origin. Many photos I come across have been scattered so far and wide, and without attribution, that I can track a photo to many sites without seeing a hint of who authored…
This little test has all types of penguins in it: Little penguin Banded penguin Crested penguin Brush-tailed penguin Big Diver penguin (rarest) Great penguin Can you identify all of them? Hint: there are two examples of one type of penguin So, when you have figured it out, scroll down for the answers! How did you do? Do you know your penguins? Leave a comment and let me know!
You’ve probably seen Glass fish, the see-through kind, at the pet store. But have you ever heard of the Glass frog? That’s him, above. The light under him goes through the leaf, and then shines right through him, turning him into a neon frog! But there’s the under side as well, which is even more amazing. And maybe a bit gross. So for all you tenderfoots out there, don’t scroll down any further! 🙂
Elephants are afraid of mice…you’ve heard that before. It’s a cute idea in stories, but not true! Adult elephants actually fear nothing. No other animal dares bother them…and you can probably guess why: Elephants are the largest land animals They travel in family herds They are very intelligent And they have tusks! The largest elephant ever was 13 feet high…that’s three feet higher than the average ceiling! And guess which type of elephant that was? The largest of the large…the African bush elephant! Here are the keys to identifying a bush elephant: 1st IK*: Curved white tusks; both males and…
White liger by Dwarf4r.deviantart.com Okay, not bears…not today anyway! We are still exploring the big cats and since we’ve been discovering tigers, let me introduce you to the liger and the tigon!* The liger and the tigon are half tiger and half lion. But to be a liger the mother has to be a tiger and the father has to be a lion. The opposite is true of the tigon. So what is the difference between the two? Actually, there’s a BIG difference. And that difference includes size! You remember that the largest big cat is the tiger, right?…
A rare textile made from the silk of more than a million wild spiders went on display last week at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.How did spiders produce this unique golden cloth? 70 people spent four years collecting golden orb spiders from telephone poles in Madagascar A dozen workers carefully extracted about 80 feet of silk filament from each of the spiders The resulting 11-foot by 4-foot textile is the only large piece of cloth made from natural spider silk existing in the world today.“We built a replica of a hand-driven 24-spider-silking machine that was used at…
Wild dogs! Were you paying attention? We’ll soon find out… Take this easy, breezy test to find out how well you know your dogs…remember: DholeBush DogDingoShort-Eared DogPainted DogRaccoon DogManed Wolf Ready, set, go! Didn’t quite get them all? No worries, just scroll down to see the answers below. Then leave me a comment and let me know how well you did! 🙂
I was once admiring huge slabs of granite in a warehouse when I came across something amazing; granite from Madagascar. Smaller than the rest, the slab stood like a glittering queen among the lesser, suddenly duller granite. It had electric blue glints and rainbow flashes of Mother of Pearl. Fossils, each like a tiny nautilus, were embedded throughout the smooth surface. It was stunning! The photo of it below doesn’t do it justice…