• Interesting Facts about Amphibians (3)
• Interesting Facts about Birds (22)
• Interesting Facts about Fishes (9)
• Interesting Facts about Mammals (48)
• Interesting Facts about Reptiles (16)

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Madagascar Tenrec

DESCRIPTION: A tenrec's coat is made up of thick,stiff hairs that look very much like spines or quills. Its belly is coveredwith short, soft fur. SIZE: Head & body length: approximately 15-20 cm Taillength: approximately 1.5-1.6cm WEIGHT: Approximately 500 g FUN FACTS: Tenrecs are nocturnal and quite shy. They spend their time foraging forinsects and vegetation or sleeping in an underground burrow. Whenscared, tenrecs curl up in a ball with their spines erect to protect them frompredators.

Manatee

DESCRIPTION: The manatee's body is streamlined -full around the middle and narrowing to a paddle-shaped tail.The truecolor of a manatee is gray, although it may appear brownish gray. Amazonianmanatees usually have white or pink patches on the belly and chest.Organismssuch as algae, which may grow on the skin of slow-moving individuals, alter thebody color and make some manatees look more green or brown. SIZE: Adult West Indian and West African manateesaverage about 3 min length. Large individuals may reach lengths of up to 4 m.Amazonianmanatees are the smallest of all three species. They are shorter and moreslender. The longest specimen measured 2.8 m. WEIGHT: Average adult weights are approximately363 to 544 kg.One particularly large Floridamanatee weighed 1,655 kg.Females are generally larger than males. A particularly large Amazonian manateeindividual weighed 480 kg. FUN FACTS: Manateesaverage 3 mand 363-544 kg.Manatees have paddlelike tails and foreflippers, and no hind limbs. Manatees belong to the mammalian orderSirenia. There are three species of manatee: Trichechus inunguis, the Amazonianmanatee; Trichechus senegalensis, the West African manatee; and Trichechusmanatus, the West Indian manatee. Scientists also recognize two subspecies ofWest Indian manatee: T.m. latirostris, the Florida manatee, and T.m. manatus, theAntillean manatee. The order Sirenia has one other living species, the dugong.A fifth species, Steller's sea cow, was hunted to extinction by 1768. All manatees inhabit tropical andsubtropical waters of North and South America and Africa.The West Indian and West African manatees live in rivers, bays, estuaries, andcoastal areas. They can move freely between freshwater and saltwater habitats.The Amazonian manatee is restricted to the freshwater Amazon basin. All manatees are herbivores. The Florida manatee feeds onmore that 60 varieties of grasses and plants. A manatee's only teeth aremolars, for grinding vegetation. Some research suggests that manateesperiodically require fresh water. West Indian manatees have been seencongregating at river mouths and drinking from hoses, culverts, and sewageoutfalls. A female manatee, called a cow, givesbirth about once every three years. Gestation lasts about 12 months. At birth,West Indian manatees measure about 1.2-1.4 m and weigh 27-32 kg. A calf nurses fromteats under the mother's pectoral flippers. Floridamanatees are highly susceptible to cold; it's not unusual for them to dieduring extremely cold weather. But human activities pose a much greater threatto manatees. Each year, many Florida manateesare killed and injured by watercraft, the greatest human-induced cause of Florida manatee deaths.Other threats include entanglement, poaching, and habitat destruction. Allmanatees are threatened or endangered. They are protected by national and locallegislation in every country in which they are found. Manatees are nonaggressive,nonterritorial herbivores that spend most of their time feeding (six to eighthours per day) and resting (two to twelve hours per day). The remainder oftheir day is spent traveling, investigating objects, and socializing byinteracting with other manatees. Marine zoological parks such asSeaWorld Florida and SeaWorld California help conservemanatees. SeaWorld is authorized to rescue and rehabilitate ill, injured, ororphaned manatees. The first priority of the Manatee Rescue and Rehabilitationprogram is to return healthy manatees to their natural habitat. SeaWorld Florida has successfullyrescued and released more than 150 manatees as of January 2005. Manatees emit sounds under water. Thechirps, whistles, or squeaks are probably produced in the larynx. They seem tomake these sounds when they are frightened, sexually aroused, or interactingwith each other. Manateeshave well-developed eyes. In the water, they can detect objects from tens ofmeters away. A manatee's retinas contain both rod and cone cells, indicatingthat they probably have the ability to see both dim and bright light. Recenttests suggest manatees can distinguish between blue and green colors, althoughthe full extent of their color vision is unknown and more studies are needed.

Meerkats

Carnivores Civets(family-Viverridae) The 76species of civets including linsangs, genets and binturongs belong to theviverridae family, while mangoose, meerkats, suricats and fossas arecategorized under Herpestidae family. The viverrids are the species ofCarnivores, which resemble a combination of cat (felid) and stoat (mustelid).They are, however, more primitive and have a longer snout and extra teeth. Viverridsare found from Southern Europe, across Africa to southern Asia,in forest, desert and savanna. They are mainly terrestrial, but some are goodclimbers. The Binturong is almost wholly arboreal, while the otter and genetsare semiaquatic. Civets and genets tend to have spots in longitudinal rowsalong their bodies for camouflage, while the mongoose species are either plainor striped. Meerkats:     Meerkats, which belong to Herpestidaefamily are used to Standing Tall in face of danger. They watch their enemy verycarefully, and quietly while standing in a group formation, and on their toesto the tallest possible height their bodies can reach. Therefore, tunneled intothe strange social life you will often come across meerkats, often consideredthe beloved carnivores of African desert in this multimedia feature. Meerkatscan also take on a dangerous snake like ‘puff adder’ that encroaches on theirterritory. Thus the mob of meerkats rule and survive, even against the threatof an approaching ‘Puff Adder’.

Monk Seals

DESCRIPTION: Monk seals belong to the pinnipedfamily Phocidae (true seals). Seals differ from sea lions (eared seals) in anumber of ways, including having shorter, stouter flippers, and no visibleearflaps. Monk seals tend to be dark brown to grayish brown on the dorsal sideand lighter yellow to whitish ventrally. Pups of both species are blackish incolor. Monk seals, along with bearded seals, are the only phocids that have twopairs of abdominal mammae. SIZE: Mediterranean monk seals can measure up to 2.8 m, with no sizedifference between males and females. Hawaiian monk seal adult males areslightly smaller than females. Newborn Mediterranean pups average lengths of 85-110 cm (33-43 in.) while Hawaiian monkseal pups may be 1 mlong at birth. Mature male Hawaiian monk seals may reachmaximum lengths of 2.1 m.Hawaiian monk seal adult females maymeasure as much as 2.4 m. WEIGHT: Adult Mediterranean monk seals can weigh240-400 kgand pups of both species weigh as much as 16-18 kg.Adult Hawaiian monk seal males can weigh up to 230 kg.Hawaiian monk seal adult females mayweigh as much as 270 kg. FUN FACTS: There are two living species of monkseals: Hawaiian monk seal (Monachus schauinslandi) and Mediterranean monk seal(Monachus monachus). A third species, the Caribbeanmonk seal (Monachus tropicalis) is believed to be extinct-no individuals havebeen observed since the early 1950s. Scientists believe Hawaiian monk sealsto be "living fossils". The anatomy, behavior and physiology of thisspecies of monk seal is only slightly different from monk seals that rangedalong the eastern coast of the UnitedStates 14-16 million years ago. Mediterranean monk seals are one of theleast social pinnipeds when they are on shore, but may be more social in thewater. These are considered one of the most critically endangered species ofmammal in the world.  Tigersharks often prey upon Hawaiian monk seals as evidenced by shark bite woundspresent on many monk seals. Other shark predators include gray reef andwhite-tipped reef sharks. Predation by sharks possibly helps explain why femaleHawaiian monk seals seem to prefer beach sites adjacent to shallow water onwhich to give birth and raise their pups.

List of Animals English Globe