Exploring the

world of mammals

AarWom

Copyright 2008 The Brown Reference Group plc

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Exploring the world of mammals / [edited by Nancy
Simmons, Richard Beatty, Amy-Jane Beer]. 1st ed.
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Includes index.
e-ISBN: 978-1-4381-2541-1
ISBN-13: 978-0-7910-9651-2
ISBN-10: 0-7910-9651-3
1. MammalsJuvenile literature. I. Simmons, Nancy B. II.
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Consultant Editor
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Chair, Division of Vertebrate Zoology,
Curator-in-Charge at the Department of Mammology,
American Museum of Natural History, New York
Authors
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Contents
Introducing mammals
Mammalian family tree
Aardvark
African wild dog
American black bear
American opossums
Anteaters
Antelope
Armadillos
Baboons and macaques
Badgers
Bats
Bears
Beavers
Beluga and narwhal
Brown bear
Bush babies
Camels and llamas
Capybara
Carnivores
Cats
Cheetah
Chimpanzees
Civets and genets
Coatis
Colobus monkeys
Coyote
Deer
Dhole
Dogs
Dolphins
Dormice

6
8
10
12
16
18
22
26
32
34
38
40
46
50
55
56
60
62
64
68
74
78
84
90
94
96
102
104
110
112
116
124

Contents

Dugong and manatees

Duikers
Elephants
Ethiopian wolf
Flying foxes
Foxes
Gazelles
Gerbils
Giant panda
Gibbons
Giraffe and okapi
Golden moles
Gorillas
Gray whale
Hamsters
Hedgehogs and moonrats
Hippopotamuses
Honey possum
Hoofed mammals
Horses, zebras, and asses
Hyraxes
Jackals
Jumping mice, birchmice, and jerboas
Kangaroos and wallabies
Koala
Lemurs
Leopard
Lion
Marmosets and tamarins
Marsupials
Marten
Moles and desmans
Mongooses
Monotremes
New World monkeys
Orangutans
Otters
Pangolins
Peccaries

126
130
132
138
140
142
146
152
154
156
160
166
168
172
176
178
180
184
186
192
198
200
202
204
210
214
218
222
228
234
240
242
244
246
248
254
258
264
266

Contents

Pikas
Platypus
Polar bear
Porcupines
Porpoises
Primates
Pronghorn
Rabbits and hares
Raccoons
Rats and mice
Rhinoceroses
Right whales
Rodents
Rorquals
Seals and sea lions
Shrews
Skunks and stink badgers
Sloths
Sperm whales
Squirrels
Tapirs
Tarsiers
Tasmanian devil
Tiger
Tree shrews
Voles and lemmings
Walrus
Weasels, mink, and polecats
Whales and dolphins
Wild cattle
Wild pigs and boars
Wolverine
Wolves
Wombats
Glossary
Further resources
Picture credits

268
272
274
278
282
284
290
292
298
300
306
310
314
320
324
332
334
336
340
344
350
354
356
360
366
368
372
376
380
386
392
396
400
406
410
413
414

INTRODUCINGMAMMALS
A

sked to describe a mammal, most people might

say, quite correctly, a warm, furry animal that
feeds its young on milk. There are around 5,000
different species of mammals, all of which have hair
or fur, a constant internal body temperature (are
warm-blooded), and feed their offspring on milk.
The milk is usually produced from special skin
organs called mammary glands. However, not all
mammals look alike. Bats, bears, whales, wallabies,
hedgehogs, and hippopotamuseseach of these
extremely diverse animals is a mammal. Humans are
mammals, too, and are grouped with chimpanzees,
gorillas, and orangutans.
Between them, mammals have adapted their body
shapes and behaviors to live practically all over the
world and are therefore among the most successful

animals on Earth. Some mammals can fly, some can

swim, while others burrow below ground, run or
jump across the surface, or climb trees. Some
mammals, such as polar bears and dolphins, are
carnivores and eat only meat; others, such as giraffes
and pronghorn, are herbivores, or plant eaters. Many
other species of mammals are omnivores that eat
both plants and animals. Omnivores include raccoons
and badgers.
The three main groups of mammals are the egglaying monotremes (platypus and echidnas);
marsupials, such as koalas, kangaroos, and opossums,
which give birth to highly undeveloped offspring and
raise them in pouches; and placentals, the females of
which nuture their babies inside their body in the
uterus before giving birth to well-developed young.

Exploring the World of Mammals

rom aardvarks to wombats, these six volumes of

Exploring the World of Mammals provide more
than one hundred articles that describe in detail
particular species and groups of mammals. Most are
general articles about individual mammal species,
such as colobus monkeys, hippopotamuses, or tapirs.
Other articles are more specific, providing an
overview of an entire order (large group) of mammals,
such as bats or carnivores, or a family of mammals,
such as bears or cats. These specific articles are shown
in bold type on the table of contents in each volume.
Each volume has a number of useful features,
including: a mammalian family tree, which shows
how mammals fit into the animal kingdom, how
they are related to one another, and provides cross
references to articles in this encyclopedia; a glossary
of terms used throughout the set; a section entitled

Further resources, which includes further reading and

Internet resources; and a volume-specific index.
Volume 6 contains a complete set index.
Every article has a Fact File box, which
summarizes a mammals family and order, explains
how many species exist, and shows a detailed map
of where the mammal lives. In addition, there are
facts about the mammals habitat, size, coat, diet,
breeding, life span, and status according to the
World Conservation Union (IUCN; see opposite).
Other items include boxes that provide more
in-depth information about specific details and
a Did You Know? feature that presents interesting
facts about specific mammals. Throughout, there
are large, colorful photographs and illustrations
that increase the readers enjoyment and enhance
an understanding of the world of mammals.

Carnivore, herbivore, insect eater, or omnivore?

bove the Fact File in each general

article is a colored tag and a small
illustration that highlights whether a
particular mammal is a carnivore (meat
eater), an insect eater, a herbivore (plant
eater), or an omnivore (one that eats
both plants and animals). As a general
description here, carnivore describes any
mammal that eats animal food, rather
than more specifically a member of the
order (large group) of mammals called
Carnivora. Aardvarks and anteaters are
listed as insect eaters because they eat
ants and termites, but they are also

carnivores because they eat animal food.

The category chosen for each article
covers the majority of members of the
group of mammals being described and
the bulk of the animals diet. For example,
baboons and macaques are described
as omnivores because most species eat
both plant and animal food. However,
the gelada baboon eats only grass, which
makes it a herbivore. Similarly, gorillas
are listed as herbivores (plant eaters)
because they eat mostly leaves, fruit,
shoots, and bark, although they also
eat a few termites and caterpillars.

carnivores

HERBIVORES

insect
EATERS

omnivores

World Conservation Union (IUCN)

Classifying mammals

The World Conservation Union (IUCN) is the worlds

largest and most important conservation network. Its
mission is to help protect all living organisms and natural
resources by highlighting those threatened with extinction
and therefore promote their conservation.
An organism may be placed in one of the following
categories in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species:

Scientists group together, or classify,

animals that have a common ancestor
and therefore share similar physical
features and genes (sections of DNA, or
deoxyribonucleic acid). That common
ancestor might have lived millions of
years ago. The family tree shown
overleaf reveals the relationships among
mammals. All mammals belong to the
class Mammalia, which is divided into
several large groups called orders that
contain more closely related mammals.
In turn, each order of mammals is
divided into smaller groups called
families, which contain even more
closely related mammals. For example,
the order Cetacea includes all whales
and dolphins. Within this order are
several families, including Delphinidae,
which covers dolphins. Delphinidae is
further divided into seventeen smaller
groups called genera (singular genus),
which contain several individual species,
or types, of dolphins. The species is the
smallest category of biological
classification. Animals belonging to the
same species can breed together
successfully to produce fertile offspring.

Extinctthere is no reasonable doubt that the last

individual has died
Extinct in the wildan organism survives only in captivity,
in cultivation, or as a population well outside its past range
Critically endangeredfacing an extremely high risk
of extinction in the wild
Endangeredfacing a very high risk of extinction
in the wild
Vulnerablefacing a high risk of extinction in the wild
Near threatenedlikely to qualify for a threatened
category in the near future
Least concernis not threatened
Data deficientinadequate information exists
to make an assessment

The status of each mammal or group of mammals

according to the IUCN is highlighted at the foot
of the Fact File in every article.

MAMMALIAN FAMILY TREE

ANIMAL
KINGDOM
(Animalia)

CLASS:
BIRDS (Aves)
REPTILES (Reptilia)
AMPHIBIANS (Amphibia)
FISH (Osteichthyesbony
fish, Chondrichthyes
cartilaginous fish)
MAMMALS (Mammalia)

Animals with a backbone

(PHYLUM Chordata,
SUBPHYLUM Vertebrata)

The numbers below refer to volume and page

numbers where a particular animal group
is discussed in an article.

(Carnivores 1:66)

CARNIVORA

MANIDAE (Pangolins 4:58)

PHOLIDOTA
(Hoofed mammals 3:48)

PERRISODACTYLA

EQUIDAE (Horses, zebras, and asses 3:54)

RHINOCEROTIDAE (Rhinoceroses 5:32)
TAPIRIDAE (Tapirs 6:8)

(Hoofed mammals 3:48)

ARTIODACTYLA
cetacea

SUIDAE (Wild pigs and boars 6:50)

TAYASSUIDAE (Peccaries 4:60)

(Whales and dolphins 6:38)

HIPPOPOTAMIDAE (Hippopotamuses 3:42)

CAMELIDAE (Camels and llamas 1:60)

PLACENTAL MAMMALS

EULIPOTYPHLA

IA
HER
S T rs)
S
A
L eare
BC
SU (Liveb
SUBCLASS PROTOTHERIA
(Egg layers)

CERVIDAE (Deer 2:34)

ERINACEIDAE (Hedgehogs
and moonrats 3:40)

GIRAFFIDAE (Giraffe and okapi 3:22)

TALPIDAE (Moles and desmans 4:36)

BOVIDAE (Antelope 1:24; Duikers 2:60;

Gazelles 3:18; Wild cattle and spiralhorned antelope 6:44)

ANTILOCAPRIDAE (Pronghorn 5:16)

SORICIDAE (Shrews 5:58)

CHIROPTERA

PILOSA

(Bats 1:38)

PTEROPODIDAE (Flying foxes 2:70)

MYRMECOPHAGIDAE, CYCLOPEDIDAE (Anteaters 1:20)

MEGALONYCHIDAE, BRADYPODIDAE (Sloths 5:62)

CINGULATA

DASYPODIDAE (Armadillos 1:30)

HYRACOIDEA

PROCAVIIDAE (Hyraxes 3:60)

PROBOSCIDEA

ELEPHANTIDAE (Elephants 2:62)

SIRENIA

TRICHECHIDAE, DUGONGIDAE
(Dugong and manatees 2:58)

TUBULIDENTATA

ORYCTEROPODIDAE (Aardvark 1:8)

AFROSORICIDA

CHRYSOCHLORIDAE (Golden moles 3:28)

MARSUPIALIA
MONOTREMATA

(Marsupials 4:28)

(Monotremes 4:40)

ORNITHORHYNCHIDAE (Platypus 4:66)

MUSTELIDAE (Badgers 1:36; Marten 4:34; Otters 4:52; Weasels, mink, and polecats 6:34; Wolverine 6:54)
MEPHITIDAE (Skunks and stink badgers 5:60)
PROCYONIDAE (Coatis 2:24; Raccoons 5:24)
PHOCIDAE, OTARIIDAE (Seals 5:50)
OBENIDAE (Walrus 6:30)
URSIDAE (American black bear 1:14; Bears 1:44; Brown bear 1:54; Giant panda 3:16; Polar bear 4:68)
CANIDAE (African wild dog 1:10; Coyote 2:32; Dogs 2:42; Dhole 2:40; Ethiopian wolf 2:68; Foxes 2:72;
Jackals 3:62; Wolves 6:58)
FELIDAE (Cats 1:72; Cheetah 2:8; Leopard 4:12; Lion 4:16; Tiger 6:18)
HERPESTIDAE (Mongooses 4:38)
VIVERRIDAE, NANDINIIDAE (Civets and genets 2:20)

MONODONTIDAE (Beluga and narwhal 1:52)

DELPHINIDAE (Dolphins 2:46)
ESCHRICHTIIDAE (Gray whale 3:34)
PHOCOENIDAE (Porpoises 5:8)
BALAENIDAE, NEOBALAENIDAE (Right whales 5:36)
BALAENOPTERIDAE (Rorquals 5:46)
PHYSETERIDAE (Sperm whales) 5:66)

CASTORIDAE (Beavers 1:48)

(Rodents 5:40)

RODENTIA

SCIURIDAE (Squirrels 5:70)

MURIDAE (Gerbils 3:14; Hamsters 3:38; Rats and mice 5:26;
Voles and lemmings 6:26)
MYOXIDAE (Dormice 2:54)

LAGOMORPHA
LEPORIDAE (Rabbits and hares 5:18)
OCHOTONIDAE (Pikas 4:62)

DIPODIDAE (Jumping mice, birchmice, and jerboas 3:64)

ERETHIZONTIDAE, HYSTERICIDAE (Porcupines 4:72)
HYDROCHAERIDAE (Capybara 1:26)
CERCOPITHECIDAE (Baboons and macaques 1:32; Colobus monkeys 2:26)

PRIMATES

(Primates 5:10)

HOMINIDAE (Chimpanzees 2:14; Gorillas 3:30; Orangutans 4:48)

TARSIIDAE (Tarsiers 6:12)
HYLOBATIDAE (Gibbons 3:18)
CALLITRICHIDAE (Marmosets and tamarins 4:22)
CEBIDAE, AOTIDAE, ATELIDAE, PITHECIIDAE (New World monkeys 4:42)

SCANDENTIA
TUPAIIDAE, PTILOCERCIDAE (Tree shrews 6:24)

GALAGIDAE, LORISIDAE (Bush babies 1:58)

LEMURIDAE, LEPILEMURIDAE, CHEIROGALEIDAE, INDRIDAE,
DAUBENTONIIDAE (Lemurs 4:8)

DIDELPHIMORPHIA

DIDELPHIDAE (American opossums 1:16)

DIPROTODONTIA

MACROPODIDAE (Kangaroos and wallabies 3:66)

PHASCOLARCTIDAE (Koala 3:72)
TARSIPEDIDAE (Honey possum 3:46)
VOMBATIDAE (Wombats 6:64)

DASYUROMORPHIA

DASYURIDAE (Tasmanian devil 6:14)

Aardvark
These shy animals are not often seen. Many
details of their daily life remain a mystery, but one
thing is for surethere is nothing aardvarks like
better than a nest full of termites.

10

insect eaters

ardvark means earthpig in the Afrikaans

language of South Africa. This unusual-looking
animal spends every night rooting about and digging
for ants and termites, which it sniffs out with its
sensitive nose. Once it has found a nest, an aardvark
starts digging. Its strong, broad claws can break ground
that has baked as hard as a rock in the sun. The
aardvark shoves its long snout into the nest and begins
slurping up the insects. Its long tongue is covered in
sticky saliva. Aardvarks do not chew their food. Instead,
they swallow ants and termites whole. After a few
minutes of feeding, the aardvark moves on. It spends
the night walking around in search of nests to dig up.
An aardvark can eat 50,000 termites in a single night.

Burrows and Babies

During the day, aardvarks rest in underground burrows,
which they dig themselves. An aardvark can dig a
burrow big enough to hide inside in just five minutes.
Adult aardvarks live alone. Males and females probably
meet only once a year to breed. Females have just one
baby at a time. Mother aardvarks rear their offspring in
a burrow with lots of tunnels and entrances.
Aardvarks have unusual teeth that continue to grow
as long as the animal lives. The teeth are covered in a
layer of bony material instead of enamel like human
teeth. The teeth are one of the features that suggest
the aardvark has no close living relatives.

Fact File
AARDVARK
Orycteropus afer
Family: Orycteropodidae
Order: Tubulidentata
Where do they live? Africa, south of
the Sahara desert

Equator

Habitat: Open woodlands, scrublands,

grasslands, and forests, but not on rocky
or steep ground
Size: Headbody length 4151 inches
(105130 cm);
weight 88143
pounds (4065 kg)
Coat: Pale yellowish gray, often stained
with soil
Diet: Ants and termites
Breeding: Single offspring born
after 7-month gestation; can survive alone
after one year
Life span: Up to 10 years in a zoo, less
in the wild
Status: Not threatened

An aardvark has long, tube-shaped ears that it uses

to listen for predators. Its large snout is ideal for
rooting in the ground to look for ants and termites.

11

African wild dog

African wild dogs know all about teamwork.
They live in organized packs and travel, hunt,
and rear their pups together. Each animal knows
its place and depends on its companions for survival.

12

carnivores

frican wild dogs are slim, short-haired dogs with

blotchy coats, large ears, and a bushy tail. They
are sometimes called painted hunting dogs because of
their coat pattern. These dogs are not very strong, but
they are smart. By working together, African wild dogs
can hunt animals much larger than themselves.
African wild dogs live in groups called packs. Each
pack is lead by a top pair, called the alpha male and
female. Only the alpha male and female breed. The rest
of the pack might be brothers, sisters, or offspring of the
alpha pair. Every dog is important in the life of the
pack. All the adults hunt together. The dogs that do not
breed help the alpha pair rear their pups. Pack members
feed and protect the puppies as though they were their
own. With so many helpers, the alpha female can rear
much larger litters then she could alone. It is common
for a female to have ten or more puppies in a litter.

Pack Support
The puppies are born in a den. To begin with the
mother stays with them to feed them milk. The rest of
the pack go hunting and bring back food for her. The
pups start eating meat after four or five weeks. At
about four months old, the pups start trying to help
the pack hunt. At first they just get in the way, but they
learn fast. The adults let the pups eat first when a kill
is made. By the time they are one year old, the pups are
fully grown and ready to start looking after the next

Fact File
AFRICAN WILD DOG
Lycaon pictus
Family: Canidae
Order: Carnivora
Where do they live? Africa, south of
the Sahara desert

Equator

Habitat: Open savanna woodlands

and grasslands, dry scrublands,
and hilly areas
Size: Headbody length 3047 inches
(75120 cm);
weight 4471
pounds (2032 kg)
Coat: Short and often thin; black, white,
gray, yellow, and tan blotches and spots
Diet: Meat, mostly antelope but
also carrion (dead animals) and
some rabbits and buffalo calves
Breeding: Cooperative; around 10 pups
per litter born to one female in a pack;
70 to 73 days gestation; mature at
1314 months
Life span: About 10 years

Like other dogs, African wild dogs are perfectly

equipped for hunting. Here, this African wild dog

Status: Endangered; only around 5,500

survive in the wild

is displaying a mouth full of extremely sharp teeth.

13

african wild dog

generation. The pack moves around

a lot, often sleeping in a different
place each night, except when
a new litter is ready to be born.

Hunting Parties
Wild dog hunts often start with a
long journey in search of prey. Most
packs prefer antelope, such as impala.

Friendly relations
African wild dogs use greeting ceremonies to
strengthen team spirit and to bond the hunting
pack. These ceremonies usually take place
around midday. All the members of the pack
come together in an excited crowd. They run
around, squeaking and nuzzling each other.
The dogs do this before every hunt, just like a
sports team going into a huddle before a game.

Sometimes the pack attacks water

buffalo, wildebeests, and zebras.
These large animals are not easy to
kill. Usually, the pack has to chase the
prey until it is too tired to fight. Then
one of the dogs leaps up and drags
the prey to the ground. The dogs eat
fast. They try to gobble as much as
they can before lions or hyenas turn
up. Chunks of meat can be coughed
back up again later, to feed puppies
or other members of the pack.
Wild dogs sometimes get
separated from the pack during a
hunt. The others keep calling to
help it find its way back. If a dog
becomes sick or is injured, the rest

An African wild dog pup

begs food from its mother by
touching and licking her face.
Adult African wild dogs use
this nuzzling technique during
midday greeting ceremonies.

14

carnivores

of the pack will protect it and bring

it back food after a hunt. So wild
dogs can sometimes recover from
injuries that would be fatal to
animals that live alone.

hundreds of years because they

think the dogs threaten their
livestock. Many wild dogs are killed
on roads, and thousands have died
of diseases such as rabies, which
can be spread by domestic dogs.

Endangered Dogs
Wild dogs are endangered for many
reasons. They have natural enemies,
including lions and hyenas, which
steal their food and often attack
and kill the dogs themselves. Wild
dogs need a lot of space. But their
habitat is shrinking as people clear
land to farm or build towns. People
have also hunted wild dogs for

A pack
member has
spotted an
antelope and
chases it. The
whole pack will
join in, running

OW?
DID YOU KN
No two wild dogs look the
sameeach one has its
own unique coat pattern
of blotches and spots.
Those big ears are sharp enough to
hear another dog calling softly more
than a mile away!
Wild dogs can run at speeds
of up to 37 miles per hour!

after the prey

until it tires.

15

American black bear

American black bears are by far the most
common bear species. The secret of their
success is a varied dietthese bears make
a meal of almost anything.

16

OMNIVORES

lack bears live in many of the same areas as

brown bears and grizzly bears, but black bears
are smaller and much better at climbing trees. They live
in a wide variety of habitatsfrom the dry scrublands
of Mexico and steamy swamp forests of Florida, to the
mountain woodlands of the Rockies and the bleak
Canadian tundra (cold, treeless plains). Black bears
living in the north are larger than those in the south.
The extra weight helps them stay warm. Where winters
are long and hard, black bears must fatten up in
summer and spend the winter sleeping in a den. A bear
can stay in its den for up to eight months, living off its
fat reserves. In the southern United States and Mexico,
however, black bears stay active all winter.

Winter Cubs
Black bears mate in summer. After mating, the male
bear leaves the female alone. She usually gives birth to
two or three tiny cubs in the middle of winter. In
spring, the cubs start exploring and eating solid food.
They usually leave at seventeen months old.
Black bears eat all sorts of things. In spring they eat
fresh green shoots, buds, and insects. In summer and
fall, they eat nuts and fruit. They also hunt animals,
such as fish and small mammals up to the size of small
deer. In many areas, black bears associate people with
food, and they raid trash cans and crops. They are not
normally dangerous to people unless provoked.
An American black bear cub. Cubs usually stay
with their mother for around 17 months. During this

Fact File
AMERICAN BLACK BEAR
Ursus americanus
Family: Ursidae
Order: Carnivora
Where do they live? Most of Canada,
wilderness areas of the United States
away from the central plains, and
northern Mexico

arctic circle

Tropic of Cancer

Habitat: Forests, woodlands,

and scrublands
Size: Headbody length 46 feet 3
inches (1.21.9 m);
weight 130880
pounds (40400 kg)
Coat: Thick fur can be black, brown,
red-brown, or blonde
Diet: Fruit, shoots, buds, catkins,
insects, mammals, and fish
Breeding: Mate in summer; 2634
weeks gestation; 16 cubs born in
January; mature at around 34 years
Life span: Usually 25 years,
occasionally up to 35 years
Status: Not threatened, although
some subspecies (local types)
are becoming rare

time, they learn how to climb trees and find food.

17

American opossums
A few of these pouched mammals are familiar in different
parts of the Americas, while others are seldom seen.
They are all distant relatives of Australian marsupials,
such as kangaroos and wombats.

18

omnivores

possums are American marsupials. They are

long-lost, distant relatives of the Australian
possums, kangaroos, and koalas. Marsupials evolved
more than 80 million years ago, when Australia and
South America were part of the same ancient
continent, Gondwana. There are ninety-two species of
American opossums. They range in size from tiny
mouse opossums, at 3 inches long, to the cat-sized
Virginia opossum. Most species live in South and
Central America, but the Virginia opossum is common
in North America as far north as the Great Lakes.
Opossums have a pointed snout and long whiskers.
Their eyes are big and bright, and their ears are large,
with no fur. Most opossums have very good eyesight
and hearing. The long, furless tail is prehensile in many
species; it can curl and grip branches when climbing.

Varied Lifestyles
Adults of all species live alone, but their lifestyles
vary. Several species, including the Virginia opossum,
common opossum, white-eared opossum, and the
four-eyed opossum are good climbers and eat
almost anything that comes their way, including
fruit, insects eggs, small mammals, and carrion. The
Virginia opossum is familiar to millions of people as
a backyard visitor and raider of trash cans. Other
opossum species are suited to different ways of life.
Woolly opossums, for example, are great tree
A Virginia opossum holds on tight to the branches
of a tree. It has a prehensile (grasping) tail and five
toes on each foot. Each toe bears a sharp claw.

Fact File
AMERICAN OPOSSUMS
Family: Didelphidae (92 species)
Order: Didelphimorphia
Where do they live? Most of
South and Central America; Virginia
opossum common in eastern United
States and eastern Canada; introduced
to Pacific coast
Habitat: Forests, grasslands,
mountains; also in
towns

Equator

Size: Headbody
length 320 inches
(755 cm); weight
0.5 ounce12
pounds (135,500 g)
Coat: Some short and woolly, others
short undercoat with shaggy top coat;
color from dark gray-brown to brown,
gold, or almost white; some species
have markings on the face
Diet: Varies with species; some eat
only insects and other animals; most
eat both plant and animal food
Breeding: Tiny offspring born after
1214 days gestation; continue to
develop in pouch or clinging to
mothers fur
Life span: 13 years in the wild; up
to
8 years in zoos
Status: Around half of the 92 known
species may be at risk; 22 species are
officially threatened

19

American opossums

climbers. They live in rain forests

and dangle from the trees to reach
fruit and flowers. The Patagonian
opossum is a small, mouselike
animal. It lives farther south than
any other opossum and is thought
to be a burrowing predator. The
yapok spends a lot of its life in
water. It has webbed hind feet that
act as paddles. It dives to catch
frogs, fish, and crustaceans, such as
crabs and shrimps.

Mouse Opossums
Mouse opossums are the smallest
members of the group. Some live in
trees, while others spend their lives

scuttling around at ground level, like

regular mice. The fat-tailed mouse
opossum stores fat in its tail that
helps it survive when food is scarce.

Tiny Babies
Female opossums usually produce
large litters of tiny offspring.
Newborn opossums must crawl up
the mothers belly and latch on to
one of her teats. Often there are
fewer teats than there are babies. It is
a case of first come, first
served. Those that do not
quickly find a teat will die.
In most species, the teats are
inside a pouch. Scientists call this
A black-shouldered
opossum climbs down
a branch using its
prehensile (grasping) tail.

A Derbys woolly
opossum rests in a
tree. Like most
opossums, it has a
long, furless tail.

20

This Mexican
mouse opossum
is looking for food.

DID YOU
KNOW?
Newborn
opossums can be
so tiny that an
entire litter fits in
a teaspoon!
One Virginia
opossum once
produced a litter
of 56 babies!
The yapok has a
watertight pouch,
which closes to
protect the
offspring when the
mother dives.

omnivores

pouch a marsupium. However, not

all female opossums have a welldeveloped pouch. In some
opossums, such as mouse opossums,
the pouch is just a fold of skin.
Other opossums have no pouch at
all. In pouchless species, the young
opossums dangle from the teat or
cling to the mothers fur. After a few
weeks, the babies begin to move
about on their mothers body, only
coming back to the teat to feed.
Most young opossums are weaned
between two and three months old.

An insect grub makes

a tasty meal for a gray
four-eyed opossum.

The yapok, or water

opossum, has large, webbed
hind feet that help it swim
through the water.

Playing dead
Opossums are famous for playing dead when
they are in danger. They do this by keeling
over with their legs stiff and tongue lolling.
They do not move or even blink and can stay
like this for hours. Then, when the danger
has passed, they come back to life.

South American Relatives

Two other groups of South
American marsupials are distantly
related to opossums. Shrew
opossums are small, nocturnal
predators with unusually large
incisor teeth for stabbing prey. The
Moninto del monte from Chile is
the only member of the other group.
It is small and harmless, but local
people think it brings bad luck.
21

Anteaters
Strange-looking, toothless anteaters are related
to sloths, but their appearance and habits
are very different. As their name suggests, anteaters live on a diet of ants and termites.

22

insect eaters

he four species of anteaters live in various parts

of South America. All of them eat insects, such as
ants and termites. The best-known species is the giant
anteater. Giant anteaters live in the vast grasslands and
swamps east of the Andes mountains. They may eat up
to 35,000 large ants and termites a day. The two species
of tamanduas are medium-sized forest and scrub
dwellers. They spend much of their time in the trees.
They eat up to 9,000 ants a day and also tackle bees.
The silky anteater looks more like a sloth than an
anteater. Its body is no more than 8 inches (20 cm)
long. This anteater has a long, furry tail that acts as
a fifth limb for climbing. The silky anteater does not
have a long snout, and its fur is short, dense, and
very fine. It lives in tropical forests and comes down
to the ground only to move from one tree to another.
It eats tiny ants that nest in trees. Giant anteaters
and tamaduas can be active by day or night, but
silky anteaters are strictly nocturnal (night active).

Huge Claws
Anteaters have enormous claws. The claws are so large
that anteaters cannot place the soles of their front feet
on flat surfaceswhen moving about on the ground
they must walk on their knuckles. The grounddwelling giant anteater uses its claws to break into logs
and termite mounds as hard as concrete. Tamanduas
and silky anteaters use their claws to grip branches
The giant anteaters long, tubelike snout ends in
a tiny mouth opening. Its legs are short and sturdy
in relation to its body size, and it walks on its knuckles.

Fact File
ANTEATERs
Families: Myrmecophagidae
and Cyclopedidae (4 species)
Order: Pilosa
Where do they live? Southern Mexico,
Central and South America, to Paraguay
and northern Argentina

Equator

Habitat: Grasslands, swamps,

scrublands, woodlands, and tropical
forests
Size: Headbody length 18 inches4
feet 2
inches
(20130
cm); weight 13 ounces86 pounds
(0.37539 kg)
Coat: Coarse and shaggy in giant
anteater, soft and dense in silky anteater;
pale grayish fawn to brown fur (plain in
silky anteater), with dark flank markings in
other species
Diet: Ants and termites
Breeding: Single offspring born after
120190 days gestation
Life span: Giant anteater up to 26
years in a zoo, smaller species are
shorter lived
Status: Giant anteater is vulnerable

23

anteaters

when climbing and to open up holes

in tree trunks and branches.

Toothless Hunters
Anteaters hunt mainly by smell. They
sniff out an ant or termite nest and
then open a hole large enough to
push their narrow snout in and begin
collecting insects with the tongue.
Anteaters have no teeth. They do not
need to chew their food. All the ants
and termites they catch are swallowed
whole. In the anteaters stomach, the
insects are turned to pulp by the
formic acid in the ants own bodies.
Unlike most mammals, anteaters do
The southern
tamandua has strong
claws and a powerful
tail. The tail can grip
branches while the
animal climbs, and
also acts as a prop
when the animal rears
up on its hind legs.

ow?
did you kn
Young anteaters ride on their
mothers back until they are
nearly as big as she is!
Silky anteaters can sleep
dangling upside down from
tree branches!
The southern tamandua can
have claws up to 16 inches
long!

not need to produce strongly acidic

stomach juices to get digestion started.

Raising Babies
All four species of anteaters usually
live alone, except when rearing
offspring. Female anteaters usually
produce just one baby at a time.
Silky anteater babies are cared for by
both parents. They are sometimes
left alone in a leafy nest while the
parents go to feed. At other times,
the babies accompany the adults,
riding on the parents back. Female
tamanduas and giant anteaters also
carry their offspring on their back.

Standing Its Ground

The giant anteater is too large to have
many natural enemies. Pumas and
jaguars may sometimes try to attack
the giant anteater, but this animal
knows how to defend itself. When
24

INSECT EATERS

cornered, the giant anteater stands on

its hind legs and slashes with its huge
claws. It might even try to crush the
attacker in a powerful bear hug.
Tamanduas and silky anteaters are
more vulnerable. They spend most of
the time high in the trees out of reach
of most large predators.
All species of anteaters are
suffering from loss of habitat.
Tamanduas and giant anteaters are
also hunted for sport. They are also
often killed by cars and bush fires.

Fastest tongues
in the west
All anteaters have a very long sticky tongue,
which can flick in an out up to 150 times per
minute. In tamanduas, the tongue can reach
about 16 inches in length from the tip of the
snout. The giant anteater can stick its tongue
out up to 24 inches. The tongue is covered in
little points, or barbs, that point backward.
These barbs help snag the bodies of ants and
termites. Anteaters also produce a lot of sticky
saliva (watery mouth secretion).

25

Antelope
Grazing antelope include some of the most numerous
large animals in the world as well as some of the rarest.
These social animals are superbly adapted to the
many different types of grassy habitats in Africa.

26

herbivores

everal groups of mammals specialize in eating

grass. Grass is an unusual plant. While most
flowering plants, including herbs, shrubs, and trees
grow from the tip, grasses grow from the base. Most
plants start to decline if their tips are continually
nipped off, but not grass. Regular trimming makes
grass grow even faster. Animals that eat grass are
called grazers. Africa has more grazers than any
other continent, including many large mammals,
such as zebras, rhinoceroses, and buffalo.
Grazing antelope are all members of the great
group of hoofed mammals called artiodactyls.
Grazing antelope belong to the same family as cattle,
sheep, and goats. Grazing antelope are medium- to
large-hoofed mammals with slim legs and a long face.
Males and sometimes females have horns, and the
neck is short and powerful to carry the weight of the
horns. The horns are used for fighting other antelope
for mates, territory, and food. Antelope live in groups
for safety, and these groups can be very large.

Grazing Antelope Tribes

There are three tribes, or groupings, of grazing
antelope, each of which lives in a different sort of
grassy habitat. The first tribe, called Reduncini, live
mainly in reedbeds and wetlands. They include the
dainty reedbucks, the huge shaggy waterbuck, and
medium-sized kob, lechwe, and puku. None of them
The bontebok has a distinctive white patch on the
face. These grazing antelope live on the open grasslands

Fact File
ANTELOPE
Family: Bovidae; subfamily Hippotraginae
(23 species)
Order: Artiodactyla
Where do they live? Africa and Arabia

Equator

Habitat: Wet and dry grasslands

16,500 feet (5,000 m) below sea level
Size: Shoulder height 2657 inches
(65145 cm);
weight 50620
pounds (23280 kg)
Coat: Varies from short and sleek
to shaggy; color varies from pure white
to black through fawn, gold, red, brown,
and gray, often with striking markings on
the face, rump, and legs; some species
have a mane
Diet: Grass, herbs, and water plants
Breeding: Gestation 210280 days;
1 calf, occasionally twins
Life span: Varies with species;
up to 22 years
Status: Varies from not threatened
to critically endangered; many
species threatened by overhunting
and habitat loss

of South Africa and are listed as being vulnerable.

27

antelope

DID YOU
KNOW?
The oily fur
of waterbucks
smells so
unpleasant that
most predators
leave them alone!
European hunters
killed so many
bluebuck that
the species went
extinct about
200 years ago.
The impala has the
greatest range of
any grazing
antelope.

live far from water and they depend

on a year-round supply of fresh,
green vegetation. Their coats are oily
and they have a strong, musky scent.
Only males have horns, which are
short and curved.
The next tribe, Alcelaphini, are
savanna specialists. They live on the
vast grassy plains that cover more
land than any other habitat south
of the Sahara desert. Most members
of this tribe are large, with a heavy
head and long, awkward-looking

legs. All members of Alcelaphini

have back legs shorter than the
front legs, so the back slopes down
from the shoulders to the rump.
The horns usually curve first in one
direction then another. Species
include wildebeests, hartebeests,
bonteboks, topis, and hirolas. The
impala is the odd one out in this
group. It is smaller and less clumsy
looking, and has a more varied diet.
Impalas eat the leaves and shoots of
trees and shrubs as well as grass.

2
4

8
5
6

28

herbivores

The third tribe is called

Hippotragini. These antelope are
all large and heavy. They live in
small groups spread out over huge
areas of dry grassland and desert
in Africa and Arabia. Life is hard

Great journeys

10
11

12

Antelope that live in very large herds, such as

the wildebeest of southern and eastern Africa
(above) and white-eared kob in the Sudan are
constantly on the move in search of fresh food.
Several species make regular long journeys,
following the rains that allow fresh grass to
grow. These long journeys are called migrations.

1. Southern reedbuck.

7. Addax, sampling the air.

2. Defassa waterbuck,

8. Gemsbok, kicking out its

in the dominance display.

3. Roan antelope, in a
submissive posture.
4. Sable antelope, presenting
its horns.
5. Gray rhebok, in the

13

alert posture.
6. Uganda kob, in the headhigh posture.

foreleg during courtship.

9. Cokes hartebeest, with
its head held low.
10. Male impala, roaring
during the mating season.
11. Male bontebok, kneeling.
12. Topi, in head-up posture.
13. Blue wildebeest, in earsdown courtship posture.
29

antelope

for these animals and they cannot

afford to be fussy eaters. They
have the most varied diet of any
grazing antelope. As well as grass,
they eat seed pods, roots, tubers,
and fruit, especially wild melons,
which contain precious water.
Food is nearly always in short
supply, and these antelope may
have to fight for it.

Both sexes have long horns. The

horns are straight in the gemsbok,
curved in the oryx, and gently
spiraling in the addax. The addax is
a real desert specialist: it is the only
large antelope to survive in the
Sahara desert. One species, called
the Arabian oryx, lives in Arabia. It
is the only member of the family to
live outside Africa.

Hunted Herds

A species on the edge

The Arabian oryx is one of the worlds rarest
mammals. In 1972, there were so few left in the
wild that conservationists decided to take them
all into captivity. In zoos they were protected
from poachers, and their numbers increased
to several hundred. Since 1982, small herds
have been returned to wild or semiwild habitats
in Saudi Arabia, Oman, Jordan, and Israel.

30

Most antelope are hunted by other

animals, including people. Lions,
leopards, cheetahs, hyenas, wild dogs,
and jackals are all a threat. Each
species has evolved a way of dealing
with predators. Most of the larger
antelope species live in large herds.
Living in a herd is safer than living
alone out on the open plain. It is very
difficult for a predator to sneak up on
a herd. It will be seen, heard, or
scented and once the alarm is raised,
the whole herd is on the alert.
Predators usually look for young,
old, or weak antelope that cannot
keep up with the herd. Healthy and
strong antelope do not often get
caught. Large herds often include
more than one species. Kobs and
lechwes often herd together, and
wildebeest often herd with zebras.

herbivores

Herds of some antelope can be very

large. Wildebeest form some of the
largest herds of any living mammal.
When rains encourage fresh grass to
grow, wildebeest can gather from
miles around to form superherds
containing millions of animals.
However, for smaller species like
reedbucks, hiding is the best way of
avoiding predators. Reedbucks live in
small groups that disappear among
the reeds and tall grass. Small groups
are also the only way desert-dwelling

oryxes and addax can survive. Large

herds would starve in their hostile
habitat, so these animals live in small
groups of five to twenty-five animals.

OW?
DID YOU KN
The horns of the oryx can
grow up to 27 inches long!
A migrating wildebeest herd
can stretch for several miles!
The smallest grazing antelope
is the mountain reedbuck, while
the largest is the roan antelope.

A female
waterbuck rests,
while her two
fawns stand
close by. As
their name
suggests, waterbuck live mainly
in reedbeds and
wetlands.

31

Armadillos
Where to place armadillos in the mammal family tree has puzzled
zoologists for centuries. Early naturalists thought they might
be related to turtles because of their bony carapace, or shield.
These days, armadillos are placed in an order of their own.

32

INSECT EATERS

rmadillos look like animals from science fiction.

Most of the body is encased in a suit of armor,
called a carapace, which is made of bony plates
covered in very tough skin. The carapace protects the
animal from sharp thorns and from predators. The
plates are arranged so the animal can bend its body,
and some species can roll up into a tight ball.
There are twenty-one species of armadillos, all living
in the Americas. In the past there were many more,
including some enormous species. One of these had a
carapace 10 feet long. Little is known about most of
these species. Most of what is known about armadillos
comes from studies of the nine-banded armadillo.

Nighttime Hunters
Armadillos are mainly nocturnal, coming out only
at night to hunt. They have poor eyesight but good
senses of hearing and smell. The sense of smell is
important for finding food and communicating with
other armadillos. Most species produce scent from
glands on the face, feet, and in their rear, which carries
information about the animal for other armadillos.
Armadillos are great diggers. They have short, strong
front legs and stout claws. They live in burrows they
dig themselves; a single armadillo may use as many as
twenty burrows in its home range. Most species hunt
by digging in soil and leaf litter or by breaking open
rotten logs to get to ants and termites inside.
This nine-banded armadillos bony plates are clearly
visible. Armadillos usually live alone, meeting only

Fact File
ARMADILLOs
Family: Dasypodidae (21 species)
Order: Cingulata
Where do they live? South America,
Central America, and southeastern
United States

Equator

Habitat: Grasslands, scrublands,

deserts, and all types of forests
Size: Headbody length 539 inches
(12100 cm); weight 3 ounces
132 pounds
(80 g60 kg)
Coat: Belly is hairy, rest of body is
covered in bony armor plates, called
a carapace
Diet: Ants, termites, and other soil
invertebrates, small vertebrates, and
carrion (dead animals)
Breeding: Litter size varies with species,
from 1 to 12 offspring, born after a
gestation of 60 to 120 days
Life span: 812 years in the wild; up to
20 years in a zoo
Status: At least half of all species are
vulnerable or near threatened

to mate. Males fight for the right to mate with females.

33

Baboons and macaques

This group of Old World primates are
the typical monkeys of Africa and Asia.
Baboons, macaques, and their relatives
are agile, sociable, and very smart.

34

omnivores

aboons, macaques, and their close relatives

mangabeys and guenons are Old World
monkeys. There are seventy-four species. The smallest
member of the group is the talapoin, a species of
guenon. The largest is the mandrill, a type of baboon.
All of these monkeys usually walk on four limbs.
Their front limbs are arms and their front paws are
more like hands than feet. They are agile monkeys.
Most species have a long tail, and the face is long,
similar to a dogs. Usually there is some bare skin
on the face and rump. Most species eat mainly fruit,
but different species also eat all kinds of other food.

Fact File
BABOONs and MACAQUEs
Family: Cercopithecidae; subfamily
Cercopithecinae (74 species)
Order: Primates
Where do they live? Southern Asia,
Japan, Indonesia, Africa south of
Sahara desert, northwestern Africa

Equator

Trooping Together
Baboons, macaques, and their relatives are social
monkeys. They live in groups called troops. The
members of a troop work together to find food, watch
out for predators, protect offspring, and fight battles
with other troops. Young monkeys learn how to survive
by watching their elders. Some troops live closer
together than others. Baboon and drill troops are very
close knit. However, living together is not always easy.
Squabbles and fights often break out, especially among
the largest and strongest members of the troop.
Females usually mate with a male from their own
troop. Most females are at least three of four years
old before they are ready to breed. Just one baby is
usually born; twins are unusual. These newborns

Habitat: Forests, grasslands,

scrublands, and mountains
Size: Headbody length 1328 inches
(3470 cm); weight 1.5110 pounds
(0.750 kg)
Coat: Thick, silky fur;
males often have a
mane; color varies with species from fawn
to black; there may be markings on the
face, chest, arms, and legs
Diet: Fruit, seeds, buds, shoots, flowers,
bark, gum, roots, bulbs; invertebrates and
small vertebrates
Breeding: Most species breed once
a year and raise one or two offspring;
gestation lasts 56 months
Life span: 2031 years

Something has caught the attention of these Celebes

crested macaques. These monkeys live in the forests
of Sulawesi, an Indonesian island in the Indian Ocean.

Status: Varies from very common to

rare; many species are threatened
by habitat loss

35

baboons and macaques

have different colored fur than their

parents, so they always stand out.
Baboons, mangabeys, and
guenons live only in Africa. True
baboons are savanna dwellers, but
the gelada lives in the highlands of
Ethiopia. Drills and mandrills live
in the dense forests of west-central
Africa. Baboon troops are well
organized, with strict rules. Females
lead the troop in search of food
each day. The strongest males often
fight each other for top ranking and
the right to mate with females.

The nine species of mangabeys

live mainly in forests. Most have
long fur and tufts or a ruff of fur
around the face. All mangabeys
have a long tail. Some species live
on the ground, while others live in
the trees. That means they do not
usually compete for the same types
of food.

High and Low

Guenons are typical monkeys. They
have short fur, long slim arms and
legs, nimble fingers and a very long
Unlike most monkeys,
which live in the trees, the
Patas monkey spends most
of its time on the ground.

An olive baboon
from the highlands
of eastern Africa has
captured a rabbit.

An aggressive stare
from this rhesus
macaque tells other
macaques to stay away.

36

OMNIVORES

Colorful characters
In baboons, mangabeys, and macaques, the bare
skin of the face and rump might be very colorful.
The colors are brightest in the breeding season.
The male mandrill (right) has the brightest
colors of any monkey. His snout and his rump
are bright red and blue. Females that are in
season often have a very swollen rump, which
tells males they are ready to mate.

tail. They live high in the trees or

on the ground, and they eat leaves.
Vervets are the most widespread
guenons. They live throughout Africa
south of the Sahara desert. Most
vervets are tree dwellers, but the
largest, the Patas monkey spends
most of its time on the ground. The
tiny talapoins are guenons, too. They
live in the wet forests of west-central
Africa. They eat mainly leaves but
sometimes dive into pools for fish.

Mostly Asian Macaques

Macaques live mostly in Asia. There
are twenty-one species, including the
Rhesus monkey, which has become
famous as a laboratory animal used
for testing medicines and other
experiments. Each macaque species
has its own nichea lifestyle

particular to that species. Since each

species of macaque has its own niche,
different species do not compete
for food or habitat.
The Barbary macaque is unusual.
It is the only monkey living in
northern Africa. There is a single
colony of wild Barbary macaques in
Europe, too, on the rock of Gibraltar.
Barbary macaques have no tail and
are sometimes called Barbary apes.
Japanese macaques live farther north
than any other wild primate except
people. They have thick fur that helps
them survive cold, snowy winters.
They are very intelligent. Many of
these Old World monkeys live close
to humans. People find their playful
habits funny to watch, but monkeys
can also be a nuisance. They raid
garbage, steal food, and damage crops.

DID YOU
KNOW?
The gelada baboon
is the only primate
that just eats grass!
A large mandrill
can weigh as much
as seventy talapoin
monkeys!
Japanese
macaques in
northern Japan
bathe in volcanic
hot springs to keep
warm in winter!

37

Badgers
These boldly patterned relatives of weasels
and otters are well known as stout, powerful animals
born to dig. However, the ancestors of modern badgers
were small, bushy-tailed tree climbers.

38

omnivores

ost badgers are superb diggers. They have

short, powerful legs and large, strong claws.
The American badger can bury itself in less than a
minute. Yet the badgers ancestors were better at
climbing than digging. Four species of Asian ferret
badgers still climb a lot. Most badgers live alone, but
European badgers live in groups that share a large
burrow system called a set. These sets are used by
generations of badgers and can be enormous, with
dozens of entrances and up to half a mile of tunnels.
All badgers have bold stripy markings on their head
or body. No one knows exactly why. The stripes might
help badgers see each other in the dark or might warn
off potential predators. Badgers can be fierce, especially
when cornered. They fight using their claws, teeth, and
enormously powerful jaws. The African honey badger
attacks almost anything that comes close.

Badger Diets
Most badger species eat many different foods. Often,
badgers living in a particular area eat just a few types
of food. In Africa, the honey badger, or ratel, often
works with a little bird called a honey guide. The bird
leads the honey badger to a bees nest using a special
song. After the badger has opened the nest and eaten
the honey, the honeyguide feasts on the leftover bee
grubs and wax. American badgers are hunters; they
dig up gophers and ground squirrels and eat them.
The American badger is built for digging. It has

Fact File
BADGERs
Family: Mustelidae; subfamily: Mustelinae
(10 species)
Order: Carnivora
Where do they live? Africa,
Europe, Asia, and North America
Habitat: Woodlands, forests, sometimes
in mountainous or plains country, parks,
and backyards

Equator

Size: Headbody length 2039

inches (50100
cm); weight
4.526 pounds
(2-12 kg)
Coat: Looks gray or brown but made
up of differently colored hairs; bold black
stripes on the face or back, or both
Diet: Insects, earthworms, fruit,
and vegetables
Breeding: Litters of 16 offspring,
born after pregnancy of 3.512 months
Life span: Up to 25 years in a zoo;
less in the wild
Status: Most species are stable,
although some face local threats;
Bornean ferret badger is vulnerable

strong, sturdy forelegs and heavily clawed paws

that help it burrow in the soil and dig up prey.

39

Bats
These amazing animals are the
only mammals that can truly fly.
That ability has made them one
of the most successful mammal
groups; about a quarter of all
mammal species are bats.

he smallest bat is the hog-nosed bat,

with a body the size of a bumblebee.
The largest is a flying fox, with a wingspan as
wide as a man is tall. Bats live on all
continents except Antarctica, in all types of
habitats. They are active mainly at night.
Bats are the only group of mammals able
to fly. Other groups, such as flying squirrels,
are only gliders, and humans can take
to the air only with the aid of technology.
Bats rest, or roost,
hanging upside down
from their toes on
branches, rafters, or
rock edges. They cannot
stand up on their legs as
most other mammals do,
but a few bats can crawl
on all fours.

Numerous Bats
There are more than 1,110 species of bats, which
can be split roughly into two groups: around
200 species of large, fruit-eating flying foxes
and around 900 species of small microbats.
Most microbats eat insects. Some bats catch
40

4
5

Fact File
BATs
Order: Chiroptera
Families: 18 families
Species: More than 1,110 species
Where do they
live? Worldwide,
except in oceans,
the highest
mountains,
and polar areas

Equator

Habitat: Almost all land habitats

Size: Wingspan 6 inches5 feet 6 inches

(16170 cm); weight 0.07 ounce2 pound
14 ounces (21,300 g)
Coat: Short or shaggy, usually very soft;
color varies from near white to black, through
all shades of gray and brown

Diet: Most species eat insects, some eat

fruit, nectar, and fish, a few are predatory,
and vampire bats lap blood from wounds
Breeding: Breeding habits vary
Life span: Most species around 10 years;
some live up to 33 years

Status: About 250 species are threatened

with extinction

1. Lesser mouse-tailed bat

2. Bates slit-faced bat
3. Hog-nosed bat
4. Thumbless bat
5. Yellow-winged bat

10

6. Noctule
7. Davys naked-backed bat
8. Mexican funnel-eared bat
9. Peters disk-winged bat
10. New Zealand lesser short-tailed bat
41

Bats

OW?
DID YOU KN
In Texas there is a colony of
Mexican free-tailed bats with
almost twenty million members!
The fastest bats can fly at more
than 30 miles per hour!
The hog-nosed bat is the smallest
bat in the world and it also has
the smallest body of any mammal.

the bats of panama

The big brown bat
is an insect eater.

insects on the wing, which is called hawking.

Others swoop down to grab insects off leaves,
tree trunks, or other surfaces, a process called
gleaning. A few bats have unusual feeding
habits. Tiny blossom bats use their long
tongue to collect nectar from flowers. Bulldog
bats catch fish from the surface of pools.
Vampire bats are attracted to large animals,
such as cattle. They use razor sharp teeth
to make a small cut in the skin and then
lap up the blood that seeps out.

There are more than thirty species of bats living in

the forests of Panama, Central America. This large
number is made possible because different species
eat different things and so do not compete for food.

The Jamaican fruit

bat eats fruit.
The Mexican longnosed bat eats nectar.
The fringe-lipped
bat eats large prey,
such as frogs.
The common
mustached bat
eats insects.
42

The spectral bat

hunts smaller animals.
The greater bulldog bat
catches fish.

Bats
sound wave bounces back

A bat gives off a high-pitched squeak. It bounces

off a flying insect, back to the bat. Using this process
of echolocation, the bat can figure out exactly
where the insect is in the dark and how large it is.
bat gives off high-pitched squeak

Echolocation
Most bats use echolocation to find
their way around in the
dark. Echolocation
works a bit like radar. When a
bat makes a high-pitched call, the sound waves
bounce off objects around the bat and its sharp
ears pick up the echoes. By analyzing the sound
waves bouncing back off an object, the bat can
figure out exactly where the object is in the
dark, how large it is, and in which direction.
Echolocation depends on very sharp
hearing, and most bats have large ears.
Most bat echolocation calls are too high
pitched for humans to hear. Some bats also
use echolocation to find food. Flying foxes do
not use echolocation. They feed on fruit and
flowers, which they find using sharp eyesight
and a very good sense of smell.

Hibernation
In places where winters are long and cold,
many bats cannot find enough food in winter.
To save energy, they hibernate. Hibernation
is like a deep sleep. The bat becomes still,
its body becomes cold, and its heartbeat slows
down. This state uses so little energy that the
bat can survive until spring without food.

thumb

A bat with
narrow wings can
fly fast. A bat with
wider wings (below)
can fly slowly and
patagium

thumb

very accurately.

handy wings
A bats wings are like spindly arms
with huge hands and very long fingers.
The thumb is free and has a hooked
claw, which the bat uses for grooming
or hanging onto perches. The other
four fingers spread out to support
the wing, like the spokes of an
umbrella. The thin skin that makes
the wing is called the patagium.
In many bats, the patagium also
connects the wings to the tail.

43

Bats

island life
Bats are the only mammals to live
naturally on many islands, including
New Zealand, Hawaii, Mauritius,
and the Seychelles. Their ancestors
flew there millions of years ago, and
for thousands of years the bats had
the islands to themselves. Then
humans arrived. They began using
the land for farming and introduced
other mammals, such as cats and
rats. Many island bats are now
endangered. The rarest bat in the
world is the Seychelles sheath-tailed
bat. There are probably fewer than
fifty individuals left alive.

Silhouette Island in the Seychelles is

now the only place where the critically
endangered Seychelles sheath-tailed bat lives.

44

Pipistrelles are the smallest European bats.

They also live in southwestern Asia, Korea, Japan,
Kashmir (India/Pakistan), and Morocco (Africa).

Upside-down Births
Most bats raise only one baby at a time, but a
few species have two, three, or four offspring.
Female bats give birth while hanging upside
down, catching and cradling the baby in their
wings. They cannot fly and hold the baby bat at
the same time, so the babies are left in nursery
roosts while the mothers go out to feed. Bats
roost, hibernate, and rear offspring in groups
called colonies. While the mother is away, some
species of baby bats may be cared for by other
bats in the colony.
Many bats are endangered, and some may
soon be extinct. People kill bats for food or
to protect crops, or because they are scared of
them. Many of the places where bats live, such
as caves and forests, are being destroyed for
farming or building. Most people now realize
that bats will not hurt them. Bats are fascinating
mammals and they deserve to be protected.

Bats

The sucker-footed
bat is restricted
to Madagascar,
an island off the
eastern coast
of Africa. The
forests where it
lives are being cut
down to make way for
peoples homes and farms.

The Ryukyu flying fox lives only on

the Ryukyu Islands at Japans southern tip.
This endangered bat is hunted for its meat
and is further threatened by the felling
of trees on which it feeds and roosts.

The gray
bat lives in the
southeastern
United States.
It is at risk
because the caves
where it hibernates
are being disturbed

OW?
DID YOU KN
Children have sharper ears than
adults and can sometimes hear
high-pitched bat calls!
The oldest known bat was discovered
in a fossil from Wyoming. It lived
fifty million years ago!
Bats are not blind. Flying foxes in
particular have very good eyesight.

by people.

45

Bears
Bears are powerful and sometimes fierce animals. They are the
largest land-based hunters on
Earth. However, they have a gentle side, too. Most bears are just
as happy eating nuts and berries,
and female bears are among
the most devoted mothers.

A sloth bear
uses its long,
curved claws
and flexible
snout to find
insects and grubs.

here are eight species of bears. All

bears are large, powerful mammals
with a long snout, a heavy muscular body, a
short tail, and wide feet. There are five toes
and five long claws on each foot. All bears
except the polar bear and the American
brown bear are good climbers.
Bears evolved from raccoonlike ancestors
in the northern hemisphere. Bears still live
in northern regions, with only the Andean bear
and the sun bear living south of the equator.
The Andean bear is also known as the
spectacled bear because of the pale
markings around its eyes. It is small by
bear standards but still one of
the largest land mammals in South
America. The spectacled bear lives in
forests, mountain grasslands, and deserts.
Sun bears live in the tropical
southeastern corner of Asia and on
Malaysian and Indonesian islands. They
have the shortest, neatest coat of any bear.
Their coat is black with a pale mark on the
46

An Andean bear,
or spectacled bear,
climbs a tree in
search of fruit.

The Asian black

bear feeds mainly
on plants but may,
as here, eat carrion
(dead animals).

Fact File
BEARS
Family: Ursidae (8 species)
Order: Carnivora
Where do they
live? Europe,
Southeast Asia,
Equator
northern and
wilderness areas of
North America, the
Andes mountains, and the Arctic Ocean
Habitat: Mostly forested or lightly wooded areas,
tundra, and sea ice
Size: Headbody length 3 feet 7 inches9 feet
3 inches (110280 cm); weight 601,600 pounds
(27725 g)

The long, curved claws of this sloth bear are

clearly visible. Sloth bears live in India, have
extremely shaggy coats, and are active at night.

chest. The sloth bear is another tropical

species, native to India and the Himalayas.
It has a very shaggy black coat with a white
mark on its chest. Its snout is long and has
no fur.
Black bears living in Asia look similar to
American black bears, but they are far less
common. Asian black bears are threatened
by poachers who hunt them for body parts,
such as their bones and gallbladder, to be
used in traditional Chinese medicine.

Anything Goes for Omnivores

Bears evolved from ancestors that ate meat,
but bears now eat all types of different food.
Bears are called omnivores. Other animals,

Coat: Thick and shaggy in most species; can be

plain or with markings on face, chest, and body;
color may be black, brown, cinnamon, blonde, or
white
Diet: Varies with species; may include fruit, nuts,
and other plant matter, honey, insects, fish, large
and small mammals, carrion, and garbage
Breeding: 16 cubs in a litter, born after
gestation of 69 months
Life span: Varies with species, from mid-20s to
37 years in the wild; 43 years in zoos
Status: 6 of 8 species are threatened or have
endangered local populations

OW?
DID YOU KN
The largest bears are grizzlies, or brown
bears, that live on Kodiak Island in Alaska.
They grow huge on a rich diet of fish!
Toy teddy bears are named after U.S.
President Theodore Teddy Roosevelt,
who refused to shoot a captured black
bear on a hunting trip.

47

bears

such as badgers and foxes, are also omnivores.

Most bears eat a lot of fruits, nuts, and leaves as
well as fish and meat. Even the fearsome, meateating polar bear sometimes eats berries in
summer. Sun bears and sloth bears especially
like bees and termites. The sun bear has huge
canine teeth for breaking open insect nests in
dead wood. The sloth bear has a gap where its
two upper front teeth should be, and its lips are
highly flexible. These features help the sloth
bear suck up hundreds of termites at a time.
48

A giant panda makes its way through a forest,

looking for bamboo, the only item on its diet.

The giant panda is unusual because it eats

only bamboo leaves. Adult male brown and
polar bears sometimes kill and eat bear cubs.

To Sleep or Not
Bears need to eat a lot of food. In northern
countries, food can be hard to find in winter,
and the bears are in danger of starving to

Bears

death. To save energy, the bears enter a winter

den and spend most of the winter in a deep
sleep called hibernation. Some bears
hibernate for six months or more. In tropical
countries, there is no long winter and there is
plenty of food all year round. Sun bears, sloth
bears, Andean bears, and black bears living in
these places do not need a long winter sleep.

beware the bears

Winter Births
Brown, black, and polar bear females give
birth to their tiny cubs in midwinter. The
cubs spend their first few months in the den
with their sleeping mother. They live off her
milk. In spring, the mother and cubs come
out of the den and begin searching for food.
The mother bear is very hungry and thin. She
has to find food quickly if she and her cubs
are to survive. Most cubs stay with their
mother for two to three years.

A hunter takes careful aim. Thousands

of bears are shot worldwide every year.

It is best to stay far away from bears

because they are among the few wild
animals that regularly kill or hurt
people. More than 100 people a year
are attacked and injured by bears, but
only a few people are killed. Most of
these attacks are by Indian sloth bears,
with just a handful of brown, grizzly,
and polar bear attacks. However,
people are dangerous to bears, too
thousands of bears are killed every
year through fear or for sport or profit.

Polar bears mostly live alone, except for breeding

pairs and mothers with cubs. The largest of the bear
species, an adult male polar bear can measure up to
8 feet 4 inches longand weigh up to 1,320 pounds.
49

Beavers
Beavers are among natures greatest engineers.
Their lodges, dams, and lagoons are built with precision
and skill that rivals that of human builders, and they are able to
change whole landscapes in the space of a few seasons.

50

HERBIVORES

eavers are rodents. They are cousins of rats,

mice, cavies, and squirrels. Like all rodents,
beavers have powerful jaws and two sharp front teeth
called incisors in each jaw. In beavers, these incisors
are big and yellow. They are shaped like chisels and
their edges are razor sharp. A beaver can bite through
wood and fell large trees using its incisors.
There are two species of true beavers, which look
alikethe American beaver and the Eurasian beaver.
A third species called the mountain beaver is not a
true beaver (see box overleaf). True beavers have short
legs and large feet with large claws. The toes on the
back feet are webbed like a ducks. A beavers tail is flat
and oval shaped. It is covered in scaly skin but has no
fur. On land, beavers walk with a clumsy waddle, but
they are wonderful swimmers. Their back feet and flat
tail act as powerful paddles. The tail also makes a
perfect rudder for steering. When a beaver dives, it can
hold its breath for several minutes, its nostrils and ears
close tight, and a see-through eyelid protects its eyes.

Beaver Lodges
Beavers often nest in a lodge built in the middle of a
shallow pool. The lodge is made of poles, sticks, and
branches cut from nearby trees. The entrance to the
lodge is underwater. Inside the lodge the beavers are
safe from predators, such as wolves and lynx. If there is
no pool of water to build a lodge in, beavers make one
A beaver sits among the lush grass in a meadow.

Fact File
BEAVERs
Castor fiber and Castor canadensis
Family: Castoridae
Order: Rodentia
Where do they live? North America,
and western and central Eurasia

Equator

Habitat: Rivers, streams, lakes,

and wetlands
Size: Headbody length 3247 inches
(80120 cm);
weight 2466
pounds (1130 kg)
Coat: Silky golden or reddish brown to
black outer layer with thick gray underfur
Diet: Wood, grass, and roots
Breeding: Litters of 18 (usually
2 or 3) kits, born after 1415 weeks
gestation; weaned at 8 weeks
Life span: 1015 years
Status: Lower risk, near threatened;
both species almost became extinct
owing to fur hunters. Beavers are now
protected and starting to recover.

The long, straight, silky hairs of its outer coat

are greasy and provide a waterproof layer.

51

beavers

by building a dam of wood and mud

across a small river or stream.
In summer, beavers eat mainly
fresh green leaves and shoots. In the
fall, these are hard to find, so beavers
eat the soft wood under the bark of
trees such as aspen, willow, and
birch. They often store lots of wood
underwater so that they can reach it
from the lodge without having to go
ashore. The beavers can still reach
their larder when the pool is frozen.

Family Groups
Beavers live in family groups, like
people. Each family group contains
an adult male and female and their
offspring. Young beavers are usually
born in litters of two to four, but
sometimes more. They stay with their
parents for around two years. When

larder

OW?
DID YOU KN
A beaver can cut down a tree
with a trunk up to 40 inches
thick with its teeth!
Beavers are the second heaviest
rodents after the capybara of
South America!
A beavers teeth never stop
growing out of its gums; they just
get worn down at the tips!

they are old enough, they start to

help collect food, repair the lodge and
dam, and look after their new baby
brothers and sisters. By the time they
leave the family to find a mate of
their own, young beavers have

Sometimes beavers build

a larder and dining area
near their lodge, which they
can easily reach without
having to go ashore.

A beavers lodge is a large,

thick, conical pile of logs
and branches. Beavers always
build their living chamber
above water level.
lodge

entrances
and exits

52

A cross section
through a beavers
lodge reveals how
the beavers have
built it from logs
and branches.

cross section
through lodge

living
chamber

herbivores

learned all the important skills they

need to survive and breed, such as
building lodges and caring for babies.

Beaver Fur and Hunters

Beaver fur is thick. On the outside is
a thick layer of long, straight, silky
hairs. These hairs are greasy and act
like a waterproof coat. Beneath this
layer and next to the skin is a layer of
fine, soft hairs that keep the beaver
warm even in icy water.
Beaver skins make warm
waterproof clothing and hats for
people, and were once extremely
valuable. Millions of beavers were
trapped in Europe and America for
their fur, meat, and for a smelly
substance called castoreum (from
glands in their rear). People have used
castoreum for thousands of years to
treat many illnesses. It contains a
chemical similar to aspirin, which
comes from the bark of willow trees.
Beavers eat willow trees.
In the mid-eighteenth century, the
French fought a terrible war against
Native Americans over land where
beavers were once common. Beavers
nearly became extinct. Hunting is
now controlled. The American
beaver is no longer threatened, but
the European beaver is still rare.

Mountain beavers
The mountain beaver is not a true beaver. It
belongs to a separate family (group) of rodents
called Aplodontidae. Mountain beavers look
a little like true beavers, but they are less than
half the size and do not have a flat tail. They
live in the cool coniferous forests of the Rocky
Mountains, along the Pacific coast. Mountain
beavers dig large, complicated burrows with lots
of tunnels, chambers, and entrances. They are
seldom seen in the wild because they spend
much of their time in their burrows.They eat
leaves, roots, and shoots and can be a nuisance
in plantations, where they nibble young trees.

53

Beluga and narwhal

Belugas are sometimes called white whales.
Both the unusual narwhal, with its tusk like a mythical
unicorns horn, and the noisy beluga belong to the same
small family (group) of toothed whales.

54

carnivores

arwhals and belugas are toothed whales, just as

dolphins and sperm whales are. Belugas have
thirty-two to forty teeth, but the narwhal has only two,
both in the upper jaw. In male narwhals, the tooth on
the left grows into an amazing spiral tusk up to 10 feet
long. Males use their tusk for fighting and showing off.
Both these whales have a very thick layer of fat, called
blubber, under their skin. The blubber helps them stay
warm in the nearly freezing water. Healthy belugas can
be so fat that their head looks too small for their body.
Both whale species eat a lot of food. Belugas usually
hunt close to the seabed for fish and shellfish.
Narwhals hunt in very deep water for fish and soft
invertebrates, such as squid, which they suck up and
swallow whole because they have no teeth for chewing.

Fact File
BELUGA and NARWHAL
Delpinapterus leucas (beluga) and
Monodon monoceros (narwhal)
Family: Monodontidae
Order: Cetacea
Where do they live? Far northern
Pacific, Atlantic, and Arctic oceans

Equator

Whale Pods

Habitat: Cold seas

Belugas and narwhals spend most of the year far out

to sea, but large groups might move close to shore in
summer. Within these groups are lots of smaller groups
called pods. Pods come and go, so the large groups
do not always have the same members. Some pods
contain just males, others contain females with their
offspring. Baby belugas and narwhals stay close to
their mother. She produces milk for them for two or
more years. In summer, belugas molt (shed) their skin.
They gather in river mouths, close to melting glaciers,
where freshwater helps the old skin loosen.

Size: Headbody length 10 feet

16 feet 6 inches (35 m); weight
1,1003,520
pounds (500
1,600 kg)

Belugas use lots of different calls, such as whistles,

Coat: No fur; skin gray in young

whales, fading to white in belugas and
becoming mottled with white
in narwhals
Diet: Fish, shellfish, and worms
Breeding: Single calf born after
1415 months gestation
Life span: 3040 years
Status: Belugas are vulnerable

coos, clicks, and warbles. They also make faces to

communicate and have many muscles in their face.

55

Brown bear
A brown bear can weigh more than 1,000 pounds, yet it can run
as fast as a horse. This bear has bone-crushing jaws and claws longer than a mans finger. Brown bears can be deadly, but most
are afraid of people and feed on nuts, berries, and roots.

56

omnivores

he brown bear is one of the worlds largest

meat-eating mammals. It is also one of the
most widespread mammals. Brown bears live across
the northern hemisphere, from Canada and the
United States to Russia, China, Europe, and the
Middle East. They were once even more widespread,
but brown bears have died out in North Africa, the
British Isles, and most of Europe.

Fact File
BROWN BEAR
Ursus arctos
Family: Ursidae
Order: Carnivora
Where do they live? Northwestern
North America, northern Eurasia, and
scattered throughout east Central Europe
and Central Asia

Large and Varied

Brown bears from different places are extremely varied.
Bears in the far north are larger than those living nearer
the equator, for example. Being large is a good way of
coping with the cold. However, bears can only grow
very large where they can find a lot of good food. Grizzly
bears that live alongside salmon rivers in Alaska, and
on Kodiak Island, and in Kamchatka in Russia are the
largest of all bears, larger even than polar bears.
The brown bears of Europe and the Middle East are
a quarter of the size of an average grizzly, however.
These European bears have to work harder and roam
over a much larger area than the giant grizzlies to find
food. Fruit, especially berries, is an important food for
brown bears in summer. Brown bears eat nuts in the
fall. They also eat roots and vegetables, which they dig
up with their powerful front legs and large claws. They
can also dig out the burrows of smaller mammals, such
as voles and ground squirrels, which they then eat.
The brown bear has a large nose and an excellent
sense of smell. When a brown bears fur is tipped

Equator

Habitat: Forests, green mountainsides,

tundra, and dry steppes
Size: Headbody length 4 feet
11 inches9 feet 2 inches (1.52.8 m);
weight 175
1,600 pounds
(80725 kg)
Coat: Thick blonde, brown, or black fur,
tipped with white in grizzly bears
Diet: Roots, shoots, fruits, nuts, seeds,
insects, fish, and mammals up to the size
of large deer
Breeding: Litters of 14 cubs born in
winter; weaned at 5 months; independent
at 23 years
Life span: Up to 37 years in the wild;
43 years in a zoo
Status: Some populations of brown
bears are endangered

with white or gray, it is often called a grizzly bear.

57

brown bear

OW?
DID YOU KN
A hibernating brown bear
does not eat, drink, urinate, or
defecate for up to six months!
A large grizzly bear standing
on its hind legs is twice as tall
as a man!
A hungry brown bear can eat
more than a quarter of its body
weight in food in one day!

58

In places with large herds of deer,

brown bears may kill and eat a
lot of calves, which helps keep
deer numbers under control.

A pair of brown
bears patrols a
riverbank. Salmon
swimming upstream
are an important

Deep Sleep

part of the diet of

In winter, brown bears may

enter a deep, sleeplike state
called hibernation, but not all of
them do. Bears hibernate only if

brown bears living

on the northwestern
coast of North
America.

omnivores

they live in a place where food is

plentiful during summer and scarce
in winter. In Siberia, Alaska, and
northern Canada, brown bears grow
fat in summer and fall. When winter
comes, they hide away in a den and
hibernate. Their heartbeat and
breathing rate slow down. However,
unlike other hibernating mammals,
bears do not allow their body to
become cold and they can wake up
quickly if danger threatens.

Raising their Cubs

Brown bears live alone, except for
mothers and their cubs. Adult male
and female bears live apart and only
come together to mate. Females with
cubs do not let males come near
because males often try to kill the
cubs. They want the female to raise
their cubs, not another males. When
cubs are killed, the mother becomes
ready to breed again more quickly.
A female bear can have up to four
cubs in a litter but two or three is
normal. The cubs are tiny, but they
grow fast, feeding on fatty milk
from their sleeping mother. All
hibernating bears lose a lot of
weight, but new mothers lose the
most weight because they have to
share their fat reserves with their

Why do they delay?

Brown bears can mate at any time in the spring
or summer. But females that mate early are
pregnant for longer than females that mate
later on because the embryos (developing
babies) do not begin to grow until the fall.
Cubs are always born in the middle of winter,
while the female bear is hibernating. By the
time the cubs need solid food, it is spring
and there are plenty of things available to eat.

cubs. A female bear that weighs 500

pounds in the fall may lose 200
pounds by spring. Her cubs, on the
other hand, can increase their
weight twenty times in their first
three months.
59

Bush babies
With their furry faces and huge goggle eyes,
bush babies and their relatives look rather like cuddly
toys or cartoon animals. Bush babies, or galagos,
are primates that move around at night.

60

omnivores

ush babies and their close relatives lorises and

pottos are small primates that come out only at
night. Bush babies, also called galagos, have large,
bulging eyes that help them see in the dark. They also
have very good hearing and an excellent sense of smell.
Females look after their babies with no help from
males. Small babies are left in a nest while the mother
goes out to feed or they may go with her, riding on her
back until they are old enough to climb by themselves.
All bush babies and their relatives live in trees. Their
feet and hands have fingernails and toenails instead of
claws, but they can still grasp branches tightly. Their
agile and sensitive fingers help them catch their insect
prey. Only one species, the large angwantibo, ever
comes down to the ground. Galagos are nimble and
active. They scramble through trees using their long
furry tail for balance. Their back legs are longer and
stronger than their arms, and galagos use their legs to
make large leaps from branch to branch.

Careful, Creeping Lorises

Lorises and pottos move very slowly. They have no tail
and creep along branches, carefully moving one hand
or foot at a time. When they sense danger, they freeze
midstep and stay completely still. They can hold
difficult positions for hours. Sometimes, when they are
trying to get a good look at something, they bob up
and down and swivel their head from side to side.
Bush babies are sometimes called galagos. They live
alone and come together only to breed. Bush babies

Fact File
BUSH BABies
Families: Galagidae (18 species)
and Lorisidae (9 species)
Order: Primates
Where do they live? Africa
south of the Sahara desert, India,
Sri Lanka, and Southeast Asia

Equator

Habitat: Forests, woodlands,

and plantations
Size: Headbody length 412 inches
(1030 cm);
weight 240
ounces
(601,130 g)
Coat: Fine fur, usually plain fawn, gray, or
brown; some species have dark markings
on the face
Diet: Fruit, gum, nectar, insects, eggs,
and small, tree-dwelling animals
Breeding: Litters of 1 or 2, born after a
gestation of 111197 days
Life span: Up to 26 years
Status: Varies with species; some are
common; two species are threatened
with extinction; several other species
are becoming rare

have fingernails and toenails instead of claws.

61

Camels and llamas

The toughest of the toughcamels and their relativescan
survive heat, drought, cold, and the thin air of high mountain
ranges. There are millions of domesticated camels and llamas
all over the world, but three of the six species are extinct in the wild.

62

herbivores

amels and their relatives are hoofed mammals

with long legs and a long neck. They are
extremely hardy. Camels survive in hot, dry deserts,
and the South American llama, alpaca, guanaco, and
vicua all live on high mountains, where the air is
thin and cold and food is hard to find.
There are two species of camels, the dromedary and
the Bactrian camel. Both live in deserts. Dromedaries
have one hump and soft, wide feet. They are suited to
life in hot, sandy deserts such as the Sahara and
Arabian deserts. Bactrian camels have two humps. They
live in cold, stony deserts, such as the Gobi in Mongolia.

Fact File
CAMELs AND LLAMAs
Family: Camelidae (6 species)
Order: Artiodactyla
Where do they live? North Africa,
Middle East, southwest and Central Asia,
and Andes mountains of South America;
introduced to Australia

Equator

Rare in the Wild

People began keeping camels about 4,000 years ago
and now there are millions in captivity. However, they
are extremely rare in the wild, with only a few hundred
wild Bactrian camels living in China and Mongolia.
Dromedaries were taken to Australia more than 100
years ago, when settlers began to explore the central
desert. The land was too hot and dry for horses, so
camels were used instead. Some of the camels were set
free, and their descendants still live there now.

Habitat: Rocky and sandy deserts,

mountain scrublands, and grasslands

Surviving Deserts

Diet: Mostly plants

Deserts are very dry. The sun is very hot during the day,
but the desert is cold at night. Camels are well suited
to life in deserts. At night, they allow their body to cool,

Breeding: Single offspring born after a

gestation of 1016 months

Just like other camels, this camel has thick eyelashes

and nostrils that close to stop sand from getting into
its eyes and nose. Its thick fur protects it from the sun.

Size: Headbody length 4 feet

1 inch11 feet 4 inches (125345 cm);
weight 100
1,450 pounds
(45560 kg)
Coat: Woolly fleece, short in camels,
shaggy in llamas, and very fine in vicuas;
coat ranges from near white to yellow,
brown, red, and black; usually plain,
sometimes with bold patches in llamas

Life span: 10 to 50 years

Status: There are no truly wild llamas,
alpacas, or dromedaries; guanacos
vulnerable; wild Bactrian camels critically
endangered

63

camels and llamas

so it takes a long time before they

begin to overheat next day. The thick
fur on their back helps protect them
from the burning sun. Camels also
have thick eyelashes and nostrils
that close to prevent sand from
getting in their eyes and nose.

To save water, camels hardly ever

sweat and their urine usually
contains very little water. They can
live for weeks or months without
eating or drinking. When there is
plenty of food, camels eat and drink
a lot. They eat most plants, even very

The Bactrian
camel has two
humps. It lives
in Mongolia.

2
1

The vicua,
a relative of the
camel, lives in
the high Andes.

The Arabian
camel, or
dromedary, has
just one hump.

Raised for its

wool, the alpaca
has long, dark,
thick hair.

5
5

64

The llama is
used as a pack
animal in areas
of South America.

herbivores

A herd of Bactrian camels strides out

across the Mongolian grasslands. These
mammals are critically endangered.

salty ones. When they are very

hungry, camels eat anything, even
cloth or the bones of dead animals.
Camel humps contain fat. The
humps of well-fed camels are large
and firm. On a starving camel, the
hump is floppy because the animal
has used up a lot of this food store.

Herd Life and Harems

In the wild, camels and their relatives
live in herds. A strong adult male
protects a small group of females,
called a harem. He tries to stop
other males mating with his females.
Female llamas are pregnant for
around eleven months; female camels
are pregnant for fifteen or sixteen
months. Newborn camels and llamas
are well developed. They can stand
and run soon after birth.
Llamas and alpacas are farmed all
over the world for their wool and
they are also used as pack animals
they carry heavy loads for people.
Only guanacos and vicuas live truly
wild. They have both declined from
hunting for their fine wool. However,
they are now protected by law.

Really useful camels

Camels are extremely useful animals. While
they are alive they can be used for riding or
carrying heavy loads. They produce milk, and
their droppings burn well and can be used for
fuel. Their wool can be used to make yarn and
matting. When camels are dead, their meat
can be eaten, their hide makes fine leather,
and their sinews make strong cord.

OW?
DID YOU KN
A thirsty camel can drink 26
gallons of water at one time!
The guanaco is the tallest
animal in South America.
Vicua wool is one of the
worlds most expensive
natural fibers. It costs up to
$100 a pound!

65

Capybara
The South American capybara may look
a bit like a furry pig, but it is the worlds largest rodent.
These giant cousins of cavies live in large groups
and never stray far from water.

66

herbivores

apybaras have a sturdy body, square snout, short

legs, and no tail. They feed and sleep on land
but always stay close to water. Their feet are webbed
and capybaras are good swimmers. The nostrils, eyes,
and ears are all on the top of the large head, allowing
the capybara to breathe, see, and hear when swimming
with only the top of its head above the water.
Capybaras live in groups of up to thirty individuals.
Each group has one large male, a few adult females
and their offspring, and sometimes a few smaller
males. Males have an oval bump on the top of the
snout, called the morillo. The morillo produces a
sticky, white scent. Every capybara has its own smell,
by which other capybaras can recognize it. The leading
male has the largest morillo and he produces more
scent in the breeding season, to attract females and
drive away other males. As well as scent, capybaras can
communicate with each other using sound. They
grunt and purr, and bark when they are frightened.

Caring Capybaras
Capybaras mate in the water. The offspring are born
well developed. The females in a group seem to help
each other care for the young capybaras, and the whole
group helps protect the offspring from predators. If a
capybara sees a predator, such as a jaguar or fox, it
sounds an alarm and the group gathers together. Often
capybaras run into the water and form a tight circle.

Fact File
CAPYBARA
Hydrochaeris hydrochaeris
Family: Hydrochaeridae
Order: Rodentia
Where do they live? South America

Equator

Habitat: Wet grasslands and forests

close to pools, lakes, and rivers
Size: Headbody length 2453 inches
(106143 cm);
weight 77146
pounds (3566 g)
Coat: Light brown, bristly fur
Diet: Grass and water plants
Breeding: Litters of 1 to 8 offspring,
born after 150 days gestation
Life span: 6 years in the wild; 12 years
in zoos
Status: Lower risk; conservation
dependent

Capybaras are furry animals with a large, square

snout. Their nostrils, eyes, and ears are positioned
in a straight line on the top of their head.

67

Carnivores
Carnivores come in all shapes and
sizes, from the giant polar bear
and grizzly bear to the tiniest
weasel. The name carnivore means
meat eater, and while many of
the group are born hunters, not all
are so fearsome, and some carnivores are even vegetarian.

These small, tree-climbing bears eat fruit and insects.

he order (group) Carnivora includes

many of the worlds largest and most
fearsome predatorsthe magnificent tiger,
gigantic polar bear, cunning hyena, and the
feisty wolverine. It also includes a host of
very different animals with a much less
fearsome reputationplayful otters, sociable
meerkats, frisky raccoons, seals and sea lions,
and gentle giant pandas.

Carnivore Ancestor
Each of these different
mammals have the same
ancestor. The ancestor of
all carnivores probably
lived around sixty
million years ago. It
belonged to a group of animals
called miacids. Miacids have
been extinct for millions of
years, but their fossils show
that they might have looked a
little like skunks or raccoons.
68

A Malayan sun bear, or honey bear, licks its lips.

Miacids had short legs and paws that seem to

have been suited to climbing trees.
The most important thing about miacids was
their teeth. On each side of their upper and
lower jaws, two of their cheek teeth had sharp
edges that acted like scissor blades. These teeth
allowed them to slice up meat into small
chunks. So, miacids were much better at

Fact File
CARNIVORES
Order: Carnivora
Families: 15 families
Species: 283 species
Where do they
live? Worldwide,
except Antarctica
Habitat: All types
of land and watery
habitats

The banded mongoose lives in Africa south

Size: Headbody length 6 inches9 feet 3 inches

(15280 cm); weight 1 ounce1,600 pounds
(30g725 kg)

of the Sahara desert. It is related to the meerkat.

eating meat than other animals whose teeth

were made for gnawing, stabbing, and crushing.
These slicing teeth are called carnassials. All
living carnivores have carnassial teeth, too.
The 283 living species of carnivores are split
into fifteen groups called families. Some, such
as lions, tigers, and other cats, are solely meat

Equator

Coat: Furry coats that vary greatly

Diet: Meat, fish, and carrion (dead animals); many
species also eat plants
Breeding: Varies greatly with species
Life span: 1 year to several decades
Status: Varies with species

eaters. They still have sharp-edged carnassial

teeth. Others have more varied diets. Badgers
and bears, for example, might eat worms and
berries and their carnassial teeth are more
suited to crushing than slicing. The giant
panda eats only bamboo and its carnassial
teeth are suited to grinding.
1. A spotted hyena pack hunts down a zebra.
2. A pampas fox stretches its forelegs.
3. Crabeater seal
4. Leopard seal
5. Southern elephant seal

6. Hawaiian monk seal

69

carnivores

Shapes and Sizes

Apart from their teeth, many carnivores do not
seem to have much in common. Their bodies
come in different shapes and sizes, depending
on the food they eat. For example, cats are
hunters. They are fast and strong, with long
muscular legs, short powerful jaws, and very
sharp claws. Dogs are also fast runners, but
their claws are not so sharp and cannot be
drawn back into their paws. Dogs can use their
claws for digging rather than for hooking into
prey. A dogs snout is longer than a cats, making
room for a very sensitive nose

for tracking prey. Bears are large, which helps

them survive a long time without food and
makes them safe from most other predators.

Swimmers, Climbers, and Crunchers

Seals and walruses have legs that have evolved
into flippers, making them expert swimmers.
They hunt fish and other sea creatures. Otters
are also superb swimmers. They cannot dive
for as long or as deep as seals, but they have
kept their legs and can still move nimbly on
land. Civets, genets, raccoons, and coatis are
A wildcat mother
looks after her two
kittens. Wildcats
belong to the family
Felidae in the order
Carnivora. They prey
on small mammals
and birds.

A sun bear licks termites from a

mound it has broken open. Bears belong
to the order Carnivora and the family
Ursidae. Sun bears are the smallest bears
with the shortest hair. As a result, they
are often called dog bears.
70

carnivores

On the alert, a pair of otters perches on some

rocks. These carnivores eat mainly fish but also
take frogs, crayfish, crabs, and sometimes birds.

Sharp Senses

excellent climbers, able to chase prey through

trees or collect ripe fruit from the branches.
Hyenas have jaws so powerful that they can
crunch up the bones and horns of other large
animals and get a good meal out of the parts
other carnivores leave behind.

Most carnivores have good eyesight. Many hunt

at night and can see in the dark. A special layer
at the back of the eyes of many carnivores reflects
light, just as a mirror does. This reflection can
often be seen when a cat is caught in the beam
of a torch or headlight. This layer helps the
animal make the most of even very dim light.
Hearing is another important sense for many
carnivores. Foxes, genets, and raccoons, for
example, all have ears that act like radar dishes,
which can turn to focus on small sounds. The
bat-eared fox and the serval have really huge
earsthey can hear the tiny sounds of small
rodents and even worms moving in the ground.

out on a limb
The red panda is a puzzle. Over the
years, scientists have struggled to
figure out how it is related to other
carnivores. It looks somewhat like a
raccoon but it also has features in
common with the giant panda,
which is a type of bear. These days,
the red panda is placed in a family all
by itself, called Ailuridae, but its
closest relatives remain a mystery.

71

carnivores

Island race
The island of Madagascar, which lies
off the east coast of Africa, is like a giant
natural laboratory. It has been separate
from the rest of Africa for such a long
time that it has evolved lots of unusual
animals that do not exist anywhere else.
Madagascar even has its own group
Falanouc

of carnivores, including the catlike,

tree-climbing fossa and mongooselike
hunters such as the falanouc and the
fanaloka. Like many other Madagascan
animals, these animals are under threat
from habitat loss. More than half of them
are listed as vulnerable or endangered.

Fanaloka

Fossa

Smells and scents are very important. Most

carnivores use scent for hunting. Dogs have the
best developed sense of smell and can follow
the trail of an animal that passed by days or
weeks before. Carnivores also use smell for
communicating with each other. They all
produce scent of their own. Often this scent is
mixed with their urine or feces, but it can also
come from glands in the skin. By leaving
patches of scent on the ground or on trees and
rocks, carnivores mark out their territory or
advertise for a mate. The scent carries
information about the animalwhether it is
male or female, old or young, healthy or sick,
72

and probably lots of other things that another

animal can tell with just one sniff. Some
carnivores produce scents so powerful they are
used in self defense. The scent of a skunk is so
bad that it can drive away a predator.

Life in a Group
Most carnivores spend at least part of their
time living in groups, usually family groups.
These groups can work together to hunt, raise
offspring, and defend a territory. Being part of
a group helps these animals survive in places
where they might not manage alone. Some
carnivores live alone, such as the tiger and the

carnivores

polar bear. As youngsters, these animals spend

a long time with their mother, learning how to
survive. Polar bear mothers look after their
cubs for around two and a healf years.

Extinction Threats
Many carnivores are threatened with extinction.
People and wild carnivores do not often mix
well. Animals such as tigers, wolves, and bears
sometimes attack and kill people. Many more,
such as foxes, pumas, and seals, are unpopular
because they take prey that people want for
themselves, such as fish and livestock. However,
killing carnivores out of fear or hate means that
many species, such as tigers, are now rare.

OW?
DID YOU KN
The largest carnivores are the
grizzly bear and polar bear. The
smallest is the least weasel.
A persons best friend, the dog, is
the closest relative of one of our
worst enemies, the wolf!
The carnivore with the largest
teeth is the walrus.

Other species, such as the giant panda, are

threatened with extinction because people have
destroyed so much of their habitat.
The meat-eating red fox belongs to the dog
family Canidae, within the order Carnivora.

73

Cats
Stealthy, powerful, and quick,
cats are perhaps the ultimate
land predators. They eat only
meat, and there are few other
animal species that are not
hunted by a cat of some sort.

ats are incredibly athletic. They can run,

leap, and climb better than almost any
group of mammals. The cheetah is the fastest
land animal, the tiger can leap 30 feet from a
standing start, and smaller cat species have an
amazing ability to always land on their feet.
Most cats can swim well. Cats are also
powerful. Most can bring down smaller prey
with a swipe of the paw. All the big cats, such as
lions and tigers, can tackle prey larger than
themselves. They use their hooked claws and
muscular forelegs to latch on and wrestle large
deer, antelope, and even buffalo to the ground.
By working in a team, lions can even bring
down an elephant. Cats are top predators; they
kill and eat all sorts of other animals, but there
are few other animals that kill and eat cats.
All cats (except cheetahs) have needle-sharp
claws that can be drawn back into the paws so
they do not snag or go blunt. Cats have pointed
canine teeth for stabbing prey and sharp-edged
cheek teeth, or carnassials, for slicing meat. Cats
have excellent eyesight. Their eyes face forward,
which helps them judge distances when they
pounce or leap. They have good hearing, too, but
their sense of smell is not as good as a dogs.
74

Fact File

CATS

1. Lynx

Family: Felidae (36 species)

2. Bobcat

Order: Carnivora

3. Cheetahs

Where do they live? Worldwide, except Antarctica

and some oceanic islands

4. Tiger
5. Leopard

Habitat: All types

of land habitats

6. Jaguar

Size: Headbody
Equator
length 14 inches
10 feet 3 inches
(35310 cm);
weight 2570 pounds (1258 kg)

7. Ocelot
8. Tiger cat
9. Jaguarundi
10. European wildcat
11. African wildcat

Coat: Fur may be short and neat or thick and

luxuriant, plain or strikingly patterned
Diet: Meat of all types and fish

Breeding: 16 kittens, born after gestation of

56120 days
Life span: Up to 26 years in zoos, much less in the wild
Status: All wild cats are facing some threat; many
cats are at high risk of extinction

OW?
DID YOU KN
Snow leopards cope with the
widest temperature range of any
cat, from 112F in the summer to
40F in winter!
The smallest cat is the blackfooted cat from southern Africa,
with a headbody length of around
1415.5 inches.
The extinct saber-toothed cat
weighed up to 450 pounds and
had canine teeth (fangs) around
7 inches long!

10

11
75

cats

Cats Big and Small

Cats fall into two main groups, big cats and
small cats. Big cats include the lion, tiger,
leopard, jaguar, snow leopard, clouded leopard,
and cheetah. Small cats are the lynx, puma,
ocelot, caracal, serval, and around twenty
species of small wildcats. The differences
between big cats and small cats are not only
about size. Most big cats are larger than most
small cats, but the puma and most lynxes,
which are small cats, are all larger than
the clouded leopard, which is a big cat.
76

Stalking quietly on its large, padded paws, this

jaguar shows off its magnificently patterned coat.

Big cats can roar, but small cats cannot; the

part of the throat that vibrates to make a roar
is hard and bony in small cats rather than soft
and stretchy. Big cats have round pupils in
their eyes, while the pupils of small cats close
to slits. As a general rule, small cats crouch to
eat, while big cats stand or lie down.
Purring is an interesting habit of small cats.
Cats purr when they are resting. Purring

cats

makes the whole of the cats body vibrate

with ultrasound (sound that occurs above
the upper limit of human hearing).

Worldwide Distribution
Cats live in all types of climates and habitats,
from humid tropical forests and swamps to
deserts, and from lush grasslands to the snowy
wastelands of Siberia. These mammals cope
with heat by resting for long periods or by
hunting at night or at dusk. In very cold places,
cats such as the lynx, Siberian tiger, and snow
leopard rely on incredibly thick fur to keep
warm. The snow leopard has a long, fluffy tail,
which it wraps over its face when sleeping
to stop its breath from freezing.
Most cats live alone; only lions and some
small cats live in groups. Lions are unusual in
the way a pride works as a team to hunt and
defend territory. Female cats usually give
birth to their offspring in a den and spend
months or years teaching them to hunt.

Rare Cats
Cats are naturally rare because they need lots of
space in which to hunt. Large species have been
persecuted for hundreds of years because they
threaten livestock and even people. They have
also been hunted for their beautiful fur. Many
cats have suffered badly when natural habitats,
such as forests, are destroyed. Scientists think
the worlds rarest cat is the Iberian lynx. There
are probably fewer than 600 left in the wild.

A domestic cat focuses on a mouse,

which has little chance of escape.

Nice kitty?
Cats and people have an extremely
long history of living together. Cats
are now among the most popular pets,
but to begin with they were kept as
mouse killers or even worshipped
as living gods. Cats began to be
domesticated around 7,000 years
ago in the Middle East. Thanks to
people, cats now live wild in many
places where they did not occur
naturally, such as Australia, New
Zealand, and many islands. In these
places, cats can cause a serious
problem, killing native animals that
have few natural defenses against cats.

77

CHEETAH
Cheetahs are the fastest animals on four legs.
They can reach 60 miles per hour when they sprint
to catch their prey. Cheetahs are the only big cats
that hunt mainly in the daytime.

78

carnivores

he cheetah is an unusual member of the cat

family. Its narrow, streamlined body is built for
speed rather than strength. Unlike other cats,
cheetahs have blunt claws that they cannot retract
(pull back) into their paws. The cheetahs claws help
it grip the ground firmly when it runs fast.
Cheetahs have a small, rounded head, which is quite
different from that of other big cats. Their ears are also
small, which helps make the cheetah more streamlined.
On its face, a cheetah has two lines of black fur
running down from its eyes to the corners of its mouth.
These lines are sometimes called tear lines. They make
cheetahs look as if they have been crying black tears.

Hunting Antelope
Cheetahs usually hunt medium-sized prey, such as
small antelope, which are hoofed mammals. Cheetahs
also attack the calves of larger antelope, and they also
prey on hares and other small animals.
When hunting, a cheetah creeps carefully toward its
prey until it is about 33 yards away. It then dashes at
full speed toward the prey. About half of these attacks
are successful. Cheetahs kill their prey by gripping it
around the throat so that it cannot breathe.
Cheetahs can only run around 550 yards at full
speed. After that, they are in danger of overheating.
They also need to catch their breath. Cheetahs have
large nasal passages, or air tubes, behind the nose. That
A female cheetah crouches in the grass with her cub.

Fact File
CHEETAH
Acinonyx jubatus
Family: Felidae
Order: Carnivora
Where do they live? Africa and the
Middle East

Equator

Habitat: Savannas and dry forests

Size: Headbody length
4453 inches
(112135 cm);
weight 86143 pounds
(3965 cm)
Coat: Yellow-brown, with small,
round, black spots; each cheetah has
a slightly different pattern of spots
Diet: Mainly medium-sized antelope
in Africa
Breeding: Females can breed at
2 years old and males at 3 years;
16 cubs per litter
Life span: Up to 12 years in the
wild, and 17 in captivity
Status: Endangered; estimated
5,00015,000 left in the wild in
Africa and 200 in Asia

Distinctive markings help camouflage the cats,

allowing them to get close to prey when hunting.

79

CHEETAH

helps them breathe deeply while their

mouth is busy choking their prey.
Sometimes a cheetah finds prey by
chance when walking through long
grass. Newborn antelope calves
often lie hidden in grass while their
mothers are away. Usually the calves
are safe enoughbut not if a
hungry cheetah comes along.
A cheetah often drags its prey to a
hiding place before eating it. If it
does not, a more powerful animal,
such as a hyena, may come along
and steal the cheetahs food.

Hiding the Cubs

Female cheetahs give birth to
between one and six cubs at a time.
A cheetah cub weighs around 8 to

a cheetah chases its prey

80

OW?
DID YOU KN
Young cheetahs sometimes try
hunting animals that are much
too big, such as buffalo!
Cheetahs hunt by day more
than other big cats!
Mother cheetahs bring back live
prey for their cubs to practice
pouncing on!

11 ounces when it is born. The cubs

stay hidden in a lair until they are
around eight weeks old. The
mother brings up her cubs by
herself, without any help from the
father or other cheetahs.
Cheetah cubs are born with long
thick gray hair down their back. They
lose this hair later. The cubs are very
playful. Sometimes they play so

carnivores

much that they scare away prey

before their mother can get close
enough to chase it. Many cheetah
cubs do not survive. In parts of
eastern Africa, nineteen out of twenty
cheetah cubs are killed by lions.

Hunting Techniques
Cubs live on their their mothers
milk until they are around three or
four months old. After that, they
eat meat killed by their mother. At
the same time, the mother helps the
cubs learn to hunt. Sometimes she
brings a small prey animal back
alive to her cubs. The cubs then
practice pouncing on the prey.
Cubs stay with their mother until
they are up to eighteen months old.

CHEETAH GENES
Genes are the biological instructions present
in the cells of the body. They are made of
deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). An animals genes
are a mixture of the parents genes. Whether
a person has blue or brown eyes depends on
his or her genes. Scientists have discovered that
the genes of cheetahs show much less variety
than those of people or other animals. One
explanation may be that thousands of years
ago cheetahs nearly became extinct. If this
theory is right, then all present-day cheetahs
might be descended from a few related
individuals, which all had similar genes.

This cheetah is chasing after a gazelle. Unlike other large

cats, a cheetah has blunt, straight claws that cannot be fully
withdrawn into its paws. This arrangement helps the cheetah
grip the ground as it twists and turns during a chase. Once
the gazelle is caught, the cheetah grips its throat for the kill.
81

CHEETAH

Adult Lives

CHEETAHS
AND GUARD DOGS
Between 1980 and 1990, farmers in Namibia,
southwestern Africa, killed more than 6,000
cheetahs. The farmers were afraid that the
cheetahs would attack their farm animals. Now
people are trying a less destructive way to protect
farm animals, using guard dogs. Farmers in
some places have started using a breed of large,
fierce dogs called Kangal shepherd dogs. The
Kangal dogs grow up with the farm animals and
have an instinct to protect them. These dogs are
good at not only scaring away cheetahs but also
leopards, baboons, and even human poachers.

Male and female cheetahs live quite

different lives. Female cheetahs who
are sisters usually stay together for
around six months after they leave
their mother. After that, they go their
separate ways. Adult females live
alone except when they have their
own cubs. They wander widely and
do not have a permanent territory.
By contrast, young male cheetahs
often team up into pairs or groups of
three. The members of the group are
usually brothers, but not always. The
group members stay together for life.
Unlike females, male cheetahs claim
an area of land as their own territory
and defend it against other males.
Pairs or groups of cheetahs are more
successful at holding onto a territory
than single male cheetahs. Males
without a territory are less healthy
and less likely to breed with females.
Scientists are not sure why female
cheetahs never live together in
groups. It might seem safer for the
cubs to have more than one adult
around, but females remain solitary.

Habitat and Survival

Cheetahs live in Africa and Asia,
mostly in open country, such as
grassy plains. It is easy to chase after

82

carnivores

prey on these plains. At one time,

cheetahs were extremely widespread
throughout India and other parts of
Asia. However, there are hardly any
Asian cheetahs left in the wild,
perhaps only 200 or so individuals
living in remote parts of Iran.
Although cheetahs are more
common in Africa, they are also
under threat there (see the box on
facing page). Even when they are
protected in national parks, cheetahs
are still at risk from lions attacking
their cubs. One good thing is that

OW?
DID YOU KN
Emperors of India used to keep
tame cheetahs for hunting
wild animals!
Cheetahs are not closely
related to other big cats.
Cheetah cubs make a squeaky
mewing sound when they call
to their mother.

At full stretch,
a cheetah can
reach speeds of
up to 60 miles
per hour. It can

zoo owners are now more successful

at breeding and raising cheetahs. In
the past, cheetahs were extremely
difficult to breed in captivity.

only maintain
that speed for
a relatively short
distance, however.

83

CHIMPANZEES
Experts now believe that chimpanzees are humans
nearest relatives in the animal world.
There are two species of these intelligent apes,
both living in tropical parts of Africa.

84

omnivores

ntil the 1960s, people knew much more about

chimpanzees in captivity than in the wild.
Scientists would give captive chimps problems and
puzzles to solve to see how intelligent they were
compared with humans. People also tried to teach
languages to chimpanzees. Since then, scientists have
discovered a great deal more about how
chimpanzees behave in their natural environment.
There are two species of chimpanzees in Africa:
the common chimpanzee (usually just called the
chimpanzee) and the bonobo. A bonobo has a more
slender body than a chimpanzee. It is also less
common and shows various differences in behavior
and lifestyle.

Close African Relations

Most experts now think that chimpanzees and humans
are more closely related to each other than either is to
other apes, such as gorillas. Much of the evidence for
this view comes from comparing the deoxyribonucleic
acid (DNA) of chimpanzees and people, which is very
similar. DNAis the genetic (inherited) material. It carries
all the instructions that an organism needs to survive.
By studying DNA evidence, scientists think that the
ancestor of both chimps and humans probably lived
in Africa around six million years ago. That is very
recent compared with the whole history of life on
Earth. Fossil bones might give more detailed evidence,
A chimpanzee pouts its lips when it is unhappy
about something. Chimps have a huge range of facial

Fact File
CHIMPANZEES
Family: Hominidae (2 species)
Order: Primates
Where do they
live? West and
Central Africa

Equator

Pan troglodytes
(common chimpanzee)
Habitat: Forests and savannas
Size: Males headbody
length: 3036 inches
(77 92 cm); female 2833
inches (7085 cm); male
weighs up to 200 pounds (90 kg); female
up to 176 pounds (80 kg)
Coat: Mainly black; gray on back after
20 years
Diet: Mostly fruit; other plant parts
Breeding: gestation 230240 days
Life span: 4045 years in wild
Status: Endangered

Pan paniscus (bonobo)

Habitat: Humid forests
Size: Males headbody length: 2933
inches (7383 cm); female 2830 inches
(7076 cm); males weight: 86 pounds
(39 kg); female 68 pounds (31 kg)
Coat: Black, including face
Diet: Mostly fruit; other plant parts
Breeding: gestation 230240 days
Life span: Unknown
Status: Endangered

expressions that tell others exactly how they feel.

85

CHIMPANZEES

A chimpanzee
uses a rock to
crack open a nut
placed on a hard
surface. Chimps
are capable of
using a variety of
tools to perform
different jobs.

86

but hardly any ape fossils of the

right age have yet been discovered.
The common chimpanzee now
lives across tropical regions of
Africa, from west to east. It lives
mainly in forests but also in drier
savanna regions, as long as there are
enough trees around to provide
shelter and food, particularly fruit.
Bonobos live only in tropical rain
forests. Their range does not overlap
with that of chimpanzees. Bonobos
dwell only in forests south of the
Congo, an extremely wide river that
flows through Central Africa.
Chimpanzees live only north of the
river. Chimps do not swim, but
scientists think that some ancestors
of chimpanzees must have somehow

OW?
DID YOU KN
Older chimps often go bald on the
headfemales more than males!
Chimps sleep in trees at night,
in nests made from broken
and bent-over branches!
Chimps sometimes use sticks
and stones as weapons to throw
at other chimps!

gotten across the river more than a

million years ago. They then became
isolated and evolved into the
present-day bonobo.

Body and Brain

Chimps and bonobos have a body
adapted for living both in trees and
on the ground. In both species, the
arms are longer than the legs and
are much stronger than human arms.
A chimps fingers are longer, too.
These features help chimps climb
and swing among trees, where they
spend most of their time. On the
ground, chimps move on all fours,
using the knuckles of their hands to
walk on. They can also stand and
walk awkwardly on their hind feet.
Chimpanzees have a large brain,
although not as big as a humans.
Intelligence is not easy to define,
but chimps are good at solving
problems, learning from experience,

omnivores

and predicting how other chimps

(and scientists) are going to behave.
People have tried several times to
teach language to chimps. They do
not try to make chimps speak,
however; chimpanzees do not have
the right shape of voice box for
speech. One research program
involves teaching bonobos to
communicate by arranging small
plastic shapes. Each shape means a
different word. Bonobos seem to be
able to put the shapes together to
create their own messages. These
messages are like short sentences,
which the scientists studying the
bonobos can understand.

A Fruity Diet
Chimpanzees and bonobos are active
during the day and spend about half
of their time eating. The two species
have similar diets, although there are
some differences. They both eat
plants and animals, but plant food is
more important. Chimps eat
anything from termites to monkeys.
Chimpanzees also eat from as
many as twenty different plants a
day and around 300 species a year.
For both chimps and bonobos, fruit
is the most important single type of
food eaten. On some days, chimps

GOING HUNTING
Chimpanzees, especially groups of males,
go hunting regularly. Their favorite prey is
monkeys, especially red colobus monkeys.
Individual chimps coordinate their behavior
so that a monkey is trapped in a particular tree
with no escape, and the chimps can grab it.
What they do after that varies. Sometimes they
share the dead monkey peacefully, but at other
times they fight over who gets the meat.

87

CHIMPANZEES

A chimp fishes for

termites with a twig.

A male
chimp throws
a stick as part
of a charging
display.

may eat just from a single kind of

tree fruit that happens to be
available. Chimps also eat leaves all
year long. Bonobos sometimes
catch small antelope but usually
do so alone. By contrast, chimps
often go hunting in groups (see
the box on previous page).

Social Life and Breeding

USING TOOLS
At one time, it was thought that only people
used tools, especially tools that they made
themselves. That view changed when scientists
started studying chimpanzees in the wild. For
example, chimps can catch termites, which
are antlike insects that live in colonies in hard
mounds. To do so, chimpanzees take twigs and
cut and shape them to length. They stick the
twigs into the termites mounds and pull them
out covered with termites, which they then
eat. Chimps also open hard nuts and fruit by
hitting them with one stone against another
hard surface. These actions are learned
behaviors at which individual chimps can take
years to become skilled. Different chimp groups
have different things they are good at, and pass
on their skills to their youngsters.

88

Chimps live in social groups of

15 to 150 members. Each group
has a territory that it defends
against outsiders. Members of the
group cooperate but are hostile to
neighboring groups. The group
often splits up temporarily into
smaller parties to look for food.
Males stay in the same group all
their lives, but young females often
leave to join other groups.
Chimps stay friendly with one
another by engaging in activities such
as grooming each others fur. Chimps
also make sounds to express how
they are feeling. In addition, they have
a wide range of facial expressions that
show friendship, fear, playfulness, and
aggression. Male common chimps are
larger and more dominant than
females, and one male is usually the
most dominant. Males form strong
bonds with each other. They

omnivores

OW?
DID YOU KN
A chimps mood can be judged
from its facial expressions!
Chimps sometimes hunt
monkeys for food!
Bonobos are much less
aggressive than common chimps.

cooperate in hunting and also in

attacking neighboring chimp groups.
Chimps can be very aggressive and
may attack, kill, and even eat
members of other chimp groups.
Bonobos are much less aggressive
than chimps and do not seem to
attack their neighbors. Male and
female bonobos are also more equal.
The mating behavior of chimps
and bonobos is complicated, but
females usually mate with most or
all of the males in their group.
Young chimps are very playful.
They are heavily dependent on
their mother for several years. A
female is ready to breed at around
thirteen years old.

of Africas bush meat trade.

Chimpanzees also die or are injured
by traps set for other animals.
Bonobos are particularly at risk
because they live in a smaller area
than chimpanzees. Also, although
there are individual bonobos in
captivity, there are no breeding
populations of bonobos that could
be used to restock habitats in the
wild. By contrast, chimpanzees
are often bred in captivity.

A young chimp
rests among the
trees. Chimps
have a long
infancy, and are
not weaned until
they are around
four years old.

A Threatened Future
As with many African mammals,
destruction of the chimps habitat by
humans is threatening their future.
Chimps are also hunted for food,
even in national parks, as part
89

CIVETS AND GENETS

Civets and genets are graceful, agile animals that live mostly in
Africa and southern Asia. They belong to the order Carnivora,
which includes cats, dogs, and bears. Although carnivore means
meat eater, some species of civets live mainly on fruit.

90

omnivores

magine a long, stretched-out cat with a pointed

nose. That is a good description of what many civets
and genets look like. Other species have faces more like
a dog or a raccoon. A few species have webbed feet and
swim in rivers to catch fish, just as otters do.
Scientists have always found civets and genets hard
to classify. With their long body and short legs, they
seem not much changed from the first carnivores, or
meat eaters, to walk on Earth, long before cats and
dogs evolved. Scientists know what sort of body
shapes early carnivores had from fossils found in rocks.
Among the more catlike members of the group are
genets (eleven species) and linsangs (four species).
They are all nocturnal (night active) and hunt for
prey in trees. Many of these animals have beautiful
coats marked with spots or stripes.
By contrast, the true civets of Africa and Asia hunt
on the ground. They eat both animal and plant food.
There are also several species called palm civets.
Palm civets eat mainly fruit, either by climbing trees
or by picking it up off the ground.
Recently, scientists discovered that the African
palm civet is so different from all other civets that it
deserves to be in a family of its own. There are also
three civetlike species that live on the large island of
Madagascar (eastern Africa), which is famous for its
unusual animals. Scientists now think that the
Madagascar civets also belong in a separate family.
Always on the alert, this African palm civet has
climbed a tree to search for fruit and small mammals.

Fact File
Civets and genets
Families: Viverridae (35 species)
and Nandinidae (1 species,
the African palm civet)
Order: Carnivora
Where do they live? Africa
and southern Asia; 1 species lives
in Europe and the Middle East

Equator

Habitat: Depends on species;

many live in forests
Size: Varies with species; headbody
length 1335 inches (3388 cm);
weight from
1.3 pounds
(0.6 kg) in the
spotted linsang
to 29 pounds
(13 kg) in the African civet
Coat: Many species have catlike spots or
stripes; others are more plain
Diet:Small mammals, birds, reptiles,
insects, eggs, and fruit
Breeding: gestation 7090 days
Life span: Up to 20 years in wild; one
genet lived 34 years in captivity
Status: Some species endangered;
others still common

This species spends most of its time in the treetops.

91

CIVETS AND GENETS

Varied Lifestyles
Many civets and genets live secretive,
nighttime lives in forests. Scientists
do not yet know much about some
of them. Most information comes
from a few better-known species.
Most civets and genets have sharp,
catlike claws that help them find
food in trees. True civets have an
extremely varied diet. For example,
the African civet eats small
mammals, ground-living birds,
carrion (dead animals), reptiles

An African linsang raids a birds nest

and takes a baby bird. Linsangs are close
relatives of civets and genets.

such as lizards, and insects. They

also eat fruit.
Most of the time, civets and genets
live alone. The species that have been
studied are territorialand males in
particular are known to defend
territories against other males of the
same species. All civets and genets
probably use scent to mark their
area. Dominant male palm civets
have large territories, which gives
them a much better chance to meet
and mate with females. If another

This banded palm civet is eating a

lizard. All palm civets eat a wide variety
of food, including fruit, birds, and mice.

3 A Malayan civet sniffs the ground.

It has raised the crest of hair along its
back, perhaps because it senses danger.

4 By scenting the air, this Asian palm

civet can figure out whether there

are any intruders in its territory.

5 A binturong looks for food while

it grasps a branch with its prehensile
tail. Binturongs are stockier than civets.

5
92

OMNIVORES

THE ODD ONE

The binturong is a strange-looking relative
of palm civets. It lives in parts of Asia, where
it climbs trees to eat the fruit. The binturong
is heavily built, with long, coarse, black hair.
Its other name is bearcat. Unlike all other civets
and genets, the binturong has a prehensile,
or grasping, tail. The binturong winds its tail
around branches to prevent it from falling out of
trees. Despite their fierce appearance, binturongs
can become tame and playful in captivity.

male challenges the dominant male,

there can be a fight to the death.
Civets and genets may produce
babies once or twice a year,
depending on the species and
where they live. The mother raises
her offspring alone. She looks after
them for several months. They are
probably ready to breed by around
two years old.

Civets, Genets, and People

Unfortunately for civets, people
discovered centuries ago that these
animals produce a valuable
substance from scent glands near
their tail. This civet oil used to be
an important ingredient in perfumes,
although it is now used much less.

However, civets were often hunted

and killed for their oil, which people
also thought had medicinal properties.
Civets are now kept in captivity in
parts of Asia, both for their oil and
because people eat their meat.
Civets and genets are intelligent
and playful and are sometimes kept
as pets. Before domestic cats became
common, people in parts of Europe
kept genets to catch mice and rats.
Some species of civets and genets
are now endangered, mainly
because their rain forest habitat is
being destroyed by people. On the
other hand, other species such as
the Asian palm civet have got used
to humans and often live around
villages and plantations.

DID YOU
KNOW?
Civets and genets
wash their faces
with their paws just
as cats do!
Genets are
playful and are
sometimes kept as
pets!
A few species
live on riverbanks
and catch fish just
as otters do!
Male and female
African palm civets
make owl-like calls
at night to stay in
touch!

93

COATIS
Coatis are long-nosed, agile relatives of raccoons.
They live wild only in the Americas, mainly
in tropical forests. Playful and inquisitive,
coatis are also popular as zoo animals.

94

OMNIVORES

oatis survive well in many habitats and are

active by day. The four species prefer forests but
they also live in grasslands and even semideserts.
Coatis are omnivoresthey eat both animals and
plants. They use their long, flexible nose and sharp
claws to root out food. Favorite food includes fruit and
insects. Coatis hunt for food both on the ground and
in trees. They can climb trees quickly to escape danger.
The ringtailed coati and the white-nosed coati are
both common and widespread. By contrast, the
dwarf coati lives only on one island in Mexico and is
now endangered. The mountain coati lives in
mountain forests in South America. Changes to its
habitat are threatening this species, too.

Family and Social Life

Female coatis live in groups called bands, of up to
twenty-five members. Living in a band means there are
more eyes to watch for predators, such as jaguars.
Young coatis are much safer being in a band. Coatis in
a band often groom each others fur, just as monkeys
do. All the female coatis living in an area are ready to
breed at the same time of year. A female leaves the band
to give birth alone, usually in a tree. Mother and babies
rejoin the band after a few weeks. By then, the young
coatis can run fast enough to keep up with the adults.
Male coatis live alone but they usually stay near
the band where they were brought up as youngsters.

Fact File
COATIS
Family: Procyonidae (4 species)
Order: Carnivora
Where do they live? Arizona
to northern Argentina

Equator

Habitat: Mainly tropical forests;

white-nosed coati also lives in
dry areas
Size: Varies with species; headtail
length 2050
inches (51130
cm); weight up to
12 pounds (5.6 kg)
Coat: Coloring varies with species
Diet: Mainly fruit and insects
Breeding: Usually 34 offspring
Life span: 7 years in the wild;
up to 14 years in zoos
Status: Dwarf coati endangered;
mountain coati probably endangered;
ringtailed coati and white-nosed coati
lower risk, least concern

This white-nosed coati has climbed up a branch. From

this position it can keep a lookout for predators while
other members of its band care for the youngsters.

95

COLOBUS MONKEYS
Colobus monkeys and their relatives live in Africa
and Asia. They specialize in eating leaves.
These monkeys can feed on plants that would
poison most other animals.

96

herbivores

olobus monkeys are Old World monkeys; they

and their relatives live only in Africa and Asia.
Eleven species of colobus monkeys live in Africa;
around thirty species of related monkeys live in Asia.
The Asian species have various names, including leaf
monkeys, langurs, doucs, and surelis. Both colobus
monkeys and all of these Asian monkey species belong
to the subfamily Colobinae, or colobines. Other Old
World monkeys, such as baboons, are grouped in a
different subfamily to colobines. These other monkeys
have much less specialized diets than colobines.
Most colobus monkeys have a similar body shape.
They are slender, with powerful hind legs for jumping
through trees and a long tail for balance. The color of
their coat varies a great deal between species.
Colobines often have distinctive markings, such as
tufts of long hair on their head. Baby colobus
monkeys often have a different coat color from adults.
African colobus monkeys have almost no thumb,
just a tiny bump. Perhaps, during evolution, having a
thumb was more of a nuisance than a help when
they jumped through the trees.

Safe in the Trees

Most colobine monkeys live in forests. They are active
during the day and usually sleep in the safety of a tree
at night. They are adaptable, however, and can also
survive in other habitats, both natural and artificial.
A serious-faced colobus monkey rests its chin
on a branch. Colobus monkeys are not generally
aggressive and do not make many facial expressions.

Fact File
COLOBUS MONKEYs
Family: Cercopithecidae; subfamily
Colobinae (42 species, including
proboscis monkeys, langurs,
and leaf-nosed monkeys)
Order: Primates
Where do they live? South and
Southeast Asia, and tropical Africa

Equator

Habitat: Mainly forests; also scrublands,

cliffs, and urban areas
Size: Varies; headbody length from
1631 inches (4178 cm) in
Hanuman langur to 1720 inches
(4349 cm) in olive
colobus; tail length
2343 inches
(57108 cm)
Coat: Varies with species
Diet: Leaves, fruit, flowers, buds, seeds,
and shoots
Breeding: Usually 1 offspring
Life span: Around 20 years, and 29
years in zoos
Status: Red colobus and proboscis
monkey endangered; black colobus and
Geoffroys black and white colobus
vulnerable

97

COLOBUS MONKEYS

Some Asian species even live in rocky,

treeless slopes and cliffs. Others are at
home in cultivated land, such as
farms, where they may eat the crops.
The most active species is called
the Hanuman langur. It is named
for the monkey god Hanuman in
the Hindu religion. In India, many
Hindus treat the Hanuman langur
as sacred and do not attack it. The
monkey often lives in town centers,
sometimes raiding shops for food.

Two-part Stomach
A major difference between colobines
and other Old World monkeys is the
way in which their stomach is
formed. Colobines have a stomach
divided into two sections. The lower
part contains acid and digestive
enzymes. The upper section is
expanded and is not acidic. Bacteria
(microscopic single-celled organisms)
live in the upper stomach. These
bacteria help break down the tough
leaves that colobines eat so they can
be digested. The bacteria probably
also help destroy poisons in the
leaves. Many plants have poisons in
their leaves, which prevents some
animals from eating them.
All colobus monkeys eat leaves
but they also eat other parts of plants,
98

BIG-NOSED MONKEYS
Perhaps the weirdest looking colobine is the
proboscis monkey. It lives only on the island
of Borneo, in Southeast Asia. Proboscis means
nose, and the male proboscis monkey has a
long, dangly nose that may be 3 inches long.
It even gets in the way of eating. However,
having such a long nose is worth it because
the females seem to like males with the longest
nose. Proboscis monkeys are unusual in other
ways, too. Less slender than other colobines,
they often live by the sea in the trees of
mangrove swamps and are good swimmers.
Proboscis monkeys are now endangered.

such as fruit, seeds, and roots. Some

colobines lick the sap from trees
and even eat dead wood. Colobines
also sometimes eat small amounts
of insects or other animal food.

herbivores

OW?
DID YOU KN
Colobines have a two-part
stomach that helps digest the
leaves they eat.
Some of their scientific names
reflect what the person who gave
the name thought the colobus
monkeys looked like: one genus
name means solemn ape, while
another means old woman!
The female olive colobus carries
its baby around in its mouth!

Monkey Business
Compared with other monkeys,
colobus monkeys have quiet,
relatively peaceful social lives. They
show less aggression toward one
another and use fewer calls, gestures,
and facial expressions than other
monkeys. People often think colobine
monkeys look solemn and serious
compared with other monkeys.
Scientists think that this lack of
aggression is connected with the way
in which they feed. Tree leaves have
low food value, and colobines need to
spend a lot of the day quietly eating.
A group of colobines in a tree
take up positions in different
branches. They usually sit facing
outward, looking toward the end of
the branch where most of the leaves
are. So, they do not look at each
other for much of the time.

Colobus monkeys usually live in

groups. The size of the group varies
widely from three or four individuals
to sometimes more than a hundred.
One or two species live as pairs, with
one male living with one female.
Some groups defend the area in
which they live as a territory and
chase away other monkeys of the
same species. Surelis, langurs, and
some colobus monkeys make loud
calls, especially at dawn. Scientists
think that these calls may be to make

A colobus
monkey plucks
the leaves from a
tree. It is sitting in
a typical feeding
position, with its
back toward the
tree trunk.

99

COLOBUS MONKEYS

it quite clear to other monkeys that

a patch of forest is already occupied.
Not all is peaceful in colobine
society, however. Some groups are
controlled by a single male. If
another male attacks and defeats
him, the second male may kill the
groups babies. In this way, the new
male causes the groups females to
be ready to breed again. He can
then father his own babies.

Breeding Behavior
Female colobus monkeys are ready to
breed when they are around four
years old. There is no set breeding

season, but births are more common

at some times of the year than others.
The female colobine usually
approaches the male when she is
ready to mate. In Hanuman langurs,
the female may hit the male, pull his
fur, or even bite him if he does not
respond to her.
At birth, baby colobus monkeys
weigh around 14 ounces. A single
infant is usually born, and twins
are rare. The mother carries her
baby around, with it clinging on
tightly to her. One exception is the
olive colobus of Africa, where
mothers carry their baby in their

MONKEY GET-TOGETHERS
Colobine monkeys team up not only with each
other but also with other species of monkeys.
In West African forests, red colobus (left) and
olive colobus monkeys both like teaming up
in the same area as Diana monkeys, which are
not colobines. This arrangement means there
are more eyes and ears to look out for predators.
Predators include eagles, leopards, people,
and chimpanzees, which often hunt colobus
monkeys. Diana monkeys are extremely alert
and they also eat different food from colobines,
so they do not compete for the same meals.

100

herbivores

mouth. Other female colobines

in the group often borrow a baby
and seem to enjoy babysitting.

Colobines and People

As with many forest-living animals,
colobines are in danger from people
burning and chopping down their
forest homes. People also kill
colobines for food. In Asia, monkeys
are also traditionally killed because
people believe that their body parts
have medicinal properties.

People have also hunted colobus

monkeys for their beautiful fur.
Conservationists are now trying to
protect the rarest species.

OW?
DID YOU KN
Some colobines can leap
16 feet through the trees
without moving downward!
The Hanuman langur of India
is sacred in the Hindu religion.
A female Hanuman langur may
attack a male that is showing
no interest to mate with her!

A baby
colobus monkey
perches among
the branches of
a tree, waiting
for its mother to
rejoin it. The baby
will hold on tight
while she carries
it around.

101

COYOTE
Coyotes are an animal success story.
Once, coyotes lived only in southwestern United
States and Mexico. Now they have spread
over nearly all of North America.

102

carnivores

oyotes are members of the dog family. They

are larger than foxes but smaller than wolves.
Coyotes have long slender legs, large pointed ears,
and a bushy tail. Coyotes eat many different kinds
of food. They usually hunt for small mammals such
as rabbits and gophers. Sometimes they team up to
chase deer and other large prey. They also eat birds,
turtles, carrion (dead animals), and even garbage.
Coyotes usually patrol a particular area, called a
home range, for food. Where food is scarce, as in
Alaska, a home range can be as large as 40 square
miles. Since the 1800s, coyotes have greatly expanded
their range in North America. One reason is probably
that European settlers killed the wolves living in many
areas. The coyotes were then able to take the wolves
place, eating their food and living in their habitats.
Coyotes also live successfully in towns and cities. They
like eating sheep, too, which makes coyotes unpopular
with some farmers in country areas.

Social Life and Breeding

Sometimes coyotes live as a single malefemale pair.
In other places, they live in small packs. Being in a pack
is an advantage because a pack can hunt large animals,
such as deer. A pack can also defend its food better
from other animals, including other coyotes.
Coyote pups are born in the spring. Only the
dominant male and female in a pack usually breed.

Fact File
Coyote
Canis latrans
Family: Canidae
Order: Carnivora
Where do they live? Most of North
America, except the far north and east of
Canada

Equator

Habitat: Varied; includes towns and cities

Size: Headbody length
2838 inches (7097 cm);
weight 1742 pounds
(822 kg)
Coat: Grayish, with white throat and belly,
and black patches on front legs and tail
Diet: Small mammals and birds;
sometimes large mammals, such
as deer, fruit, and domestic garbage
Breeding: Reach adulthood by
1 year old; average 6 pups per litter
Life span: Up to 14.5 years in the wild,
and 18 years in zoos
Status: Not endangered

A coyote pricks up its large ears to help it hear the

faint rustling of prey. Coyotes also have excellent
senses of smell and sight, just as other dogs do.

103

DEER
People have hunted deer for food or sport since
prehistoric times. Despite that, these versatile animals
are surviving well in the modern world. Some deer
now even live wild in towns and cities.

104

herbivores

eer are hoofed mammals. They are distant

cousins of cows and antelope. Cows and
antelope have horns, but deer have antlers. Male deer,
called stags, use their antlers to scare off or fight with
other males. They also show off their antlers to females.
Some deer have fangs or tusks as well. The ancestors of
deer probably had tusks and later evolved antlers.

Deer Variety
There are forty-three species of deer. The largest deer
is the moose. It grows up to 7 feet 6 inches high at the
shoulder. This huge, forest-living animal lives in cooler
regions of North America and Europe. The smallest
deer species is the South American southern pudu,
with a shoulder height of just 15 inches. One of the
best-known deer is the caribou, which can survive
extremely cold conditions. In Europe, most caribou
(there, called reindeer) herds have been domesticated
by people for hundreds of years. By contrast, the
caribou of North America are still wild. The whitetailed deer, another common deer species, lives in
North and South America. Shooting white-tailed
deer is a popular sport in parts of the United States.

Habitats
Although deer are basically forest animals, they are
adaptable. During the ice ages of the last two million
years, many regions changed from forests to open

Fact File
DEER
Family: Cervidae (up to 43 species,
including muntjacs, fallow deer, chitals,
red deer, wapitis, roe deer, moose, and
caribou/reindeer)
Order: Artiodactyla
Where do they live? Europe, Asia,
North America, South America, and parts
of north Africa

Equator

Habitat: Forests, grasslands, mountains,

and arctic tundra
Size: Shoulder height from 15 inches
(38 cm) in southern pudu to 7 feet
6 inches (230 cm) in moose; weight
from 17.5 pounds (8 kg) to 1,750 pounds
(800 kg) in same species
Coat: Mostly shades of
gray, brown, red, and
yellow; some adults and
many young deer have lighter-colored
spots
Diet: Plant food, including leaves
of trees, bushes, and grass,
lichens, fruit, and mushrooms
Breeding: Usually 1 or 2 offspring born
in the spring

This white-tailed deer has a full set of antlers.

Life span: Up to 20 years in captivity

During the mating season, or rut, the male uses its

Status: 1 critically endangered species;

4 endangered; 5 vulnerable

antlers to attract females and to fight off other males.

105

DEER

landscapes and back again. Deer lived

through these changes very well. By
contrast, some deer do not survive
well in other environments, such as
tropical rain forests.
Deer do not live in Australia nor in
most of Africa. In Africa, forest-living
antelope have a similar lifestyle to
that of deer living in other places.
In the forests and open country of
northern North America, Europe,
and Asia, deer are a very important
part of the natural food chain. They
eat everything from tree leaves to
mushrooms. In turn, predators,
such as wolves, lynx, and
wolverines, catch and eat the deer.
Deer living in cooler lands usually
shed their coats twice a year. The
winter coat is warmer and usually

DID YOU
KNOW?

darker colored. Caribou also

migrate, or travel, hundreds of miles
between their winter and summer
feeding grounds. Just like other deer,
they are good swimmers. That
means they can easily cross rivers
and lakes during their migration.

Some deer have

fangs as well
as antlers!
Moose can eat and
digest tough pine
needles.
One extinct
type of deer
had antlers
13 feet across!

Browsing Trees and Bushes

Although deer are plant eaters, they
do not usually live off grass, as do
cows and buffalo. Most deers teeth
and digestive systems are not able to
process lots of rough food, such as
dried grass. Instead, deer are mainly
browsersthey eat from trees and
bushes. They usually choose young,
fresh tree shoots, which are full of
nutrients. Deer also eat many other
types of plants. They would also eat

different species of deer

1. Moose
2. Roe deer

3. Chital

4. Reeves muntjac

5. Sika deer
6. Tufted deer
7. Pre Davids deer
8. Water deer

106

herbivores

ANTLERS
Antlers are made of bone. They grow again every
year. That makes antlers different from the
permanent horns of sheep and cattle. Antlers
start as small bumps on the head. At first they
are covered with a living, bone-making skin,
called velvet. When the antlers are fully grown,
the deer scrape off the velvet. In caribou (right),
females grow antlers as well as males. In most
other deer, only males grow antlers. Antlers
drop off when the mating season, or rut, is over.

all the flowers in a backyard if they

got the chance. For some deer,
including caribou, lichens are an
important food. Lichens are a mixture
of a fungus (a mushroom relative)
and microscopic algae cells. Lichens

7
5

usually grow in tufts on tree bark,

on rocks, and even on the soil in the
cold, treeless tundra of arctic regions.

Social Life and Breeding

The habitats and social life of deer
are closely linked. For example, small
deer living in dense tropical forests do
not usually live in groups, or herds.
Instead, a single male claims part of
the forest as his territory. He marks
the boundaries with his own scent.
These males usually have both tusks
and small, pointed antlers. They use
these weapons to defend their
territory against other male deer.
Larger deer species usually live in
more open forests or even in treeless
areas. Often, a dominant stag collects
107

DEER

together a harem, or group, of

females. The stag always stays near
the females and fights other males
who try to mate with them.
In open, treeless country, deer may
gather into large herds. Being in a
herd means an individual deer is
safer from enemies, such as wolves.
In cooler climates, breeding is
closely related to the seasons. In
many species, males compete for
females during fall, when their antlers
are fully grown. This period of male
rivalry is called the rut. Males often
lock antlers and push each other in a
trial of strength, called sparring. The
weaker male usually gives in before
serious damage is done. Sometimes
real fights develop, and males may get
injured or even killed.
Females who mate in the fall give
birth the following spring. The young

deer, called a calf or fawn, often stays

hidden at first. The mother returns to
her calf and feeds it milk until it is
large enough to follow its mother and
run from predators.

People and Deer

Prehistoric cave paintings often
include pictures of deer. There are
also paintings showing people
wearing deer antlers on their head. In
northern lands especially, deer used
to provide people with food, leather,
tools made from antlers, and
transportation. There are also many
legends and folktales involving deer.
In Europe until around 1500 c.e.,
kings and nobles loved hunting deer.
Although many deer were killed, they
were also protected by law to stop
poorer people from killing and eating
them. Rich people often created deer

DID YOU
KNOW?
If a deer gets
into a backyard,
it will eat all
the flowers!
In India, some
deer follow
monkeys around
and eat the food
they drop!
Deer regrow
their antlers
every year!

ruminants all
Deer are similar in appearances to

body, slender legs and neck, a short tail,

other ruminants, particularly antelope.

and an angular head. The southern

Ruminants are mammals that chew the

pudu (1) is the smallest deer.

cud: After swallowing their food,

ruminants bring it back up to the mouth
and chew it again. Ruminants also have
a many-chambered stomach. Most
species of deer have a graceful, long
108

2
1

herbivores

MUSK DEER
Musk deer are in a different family from other
deer. They have tusks but no antlers. There are
four species of musk deer: the Himalayan musk
deer, the Siberian musk deer, the dwarf musk
deer, and the black musk deer. All of these deer
live in Asia. Musk deer are best known for the
scent glands they have near their tail. These
glands contain a substance called musk. Musk
is valuable. For centuries, people have used it to
make perfumes and as a medicine. Musk deer are
now kept on farms, but thousands of wild musk
deer are still killed every year for their musk.

parks around their stately homes,

partly to provide food and partly
because the deer looked attractive.
People have also taken deer to places
where they have never lived naturally,
such as Australia and New Zealand.

A male
musk deer has
long, protruding
canine teeth
that look like
small tusks.

canine tooth

Some deer, such as white-tailed deer,

have survived so well that they have
become pests in towns and cities. On
the other hand, some small tropical
deer are under threat because their
habitats are being destroyed.

1. Southern pudu
2. Pampas deer
3. Marsh deer

4. Peruvian huemul
5. Red brocket
6. White-tailed deer
7. Caribou

109

DHOLE
The dhole is a fierce Asian wild dog
that hunts in packs. By working together,
the pack can catch and kill animals
much larger than a single dhole.

110

CARNIVORES

holes are sturdily built dogs, with a short, broad

snout. They are not closely related to domestic
dogs or wolves. Dholes are native to many parts of Asia
but are now rare or extinct in many places.
Dholes live and hunt mainly in forests. They live in
packs of up to twenty animals. Being in a pack helps
protect dholes from attacks by leopards andtigers. A
pack of dholes can also hunt with more success.
Dhole pups are born in the shelter of a den. The
whole pack helps protect and guard the pups. Some
pack members also help the mother feed the pups.
People have often killed dholes, partly because they
sometimes attack domestic animals, such as goats.
Dholes are now very rare except in nature reserves.

Food and Feeding

Dholes are mainly daytime hunters. A single dhole can
catch and kill small prey by itself. Often, however, the
whole pack goes hunting. Working together, the pack
can catch and bring down large prey, such as the chital,
a type of deer that lives in India. Dholes are smart
hunters. Sometimes they chase prey out into the open,
where other pack members are waiting to ambush it.
Once the prey has fallen to the ground, dholes start
eating immediately. They start with the softer parts,
such as the belly. The prey is often still alive, but it
soon dies of blood loss. Dholes eat as fast as possible
to try to get more food than any other pack member.

Fact File
Dhole
Cuon alpinus
Family: Canidae
Order: Carnivora
Where do they live? India and Asia,
including Indonesia

Equator

Habitat: Mainly forests

Size: Headbody length:
35 inches (90 cm);
average weight
37 pounds (17 kg)
Coat: Light reddish brown above,
underside paler, tail black
Diet: Mainly mammals but also lizards,
insects, and wild berries
Breeding: Reach adulthood at 1 year;
average 8 pups per litter
Life span: Up to 12 years in the wild,
and 16 years in zoos
Status: Endangered in many parts of
their range

Dholes are sometimes called Asian wild dogs,

red dogs, or Asiatic hunting dogs. A dhole looks
like a large red fox but has a thicker neck.

111

dogs
Members of the dog family
are clever, adaptable hunters.
Wolves, coyotes, jackals, and
foxes are all placed in this family.
Domestic dogs are almost certainly descended from wild wolves.

typical canid, or member of the dog

family Canidae, has a body suited to
long-distance running. The first dogs that
evolved probably caught their prey by
chasing it across wide, open plains. Scientists
have found fossil bones of canids in North
America that are forty million years old. The
dog family belongs to a large group, or order,
of meat-eating mammals called Carnivora.
Other families in Carnivora include bears,
raccoons, and cats.
Dogs range in size from the gray wolf of the
northern hemisphere to the tiny fennec fox that
lives in deserts in Africa. Of the thirty-six dog
species, twenty-three species are foxes. Foxes are
smaller than other canids. They have a narrow
muzzle (snout) and usually a long bushy tail.
Dog species survive in a range of different
habitats, from the cold Arctic, to tropical
rain forests and plains. In cold places, dogs
have a thicker coat that keeps them warm.

Designed as Hunters
Canids hunt on the ground because, unlike
cats, they are not good at climbing trees.
Dogs claws are blunter than cats claws and
112

cannot be retracted (pulled back into the paws).

This type of claw helps dogs get a good grip on
the ground for running.
Dogs have good eyesight and excellent senses
of smell and hearing. Dogs also have large
canine teeth, often called fangs, to grip prey,
and sharp back teeth that can slice flesh.

OW?
DID YOU KN
The dog family probably first evolved in
North America.
Many scientists now think that domestic
dogs and wolves are members of the
same species.
Dogs sometimes bring up food from their
stomach to feed their pups!

Fact File
DOGS

Family: Canidae (36 species)

Order: Carnivora
Where do they live? Worldwide, except
Antarctica and some smaller islands
Size: Headbody length varies from 9.5 inches
(24 cm) in fennec fox to 58 inches (147 cm) in gray
wolf; adult weight
ranges from 2.2
pounds (1 kg) in
fennec fox to 165
Equator
pounds (75 kg)
maximum in gray
wolf

1. European gray wolf

2. Tibetan gray wolf
3. Wolfhusky cross

Diet: Large species are mainly meat eaters; small

species eat a mixed diet
See also: African wild dogs, Carnivores, Coyote,
Dhole, Ethiopian wolf, Foxes, Jackals, Wolves

4. Arctic fox, in its partly white summer coat

Compared with the cat family, however,

members of the dog family eat a much more
varied diet. That is especially true of foxes,
which often eat insects, worms, and fruit,
as well as small mammals.
Some dog species, such as wolves and
African wild dogs, hunt in packs. By working
together, they can catch large animals, such as
deer and even zebra. Unlike most cats, dogs
do not hunt by ambushing or leaping out on
their prey or by making a sudden dash as a
cheetah does. Instead, dogs run steadily after
prey, for hours if necessary. Eventually, the
prey animal gets so exhausted that the
dogs can catch, kill, and eat it. By
contrast, foxes usually hunt for food alone.

The chihuahua
is a small variety of
domestic dog that
comes from Mexico.

113

dogs

Social Behavior
Species of dogs that hunt in packs have
extremely complex social lives. Packs of dogs
usually have a dominant male and female pair,
called the alpha pair. The alpha pair is in charge
of each pack. In a wolf pack, for example, every
wolf knows its place in the pecking order.
A wolf can communicate aggression, fear,
or friendliness to other wolves by the way in
which it holds its tail and ears and even by the
expression on its face. Canids also use sounds
such as howls and barks to communicate.
Canids usually occupy a territory that they
defend against other members of their species.
Even dogs that do not live in packs have their
114

A husky finds some prey beneath the snow.

It rears up on its hind legs, ready to pounce.

own territory. Each dog, or pack of dogs, marks

the edges of the territory with scent.
A female canid usually gives birth to cubs in
a safe lair, or den. In social species of canids,
related animals, such as aunts and uncles, may
help the mother look after the cubs.
Dogs often regurgitate meat (bring it back
up from their stomach) for the pups to eat. In
this way, the food is already broken up into
small pieces and partly digested. Pups are
extremely playful, often practicing their
hunting and catching skills on each other.

dogs

People and Dogs

Prehistoric people probably caught and tamed
wolf cubs occasionally. Scientists now think that
these tamed wolves are the origin of the
domestic dog. One example is the dingo, which
lives in Australia. Dogs are not native to
Australia, but the dingo has lived wild there for
thousands of years. The first prehistoric people
to reach Australia probably brought their own
dogs. Some of these animals then escaped and
evolved into the wild dingo.
People have always hunted wolves, foxes, and
other canids, both to protect farm animals and
as a sport. Some dog species, such as the
Ethiopian wolf, are now extremely rare.
Conservationists are working to preserve them.
Other species, such as the red fox and the
coyote, have adapted well to the human world
and are now common in towns and cities.

A maned wolf looks over its shoulder.

These dogs have extremely long, thin legs.

THREE UNUSUAL dogs

Wolves, jackals, and foxes are familiar
species of dogs. Three of the more
unusual dog species are:
Raccoon dog This Asian species
looks more like a raccoon than a dog.
People sometimes keep it on farms
for its valuable fur.

The fennec fox is the smallest canid. Its huge

ears allow it to lose heat in its hot desert home.

Bush dog This dog has very short

legs and small ears. It lives in tropical
forests in South America. Not much
is known about its life in the wild.
Maned wolf Despite its name, this
red-coated canid does not look like
a wolf but more like a fox on stilts. The
maned wolf lives in woodlands and
grasslands in South America.
It feeds on small animals and fruit.

115

dolphins
The graceful, playful activities of dolphins
are familiar to everyone. Yet science still
has a lot to learn about these intelligent
and fascinating mammals.

116

carnivores

olphins are small whales and live in all the

worlds oceans. Four species of river dolphins
live in rivers. There are at least forty species of ocean
and river dolphins. The bottlenose dolphin is
probably the most famous and are often kept in
dolphinaria. In the wild, bottlenose dolphins live in
warm seas, usually near the coast.
The spinner dolphin is another common warmwater species. It prefers deep waters and, as with many
dolphins, it enjoys leaping out of the water and then
diving back in. When a spinner dolphin makes a leap,
it spins around, which is how it got its name.
Many species of dolphins look quite similar, even
when they are not closely related. That is partly
because dolphins need to be streamlined to chase after
their prey. Many dolphins also have similar patterns of
spots or patches that are usually various shades of gray.
The largest member of the dolphin family is the
killer whale, or orca (see the box overleaf). Unlike
most dolphins, the orca has a blunt head, without a
pointed beak. Next largest are two species of pilot
whales. They also have a blunt head and grow nearly
as long as killer whales but feed on much smaller prey.

Body Design and Blowholes

A dolphin has powerful muscles that move its flat tail
up and down in the water. The tail movements push
the dolphin along. Dolphins breathe air but, unlike
A bottlenose dolphin leaps high out of the water.
All dolphins have a sleek, streamlined body, flippers,

Fact File
DOLPHINs
Families: Delphinidae (ocean dolphins;
at least 36 species) and 4 families of
river dolphins (4 species)
Order: Cetacea
Where do they live? Worldwide
Oceanic dolphins

Equator

Asian river
dolphins
Equator

Equator

South American
river dolphins

Habitat: Oceans and a few rivers

Size: Headbody length
from 3 feet 6 inches
(1.2 m) in Heavisides
dolphin to 23 feet (7 m) in the killer whale;
weight from 88 pounds (40 kg) to 4.4.
tons (4.5 metric tons) in the same species
Diet: Fish or squid; killer whales
also eat sea mammals and birds
Breeding: One calf (offspring) born every
23 years in most species
Life span: Up to 100 years in female
killer whales
Status: 1 endangered marine species;
river dolphins: 1 critically endangered;
1 endangered; 2 vulnerable

a dorsal (back) fin, and a powerful, muscular tail.

117

dolphins

1. Bottlenose
dolphin
2. Rough-toothed
dolphin
3. Atlantic whitesided dolphin
4. Atlantic spotted
dolphin
5. Short-beaked
common dolphin
6. Northern right
whale dolphin
7. Atlantic humpbacked dolphin
8. Melon-headed
whale
9. Commersons
dolphin
10. False killer whale
11. Killer whale

11

12. Rissos dolphin

12
118

people, their nose is nowhere near

their mouth. Instead, like other
whales, they have a single nostril, or
blowhole, behind their head.
Dolphins need to go back to the
surface regularly to breathe.
Dolphins have front flippers but no
hind flippers. Most species also have
a fin on their back called a dorsal fin.
Most dolphins have their mouth
stretched out into a long beak,
which contains many pointed teeth.
This mouth shape helps dolphins
grab the slippery fish and squid on
which most of them feed.
Dolphins also typically have a
dome-shaped front to their head.
Under the dome is an oil-filled
structure called a melon. The melon
helps focus the sounds that all
dolphins make. Sound is extremely

OW?
DID YOU KN
A dolphins brain is larger
than a humans!
Groups of dolphins are called
schools or pods.
Dolphins sometimes hold sponges
in their mouths to protect their
beak on coral reefs!

important to dolphins because

sound travels better through water
than light does. Dolphins have no
voice box but produce sound by
moving air in the tube leading up to
their blowhole. Dolphins
communicate with each other
by making noises, such as
whistles. They also produce
high-frequency clicking
sounds, which are too

carnivores

THE BIG ONE

The killer whale, also called the orca, is the
largest member of the dolphin family. It lives
worldwide in oceans. Males are bigger than
females and have a much longer dorsal fin,
up to 6 feet 6 inches long. Their black-andwhite skin pattern varies, helping scientists
recognize individual animals. That makes
studying them long term much easier. Killer
whales are unique among dolphins both
in their diet and their social life.

10

119

dolphins

high for people to hear. These clicks

bounce off objects such as reefs or
nearby fish. By listening to echoes, a
dolphin can figure out where
objects are and how large they are;
the dolphin can see with its ears by
this process, called echolocation.
Dolphins have good eyesight, even
in dim light. They see well in both

OW?
DID YOU KN
Killer whales sometimes catch
seals by upending the ice that
the seals are lying on!
Dolphins sometimes swim
peacefully with tuna fish. They
probably help each other watch
out for sharks!

air and water. They can also taste but

not smell because their blowhole is
always closed underwater.

Habitats and Food

RIVER DOLPHINS
The four species of river dolphins are each in
their own family, separate from the ocean-going
dolphin family, Delphinidae. River dolphins
have a long, narrow beak and small eyes. Little
is known about their social lives. The Yangtze
River dolphin of China is the most endangered
dolphin in the world. There are also at least two
species of oceangoing dolphins that live in rivers.

120

The worlds oceans are a vast habitat.

Some dolphin species live near coasts,
while others inhabit deeper water.
Some live worldwide, while others
live in only one ocean. Sometimes
various populations of the same
species lead quite different lifestyles.
Deepwater dolphins sometimes
make long journeys to look for food,
often traveling in large groups. They
use ocean-bottom features as
landmarks to help them navigate.
Dolphins living near coasts tend to
stay in the same home area, but
within that area they have regular
patterns of movement. For example,
dusky dolphins living off Argentina

carnivores

Two bottlenose
dolphins swim
side by side as
they hunt for
fish in the clear
ocean waters.

spend the day feeding several miles

out to sea. At night they usually
come closer to shore, where there is
less danger from sharks.
Most dolphins feed during the day,
although spinner dolphins are
mainly nighttime feeders. They also
dive farther down from the surface to
feed. They can therefore live in the
same areas as other types of dolphins
without competing for food.
Dolphins eat a wide variety of fish,
squid, and other animal prey. They

probably eat whatever they can catch.

Most species of dolphins catch prey
that is swimming freely in the water.
However, some dolphins nose
around on the seafloor or coral reefs
for food. The strong social bonds
among dolphins help them
cooperate for feeding. For example, a
group of dolphins that comes across
a shoal of fish may herd it to the
surface by blowing bubbles and
swimming around the fish. Once
trapped at the surface, the fish are
easier to catch and eat.
Killer whales are unique because
they kill and eat other sea
mammals, including the calves of
larger whales. Sometimes they hunt
in groups, sometimes alone. A killer
whale will even launch itself up a
beach to catch an unwary sea lion.

Social Behavior
Dolphins live complicated social lives,
which vary from one species to
another. Scientists still have a lot to
learn about dolphin societies. Most
species live in small groups, which
may team up into larger groups, such
as when rounding up a huge shoal of
fish. Sometimes, thousands of
deepwater dolphins may join forces
to journey across the ocean.
121

dolphins

Dolphins do not seem to be

monogamous, with one male staying
permanently with one female. Even
small groups of dolphins may not
always be permanent, with
individuals switching from one group
to another. However, dolphins are
intelligent animals that can recognize
other individuals, even if they have
not seen each other for a while.
One of the whistling noises
dolphins make is a so-called
signature call. This call is different
for each dolphin and helps other
dolphins identify every individual.
Sometimes two dolphins in a group
may team up as buddies and stay

together for months or even years.

Teamwork requires team bonding.
Once dolphins have fed and rested,
they spend a lot of time playing,
socializing with, and touching one
another. Often, they just seem to be
having fun. These playful habits are
probably a reason why dolphins are
also friendly toward people.
Killer whales and probably pilot
whales, too, live in more permanent
groups than other dolphins. Killer
whales live in groups containing a
mother and all her offspring,
including daughters, sons,
grandsons, and granddaughters.
Males leave the group temporarily to

DOLPHIN INTELLIGENCE
A dolphins brain is larger than a persons,
although a human brain is bigger relative to body
size. Dolphins are obviously intelligent, as shown
by their abilities to work together in groups and to
learn new behaviors, both in the wild and in
captivity. Tests show they can also think using
abstract concepts, such as numbers. Sometimes
people have tried to communicate with dolphins in
artificial languages that use signs and symbols.
Other people have doubted that dolphins are really
able to use language in the way that people do.

122

carnivores

A school of
short-beaked
common dolphins
leaps out of
the water at
full speed.

mate, but otherwise the family sticks

together permanently, year after year.
Mother dolphins give birth to a
single calf at a time. Most births
take place during the summer
months. The mother feeds it on her
milk. The calf may stay for her for
months or even years, depending
on the species. A female dolphin
has a calf only once every two or
three years at most. For a female
killer whale or pilot whale, births
are seven to eight years apart.

Dolphins and People

Although dolphins are popular
animals, human activities have
sometimes had a bad effect on them.
In the past, people killed dolphins for
food, although that is less common
now. In the late twentieth century,

nets spread in the ocean to catch

tuna killed huge numbers of
dolphins by accident. Nets are now
designed to make it easier for dolphins
to escape from or avoid.
Captive dolphins are popular, and
dolphins seem to enjoy human
company. However, some people
think that it is unfair to keep
dolphins in an unnatural
environment. Certainly, dolphins in
captivity die younger than wild ones.
Sometimes groups of dolphins,
especially pilot whales, strand
themselves on beaches, where they
die. Possibly they are following a
leader that has fallen sick.
Strandings do not necessarily have
anything to do with people. But
some scientists think that
pollutants may affect the health of
dolphins, making sickness and
strandings more likely.

OW?
DID YOU KN
Two species of dolphins live
in the Amazon River.
Some patterns on dolphins
probably disguise them by
imitating light patterns in water.
Dolphins have developed complex
sound signals to stay in touch.

123

DORMICE
These small, agile mammals are experts at
climbing bushes and trees to look for food. They
are also famous for sleeping a lot. Some dormice
spend more than half the year asleep.

124

OMNIVORES

ormice are only distant cousins of true mice.

Scientists think that squirrels are probably the
nearest relatives of dormice. Just like squirrels, dormice
have fur on their tail and are skillful climbers.
Dormice are mainly nocturnal (active at night). They
have excellent hearing and large eyes that help them
see well in the dark. Dormice eat fruit, nuts, seeds, and
animal food, such as insects and spiders. They usually
live together in small groups. Each group occupies a
particular home rangean area in which the dormice
search for food. Dormice do not live in the Americas,
but some species are common in Europe, Africa, and
parts of Asia. Other dormice species, such as the
Japanese dormouse, are endangered.

Life Cycle and the Seasons

Dormice in colder regions hibernate, or sleep through
the winter. A dormouse gets ready to hibernate by
putting on weight in the fall and making itself a nest in
a safe place, such as a tree stump. It then curls up into a
tight ball. Dormice sometimes stay asleep for seven
months or more. They may also go back into a deep
sleep in the summer if food is in short supply.
Dormice start to breed as soon as they wake up in
the spring. Before she gives birth, a mother dormouse
builds a ball-shaped nest of leaves and grass above
the ground to hold her babies. The young dormice
are born blind and furless but develop quickly.

Fact File
DORMICE
Family: Myoxidae (26 species)
Order: Rodentia
Where do they live? Europe, Africa,
and parts of Asia

Equator

Habitat: Mainly areas with trees

and bushes
Size: Varies with species; headbody
length 2.57.5 inches
(619 cm); weight:
0.57 ounces
(14200 g)
Coat: Brown to gray, soft fur; bushy tail
Diet: Fruit, seeds, nuts, insects, and
worms
Breeding: Females give birth to an
average of 4 offspring after 2132 days
gestation; offspring leave nest after 46
weeks; breed at 1 year old
Life span: 36 years in the wild
Status: Half of all dormouse species
are endangered

A dormouse finds a tasty blackberry to eat. In the

fall, dormice fatten up on fruit and nuts, so they can
survive their long winter hibernation without food.

125

DUGONG AND MANATEES

Dugongs and manatees are the only large, water-living
mammals that eat plants. They are sometimes called
sea cows. People have suggested that these gentle
animals might be the origin of stories about mermaids!

126

herbIVORES

t first glance, dugongs and

manatees look a bit like small
whales. However, scientists think
that their nearest living relatives are
elephants. Dugongs and manatees
are also called sirenians, after the
name of the scientific order to which
they belongSirenia. The dugong
lives only in warm, shallow seas;
manatees also live in freshwater.

Fact File
Dugong dugon
(dugong), Trichechus
manatus (West Indian
manatee), Trichechus
senegalensis (West
African manatee),
and Trichechus
inunguis (Amazonian
manatee)

Families: Dugongidae
and Trichechidae
Order: Sirenia

Equator

DUGONG
Where do they live? Tropical sea coasts,
from East Africa to Australia

Streamlined Shape

Habitat: Shallow seas where sea grasses grow

Like whales, sirenians have a

streamlined shape for swimming and
flippers instead of front legs. They
also have a layer of blubber, or fat,
under the skin, which helps them
keep warm. The easiest way to tell the
difference between a dugong and a
manatee is to look at the tail.
Manatees have a roundish, paddleshaped tail. By contrast, a dugongs
tail is forked, just like a whales.
Sirenians sense of touch is good,
especially around their mouth, where
they have many sensitive bristles.
They use the bristles to help find the

Size: Length 3 feet 4 inches13 feet

(14 m); weight 5002,000 pounds
(230900 kg)
Skin: Smooth, brown to gray, with a few bristles
Diet: Sea grasses
Breeding: Females give birth to 1 calf every 37 years
Life span: Around 60 years
Status: Vulnerable
MANATEEs
Where do they live? Florida, the Caribbean, northern South
America, and western Africa
Habitat: Shallow coasts, river mouths, and freshwater
Size: Depends on species; headbody length 815 feet
(2.54.6 m); weight 7703,500 pounds (3501,600 kg)
Skin: Grayish and hairless; Amazonian manatee
has a pink patch on belly

A West Indian manatee cruises

Diet: Freshwater plants and sea grasses

the warm, shallow waters of the

Breeding: Females give birth to 1 calf every 23 years

Caribbean. It has large, flexible lips

Life span: 30 years or more

that help it feed on water plants.

Status: Vulnerable

127

DUGONG AND MANATEES

1. Stellers sea cow

(now extinct)
2. Amazonian
manatee

plants they feed on. Sirenians also

have good hearing, even though
they have only tiny earholes. Their
eyesight is not so good. Like all
water-living mammals, they have to
come to the surface to breathe.

3. West Indian

Muscular Lips for Feeding

manatee

Sirenians have large, muscular lips,

which they use to grab and pull at
the water plants they feed on and to
root around in mud at the bottom of

4. Dugong
5. West African
manatee

shallow seas for food. Dugongs and

manatees eat sea grasses. These plants
grow underwater in warm, shallow
seas. Sea grasses are true flowering
plants, unlike seaweeds.
Manatees also eat freshwater
plants. These plants are tougher to
eat than sea grasses. Manatees have
stronger teeth than dugongs. A
manatees teeth are replaced
throughout its life because the
plants it eats wear them down.
Plants are not easy to digest.
Sirenians have bacteria (microscopic
life-forms) living inside their
digestive system. The bacteria help
digest the plant food. Manatees have
an intestine that is 150 feet long.

Social Life and Breeding

5
128

Sirenians often gather together where

there is food or warm water. Despite
this, these animals do not seem to be
social. However, scientists still have a
great deal to learn about their
behavior. For example, sirenians
make chirping noises and squeaks to
each other, but experts do not yet
know what they are saying.
At breeding time, male dugongs
gather together to show off in front
of female dugongs. A female
chooses the male she likes best.

herbIVORES

STELLERS SEA COW

Until the 1700s, a huge dugong relative called
Stellers sea cow lived in the northeast Pacific
Ocean. It weighed up to 6 tons. Stellers sea cow
ate a large seaweed called kelp, not sea grasses.
However, sailors passing by discovered Stellers
sea cows and started hunting and killing them
for food. Within a few years of its discovery,
Stellers sea cow was extinct.

Unlike manatees, male dugongs

have a pair of short tusks, which
may play a part in courtship. Male
manatees do not show off, but
sometimes several males chase after
a single female at the same time.
Sirenians, especially dugongs,
breed slowly. A female dugong is
not ready to breed until she is ten
years old. In both dugongs and
manatees, a calf stays close to its
mother for one or two years before
setting off on its own.

Habitats and Survival

Dugongs and manatees live in
different parts of the world. Dugongs

live only in the sea, while West

Indian and West African manatees
move between saltwater and
freshwater habitats. The smallest
species of manatee, the Amazonian
manatee, lives only in freshwater. It
eats floating plants in the Amazon
river in South America and the
smaller rivers that flow into it.
Sirenians are slow-living animals
that have few natural enemies.
Humans are now the main threat to
them. In Florida, many West Indian
manatees are injured or killed by
boats and boat propellers. Pollution
also damages these animals. There
are now safe, boat-free zones for
manatees off the Florida coast.
Dugongs have often been hunted.
They are rare or extinct in many
places. However, in the seas off
northern Australia there are still
plenty of dugongs. Scientists are
now studying these animals to
understand their lives better.

OW?
DID YOU KN
The nearest relatives of dugongs
and manatees are elephants!
People use manatees to eat
weeds in artificial water channels
to keep them clear!
Manatees relax by lying upside
down on the seabed!
129

DUIKERS
Duikers are small- to medium-sized hoofed antelope
living in Africa. Their unusual name means divers.
If something scares them, they dive into the nearest
clump of trees or bushes.

130

herbIVORES

uikers are antelopewild relatives of cows

and sheep. At least seventeen species live in
Africa. Except for one species, the bush duiker, or
common duiker, all duikers live in thick forests. That
makes these mammals difficult to study in the wild.
Duiker species vary a great deal in size and coat
color. For example, the zebra duiker has eye-catching
black stripes across its back. The smallest species is
the blue duiker; an adult weighs only 9 pounds.
But the yellow-backed duiker can reach 176 pounds.
All duikers have short, straight, backward-pointing
horns. Usually, only the male common duiker has
horns. In other species, the females also have horns.
Duikers browse on trees and bushes, eating leaves,
shoots, fruit, buds, and bark. The blue duiker also
likes eating ants. The rarest species is called Aders
duiker. It lives in only a few places in East Africa.
One problem for duikers is that people like eating
themmany are killed and sold as bush meat.

Claiming a Territory
Like most forest-living mammals, duikers do not live in
large groups. Usually only a single male and female live
together. They take over a patch of forest as their
territory and defend it against other duikers. One way
in which duikers claim their territory is by marking it
using scent glands below their eyes. They rub this scent
onto nearby landmarks, such as tree stumps.
Large ears and eyes help this common duiker detect

Fact File
DUIKERS
Family: Bovidae; subfamily
Cephalophinae (16 species of forest
duikers; 1 species of common duiker)
Order: Artiodactyla
Where do they live? Africa,
south of the Sahara desert

Equator

Habitat: Mainly forests or areas

with thick undergrowth
Size: Varies with species; head
body length 2257 inches
(59145 cm); weight
9176 pounds (480 kg)
Coat: Often reddish, but in some
species blue-gray, black, or striped
Diet: Leaves, fruit, buds, seeds, and
bark; occasionally small animals
Breeding: 1 calf born at a time
Life span: Unknown in the wild;
1015 years in zoos
Status: Jentinks duiker, Abbotts
duiker, and banded duiker are listed
as vulnerable; other species are least
concern or near threatened

any nearby predator. Compared with other antelope,

duikers have a large brain for their body size.

131

ELEPHANTS
Elephants are the largest land animals on Earth. Their
huge tusks are extra-large incisor teeth. These animals
are highly intelligent and have complex social lives.

132

herbivores

here are three species of elephants: the African

savanna elephant, the African forest elephant,
and the Asian elephant. Asian elephants are smaller
than African elephants. They also have a more
domed head, an arched back, and much smaller ears.
African forest elephants are smaller than the betterknown African savanna elephants. Forest elephants
also have straighter tusks and rounder ears.

Fact File
ELEPHANTS
Family: Elephantidae (3 species)
Order: Proboscidea
Where do they live? Africa south of
the Sahara desert(African savanna
elephant); central and western Africa
(African forest elephant); South Asia and
Southeast Asia (Asian elephant)

Body Design
Elephants are amazing animals. Many of their
unique features are connected with their huge size.
Unlike other large plant eaters, elephants cannot
reach down to the ground with their mouth. Instead,
they rely on their trunk to grab food (see the box
overleaf). An elephants trunk is equivalent to the
nose and upper lip of other animals.
Elephants stand with their legs held straight like
pillars to support their weight. They usually walk
slowly, but they can also charge quickly. Elephants
feet are large, round, and rough on the bottom,
which helps them grip the ground. The toes and toe
bones are hidden inside the foot. Each foot contains
a large pad of fatty material, which helps spread the
elephants weight and acts as a shock absorber.
Elephants have excellent senses of hearing and smell.
Their enormous ears also act as radiators, helping the
elephant get rid of excess heat from its body.
African savanna elephants browse among the bushes.
Scientists think there may be up to 600,000 African

Equator

Habitat: Varied, including savanna

grasslands, bushlands, and woodlands
Size: Male African savanna elephant,
shoulder height 10.8
feet (3.3 m), weight
up to 6.5 tons
(6 metric tons)
Coat: Thick dark gray to brown skin
Diet: Mainly grass, also leaves, wood,
flowers, fruit, crops
Breeding: 1 calf born after 615668
days gestation
Life span: Savanna elephant 60 years
in the wild (more than 80 years in
captivity); Asian elephant 7580 years
in captivity
Status: African elephants
are vulnerable; Asian elephants
are endangered

elephants and 57,000 Asian elephants in the wild.

133

elephants

An elephants head is huge, even

compared with the rest of its body,
and its brain is also large. An
elephants huge skull supports its
trunk, tusks, and jaw muscles. The
bones of the skull have air spaces to
make them lighter.
An elephants tusks are overgrown
upper front teeth (incisors). Elephants
use their tusks to dig for water, to get
bark off trees to eat, and sometimes
for fighting. Their tusks grow
throughout life. In Asian elephants,
usually only the males have tusks.

Habitats and Diet

Elephants need a lot of food and
water, and they have to know where
to find them. Many places in which
elephants live have wet and dry

seasons. Elephants change their

feeding habits to match these
different seasons. They also live for a
long time and have a good memory,
so remember the best places to find
food at different times. The size of
area that a group of elephants uses,
called a home range, varies greatly. In
desert areas, elephants may range
over thousands of square miles.
Elephants eat only plants. During
the wet season, African savanna
elephants eat a lot of grass. In the dry
season they eat more twigs, bark, and
branches from trees and bushes. They
even push over trees to get at their
leaves. Elephants living in lush forests
eat more leaves and fruit. Elephants
have a huge digestive system that
processes all their bulky, rough food.

DID YOU
KNOW?
If an elephant gets
hurt, other
elephants try to
help and support it.
Elephants have the
largest brain in the
animal kingdom!
Elephant skin
can be up to
1.5 inches thick!
An elephant
sometimes
scratches itself
with a stick held in
its trunk!

elephants compared
1

The African savanna elephant is larger

than the Asian elephant. It also has a curved

back and bigger ears. The African savanna
elephant is an average of 10.8 feet at the
shoulder and weighs 6.5 tons.

An Asian elephant measures an average

of 810 feet at the shoulder and weighs 6 tons.

Asian elephants are said to have ears shaped like India,
while African elephants ears are shaped like Africa.
134

herbivores

TRUNKABILITY
An elephants trunk is strong, muscular, and
incredibly versatile. It is used to grab food and
put it in the elephants mouth and also to suck
up water. An elephant also smells and breathes
through its trunk, which it can hold up as a
snorkel when swimming. An elephant can pick
up heavy tree trunks as well as tiny twigs using
fingerlike lips at the end of the trunk. An Asian
elephant has one lip, while African elephants
have two. Elephants greet and stroke each other
with their trunks, too, and make their famous
trumpeting noises through them.

Apart from tusks, elephants also

have one upper and one lower
tooth on each side of their mouth.
Each one is a huge grinding tooth,
or molar. When the teeth wear
down, another set replaces them,
but each elephant has only six sets
altogether. Old elephants sometimes
die of starvation because they run
out of teeth with which to eat.

Social Life and Behavior

Elephants are extremely social
animals. Female African and Asian
elephants and their offspring live
together in small social groups. An
older female, called a matriarch,

usually leads each group. Group

living helps elephants pass on
important knowledge, such as the
location of water holes. Also, if
danger threatens, adult elephants
form a circle, tusks outward, to
protect the youngsters in the middle.
Predators are much more likely to
attack baby elephants than adults.
When young females mature, they
usually stay in their own group, or
sometimes one group splits into two.
When young males grow up, they
leave or are forced away from their
original group. Adult males live
separately from females, either in
all-male groups or by themselves.

An African
savanna elephant
stands guard over
her calf. At birth,
an elephant calf
weighs around
220 pounds.

135

elephants

Communication is very important

for elephants. They show their
moods by how they hold their head,
ears, and trunk. Elephants also
touch each other with their trunk to
show friendship or as part of mating
behavior. They use sound a great
deal, sometimes using deep sounds
that people cannot hear. Elephants
can communicate over miles in this
way. As well as traveling through the
air, the sound also goes through the
ground. Scientists think that
elephants feet help pick up ground
vibrations, which pass up through
their body to their ears.
Elephants show an amazing
interest in other elephants that have
died. They often revisit the bodies,
sniff them, and even carry their
bones on their head. This behavior
is still a mystery to scientists.

136

Breeding and Life Cycle

A female elephant does not breed
often. If she becomes pregnant and
has a calf, she will not be ready to
breed for another five years. A fertile
female calls males from miles around
using deep, low-frequency sounds.
Sometimes the males fight, but that
does not guarantee that the winner
will become the father. Females are
choosy about who they mate with.
1. The elephant ancestor

DID YOU
KNOW?
Elephants can
learn to turn
faucets on and
off with the lips
at the end of
their trunk!
Some people
think that
elephants cry
tears when they
are sad!

4. The largest ever elephant

Moeritherium lived around

ancestor was the imperial

34 million years ago (mya).

mammoth, which lived

2. Trilophodon lived 241.8 mya.

3. Then came Platybelodon, which
lived around 125 mya.

around 1.6 mya.

5. The present-day African
savanna elephant is much
smaller than the mammoth.

4
5

herbivores

ELEPHANT
ANCESTORS
Scientists think that elephant
ancestors evolved in Africa
when that continent was a
large island unconnected to
the rest of the world. Millions
of years ago, many different
long-nosed elephant relatives
roamed the world. One was
the woolly mammoth, which
lived during the last ice age,
up to 10,000 years ago. It had
long hair to stay warm.

Elephants are pregnant for nearly

two years. When the calf is born, it
needs help from its mother for up to
ten years. Other females in the group
also help look after the calf. Elephants
live for around sixty years in the wild,
and can reach eighty in captivity.

Elephants and People

In Asia there is a long tradition of
capturing young elephant calves and
rearing them in captivity. People have
used tame elephants to pull logs
through forests, as part of religious
ceremonies, to perform in circuses,
and even to ride into battle on.

In the last 150 years or so, human

actions have reduced the number of
elephants. Many elephants have been
killed for their ivory, the white
material from which their tusks are
made. The ivory is carved into
jewelry and even piano keys. Since
1989, trade in products made from
elephants has been banned. However,
poachers (illegal hunters) still kill
many elephants. Habitat destruction
by people also threatens elephants. In
some protected national parks,
however, there can be too many
elephants because each one needs so
much space and food.

Woolly
mammoths are
probably the bestknown animals
of the last ice age.
Many carcasses
have been found
in frozen ground
in Siberia.

137

ETHIOPIAN WOLf
This long-legged wolf lives only in the mountains
of Ethiopia in northeastern Africa. It is the rarest member
of the dog family. Scientists are working with local people
to try to stop the species from becoming extinct.

138

carnIVORES

he Ethiopian wolf is closely related to the gray

wolf, but looks more like an overgrown fox. It
has large ears, long legs, a narrow, pointed snout, and
small, widely spaced teeth. These features help the wolf
catch its main preyrodents such as rats and mice.
Ethiopian wolves usually hunt by day alone. Sometimes
they team up to hunt larger animals, such as antelope.
The Ethiopian wolf lives mainly in cool, treeless
grasslands, high up in the mountains of Ethiopia,
but now only in a few small, separate areas. There
are probably only around 500 adults left in the wild.
People have helped make this wolf rarer. For example,
farmers are taking over more of the Ethiopian
highlands, which leaves less space for the wolves. These
wolves also catch a deadly disease called rabies from
domestic dogs. Scientists are trying to help prevent this.

Complex Societies
Ethiopian wolves live in well-organized groups, or
packs, although they usually hunt alone. Each pack
can include up to thirteen adults plus cubs. One
advantage of living in a pack is that the wolves are able
to defend their home territory against neighboring
wolves. Good grassland habitat contains plenty of prey
and is worth defending. Pack members work together
to scent mark their territory every day by leaving their
droppings and urine at the boundaries and by
scratching. That helps warn off greedy neighbors.

Fact File
Ethiopian wolf
Canis simensis
Family: Canidae
Order: Carnivora
Where do they live? Highlands
of Ethiopia in eastern Africa

Equator

Habitat: Grasslands and heathlands

above 10,000 feet (3,000 m)
Size: Headbody length
3340 inches (84100
cm); weight 2444 pounds
(1120 kg)
Coat: Mainly reddish brown,
with white on belly and neck
Diet: Mainly rodents
Breeding: Gestation 6062 days;
27 pups per litter; born October
December; fed by pack until 6 months
old; only the dominant female in the pack
usually breeds
Life span: Up to 11 years
Status: Endangered

A pack of Ethiopian wolves stays alert for prey and

rival packs. Most of the adults in a pack are male,
although there is one dominant female that breeds.

139

FLYING FOXES
Flying foxes are large bats. Their foxlike faces
are quite different compared with those of most
other bats. That is connected with the different
way in which they search for food.

140

HERBIVORES

lying foxes are the largest bats in the world. They

belong to a family called fruit bats. Unlike most
bats, fruit bats eat flowers and fruit instead of chasing
night-flying insects. Flying foxes find their food by
sight and smell and do not use echolocation. They live
only in the warmer parts of Asia, Australia, and islands
of the Indian Ocean and western Pacific Ocean.
Sometimes the term flying fox is used for all fruit
bats, but usually people mean just the larger species
that belong to the genus (group) Pteropus. As in all
bats, the wings of flying foxes are made of skin
stretched between the arm and finger bones, which are
very long and thin. Flying bats are most active at dusk,
when they can still see. When they are not active, they
roost by hanging upside down in trees, holding on by
their feet. Such roosts can contain thousands of bats.

Long-distance Travelers
Flying foxes play an important role by helping
pollinate the flowers of many types of trees. Also, when
the bats eat tree fruit, the seeds often pass through the
bats body unharmed. Flying foxes travel long distances,
so the seeds are often spread far and wide.
Flying foxes are powerful fliers. Some species are
migratorythey make regular long-distance trips at
certain seasons, sometimes traveling hundreds or
thousands of miles. Scientists are now studying their
movements using satellite tracking.

Fact File
FLYING FOXes
Family: Pteropodidae (more than 60
species in the genus Pteropus)
Order: Chiroptera
Where do they live? South Asia,
Australia, and islands of the Indian Ocean
and western Pacific Ocean

Equator

Habitat: Forested areas; some

populations live in towns and cities
Size: Wingspan up to 5.5 feet (1.7
m); weight up to 3.5 pounds (1.6 kg)
Coat: Color of fur varies
among species
Diet: Flower nectar, pollen, and fruit
Breeding: Varies with species
Life span: Varies with species
Status: Many species threatened;
Ryukyu, Nicobar, white-winged, and
Marianas flying foxes are endangered;
Chuuk, Comoros, Caroline, and
Rodrigues flying foxes are critically
endangered

A flying fox hangs upside down from a tree. Its long,

thin arm and finger bones support the skin that forms
the bats wings. Bats are the only mammals that fly.

141

FOXES
Foxes are clever, resourceful members of the
dog family. One species, the red fox, probably
has the largest natural range of any land
mammal, apart from people.

142

omnivores

oxes are smaller than other members of the dog

family, such as wolves and coyotes. The head of
a fox is also flatter, with a narrow, pointed muzzle, or
snout. The narrow muzzle helps foxes root out and
snap up smaller prey. Foxes also have large ears and
a big, bushy tail. Of the thirty-six species in the dog
family, twenty-three are foxes. The smallest is the
tiny fennec fox, at just 9.5 inches from nose to rump.
It lives in the deserts of North Africa. Fennec foxes
have huge ears, which act as radiators when the
foxes get too hot. The small-eared dog is the largest
fox. It measures 39 inches from nose to rump.
The gray fox of North America is unusual because
it often climbs trees. The small arctic fox survives
in the freezing lands near the Arctic Ocean. The foxs
thick, furry coat often turns white in winter.

Food and Survival

The red fox is the most familiar species of fox to people
living in North America and Europe. Its coat is usually
bright reddish brown, although gray and dark forms
also occur. The red fox lives successfully in towns and
cities. It eats just about anything it can get hold of,
from small mammals and birds to worms, insects, fruit,
and garbage. Just as other foxes do, the red fox usually
hunts for food by itself, not in groups or packs. It often
creeps up stealthily on prey and pounces from above
when it gets close enough. It also stores food for later

Fact File
FOXes
Family: Canidae
Order: Carnivora (23 species, including
gray fox, red fox, arctic fox, and fennec fox)
Where do they live? Europe, Asia,
Africa, North and South America; red fox
introduced to Australia

Equator

Habitat: Forests, scrublands,

grasslands, tundra, towns, and cities
Size: Varies with species; headbody
length 9.539
inches (24100 cm);
weight 2.220
pounds (19 kg)
Coat: Usually thick fur; coat color
depends on species
Diet: Almost anything, from birds and
small mammals to earthworms, fruit,
and garbage
Breeding: Usually 16 cubs per litter
Life span: Up to 6 years in the wild;
13 years in zoos
Status: Not threatened

A red fox curls up to go to sleep, using its thick, bushy

tail as a scarf to keep warm. Red foxes have a slender
muzzle with white lips, and large, pointed ears.

143

FOXES

use in larders that it digs in the

ground. Over the centuries, millions
of red foxes have been hunted for
their fur or shot by farmers. Despite
this, red foxes are still common.
Other fox species need more help,
however. For example, the swift fox, a
small fox native to the Great Plains
of North America, became extremely
rare during the twentieth century.
Conservationists helped stop it from
becoming extinct and now the swift
fox is more common again. Another
endangered fox is Darwins fox. It
lives in Chile in South America. Only
a few hundred animals are now left.

OW?
DID YOU KN
Foxes sometimes paddle in water
looking for fish to catch!
The island fox lives only in the
Channel Islands of California.
Fennec foxes use their enormous
ears as radiators, to lose heat!

which relatives help look after the

cubs. A fox normally has a home
rangean area it patrols for food. A
home range is also usually a territory;
the owners defend it from other foxes.
A pair or group of foxes lay down
scent marks on the ground using their
urine and feces to mark ownership of
their territory.

Family and Social Life

Foxes do not live in packs, as wolves
do. Foxes are usually monogamousa
single male and female live together.
Some species live in small groups, in

Communication

1. Gray fox

Foxes make many different sounds,

including yapping, barking, howling,
and screaming. Some of these noises
are also probably used to defend a
territory or attract a mate. However,
scientists do not yet understand the
purpose of all of these sounds.

2. Swift fox

144

3. Cape fox
4. Fennec fox
5. Rppells fox
6. Blanfords fox
7. Bengal fox
8. Corsac

OMNIVORES

FOX EVOLUTION
Although foxes belong within the dog family,
they are not all closely related to each other. For
example, the gray fox of North America has only
one close relative among other foxes. Scientists
believe that, over millions of years, several
different branches of the dog family evolved
to look like present-day foxes. Most foxes of
Africa and Asia, such as this cape fox (right),
are related to the red fox and the arctic fox. By
contrast, the foxes of South America are more
closely related to wolves than to other foxes.

Births in Spring
Foxes breed once a year, generally
in the spring. The mother gives
birth to her cubs in a den, usually a
burrow or other safe place. The
cubs are born blind and helpless
but they grow fast. They are safe to
leave the den after a few weeks.
Young foxes are very playful,
especially when they practice their
hunting skills on their brothers and

sisters. In the fall, young foxes are

fully grown and usually leave their
parents to find their own territory.

OW?
DID YOU KN
Clever foxes feature in folktales
in many parts of the world!
Red foxes can pull earthworms
out of the ground without
breaking them!
The bat-eared fox of Africa feeds
almost entirely on insects!

7
8

145

Gazelles
Gazelles are among natures supreme athletes. They have
speed, agility, and grace as well as sharp senses always alert
to danger. All of these features are essential to help them
stay one step ahead of their many predators.

146

herbivores

azelles are the most graceful members of the

cattle family. They are slender animals, with
long, slim legs, a long neck, and an elegant, narrow
face. Gazelles live in grasslands and on dry plains,
where there is very little shelter and few places to
hide from predators. Most of the distinctive features
of gazelles help them survive in these open spaces.
Most gazelle species live in large groups called herds.
Some herds contain hundreds or even thousands of
gazelles. With many pairs of eyes and ears always
checking for danger, it is extremely difficult for even
the stealthiest predator to sneak up. Gazelles have large
eyes that are set on the sides of the head and bulge out
slightly. So, a gazelle can see to either side without
having to turn its head. Gazelles have long eyelashes,
which shade the eyes from the bright sun and collect
dust that drifts down from the air. Gazelles also have
large ears, which can turn to the sides and even
backward. The ears are furry on the backs and on the
insides to protect them from sunburn and from dust.

Speedy Runners
Gazelles are famous for their speed and nimbleness.
Most gazelles can run fast and, if they are being
chased, they can change direction in an instant. By
dodging from side to side, gazelles can even escape
the fastest hunter of all, the cheetah, which can reach
top speed only by running in a straight line.
A springbok displays its characteristically curved
horns. These graceful gazelles live in the dry, open

Fact File
GAZELLEs
Family: Bovidae; subfamily Antilopinae
(more than 30 species)
Order: Artiodactyla
Where do they live? Africa, the Middle
East, and parts of southern and central
Asia

Equator

Habitat: Forests, savanna and steppe

grasslands, deserts, and rocky
landscapes
Size: Headbody length
1868 inches (45172
cm); weight 3.3188
pounds
(1.585 kg); females larger than males
Coat: Short and neat; coarse or silky;
color and markings vary with species;
most offer some camouflage
Diet: Grass, herbs, leaves, shoots, buds,
and fruit of various shrubs and trees
Breeding: 140225 days gestation;
single offspring; saiga often has twins
Life span: 1018 years, depending on
species and living conditions
Status: Around one-quarter of all
gazelle species are vulnerable or
endangered, some critically so

plains of southern Africa, as far north as Angola.

147

Gazelles

NOW?
DID YOU K
A small herd
of Thomsons
gazelles gathers
to eat and drink
at a water hole,
remaining alert

The royal antelope is the

smallest member of the
gazelle groupabout the size
and weight of a house cat!
Springbok were once so
common that their migrating
herds stretched for miles!
The saiga is the only gazelle
that regularly has twins.

for predators.

Keep enemies close

Thomsons gazelles (above) have a
surprising way of dealing with predators
they follow them. If a member of a herd
of Thomsons gazelles spots a lion, hyena,
or wild dog, it sounds the alarm, and the

148

Locking Horns
The horns of most gazelles are not
straight or smooth. Usually they are
ringed with ridges and curve from
the base to the tips to form an S
shape, a C shape, or a spiral.
Along with their horizontal ridges,
these horn shapes allow rival gazelles
to lock horns firmly in combat. Male
gazelles lock horns to test each others

whole group turns to face the danger

and begins to walk toward the predator.
The gazelles are careful never go close
enough to be in real danger. With the
element of surprise lost, the predator has to
slink away.

herbivores

1. Dibatag in alarmed posture.

2. Goitered gazelle
3. Springbok, pronking
4. Tibetan gazelle
5. Slender-horned gazelle
6. Dama gazelle,
the largest gazelle

7. Oribi, marking a stem

with its ear gland

8. Steenbok, scent marking
with its facial gland

9. Blackbuck, in territorial

display pose

and they use them to challenge

each other for food and territory.

Scent Marking

8
9

strength without there being a

serious risk of them getting hurt.It
soon becomes clear which gazelle is
the strongest, and the loser backs off
without suffering anything worse
than hurt pride. In most species, both
male and female gazelles have horns,

Scent is important to most

gazelles. These animals have
an excellent sense of smell,
and most gazelles produce
scent from glands in the face
(orbital glands) and the feet
(pedal glands). Gazelles also release
scent into their droppings. Male
gazelles use dung piles to mark
their territory and add fresh
droppings regularly. Any intruder
will know immediately that the
area is already occupied.
149

Gazelles

Grazers and Browsers

Gazelles are herbivores, or plant
eaters. Species such as springboks
and Thomsons gazelles graze on
fresh grass, and they are able to smell
rain from many miles away. They
travel long distances to find good,
fresh pasture. Other species eat the
leaves and shoots of trees and shrubs.
This way of eating is called browsing.
The gerenuk is a long-legged,
long-necked species. It has a neat
trick to help it reach higher
branches than any other gazelle
speciesit can stand and walk on its
hind legs.

A spring in their step

The springbok is named for its habit of leaping
high into the air, usually with all four legs locked
straight. Stretchy leg muscles and tendons
absorb the energy of each bounce with each
landing and catapault the animal up into the air
again. Lots of other gazelles use the
same trick, which is called pronking or stotting.
Pronking is a way of raising the alarm, while
at the same time allowing the gazelle to get
a good look around. This activity probably also
confuses a predator because it can be difficult
to predict which way the gazelle will leap next.

150

Dwarf Antelope and Dik-diks

There are eighteen species of gazelles,
living in Africa and Asia. Dwarf
antelope and dik-dik, close relatives
of gazelles, are small and usually live
in forests or more wooded habitats
only in Africa. Often, they live alone
or in pairs rather than in large herds.
Only dwarf antelope males usually
have horns. Some species, such as
oribis, klipspringers, and steenboks,
have short, straight, and smooth
horns. These horns are stabbing
weapons. These animals are more
aggressive than gazelles and can kill
each other when they fight.

herbivores

The Hardy Saiga

The last member of the gazelle group,
the saiga, looks like the odd one out.
Its legs are short and its body is stout
and clumsy looking. Instead of a
small, fine-featured face, it has a large
head with a Roman nose and a short,
floppy trunk. Saigas live on the open
steppe and stony deserts of central
Asia and Mongolia. Life is tough
here, especially in winter when
temperatures reach 72F (40C)
and the wind is fierce. The saigas
unusual fleshy nose warms the air
the animal breathes in, so the lungs
do not become chilled. The bleak
plains offer little cover, and so, as
gazelles do, saigas rely on safety in
numbers and speed to save them
from predators such as wolves.

OW?
DID YOU KN
White fur is best at reflecting
heat and so gazelles often
stand with their white rump
turned toward the sun.
A springbok can leap up to
10 feet into the air, from a
standing start!
The gerenuk can survive
without drinking water!

Despite its ungainly looks, the

saiga is one of the fastest runners on
Earth. It can sprint at up to 50 miles
an hour over the flat plainsfast
enough to outrun most predators.
Saigas are hunted for their horns. So
many animals have been killed that
the species has already become
extinct in many countries and is
now listed as critically endangered.
Unlike other
gazelles, the saiga
has a large, fleshy
snout. Saigas live
in cold areas,
and their unusual
nose helps warm
the air before it
reaches the lungs.

151

gerbils
The Mongolian gerbil is much loved as a pet all around
the world, but its wild cousins lead a much tougher life
in the deserts and dry grasslands of Africa and Asia.
Several species of gerbils are threatened with extinction.

152

OMNIVORES

erbils and their relatives, sand rats and jirds,

are rodents. Most of these animals live in hot
deserts or dry grasslands, where there is very little
food and water and where predators, such as foxes,
snakes, and birds of prey, are always on the lookout
for an easy meal. These difficult conditions mean that
gerbils have evolved some interesting features. To
begin with, they hardly ever need to drink. There is a
small amount of water in the seeds and roots they
eat; gerbils manage to make this last by not sweating
and producing just a few drops of urine a day. On hot
days, gerbils stay in their burrows. Most species live in
hot deserts, so they are active only at night.

Avoiding Predators
After saving water, the next most important thing
for gerbils is to avoid predators. A gerbils fur provides
excellent camouflage and usually matches the sand
in the place where it lives. Some gerbils have a tuft
of black fur at the end of the tail. This tuft stands out
clearly when the gerbil moves and probably distracts
predators, making them grab the gerbils tail rather
than its body. This gives the gerbil a chance to escape.
Gerbils also use the tail tuft to sweep sand over their
burrow entrance to hide it when they leave.
Many people keep Mongolian gerbils as pets.These
small gerbils are agile and fun to watch. They make
good pets because they are active during the day.
The common brushtailed gerbil has large eyes

Fact File
GERBILs
Family: Muridae; subfamily Gerbillinae
(95 species)
Order: Rodentia
Where do they live? Africa, the Middle
East, and parts of Asia

Equator

Habitat: Deserts, savannas,

and steppes; also on farmland
Size: Headbody
length 2.58 inches
(620 cm); weight
0.36.7 ounces (8190 g)
Coat: Usually short golden,light brown,
or grayish fur, paler on the belly
Diet: Mainly seeds, roots, and other
plant material; some species eat
insects, snails, and other small animals
Breeding: 112 offspring born after
a gestation of 34 weeks; need
constant care for first 23 weeks;
weaned at around 4 weeks
Life span: 12 years
Status: Around one-quarter of
species are threatened; 14 species are
critically endangered

and extremely long hind legs in comparison with

its body size. So, it can see well and hop very quickly.

153

Giant panda
One of the worlds most easily recognized mammals,
this gentle bear is a symbol of conservation worldwide.
Wild pandas live in such remote areas that many details
of their daily life are only just beginning to be understood.

154

herbIVORES

ost people will never see a giant panda in the

wild, but these big black-and-white bears are
still among the best loved of all mammals. They are
the gentlest of bears. They are vegetarian, except for
the occasional insect or other small animal that gets
eaten with their favorite food, bamboo. It takes a lot
of bamboo to feed a giant panda. A fully grown adult
has to eat around 90 to 135 pounds of bamboo every
day. That takes a long timearound ten to fourteen
hours a day because every mouthful has to be well
chewed before it is swallowed.
Giant pandas are extremely rare. They live in dense
forests and do not like to be disturbed. Many of these
forests have been cut down for timber or to make
space for farms or human settlements. That loss of
bamboo forest leaves giant pandas stranded in ever
smaller patches of habitat. In addition, poachers hunt
pandas for their fur coats. Some people are willing to
pay a lot of money for the skin of such a rare animal
even though it might make the pandas extinct.

Breeding Pandas in Captivity

Worldwide, zoos are working together to build up the
panda population. But breeding pandas in captivity is
difficult, and the birth of new cubs is always a big event.
Pandas seem to breed better in the wild. A cub develops
fast and spends eighteen months learning survival
skills from its mother before leaving to live alone.

Fact File
GIANT PANDA
Ailuropoda melanoleuca
Family: Ursidae
Order: Carnivora
Where do they live? Central and
western China

Habitat: Bamboo forests

Size: Headbody length 45 feet
(120150 cm);
weight 220330 pounds
(100150 kg)
Coat: Very thick fur; mostly white, with
black legs and shoulders; black ear and
eye patches
Diet: Bamboo and other grass, bulbs,
and occasionally small animals
Breeding: 12 cubs born after 125
150 days gestation; weaned at 8 months;
mature at 56 years
Life span: 20 years in the wild, and 30
or more years in a zoo
Status: Endangered

Sitting among the bamboo, this panda spends hours

every day eating. These bears are endangered, and
China has thirty-three preserves to help save them.

155

Gibbons
Gibbons are well known for the spectacular way
in which they swing through the trees at full speed.
These apes also sing complicated and tuneful calls
that echo through their rain forest habitats.

156

herbivores

ibbons are apes, like orangutans, gorillas,

chimpanzees, and humans. Gibbons are large,
intelligent primates with complex social lives and no
tail. Gibbons are forest animalsthey spend almost
their entire lives in the trees. They can move easily
on two legs but can also get around by swinging
from hand to hand below branches. Scientists call
this way of moving brachiation, from the Latin word
meaning arm. Gibbons have long, strong arms and
fingers. Short tendons in the arms ensure that when
the gibbons arm is outstretched, the fingers bend
automatically to form a hook. So, a gibbon does not
have to use muscle power to hang from a branchit
can dangle for hours without getting tired.
There are fourteen species of gibbons. Most species
are about the same size, but the siamang grows almost
twice as large as any other gibbon. Most species of
gibbons live in different parts of Southeast Asia, and
no one species overlaps with another. So, different
species do not compete with each other for food.

Filling Up on Fruit
Gibbons eat mainly fruit, which has to be ripe before
they can digest it. Gibbons live only in the tropics,
where ripe fruit is available all year round. Each
gibbon knows its patch of forest very well and which
trees bear fruit at different times. Even so, it can take a
long time for a gibbon to find a good meal. Gibbons
A common gibbon cradles her small baby. Also called
lar or white-handed gibbons, they live in Thailand,

Fact File
GIBBONs
Family: Hylobatidae (14 species)
Order: Primates
Where do they live? Southeast Asia,
from eastern India to China and Borneo

Equator

Habitat: Forests
Size: Headbody
length 1835 inches
(4590 cm); weight
1223 pounds (5.510.5 kg)
Coat: Medium to long fur, usually
with distinctive patterns or ruff around
face; color varies from white to black
though various shades of gray, blonde,
and brown
Diet: Fruit, leaves, and occasionally
insects
Breeding: Single offspring born after
78 months gestation
Life span: 2530 years in the wild,
and up to 40 years in a zoo
Status: Most species are declining
in number; more than half are
threatened with extinction

the Malay Peninsula, and northern Sumatra.

157

GiBBons

spend around three or four hours

each day feeding and almost as long
traveling through the trees in search
of a tree bearing ripe fruit.
Several different types of trees
depend on gibbons to carry their
seeds far and wide. The gibbons eat
the fruit, and the seeds pass through
their gut and out of the other end
with the droppings. Many seedlings
only grow from seeds that have
passed through a gibbons gut. The
seed covering is impenetrable to
water until the digestive acids of the

gut break it down. Some gibbons,

especially the siamang, also eat
leaves, particularly fresh new ones.

Family Groups
Gibbons live in small family groups.
Each group is started by a male and
a female, who pair up as young
adults and usually stay together for
life. They rear just one offspring at a
time, and it is usually at least two
years before the next baby is born.
Young gibbons stay with the family
for six to eight years. After this time,

Mixed colors
Most gibbon species look
distinctive, with coat colors
or markings that set them
apart from others. In some
species, even the males and
females look quite different.
For example, the black
crested gibbon is named after
the female, which is gold
(right) and usually has a
black crest. Male black
crested gibbons are black
with pale cheeks and are
sometimes also known
as white-cheeked gibbons.

158

herbivores

they are fully grown

and have learned
everything they need to
know to survive away from
their parents. These gibbons are
ready to move away and find a
territory and a mate of their own.

Rain Forest Songs

and Habitat Loss
A pair of
silvery Javan
gibbons scream
together at their
neighbors during
a fierce dispute
over territory.

Calls and songs are extremely

important to gibbons. Both males
and female gibbons sing. Their songs
include all sorts of long and short
calls, many of which sound more like
notes from a wind instrument than
animal sounds. Pairs of gibbons

often sing duets that echo for miles

through the forest. Sometimes their
offspring join in, too.
These songs let other gibbons in
the area know that the territory is
already occupied by strong, healthy
gibbons and to stay away. Young
adult males also sing to attract a
mate. Because singing is hard work, a
female can tell from a males song
whether he is strong and healthy.
Gibbons are threatened by habitat
loss. Huge areas of rain forest in
Southeast Asia have already been
cut down for timber or cleared for
farmland. All gibbon species are
now much less common than they
were twenty-five years ago; experts
think that five species might even
be extinct in another twenty years.
The most endangered species are
the island-dwelling Hainan gibbon
and the silvery Javan gibbon.

OW?
DID YOU KN
The song of a gibbon can be
heard up to 2 miles away!
Gibbons hardly ever fall while
swinging through the trees.
Even if a branch breaks, they
can usually twist in midair
to grab another branch!
A gibbon can leap up to
30 feet from tree to tree!

159

Giraffe and okapi

Giraffes are unmistakable animalsthey are world-famous
symbols of the African plains. However, their cousin,
the okapi, is so secretive and shy that it has only been
known to science for little more than a century.

160

herbivores

iraffes are the tallest living

animals, and by a long way.
The next tallest is the African
elephant, which is around 6 feet
shorter. A giraffes legs account for
around half of its height; its neck
the longest of any mammal
accounts for the rest. A giraffes
body is short and not particularly
largeit is around the same size as
that of a large cow.

Browsing Giraffe Giants

Giraffes are browsers; they feed on
the leaves and shoots of the trees
that are scattered about the savanna
grasslands where they live. There are
plenty of other browsers on the
savanna, including elephants and
many different antelope. There is
always stiff competition for food.
The giraffes amazingly long legs and
neck allow it to feed from branches
far above the heads of all the other
browsers. That is a big advantage,
especially in the dry season when
there is not much fresh growth.
Giraffes have large ears and eyes
that help them hear and see well.

Fact File
Family: Giraffidae (2 species)
Order: Artiodactyla
Where do they live?
GiraffeAfrica south
of the Sahara desert;
okapicentral Africa
Equator

Habitat: Giraffewooded grasslands; okapidense tropical

forests
Size: Giraffeheadbody length 1215 feet (3.84.7 m); height
1317 feet (3.95.3 m); weight 1,200
4,250 pounds (5501,930 kg); okapi
headbody length 67 feet (190200 cm);
weight 465550 pounds (210250 kg)
Coat: Giraffeshort and neat, with distinctive pattern of dark
brown to russet patches on cream, fawn, or gold background;
okapishort, glossy, mainly very rich dark brown coat, with bold
white markings on legs and rump
Diet: Giraffeleaves and shoots of savanna trees
and shrubs; okapileaves
Breeding: Giraffesingle calf born after around
15 months gestation; okapisingle calf born
after 1415 months gestation
Life span: Giraffe25 years in the wild, and 28 years in zoos;
okapi15 years or more
Status: Giraffelower risk, some local subspecies are
threatened; okapinear threatened

They also have small horns on the

top of their head and a long neck.

161

Giraffe and okapi

However, being so tall also has

disadvantages. A giraffes long legs
make it difficult for the giraffe to
reach the ground with its mouth.
So, it cannot eat low-growing
plants and struggles to drink. To
reach the water, a giraffe has to
spread its front legs extremely
wide. From this awkward position,
it can be difficult for a giraffe to
react quickly to danger. In
addition, giraffes struggle to move
over uneven or boggy ground.

162

OW?
DID YOU KN
The okapi was discovered
by a British explorer only
in 1901. It was the largest
new mammal to be discovered
in the twentieth century!
A giraffes tongue can
be up to 18 inches long
and it is blue!
Baby giraffes have horns that
fold back so they do not get
stuck when the animal is born!
The structure of a giraffes
neck is similar to that of
a crane on a building site!

A giraffes long
neck enables it to
reach the leaves
and shoots that
grow high in the
trees. They do not
have to compete
for this food with
shorter browsers.

herbivores

Wrestling matches
From a young age, male giraffes spend a lot
of time neck wrestling each other. To begin
with this activity is just a game, but it also has
a serious side. Neck wrestling helps strengthen
the muscles of the neck and shoulders and also
allows the males to size each other up. By the
time a male reaches adulthood, he will know
most of the other males in his area and know
which one is the strongest. The largest and
strongest males get to mate with more females,
and the smaller males sensibly stay out of
their way and wait until they grow larger.

Being so large means that giraffes

must eat a lot and make the most of
every mouthful of food. Leaves are
difficult to digest, but giraffe
digestion is thorough. Giraffes are
ruminants. Between meals, giraffes
chew the cud like cows: They cough
food back up into their mouth and
rechew it. That helps mash up the
leaves and mix them with bacteria
(single-celled microorganisms) from
the giraffes large stomach. These
bacteria break down the tough
molecules that make leaves difficult
to digest. Unlike cows, giraffes can
chew the cud while on the move in
search of the next good feeding spot.

Fighting for Females

Giraffes usually live in loose groups
of mostly females and young giraffes;
different members come and go and
there is no fixed leader. Adult males
wander alone but are never far away.
There is no fixed breeding season, so
the males are always on the lookout
for females that are ready to breed.
Females in season attract a lot of
attention, and males compete for the
right to mate by neck wrestling each
other. These contests usually show
who is the strongest, but if the males
are closely matched, they may end
up in a real fight. Fighting males kick
with powerful hind legs and try to

These two
young giraffe bulls
(males) are neck
wrestling. They
slowly intertwine
their necks and
push from one
side to the other
to find out which
bull is strongest.

163

Giraffe and okapi

club each other with their hard,

horny head. Giraffes also use their
hooves to defend themselves against
predators. But even adult giraffes are
vulnerable to predators that hunt in
teams, such as lions and hyenas.
Giraffes use their height and good
eyesight and hearing to check their
surroundings for danger. Giraffes are
safer in groups; lone giraffes are
almost twice as likely to be attacked
as giraffes in a group.

Giraffe Relatives
Giraffes have an unlikely looking
relative, called the okapi. An okapi is

164

OW?
DID YOU KN
Despite its amazingly long neck, a
giraffe has only seven neck
bonesthe same number
as a human!
People once thought the giraffe
looked like a cross between a
camel and a leopardhence its
scientific name camelopardalis!
A male giraffes skull gets thicker
as it gets older. Its head gets
heavier by around 2.2 pounds
every year!

This okapi is
searching for food
in a thick rain

roughly the size and shape of a horse

and lives in the thick forests of central
Africa in places where no giraffe
could ever go. These two extremely

forest. Okapis
have zebralike
stripes, especially
on their hind legs.

herbivores

Shrinking
ranges
Giraffes once lived throughout
most of southern Africa. Now
their range is patchy, and they
have disappeared from places
where hunting, farming,
and other human activities
have developed. Some local
varieties of western African
giraffes are in danger of
becoming extinct, and so
the whole species is listed
as conservation dependent.
However, giraffes are one of
the animals people on safari
most like to see, and so it is
in the interests of African
countries to protect giraffes.

different animals are a great example

of how evolution can lead closely
related animals to develop quite
different features to cope with a
variety of challenges.
Okapis are difficult to study in
the wild, and much of what is
known about them comes from
studies in zoos. Even 100 years after
they were discovered, there is still a
lot people do not know about the
natural behavior of okapis.

Okapis live alone for most of the

time and are probably territorial.
They feed like giraffes, on leaves
stripped from branches by the teeth
or plucked by the long tongue.
Female okapis are in season for up to
a month, which is much longer than
for most other hoofed animals. That
is probably because in the dense
forest it can take males a long time to
find females. Okapis are protected by
law, but people still hunt them
illegally for meat to eat or to sell.

A giraffe
mother stands
tall over her
calf. At birth,
a giraffe weighs
around 220
pounds and grows
approximately
3 inches a month.

165

Golden moles
In many ways, golden moles look and behave like ordinary
moles but they have no visible eyes or ears. Even so, these
burrowers can find their way about and track down prey
in a complex system of underground tunnels.

166

carnIVORES

cientists once thought golden moles were close

relatives of similar small insect eaters, such as true
moles and hedgehogs. Now scientists have looked at
the golden moles genes and found that these animals
are more closely related to aardvarks and elephants. A
golden moles closest cousin is the tenreca small,
shrewlike or hedgehog-like African animal.
It is easy to see how golden moles got their name.
They look very much like true moles and they live
underground, burrowing through sandy soils in search
of earthworms and insect grubs to eat. Their fur is
short and velvety, with a metallic gold or bronze gleam.

Shoving Aside Soil

Golden moles are powerful diggers. Their front legs are
short but strong, and the wedge-shaped head is used to
shove soil aside. The toes of the front feet have large
claws, which are ideal for loosening hard-packed earth.
Golden moles dig using a running motion, unlike true
moles, which dig using a swimming action.
Golden moles live alone and spend almost their
whole life underground. They dig feeding tunnels
near the surface, where most prey can be found.
Golden moles do not huntthey simply patrol their
tunnels and grab anything that comes their way.
They sense the movement of prey as vibrations in
the ground. Golden moles also dig deeper tunnels,
in which they rest and rear their offspring.

Fact File
GOLDEN MOLEs
Family: Chrysochloridae (21 species)
Order: Afrosoricida
Where do they live? Southern Africa

Equator

Habitat: Sandy soils

Size: Headbody
length 39 inches
(723 cm); weight
0.55 ounces (15142 g)
Coat: Short and neat; color varies
with species; outer hairs have golden
metallic gleam
Diet: Invertebrate grubs and small
reptiles
Breeding: Litters of 12 offspring,
born in rainy season
Life span: Not known
Status: Around half of all species
are threatened with extinction

The smooth, outer hairs of the golden moles coat

are waterproof and so shiny that dirt does not stick.
Clean fur helps keep the golden mole warm and dry.

167

Gorillas
These primate powerhouses are the gentle giants of the great
ape family, to which humans also belong. Gorillas are smart,
sensitive, sociable experts in tropical forest survival, but there
are few places where they are now able to live in peace.

168

herbivores

eople and gorillas have a lot in common. People

are more closely related to gorillas than any other
animal, except chimpanzees. Gorillas are massive,
bulky animalsthe largest of all primates. Male
gorillas are larger and more muscular than females.
There are two species of gorillas, the eastern and the
western. They look similar, but the eastern gorilla has
a darker coat. Western gorillas live in tropical forests
of the Congo basin in countries such as Congo and
Equatorial Guinea as well as Nigeria and Cameroon.
Eastern gorillas live in swampy and mountainous
forests of Rwanda and Uganda in Africa.
Gorillas need a lot of food. They love fruit and eat as
much as they can find. They fill up on leaves and
shoots and other plant material. All of this food takes a
lot of grinding, so gorillas have massive cheek teeth
and huge jaw muscles that help them chew. These
muscles give the face a distinctive deep and wide shape.

Ground-living Gorillas
Gorillas walk on all fours, on the soles of the feet and
the knuckles of the hands. Their arms are at least as
long and as strong as their legs. Gorillas do not travel
long distancesrarely more than a few hundred yards
a day. Usually a troop (group) can find everything it
needs to survive within just a few square miles, and
gorillas are not territorial. Gorillas spend most of their
days on the ground, but they can climb well, too.
An old silverback lowland gorilla casts a quizzical
eye over his family group. A silverback is a fully grown

Fact File
GORILLAs
Gorilla gorilla and Gorilla beringei
Family: Hominidae
Order: Primates
Where do they live? Africa, close to
the equator

Equator

Habitat: Tropical forests

Size: Height 5071
inches (130180 cm);
weight 200400 pounds
(90180 kg)
Coat: Dark brownish gray to black, short
on back, shaggy elsewhere; large males
have patch of gray fur on the back
Diet: Leaves, fruit, shoots, bark, and a few
invertebrates, such as termites and
caterpillars
Breeding: Single offspring (twins rare),
born after 250270 days gestation;
weaned at 23 years; mature at 810
years
Life span: 35 years in the wild, and 50
years in zoos
Status: Both species endangered; some
subspecies are critically endangered

male in charge of a group of females and young.

169

gorillas

Small gorillas are nimble and can

swing from their arms, as gibbons
do. Gorillas climb trees to pick fruit
and to rest. When sleeping in trees,
gorillas build a nest from folded
branches. Sleeping in a nest is
warmer and safer than lying on the
cold, damp, and steep ground.

Groups of Gorillas
Gorilla groups are extremely stable.
Eastern gorilla groups may contain
forty animals, but ten is more
normal. Groups of western gorillas
contain five to ten animals. Western
gorillas eat more fruit, and as ripe
trees are scattered around the forest, it
is easier for them to feed in small
groups. Eastern gorillas eat mostly
leaves, which are always easy to find.
Each group is led by one massive
male, who protects several adult
females and their offspring.
Young gorillas have a long

A female
gorilla and her
infants rest in
the middle of
the day after
spending the
morning feeding.
170

childhood. Many gorillas are not

weaned until they are three years old
and stay with their mother for ten
years or more. By this time, they have
one or even two younger brothers or
sisters. Each gorilla knows all the
other group members, and the adult
females are often related. When they
reach adulthood, most young gorillas
move away from their mothers
group. Young females join up with
another group to breed. Females do
not wander alone, so they wait until
their group comes close to another
and simply swap groups. Young

herbIVORES

What future
for gorillas?
Gorillas are highly
endangered. They have lost
huge areas of habitat due
to human activities such as
hunting, logging, farming,
and building. The countries
where they live are poor
and many have suffered
long wars. When people
themselves are fighting to
survive, it is difficult for them
to show much concern for
gorillas. However, in countries
where there is peace, there
is also hope for the gorillas
future. Tourists come from all
over the world to see gorillas,
and the money they spend
can make a big difference
to the whole country.

males usually join groups of other

males and spend a few years growing
big and strong.One day they may
lead their own group. A powerful
male of fifteen to twenty years can
move in when an old male dies or
becomes too weak to look after his
females. If the females like the new
male, they stay with him.

OW?
DID YOU KN
Gorillas share 98 percent of
their DNA with chimpanzees and
humans. Gorillas, chimps, and
humans are all equal cousins!
Gorillas have the language skills
of an average two-year-old child!
Gorillas weigh as much as two
or three adult humans!

171

Gray whale
Gray whales are long-distance travelers, feeding in the far
north and breeding in the tropics. Every year gray whales
migrate more than 12,000 miles. Because they nearly always
travel in sight of land, these whales are easy to watch.

172

OMNIVORES

ray whales are a fairly common sight along the

west coast of North America. In spring and fall,
thousands of people travel there every year to see gray
whales pass by on their long migrations. However, fifty
years ago, these huge mammals were almost extinct.
They had been hunted for hundreds of years for meat
and oil. The gray whale population had fallen to just a
few thousand individuals. Now they are protected, and
the only people allowed to hunt gray whales are Inuits
and Native Americans, who use traditional methods
and kill only a few whales each year. There are now around
25,000 gray whales living in the eastern Pacific Ocean.
Gray whales are a distinctive shape. Instead of a dorsal
(back) fin, gray whales have a row of bumps running
along the lower part of the back. In adults, the skin is
always blotchy and covered with big clumps of barnacles.

Winter Feeding, Summer Breeding

Female gray whales are pregnant for thirteen months
and rear only one calf every other year. Female gray
whales mate one winter, give birth during the next winter,
and mate again during the third winter. Newborn gray
whales are much skinnier than adults. It takes the calf a
few months to build up a thick enough layer of blubber,
or fat, to cope with living in cold water. So, the mother
must travel somewhere warm to give birth. That is why
gray whales gather every winter in the warm, shallow
waters of Baja California, off the coast of Mexico.
A big, barnacled gray whale breaching. A breach

Fact File
GRAY WHALE
Eschrichtius robustus
Family: Eschrichtidae
Order: Cetacea
Where do they live? Coastal areas of
Pacific Ocean, from Baja California and
Japan, to arctic waters

Equator

Habitat: Coastal waters less than

330 feet(100 m) deep
Size: Headbody
length 3950 feet
(1215 m); weight
1838 tons (1634 metric tons)
Skin: Mottled gray, with patches of
barnacles and whale lice
Diet: Plankton and bottom-living
invertebrates, mostly small crustaceans
Breeding: Single calf born after 13
months gestation; weaned at 7 months;
able to breed at around 8 years
Life span: Up to 77 years
Status: No longer hunted intensively,
but still conservation dependent; the
population around Japan is critically
endangered

takes place when a whale leaps halfway or more

out of the water and then falls back onto its side.

173

Gray whale

1
1

A gray whale

blows after a dive.

When a gray

whale prepares to
make a deep dive,
its tail flukes appear
above the water.

A gray whale

spy-hops, sticking
its head above the
water to check its
surroundings.
4 A gray whale
mother swims
with her calf.

Males and nonpregnant females

also mate in the warm water. Then all
the gray whales return north to cold
waters in the spring.
Gray whale calves grow amazingly
fastthe mothers milk is extremely
fattening and a calf can put on up to
70 pounds a day. By the time the
calves reach arctic waters, at around
six or seven months old, they are fat

enough to survive the cold and ready

to begin eating solid food.
Gray whales eat mainly small,
flealike crustaceans called amphipods.
In midsummer, billions of these
creatures are present; the long hours
of daylight encourage the algae and
other plankton (microscopic animals
and plantlike life-forms) on which
amphipods feed to grow and
reproduce superfast.

Sieve Eaters

174

Amphipods live in
the seabed, and gray
whales have an unusual way of
feeding. The whales swim to the

OMNIVORES

Gray whales
often swim within
half a mile of
shore, which
makes them easy
to watch closely.

seafloor and plow along the bottom

with their mouth open. They take in
lots of mud and sand, along with the
amphipods and other small buried
animals. Instead of teeth, gray whales
have a mouth full of bristly combs,
called baleen. Baleen acts as a sieve to
collect the food, while the mud and
sand pass through the baleen with
the water and leave the mouth. From

OW?
DID YOU KN
Most gray whales turn on their
right side to feed on the seabed!
A gray whale that lives to be
seventy years old will have swum
approximately 750,000 miles
on migrations!
A large gray whale may have
up to 350 pounds of barnacles
attached to its body!

above, feeding gray whales are easy to

spot because they create clouds of
stirred-up mud from the ocean floor
and leave long furrows in the seabed.
Having fed well all summer, adult
whales return to Baja California in
the fall. Males and females whose
calves have just weaned go there to
mate. Once the females are
pregnant, the gray whales quickly
travel north to begin feeding again.

Whale watching
Gray whales are curious animals. They often swim
toward boats and seem interested in people. Some
gray whales come right alongside small boats
and even allow themselves to be stroked. Being
so trusting and inquisitive once made gray whales
easy targets for hunters. Now gray whales are
protected, and the boats that go out in search of
them are full of whale watchers instead of hunters.

Hunted by Killer Whales

Apart from humans, the only other
animals that hunt gray whales are
killer whales, or orcas. Orcas hunt in
groups and target young calves. The
gray whale mother can do very little
to protect her calf once orcas begin
an attack. Gray whale calves cannot
swim fast enough to get away, but
sometimes they can hide from orcas
in dense patches of seaweed.
175

Hamsters
Most people in the western world know these small rodents
with their bulging cheek pouches as pets. However, in much
of Asia and eastern Europe, hamsters are wild animals.
Some species are farm pests, while others are now very rare.

176

herbIVORES

he most popular species of pet hamster is the

golden hamster, but this species is extremely rare
in the wild and lives only in a tiny area of Syria in the
Middle East. Most pet golden hamsters are descended
from just one female, one of four young hamsters taken
from the wild in 1930. There are twenty-six species of
wild hamsters. Not all hamsters are small; some species
are almost the size of a rabbit. Hamsters live mainly in
dry habitats, and some even live in deserts. They are
active mostly at night, when they can avoid overheating
and stay out of the way of predators.

Hamster Hoarders
Hamsters eat mainly grains, seeds, shoots, and roots.
They are great hoarders. They have large cheek
pouches, into which they can stuff dozens of seeds
to carry back their burrows and store in underground
larders. Hamsters hibernate in winter but wake up
from time to time to feed from their larder. Common
hamsters also sometimes add meat to their diet, by
hunting insects, small lizards, and mice.
Despite their reputation as cute pets, wild hamsters
can be fierce; they live alone and do not like company.
Males fight when they meet, and the large Korean
hamster even attacks dogs or people in self-defense.
Hamsters breed fast. Females breed at less than two
months old. Litters are large; up to twenty-two offspring
in the Korean gray hamster, but usually around ten.
A white Russian hamster bites into a peanut.

Fact File
HAMSTERs
Family: Muridae; subfamilies Cricetinae
and Calomyscinae (26 species)
Order: Rodentia
Where do they live? Europe
and temperate Asia

Equator

Habitat: Dry landscapes, including

grasslands, deserts, mountain slopes,
and farmland
Size: Headbody
length 211 inches
(528 cm); weight
1.832 ounces
(50900 g)
Coat: Soft and thick; usually gold,
brown, or gray; paler on the belly, with
variable markings
Diet: Mainly seeds, shoots, and roots
Breeding: Litters of several offspring
(up to 22) born after 1537 days
gestation
Life span: 23 years
Status: 2 species are endangered;
1 species is vulnerable

Hamsters are rodents. All rodents have two pairs

of sharp incisor teeth, which grow throughout life.

177

Hedgehogs and moonrats

Spiny hedgehogs are familiar to most people living
in Europe, Asia, and Africa. Their cousins,
the moonrats and gymnures of South Asia,
are much more secretive and less well known.

178

carnIVORES

edgehogs are popular animals, especially with

gardeners, because they eat a lot of small pests
such as slugs and beetle grubs, which damage plants.
Hedgehogs are also easy to watch. With their coat of
prickly spines for protection, they do not run away
when frightenedthey simply roll into a ball and
rely on their spines for protection. In time, hedgehogs
can become quite tame. Many people put out food
for hedgehogs, which come to eat in plain view.
The best-known hedgehog is the common Eurasian
hedgehog. Fifteen other hedgehog species live in
different parts of Asia and Africa, many in deserts.
Moonrats and gymnures look a little like nonspiny
hedgehogs. They are nocturnal (active at night) and
eat invertebrates (animals without backbones), but
the details of their lives are not well known.

Hunters and Hibernators

Hedgehogs have small, bright eyes and a long, pointed
snout. They hunt mainly by smell. They are active at
night and travel long distances in search of food.
Hedgehogs can climb and swim well, and they also
have excellent hearing. In winter, when food is scarce
and temperatures are low, the common hedgehog
hibernates in a nest made of leaves. Hedgehogs from
warm climates do not need to hibernate.
Hedgehogs have only two serious enemies: badgers,
which can easily kill them, and people driving cars.
Although a hedgehogs spines protect it against most

Fact File
HEDGEHOGs AND MOONRATs
Family: Erinaceidae (16 species of
hedgehogs; 8 species of moonrats)
Order: Erinaceidae
Where do they live? Europe, Africa,
and most of Asia, including Indonesia;
hedgehogs imported as pets into North
America

Equator

Habitat: Woodlands, grasslands,

forests, mangroves, farmland, and
urban parks and backyards
Size: Headbody length 418 inches
(1045 cm); weight
0.570 ounces
(152,000 g)
Coat: Moonratscoarse hair;
hedgehogsmodified hairs form sharp
spines
Diet: Worms, snails, slugs, beetles
and other insects, birds eggs, and
carrion (meat of dead animals)
Breeding: Litters of offspring born
after 3048 days gestation
Life span: Up to 7 years
Status: 7 species are at risk

predators, they are no defense against lawnmowers

or cars, which kill millions of hedgehogs every year.

179

Hippopotamuses
Common hippos are among the largest hoofed animals. They spend
half of their life wallowing in shallow water and mud and eat only
grass. But despite this relaxed, vegetarian lifestyle, hippos have
a reputation for being bad tempered and extremely dangerous.

180

herbivores

here are two species (types) of

hippopotamusesthe
common hippo and the pygmy hippo.
Common hippopotamuses lead a
double life. By day they gather in
rivers and pools, where they wallow
and doze and often squabble among
themselves. Each evening they come
out onto dry land to feed. Common
hippos eat grass and travel several
miles to find good grazing. At dawn
they walk back to the water. There are
many advantages to living in water
that make all the coming and going
worthwhile. Hippos have no fur and
their skin is thin. The skin dries out
fast, and if a hippo spends too much
time out of water in the sun, its skin
burns and then dries out and cracks.

Wallowing in Water
Spending the day in water also
prevents hippos from overheating,
but the water is warm enough that
they never become chilled. As the
water supports most of the hippos
body weight, it does not have to
While it wallows in the water, this
common hippopotamus shows off

Fact File
Hippopotamuses
Family: Hippopotamidae (2 species)
Order: Artiodactyla
Where do they live?
Common hippoAfrica, south
of the Sahara desert; pygmy
hippoWest Africa
Equator

Habitat: Common hippopotamuspools

and slow-moving rivers, close to good grazing;
pygmy hippopotamusdense tropical forests
Size: Common hippoheadbody length 10 feet 9 inches
11 feet 4 inches (3.43.45 m), weight 1.63.6 tons (1.43.2
metric tons); pygmy hippoheadbody length 4 feet 11 inches
5 feet 8 inches
(1.51.75 m), weight 400600
pounds (180275 kg)
Skin: Common hippobluish gray, mottled with pink, almost
completely hairless; pygmy hippooily, olive-green to gray, and
hairless
Diet: Common hippograss; pygmy hippofruit, shoots, ferns,
grass, and herbs
Breeding: Common hipposingle calf born after 240 days
gestation; pygmy hipposingle calf born after 190210 days
gestation; both weaned at 12 months, mature at 8 years
Life span: Common hippo45 years in the wild, and 49 years
in zoos; pygmy hippo35 years in the wild, and 42 years in zoos
Status: Common hipponot threatened, but numbers
declining, and 1 subspecies (local type) vulnerable; pygmy
hippovulnerable, Niger Delta subspecies is critically
endangered

two razor-sharp tusks in its lower

jaw as it opens its mouth wide.

181

Hippopotamuses

spend much energy during the day.

That is just as well, because a hippos
grassy diet would not provide enough
energy to fuel its large body if it had
to keep warm or move about on land.
The hippos body is large and
barrel shaped and the legs are short.
The hippo has webbed toes that help
it swim. The head is large, too, with
the eyes, ears, and nostrils arranged
on the top of the head and snout. So,
a hippo can see, hear, and breathe
while wallowing low in the water.
A hippos mouth is huge. A hippo
can open its mouth extremely wide
to form an enormous yawning gape,
showing two long, razor-sharp tusks
in the lower jaw. These teeth are not
used for feedingthey are weapons.
Hippos are aggressive, and fights are
common, especially between males.

Territorial Behavior
Each large male hippo marks out a
section of riverbank as a territory by
scattering dung all over it. Males mate
with the females in their territory.
Mating happens in the water and is
over quickly. At other times, males and
females ignore each other. Large males
allow other males to use the same
section of river, providing they do not
mate with the females living there.
182

Hippopotamus calves are born in

the water and stay close to their
mother for safety. When the river is
crowded with hippopotamuses, the
calves can easily be crushed or
drowned. Calves suckle underwater
and remain under the mothers
watchful eye long after they are
weaned and until they are ready to
breed, at around eight years old.

A group of
common hippos
wallows by the
edge of a river.
When it gets too
hot, they enter the
water to cool off.

Sweating blood?
People used to think that hippos sweated blood.
However, they produce a pink, oily substance
from the skin, which acts as a moisturizer and
sunscreen. That helps keep their skin in good
condition. It may also stop germs from infecting
the animal. Hippos often get cuts and scrapes
from rocks in the water or from fights. However,
although hippos live in filthy water, their
wounds hardly ever seem to get infected.

herbivores

This pygmy
hippopotamus has
found something
to eat. These
hippos eat fruit,
shoots, ferns,
grass, and herbs,
while the common
hippopotamus
eats only grass.

Pygmy Hippopotamuses
The life of the pygmy hippo is very
different. These shy forest animals
usually live alone, except for
mothers with a calf. They mate in
the water, as do common hippos,
and wallow in mud or water to cool
down. Pygmy hippos spend much
more time on dry land, however.
The sun is less of a problem
because their skin is oily and shiny
and does not dry out as fast as that
of common hippos. Pygmy hippos
also live under the shade of trees
and sometimes even use large
burrows dug by other animals.
Pygmy hippos are difficult to
study. Many scientists fear they are

becoming rare. Pygmy hippos are

sometimes hunted for meat, but
the main problem is loss of habitat.
Large areas of forests in West Africa
continue to be cut down for timber
and to make space for farming.

OW?
DID YOU KN
The word hippopotamus means
river horse in Greek.
Hippos are bad tempered, and
African people consider them
among the most dangerous
of all wild animals!
Compared with hippos, humans
have tough skin. Human skin
is much thicker than that of a
hippopotamus and loses water
at about a quarter of the speed.

183

Honey possum
This tiny, mouselike marsupial has no close living
relativesand some people think it should not be called
a possum at all. Honey possums are among
the very few mammals that eat only pollen and nectar.

184

herbIVORES

oney possums are marsupials, so females rear

their offspring in a pouch, but they also have a
grasping tail like a harvest mouse and nimble fingers
like a tiny monkey. Honey possums eat only nectar
and pollen, just as a hummingbird does. Honey
possums collect their food from flowers using a long
tongue that has a brushlike tip. They have just a few
tiny, peglike teeth and cannot chew other types of food.
In winter, if food is difficult to find, honey possums go
into a deep sleep to save energy. This sleep is a little
like hibernation, but it lasts for only a few days.

Fact File
HONEY POSSUM
Tarsipes rostratus
Family: Tarsipedidae
Order: Diprotodontia
Where do they live?: Southwestern
Australia

Equator

Agile Climbers
Honey possums are agile climbers and, as they weigh
so little, they can climb onto extremely fine branches
to reach the flowers. They have tiny, monkeylike hands
and feet, and the tips of their fingers and toes are wide,
which allows them to grip well. The long tail can curl
around branches. A honey possum can even dangle
from its tail because it grips so tightly.
Female honey possums are larger than males and
more territorial. They can breed at any time of the
year. Their babies are the smallest of any mammal,
weighing only a tiny fraction of an ounce. These tiny
creatures crawl to the mothers pouch and attach
themselves to a teat. Baby honey possums grow fast,
increasing their weight to around 0.1 ounce in two
months, and then begin exploring the outside world.

Habitat: Heathlands and open scrubby

woodlands
Size: Headbody length
2.63.5 inches
(6.59 cm); weight
0.30.6 ounce (716 g)
Coat: Grayish brown, tinged with orange
on flanks; three dark stripes along back
Diet: Nectar and pollen
Breeding: 23 offspring born after
around 28 days gestation; weaned at 10
weeks; mature at 10 months
Life span: Less then 2 years
Status: Lower risk; depends
on food supply

A honey possum has found two flowers to feed

on. These tiny marsupials are unusual mammals
because they eat only flower pollen and nectar.

185

HOOFED MAMMALS
Four out of five of Earths large
land mammals have fingernails
and toenails that grow into hard,
strong hooves. These animals
come in a huge variety of shapes
and sizes. Most hoofed mammals
are fleet-footed vegetarians,
and several have become vital
to people as farm animals.

have one toe, and tapirs and rhinoceroses,

which have three toes on each foot. Even-toed
ungulates form a larger group, including cattle,
deer, pigs, hippopotamuses, and camels. Eventoed ungulates have feet with two or four toes.
The structure of a hoofed mammals foot is
ideal for running, but not much use for
anything else. Horses, pigs, and deer can never

ost hoofed mammals have a stout,

barrel-shaped body, a longish neck
and a long, narrow head. They have thick skin,
and their coats range from short and silky in
most antelope and horses, to long and shaggy
in the yak, woolly in sheep and camels, sparse
and bristly in pigs, and nonexistent in
hippopotamuses and rhinoceroses. Several
groups of hoofed mammals have horns, and in
most deer, the males grow a fresh set of antlers
every year. The legs of hoofed animals are slim
and usually quite long. Their feet have fewer
than five toes, and the bones of the foot are
longer than in other mammals.
There are two main groups of hoofed
mammals: odd-toed and even-toed ungulates.
Odd-toed ungulates have an odd number of
toes on each foot. They include horses, which
1. Black rhinoceros
2. Mountain tapir
3. African ass
186

Fact File
HOOFED MAMMALs
Families: 13 families (212 species)
Orders: Perissodactyla and Artiodactyla
odd-toed ungulates

The American bison is an enormous hoofed

(Perissodactyla)

Horses,
zebras, and
asses: 7
Equator
species of large,
fast-running
grazers, with a
single toe and hoof on each foot

mammal that now lives mostly in parks and refuges.

Tapirs: 4 species of medium-to-large, stout-bodied,

slim-legged mammals of tropical forests

use their feet for grasping. Some hoofed

mammals use their feet as weapons for kicking
or stamping or as tools for digging shallow
holes. However, apart from that, the most any of
these mammals can manage is an awkward
scratch of the belly with a hind foot. Some
hoofed mammals can use other body parts for
more delicate operations. For example, the black
rhinoceros can pluck individual leaves with its
upper lip, a giraffe can grip branches and clean
around its own eyes using its very long tongue,
and horses can flick away flies with their tail.

Rhinoceroses: 5 species of large, thick-skinned,

three-toed herbivores; most have large horns growing
from the snout

Plant Eaters All

All hoofed mammals eat plants. Some of these
mammals are specialized, such as the common
hippopotamus and the white rhinoceros, which
eat only grass. Others, such as giraffes and deer,
eat a variety of leaves and shoots from many
different kinds of plants. A few, including pigs
and peccaries, eat anything from fruit and
roots, to fungi and the flesh of other animals.

even-toed ungulates

(Artiodactyla)

Pigs: 13 species of medium-to-large omnivorous forest

animals with a robust body and slim legs
Peccaries: 3 species of South American, piglike
mammals
Hippopotamuses: 2 species of large, barrel-bodied,
partly aquatic African mammals
Camels and llamas: 6 species of medium-to-large
desert- or mountain-dwelling mammals with long legs, a
long neck, and woolly fur
Deer: At least 38 species of medium-to-large,
herbivores with cloven (split) hooves; most have long
legs; males bear antlers or tusks
Giraffe and okapi: 2 species of homed African
browsing mammals, one a tall plains dweller, the other
a shy forest mammal
Cattle, antelope, and sheep: At least 123
species of cloven-hoofed, often homed, ruminants;
several species are domesticated

187

hoofed mammals

However, plants make up most of the diet for

nearly all types of hoofed mammals.
Some plants are better food than others,
but the best ones are nearly always the
hardest to find. Fruit, for example, contains
lots of energy and is easy to digest. However,
it grows only on certain plants and at certain
times of the year. As a result, no hoofed
mammals rely completely on fruit. New
leaves and shoots and flesh grass are tender
enough to digest quite easily, but in some

OW?
DID YOU KN
The saola is a small ox that lives
in the region around the Laos
Vietnam border. It is so secretive
that it was only discovered
by scientists in 1992.
The largest land mammal that
ever lived was a 13.3-ton rhinoceros
called Indricotherium. It is now extinct.
Africa is home to the greatest
number of different species
of hoofed mammals.

A pair of male
hippopotamuses fight
over the right to
mate with females,
using their razorsharp lower canines.

A wild boar looks for food. These hoofed

mammals live in Europe, northern Africa,
Asia, Sumatra, Japan, and Taiwan. They have
also been introduced to North America.

188

hoofed mammals

A red deer stag displays its large antlers. Most

male deer grow a set of antlers every year and
use them to fight for territory and access to females.

parts of the world, these plants grow only in

spring and summer. Tough old grass, bark, and
older leaves are nearly always easy to find, but
they are the hardest of all to digest. Different
species of hoofed mammals have evolved to eat
a variety of food types. One group, known as

ruminants, have evolved a way to make use of

really tough plant matter. They have a slow,
complicated type of digestion that allows them
to make the most of every mouthful of grass,
leaves, or even wood. Ruminant animals include
cattle, antelope, deer, giraffes, chevrotains, and
musk deer. They all have a many-chambered
stomach that contains bacteria. These singlecelled microorganisms help break down the
tough plant molecules and turn them into
simple chemicals that can be digested. Horses
and rhinoceroses also use bacteria to help them
break down plant matter. In these animals,
however, the bacteria live near the end of the
gut in an organ called the cecum. Food passes

making faces
Apart from the nose, most hoofed
mammals have a second scent organ
in the mouth, called Jacobsons organ.
Male hoofed mammals, such as the
Asiatic ass (right), often use this organ
totaste the scent of a female to see
if she is ready to breed. The males
usually make a strange face when they
are doing this, with their lips curled
back. Scientists call this behavior
the flehmen response.

189

hoofed mammals

domesticating hoofed mammals

People began to domesticate (breed
and tame) animals, such as cattle,
sheep, horses, and camels, around
10,000 years ago. Farming these
animals is easier than hunting them,
and by controlling the way they breed,

farmers have been able to develop new

breedscows that produce more milk
or better meat, sheep with better wool,
stronger horses, and so on. The wild
ancestors of many domesticated hoofed
mammals are all but extinct.
Free-roaming
mustangs of North
America are
descended from
escaped domesticated
horses.

through the gut of rhinoceroses and horses

much more quickly. These animals can afford to
eat lower-quality food, as long as they get
plenty of it.

Danger from Predators

Most hoofed animals have good eyesight and
hearing, which they use mainly for sensing
danger from predators and picking up signals
from other members of their species. The sense
of smell is also extremely important to most
190

hoofed mammals. Those animals that live in

dry areas rely on the occasional rainstorm to
encourage the growth of fresh leaves and grass.
They can pick up the scent of rain from miles
away, and they flock toward it. In Africa, rains
can bring vast herds of antelope, zebra, and
cattle from hundreds of miles around to create
an amazing sight on the open plains.
Smell can be vital in warning of predators
nearby, and it is one of the most important
senses for communication. Most hoofed

hoofed mammals

OW?
DID YOU KN

mammals, especially even-toed ones, have

glands in the face and feet that produce scent.
They leave this scent on the ground, on
objects such as trees and rocks, or even on
each other. The scent tells other animals a
great deal about the animal that left ithow
old it is, whether it is male or female, its
health, and whether it is ready to breed. Some
hoofed mammals, in particular horses, also
use sound and body language to
communicate with others of the same species.

Social Lives
The social lives of hoofed mammals vary.
Those that live in the open, including most
grazers, live either in large groups for safety,
such as zebras, South American guanacos,

The American pronghorn is the

fastest living hoofed mammal
it can reach speeds up
to 53 miles per hour!
The smallest hoofed mammal is
the lesser mouse deer, or chevrotain,
which weighs little more than
2 pounds, around the same
as a standard bag of sugar!
The milk produced by female
Himalayan yaks is pink!

and gazelles, or they develop impressive

defenses, such as the large size and fearsome
horns of the African rhinoceros. Forestdwelling hoofed mammals such as small deer,
pigs, and okapis, live alone or in small groups.

1. Male mule deer

2. Saola
3. Male ibex

2
191

Horses, zebras, and asses

For many people, wild horses are a symbol of grace
and freedom. Their close relatives, zebras, are equally
admired for their exotic coat patterns, and asses
are perhaps the fastest and hardiest of the group.

192

herbivores

orses and their relatives appeared around fifty

million years ago in North America. The first
horses were small forest animals with three hoofed
toes on each foot. They adapted to eating grass and
began to live on the plains. However, it was dangerous
for small, plant-eating animals to live out in the open.
So, horses gradually became larger and superb runners
to escape predators. Their legs grew long and slim, and
their two side toes shrank away. That left one large toe,
which made the foot bones much less flexible but
extremely light and strong. Horses have speed,
strength, and stamina. They can sprint at up to 50
miles an hour or travel all day at a steady canter.

Grazing Days
Grass is difficult to digest, especially without a large,
complex stomach like that of cattle and sheep. Horses
have only a simple stomach, so the grass they eat
passes through quickly. Horse dung contains a lot of
undigested grass. To make up for this waste, horses
eat a lot of grass. They crop the grass with their large
front teeth and grind it up with their large cheek
teeth. These teeth have ridges of enamel that help
shred and pulp the grass before it is swallowed.
Horses spend most of their days grazing. They feed
standing up and can react quickly if they sense danger.
A horse can relax and even snooze without having to
lie down. When feeding, a horse or zebra raises its head
Closely related to horses and asses, zebras are
instantly recognized because of their distinctive
black-and-white stripes. They live only in Africa.

Fact File
HORSEs, ZEBRAs, AND ASSes
Family: Equidae (7 species)
Order: Artiodactyla
Where do they live? Eastern Africa,
the Middle East, and Central Asia

Equator

Habitat: Savanna and steppe grasslands

and deserts
Size: Headbody
length 6 feet
6 inches9 feet
(200275 cm); weight 560890 pounds
(255405 kg)2,860 pounds (1,300 kg)
in domestic horse
Coat: Short and neat to slightly shaggy;
varies from pale gray or fawn to black;
zebras and asses have stripes; long-haired
mane and tail tuft
Diet: Grass and other plant material
Breeding: 1 foal, sometimes twins;
1114 months gestation; weaned at
924 months; mature at 24 years
Life span: 2545 years
Status: True horses officially extinct in
wild, but millions live in captivity; African
ass critically endangered; Asiatic ass,
mountain zebra, and Grevys zebra
endangered

193

Horses, zebras, and asses

A male Przewalskis horse displays the

stallions bite threat. These horses are like

the ancestors of all domestic horses.

A female African ass shows the kick

threat, with its ears held back.

A male onager, a subspecies (local

type) of the Asiatic ass, creates a pile

of dung to mark its territory.

OW?
DID YOU KN
The word mustang comes from
the Spanish word mesteno, which
means belonging to nobody.
Horses were extinct in America
until the sixteenth century, when
Spanish settlers took them back to
their ancestral home.
A horse reveals its mood
by changes in its ear, mouth,
and tail positions!

194

herbivores

Why are
zebras stripy?

People used to think that the

stripy coat of zebras was a
type of camouflage or a way
to confuse predators. Now
scientists think that all
horses were once stripy
and that zebras kept their
stripes because they help
keep members of the herd
togetherzebras are
attracted to each others
eye-catching patterns. Other
horses and asses have mostly
lost their stripes, although
some still have faint
markings on their legs.

Herding and Mating

often to check the surroundings,
always alert. Even when a horses
head is down, its ears move this
way and that, checking for danger.
Horses have good eyesight and
hearing, but their sense of smell
is not as good as that of many other
hoofed animals. In the open, sound
travels a long way, and it is usually
easy to see what is going on,
so horses use mostly sounds and
body language to communicate.

Adult female horses, zebras, and asses

live in herds. The females are called
mares. In wild horses and plains
zebras, each herd is led by an adult
male, or stallion. The stallion guards
his mares from other males and
predators. In asses and Grevys zebras,
the stallion protects a territory. He
claims the right to mate with mares
that wander into his patch but does
not prevent them from leaving if they
choose to go. The stallion that

Each zebra
has a unique
pattern of blackand-white stripes.

195

Horses, zebras, and asses

manages to hold onto the best

territory is the most successful at
mating because the mares spend
more time with him.
Female horses come into season
(are ready to mate) soon after giving
birth. They are pregnant for a year or
more. This long gestation ensures
that when the foal arrives, it is well
developed. A young foal can stand
within minutes of being born and
run within hours. That is important
because, living in the open, there is
nowhere to hide. A young horse or
ass that cannot keep up with the herd
will be easily picked off by a predator.

196

OW?
DID YOU KN
There are now around 2,000
Przewalskis horses alive.
Most of them live in zoos
and wildife reserves.
Przewalskis horses were
named after a Polish explorer
who served in the Russian
army in the nineteenth century!
The Romans called zebras
hippotigres, or tiger horses,
because of their stripes!

The African
ass lives only

Going Wild

in a thin strip

Some domesticated horses and

ponies have returned to the wild.
In North America, herds of mustangs
live wild on the plains and in the

of northeastern
Africa. It is
now critically
endangered.

herbivores

Mules, hinneys,
and other
mix-ups
Since horses, asses, and zebras
are closely related, they can
sometimes breed with each
other to produce hybrids. The
most common hybrid is a cross
between a female horse and
male ass. The result is a mule
(right). If the cross is between
a male horse and a female ass,
the hybrid is a hinney. Mules
are more useful to people
than hinneys because they are
stronger. Zebras can also be
crossed with horses to produce
hybrids known as zorses.

All At Risk
mountains. In Europe, there are also
feral horses and ponies in France and
the United Kingdom. In Australia,
where horses have never lived
naturally, domestic horses have
escaped or were set free by European
settlers. These horses now have
around 200,000 wild descendants,
known as brumbies. That is the
worlds largest population of feral
horses, or horses that were once
domesticated but have since gone wild.

Of the seven species of horses, zebras,

and asses, all but the plains zebra and
domestic horse are at risk of becoming
extinct. Przewalskis horses became
extinct in the wild in 1969. Since then,
zoos have been breeding these horses,
and some have been returned to the
wild in Mongolia. The next most
threatened species is the African ass,
which is critically endangered. Grevys
zebra, the mountain zebra, and the
Asiatic ass are also endangered.

Mules are
usually sterile
they cannot
produce foals.
Although a mules
ears are longer
than the horse
parents, they are
the same shape.

197

Hyraxes
Hyraxes look like large rodents, but they are more
closely related to elephants. Hyraxes are sturdy,
small- to medium-sized mammals, with short legs,
a stumpy tail, and a small, pointed face.

198

herbIVORES

yraxes are expert climbers thanks to their

unusual feet. The soles of their feet are
covered in rubbery skin, which produces a lot of
sticky sweat that helps the feet grip. The soles of the
feet can form a sucker shape that allows the hyrax to
cling onto extremely smooth surfaces.
Hyraxes usually live in rocky outcrops in the middle
of scrublands. These outcrops provide good lookout
points, warm spots for hyraxes to sunbathe, and lots of
crevices for sleeping in or hiding from predators.
Hyraxes have whiskers all over the body, so they can
feel their way around in small spaces in total darkness.
Hyraxes eat all types of plant food and, like rabbits
and certain hoofed animals, they have bacteria
(single-celled microorganisms) in their gut. Bacteria
help break down the toughest parts of plants and
release the energy in the hyraxes food.

Living in a Group
Hyraxes live in groups and communicate using soft
chattering calls and whistles. They also use scent to
mark each other and their home area. For such small
animals, hyraxes breed slowly. In any one year, females
raise only one litter of up to three offspring. Other
members of the group help by huddling close to keep
the young hyraxes warm at night. Group members also
keep watch for predators, such as snakes, leopards,
jackals, spotted hyenas, and birds of prey.
A hyrax has large black eyes, rounded ears, and

Fact File
HYRAXes
Family: Procaviidae (11 species)
Order: Hyracoidea
Where do they live? Africa
and parts of the Middle East

Equator

Habitat: Rocky outcrops in dry

areas and forests
Size: Headbody length
12.524 inches (3160
cm); weight 312 pounds
(1,3005,400 g)
Coat: Length and color varies with
species, from short to shaggy, and
from pale yellow
to gray or brown; paler on the belly
Diet: Plants
Breeding: Litters of 13 offspring
born after 78 months gestation;
weaned at 15 months; mature at
1617 months
Life span: 12 years
Status: Three of the 11 species are
listed as vulnerable

long, touch-sensitive whiskers. If a hyrax spots

danger, it produces a shrill alarm call.

199

jackals
Jackals are sociable, smart, and tough. Adults pair
up when young and stick together, working as a team
to find food and rear cubs. These slender, medium-sized
dogs often have a bad reputation, just as wolves do.

200

carnIVORES

ackals are related to wolves. Although slightly

smaller, jackals are similar to wolves in many ways.
Jackals survive well in dry habitats, where prey seems
hard to find; they are not fussy eatersthey eat all
sorts of different foods; and jackals are smart, agile
hunters that snatch small birds and mammals and the
offspring of larger animals such as antelope. Jackals
also eat a lot of fruit, which provides them with water.
They are great scavengers and often turn up to take a
share of dead animals by roadsides. In Europe, jackals
were once a common sight around graveyards, too.

A Family Affair
Once a young adult jackal finds a mate, the pair often
stays together for life, finding and then defending a
territory. Jackals mark out their territory using scent
and move into old, abandoned animal burrows to
make dens where they can breed and rear cubs.
Both parents look after the pups, and the family
moves from den to den every few days. That makes it
hard for predators to find them. The pups develop fast.
They are first weaned onto partly digested food, which
has been coughed back up by the parents. After three
months they can eat whole animals, and in six months
they help their parents hunt. Young jackals leave home
at around one year old, although black-backed jackals
sometimes stay behind for another year to help rear
the next litter and learn from their parents.
A black-backed jackal drinks from a water hole,
listening for danger. Some farmers shoot jackals

Fact File
JACKALs
Canis aureus (golden jackal),
Canis adjustus (side-striped
jackal), and Canis mesomelus
(black-backed jackal)
Family: Canidae (3 species)
Order: Carnivora
Where do they live? Africa, the Middle
East, southeastern Europe, and South Asia

Equator

Habitat: Grasslands, scrublands, and

woodlands
Size: Headbody length
3352 inches (83132
cm); weight 1433 pounds
(6.515 kg)
Coat: Coarse, golden-fawn to gray;
distinctive gray to black markings in sidestriped and black-backed species
Diet: Small mammals, birds, reptiles,
amphibians, insects, fruit, and carrion
Breeding: 34 pups born after 63
days gestation; mature at 11 months
Life span: 48 years in the wild,
and up to 16 years in zoos
Status: Least concern; not currently
at serious risk

because they kill lambs and other livestock.

201

Jumping mice, birchmice, and jerboas

Some of these mice can leap 10 feet in a single bound
on their huge back feet. However, this active lifestyle
lasts for only a few monthscome the fall,
they are ready to sleep for six months or more.

202

omnIVORES

umping mice and birchmice are generally small, at

no more than 4.5 inches long, but their tail is up
to twice as long. They are about half the size of their
cousins, the jerboas. Jumping mice and birchmice live
in seasonal grasslands and forests. They spend the
summer leaping around in search of food, mainly
insect grubs and fungi, which they catch and eat
using their front paws. The back feet of jumping mice
are large and longlike those of tiny kangaroos.

Fattening Up in the Fall

In the fall, jumping mice and birchmice fatten up on
rich, oily, and sugary food, such as seeds and berries.
They increase their body weight by up to one-third in
just two weeks. When the food supply begins to
decrease, jumping mice and birchmice hibernate in the
burrow of another small mammal or find a hollow log
stuffed with leaves. They sleep so deeply that they seem
almost dead. Their body grows cold and their heart
rate slows down to just one or two beats a minute. By
using so little energy, these small animals can make
their tiny store of body fat last until spring.
Jerboas live in African and Asian deserts. They
breed and sleep in sand burrows, which they dig
with their huge back feet. Tufts of fur on the feet act
like snowshoes, helping the mice jump around on
loose sand. Jerboas eat mainly seeds and fruit and
get all the water they need from their food.
A jerboa dashes across the desert. These small
rodents have an extremely long, tufted tail and

Fact File
JUMPING MICE, BIRCHMICE,
AND JERBOAS
Family: Dipodidae (50 species)
Order: Rodentia
Where do they live? North America,
Eastern and central Europe, northern
Africa, and Asia

Equator
Jerboasyellow
Jumping mice/
birchmicered

Habitat: Meadows and other

grasslands, moors, thickets, forests, and
deserts
Size:
Headbody
length 29 inches (523 cm);
weight 0.214 ounces (6420 g)
Coat: Usually coarse, but silky in jerboas;
fawn to reddish or grayish brown
Diet: Seeds, shoots, berries, fungi, and
insects and their grubs
Breeding: Litters of 26 offspring born
after 1735 days gestation
Life span: Up to 2 years in jumping
mice and birchmice, and 3 years in
jerboas
Status: 7 species are at risk; some are
critically endangered

large hind legs for bounding along and for digging.

203

Kangaroos and wallabies

When people think of a kangaroo, they usually imagine a red
kangaroo hopping across the Australian desert. But the red kangaroo
is only one of seventy-six species, including many wallabies, several
ratlike forest animals, and even some kangaroos that live in trees.

204

herbivores

here are more than seventy species (types) of

kangaroos. Some, such as the red kangaroo and
the eastern gray kangaroo, are large and well known.
But many kangaroos are small, shy, and live in remote
deserts or dense forests where they are not often seen.
Kangaroos and wallabies are the most numerous
and well-known marsupials. Marsupials are animals
that rear their offspring in a pouch on the front of the
females body. In kangaroos, the pouch contains two
teats, but usually just one baby, or joey, is born at a
time. The newborn joey is tiny and furless, with
undeveloped eyes, hind limbs, and tail. It crawls
through its mothers fur to the pouch and latches
onto a teat with its mouth. It stays there until it has
grown much larger and stronger, its eyes have opened,
and its fur coat has grown. It can take anything from
five to eleven months for a joey to be ready to leave
the pouch for good. After that, it may leave its mother
to live alone or stay close by as it continues to grow.

Kangaroo Mobs
Forest species, such as tree kangaroos and rat
kangaroos, usually live alone, except for mothers with
offspring. Kangaroos that live in the open in grasslands
or deserts live in groups called mobs. Each group
consists of one large male and several adult females
and their offspring. The females are often related to
each other. Young males usually leave the group when
Always on the alert, this eastern gray kangaroo
pauses while feeding to check its surroundings.

Fact File
KANGAROOs AND WALLABies
Family: Macropodidae (76 species)
Order: Diprotodontia
Where do they live? Australia and the
island of New Guinea

Equator

Habitat: Deserts, grasslands,

scrublands, and temperate and
tropical forests
Size: Headbody
length 1165 inches
(28165 cm); weight
1.2200 pounds (0.595 kg)
Coat: Fine, dense, and slightly fluffy or
shaggy looking; pale gray to red, brown,
or black; some species have markings
on the face, legs, and tail
Diet: Plants, including grass, leaves,
shoots, seeds, roots, and fungi
Breeding: 1 joey (rarely twins) born
after 3039 days gestation; reared in
pouch; weaned at 411 months
Life span: Varies with species; 518
years in the wild, and 28 years in zoos
for large species
Status: Gilberts potoroo critically
endangered; 9 species endangered;
12 species vulnerable

It supports itself on its huge hind legs and long tail.

205

Kangaroos and wallabies

they become mature, but young

female joeys stay and learn how to
raise offspring from their mother and
other female relatives.

Tough Plant Food

Kangaroos and wallabies are plant
eaters, but various species eat quite
different sorts of plant foods. Many
forest-dwelling kangaroos eat roots
and tubers. Some larger species,
such as gray kangaroos, euros, and

pademelons, eat mainly grass. The

desert-dwelling red kangaroo eats
dry grass and the leaves of desert
shrubs such as saltbush.
Kangaroos have bacteria (singlecelled microorganisms) living in their
gut that help digest tough plant
material. Kangaroos spend a long
time digesting their food, making
sure they get as much goodness from
it as possible. By making the most of
every mouthful, they can survive on

A red-necked
wallaby joey
pokes its head
out of its mothers
pouch. It spends
many months in
the safety of the
pouch, coming
out occasionally
to hop around.

206

Two mouths
to feed
In large kangaroos and
wallabies, a joey that has left
its mothers pouch still needs
milk for a few more months.
A joey suckles by sticking its
head into the pouch to find
the teat. By this time, there
may be a new, younger joey
in the pouch, and the two
offspring use different teats.
The mother kangaroo
produces two different sorts
of milk from each teat, so
each youngster gets exactly
the right nutrients.

herbivores

1. Yellow-footed
rock wallaby
2. Burrowing

bettong, or

boodie
3. Rufous rat
kangaroo
4. Quokka
5. Banded hare
wallaby
6. Proserpine
rock wallaby

5
4

6
of Western Australia. These
animals get all the water they
need from their food or by
licking up dew in the morning.

Huge Hind
Feet and Tail

very poor food, including old driedup grass and the tough leaves of
desert shrubs. Desert kangaroos can
go for weeks without drinking, as do
red kangaroos and the tiny quokkas

Kangaroos and
wallabies have
small front legs and
feet, with five fingers and strong
claws. They use these claws for
fighting, digging, and holding food.
The hind legs and feet are completely
different. The legs are long, with huge
muscles in the thighs, which are used

DID YOU
KNOW?
One-quarter
of all kangaroo
species live
outside Australia,
on the large
island of New
Guinea.
Kangaroos
can hop at up
to 35 miles
per hour!
The group name
for kangaroos
and wallabies
is macropod,
which means
big foot
in Greek!

207

Kangaroos and wallabies

for hopping. The hind feet are

extremely long, and each has four
toes. The outer two toes are the
largest, and they carry the animals
weight when it is standing or
hopping. The inner two toes are
fused, making a double toe with two
claws. These claws are used like a
comb for cleaning the fur.
As well as hopping, kangaroos
can move on all fours. They lean on
their front legs and swing the back
ones forward. All kangaroos have a

Kangaroo
teeth
Kangaroos have just one pair
of front teeth, called incisors,
in the lower jaw and two pairs
of incisors in the upper jaw.
These teeth have sharp edges
and are used for cutting grass
and leaves or biting chunks off
roots or fruit. The cheek teeth
are large and each one has
a series of sharp ridges that
grind food to a pulp. These
teeth move forward in the
kangaroo s mouth as the
animal gets older to replace
worn-out teeth, which fall out.

208

long tail. In smaller species the tail

is carried off the ground and helps
with the kangaroos balance. In large
species, the tail is thick and strong
and can be used like an extra leg to
help support the animals weight
when standing or moving around.
Rock wallabies have bumpy skin on
the soles of their back feet, which
provides great grip, even on smooth
rocks. Tree kangaroos can climb,
using their front paws to grip
branches and pull themselves up.

An old
kangaroo, such
as this one, will
have worn out
and lost many
of its teeth as
a result of its
tough plant diet.

herbivores

OW?
DID YOU KN
Kangaroo meat is a very healthy
low-fat alternative to beef.
The smallest kangaroos are
called rat kangaroos. They
are around a foot long and
have a long, skinny tail.
Only male red kangaroos are red.
The females are bluish grayand
local people call them blue fliers!

A tree
kangaroo snoozes
in the branches
of a tree.

Large Herbivores
Kangaroos lave a great deal in
common with other large herbivores,
such as antelope. Both kangaroos and
antelope have grinding teeth, a long
gut, and a large stomach containing
bacteria to help digestion. Both also
use sharp senses and speed to avoid
predators. Kangaroos have eyes on the
sides of the head, which give good allround vision, and ears that turn this

way and that. Kangaroos also have

long legs and can move fast, making
great leaps that might confuse a
chasing predator. Kangaroos live
alone in forests, but they live in
groups in open grassland, where
many pairs of eyes and ears make it
hard for a predator to sneak up.
Several types of kangaroos are at
risk of becoming extinct. Forest
species, like tree kangaroos, have lost
habitat as people clear the land for
farming. Smaller species, such as
potoroos, are killed by predators such
as dogs and foxes brought to Australia
and New Guinea by people. Red and
gray kangaroos are not threatened,
but sheep farmers treat them as pests.
Tens of thousands are shot for meat
or skins or just for sport, and many
more are killed on roads every year.
209

Koala
The koala is one of the worlds most loved animals, with its
teddy-bear face and fluffy ears. But these cute-looking animals
have a tough side, toothey are the only mammal that
can survive by eating the leaves of eucalyptus trees.

210

herbivores

oalas spend most of the day sitting in the fork

of a tree and snoozing. Some people think that
koalas are lazy or even that they are affected by the
poisonous chemicals present in the eucalyptus leaves
they eat. The truth is that eucalyptus leaves do not
contain much energy. Koalas climb slowly to save
energy. The only way in which a koala can survive on
eucalyptus leaves is by getting lots of rest and not
rushing around. The other alternative would be to eat
much more, but eucalyptus leaves take so long to
digest that koalas simply do not have the time to
spend eating more leaves. In addition, the leaves
contain many poisonous chemicals, and it might be
dangerous for a koala to eat a larger quantity of them.

Fact File
Koala
Phascolarctos cinereus
Family: Phascolarctidae
Order: Diprotodontia
Where do they live?
Eastern Australia

Equator

Habitat: Eucalpytus trees

A Gripping Time
Koalas make hanging about in trees look easy. They
climb by gripping the tree with all four paws, pushing
up with their back legs, and pulling with their front
legs. They have superb balance and can walk along
narrow branches. The palms and soles of their paws
are bald, and the rough skin provides excellent grip.
On the front paws, the first two fingers act as thumbs,
making the koalas grip strong. On the hind feet, the
second and third toes are joined to make a double toe
with two claws. All the fingers and toes have a large,
curved, and sharp claw that hooks into tree bark.
Koalas spend as little time on the ground as possible.

Size: Headbody length

23.533.5 inches
(6085 cm); weight
933 pounds (415 kg)
Coat: Fluffy and dense; usually gray with
a light reddish tinge; white on chest
Diet: Leaves of the eucalyptus and a
few other trees
Breeding: 1 joey born after 35 days
gestation; weaned at 610 months;
mature at 2 years
Life span: Up to 18 years
Status: Once seriously threatened;
now at lower risk

Fast asleep in the fork of a tree, this koala balances

by gripping with its long, sharp claws. Koalas save
energy by snoozing for most of the day and night.

211

koala

Koalas can balance on even the

thinnest of branches. They spend most of
their time high up in eucalyptus trees.
They do not move around very much
because they have a low-energy diet.

They usually come down only to

move to another tree. On the ground,
they waddle on all fours, and if they
have to move quickly, they break into
a bouncy gallop.
Koalas live alone. Each koala uses
just a few favorite trees and never
wanders very far. Often, there are
several unrelated koalas living in the
same patch of trees. They pay very
little attention to each other most of
the time. That changes during the
breeding season, when the largest
male koala tries to drive all the other
males out of his area so that he can
have the females to himself for
mating. Koalas are silent most of the
time, but the males make loud
growling calls throughout the night
in the breeding season.

Tiny Koala Joeys

After mating, a female koala is
pregnant for one month before giving
birth to a tiny, naked baby. A
newborn koala joey weighs around
the same as a single peanut. The joey
212

Saving the koala

Koala fur is extremely thick and soft, and was
once prized by people, who hunted the koala
almost to extinction in the nineteenth century.
Hunting koalas is now banned, and people are
eager to protect them. The main problem now
is that many of the forests where koalas live
have been cut down, leaving them to survive in
small, overcrowded patches where there is not
enough food and where diseases spread easily.

herbivores

When a koala
moves, it does so
extremely slowly
and cautiously.

has to climb into its mothers pouch

and find one of her teats. It stays
there for six months, growing fast.
When the baby koala is ready to
start eating solid food, its mother
produces soft droppings, called pap.
The baby eats the pap, which
contains partly digested eucalyptus
leaves. Fresh eucalyptus leaves are
much too tough for the young joey
to digest, and they also contain
chemicals that are poisonous. By
starting off on pap, the young koalas
digestive system slowly gets used to

its diet. The pap also contains

bacteria from the mothers gut, which
stay inside the young koala and help
it digest more leaves in the future.

OW?
DID YOU KN
Koalas are not bearsthey
are marsupials, and their
closest relatives are wombats!
Koalas sometimes eat soil
and gravel to help them
digest their diet of leaves!
Koalas sleep for around
twenty hours a day!

213

LEMURS
Lemurs and their relatives live only on Madagascar,
a large island off the east coast of Africa.
These lively and appealing mammals live
mostly in forests and are agile climbers.

214

omnivores

ide-eyed and nimble lemurs belong to the

order (large group) Primates, which includes
apes and monkeys. Lemurs belong to the suborder
Strepsirrhini, or moist-nosed primates, along with
bushbabies (galagos), lorises, and pottos. There
are around sixty species of lemurs, which live on
Madagascar or nearby islands. Madagascar, the worlds
fourth-largest island, lies off the east coast of Africa. It
has many different habitats, including rain forests,
scrublands, rocky areas, and deserts. The different
types of lemurs are suited to live and feed in these
varied environments. For example, many lemurs spend
their lives in trees, but some live mostly on the ground.

Fact File
LEMURs
Families: Lemuridae (19 species
of typical lemurs); Lepilemuridae
(8 species of sportive lemurs);
Cheirogaleidae (23 species of dwarf
and mouse lemurs); Indridae (11 species
of indris, sifakas, and woolly lemurs);
and Daubentoniidae (1 species of aye-aye)
Order: Primates
Where do they live? Madagascar
and nearby small islands

All Shapes and Sizes

Lemurs are many different shapes and sizes. The
smallest are tiny creatures weighing less than an ounce,
while the largest may weigh 17 pounds. Some lemurs
look like monkeys, while others resemble mice. Some
lemurs have a compact body with short limbs; others
are long and slender. Most lemurs have a long, bushy
tail, but the indri has a short, stumpy tail.
Scientists divide lemurs into five groups: typical
lemurs; sportive lemurs; dwarf and mouse lemurs;
indris and sifakas; and the aye-aye. Typical lemurs
include the ring-tailed lemur, with its striking blackand-white striped tail. Sportive lemurs are small forest
dwellers. Indris and sifakas are large lemursthe indri

Habitat: Rain forests, woodlands,

grasslands, scrublands, and deserts
Size: Headbody length:
428 inches (1070 cm);
weight: 0.8 ounce
17 pounds (25 g7.5 kg)
Coat: Brown, gray, or black;
some have patches or stripes
Diet: Leaves, fruit, flowers, nectar, sap,
and gum; some species also
eat insects and even reptiles
Breeding: 14 offspring born
after 25 months gestation

Black-and-white ruffed lemurs are the largest

Life span: 520 years in the wild; some

species up to 35 years in zoos

of the typical lemurs. They are named for the

Status: Some are vulnerable

distinctive ruff of white fur around the head.

215

LEMURS

looks like a woolly bear. Mouse and

dwarf lemurs are tiny and delicate,
while the aye-aye is a highly unusual
insect-eating lemur (see opposite).

Feeding and Lifestyle

Lemurs vary a great deal in their
feeding habits. Most eat plants, with
various species eating mainly leaves,
fruit, flower nectar, or other plant
parts. Fork-crowned dwarf lemurs
feed on gum oozing from tree trunks.
Mouse lemurs eat small creatures,
such as insects. A few lemurs hunt
larger prey such as reptiles.
Lemurs vary in their habits. Many
are nocturnal (night active); others
are active at dusk and dawn. Ringtailed lemurs are active during

daylight, while some lemurs move

about at any time of the day or night.
Aye-ayes, mouse lemurs, and dwarf
lemurs mostly live alone, except for
females with their babies. Other
species, such as ring-tailed lemurs and
indris, live in noisy groups called
troops. Between fifteen and thirty of
these lemurs live, rest, and raise their
offspring together. Troop-living

1. Gray bamboo
lemur
2. White-headed
lemur
3. Brown lemur
4. Black-and-white
ruffed lemur
5. Ring-tailed lemur
6. Hairy-eared
dwarf lemur

5
6

1
2

4
3

216

OMNIVORES

The aye-aye
The aye-aye is a extraordinary looking lemur,
with large, round eyes and long, clawed fingers.
It feeds at night, hunting insect grubs that live
under the bark of trees. The aye-aye taps on the
bark with its long, bony second finger to disturb
the grubs. Its large, batlike ears pick up the tiny
rustling sounds made by the insects. The aye-aye
then digs under the bark and hooks out the juicy
grubs with its long, thin middle finger.

lemurs usually have feeding

territories, where rival troops are not
welcome. Ring-tailed lemurs smear
scent from glands under their arms or
near their tail to mark their territories.

Breeding and Conservation

The various species of lemurs have
different breeding habits. Some
species breed at a particular time of
the year, while others mate at any
time. Large lemurs, such as indris,
breed slowly. The females produce
one or two babies around five
months after mating. The offspring
stay with their mother for up to a
year. Small species, such as mouse
lemurs, breed more quickly. The
females give birth to up to four
babies just two months after

mating and may breed twice a year.

Mouse lemurs grow up quickly and
become independent at around
four months.
Some types of lemurs are
widespread, but others are rare,and
some are in danger of dying out
completely. The main threat to
lemurs is the destruction of forests
and other wild places where they
live to make way for new farms and
towns for people.

OW?
DID YOU KN
Just a few thousand years ago,
giant, gorilla-sized lemurs lived
on Madagascar, but these animals
have now died out!
Since 2000, scientists have
discovered several new species
of mouse and dwarf lemurs.

217

LEOPARD
One of the largest members of the cat family,
the leopard is an expert hunter. These cats use their
sharp teeth and claws to kill their prey.

218

carnivores

eopards are among the biggest cats, smaller than

lions, tigers, and jaguars but heavier than
cheetahs. Leopards have a sturdy build, with a long,
powerful body, a rounded head, and fairly short legs.
Some leopards are black all over and are sometimes
called black panthers; they are quite common in
Southeast Asia. However, most leopards have a pale or
tawny coat, covered with black spots. The spots are
arranged in circular patterns called rosettes over the
upper body, with smaller spots on the head, chest, and
legs. This spotted coat provides excellent camouflage,
helping the leopard blend in with its surroundings.
That allows the leopard to creep up on its prey.
The leopard is the most widespread cat apart from the
domestic (pet) cat. Leopards live in many parts of Africa
and southern Asia, and also in Arabia. They are at
home in many different habitats, including rain forests,
mountains, deserts, and even on the edge of towns.
There are two reasons for the leopards success: its shy
and stealthy nature and its unfussy feeding habits.

Stealthy Hunters
Like all cats, leopards are carnivores, or meat eaters.
They catch a wide range of prey, including mammals
from antelope to monkeys, and also reptiles and birds.
Leopards feed on carrion (dead animals), too.
Leopards hunt alone and usually at night, especially
in areas where there are people. They find their prey
Perched high in a tree, a leopard uses its excellent
sense of sight to keep watch over its territory.

Fact File
LEOPARD
Panthera pardus
Family: Felidae
Order: Carnivora
Where do they live? Africa, southern
and Southeast Asia, Arabia

Equator

Habitat: Varied, from tropical rain

forests to deserts, mountains, and even
near towns
Size: Headbody length
4075 inches (100
190 cm), tail 2837
inches (7095cm); weight 66155
pounds (3070 kg); males are larger
than females
Coat: Usually fawn to tawny, with black
spots; some are black
Diet: Reptiles, birds, and small- to
medium-sized mammals
Breeding: 12 (maximum 6) cubs,
born after 90105 days gestation
Life span: Up to 14 years in the wild,
and 20 years in zoos
Status: Generally not threatened, but
some subspecies (local populations)
critically endangered

Leopards also have a keen sense of hearing.

219

leopard

using their keen senses of hearing,

smell, and sight. Stiff whiskers on the
leopards snout are used for nighttime navigation. Their large eyes see
well at night. After finding its prey, a
leopard creeps closer, hiding among
the plants and bushes. Its spotted
coat helps the leopard get close
without being seen. When it is
around 6.5 feet from its prey, the
leopard pounces and sinks its claws

into the victim, killing the prey by

biting the back of its neck.
Large prey such as antelope provide
food for several meals. Having eaten
its fill, the leopard saves the rest for
later. It usually hides the kill among
thick bushes, sometimes dragging the
body for several hundred yards.
Leopards also drag their half-eaten
prey into tree branches, away from the
reach of scavengers such as hyenas.

A pair of
leopard cubs
snuggle down
in the safety
of their lair.

Leopard life cycle

Leopards breed at any time of the year. Females give birth around
three to four months after mating, in the safety of a rocky lair
or among thick bushes. Only one or two cubs are usually born
at a time. These blind, furry babies weigh just 1520 ounces.
The cubs start to follow their mother at six to eight weeks old
and go with her on hunting trips at three months old. They
become independent at eighteen to twenty months old.

220

carnivores

Taking a Territory
Leopards mostly live alone, except
for females with their cubs. Each
leopard has a territory called a home
range, where it hunts and rests
between meals, often safe in a tree.
The size of the home range varies,
depending on the number of prey in
the area. Where there are fewer prey,
a leopard needs a larger territory.
Each female leopard has a home
range of 4 to112 square miles, which
often partly overlaps with the range
of other females. Male leopards have
a larger home range, varying from 7
to 440 square miles. These areas
may overlap with the territories of
other males and females.

Threats and Conservation

In many areas, leopards are thriving,
partly thanks to their unfussy diet.
However, numbers of leopards are
falling in some places because
of human activities. For example,
farmers and herders shoot or
poison leopards when the cats
enter farmland and hunt domestic
animals. As farms and villages grow,
so there is less and less wild land
where leopards can hunt in peace.
People also kill leopards for sport.
Large numbers of leopards were

once shot by trophy hunters, but

now sport hunting is carefully
controlled. Leopards are usually
safe from hunters in areas that have
been made into preserves and
national parks. Instead of hunters,
increasing numbers of tourists now
visit these protected places, hoping
to get a glimpse of these
magnificent animals in the wild.

After a busy
night hunting,
a leopard rests
safely, high in
the fork of a tree.

OW?
DID YOU KN
Leopards occasionally kill and eat
other meat-eating animals, such
as cheetahs and bat-eared foxes.
Leopards spray urine and leave
dung at the borders of their
territories, so that visiting
leopards know that the area is
already taken.
221

LION
Lions are the largest members of the cat
family. The lions strength and fierceness
have earned it the title, king of the jungle.

222

carnivores

ions are strong and muscular. These big cats have

a short head and powerful jaws, which are suited
to killing and eating large prey. The lions coat is pale
to tawny brown. The males magnificent mane does
not reach full size until he is four or five years old.
Adult male lions can weigh up to 530 pounds. They
are considerably larger and heavier than fully grown
females. Their greater size allows them to hunt larger
prey than lionesses hunt and feast first on a group kill.

Group Life in the Pride

Unlike most cats, lions are social animals. They spend
much of their life in a group called a pride. The pride
is usually made of three to ten adult females and their
cubs, plus two or three adult males. Some prides
contain as many as eighteen adult females and ten
adult males. The females in a pride are close relatives,
but they are almost never related to the males. The
males form a separate group within the pride. They
might be brothers, cousins, or unrelated to each other.
Each pride has its own territoryan area where
the group hunts and which it defends against other
lions. Territory sizes vary greatly, from 8 to 200
square miles. Territory size depends on the size of the
pride and whether prey is scarce or plentiful. If there
is little prey, the lions need a larger territory in which
to hunt. Males in the pride patrol the groups
territory. They mark the borders by roaring and by
A male African lion reveals his fearsome teeth
as he roars. Lions have four long, sharp canine

Fact File
LION
Panthera leo
Family: Felidae
Order: Carnivora
Where do they live? Africa, south
of the Sahara desert, and Gir Forest
Sanctuary in Gujarat, India

Equator

Habitat: Varied, from dry woodlands

to grasslands and deserts
Size: Headbody length
of male 8.510.8 feet
(1.72.5 m); weight of
male 330530 pounds (150240 kg)
Coat: Light to dark tawny; males
mane varies from pale to reddish
brown or black
Diet: Hoofed mammals, such as
gazelles, antelope, and zebras; also
rodents, birds, and reptiles
Breeding: 24 cubs born after
110119 days gestation; independent
after 2.5 years
Life span: Up to 18 years in the wild,
and up to 25 years in zoos
Status: Vulnerable; Asian lions are
critically endangered

teeth, which they use to grasp and kill their prey.

223

lion

spraying smelly urine. These scent

signals linger for a long time, telling
other lions that the area is occupied.

Hunting and Feeding

This male
African lion is
dragging away
a zebra to make
sure that he
gets all the
meat he wants.

224

Lions mostly feed on hoofed

mammals, such as gazelles, zebras,
and wildebeests. Lions also hunt
rodents, hares, birds, and reptiles, and
occasionally elephants and
rhinoceroses. Male lions chase large,
slow-moving prey, such as buffalo
and giraffes. Females mostly target
smaller prey, such as warthogs,
gazelles, and springboks. Lions rely

OW?
DID YOU KN
A male lion can eat 95 pounds
of meat in a single meal!
Lions go for three or four days
without feeding after eating a
big meal!
Lions are among the few
predators that regularly kill
large mammals weighing more
than 550 pounds, such as
buffalos and giraffes!

mainly on sight and hearing to find

their prey. They hunt mostly at night,
but during the dry season they may
ambush prey at water holes by day.

carnivores

Lions in a pride often cooperate

when hunting. The group can tackle
larger prey than a single lion could
manage on its own. Lions mostly
work together in this way when small
prey is scarce. When hunting together,
lions spread out to surround a victim
and cut off its escape. Females do
most of the hunting, but once the
prey is dead, the males move in and
drive away the females until they
have eaten their fill.
Lions can run at speeds of 36
miles per hour over short distances.
However, hoofed animals, such as
gazelles, can run much faster. Lions
therefore use stealth to get within
around 50 feet of their prey before
launching an attack.
Once in range, the lions charge and
seize the flanks of the prey with their
sharp claws or knock the animal off
its feet with a swipe of their powerful
paws. The lion then clamps onto the
victims throat or muzzle with its
powerful jaws and teeth until the
prey dies of suffocation.

The Lions Life Cycle

Lions breed at any time of the year.
The females are able to breed at
thirty to thirty-eight months old.
They then give birth to cubs around

Roaring Success
A lions roar can be heard up to 5 miles away.
The males in a pride roar to announce their
ownership of a territory to rival prides. They
roar mainly at night, when sounds carry
a long way in the still air. The rival pride
answers by roaring back. A listening lion
can tell whether the roaring is made by a male
or female, friend or foe. As well as roaring,
lions also make many other noises, including
friendly whimpering sounds to their cubs.

225

lion

A group of
young lion cubs
huddles together
for warmth
and security.

once every two years, until they are

fifteen years old. The males father all
the cubs in the pride. However, these
groups of adult males remain with
the pride for only a few years. As a

Growing Cubs
Young lions learn hunting skills by
playing with each other and watching
the adults. They start to eat solid food
by three months old and are able to hunt
for themselves by around eighteen months
old. While young females stay in their

226

result, a females cubs born in different

years usually have different fathers.
Lion cubs are born around 110 days
after mating, which is a relatively
short time for such a large mammal.

mothers pride, young males go off

together in search of a new pride after
they reach two years old. The males
mane starts to grow at around two years
old and then gradually gets darker until
the lion is nine or ten years old.

carnivores

Lionesses give birth to between one

and six cubs at a time, but two or
three cubs are most common. If
several females in a pride give birth
around the same time, the mothers
rear their cubs together. They even
provide milk for one anothers cubs.

Threats to Survival
Lions live in Africa south of the
Sahara, and in the Gir Forest region
in northwestern India. Lions are not
in danger of extinction, but they once
lived in a much larger area than they
now do. Until around 10,000 years
ago, lions also lived across Europe
and North America. They also lived
in the Middle East and across
northern India until the early 1900s.
Over the centuries, lions have
become rarer. One of the main
reasons is that people have built
farms and ranches in the wild places
where lions hunt. In addition,
farmers and herders sometimes kill
lions to protect themselves and their
animals. Lions were also once shot
by European hunters. Now, lions live
mainly in national parks and game
preserves, where they are fairly safe
from hunters and other dangers.
However, some lions are still killed
by poachers or local herders.

A male lion
drinks at a water
hole, keeping a
watchful eye on
his surroundings.

OW?
DID YOU KN
Only around one in every four
lion hunts ends in a kill.
When times are hard, up
to 80 percent of lion cubs
die before reaching one year
old. Ninety percent of cubs
survive in good years.

227

MARMOSETS AND TAMARINS

Marmosets and tamarins are small monkeys that live mostly
in South American forests. These lively little creatures
have colorful fur and many have unusual hairstyles,
including long fringes, manes, and tufts.

228

omnivores

armosets and tamarins are one of two groups

of monkeys that live in the Americas, or New
World. The other group of American monkeys is
simply known as New World monkeys. There are more
than forty species of marmosets and tamarins. Like all
New World monkeys, they have a flattish face with
widely spaced nostrils. However, unlike other New
World monkeys, marmosets and tamarins have claws
rather than nails. They also usually give birth to twins
instead of a single baby, as other American monkeys
do. Marmosets and tamarins are sociable mammals
that spend their lives in groups. All the marmosets and
tamarins in a group help rear the offspring.

Sizes and Shapes

Marmosets and tamarins are among the worlds
smallest primates, an order (large group) that
includes apes and monkeys. The smallest species of
marmosets and tamarins are the size of mice, while
the biggest are larger than squirrels. The very smallest
species, the pygmy marmoset, measures just 7 inches
long, with a 7.5-inch tail. Lion tamarins are the
largest members of the group. They are named after
the spectacular ruff of long hairs around their neck,
which resembles a lions mane.
Marmosets and tamarins have fine, silky fur. Fur
color varies from golden-orange to white, silvery, gray,
reddish brown, and black. Some species have beautiful
The pygmy marmoset is the smallest in the marmoset

Fact File
MARMOSETs AND TAMARINs
Family: Callitrichidae (41 species)
Order: Primates
Where do they live? Central America
and northern South America

Equator

Habitat: Mainly tropical rain

forests; also drier forests and pockets of
forest in grasslands
Size: Headbody length 716 inches
(1840 cm); weight
913.5 ounces
(260380 g)
Coat: Fine, silky fur varies from white to
golden-yellow, gray, red-brown, or black;
many species have manes, mustaches,
ear tufts, or crests
Diet: Fruit, flowers, nectar, tree gum,
frogs, snails, lizards, spiders, and insects
Breeding: Usually twins, born after
130170 days gestation; some species
breed twice a year
Life span: Up to 16 years in zoos
Status: Lion tamarins and some other
species are in danger of dying out,
mainly because of forest destruction

and tamarin family. It is around 15 inches from

head to tail tip and weighs up to 6.7 ounces.

229

MARMOSETS AND TAMARINS

markings and many have unusual

hairstyles, including ear tufts, manes,
and mustaches. For example, the
emperor tamarin is a dark gray
monkey with a long, flowing white
mustache and an orange tail. The
cotton-top tamarin has a crown of
long, silvery white fur. The golden
lion tamarin is golden orange all over.
1. Goeldis monkey
2. Silvery marmoset

OW?
DID YOU KN
Lion tamarins have extremely long
hands and fingers, which they use
to reach inside rotten logs and tree
holes and fish out insects.
Marmosets feed on insects
disturbed by columns of fierce
army ants as they march through
the forest!

3
4

3. Buffy-tufted-ear marmoset
4. Black-tufted-ear marmoset
5. Black-tailed marmoset
6. Geoffroys tamarin

7. Golden-headed lion tamarin

8. Santarm
9. Emperor tamarin
10. Mustached tamarin

11. Red-bellied tamarin

12. Pygmy marmoset

13. Cotton-top tamarin
14. Mottle-face tamarin

15. Saddle-back tamarin

12

11

10
9
14

15
13
230

omnivores

Forest Dwellers
Marmosets and tamarins live in
forests in South and Central
America. They are most plentiful in
the basin of the Amazon River,
which covers a vast area of northern
South America. They mainly live in
lush tropical rain forests, which are
warm and wet all year round. Species
such as the pygmy marmoset live
near rivers that flood regularly. Some
species of marmosets and tamarins
live in drier forests or patches of
forest that grow in grasslands.
Marmosets and tamarins spend
their lives in the trees and rarely
descend to the ground. These agile
little monkeys bound and leap along
the branches in the manner of
squirrels. Unlike some New World
monkeys, marmosets and tamarins
do not have a prehensile (grasping)
tail, which other monkeys curl
around branches like an extra limb.
In the last century or so, huge areas
of South American rain forests have
been cut down for hardwood timber,
fuel, or to make way for new farms,
mines, roads, and towns. Some
species of marmosets and tamarins,
including lion tamarins, are now in
danger of dying out as a result of
forest destruction (see overleaf).

New discoveries
Marmosets and tamarins are small. Many
species are also scarce and live only in a small
area. All these things help explain why many
species were unknown until quite recently. Since
the late 1980s, scientists have identified at least
eight new species of these monkeys. The blackfaced lion tamarin (above) was discovered in
1990, for example. An unusual species, the tiny
dwarf marmoset of the Aripuana River in Brazil,
was identified by experts only in 1996.

231

MARMOSETS AND TAMARINS

Feeding the Monkeys

Lion tamarins in danger

Lion tamarins are large tamarins famous for
their long, silky manes. There are four extremely
rare species, including the golden lion tamarin
(above). Lion tamarins live in coastal forests
in southeastern Brazil. However, 95 percent
of these forests have now been cut down. Fewer
than 1,000 individuals of some species are left.
Conservationists are trying to save these animals
by breeding them in zoos and then releasing
young lion tamarins into the wild.

232

Marmosets and tamarins feed on

both plant and animal foods. They
eat fruit, flowers, nectar, and the
gum that oozes from trees when the
bark is damaged. Some marmosets
make sure they have a regular supply
of gum by gouging holes and
grooves in gum tree trunks. These
little monkeys also hunt small
animals, such as frogs, snails, spiders,
lizards, and insects, such as
grasshoppers and beetles. They also
eat birds eggs and even young birds.
Marmosets and tamarins are active
mainly by day. They spend the day
moving slowly through the trees as
they search for food. Species such as
cotton-top tamarins travel around
one mile a day. At dusk, they return
to their regular sleeping tree. They
spend the night curled in a fork in
the branches or in a tree hole.

Social Life and Breeding

Marmosets and tamarins live in
groups of between four and twenty
monkeys. Small groups consist of a
mother, a father, and their young.
Larger groups contain the breeding
pairs grown-up offspring, who help
rear the newborns. The monkeys in
a group stay in close touch. They

omnivores

OW?
DID YOU KN
Saddle-back and mustached tamarins
move through the
forest in mixed-species groups.
Mustached tamarins search
for food high in the treetops, while
saddle-backs hunt
nearer the ground.
Young marmosets and tamarins spend
a lot of time playing
they wrestle and chase one another
through the treetops before reaching
adult size
at around two years old.

rest huddled together, play-fight,

and also comb one anothers fur to
remove dirt and fleas. Group
members have many ways of
communicating with one another.
They use scents, different facial
expressions and gestures, and all
sorts of sounds.
Each monkey group has a
particular area in which it feeds,
called a home range. The group
marks its territory with scents from
glands on each monkeys chest and
abdomen. These scents warn rival
groups to keep away. The monkeys
also make warning noises and
threatening movements, fluffing out
their fur and raising their mane or
tail to make themselves look larger.

Within each monkey group, there is

usually only one female that
produces babies. However, large
groups contain several adult males
for her to mate with. Females produce
one or two offspring, usually twins,
from 130 to 170 days after mating.
Newborn marmosets and tamarins
are large and heavya pair of twins
can weigh up to one-quarter of their
mothers weight. Not surprisingly, the
mother needs help in carrying her
babies. Older brothers and sisters
help raise the young monkeys. They
carry their small brothers and sisters
as the group moves through the forest
and even provide them with food.

Emperor
tamarins have
an extremely long
and distinctive
mustache. They
also have an
orange tail.

233

MARSUPIALS
Marsupials are a group of
mammals with unusual
breeding habits. Their offspring
are born early, before they are
fully developed. They finish
developing inside their mothers
pouch. Australia is famous
for its many marsupial species.

cientists divide all mammals into three

main groups, according to the way their
offspring develop. The largest group, placental
mammals, includes mice, bats, whales, dogs,
and monkeys. In these mammals, the offspring
develop inside the mothers womb, where they
are nourished by an organ called the placenta.
Marsupials, also known as pouched mammals,
are the second-largest group of mammals.

1. Mahogany glider
2. Common ringtail possum
3. Tasmanian pygmy possum
4. Leadbeaters possum
5. Striped possum
6. Feathertail glider
7. Sugar glider
8. Kangaroo Island dunnart

2
6
3

234

Fact File

MARSUPIALs

10
9

11

12

Families: 20 families (335 species)

Orders: Didelphimorphia (American opossums),
Paucituberculata (shrew opossums), Microbiotheria
(Monito del monte), Dasyuromorphia (quolls, dunnarts,
marsupial mice, and numbats), Notoryctemorphia
(marsupial moles), Peramelemorphia (Bandicoots and
bilbies), and Diprotodontia (cuscuses, brushtails, pygmy
possums, possums, gliders, ringtail possums, gliders,
striped possums, kangaroos, wallabies, musky rat
kangaroos, koalas, wombats, and honey possums)
Where do they live? Australasia and South and
North America, including Central America

13

Habitat: Varied, including rain forests, grasslands,

mountains, and deserts

9. Common brushtail possum

10. Numbat

Equator

11. Scaly-tailed possum

12. Gray or northern common cuscus
13. Spotted cuscus

Marsupials do not have a placenta, so their

offspring must be born much earlier. They
complete their development attached to the
mothers nipple, sometimes in a pouch. The
third group of mammals, monotremes, lay
eggs. Platypuses and echidnas are monotremes.

A Varied Group
Scientists have identified 335 marsupial species,
including kangaroos, wallabies, possums,
wombats, and koalas. Bandicoots, opossums,
numbats, gliders, quolls, and cuscuses are also
marsupials. Most marsupials live in Australia

Size: Varies according to species, from long-tailed

planigale (0.16 ounce; 4.5 g)
to red kangaroo (200 pounds; 95 kg)
Coat: Extremely varied, according to species
Diet: Varied, including plant food and insects; some
marsupials are meat eaters, while
others are omnivores
Breeding: Females give birth to 125 offspring,
according to species
Life span: Varies among species from
125 years in the wild
Status: Varies according to species

235

MARSUPIALS

and on the large island of New Guinea to the

north. In Australia, marsupials are the main
group of mammals. Some opossums live in
South and Central America; one species, the
Virginia opossum, lives in North America.

All Shapes and Sizes

Marsupials come in many shapes and
sizes. The largest marsupial, the red
kangaroo, can weigh 20,000 times as much
as the smallest species, the tiny long-tailed
planigale. Some marsupials look like mice,
with their rounded ears, bright eyes, and long
tail. Wombats look more like miniature bears.

OW?
DID YOU KN
The smallest marsupial, the long-tailed
planigale, weighs just 0.16 ounce!
Red kangaroos are the largest
marsupials on Earth. The males
stand up to 78 inches tall!
Marsupials make all sorts of noises.
Small possums squeak, while koalas
make loud bellowing sounds!

A few burrowing marsupials resemble moles.

However, many marsupials look like no other
mammal. Koalas have a cuddly appearance,
with a large head, a black nose, tufty ears,
and woolly fur. Kangaroos and wallabies can
stand upright on their long, strong back legs,
supported by a long, sturdy tail.

Habitats and Movement

Marsupials live in all sorts of habitats,
including tropical rain forests, grasslands,
mountains, and the dry Australian outback.
Possums, koalas, and gliders live in trees. Most
kangaroos and wallabies live on the ground.
Wombats sleep in underground burrows, while
marsupial moles spend their lives underground.

The Tasmanian devil is a meat-eating marsupial,

with powerful jaws and sharp teeth. Despite its
name, this animal is not dangerous to people.

236

MARSUPIALS

Marsupials move around in different ways.

Possums, opossums, and koalas are expert
climbers. Cuscuses have a long, flexible tail,
which they curl around branches as they
climb. Gliders are named for their habit of
launching themselves off high branches and
gliding gently downward. Kangaroos hop
along the ground on their strong, springy
back legs. Marsupial moles use a swimming
movement to burrow through the soil.

Types of Food
Marsupials eat all kinds of foods. Most are
herbivores, or plant eaters. Various species feed
on grass, leaves, tree gum, and nectar and pollen
from flowers. Quolls and Tasmanian devils are
meat-eating hunters. Some marsupials feed
mainly on insects. A few marsupial species are
omnivoresthey eat both plants and animals.

For example, the Virginia opossum of North

America eats fruit, flowers, eggs, and also
insects and other small creatures.

Growing in the Pouch

The unusual breeding habits of marsupials set
them apart from other mammals. Young
placental mammals develop inside the mothers
uterus until well formed. In contrast, baby
marsupials are born at a very early stage of
development. They are extremely underdeveloped and tinynewborn eastern gray
kangaroos weigh less than 0.03 ounce, for
example. They are born just thirty-six days after
mating. Newborn marsupials are blind and
hairless, with stubby, undeveloped limbs.
Immediately after birth, the tiny baby begins
an amazing journey from the mothers birth
opening to her pouch. The baby clings to her

Marsupial moles
Marsupial moles live underground in the
central deserts of Australia. With their
tiny eyes, silky fur, and barrel-shaped
body, they look like ordinary moles.
Marsupial moles have large, powerful
front limbs that end in long, curving
claws. They use these claws to shovel
sand aside as they tunnel underground.
These unusual marsupials feed on
insects and small reptiles, which they
find on the surface or below ground.

237

MARSUPIALS

Threats and conservation

Marsupials face many threats in the wild. predators brought to their homelands by
Some species have become rare because of people, including dingoes, red foxes, and
hunting. A striped marsupial called the
cane toads.
thylacine, or Tasmanian tiger, died out in
The biggest threat to marsupials is
the 1930s because of hunting. Australian
probably habitat loss. The forests where
marsupials are also threatened by new
some marsupials live are being cut down
for timber, and other wild
places are cleared to make
space for new farms, roads,
and towns. However, parts
of these wild habitats are
now protected as national
parks or preserves.
The last thylacine to be
captured in Tasmania, an island
off the southeastern coast of
Australia, died in a zoo in 1936.

fur with its front limbs and claws its way

upward. Somehow it knows to head for the
pouch on its mothers belly. When it reaches
the pouch, it climbs inside and clamps onto
the teat, which supplies milk. The teat swells
to fill the tiny marsupials mouth, so the baby
cannot drop out as the mother moves around.
After one or two months, the babys mouth
grows large enough to let go of the teat, but
the youngster stays in the pouch. Feeding on
its mothers rich milk, the baby grows quickly
238

and completes its development. Young eastern

gray kangaroos weigh 11 pounds at ten months
old, and they leave the pouch for short
periods. However, they continue to drink their
mothers milk until they are around eighteen
months old. They climb back into the pouch
to rest or whenever danger threatens.
Some female marsupials, such as South
American opossums, do not have a pouch. The
mother carries her babies inside two flaps of
skin on her belly until they are well grown.

MARSUPIALS

Social Life and Breeding

OW?
DID YOU KN

Marsupials vary in their social habits. Koalas

and brushtail possums are among the species
that mostly live alone. Each animal has its
own home range, in which it lives and feeds.
That home range usually overlaps with the
ranges of several others. Some gliders and
possums live in family groups consisting of a
mother, a father, and their offspring.
Alternatively, the group may include one
male and several females. Large kangaroos
live in mixed-sex groups called mobs.
Large marsupials such as kangaroos usually
produce just one baby. Small marsupials such
as pygmy possums and feathertail gliders give
birth to three to four babies at a time, and may
breed twice a year. Virginia opossums produce

1. Red kangaroo

Until the sixteenth century, marsupials

were unknown outside Australia
and the Americas!
European experts took three centuries
to realize that marsupials were not
strange rodents but a completely
different group of mammals!
Since the 1980s, scientists have
discovered several new marsupial
species. They include the long-footed
potoroo of Australia and two tree
kangaroo species from the rain
forests of New Guinea.

up to ten offspring, three times a year. Hensels

short-tailed opossum of South America may
hold the record for births among marsupials
up to twenty-five babies may be born at a time.

2. Wallaroo

3. Goodfellows
tree kangaroo
4. Bridled nailtailed wallaby
5. Red-legged pademelon
6. Whiptail wallaby

239

MARTEN
Marten spend much of their lives in trees
and are skilled climbers. These graceful members
of the weasel family are highly efficient killers.

240

CARNIVORES

arten are medium-sized mammals with a

compact body, wedge-shaped head, and
rounded ears. They have sharp claws and hairysoled paws that grip firmly to branches. Their bushy
tail helps them balance as they leap from tree to tree.
Marten are members of the weasel and skunk family,
which includes otters and badgers. The eight species of
marten have different markings. Most have dark brown
fur, often with a pale bib, or throat patch. One species,
the fisher, has no bib; it lives in North America. The
martens fur is soft and silky. Marten such as sables and
fishers were once hunted and trapped for their fur.

Meat-eating Forest Loners

Marten live in Europe, Asia, and North America. A
closely related species, the tayra, dwells in South and
Central America. Most marten live in forests. Sables,
European pine marten, and North American marten
live in northern conifer forests. Beech marten, also
called stone or house marten, live in pine forests,
broad-leaved woodlands, rocky areas, and near towns.
Marten feed mainly on small mammals, such as
squirrels, but they also eat birds, eggs, insects, and fruit.
Marten live alone, except for females with offspring.
Fishers mate in early spring, but most species mate in
late summer. The litter of one to five offspring, called
kits, are born blind, deaf, and helpless. However, by
three to four months they can kill their own prey.

Fact File
MARTEN
Family: Mustelidae; subfamily Mustelinae
(8 species)
Order: Carnivora
Where do they live? North America,
Europe, and Asia

Equator

Martenred; tayrasblue

Habitat: Coniferous and broad-leaved

forests; stone marten near towns
Size: Headbody length
1245 inches (3075
cm); weight 113 pounds
(0.56 kg)
Coat: Soft, thick, brown fur, often with
pale throat patch, or bib
Diet: Small mammals, birds,
fish, insects, and fruit
Breeding: Females give birth to 15
offspring, after 89 months gestation
Life span: 1015 years in the wild
Status: Nilgiri marten is listed
as vulnerable

A pine marten balances among the branches of a

conifer. Marten are expert hunters that can easily
chase and capture squirrels high in the treetops.

241

MOLES AND DESMANS

Moles and desmans are a varied group
of mammals. Moles spend their lives underground,
while desmans are strong swimmers
that find their food in water.

242

CARNIVORES

oles live in many parts of Europe, Asia, and

North America. There are forty species. Desmans
are much rarerthere are only two species. One lives in
southwestern Russia and eastern Europe, the other in the
Pyrenees mountains between France and Spain.
Moles and desmans have a long, cylindrical body
covered with dense, sleek fur. The slender snout is
hairless but has long, sensitive whiskers. The small eyes
are often hidden by fur. Moles and desmans rely on their
sense of touch to move around and find food. They have
touch-sensitive hairs on many parts of the body,
including the tail. The moles body is suited to its
burrowing lifestyle. The large, powerful, clawed front feet
dig through the soil and push it aside. A desmans body is
suited to swimming, with waterproof fur and a long, flat
tail that acts as a rudder. Its feet are webbed, and its
powerful hind legs act as flippers.

Feeding and Life Cycle

Moles feed on earthworms, slugs, and soil-dwelling
insects. Desmans hunt in water, feeding on waterdwelling insects, freshwater shrimps, and snails. Russian
desmans also eat larger prey, such as fish and frogs.
Moles are mainly solitary. Russian desmans may be
more socialup to eight have been found living in one
burrow. Moles produce two to seven offspring, which
feed on their mothers milk for four or five weeks.
Russian desmans produce three to five youngsters.
A European mole tunnels to the surface, using its
huge front feet to dig through the soil. Its pointed

Fact File
MOLEs AND DESMANs
Family: Talpidae (42 species)
Order: Eulipotyphla
Where do they live? North America,
Europe, and Asia

Equator

Habitat: Moleunderground in forests

and grasslands; desmansby rivers and
lakes
Size: Headbody
length 18.5 inches
(2.421.5 cm); weight
0.419.5 ounces (12550 g)
Coat: Moleshort, brownish black or
gray fur; desmanwaterproof fur, brown
on upper body, gray below
Diet: Moleearthworms, insect larvae,
and slugs; desmanaquatic insects,
shrimps, snails, and fish
Breeding: Mole27 offspring after
3042 days gestation; desman35
offspring after 15 days gestation
Life span: Mole45 years
Status: Small-toothed mole and Pere
Davids mole are critically endangered;
four further mole species are
endangered; both species of desmans are
vulnerable

snout is covered with long, sensitive whiskers.

243

MONGOOSES
Mongooses are agile, meat-eating mammals
of Africa and southern Asia. Some mongooses
are famous for their skill in tackling poisonous
scorpions and snakes.

244

CARNIVORES

ongooses are fast-moving, nimble animals.

Their long, slender shape allows them to chase
prey such as scorpions, insects, and mice down their
burrows. Mongooses have small, rounded ears, short
legs, and a long, bushy tail. They live in Africa, apart
from the Sahara desert, and from the Middle East to
Southeast Asia. Mongooses also live in southern Spain.
Mongooses dwell in forests, woodlands, marshes, dry
grasslands, and deserts. Most live on the ground, but
they are also skilled tree climbers and swim well. In
African grasslands, some species live in termite mounds.

Fact File
MONGOOSEs
Family: Herpestidae (33 species)
Order: Carnivora
Where do they live? Africa, Arabia,
South and Southeast Asia, and
southwestern Europe

Equator

Adaptable Hunters
Mongooses are meat eaters. They feed on whatever they
find, including rats, mice, snakes, lizards, insects, and
scorpions. Marsh mongooses feed on fish, crabs, and
mussels, while other mongooses eat fruit or birds eggs.
The Indian mongoose kills poisonous snakes, such as
cobras. Mongooses are so skilled at hunting that some
people have introduced them to new areas to control
rats, snakes, and other pests.
Most mongooses live alone, except when breeding.
However, a few species, such as meerkats and common
dwarf mongooses, live in groups of up to thirty animals.
These social species are small and live in dry grasslands,
where they feed on insects. Group life provides safety
in numbers. While the group feeds, one meerkat acts as
a sentry, rearing up on its hind legs to watch for danger.

Habitat: Varied, including forests,

woodlands, dry grasslands, and deserts
Size: Headbody
length 9.523 inches
(2458 cm); weight:
11 ounces11 pounds
(320 g5 kg)
Coat: Long, coarse fur, gray to brown
or yellowish; some have bands or
stripes
Diet: Small mammals, reptiles, birds
eggs, fish, crabs, insects, and fruit
Breeding: Females give birth to 16
offspring after 4260 days gestation
Life span: Up to 10 years in the wild,
and 19 years in zoos
Status: Most mongooses are not
threatened

A meerkat sentry watches for predators, such

as hawks and jackals. If it spots danger, it gives
a loud alarm call, and the meerkats dive for safety.

245

MONOTREMES
T
Monotremes are a small group
of extremely unusual mammals
that live in Australia and on the
large island of New Guinea to
the north. Unlike all other
mammals, monotremes
reproduce by laying eggs.

here are just five species of monotremes

the duck-billed platypus and four types of
echidnas. Monotremes breed by laying leathery
shelled eggs that hatch after around ten days. In
this respect, monotremes are like reptiles, which
also breed by laying eggs. However, monotremes
Echidnas (below left) and duck-billed platypuses
(below right) are monotremes that lay eggs.

246

are unmistakably mammals. They have a furry

body and are warm-bloodedtheir body
temperature stays the same whatever their
surroundings. Like other mammals, female
monotremes feed their offspring on milk.

Echidnas
Echidnas, also called spiny anteaters, are
covered with sharp spines. They have a thin,
pointed snout with no teeth, and large clawed
feet. The short-beaked echidna lives in Australia,
Tasmania, and New Guinea. It feeds on ants
and termites, which it slurps up with its long,
sticky tongue. The three species of long-beaked
echidnas live in the mountains of New Guinea.
They eat earthworms, which they grind into
pieces using horny spines in their mouth.
Echidnas defend themselves against enemies
by rolling into a prickly ball or burrowing into
the soil, leaving just their spines showing. In
New Guinea, echidnas hibernate in winter.
The female echidna lays her eggs and scoops
them into a pouch on her abdomen. When the
offspring hatch after ten days, they lap up the
milk that seeps from patches in the pouch.

Duck-billed Platypus
The duck-billed platypus has a ducklike beak, a
molelike body, and webbed feet. It lives by
streams and rivers in eastern Australia. The
platypus hunts food underwater, finding prey
with its touch-sensitive bill. The male has
poisonous spurs on his hind legs, with which he
threatens other males in the breeding season.
Female platypuses have no pouch. They lay
their eggs in a grass-lined burrow by the river.

Fact File
MONOTREMES
Families: Tachyglossidae (4 species of echidnas) and
Ornithorhynchidae (duck-billed platypus)
Order: Monotremata
Where do they live? Australia, including Tasmania,
and New Guinea

Duck-billed platypus

Echidna

Habitat: Echidnavaried, including forests,

grasslands, and mountains; platypusby rivers
and streams
Size: Echidnaheadbody length 1235 inches
(3090 cm); weight 5.522 pounds (2.510 kg).
Platypusheadbody length of male 17.723.6
inches (4560 cm), bill 2.3 inches (5.8 cm);
weight of male 2.25.3 pounds (12.4 kg)
Coat: Echidnablack or brown, spines on back
and sides; platypussoft, dark-brown fur
Diet: Echidnaants, termites, and earthworms;
platypuswater-dwelling insects and shrimps
Breeding: Females lay 13 eggs that hatch
after around 10 days
Life span: Echidnanot known in wild, but up to
49 years in zoos; platypus10 years in the wild,
and up to 17 years in zoos
Status: Short-beaked echidna and platypus are
lower risk; western long-beaked echidna is
endangered

247

NEW WORLD MONKEYS

New World monkeys are agile, forest-dwelling monkeys
that live in Central and South America. They include
some of the worlds brainiest mammals,
and the only monkeys that are active at night.

248

herbivores

he New World is made up of North America,

Central America, and South America. Monkeys
do not live in the United States but they do live in
Mexico and much of northern South America. New
World monkeys have a flatter face and more widely
spaced nostrils than Old World Monkeys, which live in
Africa and Asia. Some New World monkeys have a
nimble, prehensile (grasping) tail. There are ninety-one
species of New World monkeys. They include small,
agile squirrel monkeys, capuchins, and night monkeys,
which scamper through the branches by moonlight.
Howler monkeys are famous for their loud calls. Spider
monkeys have long, spindly limbs that make them
resemble spiders. The group also includes titis, woolly
monkeys, and uakaris, which have a hairless, red face.

From Little toLarge

New World monkeys vary from light, nimble
squirrel monkeys that measure just 10 inches long
from head to rump, to woolly spider monkeys that
measure 25 inches long. In many species, males are
larger than females. New World monkeys vary in
color from white and yellow to red, brown, and
black. In a few species, males and females are
different colors. Some species have a tail up to 29
inches long, while uakaris have a short tail.
New World monkeys live mostly in moist, tropical
forests that stay green all year round. Many species
A female white-faced saki watches from a treetop.

Fact File
NEW WORLD MONKEYS
Families: Cebidae (16 species of
capuchins and squirrel monkeys), Aotidae
(10 species of night monkeys), Atelidae
(25 species of spider, woolly, and howler
monkeys, and muriquis), and Pitheciidae
(40 species of sakis, titis, and uakaris)
Order: Primates
Where do they
live? Mexico south
through northern
South America

Equator

Habitat: Tropical
and subtropical
forests, from sea
level to 3,280 feet
(1,000 m)
Size: Headbody
length 1025
inches (2563 cm);
weight 1.3 pounds
26 pounds (0.6 kg12 kg)
Coat: Varies from white to yellow, red,
brown, or black; some species have
markings, mostly on the head
Diet: Plant food, including fruit, nuts,
seeds, and leaves; also insects and
occasionally small mammals
Breeding: 12 offspring, born after
120225 days gestation
Life span: 1225 years, depending on
species
Status: Around one-third of species are
scarce or in danger of dying out

These New World monkeys eat mainly fruit but also

seeds and some leaves. The males have a white face.

249

NEW WORLD MONKEYS

A group of
squirrel monkeys
enjoys a grooming
session. These
activities help
strengthen the
bonds among
group members.

dwell in the Amazon rain forest in

South Americathe worlds largest
rain forest. Some species live high on
mountains, while others dwell in
lowlands or near the seashore.
Uakaris live in flooded swamp
forests on the banks of rivers, such as
the Amazon. Some monkeys live over
a huge area, while the Coiba Island
howler monkey lives on just one
small island off the coast of Panama.

New World monkeys spend most

of their life in the trees. Some
species climb down to the ground
to play, look for food, or travel
between patches of forest.
All New World monkeys are
skilled climbers, but they move
about the forest in different ways.
Squirrel monkeys leap through the
treetops, like squirrels. Spider
monkeys hang from branches by
their long arms and swing from paw
to paw. Large species, such as howler
monkeys, clamber about more
slowly. Some species have a long,
flexible, prehensile tail that acts as a
fifth limb for gripping branches.

Types of Feeding

monkey Grooming
New World monkeys make close links with
others in their group by groomingcleaning one
anothers fur. One monkey approaches another
and lies down on a branch to invite a grooming
session. The groomer combs through the other
monkeys fur, concentrating on hard-to-reach
places. This monkey works for a few minutes
and then turns around to be groomed itself.

250

New World monkeys are mostly

plant eaters, feeding on fruit, leaves,
flowers, nuts, and seeds. Some species
catch insects or even small mammals
to vary their diet.
Monkeys that eat mainly leaves,
such as howler monkeys, have broad
teeth and a long digestive system to
help break down their tough, stringy
food. Capuchins eat hard seeds,
which they crack open by banging
them together. Squirrel monkeys have
sharp, narrow teeth with which they
crunch insects.

3
4

herbivores

6
5

7
9

Group Life
New World monkeys live in groups
of different sizes. Most small
monkeys, including night monkeys
and titi monkeys, live in small
1. White-faced saki family units made up of a father, a
2. Bald uakari
mother, and their offspring from
3. Red-bellied titi
different years. Large species live in
4. Squirrel monkey groups of at least five monkeys.
5. Smokey woolly
Howler monkeys and capuchins
monkey
live in groups called harems, made
6. Geoffroys
up of one male and several females.
spider monkey
Squirrel monkeys live in large
7. Black howler
groups of thirty to forty animals.
monkey
The group is made up of several
8. Brown capuchin adult males, up to twelve females,
9. Northern night
and their offspring. Living in a large
monkey
group has several advantages. While

OW?
DID YOU KN
Geoffroys spider monkey can
pick up small items of food
with its delicate tail!
Some New World monkeys have
a prehensile (grasping) tail with
a hairless tip, which provides an
extra-good grip on branches.
In some species of new World
monkeys, most females have color
vision, while the males are always
color-blind.

251

NEW WORLD MONKEYS

the monkeys feed, many eyes and

ears are alert for danger, such as an
approaching hawk or eagle. Group
members also share discoveries of
good food sources, such as a tree
heavy with ripe fruit.
Each monkey group has a home
range or patch of forest in which it
feeds. Some monkeys defend this
territory against rival groups. They
make warning calls or shake the
branches in a fierce display. Howler
monkeys and titi monkeys make
loud whooping cries at dawn to
warn away rival groups. However,
groups of black-capped squirrel
monkeys are content to share the
same feeding tree.

A few types of New World

monkeys form mixed groups made
up of two different species. Spider
monkeys and capuchins team up
in this way. Squirrel monkeys team
up with either capuchins or uakaris.

Breeding and Conservation

New World monkeys breed slowly.
The females usually produce just one
baby, occasionally twins, between
four and seven-and-a-half months
after mating. The young animals
spend a lot of time playing. They
play-fight and explore their leafy
world. As the mother moves through
the treetops, the baby monkey rides
on her back or clings to her fur.

Night monkeys
Night monkeys of South America are the only
monkeys that are strictly nocturnalthey are
active only at night. With their large eyes, night
monkeys see well in the darkness. They feed
on leaves, fruit, and insects. They can see to
catch insects even in dim light. On moonlit
nights, they make spectacular leaps through
the branches, sometimes covering 10 to 16 feet
in a single bound. Night monkeys live in small
groups of up to five animals.

252

herbivores

Nearly one-third of all New World

monkeys are rare, and some are in
danger of dying out altogether. The
main threat is habitat loss because
the forests in which the monkeys live
are cut down for timber or to clear
the land for farming. In some parts
of the Amazon, up to 100,000 acres
are cut down every day. In the
Amazon rain forest, local people also
hunt spider monkeys and woolly
monkeys for meat.

OW?
DID YOU KN
Some New World monkeys use
various plants as medicines to
treat skin or digestive problems.
Some monkeys also use plants to
keep insects away!
Groups of brown capuchin
monkeys spread out to search for
food. If one monkey discovers a
good supply of fruit, it gives a loud
whistle to call the others!
Some leaf-eating monkeys eat soil,
which contains minerals that help
them digest the poison present in
their leafy food!

High in the
rain forest canopy,
a white-faced
capuchin grips the
branches with its
hands and feet.

253

ORANGUTANS
The steamy rain forests of Southeast Asia are home
to large, hairy apes called orangutans. Orangutans
are among the most intelligent of all mammals,
but they are now extremely rare.

254

herbivores

rangutans live in the rain forests of Southeast

Asia. There are two speciesone lives on the
large island of Borneo, which is part of Indonesia,
and the other on neighboring Sumatra. The word
orangutan means forest person in a local language.
Orangutans are covered with long, shaggy orangered hair. Their arms are much longer than their legs.
They use their long arms to move through the forest.
The ape grasps the branches with its long, hooklike
hands and swings from arm to arm. This method of
movement is called brachiation.
Orangutans grow up to 54 inches tall. Males can be
twice the size of females. An adult male is an
impressive sight, with large cheek pouches and a mane
of long hair on his shoulders. He also has a large throat
pouch, which he uses to make loud, booming calls.

Fruit Feeders in the Trees

Orangutans spend their life in the trees and rarely
come down to the ground. They are active during the
day, when they look for food. Twice a day, they make a
sleeping platform in a tree by breaking and folding
branches and placing branches and twigs on top. One
nest is used for a brief daytime nap, and a more sturdy
nest is made for nighttime. If it is raining, the ape adds
an extra layer of branches to make a watertight roof.
Orangutans have large appetites. They are mainly
plant eaters. They feed mostly on many kinds of
A male orangutan has extremely shaggy fur, a bare

Fact File
ORANGUTANs
Pongo pygmaeus (Bornean
orangutan) and Pongo abelii
(Sumatran orangutan)
Family: Hominidae
Order: Primates
Where do they live?
Borneo and northern
Sumatra (Southeast Asia)

Equator

Habitat: Tropical rain forests

Size: Headbody length
3138 inches (7897
cm); weight: 88200
pounds (4090 kg)
Coat: Long, shaggy, orange-red hair; bare
black face; pinkish muzzle
Diet: Fruit, shoots, vines, bark, seeds,
insects, birds eggs, and occasionally small
mammals
Breeding: 1 offspring born after 235
270 days gestation
Life span: Up to 35 years in the wild,
and up to 60 years in zoos
Status: Critically endangered (Bornean
orangutan); endangered (Sumatran
orangutan)

black face, and large cheek pads of fatty tissue.

Fully grown, a male can reach up to 54 inches tall.

255

ORANGUTANS

fruit, including figs and mangoes.

They also eat young leaves, vines,
bark, insects, birds eggs, and
sometimes small mammals.
Orangutans have a strong jaw, with
broad teeth to grind hard seeds and
rip off tree bark.
Orangutans mostly live in valleys
and lowland forests because food is
more plentiful there. They spend
their days moving slowly through the
forest, stopping to feed at ripe fruit
trees. They usually cover less than

half a mile in a day. Each orangutan

has a home rangethe total area in
which it lives and feeds. These apes
do not mind other orangutans using
the same area. Bornean orangutans
are loners, except for females and
their offspring. Sumatran orangutans
are more sociable, traveling around in
groups.

Slow-breeding Apes
Orangutans are slow breeders. The
females do not usually give birth
until around the age of fifteen years.
They take up to six years to rear each
youngster, and live to around thirtyfive years. So, a female will have
only three or four babies in her
lifetime. The female gives birth
to a single baby eight to nine
months after mating. She
carries her baby
continuously for the first
year. The youngster feeds
on its mothers milk
until the age of three
and remains with her
A female
Sumatran
orangutan grasps
a branch with its
hooklike hands.

256

DID YOU
KNOW?
An orangutans
arms can grow
to 6.6 feet long!
The loud call of the
male orangutan
echoes more than
a mile through the
forests!
Orangutans get
moisture from juicy
fruit. They also
drink from rainfilled tree holes,
streams, and
pools.

herbivores

using Tools
Orangutans are among the
worlds brainiest primates.
Primates are members of the
order (large group) Primates,
which includes humans,
apes, monkeys, and lemurs.
Sumatran orangutans use stick
tools to take honey from bees
nests. They also use twigs to
fish ants and termites from
their nests. Young orangutans
learn these skills by copying
the adults. Scientists think
that the use of tools by animals
is a sign of intelligence.

for seven to ten years. The baby

orangutan learns many things from
its mother, including how to find
more than 400 different types of food
and how to find its way through the
forest. Sumatran orangutans also
learn to use tools (see the box above).

Threats and Conservation

A few centuries ago, orangutans were
widespread in Southeast Asia. Now
they are rare and in danger of
extinction. Hunting and habitat loss
are to blame. Local people kill
orangutans for food. Many years ago,

orangutans were also captured for

zoos and for sale as pets. Now, forest
destruction is the biggest danger to
these apes. The forests where the
orangutans live are being cut down
for timber at an increasing rate. In the
last few years, fires have also damaged
large areas of rain forest.
The main hope for saving these
intelligent creatures is to set up
preserves and national parks to
protect orangutans from loggers and
hunters. Preserves have now been set
up on Sumatra and Borneo in an
attempt to increase the numbers of
these endangered animals.

Using its
hands and feet,
this young
orangutan swings
effortlessly from
the trees. An
orangutans fingers
are nimble enough
to use sticks as
tools to get food.

257

OTTERS
Members of the weasel family, otters are thoroughly
at home in water. Otters live and hunt by rivers,
lakes, or the ocean. Sea otters spend almost
all of their life in the ocean.

258

carnivores

n otters body is suited to life in water. Most

otters have webbed feet, with skin between the
toes. Webbed feet act as paddles, pushing against the
water. Some otters have a broad, flat tail, like a
beavers tail. Otters have a long, slender body. This
streamlined shape slips easily through the water,
which enables fast swimming. Otter fur is made up of
two layersa layer of long, coarse outer hairs called
guard hairs, and a layer of dense, fine underfur. This
arrangement keeps the mammal warm in cold water.

Fact File
OTTERs
Family: Mustelidae; subfamily Lutrinae
(13 species)
Order: Carnivora
Where do they live? Widespread
outside polar regions; not Australia or
Madagascar

Equator

Feeding on Fish
Otters are meat eaters and belong to an order (large
group) of mainly meat-eating mammals called
Carnivora. This order includes cats, dogs, and bears.
Otters eat mainly fish, but many species also catch frogs,
crabs, clams, and crayfish. Some otters also hunt birds
and small mammals. Otters mostly take slow-moving
fish, such as eels. When hunting in water, otters use the
sensitive whiskers on their snout to help find their prey.
African and Asian clawless otters feel for crabs
underwater with their long fingers. Otters use their
nimble forepaws to hold food and prise open shells.
Keeping warm in cold water uses a great deal of
energy. Otters eat large amounts of food to provide
this energy. Most otters spend three to five hours a
day fishing. Mothers with hungry cubs spend around
eight hours a day hunting. European otters need to

Habitat: By and in rivers and

streams; also coastal waters
Size: Headtail length
2.25.9 feet (66180
cm); weight 1188
pounds (545 kg)
Coat: Brown; darker above, with paler
underparts
Diet: Mainly fish; also frogs, crabs, and
crayfish; sometimes birds and small
mammals
Breeding: 14 cubs, usually born
after 6070 days gestation, but
sometimes 12 months
Life span: Up to 20 years
Status: Some species are vulnerable
or endangered

This otter clearly shows the short, dense fur that

keeps the animal warm in its watery habitat.
Otters were once hunted for their thick, soft fur.

259

OTTERS

eat around 15 percent of their body

weight every day to maintain a
warm body temperature. North
Pacific sea otters have to eat even
more, around 20 to 25 percent of
their body weight, to keep warm.

The Otter Family

Otters are mustelids, members of the
weasel and marten family, which also
contains badgers. Otters are a
widespread group of mammals and
live in many parts of Europe, Africa,
Asia, and the Americas. Otters do not
live in Australia. There are thirteen
species of otters. Most areas contain
only one species of otter.
Many otters live by freshwater rivers
and streams, but some species live

OW?
DID YOU KN
The largest otter, the giant
otter of South America,
measures up to 5.9 feet
from snout to tail tip!
Short-clawed otters of
southern Asia are the
smallest otters. Adults
measure as little as 26
inches from nose to tail tip.
Otters have small, rounded
ears, which close to keep out
the water when they dive.

and hunt in saltwater. Two American

species spend almost their whole life
in the ocean. The marine otter lives
off the west coast of South America,
while the sea otter dwells in the
North Pacific, from California north
to arctic waters.

3
2
4

260

carnivores

Social Life and Scent Marking

Otters vary in their social habits.
European otters are mostly solitary,
but several females may live close
together when they have offspring. In
usually solitary species such as this,
each otter has its own patch, or home
range, in which it hunts. Each otter
defends its patch against others of its
kind. Male otters have a larger range
than females. Otters mark their
territory by leaving urine, droppings
(called spraint), and by smearing
scent from glands at the tail base.
Some types of otters are more
social than European otters. Male
North American otters live in groups
of around twelve animals. North
Pacific sea otters gather in large

1 A short-clawed otter reaches out

with its forelimbs to take food.

2 The spot-necked otter stretches

for food using its neck and body.

3 A smooth-coated otter uses its webbed

forepaws to hold a shell to its mouth.

4 Like all otters, the North American

river otter has a flat, streamlined skull.

5 A sea otter cracks open a shell

on a stone held on its chest.

groups called rafts, made up of

hundreds of otters. Group life
probably helps keep otters safe from
predators, such as sharks and killer
whales. After mating, female sea
otters form a separate group in
which they rear their young.

This sea otter

has broken open
a mussel shell,
using the rock
balanced on its
chest as an anvil.

Tool-using Sea Otter

The sea otter of the North Pacific is one of the
few mammals that uses tools when hunting.
When the otter dives down to hunt clams,
it uses a flat stone to dislodge shellfish clinging
to rocks underwater. The otter then brings the
food to the surface to eat. It places the flat stone
on its chest and uses it as a makeshift anvil.
The sea otter smashes the clam against the
stone to break it open and reach the flesh
inside. The use of tools is generally taken
as a sign of intelligence among animals.

261

OTTERS

This sea otter has wrapped seaweed

around itself while it rests on its back
to prevent it from floating off in the sea.

Breeding and Rearing Cubs

Changing fortunes
The North Pacific sea otter has suffered mixed
fortunes at the hands of humans. In the late
nineteenth and early twentieth century, this
otter was hunted for its fur, and its numbers
dropped steeply. Only around 1,500 sea otters
were left by 1911, when otter hunting was
banned. Following the ban, sea otter numbers
increased to around 150,000 by the 1980s.
However, in 1989, spilled oil from the tanker
Exxon Valdez, which was wrecked off the
coast of Alaska, polluted the North Pacific
and killed at least 5,000 sea otters.

262

North American river otters breed

in spring, but many otters breed at
any time of year. Female otters give
birth to one to four cubs, around
sixty to seventy days after mating.
In European otters, males and
females come together only to mate,
and the male plays no further part
in rearing the babies.
Sea otter mothers usually carry
their young pups on their chest,
where they carefully nurse them.
The female otter teaches her
offspring to hunt by releasing live
fish for them to catch. Even with all
this practice, the cubs take eighteen
months to perfect their fishing skills.
Otters are known for their
playfulness. Cubs are often seen
sliding down muddy river banks
into the water or tunneling through
snowdrifts, apparently for fun.
The cubs also play-fight and
chase along riverbanks and in the
water. Adult otters can also be
playful. Scientists think that this
behavior may help strengthen the
bonds among group-living otters.

carnivores

Threats and Environment

Many species of otters were once
hunted for their soft fur, which
was used to make warm clothing.
European otters were hunted so
much that they died out in some
parts of western Europe. By the
mid-twentieth century, these otters
were no longer hunted, but they
were dying because of pollution.
Poisonous chemicals used in farming
were draining into rivers and streams
and killing the otters. By the 1990s,
these harmful chemicals were
banned. Numbers of European
otters started to rise again.

However, in other parts of the

world, otters are still threatened
by hunting and pollution. Growing
towns and villages expand into the
wild places where these otters live.

OW?
DID YOU KN
Most otters hunt food on their
own, but giant, North American,
and smooth-coated otters
sometimes hunt in groups.
Sea otters bathe regularly
in freshwater, which helps
keep their coat waterproof.
Otters make a variety of
sounds, including aggressive
snarls, friendly whistles,
and huffing alarm noises.

Sea otters are

social. They live
in groups, which
probably help
keep them safe
from predators.

263

PANGOLINS
Pangolins are armor-plated mammals. Their body
is covered with tough, overlapping scales that protect
it from enemies. They feed on ants and termites, which
the pangolins slurp up with their long, sticky tongue.

264

carnIVORES

angolins have a small head, a long body, and a

stout tail. Each short, powerful leg ends in five
toes with long, curving claws. Pangolins have horny,
overlapping scales over the head, upper body, and
tail, but the underside is scaleless. This armor-plating
protects the pangolin from predators. When threatened,
some pangolins roll into a tight ball.

Fact File
PANGOLINs
Family: Manidae (7 species)
Order: Pholidota
Where do they live? Africa south of
the Sahara desert, southern and
Southeast Asia

Toothless Insect Eaters

Pangolins have no teeth. The animals long snout holds
a long, sticky tongue, which the pangolin uses to scoop
up ants and termites. The pangolin breaks open the
ants nests with its powerful claws and sucks up the
insects. The giant pangolin, the largest species, can eat
up to 200,000 ants in a single night.
The seven species of pangolins live in Africa and
southern Asia in various habitats, ranging from lush
rain forests to thorn forests and tropical grasslands, or
savannas. Many pangolins live in trees. Their long claws
and flexible, prehensile (grasping) tail allow them to
climb with ease. They search out the hanging nests of
tree-dwelling insects. Two species of African pangolins
live on the ground. They sleep in the burrows of other
animals and hunt ground-dwelling ants and termites.
Pangolins normally live alone. Females give birth
to one or two babies, around two to four months
after mating. The mother carries her baby for the
first few months, with the baby clinging to her tail.

Equator

Habitat: From forests to tropical

grasslands
Size: Headbody length
1233 inches (3085
cm); weight 2.673 pounds
(1.233 kg)
Coat: Horny, overlapping scales
on upper body; yellowish to
dark brown
Diet: Ants and termites
Breeding: 12 offspring, born after
65139 days gestation; mature at 2
years
Life span: At least 13 years in zoos
Status: Cape, Indian, Chinese, and
Malayan pangolins are lower risk, near
threatened

Ground-living pangolins such as this are sometimes

hunted in Africa and Asia for meat and also for their
scales, which are used to make traditional medicines.

265

PECCARIES
Peccaries are hoofed mammals that look like furry
pigs. With their keen senses of smell and hearing,
peccaries search out all sorts of food.

266

OMNIVORES

ith their long snout, stout body, and neat,

hoofed feet, peccaries look similar to pigs.
Peccaries live in the Americas, while wild pigs live in
Europe, Africa, and Asia. Peccaries dwell in forests,
woods, scrublands, and grasslands. There are three
species: the collared peccary; the white-lipped peccary;
and the Chacoan peccary, which is the largest.

Fact File
PECCARies
Family: Tayassuidae (3 species)
Order: Artiodactyla
Where do they live? Southwestern
United States, Central America, and
northern Argentina in South America

Omnivorous Eaters
Peccaries are omnivoresthey feed on both plant and
animal foods. Plant foods include fruit, seeds, roots,
vines, and cactus stems. Peccaries use their keen nose to
snuff out roots and bulbs underground. They also eat
insects and other small creatures, including mammals
and carrion (the flesh of dead animals).
Peccaries are social animals and live in herds. Chacoan
peccaries live in small groups of two to ten adults and
offspring. White-lipped peccary herds usually contain
fifty to one hundred animals. Each herd has a territory
called a home range where the animals find food. Whitelipped peccaries have the largest home range, up to 42
square miles. Each herd follows an experienced leader.
In the wild, the main enemies of peccaries are jaguars
and mountain lions. If the group senses a predator
approaching, one or two older animals stay behind
to face the attacker, while the rest escape. If a predator
gets close without being noticed, the group scatter in
all directions, making loud warning cries.
A female peccary looks after her two offspring.

Equator

Habitat: Tropical forests, woodlands,

thorn scrublands, and grasslands
Size: Headbody length
3153 inches (78135
cm); weight 3595
pounds (1643 kg)
Coat: Adults are gray, brown, or black;
young are reddish; some species have
white collars
Diet: Varied, including fruit, roots, seeds,
stems, insects, small mammals, and
carrion (dead animals)
Breeding: 14 offspring born after
145158 days gestation
Life span: 916 years in the wild, and up
to 24 years in zoos
Status: Chacoan peccary is endangered

Peccaries are hunted for their meat and hides, but

the biggest threat is habitat loss as forests are cleared.

267

PIKAS
Small and compact, pikas are mammals with long, silky
fur that live in mountains and other rugged places.
These lively little animals survive long, harsh winters
by storing plant food gathered in the fall.

268

herbIVORES

ikas are members of the hare and rabbit order

(large group) Lagomorpha. Instead of a rabbits
long ears, pikas have large, rounded ears. Pikas also
have short legs and a stumpy tail. They are around
the size of a rat but are rounded and have fine, silky
fur. When pikas sit hunched on a rock or in a grassy
meadow, they look like fluffy balls.

Fact File
PIKAs
Family: Ochotonidae (30 species)
Order: Lagomorpha
Where do they live? Western North
America, the Middle East, and central Asia

Harsh Habitats and Stores of Hay

Pikas live in remote, rugged country in North
America, the Middle East, and Asia. They live on
mountains, to heights of 20,000 feet, where their long,
silky fur helps keep them warm. Pikas also inhabit
the high, windswept plainsor steppesof Asia, and
dry, barren areas that are almost deserts. Pikas are
plant eaters, feeding on grass, leaves, and flowers.
Unlike rats and mice, which are rodents, pikas do not
hold their food in their front paws when eating. Pikas
grind tough plants by moving their jaws from side to
side. They are mostly active by day.
Some mammals, such as marmots, that live in high
mountains or windy plains survive long, harsh winters
in a deep sleeplike hibernation. Pikas do not
hibernate. Instead, each pika lays in a store of hay to
eat when snow covers the ground. Pikas gather grass
in the fall and store it under overhanging rocks to keep
it dry. They stay active all winter, tunneling through
the snow to reach their hay piles and other food.
With its mouth full of grass, twigs, and leaves,
this rock-dwelling pika is collecting food during

Equator

Habitat: Piles of rocky debris on

mountains or burrows in meadows,
Asian steppes, and dry areas
Size: Headbody
length 4.711.2
inches (1228.5 cm);
weight 1.812.3
ounces (50350 g)
Coat: Dense, soft, grayish or reddish
fur; upper body darker than underparts
Diet: Plant food, including grass and
leaves
Breeding: Rock dwellers15
offspring up to twice a year; burrowers
113 offspring up to 5 times a year; 21
days gestation
Life span: Rock dwellers up to 7 years;
burrowers 13 years
Status: 5 species are vulnerable; 1 is
endangered; silver pika is critically
endangered

the late summer to build its winter hay store.

269

pikas

Rock Dwellers and Burrowers

There are thirty species of pikas,
divided into two groups that live in
different habitats. In mountains,
pikas make their homes among heaps
of rocks, called scree or talus, which
collect at the foot of mountain slopes.
On windswept plains and other
barren places, pikas live in burrows.
Rock-dwelling pikas and burrowing
pikas differ in many ways, including
Stretching up
on its hind legs,
a ground-dwelling
pika strips off
the leaves on a
low-growing twig.

270

in their social habits. Rock-dwelling

pikas are loners. Each animal has a
territorythe patch of mountain
meadow where it feeds. It defends its
patch against other pikas of the same
sex, driving them away. It is more
friendly to pikas of the opposite sex.
Burrowing pikas are more sociable.
They live in family groups made up
of a mother, a father, and their
offspring of different ages. These

herbIVORES

are fast breedersthe females can

produce as many as thirteen babies at
once and can breed five times a year.

Pikas and People

PIKACommunication
Rock-dwelling pikas and burrowing pikas produce
different noises to communicate. Rock dwellers
have a short alarm call that warns other pikas of
danger. The males make long calls, called songs,
in the breeding season. Burrowing pikas use a
wider range of sounds to communicate with their
family. Their calls include whines, trilling sounds,
long breeding calls, and short alarm calls.

pikas rest bundled up together. They

rub noses and play-fight, chasing one
another near the burrow. When on
the move, the babies line up behind a
parent, usually the father, and follow
him in a line, like a tiny train.

Breeding Habits and Life Cycle

The breeding habits of rock-dwelling
and burrowing pikas are completely
different. Rock dwellers breed
relatively slowly. The females usually
produce just one or two offspring
each year. However, burrowing pikas

Rock-dwelling pikas live in remote

regions where there are few people.
Some areas are so remote that
scientists do not know how many
pikas even exist. Burrowing pikas live
in large numbers in some parts of
Asiaup to 750 pikas in one acre.
Some farmers treat them as pests
because they believe pikas damage
the grasslands where their animals
graze. In parts of China, farmers kill
pikas using poison.
However, wildlife experts believe
that pikas help improve the soil in
the grasslands with their burrows.
Pikas also provide food for predators,
such as hawks and weasels, and their
burrows shelter lizards and birds.

OW?
DID YOU KN
In the fall, American pikas spend
one-third of their time making hay
piles, dashing back and forth with
mouthfuls of grass.
Some Asian rock-dwelling pikas
add to a shared pile of hay.
Burrowing pikas spend time
grooming one another. They comb
through one anothers fur to
remove dirt and fleas.
271

PLATYPUS
One of the worlds most unusual mammals, the duck-billed
platypus lives only in Australia. This extraordinary looking
creature is a monotremea member of the small group
of mammals that breeds by laying eggs.

272

carnivores

hen experts first saw a platypus skin around

1800, they thought it was made by stitching
together parts of several different animals. That was
hardly surprising because the platypus has a ducklike
beak, a flattish body covered with fine fur, like a mole,
large, clawed, webbed feet like an otter, and a beaverlike
tail. Platypuses live by rivers and streams in eastern
Australia. They are nocturnal (active at night), spending
the day in riverbank burrows, which they dig with their
strong claws. At night, they find food, such as shrimps,
by diving underwater. The sensitive, leathery beak picks
up tiny electrical signals given off by the prey creatures
muscles. Storing its prey in cheek pouches, the platypus
surfaces and grinds the food with horny mouth pads.
Unusually for mammals, male platypuses are armed
with poisonous spurs on the back of their hind legs.
They may use these spurs to fight or frighten off other
males in the breeding season. Platypus poison is strong
enough to kill a dog and cause a human great pain.

Egg-laying Life Cycle

Platypuses mate between winter and spring in Australia.
Around three weeks after mating, the female lays one to
three eggs in a grass-lined nest in a burrow. The
leathery shelled eggs hatch after ten days. The babies
suck milk from the fur around mammary gland
openings on the mothers abdomen. The young grow
quickly and leave the burrow after three to four months.

Fact File
PLATYPUS
Ornithorhynchus anatinus
Family: Ornithorhynchidae
Order: Monotremata
Where do they live? Eastern Australia
and Tasmania
Equator

Habitat: By rivers, streams, and lakes

Size: Headbody length
1524 inches (3960
cm); weight 2.25.3
pounds (12.4 kg)
Coat: Dense, soft fur; dark brown upper
body, reddish midline, and paler below
Diet: Water-dwelling insects, shrimps,
and crayfish
Breeding: 13 eggs hatch around 10
days after being laid; mature after 34
months
Life span: Around 10 years in the wild,
and up to 17 years in zoos
Status: Lower risk, least concern;
scarce in some areas

A platypus dives to find food, such as shrimps. When

it dives, the platypus shuts its eyes, ears, and nostrils,
relying entirely on its sensitive beak to detect prey.

273

POLAR BEAR
Polar bears live in the far north. The worlds largest
bears, polar bears are meat-eating hunters.
They hunt mainly seals and also small whales.

274

carnivores

olar bears live in the Arctic. This region is

mainly an ice-covered ocean, surrounded by
the northernmost parts of North America, Europe,
and Asia. Polar bears live out on the sea ice and on
remote coasts and islands. They are thoroughly at
home on the ice and in water. Their scientific name,
Ursus maritimus, means sea bear. Polar bears are
strong swimmers. They paddle with their broad
front paws. Their back legs are held out behind to
help with steering. They can swim steadily for hours
and are often seen far out to sea.
Polar bears are massive, with a stocky, rounded
body, a long neck, and a broad head. The males are
around twice the size of the females. An adult male
polar bear can weigh around 1,320 pounds, which is
as heavy as seven adult humans.
Polar bears keep warm in icy water with the help of
their thick fur and a layer of fatty blubber just below
the skin. Their white fur also provides camouflage,
helping the bear blend in with its snowy surroundings.
The only parts of the body not covered with fur are
the soles of the feet and the tip of the nose.

Skilled Hunters
Most types of bears are omnivoresthey eat both
plant and animal foods. Polar bears are unusual in that
they live almost entirely on meat. Their favorite prey
are seals, especially ringed seals. Polar bears hunt seals

Fact File
POLAR BEAR
Ursus maritimus
Family: Ursidae
Order: Carnivora
Where do they live? Arctic

Equator

Habitat: Sea ice, polar waters, coasts,

and islands
Size: Headbody length
5.88.3 feet (1.82.5
m); weight 4401,320
pounds (200600 kg)
Coat: White or yellowish
Diet: Ringed seals and other seals, also
walruses, narwhals, belugas, other
mammals, and birds
Breeding: 13 cubs, usually twins, born
after around 8 months gestation
Life span: Up to around 30 years
Status: Polar bears are threatened by
global warming and pollution

A polar bears white coat helps camouflage it against

the ice and snow. It uses its massive clawed front
paws to kill seals, walruses, narwhals, and other prey.

275

polar bear

out on the ice when the seals surface

at holes to breathe. The bear waits by
the seals breathing hole, for hours if
necessary. Finally, when a seal pops
up to breathe, the bear lunges
forward and kills its prey with one
bite or a swipe of its huge paw.
As well as ringed seals, polar bears
also hunt other types of seals. The
bears sneak up on seals that have
come up on the ice to sunbathe.

In spring polar bears hunt seal pups,

which are born in dens in the ice.
Polar bears also hunt walruses, small
whales such as belugas and narwhals,
land mammals, ducks, and seabirds.

A Polar Bears Year

Experts believe that there are around
25,000 bears in the Arctic. They live
mostly around the southern fringes
of the pack ice, where seals are

A polar bear
scans the ice for
prey. Polar bears
need the thick ice
sheets on which to
hunt. If the arctic
ice keeps melting,
polar bears will
be in trouble.

Polar bears at risk

Arctic people have hunted polar bears for centuries. Hunting
is not a major threat because the hunters are allowed to kill only
a certain number of polar bears. However, these bears are harmed
by pollution, including oil spilled at sea. In the future they may be
threatened by global warming. This worldwide rise in temperatures
is being caused by the burning of fossil fuels. Global warming
is melting the arctic ice on which the bears depend to hunt.

276

carnivores

plentiful. Despite their name, polar

bears do not live at the north pole
since there is no food for them there.
In winter, the ice-covered area
expands as more of the sea freezes
over. Polar bears hunt seals out on
the ice. In summer, the southern ice
melts. Arctic coasts and even large
bays, such as Hudsons Bay in
Canada, become free of ice.
Without ice, the polar bears living
there cannot hunt. Instead, they
spend several months on land, not
eating and living off stored fat.
They save energy by resting. In fall,
the sea ices over again and the polar
bears can hunt once more.

Social Life and Breeding

Polar bears are mainly loners, apart
from females with their cubs.
However, polar bears gather at large
food sources, such as a dead whale.
Male polar bears also sometimes
spend the lean months of summer in
the company of others.
Polar bears breed in April and May.
The females spend two and a half
years raising their cubs, so they are
available to mate only once every
three years. That means breeding
females are scarce. Male bears often
fight for the chance to mate.

Females give birth in late

December or January, around eight
months after mating. One to three
cubs, mostly twins, are born in a
snow den. The newborn cubs are
blind, almost hairless, and tiny. They
remain in the den for several months,
feeding on their mothers rich milk.
In March or April, they leave the den
and follow their mother out onto the
ice, where they learn to hunt.

A polar bear
mother leads her
cub across the sea
ice. Polar bears
usually give birth
to twins inside
a snow den.

OW?
DID YOU KN
Underneath the hollow hairs that
look white, a polar bears skin is
black!
A polar bear can sniff out a
seals breathing hole from
around half a mile away!
Some polar bear mothers do not
feed for eight months while they
give birth and rear their cubs!
277

PORCUPINES
Porcupines are rodents, like cavies, coypus,
and chinchillas. The porcupines sharp spines
act as protective armor, defending the mammal
from most enemies.

278

omnivores

any people mistakenly believe that porcupines

are related to pigs and hedgehogs. However,
rodents such as guinea pigs, rats, and mice are relatives.
Porcupines have a sturdy body with short legs, and a
large head with small eyes. The porcupines body is
covered with bristly hairs. The upper body also has an
armor of long spines, or quills. These quills are hard,
stiff, hollow hairs, made of a substance called keratin.
Human hair and fingernails are made of the same
material. When threatened by an enemy, porcupines
raise their quills. They may also shake the hollow
quills on their tail so that they rattle. That acts as a
warning signal. In addition, porcupines stamp their
hind feet and grunt to show that they are annoyed.
If the enemy continues to threaten, the porcupine
spins around and may back toward its attacker. Its
quills are loosely attached, so if they pierce an
attackers skin, they break off and stick in the flesh.
An infected wound can be fatal. Few predators dare
attack a creature armed with such deadly weapons.

Old and New World Porcupines

There are twenty-three species of porcupines. One
family lives in Africa, Asia, and Europe, sometimes
called the Old World. A second family lives in the New
Worldthe Americas. Old and New World porcupines
are not closely related. Old World porcupines live on
the ground, while New World porcupines dwell mostly

Fact File
PORCUPINEs
Families: Hystricidae (Old World
porcupines; 11 species); Erethizontidae
(New World porcupines; 12 species)
Order: Rodentia
Where do they live? Africa, Asia,
southern Europe, and North, South, and
Central America

Equator
Old World

Equator
New World

Habitat: Forests, open grasslands, and

deserts
Size: Headbody length 1234 inches
(3086 cm);
weight 260
pounds (0.9
27 kg)
Coat: Brown or blackish; upper body
covered with long, sharp quills
Diet: Roots, bulbs, fruit, seeds, nuts, bark,
leaves, insects, and small reptiles
Breeding: 12 offspring born after
90210 days gestation
Life span: Up to 21 years in zoos
Status: Most porcupines are common;
some forest species are rare

A North American porcupine looks for food in the

winter snow. Porcupines have keen senses of touch,
hearing, and smell but are extremely nearsighted.

279

porcupines

in trees. New World porcupines live

mainly in forests and woodlands. Old
World porcupines thrive in many
different habitats, from forests to
grasslands and even deserts.
Old and New World porcupines
have different features that help them
live and move about in their
environment. Old World porcupines
have strong claws for digging. They
live mainly in underground burrows.
Old World porcupines include brushtailed porcupines and crested
porcupines, which have extremely
long quills. New World porcupines
have long, curving claws and ridged,
hairless pads on their feet, which help
with climbing. The tree porcupines of
South America have a prehensile
(grasping) tail that wraps around
branches. The tail acts as an extra

OW?
DID YOU KN
South American tree porcupines
can hang from branches by just
their tail!
North American porcupines often
climb to great heights for food.
The North American porcupine
has 30,000 quills on its upper
body and tail!

limb while the animal climbs. New

World porcupines include prehensiletailed porcupines, hairy dwarf
porcupines, and the North American
porcupine, which is widespread in the
United States and Canada.

Daily Life
Porcupines feed mainly on plants.
They eat roots, bulbs, fruit, and
berries. Some New World porcupines
also eat seeds, nuts, bark, leaves,

1. Indonesian
porcupine
2. African porcupine

2
1

280

OMNIVORES

porcupine Life cycle

Porcupines give birth to a single baby,
sometimes twins, ninety to 112 days after
mating. North American porcupines take
longer to produce offspring, around 210 days.
The babies are born well developed and
covered with hairs and soft bristles that will
become quills. They are quick on their feet,
and New World porcupines soon begin
climbing. The babies drink their mothers
milk but begin to eat solid food after a few
days. They take three to four years to mature.

insects, and other small creatures.

Porcupines gnaw on bones to
sharpen their teeth and get
nourishing minerals. They are active
mainly at night. After dusk, they
move along well-worn trails to their
favorite food sites. They spend the
day in an underground burrow, rocky
crevice, hollow log, or in the fork of a
tree. Some porcupines are mostly
loners, but South African Cape
porcupines live in groups of up to
eight animals in a burrow.

Threats to Porcupines
Porcupines have few enemies in the
wild as a result of their sharp spines.
However, the fisher, a member of the

weasel family, is able to flip a

porcupine onto its back and attack its
soft belly, which has no spines. People
also kill porcupines for meat and for
their sharp, hollow spines, which
make good needles, fishing floats,
and other tools. Some people see
porcupines as pests because they
nibble crops and carry ticks and fleas,
which can bring disease.
Most porcupines are common
and widespread. However, in South
America and Southeast Asia, some
porcupines are threatened by the
destruction of the forests where
they live. These forests are being cut
down for their timber and to clear
space for new farms and villages.

A group of
young North
American
porcupines
gathers at the
end of a branch.

281

Porpoises
Relatives of dolphins and toothed whales,
porpoises are small, shy sea mammals that swim fast
in the sea. Many porpoises are threatened by human
activities, such as fishing and pollution.

282

carnivores

orpoises and dolphins both evolved from a

common ancestor around ten million years ago.
Both animals have a sleek, streamlined body, a dorsal
fin, flippers, and a blowhole on the top of their head.
However, porpoises have a short, rounded snout,
instead of the dolphins long, beaklike snout. Porpoises
also have flat, spade-shaped teeth, while dolphins have
cone-shaped teeth. Both dolphins and porpoises feed
mainly on fish and use their teeth to hold their prey
rather than for cutting or chewing their food.
Porpoises do not seem to help each other catch food,
as do many species of dolphins. Harbor porpoises can
dive deeper than 650 feet in search of prey.

Social Life and Conservation

Living alone or in small groups, most porpoises are
hard to see or follow, and much of their social life
remains a mystery. The only lasting links among
porpoises is between a mother porpoise and her calf.
Some older calves may stay with their mother for a
short time after they stop drinking her milk.
The coastal waters where many porpoises live are
also used by large numbers of people. Porpoises are
badly affected by pollution, the noise of boat engines,
and people digging deep channels for ships near the
coast. However, the greatest danger occurs when many
thousands of porpoises are trapped accidentally in
fishing nets. Porpoises die if they cannot breathe air.
A harbor porpoise cruises above a bed of seaweed,
looking for food. These porpoises have a triangular

Fact File
PORPOISEs
Family: Phocoenidae (6 species)
Order: Cetacea
Where do they live? Most major
oceans and the Black Sea but not the
Mediterranean Sea

Equator

Habitat: Coastal waters, oceans, and

seas
Size: Headtail length
48 feet (1.32.4 m);
weight 77485 pounds
(35220 kg)
Coat: Light gray, dark gray, or black on
back and sides; underside light or white;
some have flipper stripes
Diet: Mostly small fish; also squid
Breeding: Reach adulthood at 47
years; gestation 11 months; usually one
calf; many porpoises breed in late spring
early summer
Life span: 1223 years
Status: Harbor porpoise vulnerable;
vaquita critically endangered; Dalls
porpoise lower risk, conservation
dependent

dorsal fin, a rounded snout, and a white underside.

283

PRIMATES
From monkeys and apes to
lemurs, tamarins, and bush
babies, primates are clever,
social mammals, with a large
brain and excellent vision.
Humans are also primates,
in the same family as gorillas,
chimpanzees, and orangutans.

here are two main groups of primates.

One group includes bush babies, pottos,
lorises, lemurs, and the aye-aye. These primates

do not live in the Americas. They have a longer

snout, a better developed sense of smell, and a
smaller brain than the other group of primates,
which includes monkeys, apes, and tarsiers.
Old World monkeys from Africa and Asia have
close-set nostrils that point downward and
hard sitting pads. New World monkeys from
the Americas have wide nostrils that face to the
side and no sitting pads. Many of these
primates also have a prehensile (grasping) tail.
Around 75 percent of all primates, such as
gibbons, spider monkeys, colobus monkeys, and
howler monkeys, live in the trees of tropical

2
3

4
5
1. Demidoffs galago
2. Thick-tailed galago
3. Slow loris
4. Slender loris
5. Potto

6
3

6. Needle-clawed bush baby paw

7. Angwantibo

284

Fact File
primates
Order: Primates
Families: 16 families
Species: 365 species
Where do they
live? Central
America, South
America, Africa,
Madagascar, India,
Southeast Asia,
Japan, China, and
Gibraltar

A Hamadryas baboon sits on its haunches.

These baboons live in Africa and the Middle East.

Equator

Habitat: Mostly tropical forests; also temperate

forests, grasslands, deserts, mountains, coasts
Size: Headbody length of male gorilla 5.6 feet (170
cm); mouse lemur 4 inches (12.5 cm); weight of male
gorilla more than 331 pounds (150 kg); mouse lemur
up to 2.3 ounces (65 g)
Coat: Gray, brown, black, white, golden, or orange;
some with brightly colored faces (mandrill, uakari); ringtailed lemurs have a striped tail
Breeding: Reach adulthood from a year (mouse
lemurs) to 10 years (gorillas); usually 12 offspring at
a time
Life span: From 15 years (mouse lemur) to 40 years
(gorilla)
Status: Almost half of all primate species are at risk,
including all great apes and most lemurs

Orangutans are critically endangered primates

that live only on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra.

forests. They are active during the day and eat

fruit and leaves. The rest of the primates are
split between nocturnal (night-active) primates,
such as tarsiers and bush babies, which feed on

insects and fruit in the trees, and day-active

primates, such as baboons and chimpanzees,
which live on the ground and eat fruit.
However, gelada baboons eat grass, and
marmosets eat tree gum. Male chimpanzees and
baboons sometimes work together in groups to
hunt small antelope and monkeys.
285

primates

Size Matters
The size of a primate is closely linked to its
lifestyle. Many predators are active during
the day, so day-active primates tend to
be larger than nocturnal species.
Primates that live on the ground
also tend to be larger than those
that live in the trees. Groundliving primates have to defend
themselves from attacks by
both ground predators, such
as leopards, and flying
predators, such as eagles. Most of
the larger primates eat leaves
because there are a lot more leaves
available than fruit or insects. Leafy
greens are tough and hard to digest,
so leaf-eating primates have
grinding teeth and bacteria in
their gut that help break
down their food. Fruiteating primates have large
cutting teeth (incisors) that
bite into fruit and a simple
digestive system because fruit is easier
to break down than leaves.

This family group of cotton-top

tamarins includes a father with an
infant on his back, a mother, and
several offspring of various ages.

Safety in Numbers
Most primates live in groups, helping each
other find food and warning each other of
attacks by predators. Vervet monkeys have
different warning calls for different predators,
such as big cats, eagles, and snakes. The
286

disadvantage of living together is that there is

more competition for food in a big group.
The center of primate groups is the female
and her offspring. Some small groups consist
of just a male, a female, and their offspring.

primates

Primate hands
and feet
The fingers and toes of primates suit
their different ways of life. Gibbons
have long fingers (1a) that help them
swing from branches (1b). The small
thumb does not get in the way. All
apes, like the gorilla, can press the
thumb against each finger to grasp
things carefully and firmly (2). Gorillas
walk on their foreknuckles (3). Baboons
(4a) and some lemurs (4b) walk with
their feet flat on the ground. Tamarins
have claws for gripping branches (5).

Gibbons, night monkeys, and the indri live

in this way. Baboons, colobus monkeys, and
gorillas live in larger groups, with one male
leading a harem (group) of several females
with their babies. Larger numbers of females
may form groups with several males, as
happens with groups of capuchins, howler
monkeys, and macaques. A more flexible type
of primate group is that of chimpanzees and
spider monkeys. The size of these unstable
groups varies constantly as individuals come
and go, but these groups of primates belong
to larger communities that are stable.
Within a primate group, the strongest
individuals win fights. That makes them the
most important, or dominant, members of
the group. Dominant individuals usually

1a
4a

1b

4b

mate with more females and have the most

offspring. Primates often form friendship
groups and become more powerful because
they have friends to help them during fights
or conflicts. Family members may also
support each other during power struggles.

OW?
DID YOU KN
The biggest primate, a male
gorilla, can be up to 6,000 times
as heavy as the smallest primate,
the mouse lemur!
Gelada baboons live in large groups
with 150 to 600 members.
In the last 1,000 years, people
have caused the extinction of fifteen
species of primates on the island
of Madagascar.

287

primates

Threats to Primate Survival

Primates are more widely threatened with
extinction than most other mammals. Many
species of primates are classified by the
International Union for the Conservation of
Nature (IUCN) as endangered or critically
endangered. Some of these species, such as the
orangutan and the Moloch gibbon, may
become extinct over the next fifty years.
The main threats to primates are habitat
disturbance and hunting. People are cutting
down tropical forests at an alarming rate for
their valuable timber and to turn the forests
into farmland. People usually hunt primates for
food (bush meat), although some are caught

Young gorillas play in the trees. Gorillas take

longer to weanup to three yearsthan humans.

Seeing in color
Humans, apes, and monkeys from Africa
and Asia are able to see in full color,
unlike most other mammals. Color
vision may have evolved since primates
need to pick out colorful fruit against
a green, leafy background. In monkeys
from the Americas, there is much more
variation in color vision. Some New
World monkeys can see in full color,
some can see a smaller range of colors,
while some cannot see colors at all.
Night monkeys (left) and bush babies
do not need to see in color because
they come out only at night.

288

primates

3
5

6
4
7

1. Barbary macaque
2. Moor macaque
3. Rhesus macaque
4. Southern pigtailed macaque
5. Stump-tailed
macaque
6. Long-tailed
macaque
7. Bonnet macaque

and traded alive for medical research.

Some primates are killed for their skins or
body parts, which may be used in traditional
Eastern medicines. Large primates, such as
mandrills and gorillas, are the most vulnerable
to extinction because they are easy to find and
provide a lot of meat. Large primates also breed
slowly, so their populations are slow to recover

their numbers. The best way to conserve

primates is to protect the animals within their
natural habitats. Some help may also be
provided if tourists pay to see and photograph
these mammals in the wild. Primates bred in
captivity in zoos or wildlife parks can also be
reintroduced into the wild, although this
process is usually expensive and not always
successful.

OW?
DID YOU KN
A spider money can hang from
a branch by its tail alone.
A gorilla has fingers the size
of bananas!
A young orangutan stays with its
mother for seven to nine years.

289

Pronghorn
Pronghorn live only in North America, but they look
and behave like African gazelles. The pronghorn
is famous for running fast over long distances
and for being an inquisitive mammal.

290

herbIVORES

ronghorn are named after the large, hooked,

pronglike horns of the males (bucks). The females
(does) have smaller horns. Pronghorn shed their horns
each year after the breeding season. Pronghorn
communicate with scent messages during courtship
and also produce warning scents. The long, pointed
hooves of pronghorn are cushioned to absorb the
impact of bounding along rapidly with long strides.
Large, protruding eyes give pronghorn all-round vision,
while their long, black eyelashes act like sun visors.
The two- to three-week mating season, called the rut,
takes place between late August and early October.
Bucks may defend a territory (feeding and breeding
area) from other bucks from March until the end of the
rut. The fawns are born in late May or early June. Twins
are common if there is plenty of food to eat. For at least
the first twenty days, the fawns hide among bushes away
from predators, such as coyotes and golden eagles. The
mothers feed their fawns for four to five months.

Back from the Brink

Conservation efforts have saved pronghorn from near
extinction. There are now more than a million
pronghorn in North America. They are still threatened,
however, by oil drilling, coal mining, and habitat loss.
In addition, roads built for oil fields allow poachers to
reach remote areas and kill pronghorn illegally, while
fences keep pronghorn out of favorable habitats.
A male pronghorn lies down on the grass for a rest.
When running, pronghorn can move at speeds

Fact File
Pronghorn
Antilocapra americana
Family: Antilocapridae; subfamily
Antilocaprinae (4 subspecies, or local
types)
Order: Artiodactyla
Where do they live? United States
and Canada, and parts of Mexico

Tropic of Cancer

Habitat: Open grasslands and

brushlands; rarely, open coniferous forests
Size: Headtail length
55 inches (141 cm);
weight 103154 pounds
(2470 kg)
Coat: Upper body tan, underside largely
white, rump all white; black face mask on
mature males
Diet: Grass, herbs, shrubs, cacti, and
crops
Breeding: Reach adulthood at 16
months; 12 fawns
Life span: 912 years in the wild, and
12 years in zoos
Status: Peninsular subspecies
is critically endangered; Sonoran
subspecies is endangered

of up to 55 miles per hour, taking 27-foot strides.

291

Rabbits and hares

Rabbits and hares are easy to recognize by their long ears
and long back legs. Their fine, soft fur even grows on the soles
of their feet. In cold places, some species turn white
in winter, which camouflages them against the snow.

292

herbivores

he two main differences between rabbits and

hares are the way in which they escape from
predators and the way in which they reproduce. Hares
have longer legs than rabbits and try to escape
predators by running very fast in the open. Rabbits run
to the safety of dense cover or underground burrows if
they sense danger. Both rabbits and hares have large
eyes on the side of the head, which gives them good,
all-round vision and helps them spot predators. Baby
hares are better developed at birth than young rabbits.
Hares are born covered in fur and with their eyes open.
Baby rabbits are born without any fur, or with only a
sparse covering, and their eyes are closed.

Teeth and Diet

Rabbits and hares are herbivores (plant eaters) that feed
mainly on grass, but they eat a variety of other plants
in different habitats. They have two long front teeth,
called incisors, that grow all the time but are worn
down as the animals bite and gnaw plant food. There is
also a second pair of small incisors, called peg teeth.
Rabbits and hares have a total of twenty-eight teeth;
young human children have only twenty teeth.
The digestive system of rabbits and hares can break
down large amounts of plant material. Bacteria in the
gut help break down tough plant cellulose. Rabbits
and hares also eat some of their droppings to ensure
they get as much goodness as possible from their food.

Fact File
RABBITs AND HAREs
Family: Leporidae (62 species)
Order: Lagomorpha
Where do they live? Americas, Europe,
Asia, and Africa; introduced (yellow) to
Australia, New Zealand, and South America

Equator

Habitat: Varied, including deserts,

mountain forests, tropical rain forests,
arctic tundra, swamps, tall grasslands,
and farmland
Size: Headbody length 1030 inches
(2575 cm); weight
from 0.913.2 pounds
(400 g6 kg)
Coat: Brown, gray, or white; belly often
lighter or white
Breeding: Reach maturity at 3 months;
usually 18 offspring; weaned at 21 days
Life span: Usually less than a year in the
wild, and 612 years in captivity
Status: 12 species are critically
endangered, endangered, or vulnerable;
6 species are near threatened

A white-tailed hare stands tall, keeping a lookout

for predators. It has large eyes on either side of
its head and can move its ears to detect sounds.

293

Rabbits and hares

Open Habitats or Dense Cover

The jackrabbit
has unusually
large ears that
help the animal
lose heat when it
becomes too hot.

From deserts and grasslands, to the

arctic tundra, most hares prefer to live
in open habitats, with some cover for
daytime shelter. One exception is the
snowshoe hare, which lives in cold
forests and may burrow into the
snow. The snowshoe hare makes up
80 to 90 percent of the diet of the
Canadian lynx. A small number of

hares, such as the black-tailed

jackrabbit, a type of hare, and the
Cape hare, dig burrows to escape
high temperatures in the desert.
In contrast, rabbits rarely live far
away from dense cover or
underground tunnels. Some rabbits
live only in particular types of
habitats. For example, the two-striped
Sumatran rabbit, the Annamite
rabbit, and the Japanese Amami
rabbit live in tropical forests, while
the riverine rabbit lives in scrubland
alongside rivers in South Africa.

Communication by Scent
All rabbits and hares have scent
glands under the chin and in the
groin. These scents seem to be
important during courtship and
mating. Rabbits and hares usually
communicate with scent messages,
rather than by sounds or visual
signals. They make high-pitched
distress calls, however, if they are
captured by a predator; five species
of rabbits also give alarm calls. In
addition, European, brush, and
desert rabbits thump their back
legs on the ground to warn each
other of danger. Many species of
rabbits and hares have a white
underside to their tail, which may
294

2
herbivores

8
6

7
10

11

1. Volcano rabbit

2. Hispid hare
3. European hare
4. Natal red
rockhare

act as a visual warning signal to

other rabbits and hares when they
are running away from a predator.

5. Sumatran
striped rabbit
6. Male eastern
cottontail
7. European
rabbit
8. Antelope
jackrabbit
9. Bunyoro rabbit
10. Riverine rabbit
11. Amami rabbit

Rabbit Parents and Babies

Male rabbits and hares do not help
look after the babies. Even mothers
do not spend much time doing this.
That may be because the mothers
do not want to attract predators to
the offspring. Baby hares, or leverets,
are born in shallow hollows on the
ground, called forms. These forms
may be temporary refuges occupied

for only a few hours or wellestablished sites used by one

generation after another. Mother
rabbits pull out some of their fur to
make a warm nest for their babies,

OW?
DID YOU KN
A European rabbit warren can
have as many as sixty entrances!
The female eastern cottontail
rabbit may give birth to around
thirty-five babies in a year!
Rabbits and hares are related to
pikas, small, fluffy mammals that
live in rugged surroundings.
295

Rabbits and hares

which are called kittens. The nest is

either in an underground burrow or
in dense cover.
Baby rabbits and hares suckle milk
from their mother only once every
twenty-four hours, and for less than
five minutes at a time. The rich milk
is full of nutrients and can be
pumped into the babies at great
speed for a period of up to twentythree days. After that, baby rabbits
and hares start to eat solid food, and
the mother prepares for the birth of
her next litter. Mother rabbits and
hares can give birth to several litters
of babies in a year, and the offspring
are ready to start breeding themselves
when they are just a few months old.

Conservation
A few rabbits and hares, such as the
European rabbit and European hare,
are common. These animals often
cause a great deal of damage to crops
and forestry plantations. However,
many species of rabbits and hares are
now threatened with extinction,
mainly because people are destroying
their habitats. Most of these rare
species live only in specialized
habitats. The riverine rabbit, for
example, survives only in a few areas
of scrubland next to two rivers in
South Africa. Its habitat has been
destroyed so that people can use the
river water to irrigate their crops. The
tiny Mexican volcano rabbit, or

Rabbit burrows
Unlike other rabbits and hares, the European
rabbit digs its own burrows. Female rabbits do
most of the digging. The burrows vary from a
small tunnel with one entrance (a stop), to lots
of linked underground tunnels that together
form a home for many rabbits, called a warren.
Inside their burrows, rabbits are safe from most
predators. That is especially important in open
habitats, such as grasslands. Deep underground
in a big warren, the rabbits can also raise large
numbers of offspring in safety. The larger
the warren, the more female rabbits live there.

296

herbivores

zacatuche, lives only on the slopes of

a few volcanoes around Mexico City,
one of the worlds largest cities.
The Sumatran striped rabbit was
thought to be extinct, but has now
been seen again in its tropical forest
habitat. A second species of striped
rabbit, the Annamite striped rabbit,
has also been discovered in the
remote mountain forests between
Laos and Vietnam in Southeast Asia.

OW?
DID YOU KN
Hares can sprint across open
fields at speeds greater than
45 miles per hour!
There are more than 100
varieties of pet rabbits!
The long ears of jackrabbits can
grow to more than 7 inches!
The saying Mad as a March
hare comes from the wild
behavior of hares in the spring
mating season!

Bounding
across the snow,
a snowshoe hare
is camouflaged
during the winter
by its white coat.
In spring, it will
shed this coat to
reveal a brown
coat beneath.

297

Raccoons
Relatives of the dog family, members of the raccoon family
have a long body and tail and are good at climbing.
Common raccoons have learned how to live near people
in towns and cities, raiding garbage for leftover food scraps.

298

OMNIVORES

he raccoon family includes the familiar

masked bandit, or common raccoon, coatis,
ringtails, cacomistles, kinkajous, and olingos. The
red panda is also probably related to raccoons, but
scientists have placed it on its own in a separate
family, called Ailuridae. Members of the raccoon
family are nocturnal (night active), except for coatis,
which are mainly active during the day.
The common raccoon eats almost anything, from
fish, crayfish snails, and worms, to fruits, berries,
nuts, and seeds. It often takes corn cobs from farmers
fields. However, red pandas and kinkajous are mainly
vegetarian, while coatis are mainly insect eaters.
Ringtails and cacomistles are predators, catching
animals up to the size of rabbits. They have large
ears, which help them find their prey.

Baby Raccoons and Conservation

Female raccoons give birth in dens or nests, such as
tree holes, cellars, log piles, and haystacks. There are
usually three to four poorly developed offspring in a
single litter. Female raccoons look after the babies alone.
The conservation status of raccoons varies a great
deal according to species. The common raccoon is
growing in numbers, while some of the other raccoon
species that live on islands are endangered or extinct.
Red pandas, olingos, and cacomistles are threatened,
mainly due to the destruction of their forest habitats.
A pair of common raccoons on the lookout for food.

Fact File
RacCoons
Family: Procyonidae (3 species)
Order: Carnivora
Where do they live? North America,
including Central, and South America

Equator

Habitat: Forests, grasslands, lakes,

streams, marshes, and urban areas
Size: Headbody length 22
inches (55 cm); tail length
10 inches (25 cm); weight
6.618 pounds (38 kg)
Coat: Gray, sometimes reddish; ringed
tail; black face mask with
gray bands above and below
Diet: Fish, crayfish, clams, worms, snails,
fruit, berries, corn, and nuts
Breeding: Mature 12 years; usually
34 offspring; 9 weeks gestation
Life span: 1316 years in the wild, and
up to 17 years in captivity
Status: Cozumel Island raccoon
is endangered; Tres Marias Islands
raccoon, Bahaman raccoon, and
Guadalupe raccoon are endangered

Common raccoons have a distinctive black eye mask

across their face, with gray bars above and below.

299

Rats and Mice

Rats and mice are usually small, seed-eating creatures
that come out at night and have lots of babies.
There are nearly 1,000 species, all of which can
adapt quickly and survive harsh conditions.

300

omnivores

ats and mice are an extremely varied group of

mammals. They probably evolved from a small,
mouselike ancestor that was around 4 inches long and
had a scaly tail of the same length. This ancestor had
well-developed senses of sight, hearing, smell, and
touch. It also had incisors (cutting teeth) at the front
of its jaw, which grew all the time but were kept short
and sharp by gnawing on food. Molars (grinding
teeth) on the sides of the jaws and powerful jaw
muscles helped these mice chew a wide range of food
and prepare material for their nests. Like present-day
rats and mice, these ancestors would have produced
lots of babies and increased their numbers rapidly.
Their small size would have allowed them to live in a
wide variety of habitats. During evolution, rats and
mice have developed a wide range of different
adaptations. However, they are still remarkably similar
to their ancestors who lived millions of years ago.

A Tale of Long Tails

Rats and mice usually have almost hairless tails, but
some species have evolved a different type of tail to
help them survive. For example, Australian hopping
mice and wood mice use their extra-long tail to help
them balance. Harvest mice have a prehensile
(grasping) tail, which they use to cling to grass stems
as they climb. In some species, including the greater
tree mouse, the tail has sensitive hairs at the tip. BushyA wood mouse balances on its hind legs, holding

Fact File
RATS AND MICE
Family: Muridae (976 species)
Order: Rodentia
Where do they live?
North America, South
America, Europe, Asia,
Equator
Africa (excluding
Madagascar), and
Australia; also many islands near the shore

Equator

Habitat: Varied,
including forests and
grasslands; excluding
mountain peaks and
northern arctic regions

Size: Headbody length 1.819 inches

(4.548 cm); tail length
1.113 inches
(232 cm); weight
0.2 ounce4.4 pounds (6 g2 kg)
Coat: Brown back with lighter colored or
white belly; some have stripes for
camouflage
Diet: Mostly plants and invertebrates;
some eat small vertebrates,
including fish
Breeding: Several litters in a year, with
212 babies in a litter; independent after a
few weeks
Life span: 12 years in the wild; some
live up to 6 years in captivity
Status: 23 species are critically
endangered, including some rock rats; 60
species are endangered, including some
wood rats and fish-eating rats

food between its forepaws as it eats. Wood mice are

one of the most common European small mammals.

301

Rats and Mice

1. Spiny mouse
2. Pencil-tailed
tree mouse
3. African
marsh rat
4. Brush-furred rat
5. Natal rat
6. Hopping mouse
7. Smooth-tailed
giant rat

tailed cloud rats and wood rats have

thick fur on their tail. To help them
escape from predators, rock rats and
spiny mice are able to break off part
of their tail or even the whole tail
and make a quick getaway. Unlike
lizards, which also shed their tail to
escape predators, these small
mammals cannot grow a new tail to
replace the missing one.

8. Four-striped

grass mouse
9. South American

Rodent Hands and Feet

Rats and mice have developed a
variety of adaptations to their hands
and feet. Climbing species can often
move their big toe to touch all their
other toes, giving them a firm grip
around twigs or stems. Wide hands
and feet also give a good grip, as in
the pencil-tailed tree mouse and
Peters arboreal forest rat. Jumping

13. Leaf-eared

17

mouse

grass mouse

14. Swamp rat

10. Cotton rat

15. Fish-eating rat

11. Mole mouse

16. Norway rat

12. South American

17. Pygmy mouse

water rat

16
6

15

14

10
9

13
12

302

11

omnivores

OW?
DID YOU KN
The salt-marsh harvest mouse is
one of the few mammals able to
drink seawater.
Most people can hear the highpitched squeaks of grasshopper
mice from around 330 feet
away.
A house mouse can have around
120 babies in just one year!
The vesper rat of Central
America lives in rain forest trees
and builds nests similar to those
of red squirrels.
In some countries, people can
develop bubonic plague if they
are bitten by rat fleas. From the
fourteenth to the seventeenth
centuries, bubonic plague killed
around twenty-five million people
in Europe before people
understood how the disease was
spread.

species, such as Australian hopping

mice, have long back legs and feet.
Species living in wet, marshy places
or streams, such as fish-eating rats,
water mice, marsh rats, and African
swamp rats, may have fringes of hairs
on their toes or webs of skin between
their toes that help them swim.
Claws also vary greatly according
to lifestyle. Short, curved claws help
species such as Peters arboreal forest
rat cling onto bark and other rough

Pet rats and mice

People first started to keep mice as pets more
than 250 years ago in China and Japan. Sailors
probably took pet animals home with them to
western countries. Tame mice are larger than
wild mice and have a variety of colors and
patterns. They also have larger ears and eyes,
and a longer tail. People started keeping rats
as pets around 150 years ago. There are fewer
varieties of pet rats than pet mice because rats
have not been bred by people for as long.

303

Rats and Mice

surfaces. Large, strong claws help

burrowing species, such as mole
mice, shrew mice, and the lesser
bandicoot rat, to dig tunnels and
find food underground.

Baby Rats and Mice

Living underground
The blind mole rats of Europe and the Middle
East, including North Africa, are well suited to
a life underground. Their eyes are hidden under
the skin, and they have no ears on the outside
of the head. They rely on short, sensitive hairs
to feel their way through their dark tunnels.
Each blind mole rat digs its own system of
tunnels, which may be as long as 1,150 feet.
These vegetarian rats feed on underground
stems, roots, bulbs, and whole plants, which
they pull down into their tunnels by the roots.
In their food chambers, blind mole rats may
store as much as 31 pounds of plant material.

304

Most rats and mice give birth to

blind and naked offspring, whose
eyes only open after around ten to
twelve days. One exception is the bigeared climbing rat of Central
America, which produces babies that
are covered in fur at birth. These
babies are well developed and open
their eyes after just six days. They
grow inside their mother for around
six and a half weeks, compared with
the three-week gestation (pregnancy)
for most other rats and mice.
The hispid cotton rat also gives
birth to furry babies; their eyes
open after only three weeks. In this
species, five to eight babies are born
at a time, and the female can
produce a new litter every month
during the breeding season.
Female rats and mice do most of
the work caring for the offspring, but
male white-footed mice often defend
their babies, help keep them warm,
and bring youngsters back to the
nest if they wander off on their own.

omnivores

OW?
DID YOU KN
Mole rats spend most of their life
underground.
The woolly giant rat may be 11
inches long, with a tail up to 6.3
inches long!
The earless water rat of Papua
new Guinea has no ears on the
outside of its head. That makes its
body more streamlined for
swimming underwater.
One species of wood rat feeds
only on the leaves of juniper trees.

White-footed mice feed on their

mothers milk for around twenty-one
to twenty-four days, after which time
they are ready to leave the nest.

Living with People

Some rats and mice eat human food
and crops, damage property, and
carry diseases, such as plague, lassa
fever, typhus, and rat-bite fever. The
most important rats and mice to live
with people are the Norway rat (also
called the brown rat, or common rat),
the roof rat, and the house mouse.
The Norway rat lives in sewers, cities,
and ports. People often kill rats and
mice because of the damage they
cause. The beaver rat of Australia has
been hunted for their long, thick fur.
This hunting is now controlled, and
the species is on the increase. Other
mice and rats are threatened because
people are destroying their habitats.

Norway rats
eat and drink
almost anything,
including milk.
These rats often
live near people.

305

Rhinoceroses
With their massive body, leathery skin, and long horns,
rhinoceroses look more like dinosaurs than mammals.
Rhinos have lived on Earth for forty million years and evolved
long after dinosaurs died out sixty-five million years ago.

306

herbivores

hinoceroses are hoofed mammals related to

horses, zebras, asses, and tapirs. Rhinos have
short, thick legs that support their great weight. White
rhino and Indian rhino males are much larger than
females. In the other rhino species, males and females
are both around the same size. Each species has
different characteristics. The Indian rhinoceros looks
as if it is wearing a suit of armor because of its lumpy,
wrinkled skin. The black and white rhinoceroses are
both gray. However, the black rhino has a pointed top
lip, and the white rhino has wide lips.

Food and Water

All rhinos are herbivores (plant eaters), and they eat a
lot of plant food every day to keep their huge, barrelshaped body supplied with enough energy. The broad
lips of the white rhino give it a wide area of bite, helping
it crop short grass for much of the year. Black rhinos
and Indian rhinos both have a prehensile (grasping) top
lip, which picks leaves and twigs from woody plants.
They also eat fruit, as do Sumatran rhinos.
All rhinoceroses drink water every day from pools
and rivers whenever possible. At dry times, both black
rhinos and white rhinoceroses can survive for up to
four to five days without water. As well as drinking
water, rhinos also depend on water holes for
wallowing in the mud. They coat their skin with mud,
which probably helps protect them against biting flies.

Fact File
Rhinoceroses
Family: Rhinocerotidae (5 species)
Order: Perissodactyla
Where do they live? Africa and Asia

Equator

Habitat: Rain forests, grasslands, and

scrublands
Size: Headbody length
1013 feet (34 m);
weight 1.12.6 tons
(12.3 metric tons)
Coat: Gray to brownish gray
Diet: Mainly grass; also herbs, acacias,
euphorbias, and fruit
Breeding: Reach adulthood at 58
years; 1 calf; independent after 23 years
Life span: 3245 years
Status: Indian rhinoceros endangered;
black rhinoceros, white rhinoceros, Javan
rhinoceros, and Sumatran rhinoceros
critically endangered

A white rhinoceros pauses while it searches for fresh

grass to eat. White rhinos have a wide, unhooked
upper lip that enables them to graze easily.

307

Rhinoceroses

Eyes, Ears, and Nose

Rhinos have poor eyesight, but their
sense of smell is excellent. A rhino
also has keen hearing and can swivel
its ears to pick up the quietest sounds.
Rhinos can sometimes be noisy:
They snort, honk, and roar to tell
other rhinos to keep their distance.
When they are defending themselves,
rhinos may shriek or bleat loudly.
Calves may also squeal when they are
hungry and want their mothers milk.

Rhino Babies
Female rhinos have their first calf
when they are between five and eight
years old. The calf takes sixteen months
to develop inside its mother. A white
rhino calf follows its mother when it
is only three days old. The calf runs
in front of its mother, and she stands

over it if danger threatens. A black

rhino calf usually runs behind its
mother because it lives in thicker
bush rather than open areas of
grassland. A calf stays with its mother
until it is two to three years old, but
adult rhinoceroses live alone. Adult
male rhinos of all species often have
nasty fights, wounding each other
with their sharp horns and teeth.

Conservation
Of the five species of rhinos now
alive, two are critically endangered,
while the other three are increasingly
threatened. The black rhino once
roamed over much of Africa south
of the Sahara desert. From 1970
to the late 1990s, around 97,000 black
rhinos were killed for their horns.
The horns are made into dagger

DID YOU
KNOW?
Woolly rhinos
lived in Europe
during the last
ice age, only
15,000 years
ago!
The white
rhinoceros is
the worlds
third largest
land mammal.
Rhinos cannot
see a person
standing still
more than 100
feet away.

different species of rhinoceroses

1. Indian rhinoceros
2. Javan rhinoceros
3. Sumatran
rhinoceros
4. Black rhinoceros
5. White rhinoceros

308

herbivores

rhinoceros Horns
The word rhinoceros means nose horn.
A rhinos horn is made of rough hairs packed
tightly together and perched on top of a rough
area on the skull. Rhino horns are completely
different from cattle or sheep horns, which have
bone in the middle. Black rhinos (right), white
rhinos, and Sumatran rhinos have two horns.
The front horn is usually the largest horn.
A white rhinos front horn can grow up to twice
as long as a persons arm. Indian and Javan rhinos
have just one horn on the end of their snout.

handles in Yemen in the Middle East

and ground up to use in medicines
in Asia. Now, there are very few black
rhinos left; most survive only in
guarded game preserves. Rhino
survival depends on armed protection

and on the money from tourists who

want to see and photograph rhinos.
However, there is still a constant
threat from poachers, and problems
with overcrowding in preserves,
including competition with elephants.

4
5
309

Right Whales
Right whales were named because they were the right whales
to hunt. They were easy to catch because they swam
slowly and floated when they were killed.
Protected since 1935, their numbers are still low.

310

OMNIVORES

here are four species of right whalesthe

northern right whale, the southern right whale,
the bowhead whale, and the pygmy right whale. The
pygmy right whale is much smaller and slimmer than
the other right whale species. It is also the only right
whale to have a small, triangular fin on its back.
All right whales share several features in common,
including a large head, a top jaw shaped like an arch,
and long, slender baleen plates in the mouth, which
are used for filtering food from seawater. The larger
species of right whales do not have throat grooves, but
the pygmy right whale has two such grooves. These
pleatlike grooves enable the throat of the pygmy right
whale to expand and take in lots of water as it feeds.
All right whales, except bowhead whales, have
patches of thick skin, called callosities, that form above
the eyes and along the lower jaw. Each whale has a
different pattern of patches, which is larger in males
than in females. Callosities help scientists identify
individual whales. Colonies of tiny creatures called
whale lice live within the patches. These patches may
be important when males compete for females. During
courtship, female right whales call to attract males but
do not sing complex songs, as do humpback whales.
Right whales often leap out of the water or slap the
water with their tails, in an action called lobtailing.
Experts do not know why the whales do this, but it
may help them communicate their position to other
Showing its enormous flippers, a southern right

Fact File
RIGHT WHALEs
Families: Balaenidae and Neobalaenidae
(4 species)
Order: Cetacea
Where do they live? Arctic and
temperate oceans

Equator

Habitat: Coastal waters, oceans, and

seas
Size: Headtail
lengthright and
bowhead whales up
to 66 feet (20 m); pygmy right whale
721 feet (26.5 m)
Skin: Black with white patches; pygmy
right whale gray, lighter below
Diet: Plankton and krill
Breeding: Reach adulthood at 69
years; 1 calf; calf separates from mother
after 1012 months
Life span: at least 65 years
Status: Northern right whale is
endangered; bowhead whalelocal
populations are either critically
endangered or endangered

whale breaches close to the shoreline before

returning to the water with a resounding splash.

311

Right Whales

whales in the areaespecially if

the ocean is noisy on the surface
because there are a lot of people
or boats moving around. Pygmy
right whales do not jump around
like their splashy, much larger
right whale cousins.

Enormous Appetites
Right whales feed on tiny animals
called plankton, which drift through
the oceans. The whales usually swim
along with their huge mouth open,
skimming the plankton from the
water using their baleen plates.

A southern
right whale floats
just below the
surface of the
ocean. Right
whales are easy
to hunt because
they swim slowly.

Inuit whale hunting

For thousands of years, the Inuits of Alaska have hunted bowhead
whales, killing only a small number so that the overall whale
population was not affected. However, American and European
whaling companies killed too many whales in the nineteenth
century. In 1915, the whaling companies stopped killing bowhead
whales, but the Inuits still carried on with their hunting. In 1977,
the International Whaling Commission recommended that the
Inuits should also stop hunting bowheads. However, the Inuits
argued that they needed to hunt whales for the survival of their
people and to preserve their culture. Eventually, the Inuits were
allowed to hunt small numbers of whales each yearand the
numbers of bowheads are increasing, even with the Inuit harvest.

312

OMNIVORES

3
1

In northern feeding grounds,

right whales usually feed
deep down in the water,
although they feed at the
surface when there is a lot of
plankton around. Sometimes,
right whales feed side by side.

Mother and Baby

Female right whales give birth to
one calf during the winter months.
The calf grows inside its mother for
around one year before it is born, and
feeds on its mothers milk for at least
another year. Mother and baby stay
close together for the first six months
of the calfs life. When the calf stops
drinking its mothers milk, it usually
leaves to start a life of its own.

OW?
DID YOU KN
The head of a bowhead whale
makes up 40 percent of its body
length.
Right whales can dive underwater
for eight to twelve minutes at a
time.
Right whales and bowhead
whales probably need to eat
between 2,200 and 5,500
pounds of food every day.
A right whale calf is 26 to 30 feet
long when it is only a year old!

1. Bowhead whale
2. Northern
right whale
3. Pygmy
right whale

313

Rodents
Rodents include squirrels, beavers, porcupines, rats, mice, gerbils, hamsters, and guinea pigs.
Most rodents are compact, intelligent mammals, with short legs
and a tail. Their senses
of smell and hearing are well
developed, and they have long,
touch-sensitive whiskers.

ore than 42 percent of all mammal

species are rodents. They live in almost
every habitat, including peoples homes, towns,
and cities. Many rodents are crop pests and
some spread diseases. However, they play a vital
role in many habitats, both as prey for carnivores
(meat eaters) and by spreading the spores of
fungi that live on plant roots, helping plants
absorb water and nutrients from the soil.
In South America, Africa, and Asia, people
trap or breed some larger species of rodents
for food, including guinea pigs, grasscutter
rats, and edible dormice. People also keep
many species of rodents as pets, including
hamsters, gerbils, guinea pigs, rats, and mice.
Guinea pigs, rats, and mice are also used to
test drugs and in biological research.

A woodchucka type
of squirrel-like rodent
rears up on its hind legs to
observe its surroundings.

Gnawing and Chewing

The name rodent comes from the Latin verb
rodere, which means to gnaw. All rodents have
razor-sharp, gnawing teeth at the front of the
314

5
8

mouth. These teeth grow continuously

throughout life and are worn down as the
rodents feed. With their gnawing teeth, rodents
can make holes in tough husks, pods, and shells
to reach the nutritious food inside. Rodents do
not have pointed canine teeth, as do carnivores,
but they do have a number of molars, or
grinding cheek teeth. Most rodents have around
twenty-two teeth, although the silvery mole rat
of central and eastern Africa has twenty-eight.

Food and Feeding

Most rodents eat a variety of plants,
including leaves and fruit, as well as
grasshoppers and spiders. Many northern

Fact File
RODENTs
Order: Rodentia (around 2,000 species)
Families: 5 families of squirrel-like rodents
(beavers, squirrels, and springhares); 5 families
of mouselike rodents (rats, mice, voles, gerbils,
and hamsters); 18 families of cavylike rodents
(porcupines, cavies, capybaras, agoutis,
chinchillas, cane rats, and mole rats)
Where do they live? Worldwide, except in
Antarctica
Habitat: Arctic tundra,
forests, grasslands,
deserts, freshwater,
and underground

Equator

Size: Headtail length

6 inches5 feet (15 cm
1.5 m); weight usually 3.5 ounces (100 g) or less;
capybaras up to 146 pounds (66 kg)
Coat: Brown or gray on back; often lighter, or white,
underneath

Diet: Mostly plants and small invertebrates; some eat

small fish, frogs, and shellfish

Breeding: Mature at 6 weeks; many litters a year,

each with 212 babies
Life span: A few years in the wild, and up to 20 years
in zoos

Status: 78 species critically endangered; 100

species endangered; 200 species vulnerable

1. Paca

6. Deer mouse

2. South American

7. Central American

climbing rat

climbing rat

3. Vesper rat

8. Pygmy mouse

4. Dormouse

9. Short-eared gerbil

5. North African gundi

10. Pack rat, or wood rat

10
315

rodents

OW?
DID YOU KN
The largest rodent, the capybara, can
weigh 10,000 times more than the
smallest mouse!
Gundis never drinkthey get all the
water they need from their body fat.
The Australian water rat has only
twelve teeth, compared with an adult
humans thirty-two teeth.
Common hamsters might store up to
198 pounds of food!
The naked mole rats of East Africa are
relatives of guinea pigs. Naked mole
rats have hardly any hair and spend
almost all their time living in large
colonies in underground burrows.

rodents, such as the field vole, eat the bark of

woody trees when food is hard to find during
the long winters. A few rodents are carnivores.
The Australian water rat, for example, feeds
on small fish, frogs, and shellfish.
To help them digest tough plant material,
especially cellulose, rodents have a large
appendix in their gut. This small pocket
contains lots of bacteria (single-celled
microorganisms). The bacteria break down
plant cellulose. Rodents can absorb cellulose
only through the walls of their stomach. So,
they pass the digested food out of the body in

3
2
1. Brown Bottas pocket gopher
2. Sandy Bottas pocket gopher

5
6

3. Pouch cheeks of Bottas

pocket gopher
4. Plains pocket gopher
5. Giant pocket gopher
6. Michoacan pocket gopher
7. Bullers pocket gopher

316

rodents

the form of pellets and then eat the pellets.

When the pellets reach the stomach, the
goodness from the food can be absorbed into
the rodents bloodstream. A rodents digestive

system is efficient, absorbing as much as 80

percent of the energy contained in its food.
At least three families of rodents (hamsters,
pocket gophers, and pocket mice) have cheek

The guinea pig group

The familiar guinea pig belongs to a large
group of cavylike rodents, which includes
porcupines, pacas, agoutis, cane rats,
spiny rats, coypus, gundis, and mole rats.
The largest rodent of all, the capybara,
is also a member of the guinea pig group.
Most of these rodents have a large head,
a plump body, slender legs, and a short
tail. All cavylike rodents share the same
type of jaw muscles. They also produce
small litters of babies after a long

gestation (pregnancy). Guinea pigs,

for example, have two or three babies
after a gestation of fifty to seventy days.
The brown rat, however, has seven or
eight offspring after a gestation of around
twenty-four days. Brown rats are members
of the mouselike rodent group. At birth,
guinea pig babies are covered in fur and
their eyes and ears are open. They can run
around within an hour of birth and eat
solid food after two days.

317

rodents

pouches for carrying food back to the nest.

These pouches are fur-lined folds of skin, which
curl inward from the corner of the mouth.

Rodent Communication
Rodents use their keen senses of sight, sound,
and smell to communicate with others of their
own species. House mice have a complex
system of scent communication, using urine to
scent-mark their home area. That helps them
recognize family members and find a mate.
Many other rodents communicate with scent,
318

A capybara nurses her offspring. Capybaras

are the largest rodents, at around 4 feet long.

and males tend to produce more, and stronger,

scent than female rodents.
In contrast, kangaroo rats tap dance to talk to
each other. They thump their long feet on the
ground to tell other kangaroo rats that they live
in that particular area and that they should be
left alone. This sort of communication is useful
because these rodents come out at night and
live underground, which makes visual

rodents

communication difficult. Tree squirrels come

out during the day, so they use visual
communication, such as tail flicking, to pass
messages to other squirrels. Squirrels and
many other rodents also use a wide variety of
calls to tell neighbors to stay away or to
sound the alarm if one of them spots danger.

Rodents and Conservation

Unlike house mice and brown rats, not all
rodents have thrived with the spread of people
around the world. Some rodents are shy and
difficult to study in the wild, making it hard
to estimate their numbers. At least fifty-four
rodent species have died out in the last 200
years. Around 380 species now face extinction.
For some, such as Margarets kangaroo rat and
the Brazilian arboreal mouse, habitat protection
may provide a chance of survival.
People are also trying to save some
endangered rodent species by programs of
captive breeding and habitat management.
For example, in 1990 there were fewer than
1,500 greater stick-nest rats living on Franklin
Island off the southern coast of Australia. So,
experts moved captive-bred greater stick-nest
rats to three new islands and to enclosures on
the Australian mainland. That move allowed
numbers of these rodents to double within
nine years. Similar conservation programs
have also helped other endangered rodent
species, such as Vancouver marmots and
Shark Bay mice.

OW?
DID YOU KN
Prairie dog townships may contain
more than 5,000 individuals!
One pair of mice could produce 500
mice in twenty-one weeks! That does
not happen, however, because many
baby mice do not survive.
Every year, rodents eat as much
food as the worlds total cereal and
potato harvests!
Rats can gnaw through electrical
cables, causing fires!

A chipmunk with bulging cheek pouches

holds some food between its front paws while
it eats. Chipmunks are squirrel-like rodents.

319

Rorquals
Rorqual whales include the largest animal
in the world, the blue whale, as well as
the acrobatic humpback whale, which is famous
for the males long, complex songs.

320

omnivores

orquals include blue whales, fin whales, sei

whales, minkes, and humpback whales. Rorqual
means furrow whale in Norwegian. These whales
are named for their furrowlike throat grooves, which
allow them to expand their mouth when feeding.
Rorquals have a sleek, streamlined shape, with a large
head that takes up about one-quarter of their body
length. The lower jaw is bowed and sticks out beyond
the end of the snout. The flippers are thin and narrow
in all species except the humpback whale, which has
large, wavy-edged flippers at the front. A rorquals
wide tail flukes have an obvious notch in the middle.
Like all whales, rorquals have to come to the
surface of the ocean to breathe air. Rorquals have a
double blowhole on top of the head. As they breathe
out, they create a single spout of misty air, the
height and shape of which varies between species.

Great Migrations
The life cycle of rorquals is closely related to their
pattern of seasonal migrations, or regular journeys.
During winter, these whales mate in warmer waters
nearer to the equator. Then they migrate to feeding
areas in the colder oceans around the poles, where they
spend three to four months feeding on plankton (tiny
animal and plantlike life in the ocean) and fish. After
that, rorquals journey back to the warmer waters once
more, where the females give birth to one calf each time.
Air bubbles escape from a blue whales mouth as it
swims along. Clearly visible are the throat grooves,

Fact File
RORQUALs
Family: Balaenopteridae (9 species)
Order: Cetacea
Where do they live? All major oceans

Equator

Habitat: Most species migrate

between summer feeding grounds
in polar regions and winter breeding
grounds in warmer waters
Size: Headtail
length 3090
feet (927 m);
weight 10167
tons (9150 metric tons); females
slightly larger than males
Coat: Black or gray above, often
lighter on belly and lower surface of
flippers
Diet: Plankton and fish
Breeding: One calf born 1012
months after mating; usually two years
between pregnancies
Life span: 45100 years
Status: Blue whales, fin whales, and
sei whales are endangered; humpback
whales are vulnerable; minke whales
are lower risk

which allow the whale to open its mouth very wide.

321

Rorquals

Feeding Time for Calves

The mother whale squirts rich milk
into the mouth of her calf. Her milk
has a fat content of up to 46 percent,
compared with only 3 to 5 percent
fat in human milk or cows milk.
The rorqual calf grows quickly on
this high-energy diet, gaining as
much as 200 pounds in a day.
When it is around seven or eight
months old, the calf stops drinking
its mothers milk. At this stage, it is
around 33 feet long.

Conservation
The future of these whales now
depends on conservation measures
taken in recent years to protect them
from overhunting. Many rorqual

OW?
DID YOU KN
The giant blue whale is the
largest mammal that has ever
lived. It weighs up to 167 tons,
the weight of twenty-five 7-ton
male African elephants. A female
blue whale may be 110 feet long,
which is larger than the male!
A large blue whale weighing 111
tons has to eat 4.5 tons of krill
(tiny shrimplike animals) every
day during the summer feeding
season.
A newborn rorqual calf is about
one-third of its mothers length,
and 45 percent of her weight.
Rorquals travel thousands of
miles on their migration journeys
between their breeding and
feeding grounds.
Male humpback whales may sing
for more than twenty-four hours
to attract females.

1. Fin whale
2. Edens whale
3. Blue whale
4. Northern
minke whale
5. Humpback whale

2
4
3
1

322

OMNIVORES

Big appetites, small prey

Rorquals sieve plankton from seawater
using fringed plates of baleen hanging
from the roof of their mouth (see right).
The whale opens its mouth wide and
lets the water flow through the plates,
which trap tiny pieces of food for the
whale to swallow. Sei whales also feed
by skimming through the water with
their mouth half open. When enough
food has been collected, the whale closes
its mouth and swallows the food.
The shapes and sizes of the baleen plates
and the texture of the bristly fringes vary
among the different species of rorquals.
This affects the type of food the different
whales eat. Blue whales feed mainly on
shrimplike food, especially krill, while
minke, humpback, and Brydes whales eat
a lot of fish, such as herring, cod, and
sardines. Minke whales circle schools of

species, including blue whales, are

endangered; it will take a long time
for their numbers to increase because
these huge whales breed extremely
slowly. Their gestation lasts up to
twelve months, and there are usually
two years between pregnancies.
Meanwhile, rorquals have to survive
changes in the oceans brought about
by climate change and pollution,

fish and then shoot straight up through

the water with their mouth open to grab a
meal. Humpback whales may also herd
their prey by releasing a circle of bubbles,
which work rather like a fishing net to
prevent the fish from escaping.

including noise pollution from ships.

Changes in ocean temperatures, as a
result of climate change, and holes in
the ozone layer may both affect the
food on which these great whales
depend. Rorquals also drown if they
become trapped in fishing gear.
Colliding with ships is becoming
more of a hazard for these whales
as the number of ships increases.
323

Seals and sea lions

T
Seals, sea lions, and walruses
belong to a group of mammals
called pinnipeds, which means
fin-footed or web-footed. All
pinnipeds have webbed
flippers and a streamlined body
that is shaped like a torpedo
and helps them swim fast.
Although they spend much
of their life in the water,
seals and walruses must
return to land or ice to give
birth to their pups.

here are two main groups of sealstrue

seals and eared seals. Eared seals include
fur seals and sea lions. True seals use their back
flippers to swim through the water, while eared
seals use their front flippers. Eared seals can
bring their back flippers forward and under
their body to walk on land. True seals cannot

1. Male California sea lion

2. Female Steller sea lion

3. Male New Zealand sea lion

4. Male northern fur seal
5. Female South American fur seal
6. Female South American sea lion

6
5

324

Fact File
SEALs AND SEA LIONs
Families: Phocidae (19 species of true seals);
Otariidae (16 species of eared seals)
Order: Carnivora
Where do
they live?
Polar, subpolar,
Equator
and temperate
oceans, islands
around
Antarctica,
Galpagos Islands, Hawaiian Islands, and the
Mediterranean Sea

A sea lion roars to protect its territory from

Habitat: Coastlines and ice in polar regions, coastal

rocks and islands, beaches, estuaries, and freshwater
rivers

a neighbor that has moved too close.

Size: Headtail length 3.913.8 feet (1.24.2 m);

weight 664,850 pounds (302,200 kg)

do that, so they have to drag themselves along

on their belly when they move on land.
Eared seals have a flap of skin near their ear
opening, which looks like an ear. True seals do
not have any ears on the outside of the head.
However, they do have a thick layer of fatty
blubber under the skin, which traps heat and
keeps them warm in cold oceans. Eared seals
have less blubber, but many have thick, woolly
underfur, with long, stiff, waterproofing guard
hairs on top. Fur seals have thick underfur,
although sea lions have only a thin covering.

Coat: Some have spots or bands; eared seals have

underfur, true seals do not
Diet: Fish, shellfish, squid, krill, and rock lobsters;
sometimes penguins and other seals
Breeding: 1 pup (rarely twins); weaning varies
according to species, from a few days to three years;
usually independent after feeding stops
Life span: 2046 years
Status: Mediterranean monk seal is critically
endangered; Hawaiian monk seal and Steller sea lion
are endangered; Caspian seal, northern fur seal,
Guadalupe fur seal, Juan Fernandez fur seal,
Galpagos fur seal, Galpagos sea lion, and New
Zealand sea lion are vulnerable

From Land to Sea

Seal ancestors first evolved on land. They
gradually evolved features that allowed
them to feed and live for long periods in
cold oceans, where there is plenty of food.

Seals have large eyes that work both in air

and water and can withstand a range of
light levels, from bright sunshine to the
darkness of the deep ocean. Seals see well in
325

Seals and sea lions

dim light; they have a reflective layer

behind the eye that directs light back
into the eye. So, the light has two chances
of being detected by the sensitive cells at
the back of the seals eyes. The large lens
inside the eye is sphere shaped, like a
fishs eye, which helps a seals eyes focus
clearly underwater.

OW?
DID YOU KN
Elephant seals can stay underwater for up
to two hours, allowing them to catch fish
at depths of around a mile!
Male southern elephant seals may weigh
more than 4.5 tons!
Hooded seal pups drink their mothers
milk for only four days but double their
birth weight in that short time! The milk
contains 60 percent fat, which is more fat
than mothers milk in any other mammal.
South American fur seals suckle for up to
two years.
Northern elephant seals sleep in the
water. They survive for up to twenty-five
minutes without breathing when they are
asleep underwater!

A seals ears work better in water than in air.

On land, a seals hearing is similar to that of a
persons. Underwater, however, a seals hearing is
much better than a persons, and seals can hear
much higher sounds than people can. A seals
ears are positioned on either side of the head,
just as a humans ears are, making it easier for a
seal to figure out the direction of sounds.
Seals have well-developed whiskers, called
vibrissae, on either side of the nose. These
whiskers help seals detect the water movements
caused by prey, especially in dark or murky
water. The whiskers also help some seals find
their breathing holes when swimming under
On the hunt for fish, a gray seal dives to the
seafloor. These true seals feed mainly on bottomdwelling fish, although they also eat crabs.
326

Seals and sea lions

The rarest seals

One of the three species of monk seals,
the Caribbean monk seal is probably
already extinct, and the other two
species are rare. There are around 1,300
Hawaiian monk seals left, but fewer than
500 Mediterranean monk seals (right).
Monk seals are sensitive to disturbance
by tourists using the beaches where the
seals give birth. Mediterranean monk
seals now give birth mainly in caves,
which can collapse on top of them and
crush them. Although they are now
protected throughout most of their range,
these seals are still killed by fishers, who
think the seals compete for the fish they
catch. Many seals are accidentally trapped
in fishing gear and drown underwater.

the ice and are used to investigate objects or

other animals on land. During fights with
other seals, a seal often pulls its whiskers
forward and holds them upright, as an
aggressive signal. The sense of smell is less
important to seals than their other senses, and
seals keep their nostrils tightly closed
underwater. However, some seals, such as harp
seals, recognize their pups mainly by smell.
A harp seal pup has white fur that helps
camouflage it. Harp seals are named for the
harp-shaped markings on the back of the adult.
327

Seals and sea lions

3
1

4
2
Fishy Food
Many seals eat a variety of prey, especially fish.
Seals come to the surface to eat large prey but
eat smaller prey underwater. The southern
elephant seal and the Ross seal feed mainly on
squid, while the bearded seal eats mainly
clams. A few seal species eat birds and small
mammals. Many sea lions eat birds, while
some prey on seal pups.
The jaws and teeth of seals are suited to
grasping rather than chewing their prey.
Most prey is swallowed whole,
although pieces may be torn off large
animals. Plankton feeders, such as

12

crabeater seals have cusps (jagged points) on

the surface of their cheek teeth. The cusps help
the seals strain food from the water. Plankton
is tiny animal and plantlike life in the ocean.
Most seals eat a great deal of food at some
times of the year and little food at other times.
Seals may fast for a long time while they are
breeding or molting (shedding) their fur. Seals
usually stay out of the water during molting
periods, and some species gather in large
groups at this time. They huddle close together
to keep warm. During fasting periods, seals
rely on the fatty blubber under their skin to
provide them with energy and warmth.

11

10
328

Seals and sea lions

As snow
builds up on the
ice, a pregnant
ringed seal digs

upward with
its front flippers
from the water
below to make
a snow cave.

Once inside

1. Bearded seal

the cave, the

2. Ribbon seal

seal gives birth

3. Harp seal

to her pup.

4. Gray seal
5. Ringed seal
6. Hooded seal
7. Hawaiian

Snow-cave
hideaways

monk seal
8. Southern
elephant seal
9. Leopard seal
10. Crabeater seal
11. Weddell seal
12. Ross seal

Female ringed seals make snow caves

to shelter their newborn pups from
freezing arctic temperatures. The
mother seals use their front flippers
to dig upward into the snow above
their breathing holes, creating a shallow
cave in the snow. These snow caves help
keep the pups warm but also hide them
from predators, such as polar bears
and arctic foxes. The pups are born
in the cave and spend their first one
or two months living there.

329

Seals and sea lions

Birth and Babies

Seals come ashore to give birth in spring or
early summer. Most true seals breed on sea ice,
although monk seals, elephant seals, harbor
seals, and most gray seal populations are
exceptions. Not a great deal is known about
the behavior of ice-breeding seals.
Eared seals do not breed on ice. Instead, they
choose safe beaches, rocky islands, and other
coastal places where they are safe from
predators. The males arrive first and claim a
patch of ground, called a territory. They defend
this territory from other males, often fighting
fiercely. The females come ashore just before
The male northern elephant seal is much
larger than the female. In addition, the male
has an inflatable trunklike snout, or proboscis,
from which the species gets its name.

330

OW?
DID YOU KN
Male northern fur seals are up to
five times heavier than females!
Male New Zealand fur seals fast for
seventy days during the breeding
season while they are defending
groups of females from other males.
The Antarctic fur seal has recovered
from near extinction to a population
of 700,000 to one million. The
northern elephant seal has also
recovered from fewer than 100 to
more than 150,000 individuals!
Leopard seals are fierce hunters
that even eat other seals, such as
crabeaters, fur seals, and elephant
seal pups.

giving birth to a single pup.

They mate again soon after
the birth, but do not give
birth to another pup until
the following year.
The newborn pups of most
seals are usually covered with a
woolly birth coat. Most true
seal pups molt this coat after
two to three weeks, while eared
seal pups usually take two or
three months to do so. True seal
mothers feed their pups on their rich
milk for days or weeks, while eared
seal mothers suckle their pups for several
months or even years. Some seals stay near
their breeding grounds throughout the year,
but most swim off into the oceans after the

Seals and sea lions

Crabeater seals
Crabeater seals have a misleading
name because they do not eat crabs.
Instead, they filter shrimplike krill
from the seawater of the Antarctic
Ocean, forcing the water through
spaces in their cheek teeth. These
unusual seals rest on floating slabs
of ice, which helps them escape
predators and may also help them
save energy in water that is always
close to freezing. After humans,
crabeater seals are probably the most
common large mammals in the world.
There are between seven and fourteen
million crabeater seals in the Antarctic.
They may have increased in numbers
when people killed off so many of the
great whales, which eat the same food
as crabeater seals. That left more food
for the seals. If the numbers of whales
increase in the future, then seal
numbers are likely to be reduced.

breeding season. There, they eat as much as

possible to build up enough fat reserves to last
them through the next breeding season.

Seals and People

Many seal species were once hunted almost to
extinction for their fur coat or for the oil in
their blubber. Most species are now protected,
and only a few species, such as monk seals and

Steller sea lions, are rare or endangered.

However, competition with fishers, accidental
trapping in fishing gear, pollution, and climate
change are still threats to many seal
populations. Seals are also still killed for food
and for their skins by arctic people in northern
regions and by coastal people elsewhere. This
hunting has been going on for thousands of
years and has little impact on seal numbers.
331

Shrews
Small, secretive mammals, shrews can be recognized
by their long, pointed nose. They usually live on the ground,
but some shrews can climb trees, others live underground,
while several species live partly in water.

332

OMNIVORES

hrews are widespread and numerous mammals

that have lived on Earth for around forty-five
million years. The smallest mammal on land is the
pygmy white-toothed shrew, which is 1.4 inches
longa similar size to the tiniest bat or hummingbird.
Shrews have poor eyesight but keen senses of smell
and hearing. They make high-pitched screams and
twitterings when fighting with members of their own
species. Some species of shrews have a poisonous bite,
which kills or paralyzes their prey. The American
short-tailed shrew produces enough poison to kill
around 200 mice. Species that live partly in water may
have webbed feet or fringes of hairs on their feet, toes,
and tail. The hairs also trap air, allowing the shrews to
run on the surface of water. The hairy feet of the
piebald shrew help it run across sand without sinking.

Active Eaters at Risk

Shrews are extremely active and eat a lot of food (for
their size) just to keep their body going. Some shrews
cannot survive more than an hour or two without food
because their body burns food so quickly. Other
shrews, such as the desert shrew, save energy by going
into a deep sleep, called torpor, at times of the day
when they cannot find enough food. House shrews
have adapted well to living with people. Many shrews,
however, are endangered by the destruction of tropical
forests and are likely to die out in the near future.
A white-toothed shrew feasts on a juicy earthworm.

Fact File
SHREWs
Family: Soricidae (384 species)
Order: Eulipotyphla
Where do they live? Eurasia, Africa,
North America, and northern South
America

Equator

Habitat: Forests, woodlands,

grasslands, and deserts; some
species live partly in water
Size: Headbody
length 1.45.9 inches
(3.515 cm); weight
0.073.7 ounces (2106 g)
Coat: Short, thick fur; mostly gray or
brown
Diet: Seeds, nuts, and other plant
material; also earthworms, lizards,
newts, frogs, and fish
Breeding: 211 naked and blind
offspring at a time; several litters
each year
Life span: 1230 months
Status: 31 species are critically
endangered; 36 species are
endangered; 58 species are
vulnerable

Although these shrews are tiny, they are determined

and fierce predators that hunt a great deal of prey.

333

Skunks and stink badgers

Skunks and stink badgers are well known for spraying their
enemies with foul-smelling liquids. They are among the few
mammals that rely on chemicals to defend themselves. Their
black-and-white stripes and spots warn predators to stay away.

334

carnIVORES

hen threatened, skunks and stink badgers

raise their tail, stamp their feet, hiss, and even
do handstandsall to give their enemies time to
change their mind. If the enemy does not go away, the
skunk lets fly with a jet of irritating musk, a liquid that
causes temporary blindness. The skunk stores enough
musk for five or six shots. The Palawan stink badger
even tries playing dead at first before spraying because
predators prefer to eat live prey and may decide to leave
the stink badger alone if it appears to be dead.
Skunks and stink badgers both have long claws
and are good at digging and burrowing. They dig
burrows in which to rest, sleep through the winter,
give birth, and raise their offspring. They also dig for
food, such as insects and rodents, finding their prey
by sound or smell since they have poor eyesight.

Family Life and Human Threats

Skunks live on their own for most of the year. In colder
northern lands, up to twenty individuals may sleep in a
den for up to six months. These skunks are born in
spring and mature by the end of the summer. Males do
not care for young skunks and may even kill them, so
mothers have to defend their offspring against males.
People probably kill around half of all the skunks
born each year, either by shooting them, poisoning
them, or running them over on roads. Predators, such
as coyotes, dogs, foxes, and owls rarely kill skunks.

Fact File
SKUNKs
Family: Mephitidae (12 species)
Order: Carnivora
Where do they live? North, including
Central, and South America

Equator

Habitat: Varied, including fields, woods,

urban areas, rocky canyons, and deserts
Size: Headtail length
1227 inches (3168
cm); weight 113 pounds
(0.56 kg)
Coat: Black, with white stripes or spots
Diet: Mainly insects and rodents; also
frogs, salamanders, snakes, birds eggs,
and human garbage
Breeding: 29 offspring; independent
after around three months
Life span: Usually less than 3 years
Status: Palawan stink badger of
Southeast Asia is vulnerable

A striped skunk looks for food. Striped skunks are

the commonest species and often live in cities and
surrounding areas, either in dens or under buildings.

335

Sloths
Sloths are the slowest mammals in the world. They eat plants
and are the most numerous large mammals in Central America
and tropical South America. They are well suited to a life
hanging upside down from tree branches by their hooked claws.

336

herbivores

loths have a rounded head and a flattened face,

with small ears hidden among the fur on the
sides of the face. They have a short, fine underfur and
an overcoat of longer and coarser hairs. The overcoat
hairs grow as long as 6 inches on two-toed sloths. A
sloths overcoat turns green in moist conditions
because tiny plantlike algae grow on the hairs. The
green color helps camouflage sloths among the leaves
of their forest home. Moths, ticks, and beetles also live
in a sloths fur. There are two families of sloths, which
can be told apart by the number of fingers on each
front paw. Two-toed sloths have two fingers, and
three-toed sloths have three fingers. Both families have
three toes on each hind foot. All species of sloths live
in exposed treetops and regulate their body
temperature by moving in and out of the sunlight.

Eating Greens
Sloths eat mainly the leavesespecially the young
leavesof a small number of plants and trees. They
may be resistant to the poisons produced by certain
plants for defense, and so eat mainly those plants. A
sloths body works extremely slowly, which may allow
its gut to cancel out the plant poisons so the sloths
are not harmed. A sloths leafy diet does not provide
much energy. All sloths have a large stomach with
several chambers that contain bacteria (single-celled
microorganisms). These bacteria help the sloth digest
A two-toed sloth uses its strong claws to hang from

Fact File
SLOTHs
Families: Megalonychidae (2 species of
two-toed sloths); Bradypodidae (4 species
of three-toed sloths)
Order: Pilosa
Where do they live? Central and
South America

Equator

Habitat: Tropical forests; mountain

forests (Hoffmanns two-toed sloth only)
Size: Headbody length
2228 inches (5670 cm);
weight 7.717.6 pounds
(3.58 kg)
Coat: Grayish brown to
greenish beige; dark on face and neck,
lighter on shoulders
Diet: Mainly tree and liana leaves
Breeding: Reach adulthood at 35
years; 1 offspring; remains with mother
for 59 months
Life span: 12 years in the wild, and
up to 31 years in zoos
Status: Maned three-toed sloth
is endangered; pygmy sloth is
vulnerable

the branches. Sloths spend much of their time upside

down, even sleeping and giving birth in this position.

337

sloths

tough plant cellulose. Meals may stay

in a sloths stomach for more than a
month as they are slowly digested to
release the nutrients. A full stomach
might account for almost one-third
of a sloths body weight.

Mothers and Babies

Sloths usually breed throughout the
year, but in Guyana in South
America, births of the pale-throated
three-toed sloth occur only after the
rainy season. Only one sloth baby
is born at a time. It weighs 10.5 to 14
ounces and is helped to a teat by
the mother. All young sloths stop
suckling their mothers milk when
they are around four weeks old, but
they may start to eat leaves before
that time.
The mother sloth carries her baby
around for five to nine months, and
the young sloth feeds on the leaves it
can reach while clinging to its
mother. If separated from its mother,
the young sloth bleats or whistles.
When a young sloth stops feeding
from its mother, it moves off to a
nearby area and begins eating the
same sort of leaves that the mother
eats. Adult sloths live on their own.
Females mature at around three
years old and males at five years.
338

Hanging around
Sloths do not move very fast or very far. Their
body temperature is low and varies between
86 and 93F. Having a variable body temperature
enables sloths to save energy; their metabolic
rate is less than half of that expected for their
body weight. Their leafy diet is low in energy.
Sloths also have reduced musclesaround
half the relative weight for most land-living
mammalsand they cannot afford to keep
warm by shivering because that uses up too
much energy. Instead, they move into or
out of the sunlight to regulate their body
temperature. Most three-toed sloths do
not move farther than 125 feet in a day.

herbivores

Clinging on
tightly with all
four limbs, a

Male sloths may advertise for females

by smearing scent messages on tree
branches from their anal gland.

brown-throated
three-toed sloth

The Future of the Forests

occupies a

Large numbers of sloths, especially

two-toed sloths, are hunted for their
meat in many parts of South America.
Some sloths are taken away from the
forests into the cities, where tourists
pay to have their photographs taken
with these unusual mammals. The
maned three-toed sloth is endangered
due to the destruction of its coastal
rain forest habitat. The pygmy threetoed sloth is classed as vulnerable;

favorite tree.

it is likely to be at risk of extinction

in the future if current trends
continue. The future of all six species
of sloths depends on the future of the
rain forests. If the sloths have no
forests to live in, they will die out.

OW?
DID YOU KN
Sloths urinate and produce
droppings only once or twice a
week, at which time they climb
down from the trees.
A sloths huge, hooked claws
are around 34 inches long!
The two-toed sloth is active for
only seven hours in every
twenty-four hours.

339

Sperm whales
The largest of the toothed whales, a sperm whale has
the largest brain on Earth and probably dives deeper in the
oceans than any other animal. This group also includes
the far smaller dwarf and pygmy sperm whales.

340

carnivores

here are three species of sperm whales. The

largest sperm whale has been living on Earth
for around thirty million years. Pygmy sperm whales
and dwarf sperm whales evolved much later, around
eight million years ago. All three species have a
barrel-shaped head, a long, narrow bottom jaw with
teeth, paddle-shaped flippers, and a blowhole
(breathing hole) on the left side of the head.
Between dives, the whales come to the surface to
breathe air around every eight minutes. Two nasal
passages lead from the blowhole; one is used for
breathing, while the other produces sound.
Dwarf and pygmy sperm whales spend a great deal
of time lying quietly on the ocean surface with their
tail hanging down. They are timid and slow moving.
When threatened, these whales produce a reddish
brown liquid, which may help them escape
predators such as large sharks or killer whales.

Whale Talk
Inside the larger sperm whales forehead is a structure
containing a sticky, waxy oil called spermaceti. The
structure containing the spermaceti, and the air sacs
and air passages around it, form a powerful sonar, or
echolocation, system. The whale produces clicking
sounds and picks up echoes from its surroundings.
That helps it find food in the ocean depths. The whale
also uses clicks to communicate with other whales. A
An enormous sperm whale makes its way through
the ocean waters. Its barrel-shaped head and long,

Fact File
SPERM WHALEs
Families: Physeteridae (1 species);
Kogiidae (2 species)
Order: Cetacea
Where do they live? Worldwide,
except extreme arctic and antarctic
waters; mature male sperm whales to
edge of polar ice

Equator

Habitat: Mainly deep oceans; younger

whales inhabit shallower inshore waters
Size: Headtail length
752.5 feet (2.116 m);
weight 300 pounds63
tons (136 kg57 metric tons)
Coat: Gray on back; white or pinkish on
the belly
Diet: Squid, octopus, fish, and crabs
Breeding: Reach adulthood at around
30 years; 1 calf; males independent at
6 years; females stay in family group
Life span: From 17 years (pygmy
sperm whale) to at least 6070 years
(sperm whale)
Status: Sperm whale is vulnerable;
pygmy and dwarf sperm whales are
probably rare

narrow bottom jaw and teeth are clearly visible.

341

Sperm whales

large male makes slow, ringing clicks

around once every six seconds. These
clicks may help him attract a female,
tell other males to keep away, or
show off his fitness and size.

Males and Females

Little is known about the
reproduction of pygmy and dwarf
sperm whales. In the larger sperm

whale, males are much bigger than

females and grow until they are
around fifty years old. The largest
males swim close to the edge of the
Arctic and Antarctic. They journey
to warmer waters nearer the
equator to find females for mating.
Breeding males usually avoid one
another, but sometimes rival males
fight using their teeth.

A group of
pygmy sperm
whales swims
together. The
adults stay close
to the calves to
protect them from
predators, such
as killer whales.

Group protection
Female sperm whales gather in family groups of around twelve
often closely related individuals, such as these pygmy sperm whales
(above). That allows young calves to be protected by some of the
adults on the surface while their mothers dive into the depths of the
sea to feed. Adults also protect each other from predators. Sperm
whales sometimes surround an injured whale, forming a shape like
the petals of a flower, with their head or tail in the center. They can
then defend the injured whale using their teeth or powerful tail.

342

carnivores

Family Units and Bachelors

Male sperm whales leave the family
units, which are made up of several
mothers and their calves, when they
are around six years old. They join
other young males to form bachelor
schools. As they grow older, males
are more likely to live alone. In
contrast, male dwarf sperm whales
may live in groups with females and
their calves. In addition, groups of
young whales also form. Groups of
dwarf sperm whales may number
up to ten individuals, while pygmy
sperm whales either live alone or in
groups of up to six whales.

The Human Threat

Around 300 years ago, there were
more than a million sperm whales.
There are now only around 360,000
left, and they are in danger of
extinction. Dwarf and pygmy sperm
whales are probably also rare, but
scientists are not sure of their
numbers. Although sperm whales
are no longer hunted for their oil
and blubber (thick fat under the
skin), they are still threatened by
pollution, becoming trapped in
fishing gear, and colliding with
ships. Noise pollution from ships,
oil drilling, underwater explosions,

and military exercises is a particular

problem because sperm whales rely
so heavily on sound for all aspects
of their underwater life.

The massive
tail flukes of
a sperm whale
break the surface
of the water

OW?
DID YOU KN
Male sperm whales weigh three
times as much as females.
Sperm whales can dive to depths
of more than 3,300 feet and
stay underwater for longer than
an hour!
Sperm whales sometimes hunt
giant squid and jumbo squid.
Sperm whales dive to the seabed
for food, shoveling up anything
lying there, including stones
and tin cans!
Baby sperm whales, called
calves, are around 13 feet long
at birth and may weigh as much
as 2,200 pounds!

as the whale
dives to the
ocean depths.

343

Squirrels
Most squirrels have large eyes, a bushy tail, and long back legs.
The hundreds of different species include burrowing marmots,
prairie dogs, tree squirrels, and flying squirrels. Many spend
at least half of their life in a deep sleep called hibernation.

344

omnivores

quirrels are active and clever mammals. They have

evolved different body forms and habits that suit
them for life in a range of habitats. They live worldwide
in large numbers in lush rain forests, dry deserts, open
prairie grasslands, and backyards. Squirrels have keen
eyesight for spotting predators and touch-sensitive
whiskers on the head, feet, and the outside of the legs.
A squirrels bushy tail helps the animal balance when it
runs and climbs, acts as a rudder for steering when it
jumps, works like a flag to signal to other squirrels, and
can be wrapped around the body like a blanket.

Fact File
SQUIRRELs
Family: Sciuridae (273 species)
Order: Rodentia
Where do they live? Worldwide,
except Australia, Polynesia, Madagascar,
southern South America, and the
Sahara desert

Equator

Powerful Legs and Sharp Claws

Ground-dwelling squirrels have a heavy body, with
powerful front legs and large claws for digging. In
contrast, tree squirrels have a lighter, longer body, less
muscular front legs, and sharp claws on all their toes.
Tree squirrels come down trees headfirst, turning their
back feet backward and sticking their claws into the
bark, which helps anchor them. All squirrels have soft
pads on the soles of their feet, which gives them a
better grip on surfaces and food. Desert squirrels have
furry feet, which help them walk over hot sand.

Mainly Vegetarian
Squirrels are mainly plant eaters, but they also feed on
insects. Most tree squirrels and flying squirrels also eat
birds eggs and baby birds. Ground-living squirrels
A large, bushy tail and ear tufts characterize the red
squirrel of Europe and Central Asia. Red squirrels

Habitat: Varied, including rain forests,

cooler forests, tundra, alpine meadows,
deserts, fields, and parks
Size: Varies with species: head
body length 2.628.7 inches
(6.673 cm); weight
0.35 ounce17.6
pounds (10 g8 kg)
Coat: Varies from red or brown to gray;
some with stripes
Diet: Nuts, seeds, fruit, flowers, sap,
grass, bulbs, and fungi; also insects,
birds eggs, and young birds
Breeding: Reach adulthood at around 1
year; 16 (up to 11)
offspring; one or two litters a year
Life span: 214 years; females usually
live longer than males
Status: Many species are threatened
or endangered; red squirrels are near
threatened

usually live alone, only coming together to mate.

345

Squirrels

even eat each others offspring. In

cooler parts of the world, a squirrels
diet may change with the seasons.
Squirrels have a pair of chiselshaped cutting teeth (incisors) at the
front of each jaw. These teeth grow
throughout a squirrels life and are
worn down as it feeds. Some
chipmunks and ground squirrels
carry food in cheek pouches.When

OW?
DID YOU KN
Large flying squirrels can glide
for 330 feet or more!
American red squirrels may
store up to 18,000 pine cones
in one big larder!
Inside the winter nest of a red
squirrel, it may be 68F warmer
than it is outside!

1. Alpine marmot
2. Indian giant or

Malabar squirrel
3. African pygmy

squirrel
4. Abert or tasseleared squirrel
5. Southern flying squirrel

6. Shrew-faced ground squirrel

7. American red squirrel
8. Prevosts squirrel
9. Geoffroys ground squirrel
10. Siberian chipmunk

6
7

346

10

omnivores

feeding, squirrels squat on their

back legs and hold the food to their
mouth in their short front paws.
Squirrels that live in cooler forests
bury stores of nuts and cones, which
help them survive long, cold, winters.
Gray and red squirrels might bury
hundreds of nuts each year. Although
squirrels can smell the nuts as deep
as 12 inches below the surface of the
ground, many nuts are never dug up
and eaten. Eventually some of these
nuts sprout. That helps the trees
spread and grow in new areas.
Douglas squirrels and American red
squirrels store pine and spruce cones
in huge larders, often under logs.
Each squirrel defends an area called
a territory around these larders.
Squirrels warn away rivals by
making screeching and rattling calls,
and sometimes chase and fight rivals.

Surviving the Winter

Some squirrels that live in places with
a cold winter season may have long
resting periods or enter a deep,
sleeplike state called hibernation
during winter. They build a cosy nest
in a tree or find a tree hole or
underground burrow. Tropical and
desert-living species might remain
active all year round.

A squirrels round nest, called a

drey, is made of small branches,
twigs, and grass. It is thickly lined
with dry grass, moss, and fur.
Although it is much warmer inside

Flying Squirrels
The furry wings of flying squirrels are made
from flaps of skin stretched between their arms
and ankles along the sides of their body. These
wings work like parachutes to trap air, so
the squirrel falls slowly down through the air,
gliding from tree to tree. As it glides, the squirrel
steers by changing the position of its legs
and bushy tail and also by stretching its furry
wings tightly. Gliding saves energy and helps
squirrels escape from predators in the trees.
However, these wings make it hard for the
squirrels to move on tree trunks and branches,
which is probably why these squirrels come out
at night. That makes it easier for them to avoid
birds of prey, which are active during the day.

347

Squirrels

its drey, a squirrel has to go outside

to find food every two days or so,
even in bad weather.
Ground squirrels and marmots
spend the winter hibernating in
burrows. They live off stores of food
or on fat stored in their body.
During hibernation, the speed of
the squirrels body processes slows
down to save energy. Every two to
four weeks, the squirrel wakes up to
urinate and produce droppings. By
the time it emerges from
hibernation, the squirrel will have
lost more than half its body weight.

Baby Squirrels
Baby squirrels are naked, toothless,
blind, and helpless when they are
born, but they develop rapidly. Young
red squirrels have grown all their fur
by the time they are three weeks old
and are independent at eight to ten
weeks. By this time, they have enough
climbing skills to survive in the trees.
Young ground squirrels develop even
faster. Chipmunks and ground
squirrel pups are independent by
three or four weeks, and marmot
pups by six weeks. It is dangerous for
these squirrels to stay in the nest for
too long because they can be trapped
by digging predators.
348

Marmot Families
For yellow-bellied marmots (above), living in
family groups brings many benefits. A group can
defend its food resources more successfully than
an individual, which ensures members never go
hungry. Many extra pairs of eyes also increases
the chances of spotting a predator before it gets
too close. In addition, animals in large groups
survive better and have more offspring.

omnivores

OW?
DID YOU KN
Siberian chipmunks can carry
around 0.3 ounce of grain in their
cheek pouches for distances of
more than half a mile!
Marmots may hibernate for as
long as nine months of the year!
During hibernation, an alpine
marmot may lose more than half
of its body weight!
Cape ground squirrels live in
burrows that may have nearly a
hundred openings!

In most species of tree squirrels,

ground squirrels, and chipmunks,
only the mother looks after the
offspring. Marmots, prairie dogs, and
some other ground squirrels live in
family groups of female relatives. In

other squirrel species, the males live

with female groups and sometimes
help care for the babies.

Threats to Squirrels
The greatest threat to squirrel
populations is the growing number
of people, who are destroying squirrel
habitats by cutting down trees and
taking plants from one country to
another. Squirrels are also hunted for
their fur, for sport, and because many
people consider squirrels as pests and
carriers of diseases. Little notice has
been taken of the ways in which
squirrels help habitatsby spreading
seeds, controlling insect pests, and
mixing the soil so that air and
nutrients can circulate.
A gray squirrel
has come to the
ground to look
for food. Gray
squirrels have a
varied diet that
includes acorns,
nuts, seeds, fruit,
insects, fungi,
and sometimes
baby birds.

349

Tapirs
These shy, water-loving mammals are the survivors
of an ancient group, and they still have a prehistoric look
about them. The tapirs tropical forest homes are being
cut down by people, and these animals are becoming rare.

350

herbIVORES

apirs look like pigs but are more closely related

to horses and rhinoceroses. Tapirs are members
of the order Perissodactyla, hoofed mammals with an
odd number of toes. Tapir ancestors appeared around
fifty-five million years ago, and for a long time many
different tapir species existed. Now there are just four
species, and they have changed so little over time that
scientists sometimes call them living fossils.
Tapirs have a bulky, barrel-shaped body but are
surprisingly agile. Their slim legs have three welldeveloped toes on each foot. The front feet have a
small fourth toe, similar to the dew claw of a dog,
which does not touch the ground. The tapirs head is
small and has oval ears and a droopy snout, or
proboscis, with nostrils at the end. A tapir moves its
proboscis around in the air or in cracks and crevices
to sniff for food. It also uses the proboscis to grasp
shoots, leaves, and other food. Tapirs have coarse
hair, which is dark brown to black in most species.
The bold black-and-white markings of the Malayan
tapir help break up its outline, so it is difficult to see
at night as it moves through moonlit tropical forests.
Young tapirs are brown, with pale spots and stripes.

Spreading Seeds and Passing Messages

Tapirs eat all kinds of plant material, which they grind
with powerful jaw muscles. They particularly like fruit
and provide an important service for many plants

Fact File
TAPIRs
Family: Tapiridae (4 species)
Order: Perissodactyla
Where do they live? Central and South
America and Southeast Asia

Equator
Equator

Habitat: Tropical forests and

grasslands
Size: Headbody length 68 feet
(1.82.5 m); weight 330660 pounds
(150300 kg)
Coat: Short and
coarse, dark
brown to black in
American species; Malayan tapir has a
white body with dark head, forequarters,
and hind legs
Diet: Grass, shoots, leaves, fruit, and
other plant material
Breeding: 1 offspring, occasionally
twins; 13 months gestation; mature at
2436 months
Life span: Up to 35 years
Status: Endangered in the Americas;
Malayan species is vulnerable

A male Malayan tapir curls its top lip in an action

called the flehmen response. It is testing the scent
of a female tapir to find out if she is ready to breed.

351

Tapirs

spreading far and wide the seeds that

pass out of the body in their
droppings. Brazilian, Bairds, and
Malayan tapirs are active mainly at
night and spend a lot of time in
water. The mountain tapir lives in
cooler climates. It spends less time in
water and is active during the day.
Tapirs usually live alone, except for
mothers with offspring. Tapirs are
not usually bad tempered, but they

OW?
DID YOU KN
The Malayan tapir has the longest
proboscis. It looks like a short
trunk!
Tapirs communicate using loud
whistles, and they answer when
people imitate these calls!
In the forests of Ecuador, tapirs
help up to one-third of all plant
species by spreading and fertilizing
seeds with their droppings!

1
1. Mountain tapir
2. Bairds tapir
with offspring
3. Brazilian tapir
4. Malayan tapir

2
3

4
352

herbIVORES

prefer to be on their own. Adults use

scent to pass messages to each other,
leaving splashes of urine and heaps
of dung here and there around their
home patch, or territory.

Time to Breed

Water lovers
Tapirs are excellent swimmers and can hold their
breath underwater for several minutes. They often
feed on water plants and seem to enjoy wallowing;
mud and water help keep them cool and free from
flies and skin parasites. Tapirs also use water
as a refuge from land predators, such as bears
and jaguars. A tapir tries to sink underwater
until the attacker is forced to let go. However,
that technique does not work so well with
anacondas, which are giant South American
snakes, and crocodiles. Both of these predators
often successfully hunt baby tapirs in the water.

Male tapirs use an extra scent

detector, the Jacobsons organ, in the
roof of the mouth to find out
whether a female is ready to breed.
When testing female scent, the male
curls up its lips in a type of snarl,
called the flehmen response. If
several males are interested in the
same female, there may be a short
fight, but the smallest males usually
give up quickly and leave. After
mating, the male moves on and
does not help rear his offspring.
Female tapirs spend up to two
years caring for the single youngster
until it is able to fend for itself.

Tapirs Under Threat

Tapirs are shy and nervous, and
with good reason. All four species
are hunted by bears, crocodiles, big
cats such as jaguars, pumas,
leopards, and tigers, and also by
people. In addition, tapirs are also
threatened by habitat loss due to
logging and other human activities.
353

Tarsiers
These tiny, goggle-eyed monkeys are extremely nimble
and acrobatic. They can leap forty times their own
body length from tree to tree, using hind legs
that are twice as long as the rest of their body.

354

carnivores

arsiers are small primates that live on islands in

the Indian and Pacific oceans, including
Sumatra, Borneo, Sulawesi, and the Philippines. There
are seven species, of which the smallest is the pygmy
tarsier, which could sit comfortably in a childs hand.
Tarsiers have extremely long legs, fingers, and toes.
Each finger and toe has a wide pad and a sharp claw.
These pads allow the tarsier to grip smooth surfaces,
and the claws provide grip on rough surfaces. So,
tarsiers can climb most things in their forest home.

Fact File
TARSIERs
Family: Tarsiidae (7 species)
Order: Primates
Where do they live? Islands of
Southeast Asia

Equator

Large-eyed Night Hunters

Compared with the size of their body, tarsiers have the
largest eyes of any mammaleach eye of Horsefields
western tarsier weighs more than its brain. Tarsiers are
active at night, and their huge eyes help them see in the
dark. Tarsiers sleep in the trees during the day and
come out at dusk to search for foodmainly insects,
such as moths, beetles, and cicadas. They catch their
prey with their hands. Large tarsier species catch and
kill birds even bigger than themselves.
Tarsiers live in pairs or small groups, which stay in
touch using a variety of calls. In some species, males
and females perform singing duets early in the
morning. Singing helps maintain the bonds among
them and warns other tarsiers that a territory is already
taken. Tarsiers use scent to mark their home patch.
They rear one baby at a time, after a long pregnancy.
Clinging on tightly with its long fingers and toes,

Habitat: Tropical forests

Size: Headbody length 3.75.7 inches
(9.514.5 cm); weight 3.55 ounces
(100140 g)
Coat: Short and velvety;
buffy brown to gray; paler
on belly and chest; tail
usually has sparse tuft of longer hairs
toward tip
Diet: Mostly insects and other
invertebrates; some small reptiles and
birds
Breeding: 1 large offspring, born after
190 days gestation; weaned at 10
weeks; mature at 12 months or more
Life span: 8 years in the wild, and up
to 12 years in a zoo
Status: Most species are too little
known to be sure; conservationists are
concerned about all species

a tarsier sits on a branch. Its enormous, forwardfacing eyes allow it to judge distances accurately.

355

Tasmanian Devil
These fearsome-looking marsupials were named devils
by early European settlers in Australia. It has taken hundreds
of years for people to realize that Tasmanian devils are not dangerous and that they are in desperate need of help.

356

carnivores

he Tasmanian devil and its cousin the thylacine,

or Tasmanian wolf, were once the only large
mammalian predators living in Australia. They were
driven to extinction on the mainland by the dingo, a
type of wolf introduced by Aboriginal people from
Asia 3,500 years ago. Now, Tasmanian devils live only
on the island of Tasmania, and the thylacine is extinct.
European settlers in Australia hated Tasmanian devils
as soon as they saw them. These stout marsupials look
and sound fearsome, and their hyena-like habits of
scavenging and squabbling over food made them
instantly unpopular. They were hunted and trapped for
200 years. However, in the last 50 years people have
begun to see another side to Tasmanian devils. They
are quite timid animals, and the toothy snarl that once
seemed so threatening is now known to be a sign that
the animal is frightened. Since the last known thylacine
died in the 1930s, the people of Tasmania have begun to
take more care of the Tasmanian devil, and there is
now a lot of support for its conservation.

Fighting Over the Dead

Most of the time, Tasmanian devils live alone, but they
often gather where there is food. They eat a lot of dead
animals, which they often find on roadsides. Tasmanian
devils move around their home range at night, sniffing
and foraging around in search of food. They have an
excellent sense of smell and good hearing. They are
A solitary Tasmanian devil surveys its surroundings.

Fact File
TASMANIAN DEVIL
Sarcophilus harrisii
Family: Dasyuridae
Order: Dasyuromorphia
Where do they live? Tasmania

Equator

Habitat: Temperate forests and

scrublands
Size: Headbody length
2025 inches (5062
cm); weight 1030
pounds (4.413 kg)
Coat: Coarse, dark brown to black
fur, with white chest and small white
patches on other parts of body
Diet: Small birds, mammals up to the
size of wallabies, and carrion
Breeding: 34 offspring, born after
31 days gestation; carried in pouch
for 1516 weeks; weaned at 8
months; mature at 12 months
Life span: Up to 6 years
Status: Lower risk, least concern;
several other marsupial carnivores
are seriously threatened

Although they live mostly alone, these marsupial

carnivores often gather to feed together at carcasses.

357

Tasmanian Devil

attracted by the sounds of other

Tasmanian devils feeding, so it is
quite common for several of them to
turn up and begin fighting over a
dead animal.
Tasmanian devils are well
equipped for scavenging. Their large
jaws are powered by huge muscles

and contain bone-crushing teeth.

They eat quickly, tearing off large
chunks of meat and swallowing
them without chewing, in an effort
to eat as much as possible before
other Tasmanian devils arrive.
In addition to scavenging dead
meat, Tasmanian devils also hunt

As it yawns,
a Tasmanian devil
reveals its sharp
teeth and powerful
jaws. Many of
these animals
catch a deadly
disease called
devil facial
tumor disease.

Deadly DEVIL disease

The biggest threat to Tasmanian devils now is a nasty disease

known as devil facial tumor disease, or DFTD. The disease
was first noticed in 1996. It seems to be a type of cancer. It causes
tumors on the face, especially around the mouth. These tumors
grow fast and can make it impossible for the Tasmanian devil
to eat. Unusually for a cancer, DFTD seems to be infectious
one Tasmanian devil can catch it from another. In some parts
of Tasmania, DFTD has killed up to 80 percent of the population.

358

carnivores

living animals, including birds,

reptiles, and small- to medium-sized
mammals, such as rabbits, young
wombats, and wallabies. Tasmanian
devils may occasionally kill a lamb,
but they are not a serious risk to
livestock, as people once thought.

Pouched Devils
Like other marsupials, baby
Tasmanian devils are born small and
underdeveloped. They must crawl to
the mothers pouch and attach
themselves to a teat. They continue
to grow and develop in the mothers
pouch and are finally ready to leave
at around four months old. They
start eating meat given to them by
their parents at five or six months
old, and they are ready to start life
alone at ten months.

Other Marsupial Carnivores

Tasmanian devils are probably the
largest living marsupial carnivores.
There are almost seventy other
species of marsupial carnivores. They
live in parts of Australia and New
Guinea and come in all shapes and
sizes. Most are small, mouselike
animals, such as the insect-eating
dunnarts and antechinuses. Others,
such as the phascogales, look like

squirrels, and quolls are similar to

mongooses in size and habits.
Another carnivorous marsupial is
the numbat. This squirrel-sized
animal, with its stripy back, bushy
tail, pointed snout, and bandit
mask, specializes in eating termites
and lives only in Western Australia.

A numbat sits
atop a fallen log.
Numbats spend
most of their days
searching for food.
Like Tasmanian
devils, numbats
are marsupial
carnivores.

OW?
DID YOU KN
A Tasmanian devil can eat up to
40 percent of its body weight in
meat in one feeding frenzy!
The scientific name Sarcophilus
means flesh lover and
describes the Tasmanian devils
fierce meat-eating habits.
Tasmanian devils are walking
waste-disposal machinesthey
are able to crunch up all the
parts of other animals, including
the toughest hides and the
largest bones!
359

tiger
Tigers are fearsome hunters, and they often
eat animals larger than themselves. Tigers
are ambush huntersthey pounce on
their prey without any warning.

360

carnivores

igers are extremely large and strong. Along

with lions, tigers are the biggest of all the cats.
A tigers furry coat is orange, with black vertical
stripes. Many tigers have a ruff of longer fur at the
back of the neck. No two tigers have exactly the
same pattern of stripes. Often the pattern on a tigers
left side is different compared with its right side. A
tigers tail is long and has orange and black stripes.
Most tigers are forest animals but some live in tall
grasslands or swamps. The most important things
they need from their habitat are plenty of food and lots
of vegetation to give them cover while they are hunting.
Their stripy coat looks bright in the open, but in the
dappled light of the forest a tiger can become almost
invisible, slinking silently along in search of food.

Meat Eaters
Tigers are meat eaters. A hungry tiger uses its eyes and
ears to find food. It listens carefully for the sound of a
breaking branch, for example, as a deer walks through
the forest and looks to see the movement of the
animal through the trees. Then the big cat stalks
(quietly follows) the deer until it is much closer. The
tiger may then remain still for a few minutes until it is
ready to strike. When it is ready, the tiger runs and
leaps at its prey. Some people have seen a tiger
making a horizontal leap of more than 30 feet, which
is twice the length of an automobile.
When it is hungry, a tiger will go hunting. This tiger
has seen its prey and is running quickly toward it.
The tiger will then leap on its victim and kill it.

Fact File
tiger
Panthera tigris
Family: Felidae (5 subspecies, or local
types)
Order: Carnivora
Distribution: India, Southeast Asia,
China, and southeastern Russia

Equator

Habitat: Varied, including rain forests

and reed beds
Size: Headbody length
7.910.2 feet (2.43.1 m);
weight 220559 pounds
(100258 kg)
Coat: Black stripes on orange
background on back and sides; underside
mostly white
Diet: Mostly large mammals, including
wild deer, cattle, and pigs
Breeding: Reach adulthood at 35
years; usually 23 cubs; independent after
1.52 years
Life span: Up to 15 years in the wild,
and 26 years in zoos
Status: Endangered

361

tiger

As well as being strong, tigers also

have long, sharp teeth and claws.
They hold onto their victim with
their claws and use their teeth to bite
into the back of its neck. As they are
so strong, tigers can kill animals
much bigger than themselves. They
often kill and eat deer, buffalo, and
wild pigs. Less often, tigers eat
monkeys, baby elephants, birds, and
even fish. Not all attacks are
successful. However, if the tiger does
grab its prey, the victim stands little
chance of making an escape. The
tiger then eats until it is no longer
hungry. If any meat remains, the tiger
may carry it away to a safe place
where it can have another meal later.
The largest tigers live in parts of
India and Russia. They are
subspecies (local types) called Bengal

Tiger Cubs
Female tigers usually give birth to litters of two
or three cubs. When they are born, the cubs are
tiny, weighing only 2756 ounces. They grow
quickly, however, and by eleven months they
can kill other animals. When they are eighteen
months or two years old, the cubs leave their
mother and go off to fend for themselves.

a tiger stalks its prey

1 A tiger creeps up on its

prey, hiding in long grass.

362

Leaping up from its crouch, the

tiger bounds toward the startled deer.

carnivores

tigers and Amur tigers. The larger

males weigh between 400 and nearly
600 pounds. Some of these tigers are
more than 10 feet long from the tip
of their nose to the tip of their tail.
Tigers that live on the Indonesian
island of Sumatra are much smaller,
weighing up to 330 pounds.

Sunderbans Tigers
Around four-fifths of the worlds wild
tigers are Bengal tigers. Most Bengal
tigers live in India. One of the best
areas of tiger habitat in the world is a
place called the Sunderbans swamp
near Calcutta in India. The
Sunderbans tigers are famous, but
often for the wrong reasons. More
people are killed by tigers here than
anywhere else in the worldaround
a hundred people every year.

Solitary Killers
Tigers usually live alone, apart from
mothers with their cubs. Adult
tigers rarely come within 1 to 3
miles of each other. A mother may
allow her daughter to live nearby
after she has become independent.
However, there is trouble if the
younger animal strays onto her
mothers territory. Sometimes, tigers
share a meal when one has killed a
large animal, but they only tolerate
company for a short while.
Tigers are usually nocturnal (active
at night). However, sometimes tigers
hunt during the day, especially in
northern regions, where the nights
are extremely cold. Tigers can climb
trees but unlike some other large
cats, they do this rarely. They are also
strong swimmers. They swim using

Jumping onto the deers back, the

tiger grabs it by the back of the neck.

DID YOU
KNOW?
Tigers can swim
and often eat fish!
Tigers can jump
30 feet in a single
leap!
A tigers roar can
be heard
approximately 2
miles away!

4 The tiger grips the deers throat in

a bite that suffocates the deer.

363

tiger

A tiger pads silently through the rain

forest on its massive paws. As a result
of habitat destruction, there are fewer
than 8,000 tigers now living in the wild.

a strong dog-paddle. In hot weather,

tigers cool down by lounging in a
pool, and sometimes they catch fish.

Raising Cubs

SAVing THE TIGER

Tigers used to live all over southern Asia but
they have become rare. Most of their problems
are caused by people. Many of the forests in
which they once lived have been cut down
to make space for farms and towns. In many
places, tigers have been hunted until there were
none left. Most of the remaining wild tigers live
in protected preserves, but some are still hunted.

364

Tigers mate throughout the year, but

mostly between November and April.
That is the only time adult tigers are
seen together. A female tiger is
pregnant for around 100 days.
Usually, she then gives birth to two or
three cubs, but this number can
range from one to six. By this time,
the cubs father is long gone and he
does not help raise the cubs.
The newborn cubs are tiny. They
feed only on their mothers milk for
three to six months. After that time
they will eat meat that the mother
brings to them. The mother tiger is
fiercely protective of her young cubs.
She will not let any other tiger come
near. Male tigers are especially
dangerous as they may try to kill the
cubs to bring their mother into
breeding condition once again.
However, the cubs seem unaware of
these dangers. They spend their days

carnivores

playing, feeding, and sleeping. They

love to chase each other and to play
fight. They also play with their food.
When they are old enough to eat
meat, their mother brings them live
animals so that they can practice
hunting for themselves. All of these
games help the cubs gain the skills
they will need when they are older.
Tiger cubs grow quickly. They can
hunt successfully before their first
birthday but they are not fully
independent of their mother until

they are at least eighteen months old.

However, half of all tiger cubs do not
survive to the age of two years.

OW?
DID YOU KN
Some tigers are white with black
stripes and blue eyes. Most of
these unusual tigers live in zoos.
A large tigers claws are as long as
human fingers.
Tigers can live up to twenty-six
years, but wild ones rarely live for
more than eight or nine years.

Instead of the
usual pattern
of black stripes
on an orange
background, this
tiger is white and
has black stripes.

365

tree Shrews
These tropical forest dwellers look like a cross between
a shrew and a squirrel but have other features in common
with primates. There is evidence that tree shrews are closely
related to both primates and colugos (gliding lemurs).

366

OMNIVORES

ree shrews are placed in their own order

(group), Scandentia, which means scramblers.
Despite their name, not all tree shrews live in trees.
Most spend part of the day on the ground and some
hardly ever climb. These mammals have a long body
and a long, relatively bushy tail, sometimes with a tuft
of long hairs at the end in tree-climbing species, or
bushy and squirrel-like in the ground-dwelling
species. A tree shrew flicks its tail around as it moves
to help it balance. Ground-dwelling tree shrews have
a long, pointed snout, while tree-climbers have a
short face, more like that of a squirrel.

Leaf-litter Rummagers and Part-time Mothers

Trees shrews eat a wide variety of food and spend
much of their time looking for it. They rummage in
undergrowth and leaf litter for fruit, seeds, insects and
other invertebrates, and even baby mice and small
lizards. Most tree shrews hunt by day, but the pentailed
tree shrew is nocturnal (night active).
Male tree shrews do not help rear the offspring, and
even the females spend little time with them. Each baby
in a litter is born in a separate nest, and the mother
visits them only once every day or two to nurse them.
By spending little time at each nest, the mother avoids
drawing the attention of predators to it. Young tree
shrews leave the nest at four weeks old, by which time
some have spent less than two hours with their mother.

Fact File
TREE SHREWs
Families: Tupaiidae (19 species) and
Ptilocercidae (1 species)
Order: Scandentia
Where do they live? India, China, and
Southeast Asia, including the Philippines
and Indonesia

Equator

Habitat: Tropical forests

Size: Headbody length 3.59 inches
(923 cm); weight
1.811 ounces
(50300 g)
Coat: Fine, dense, and soft; usually
grayish brown to rich red-brown.
Diet: Invertebrate animals, including
insects and millipedes, some small
vertebrates, fruit, seeds, and other
plant material
Breeding: 13 offspring, born after
4550 days gestation; weaned at 4
weeks; mature at around 3 months
Life span: Up to 12 years in a zoo
Status: 5 species are vulnerable;
2 species are endangered

A pygmy tree shrew grips onto a branch using its

strong claws. These tree shrews often rub along a
branch, leaving scent from a gland in the stomach.

367

Voles and Lemmings

Voles and lemmings cope with some of the harshest winter
conditions of any rodents. Many live more than half
of their life under a blanket of snow. In the summer,
they have some of the fastest breeding rates of any mammals.

368

herbivores

oles and lemmings live mainly in northerly

countries, and many are able to cope surprisingly
well with long, cold winters. They are mostly small,
mouse-sized animals with thick fur and a chubby face.
Those parts of the body that lose heat the fastest, such
as the legs, tail, and ears, are all short. Lemmings have a
particularly tough life. Most live within the arctic circle,
where it is dark for much of the winter and the
temperature stays well below freezing for months.
Despite the hardships of winter, voles and
lemmings do not hibernate. They stay awake and
active and continue to look for food all winter, using
a network of tunnels under the snow to move
around, gathering frozen grass and other food.
Voles and lemmings eat a variety of food, but their
diet varies among species and with the seasons. In
spring, they eat mostly green shoots and tender new
leaves, in summer they take advantage of ripe fruit
and berries, moving onto seeds and nuts as they
ripen. Some species of voles and lemmings collect
extra food, such as nuts, seeds, and hay, and store it in
their burrows to help them survive the harsh winter.

Sharp Teeth and Territorial Behavior

Like other members of the rat and mouse family, voles
and lemmings have a pair of large, chisel-shaped
incisor teeth in both the upper and lower jaw, separated
from the cheek teeth by a wide gap. The incisor teeth

Fact File
VOLEs AND LEMMINGs
Family: Muridae; subfamily Microtinae
(143 species)
Order: Rodentia
Where do they live? Temperate
and subpolar lands of northern hemisphere

Equator

Habitat: Tundra, fields, meadows,

woodlands, and riverbanks
Size: Headbody length
413 inches (1032
cm); weight 0.664
ounces (171,800 g)
Coat: Thick and sometimes shaggy;
usually brown to black; some lemmings
have bold markings
Diet: Mainly plant material
Breeding: Extremely rapid; several litters
of 112 born in a season, after 1628
days gestation; weaned at 36 weeks;
mature at 28 weeks
Life span: 6 months2 years
Status: 3 species are critically
endangered; 3 species are
endangered

A bank vole scurries down a slope toward a river.

As their name suggests, bank voles live in riverbanks
and swamps, in Europe and Asia.

369

Voles and Lemmings

are used for gnawing, while the cheek

teeth are used for grinding plant
material. The gap between the
incisors and cheek teeth allows the
animal to close its mouth when it has
bitten off chunks of food.
A voles teeth, including its grinding
molars, continue to grow well into
adult life. The jaws are controlled by
large muscles in the animals cheeks,
giving the animal its typical chubbyfaced appearance.

Voles and most species of

lemmings spend their life within a
fairly small area. Males can be highly
territorial. Scent is important, and
they use droppings, urine, and scent
from skin glands to mark their patch.
The scent of a mature male can bring
females into season and speed up the
development of young females. Most
species can swim, and some, such as
the musk rat and European water
vole, are completely at home in water.

2
1
4

DID YOU
KNOW?
The claw on the
first toe of each
lemmings front
foot is large and
shaped like a
small shovel,
which makes it
ideal for digging in
the snow!
There are 143
species of voles
and lemmings.
Some are so
similar that even
experts struggle
to tell them apart.
Water voles in
the United
Kingdom live in
riverbanks and
swim well, but
water voles in
Eastern Europe
and Siberia live
underground, far
from water.

3
1. Arctic lemming in its summer coat
2. European water vole

9
6

3. Meadow vole
4. Muskrat
5. Red tree vole
6. Southern mole vole
7. Taiga vole

8
370

8. Arctic lemming in its winter coat

9. Norway lemming

herbivores

Lemming migrations
Folklore has it that every few years
lemmings commit mass suicide by
throwing themselves over cliffs or into
the sea. However, these tales are not true.
High numbers of deaths are caused by
overcrowding and usually take place after
a mild winter, during which lemmings
continue to breed. Young lemmings try

Short Lives, Fast Breeders

Voles and lemmings are defenseless
against predators and are among the
most commonly eaten of all small
mammals. The only defense that
voles and lemmings have against the
never-ending attacks of larger
mammals, snakes, and birds of prey
is to breed fast. Voles and lemmings
are famous for a boom and bust
pattern of breeding, with females
rearing a litter every three or four
weekssometimes as many as forty

to move away from the crowd to find

space to live but find themselves caught
up in a mass of other lemmings trying to
do the same thing. The situation becomes
more and more desperate, resulting
in hordes of lemmings rushing across
the countryside and not stopping for
anythingrivers and cliff edges included.

offspring a season. Female field voles

breed at just four weeks old, but
Norway lemmings are the real
champion breeders. Some can mate
and become pregnant at just two or
three weeks old. These amazing
breeding rates mean that populations
of voles and lemmings can build up
extremely quickly, leading to vole
plagues and the famous mass
migrations of lemmings. Huge
populations are not stable, however,
and their numbers soon fall again.

Mass
migrations of
Norway lemmings
often lead to panic
and the death
of a number
of the animals.

371

Walrus
With its huge flabby body, tiny bloodshot eyes, and bristly
moustache, the walrus would not win any beauty contests.
But its enormous tusks are so highly prized as ivory
that the species was once hunted nearly to extinction.

372

carnivores

alruses may look awkward on land but they

are powerful and agile underwater. Their
paddlelike front flippers help them swim at up to 20
miles an hour. These flippers are also used for moving
around on land or ice floes and for scratching the body.
The hind flippers are used mainly for steering in the
water, but on land the walrus can swing them forward
under its body to help support its enormous bulk.
Both male and female walruses grow tusks, although
the males are larger. The tusks are used for display and
fighting. Walruses live in large groups, and quarrels
over space are common. The most serious fights occur
between males during the breeding season. It can take
fifteen years for a male to grow large and powerful
enough to have a chance to mate. In any year, only
around 10 percent of males get to breed. Walruses mate
in the water, and courtship involves many complicated
calls. Females rear one calf every two years. Females
and calves form nursery colonies, and young walruses
stay close to their mother for at least three years.

Arctic Ice Habitat

Walruses prefer to haul out on ice rather than on dry
land and they try to stay close to the edge of the arctic
ice. They can make breathing holes in ice that is up to
9 inches thick by ramming it with their head, using
their tusks to chip ice away from the hole to keep it
open. As the ice becomes too thick in winter, walruses
A walrus displays his enormous tusks, tough, wrinkled

Fact File
WALRUS
Odobenus rosmarus
Family: Odobenidae
Order: Carnivora
Where do they live? Arctic Ocean and
other far northern seas

Equator

Habitat: Open water, pack ice, and

some rocky beaches
Size: Headbody
length 810 feet
6 inches (240320
cm); weight 1,250
2,670 pounds (5651,210 kg)
Coat: Extremely sparse hairs, mainly on
face, neck, and shoulders; light brown to
bright pink skin
Diet: Mollusks, worms, and fish;
occasionally smaller seals and sea birds
Breeding: 1 offspring born after 1516
months gestation; weaned at up to 2
years; mature at 410 years
Life span: 40 years or more
Status: Has recovered from serious
decline in the past

skin, and mustachelike hairs. These sensitive hairs

help the walrus find food in the dark on the seafloor.

373

Walrus

knobbly skin on the neck up to 2

inches thick, which protects them
from stab wounds when fighting.
Beneath the skin is layer of fat up to 4
inches thick. This fatty layer protects
the walrus from tusk wounds and
keeps it warm in icy water.
Walruses have no problem coping
with the cold but they struggle with
heat. A large male lying in the sun
soon flushes bright pink and has to
take plenty of cooling swims. That
usually means losing his place on the
beach or ice floe, and another
squabble over space takes place when
he hauls out again.

Seafloor Hunters
Walruses hunt for food buried in the
soft sediment on the seafloor, up to
600 feet down. They make many
A male walrus
has extremely
long tusks. On
land the tusks
are often used

swim south to find open water. They

then travel north again in spring as
the ice melts. Some walruses migrate
(make a round trip) of around 1,800
miles each year.

as a lever and to

374

make breathing

Thick Skinned and Fat

holes in the ice.

Walrus skin is extremely tough,

which protects it from sharp rocks
and ice. Most females and calves also
have a thin coat of coarse fur. Male
walruses are often almost bald, with

OW?
DID YOU KN
A walrus can eat thousands of
prey items weighing 100 pounds
or more in just one day!
Male walruses have a bone in
their penis called the baculum.
At up to 2 feet long, walruses
have the largest penis bone of
any mammal!
A walrus can feel and identify
objects the size of a thumbnail
just by brushing past them with
its bristly lips.

carnivores

Male walruses
use their tusks as
weapons to fight
off other males
and to maintain
a particular
territory on a
beach or ice floe.

walrus tusk ivory

Male walrus tusks grow up to
30 inches long and weigh up
to 12 pounds. Walruses use
their tusks mainly for display
and fighting other walruses.
Walruses are traditionally
hunted by native people living

in the far north. All parts of

the walrus body are useful,
but the animals tusks are the
most valuable. Walrus ivory
is of a finer quality that that
of elephants and is often carved
into ornaments and other items.

short dives to the bottom, where they

plow along, using their sensitive,
bristly lips to feel their way. Touch is
by far the most useful sense in these
dark, murky waters. When it finds
something to eat, a walrus loosens it
from the mud by squirting it with

jets of water from its mouth. The

walrus swallows small items whole
but it picks up large shellfish and
sucks the meat out of the shell.
Walruses feed mostly on clams,
cockles, and mussels but also eat
shrimps, crabs, and octopuses.
375

WeASELS, mink, and polecats

Sleek and agile, with lightning reactions and lethally
sharp teeth, weasels and their relatives are formidable
hunters. Most are capable of catching and killing prey
considerably larger than themselves.

376

carnivores

easels, mink, and polecats are born killers.

They hunt all types of small animals,
including mice, voles, rabbits, lizards, and birds. Weasels
chase their prey over long distances, even following
them into narrow burrows. Once captured, the prey
stands little chance. If caught while running away, prey
is usually killed with a single bite to the neck. If the prey
turns to defend itself, the predator may go for the throat
or belly instead. All weasel-like animals have extremely
sharp teeth, with long canine teeth for stabbing and
sharp-edged carnassial teeth for slicing meat. After
making a kill, a weasel carries its prize to a private lair,
where the prey is eaten, given to offspring, or stored.

Swimming and Climbing Hunters

Most species of weasels, mink, and polecats are good
swimmers. Mink often live close to water and hunt
frogs, fish, and crayfish, although they are just as good
at hunting rabbits or voles. Polecats are especially good
climbers and often raid the nests of birds and squirrels.
Weasels and their relatives have a long, slim body,
short legs, and a short, pointed face. Most have a
bushy tail, although in weasels especially the tail is
short. Their backbone is extremely flexible, allowing
the animal to take much longer strides than its short
legs might suggest. Weasels, mink, and polecats make
up for their short legs by sitting tall on their haunches
to sniff the breeze or see over tall plants and bushes.
On the alert, a European polecat displays its pointed
snout, sleek body, and bushy tail. Polecats are usually

Fact File
WEASELs, MINK, AND POLECATs
Family: Mustelidae; subfamily Mustelinae
(26 species)
Order: Carnivora
Where do they live? All continents,
except Australia and Antarctica

Equator

Habitat: Extremely varied, including

forests, mountains, tundra, semideserts,
and farmland
Size: Headbody length
622 inches (1555
cm); weight 1 ounce
7 pounds (303,200 g)
Coat: Usually shades of brown to black;
may be two-toned, with paler underfur, or
strikingly marked; some species change
color seasonally
Diet: Small vertebrate and invertebrate
animals
Breeding: Litters of 110 or more, born
after 3545 days gestation; weaned at
618 weeks; mature at 412 months
Life span: Varies with species; 16
years in the wild, and up to 12 years in
zoos
Status: 4 species are endangered and
1 species is vulnerable

more stockily built and heavier than weasels.

377

Weasels, mink, and polecats

An ermine, or stoat, tries to escape

from a cage. In fall, ermine shed their
fur and develop a white winter coat.

Territorial Travelers

The fur trade

White stoat fur, known as ermine, was once
considered a symbol of purity and honor and
was worn by European royalty and other rich
people. Mink fur is also highly prized for its
silky softness and warmth. Mink were once
hunted for their fur, and now they are bred
in fur farms. Many people consider the fur
trade to be cruel. Escaped or released farm
mink can cause huge problems for local wildlife.
In the United Kingdom, for example, the native
water vole is being hunted to the brink of
extinction by introduced American mink.

378

Most weasels, mink, and polecats live

alone, except females with babies.
These animals are territorial and do
not put up with another animal of
the same species on their patch
unless it is of the opposite sex. A few
species, such as black-footed ferrets,
grisons, and African striped weasels,
sometimes seem to live in groups.
However, they do not appear to help
each other or work together in the
same way that other social carnivores
do, such as wolves or meerkats.
Male weasels, mink, and polecats
travel widely during the breeding
season, looking for females to mate
with and fighting off other males.
Females often mate with several
different males, and the offspring in a
single litter may have different
fathers. The babies are born in a
secure den, usually in a burrow lined
with fur. They are small and weak,
and their eyes stay shut tightly for at
least three weeks. Female weasels
often move their babies from one den
to another to keep them safe, carrying
them one by one in their mouth.

carnivores

4
2

1. African striped
weasel
2. Marbled polecat
3. European polecat
4. Patagonian weasel

5. European weasel

The young animals begin eating

meat at around a month old and
are fully weaned at three months.
They leave home soon after that to
find a territory of their own.

Threats and Conservation

Mink and weasels have a tricky
relationship with people. Some
species are treated as vermin because
they sometimes kill livestock, but
others are admired for their hunting
skills. Ferrets, for example, are
domesticated polecats that are bred
to hunt rabbits. Some members of
the family are highly threatened. The
black-footed ferret of the American
prairies is among the worlds most
endangered animals and has been
saved from extinction only by a
captive breeding program.

6. American mink

OW?
DID YOU KN
A study in Finland showed that
weasels killed more voles than
any other predator.
American mink living in Europe
have become smaller than those
living in America and now look
almost identical to native
European mink.
There are only around 500
black-footed ferrets now alive.
These animals are descended
from a colony of just thirty
animals found living in Wyoming
in the 1970s.
All weasels, mink, and polecats
have the habit of sitting up on
their haunches for a better view.
The European mink is similar in
appearance to the American
mink but it is not closely related.
In addition, the two species do
not interbreed.
American mink are farmed
extensively throughout the
Americas, Europe, and Asia. The
trade in mink fur is worth billions
of dollars every year.

Male weasels,
mink, and
polecats are
usually much
larger than
females. This is
especially true
in the smaller species, such as the
least weasel
(above). The
female (left)
is only half
the weight
of the male.

379

WHALES AND DOLPHINS

Whales, including dolphins,
were once mistaken for fish
because they have a similar body
shape and cannot survive out
of water. However, unlike fish,
whales and dolphins breathe
air, have warm blood, and give
birth to live offspring, which
they nurse on milk.

o other mammals are as perfectly

adapted to life in water than whales
and dolphins. Other mammals, such as seals
and otters, are fine swimmers but they return
to land to rest or breed. Dugongs and

380

Toothed whales
1. Bottlenose whale

5. Bairds beaked whale

2. Dalls porpoise

6. Cuviers beaked whale

3. Shepherds beaked

7. Ganges river dolphin

whale
4. Narwhal

8. Sowerbys beaked whale

9. Sperm whale

1
2
3
4

Fact File
Toothed whales
Families: 10 families (72 species)

Order: Cetacea; suborder Odontoceti

River dolphins: 4 species of freshwater dolphins

from South America and Asia
Dolphins: 36 or more species of athletic, streamlined
small- to medium-sized toothed whales; worldwide
oceans and seas

Porpoises: 6 species; shallow and coastal seas

Beluga and narwhal: 2 species from the far
northern waters
Sperm whales: The largest toothed whale, and the
deepest diving of all cetaceans

9
manatees spend their whole lives in water but
do not go far from the shallows. However,
whales live in all the oceans and seas. They
include several of the largest and most
intelligent animals on the planet.
Whales and dolphins have a streamlined
body, ending in a large tail with big, horizontal
fins called flukes. Large muscles in the whales
back make the tail beat up and down, which
moves the animal through the water. The front
fins, or flippers, are used for steering, touching
and caressing other whales, and for signaling.
Most species also have a dorsal (back) fin,
which acts as a keel to keep the animal steady.
Leaping high out of the water, a bottlenose
dolphin reveals its sleek, muscular body. Dolphins
may use this behavior to herd fish and attract mates.

Equator

Pygmy sperm whales: 2 species of small, toothed

whales; temperate and tropical oceans
Beaked whales: 21 or more species of medium-tolarge, toothed whales from deep waters

Baleen whales
Families: 4 families (14 species)
Order: Cetacea; suborder Mysticeti
Gray whale: Coastal waters; usually heavily
encrusted with barnacles
Rorquals: 9 species of groove-throated great whales,
including the blue whale, the largest animal ever to
have lived on Earth
Right whales: 3 species from polar seas, with higharching jaws
Pygmy right whale: 1 little-known species from the
southern oceans

381

WHALES AND DOLPHINS

Teeth, Baleen, and Blubber

Whales and dolphins are split into two
main groups, based on the way in which
they catch their prey. Toothed whales have
a narrow snout and jaw and conical teeth,
with which they catch fish, squid, seals, and
other whales. Baleen whales have a mouth
full of stiff, bristly fringes called baleen, or
whalebone. Baleen whales are filter feeders.
They take huge quantities of water into the

OW?
DID YOU KN
Dolphins have been trained to respond
to hand signals and spoken commands
from people, and they even understand
some written symbols!
The fastest whale is the sei whale,
which has been clocked at around
35 miles per hour!
A blue whale can take in 2,500 cubic
feet of water in one gulp!

mouth and through the baleen. Small animals,

such as shrimplike krill, are trapped by the
baleen and swallowed.
Unlike most mammals, whales are not hairy
or furry. Instead, they develop a thick layer of
blubber (fat) under the skin, which acts as a
layer of insulation to keep the animal warm in
cold water. In warmer water, whales can have
a problem with overheating. That is solved by
a network of blood vessels in the skin. When
the whale is too hot, these vessels bring blood
to the surface, where it is cooled.

Diving Deep and Echolocation

Whales have to return to the surface because
they breathe air, but many can make one breath
last for an hour or more. Some whales dive to
incredible depths to find food or to avoid
A humpback whale dives in search of food.
Northern humpbacks eat mainly fish, while the
southern variety filter krill (tiny, shrimplike animals).
382

WHALES AND DOLPHINS

predators. When a whale dives deep, its lungs

are squashed by the water pressure, and air is
forced into the windpipe. Oxygen and other
gases can no longer pass into the whales blood
for distribution to the body. So, the whales
muscles have to use the oxygen already stored
inside them in a substance called myoglobin.
For whales and dolphins, the most important
sense is hearing. Sound travels much farther

through water than does light, especially in

water that is cloudy or dark. Toothed whales
send out pulses of sound produced in the
nostrils. In a process called echolocation, the
sound waves bounce off objects, and a whales
sensitive hearing picks up the echo. A whales
brain can change these echoes into a sound
picture of its surroundings. The picture is so
detailed that whales and dolphins can find their
Experts have

Whale
Evolution
The first whales
appeared around
fifty million years
ago. They had four
legs and were able
to move around on
land and in water.
By forty million years
ago, there were many
different species
of whales, which
lived only in water.
Their front legs had
become flippers and
the back legs had
all but disappeared.
Toothed and baleen
whales emerged as
separate groups thirty
million years ago.

uncovered a
whales backbone.
By analyzing the
bones, scientists
will be able to
figure out what
the whales body
form was like.

383

WHALES AND DOLPHINS

Lost and stranded whales

Whales are usually extremely good
at finding their way in the oceans.
However, it seems that strandings
and cases of whales becoming lost

and trapped in rivers or shallow bays are

increasing. Conservationists think one
reason for this might be sound pollution.
Loud noises made by drilling operations
or underwater explosions,
for example, might cause
these animals to flee in panic
or to make serious mistakes
in their navigation.

An enormous sperm whale

lies stranded on a beach. The
scars on its head might be
from battles with giant squid.

way around in pitch blackness and even find

small fish buried in sand. Sound is also
important in communication. Most toothed
whales use clicking calls around other whales,
and the larger baleen whales produce calls and
songs that carry for hundreds of miles.

Summer Feeding and Winter Breeding

Small toothed whales, such as dolphins and
beaked whales, live all around the world. Some
live in social groups, while others live alone, but
most seem to spend their life within a large
home range. Baleen whales, however, are among
natures great travelers. For example, gray
384

whales, blue whales, and right whales spend

their summers feeding in the polar waters of the
Arctic and Antarctic but migrate to the warmth
of the tropics in winter to breed.
Whales breed slowly, rearing just one calf at
a time. Females of the smallest species, such as
porpoises, may produce a calf every year, but
larger whales may take several years to do so.
To make up for this extremely slow breeding
rate, large whales live for a long timemore
than 100 years in the bowhead whale.
Whales have been hunted for centuries for
meat, oil, and whalebone. By the early twentieth
century, exploding harpoons and factory ships

WHALES AND DOLPHINS

meant more whales were killed than ever

before, and several species were on the verge
of extinction. Whaling was banned in 1986 by
the International Whaling Commission, with
just a few traditional hunts by arctic people
still allowed. However, a few countries, such
as Japan, Norway, and Iceland, continue to
kill whales despite the ban.
Fortunately for the whales, there are now
better ways to make money from whales
other than hunting them. People have a deep
interest in these mammals, and many people
travel the world for a chance to watch whales
swimming. In the United States alone, for

OW?
DID YOU KN
The scientific word for whales and
dolphins, cetacea, comes from the
Greek word for whale, ketos.
Baleen is made of keratin, the same
material that human hair and
fingernails are made from!
The loudest call of any animal is
the whistle of the blue whale, at
188 decibels!

example, the whale-watching industry makes

more than $1 billion a year. That amount of
money is far more than could ever be made
from simply hunting and killing whales.

baleen whales
1. Blue whale

2. Gray whale skull

3. Humpback whale skull
4. Bowhead whale skull

baleen

385

Wild Cattle
Cattle are ideal farm animals because they are used to living
in herds and do not fight over territory. They are now a familiar
sight in most countries, but their wild cousins, spiral-horned
antelope, include some of the worlds most threatened animals.

386

herbivores

attle and their close relatives are medium-tolarge animals with a deep, powerful body, a long
neck, and slim legs. Each foot has two toes with hard
hooves. The tail is usually short with a tuft of long
hair. Horns grow directly from the skull. They have a
bony core that grows attached to the skull and are
covered in an outer layer of protein called keratin, the
same substance that makes human fingernails and
hair. Unlike the antlers of deer, the horns of cattle and
their relatives are not cast off each year. Instead, they
grow larger and heavier with age. Most wild cattle
have horns, although female spiral-horned antelope
often do not have horns. Male Indian chousingha have
four horns. In spiral-horned antelope, the way the
keratin is produced forces the horns to grow in a spiral
or corkscrew shape. This shape enables the animals to
move more easily though dense forests and helps
males lock horns when they are fighting. In some large
wild cattle, the horns curve forward and are spiked.

Varied Habitats and Coats

Most wild cattle live in the open, on plains or open
woodlands. Mountain-dwelling yaks have enlarged
dew claws (extra digits) on their feet that help them
grip the steep, often snowy ground. Spiral-horned
antelope live in many different habitats, from savannas
(eland) and reed beds (sitatungas), to forests (nyala)
and dry woodlands and scrublands (kudus).
An American plains bison grazes peacefully. In the
early nineteenth century, people killed so many

Fact File
WILD CATTLE AND
SPIRAL-HORNED ANTELOPE
Family: Bovidae; subfamily Bovinae (24
species)
Order: Artiodactyla
Where do they live? North America,
Africa, central Europe, South Asia, and
Southeast Asia

Equator

Habitat: Grassy plains, mountain

pastures, and forests
Size: Headbody
length 3 feet 4
inches11 feet
(13.4 m); weight 44 pounds1.2 tons
(201,200 kg)
Coat: From short and sleek to long and
shaggy or woolly; usually brown or black;
may be boldly marked
Diet: Mainly grass for cattle; antelope
eat wide variety of plants
Breeding: 1 calf born after 220340
days gestation; mature at 12 years
Life span: 10 years in the wild, and 25
to 30 years in captivity
Status: Almost all are threatened;
7 species are endangered; 2 species are
critically endangered

of these bison that they almost became extinct.

387

Wild Cattle

Most wild cattle have a short, sleek

coat, but bison and yaks often have a
shaggy, woolly coat. In spiral-horned
antelope, the color of the coat usually
matches the landscape. The animal
often has camouflage markings that
help it melt into the background. In
cool climates, being large and
growing a thick coat helps keep the
cattle warm. In the tropics, large
species such as water buffalo can
become too warm. To help keep cool,
they often wallow in mud. That also
helps remove parasites, such as ticks
and fleas, from the skin and coat.

DID YOU
KNOW?

Grazing and
Browsing Ruminants
Cattle are mainly vegetarian,
although some species such as yaks
eat almost anything to survive. Cattle
graze grass, while spiral-horned
antelope browse on leaves, shoots,
and buds on shrubs and trees. All
species have large cheek teeth that
work like millstones to grind grass
and other plant matter. The tongue is
long and can be used to grip shoots
or clumps of grass.
Grass does not contain many
nutrients, so cattle must eat a lot of

In winter, the
Himalayan yak
can survive
temperatures as
low as 40F!
Bison are the
largest landdwelling animals in
the Americas and
Europe.
An American bison
eats up to 65
pounds of grass
every single day!

3
1

5
388

herbivores

Showing off
Male cattle are usually larger
than females, and in some
species they have a mane or
fringe of long hair along the
neck, throat, and chest that
makes them look even bigger.
Rival males display to each other,
showing off their size and horns
or drawing attention to
themselves by bellowing. Rivals
that seem closely matched may
begin tussling with locked horns.
They test each others strength,
and a tussle may end up in a full
fight, in which the males try to
stab each other with their horns.

1. Nilgai
2. Common eland
3. Kouprey
4. Saola
5. Wild water
buffalo
6. American
bison
7. Auroch
(now extinct)

it and digest it very well to survive.

Cattle are ruminantsthey chew
their food twice. They start by
giving the grass a quick chew and
swallowing it. In the large stomach,
the grass becomes mixed with
bacteria (single-celled microorganisms)
that help break it down. After a
while, the grass is coughed back up
into the animals mouth. It is then
chewed again to make sure the
bacteria are really well mixed in,
before being swallowed again.

Migrations and Herd Life

Most wild cattle and spiral-horned
antelope are wanderers. Species
such as yaks and American bison
may make long migrations (return
journeys) as the seasons change.
Most cattle and spiral-horned
antelope live in groups, or herds.
The few species that live alone,
such as anoas of Indonesia and the
recently discovered saola, or Vu
Quang ox, are shy forest animals
that are seldom seen.
389

Wild Cattle

There are two types of herds

nursery herds and bachelor herds.
Nursery herds contain adult females
and their calves and are usually led
by a single male, who keeps all other
adult males away. Young females
usually stay in the same herd for life.
Young males leave nursery herds to
form bachelor herds.
With many eyes and ears checking
for danger, life in a herd is safer for
most cattle. In some species, the
protection is so good that even blind
or lame animals can survive perfectly
A yaks thick, hairy coat helps it keep
warm in its extremely cold habitat.

390

well. If a musk ox or African buffalo

herd is attacked by predators, such as
lions or wolves, the rest of the herd
will turn on the attackers. They
begin by lowering their huge horns
and usually drive away the predator.

Seasonal Breeders
Most wild cattle breed seasonally,
and calves are usually born in spring
or at the start of the rainy season
when there is plenty of fresh new
plant growth. Females usually have
only one calf. Twins are rare, except
in domesticated (farmed) breeds.
People have hunted several species
of wild cattle, such as the American

DID YOU
KNOW?
Kudu and eland
can leap over
objects up to 6
feet high from a
standing start!
The horns of the
male greater kudu
and the giant eland
grow to more than
40 inches long!
The kouprey was
discovered in the
late 1930s, while
the saola was
discovered only in
the early 1990s!

herbivores

bison, to the brink of extinction,

while other species have been
domesticated and spread all over
the world by people. There are
around 1.2 billion domestic cattle
and twelve million yaks. However,
the auroch, the wild ancestor of
domestic cattle, is extinct, and wild
yaks are vulnerable to extinction.
The horns of a male greater kudu
can grow to more than 3 feet long,
when measured in a straight line.
Most American bison now live safely
in protected parks and preserves, such
as Yellowstone National Park.

Saving the
American bison
Before European settlers came to America, there
were tens of millions of bison living on the great
plains of the Midwest. As settlers spread, they
set about hunting these vast herds, for their meat
and hide, for sport, andperhaps worst of all
as a way of destroying the livelihood of Native
American tribes. By 1887, there were just 541
bison left. The species was saved by intensive
conservation efforts and it now seems secure,
with around 150,000 bison living in the wild,
mostly in parks and game preserves.

391

Wild Pigs and boars

Pigs may not be graceful or beautiful, but they are strong,
energetic, and smart. They are able to survive
in almost all forest habitats and have become familiar
as domestic (farm) animals all over the world.

392

omnivores

igs are fairly large mammals with a powerful,

barrel-shaped body, a large, pointed head, and
slim legs. This shape is ideal for barging through thick
bushes and trees; most wild pigs live in forests. The
African warthog is an exception because it lives in
open woodlands and savannas (tropical grasslands).
Pigs can run fast and swim well. The tail is thin and
usually short. The body is covered with a sparse coat
of bristly hair, and some species have a shaggy mane.
Pigs and hogs have four toes on each foot. The middle
two toes are used for walking and have small hooves
called trotters. The outer toes form small dew claws.
Pigs have a snout with a disk at the end. Males
have large tusks, which are kept sharp by rubbing
against each other. In the babirusa, the curved upper
tusks grow through the roof of the mouth and poke
out of the top of the snout. These long teeth are of
no use for feeding, but males fight with them,
ramming each other with them or trying to hook and
snap each others tusks. In warthogs and warty pigs,
the face has several fleshy warts, which protect the
eyes and face when the animals fight. Females seem
to be attracted to the males with the largest warts.

Rooting for Food and Wallowing

Pigs do not usually have good eyesight but their
senses of hearing and smell are extremely sharp. They
are particularly good at sniffing out food, rummaging

Fact File
WILD PIGs AND BOARs
Family: Suidae (up to 16 species)
Order: Artiodactyla
Where do they live? Europe, Africa,
and Asia; also introduced to other
continents

Equator

Habitat: Forests, woodlands, and

savannas
Size: Headbody length 2383 inches
(58210 cm); weight 13605 pounds
(6275 kg)
Coat: Thin, coarse
hair; black, brown, or
gray; skin usually
colored
Diet: Omnivorousalmost anything
that can be eaten
Breeding: Litters of 112, born after
100175 days gestation; weaned at
about 3 months; mature at 18 months
Life span: 1520 years in most
species; 24 years in the babirusa
Status: 5 species are threatened

This old warthog has an impressive collection of

sharp tusks and large facial warts. In fights with
other warthogs, the warts help protect the head.

393

Wild Pigs and boars

around on the ground with their

snout and sometimes by digging.
They eat all kinds of plant and
animal food, including: fruit; leaves;
roots; tubers; fungi; invertebrates,
such as snails, earthworms, and
insect grubs; birds; lizards; small
mammals; and eggs.

All pigs appear to enjoy

wallowing in mud and water. In hot
weather, that behavior helps them
stay cool and prevents sunburn.
Even in cooler climates, these
animals cake themselves in mud,
which may help get rid of grease,
dead skin, flies, and parasites.

1
1

When fighting,
giant forest hogs
clash together
the top of their
toughened head.

394

Fighting
bushpigs cross
their snouts,
somewhat like
swords. These wild
pigs have large
facial warts that
protect them.

Wild boars slash

at each others
shoulders with
their sharp tusks.
The thickened skin
and matted hair
on the shoulders
help provide
some protection.

OMNIVORES

Domesticating pigs
Pigs were probably first domesticated
(farmed) around 10,000 years ago in Asia.
Pigs are ideal domestic animals because
they are easy to breed and grow fast,
eating scraps and leftovers. There are now
almost 900 million domesticated pigs,
all of which have descended from the
wild boar. In many parts of the world,
domestic pigs have been released or
escaped into the wild. These feral pigs
can be serious pests, threatening native
wildlife and damaging natural habitats.

Breeding Groups
Wild pigs usually live in groups for
much of the time. Groups containing
females and piglets are called
sounders. Bands of males are called
bachelor groups. Both males (boars)
and females (sows) can breed at
around eighteen months old. Yet,
boars are not often successful until
they are three or four years old
because they need to be big and
strong enough to fight off other males.
Breeding can take place throughout
the year in tropical forest species.
Warthogs and wild boars breed so
that the piglets arrive in the rainy
season or in spring, when there is

plenty of food. Piglets are usually

born in a rough nest of grass or
trampled plants. Female warthogs
use an underground den. Most
piglets have bold, striped markings
that help camouflage them. They
begin to leave the nest to explore with
their mother after around ten days.
Pigs have been introduced to a
great many places outside their
natural range. Domestic and feral
descendants of wild boars live on all
continents, except Antarctica, and on
many islands, including Madagascar
and New Zealand. Feral pigs are
once-domesticated pigs that have
been released back into the wild.

DID YOU
KNOW?
In 2003, a
domesticated
sow in the
United Kingdom
gave birth to 27
piglets in a single
litter!
The largest pig is
the giant forest
hog, while the
smallest is the
pygmy hog.
Wild boars
clatter their
teeth together to
make a rattling
sound when they
are angry!
395

Wolverine
Wolverines have a well-deserved reputation as brazen thieves.
They are fierce, bold, and above all they make the most of things.
In the harsh, snowy landscapes of the far north, wolverines have
learned never to miss out on the chance of a free meal.

396

carnivores

olverines are members of the weasel family,

although their large size means they are
sometimes mistaken for dogs or even small bears. Like
weasels, wolverines are fierce hunters and immensely
strong for their size. They attack prey much larger than
themselves, including roe deer, reindeer, sheep, and
even moose. Smaller prey, such as lemmings, grouse,
and hares, are taken as snacks. Wolverines also eat
carrion (dead animals) and are great scavengers.
Wolverines think nothing of stealing meat from other
predators, such as foxes and birds of prey, and can
even drive off larger animals, such as pumas and bears.
Like other weasel-type animals, wolverines have a
long body and relatively short legs. The feet are broad
enough to act as snowshoes, spreading the wolverines
weight over a wide area so that it can run lightly over
snow. Each foot has five toes, each with a long, curved
claw. A wolverine can gallop for miles without resting
and may cover 30 miles a day in its search for food.

Hunters in the Snow

Wolverines are excellent climbers and can swim well.
They are also good diggers. Their strong claws loosen
packed snow, and their wide feet shovel the snow
aside. Wolverines use tunnels in the snow as dens and
larders for storing food. A fully grown wolverine can
drag the body of large deer over several miles to store
it in a safe place such as a snow hole or in the fork of

Fact File
WOLVERINE
Gulo gulo
Family: Mustelidae
Order: Carnivora
Where do they live? Far north of
North America and Eurasia

Equator

Habitat: Tundra and taiga forests

Size: Headbody length
2637 inches (6595 cm);
weight 1570 pounds
(732 kg)
Coat: Extremely thick, with long, mostly
dark brown fur; paler areas on face and
flanks; bushy tail
Diet: Meat, mainly deer, including
smaller mammals, birds, and carrion;
some plants
Breeding: 15 offspring, born after 9
months gestation; weaned at 810
weeks; mature at 1418 months
Life span: Up to 17 years
Status: Vulnerable and heavily
persecuted

Snarling ferociously, a wolverine protects its territory

from intruders. A wolverines strong teeth and large
jaw muscles give it an extremely powerful bite.

397

Wolverine

a tree. The wolverine may eat the

stored meat over the next few days
or leave it hidden for up to six
months. Females often store food
while they are pregnant and then
feed it to their cubs.

Territorial Loners
Wolverines live alone. They mark
their territory with urine and scent
from glands under the tail. Males
have the largest territory, which can
be up to 600 square miles. A males
Somewhat
bearlike in
appearance, the
wolverine is far
smaller than any
bear. Its large feet
act like
snowshoes,
spreading its
weight and
allowing it to run
over soft, deep
snow.

Killers on the loose

Wolverines have had a bad
reputation in most parts of their
range. In many countries they
are still shot and trapped by
farmers and gamekeepers.
They are killed mainly to
protect livestockwolverines

398

are reported to kill 13,500 sheep

and 18,000 farmed reindeer in
Norway and Sweden every year.
However, wolverines are now
threatened themselves, and
some populations are now
protected by local laws.

carnivores

territory usually overlaps the

territories of several females.
Wolverines mate in late spring or
summer. However, the embryos
(developing babies) do not begin to
develop inside the females until
midwinter. It takes only forty days
for a wolverine to develop enough
to be born. However, the females
body puts the pregnancy on hold
for several months, so the cubs are
not born until early spring. By the
time the cubs are ready to hunt and
eat solid food, animals such as deer
and hares have also begun to breed,
so there is plenty of prey available.
Young wolverines may be born in
a cave or rocky crevice, in the
burrow of another animal, or in a

snow den. From time to time, the

mother moves her cubs to another
den, especially if the first den is
disturbed. The cubs stay with their
mother for around a year before
leaving to find their own territory
and set up home elsewhere.

This wolverine
is on the lookout
for prey. In winter,
wolverines kill or
scavenge caribou
(reindeer), which
they find using
their keen sense

OW?
DID YOU KN

of smell.

The old-fashioned name for a

wolverine is glutton because of its
seemingly greedy habits!
The wolverine appears in many
Native American myths about the
spirit world.
Wolverine fur does not collect ice,
so it is used by arctic people to
line and trim the hoods of parkastyle winter coats!
399

wolves
Intelligent and sociable, wolves are among the worlds
most successful carnivores. But, despite being the ancestors
of dogs, the wolves relationship with people is a complicated
mixture of fear and admiration, love and hate.

400

carnivores

et dogs love to take part in all sorts of activities

with their human companions. With the right
training, dogs will do almost anything to please their
master or mistress. This behavior comes naturally to
domestic dogs because they are descended from wolves,
which are among the most social of all mammals.
Wolves live in groups and depend on teamwork to
survive. Each wolf knows its place in a pack, and there
are strict rules about how to behave. The pack is lead
by a male and female wolf, called the alpha pair.

Fact File
WOLves
Canis lupus (gray wolf) and Canis
rufus (red wolf)
Family: Canidae (2 species; 7 Eurasian
and 5 North American subspecies, or local
types)
Order: Carnivora
Where do they live? North America,
Europe, and Asia; naturalized in Australia as
the dingo

Wolves in Trouble
The gray wolf is the largest species in the dog family
and the most widespread mammal species after
humans. It once lived throughout North America,
Europe, and Asia, everywhere but in the driest deserts
and thickest forests. The American red wolf has a much
smaller range. In 1975, red wolves became officially
extinct in the wild. The last known red wolf pack was
rounded up in the swamplands of Louisiana and taken
into captivity for its own protection. These few animals
were bred in zoos, and in 1987 they began to be
returned to the wild in special preserves. There are now
around 250 red wolves, 200 of which are still in
captivity. It is too soon to say if they will ever recover.
Red wolves look like a cross between a gray wolf and
a coyote, and many biologists think this is exactly what
they are. If the red wolf is proved to be such a hybrid
A gray wolf howls to communicate with the rest of
its pack and to warn off neighboring packs. This
behavior reduces the chances of rival packs fighting.

Equator

Habitat: Forests, tundra, mountains,

scrublands, and deserts
Size: Headbody length 4058 inches
(100150 cm);
weight 27165
pounds (1275 kg)
Coat: Fluffy or shaggy; varies in thickness
with habitat; color from near-white,
through gray, buff, tawny, and black; paler
on chest and belly
Diet: Meat
Breeding: Litters of up to 11 cubs, born
after 6163 days gestation; weaned at 5
weeks; mature at 22 months
Life span: 816 years in the wild, and
20 years in zoos
Status: Red wolf is critically
endangered

401

wolves

OW?
DID YOU KN
A large wolf can gobble up to 20
pounds of meat in one meal,
after which it will not need to eat
for days!
Gray wolves became extinct in
the United Kingdom in the
eighteenth century. Some people
think they should be reintroduced
to Scotland.
The Mexican gray wolf is officially
extinct in the wild, although there
are a few surviving in zoos.

rather than a separate wolf species,

it may be less likely to be properly
protected in future.
Gray wolves are not in quite such
serious trouble as red wolves, but
they have become extinct in many
countries where they once lived. In
addition, they are still shot,
poisoned, and trapped in many
parts of the world. They are usually
killed to protect livestock, but there

WOLF COMMUNICATION

A red wolf crouches in a low, submissive

greeting.

An Arabian wolf in a defensive

threatening position.

Snarling fiercely, a Mexican

wolf adopts an attacking stance.

402

carnivores

is also money to be made from their

fur. By the mid-twentieth century,
wolves were all but extinct in
western Europe and gone from most
of the United States, except Alaska.

Wolves Around the World

In 1995, conservationists released
thirty-one Canadian gray wolves into
Yellowstone National Park. The park
has plenty of deer for the wolves to
hunt and they have done very well.
Sometimes these wolves also take
livestock, but farmers are paid for any
cattle or sheep that are killed and are
allowed to shoot wolves that cause a
problem on their land.
Wolves are also making a slow
comeback in Europe, with
increasing populations in countries
such as Italy, France, Romania, and
Norway. Wolves are protected in
most European countries, but they
are still hunted in others, such as
Spain and Greece.
Gray wolves from different parts of
the world look and behave quite
differently, despite belonging to the
same species. Canadian timber wolves
are extremely large, with a thick,
fluffy coat. They live in packs of up to
twenty and hunt large prey, such as
elk. Gray wolves in the Middle East

Wolf Folklore
People have always been fascinated by wolves,
which appear worldwide in myths and folktales.
Some stories, such as Aesops fables, highlight
the wolf s cunning, others such as the tale of
Red Riding Hood portray wolves as big, bad
and dangerous to know. However, there are also
plenty of stories showing a gentle side to wolves.
Many of these tales are of children being cared
for by wolves. The most famous is the story
of Romulus and Remus, twin boys supposedly
raised by a female wolf (above) and who went
on to found the ancient city of Rome.

are much smaller and slimmer, with a

thin, straggly coat. They live in much
smaller packs and often hunt alone
for small prey or scavenge for dead
animals and rubbish.
403

wolves

Hunting and Breeding

The Australian dingo

Most biologists think that the Australian dingo
is descended from the Indian gray wolf, while
others say it is descended from the domestic dog.
However, since all domestic dogs are descended
from wolves, it does not make much difference.
What seems certain is that people brought
dingoes to Australia from Asia, probably around
3,500 years ago. Dingoes soon became fully wild
again and spread throughout the country. They
never reached the island of Tasmania, and they
are now strictly controlled in many areas by
fencing, shooting, and poisoning.

404

Not all wolf hunts are successful.

More than 90 percent of prey that
are chased manage to escape, and
wolves often go for several days
without food. Usually the prey they
do catch are old or weak. Livestock
such as sheep and cattle are
sometimes killed, but despite their
bad reputation, healthy wolves
hardly ever attack people.
Only the alpha pair in a wolf pack
are allowed to breed. The other
members of the pack are usually the
sons and daughters of the alpha pair.
They stay with their parents for one
or two years. They help with hunting,
feeding, protecting the younger cubs,
and defending the packs territory.

Hunting and Breeding

As a team, a wolf pack travels
around its territory, leaving scent
marks on trees and scratches on the
ground to show that they own it.
The pack also joins in howling
sessions. Their howls carry for up
to 10 miles in still air and let all the
other wolves in the area know that
the pack is there. Each of these
signals ensure that wolves from
different packs do not often meet. If
they do, there may be a fierce fight.

carnivores

Leaving Home
Most young wolves leave home
before they are two years old. By this
time they have learned all they need
to know from their parents about
hunting, and they have had some
practice at looking after cubs. They
move away in search of a mate and a
territory of their own. This is a
dangerous time, and lone wolves
avoid meeting with other packs.

OW?
DID YOU KN
Domestic dogs are directly
descended from the gray wolf.
People began domesticating
wolves around 12,000 years ago!
Tundra wolf packs have home
ranges covering thousands of
square miles, and they may travel
hundreds of miles a week in
search of food!
Lone wolves do not howl because
they do not want to draw attention
to themselves.

A red wolf
runs past its den.
These wolves
are critically
endangered and
are protected in
special preserves.

405

Wombats
Wombats are large burrowing animals, but unlike other great
diggers, they eat little and have a slow and steady lifestyle
that saves energy. Like other marsupials, wombats are born early
in their development and are nursed in a pouch.

406

herbIVORES

ustralias wombats are the worlds largest

burrowing mammals. They look like small,
stout bears, but wombats are the closest living
relatives of koalas. There are three species of wombats.
The common wombat has a moist, black nose and
coarse fur, while the northern and southern hairynosed wombats have a furry nose and short, silky fur.

Fact File
WOMBATs
Family: Vombatidae (3 species)
Order: Diprotodontia
Where do they live? Southern
and eastern Australia, and Tasmania

Powerful Diggers
All wombats are superb diggers. They have short,
powerful legs and long, thick, blunt claws that loosen
even the hardest baked soils. Wombats scrape the soil
under their body as they dig and shove it out of the
burrow with their rear end. Most burrows are simple
tunnels with a sleeping chamber at the end, but some
older burrows have branching tunnels and several
entrances. A single wombat can have several burrows on
its home range and visits a different one every few
nights. Burrows offer shelter from the suns heat, the cold
night air, and predators. Wombats have few enemies, but
dingoes and eagles may attack the babies. Wombats can
fight back with surprising ferocity if attacked.
Common wombats usually live alone. They mark
their territory with droppings and scent marks on
rocks and other obvious landmarks. In some areas, it
seems neighboring wombats may sometimes visit one
anothers territory and even use the same burrows,
although not at the same time. Unlike the common

Habitat: Forests, woodlands, heaths,

dry grasslands, and scrublands; usually
on sandy soils
Size: Headbody
length 3545
inches (90115
cm); weight 4886 pounds (2239 kg)
Coat: Thin and coarse or short
and silky; dull grayish brown to black
Diet: Grass and the leaves, roots, and
shoots of other plants
Breeding: 1 offspring, born after just
21 days gestation; nursed
in pouch for 610 months; weaned at
12 months; mature at 2 years
Life span: Up to 30 years
Status: Northern hairy-nosed wombat
is critically endangered; other 2 species
are lower risk

A common wombat trots across the grass. Wombats

are built for a burrowing lifestyle, with their sturdy
body, broad shoulders, and massive, clawed forepaws.

407

wombats

wombat, the two species of hairynosed wombats live in groups, with

several adults sharing a system of
burrows, like a giant rabbit warren.

Eating and Energy

Digging is hard work and uses a lot
of energy, but wombats manage to
dig on a low-energy diet of grass and
other plants. They often have to dig
for their food, too, especially in dry
weather, but rarely spend more than
a couple of hours a day feeding. All
This common
wombat has a
wide head and
thick neck, which
helps it burrow
through extremely
hard soil.

408

of their food is tough and usually

covered in grit. That means there is a
lot of wear and tear on the wombats
teeth. To make up for the steady
wearing down, a wombats teeth
continue to grow throughout its life.
Wombats spend a long time
digesting their food. It takes almost
three days for a meal of grass to pass
all the way through a wombats
digestive system. That allows plenty
of time for every last morsel of
goodness to be absorbed from the

herbIVORES

Saving the northern

hairy-nosed wombat
The northern hairy-nosed wombat (above) is one
of the worlds most threatened mammals. In 1980,
there were thought to be just thirty-five of these
animals left, all living in a single preserve in Epping
Forest National Park in Queensland, northern
Australia. Since then, these wombats have been
closely guarded and their numbers have grown
to around seventy. That is still not enough to
ensure their survival, but there are plans to speed
their recovery with a captive breeding program.

food. Plant material is difficult to

digest, and so wombats have bacteria
(single-celled microorganisms) in
their gut that help digestion.
The bacteria break down cellulose,
a tough material present in all plants,
into sugar. Wombats also have glands
in the stomach that produce juices
that help break down the toxins
(poisons) produced by some plants.
Even with all this careful digestion, a

wombats diet does not provide it

with much energy to spare. When
they are not digging, wombats spend
almost all of their time resting. They
usually move around slowly and
avoid overheating in summer by
dozing in their burrows. In winter,
they bask in the sun so that they do
not have to use energy to keep warm.

Pouch-reared Babies
Female wombats raise just one
youngster at a time, carrying it inside
a pouch, just as most marsupials do.
However, unlike kangaroos, a
wombats pouch opens backward, so
it does not fill with soil as the animal
digs. The youngster stays in the
pouch attached to a teat for three
months, after which it begins to
explore the world outside, returning
to the pouch to feed and rest.

OW?
DID YOU KN
A wombats metabolism (body
processes) burns less than half as
much energy as that of most other
mammals of a similar size.
Wombats do not hibernate but they
may spend several days at a time
just resting in their burrow.
Early European settlers in Australia
called the wombat a badger
because of its burrowing habits!

409

Glossary
aquatic Water living
arborealTree living
arcticOf, or relating to,

the north pole or the

surrounding region
bacterium (plural: bacteria)

Single-celled microorganism
baleenHorny, curtainlike
substance that hangs from the
upper jaw of baleen whales;
filters krill out of the seawater
biome Major zone of the living
world, such as rain forest, desert,
and temperate forest; each
biome has its own distinctive
climate and living organisms
browse To feed on the buds,
shoots, leaves, and twigs of
shrubs, bushes, and trees
bull The male of certain
species, such as elephants,
seals, and whales
bush meat The meat of wild
animals hunted by local people
to eat or sell
camouflagePattern of
coloration that allows an animal
to blend in with its surroundings
canidMember of the family
Canidae, such as coyote, dingo,
fox, and wolf

carnassial tooth One of the

digestion The breakdown of

two strong, pointed, slicing

cheek teeth of most carnivores
carnivore Meat eater;
animal that catches other
animals for food
carrion Dead and decaying
animal flesh eaten by other
animals
celluloseTough substance that
makes up the cell walls of plants
class Major category in
taxonomy ranking above
order and below phylum
classification Organization
of different organisms into
related groups by biologists
climate Average weather
conditions (temperature, wind,
and rain) over a period of years
coniferous forest Area of
cone-bearing trees that grow
mainly in cold regions of the
northern hemisphere
crustacean Water-living
creature (for example, crab, water
flea, and shrimp)
cud Food brought up from the
stomach for a second chewing,
usually by plant eaters such as
cows and sheep

food into small, easily absorbed

molecules in the digestive system
DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid;
present in the cell nuclei
of a living organism; carries
inherited genes
domesticated Farmed
dominant Highest-ranking
dormant Being in a state of
suspended biological activity

desert Major biome, or type

of ecological community,
covering around one-seventh of
Earths surface; has few plants
and less than 10 inches of
rainfall each year; hot or cold
region that is extremely dry
dew claw Extra digit (finger
or toe)
410

echolocation Use of sound

echoes to build a picture of the

surroundings by animals such as
bats and dolphins
ectotherm Cold-blooded
animal; see also endotherm
embryo Early stage of a
mammal while it is inside the
mothers womb
endangered species Any
species that is extremely close
to becoming extinct in the wild
endotherm Warm-blooded
animal; see also ectotherm
equator An imaginary line
around the widest part of Earth
that is equally distant from the
north and south poles and
which divides the surface
equally into the northern and
southern hemispheres
estivation An animals
sleeplike resting state in summer
to avoid heat and drought;see
also hibernation
Eurasia Europe and Asia
evolution The way in which
species of living organisms
change over long periods of time

habitat Type of place in

New World Geographical

which an animal or plant

usually lives or grows
herbivore Plant-eating animal
hibernationTo spend the
winter in an inactive, or dormant,
sleeplike state; see also estivation
home range Area usually
covered by an individual animal
during a particular period of its
life; see also range

term referring to the western

hemisphere, particularly North,
Central, and South America; see
also Old World
niche A lifestyle particular to a
specific species
nocturnalActive at night
northern hemisphere Half
of Earth north of the equator
nutrient Food vital for an
animals chemical life processes

insectivore Insect-eating
extinct Any species that has

not been found in the wild for

an extremely long time and
which is therefore thought to
have disappeared forever
extinction Death of a species
of living organism
family Group of related living

organisms forming a category

ranking above a genus and
below an order
feces Expelled waste products
of digestion
feral Wild animal descended
from a domesticated animal
that returned to the wild
fossil Evidence of past life
preserved in tar, peat, amber,
rock, or volcanic ash
gene Section of DNA that
codes for one inherited
characteristic
genus Group of closely related
species
gestation The time an animal
spends developing inside its
mother (pregnancy)

mammal, such as an aardvark

or anteater
invertebrate Animal without
a backbone
joey Young kangaroo or

wallaby
krill Shrimplike, planktonic

animal life that floats in the

oceans and forms the main food
of baleen whales
litter Multiple offspring of a
single pregnancy
mammary gland Milk-

producing gland present in the

skin of mammals
metabolism The chemical
changes in living cells that
provide energy for essential life
processes such as growth and
repair
migration Seasonal, l
ong-distance journey by
animals, such as wildebeests
and whales, often to feed or
breed
moltShed (as in coat)

Old WorldGeographical

term referring to the eastern

hemisphere, comprising Europe,
Africa, and Asia; see also New
World
omnivore Mammal that eats
both plants and animals
order Category of taxonomic
classification ranking above
family and below class
phylum Category of
taxonomic classification ranking
above class and below kingdom
placenta Temporary organ
that develops in the womb to
allow a mammalian embryo
to obtain nourishment from
the mother during gestation
plankton Microscopic animal
and plantlike life in the ocean
pollination Transfer of pollen
from the male to the female
parts of a flower
predator Animal that kills
and eats other animals
prehensile Grasping (as in
digit or tail)
prey Animal caught and eaten
by another animal
411

primate Member of the

southern hemisphere Half

territory Area occupied by a

mammalian order Primates;

includes apes, bush babies
(galagos), humans, lemurs,
lorises, monkeys, pottos, and
tarsiers

of Earth south of the equator

species Scientific term
meaning a kind or type of
organism that can breed to
produce offspring that can also
interbreed successfully
steppe Extensive temperate
grassland biome present in
Europe and Asia
subspecies Local type

single animal or group of

animals of the same species
threatened species Any
species that is at risk of
becoming endangered
tropical forest Woodlands
of tall, broadleaved, evergreen
trees forming a continuous
canopy that receive at least 100
inches of rain each year;
includes rain forests; present in
the Amazon region of South
America, parts of Africa
(Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Congo, Gabon,
Cameroon), and Asia
(Indonesia, Papua New
Guinea, and Myanmar)
tropical grassland Savanna,
which lies north and south of
equatorial tropical rain forests
tundra Major treeless biome
characterized by dark soil with
a permanently frozen subsoil
and plants such as lichens,
mosses, herbs, and dwarf
shrubs; present across the
northern coasts of Alaska,
Canada, Greenland,
Scandinavia, and Russia

rain forestMajor biome,

mostly in the tropics; high
annual rainfall; tall, fast-growing
trees that form an overhead
canopy; daytime temperature is
usually 90F; annual rainfall is
greater than 70 inches
range Geographic area
within which members of a
species usually live; see also
home range
rodentMember of the order
Rodentia, including agoutis,
beavers, capybaras, guinea pigs,
hamsters, mice, rats, squirrels,
and voles
rumen Large first
compartment of a ruminants
stomach, which contains
microorganisms that break
down cellulose
ruminant Mammal that
chews the cud; for example,
camels, cows, and sheep
saliva Watery mouth secretion
savanna Tropical grassland

biome with scattered trees and

shrubs in Africa, South America,
and Australia
sediment Material deposited
by water, wind, or glaciers
shrubland Biome containing
plants such as short trees and
shrubs

412

taiga Major biome present in

northern Canada, southern

Alaska, Scandinavia, Siberia,
and parts of Japan; mostly
evergreen forests, bogs,
marshes, and small lakes
teat Nipple of a mammary
gland
temperate grassland Large
area within temperate zone
covered with grass
temperate rain forest

Woodland area within

temperate zone covered with
dense growth of trees and brush,
with heavy annual rainfall
temperate zone Region
between the Tropic of Cancer
and the arctic circle or between
the Tropic of Capricorn and the
antarctic circle

vertebrate Animal with a

backbone
wean To change from a diet

of mothers milk to alternative,

more solid food; begin eating
solid food
womb Organ in female
mammals in which unborn
mammals develop (uterus)

Further resources
BOOKS
Beer, Amy-Jane and Pat
Morris. Encyclopedia
of North American
Mammals. San Diego:
Thunder Bay Press, 2004.
Dutcher, Jim, J. Dutcher,
et al. Living with Wolves.
Seattle, Washington:
Mountaineers Books, 2005.
Evans, P. J. H. Marine
Mammals: Biology and
Conservation. New York:
Plenum Press, 2001.
Forsyth, Adrian.
Mammals of North
America: Temperate and
Arctic Regions. Ontario,
Canada: Firefly Books, 2006.
Fossey, Dian. Gorillas in
the Mist (new ed.). London:
Phoenix/Orion, 2001.
Goodall, Jane. In the
Shadow of Man (new
edition). London: Phoenix/
Orion, 1999.
Graham, Gary. Bats of
the World (Golden Guide).
New York: St. Martins Press,
2001.

Rosing, Norbert. The

World of the Polar Bear.
London: Christopher Helm/
A & C Black, 2006.
Scott, Jonathan, and
A. Scott. Big Cat Diary:
Cheetah. London: Collins/
BBC, 2006.
Turner, A. National
Geographic Prehistoric
Mammals. Washington:
National Geographic
Childrens Books, 2004.
INTERNET RESOURCES
All About Mammals
Check out mammals,
their evolution, and
classification.
www.enchantedlearning.
com/subjects/
mammals
American Museum
of Natural History
Visit the mammal halls
and travel across
continents.
www.amnh.org/
exhibitions/permanent/
mammals/

Greensmith, Alan,
and J. Clutton-Brock.
Mammals. Dorling
Kindersley, 2002.

Animal Diversity Web

A general site with sections
on mammals; search facility
for species.
animaldiversity.ummz.
umich.edu/site/index.
html

Kingdon, Jonathan. The

Kingdon Pocket Guide
to African Mammals.
Princeton Pocket Guides.
Princeton, NJ: Princeton
University Press, 2005.

Australian Museum
Online
Find out about Australias
marsupial mammals.
www.amonline.net.au/
mammals

Reid, Fiona. Peterson

Field Guide to Mammals
of North America (4th
ed.). Boston: Houghton
Mifflin, 2006.

BatAtlas
Information about bats.
online.anu.edu.au/
srmes/wildlife/batatlas.
html

BBC Science and

Nature: Animals
Features a mammals site
based on the television
series by David
Attenborough.
www.bbc.co.uk/
nature/animals/
mammals
BigCats.Com
Online guide to wild cats.
bigcats.com
Canid Specialist Group
Information on wild dogs.
www.canids.org
Cetacea
Online guide to dolphins,
porpoises, and whales;
includes a guide to whale
watching.
www.cetacea.org
Dian Fossey Gorilla
Fund International
Conservation of gorillas
and their habitats.
www.gorillafund.org/
index.php
Elephants of Africa
Information, contests, and
puzzles on the life of
elephants.
www.pbs.org/wnet/
nature/elephants
eNature Field Guides
The U.S. National Wildlife
Federation Web site
features mammals of
North America.
www.enature.com/
home
Fossil Horses in
Cyberspace
Virtual museum exhibit
examining the evolution of
horses.
www.flmnh.ufl.edu/
natsci/vertpaleo/fhc/
fhc.htm

IUCN Red List of

Threatened Species
Worldwide assessment
of the conservation status of
species of living organisms.
www.iucnredlist.org
National Primate
Research Center,
University of Wisconsin
Find out about primates.
pin.primate.wisc.edu/
aboutp
National Wildlife
Federation
Gray wolves in North America.
www.nawa.org/about_
wolves.html
Seal Conservation
Society
Conservation news about
seals.
www.pinnipeds.org
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of
Natural History
A searchable database of all
living mammals of North
America.
www.mnh.si.edu/mna
Tasmanian mammals
Details on bats, whales,
monotremes, marsupials,
and rodents living in
Tasmania.
www.dpiw.tas.gov.au/
inter.nsf/ThemeNodes/
LBUN-5362ZN?open
Ultimate Ungulate Page
Find out about the worlds
hoofed mammals, including
hyraxes, elephants, dugongs,
and many others.
www.ultimateungulate.
com
World Wildlife Fund
Find out more about wildlife
conservation.
www.worldwildlife.org

413

Picture CRedits
Ardea: M. Watson 54; Mary Clay 10/11, Mike Gillam 235.

Klaus Rainer Krieger 296, Grigory Kubatyan 336, Geoffrey Kuckera

Corbis: Mike Nelson/EPA 41

Vova Pomortzeff 319, Styve Reineck 298, Sharon D. 345, 349, Steffen

334, Steve McWilliam 300, Vladimir Melnik 305, Sean Moffitt 317,
Foerster Photography 288, Michael J. Thompson 290, Rick Thornton
Digital Stock: 30, 216, 222; FLPA: Sumio Harada/Minden Pictures 53;

314, Lee Torrens 318, Stefanie Van der Vinden 306, Gregory James Van

FLPA: Michael & Patricia Fogden/Minden Pictures 152, 166, S & D

Raaile 338, Eldad Yitzhak 325, Alevey 234, Joel Bauchant Grant 271,

& K Maslowski 203

Peter Clark 256, Peter Doomen 261, EcoPrint 242, Helder Gomes
260, Gert Johannes Jacobusvrey 217, Stephen Jezek 243, Vasilly Koval

NaturePL: Mark Brownlow 21, Bruce Davidson 90, T. J. Rich 133, Jean-

265, Kristian 220, 223, Keith Levit 221, 275, Michael Lynch 226, 227,

Pierre Zwaenpoel 135, Paul Johnson 151, Francois Savigny 150,

Petr Masek 223, Kim Murrell 252, NIk Niklz 272, Jaana Piira 247,

Dietmar Nill 239, Dave Watts 270, Rod Williams 250, Brandon Cole

Warren E Simpson 276, Laurie L. Snidow 213, Graham Taylor 212,

323, Florian Graner 282, 283, Thomas Lazar 335, Doc White 320;

Stuart Taylor 219, Terence 251, Simone van der Berg 246, Zastavkin

John Cancalosi 15, De Meester 42, Martin Gabriel 2, Brent Hedges

267, Shironina Lidiya Alexandrovna 179, Vera Bogaerts 157,

67, Constantinos Petrinos 13, David Watts 16, 18, Staffan Widstand 11,

Winthrope Brookhouse 190, Sebastien Burel 148, dim Stern 197,

Rod Williams 24, 25, Solvin Zanki 29.

Pichugin Dmitry 171, Jerry Dupree 205, Susan Flashmann 211, Josiah
J. Garber 195, Donald Gargano 169, Jostein Hauge 178, Andre Klaasen

NHPA: Henry Ausloos 196, Anthony Bannister 167; Daniel Heuclin 327t.

162, Boleslaw Kubica 182, Holly Kuchera 193, Timothy Craig Lubcke
209, Pierdelune 187, RT Images 189, Ian Scott 210, 212, 213, Elena

OSF: 184, David Fleetham 55, Brian P. Kenney 1, 10, Rob Nunnington
61, Daniel Cox 94, John Mitchell 110, Survival Anglia 91,

Sherengovskaya 153, SouWest Photography 147, Steffen Foerster

Photography 161, 198, Johan Swanepoel 200, Terence 192, Brad
Thompson 160, Serdar Yagci 177, Richard C. Bennett 57, Karel Broz

Photos.com: 16, 19, 22, 25, 50, 51, 67, 78, 79, 81, 82, 83, 85, 87, 101, 117, 123,

59, Roger Dale Calger 63, Ferenc Cegledi 8, erickdegraaf fotografic 12,

154, 155, 164, 165, 175, 180, 181, 183, 204, 208, 238, 241, 253, 255, 257,

Richard Fitzer 40, Chris Fourie 1, 45, Ronnie Howard 58, Anita

262, 263, 277, 279, 297, 299, 309, 343.

Huszti 51, Javarman 61, Gail Johnson 31, Heather L. Jones 49b,

Photodisc: 33, 17, 156, 168, 225, 273, 274.

Lee 23, Tom Oliveira 53, Alexander Oshvintsev 50, Dmitry Pichungin

Alexey Karyagin 14, Chin Kitsen 22, Stanislav Krapov 9, Nicholas

48, Robynrg 44, Louie Schoeman 49t, Kristian Sekulic 38;
Shutterspeed Images: 62, Daniel Thomson 66, Gary Unwin 65,
Stefanie Van der Vinden 47, Zastavkin 56, Richard C. Bennett 103,

Still Pictures: John Cancalosi 32, Martin Harvey 60, Heinze Plenge 33,

Philip Date 140, EcoPrint 115l, 145, Chris Fourie 130, 131, 132, Illya D.

Carl R. Sams II 18, Roland Seitre 23, Vllstein-NIII 38, BIOS Ruoso Cyril

Gridnev 142, Tim Grootkerk 115r, William George Hagerbaumer 102,

86, O. Giel 135, Harvey Martin 138, 139, C. Huetter 97, 99, John

Tom Hirtreiter 121, Ronnie Howard 84, 89, 115, Javarman 141, Wayne

Robinson 124, H. Schmidbauer 98, 127, Roland Seitre 120, Raoul Slater/

Johnson 126, Bill Kennedy 96, Kristian 116, Bruce MacQueen 104,

WWI 100, I. Van Haan 93, 111, BIOS Alcalay/Jean-Jacques 146, Dr.

Plastique 114, Vova Pomortzeff 143, Sergey Popov 122, Dimitrios

Harvey Barnett 173, BIOS/Joffe Dragesco 202, Doug Cheeseman 201,

Rizopoulos 95, Aaron Whitney 119.

Sylvian Cordier 199, C. Huetter 206, Marilyn 172, H. Schmidbauer 158,

Gunter Ziesler 185, BIOS/M & C Denis-Huot 248, BIOS/Cyril Ruoso

Shutterstock: 307, Lynsey Allan 30, 71b, Mark Atkins 11, Richard C.

230, 244t, John Cancalosi 268, 269, M. Delpho 240, Martin Harvey 218,

Bennett 39, Vera Bogaerts 58, Feerenc Cegledi 37, Richard F. Cox 35,

J. Hauke 244b, E. Hummel 264, Luiz Caludio Marigo 229, 233, Ed

Cre8tive Images 71t, Bryan Eastham 57, EcoPrint 26, 27, 31, 69, EML 34,

Reschke 266, H. Schmidbauer 215, Malcolm Schuyl 259, Kevin Aiken

Richard Fitzor 56, Glen Gaffney 2, 73, Joshua Haviv 63, Ivan Histand

321, C. Allan Morgan 337, Nick Bergkessel 347, BIOS Gunther Michael

54, Inguar T. Jostheim 49r, Raia Kahil 66, Herbert Kratky 15, Keith

303, E. Hummel 331, F. Gohier 340, F. Hecker 333, W. Layer 332, R.

Levit 49l, Thomas ONeil 59, Vova Pomortzeff 62, 68, Radovan 44, J.

Andrew Oderm 304, Kevin Schafer 339, Douglas Seifert/UNEP 342,

Norman Reid 29, Louis Shumbris 65, Leonid Smirnov 48, Andrey

Gerard Soury 310, 312, F. Hercker 34, 35, John Cancalosi 17, Peter

Stratilov 77, Johan Swanepoel 12, Darleen Tompkins 76, Lisa F. Young

Frischmuth 36, Steven Kazowski 55, McPhoto 26, K. Mosebach 64,

47, Karel Brorz 293, Sascha Burkard 348, Heather A. Craig 294,

Scafer and Hill 20, W. Winiewski 27.

Christian Darkin 311, Lior Filsheiner 11t, FloridaStock 327b, Maksym

Gorpenyuk 276, Adrian Hughes 301, Tan Kian Koon 285b, 292, 314,

414

Topham: HIP 137, Fortean 236.