Tag arboreal

How long does it take for a sloth to digest its food?

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How long does it take for a sloth to digest its food?

The Sloth is a mammal in the sub-order Folivora. It is native to the tropical rainforests of Central America and South America. It is arboreal, meaning that it lives in trees. It is also nocturnal, mostly active at night. 

It does not have many teeth; only 4-5 pairs of teeth. It has canine teeth, but no incisor teeth. It eats mainly leaves, so it does not need sharp incisors. Some sloths are omnivorous, eating leaves, insects, fruit, and small dead animals.

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RESEARCH: Gibbons plan ahead for breakfast

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Gibbons plan ahead for breakfast to beat out their rivals and competitors. This is the view of scientists studying Gibbon behaviour, who maintain that the reason they plan ahead is to get the best breakfast spots. 

Scientists say that the Gibbons remember the locations of the best food and they go to these locations earlier than other animals when they want to eat fruit for breakfast.

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How do Woodpeckers identify each other?

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How do Woodpeckers identify each other?

In addition to sight, bird species identify each other through their songs and calls. Birds of the same species can recognize who is calling and what the call means.

The Woodpecker is an arboreal (tree-living) bird in the Picidae family of piculets, wrynecks, woodpeckers, and sapsuckers.

The Woodpecker does not have as wide a range of songs as songbirds, called passerines. However, it does have a range of calls and noises to communicate with other Woodpeckers. It makes simpler noises, such as brief trills, twitters, and whistles. Therefore, it uses another method to identify each other.

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RESEARCH: Three factors why big-eyed frogs have big eyes

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In September 2020, the New Scientist magazine reported on research to determine why frogs have evolved big eyes. 

Some frogs have the biggest eyes of all vertebrates (animals with backbones), in relation to their body size, and zoologists did not know why. Now researchers have found that the size of the eyes of these vertebrates seems to depend upon their environment.

Eyesight requires a lot of energy to function – focusing, adjusting peripheral vision, calculating distance, determing what the object is, and so on. There is a lot of things the eye must do quickly to ‘see’ what is in front and around it. Scientists think this is why animals living in dark environments, such as caves, often evolve to have smaller eyes.

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Head of a Green Tree Python

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The Green Tree Python (Morelia viridis) is a non-venomous reptile in the Pythonidae family of python snakes. It is native to the tropical regions of northern Australia, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea. 

It is bright green with a slim body and a large head. It is arboreal, living in trees. It loops itself over a tree branch, making a coil with its head in the middle. 

The shape of a snake’s head can often indicate whether it is venomous or non-venomous. Non-venomous snakes generally have a spoon-shaped, rounded head. Some venomous snakes have a triangular head. The Green Tree Python is non-venomous with a rounded head.

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Juvenile Bornean Orangutan is almost four years old

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The juvenile Bornean Orangutan at the Paris Zoo is almost four years old. Java was born on 17 October 2018 to her mother Theodora. Theodora watches Java as she plays on the ropes and beams.

The Bornean Orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) is a great ape and a primate mammal in the Hominidae family.

It is native to the rain forests of Borneo. It is arboreal, living in trees. 

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Buff-Tailed Bear Hoverfly

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The Buff-Tailed Bear Hoverfly (Criorhina floccosa) is an insect in the Syrphidae family of hoverflies. It is a Hoverfly that mimics a Bumblebee (a fly that looks like a bee).

The Buff-Tailed Bear Hoverfly has a long, orange or yellow-to-red hairy mass on its thorax and a broad, flat abdomen with short hairs on top. The female has a buff-coloured rear abdomen. It has tufts of pale hair at the sides of the abdomen, near the base. It has six dark-coloured legs. Like the Housefly, it has large compact eyes and smaller simple eyes.

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What is the difference between the Parrot and the Pigeon?

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What is the difference between the Parrot and the Pigeon?

The Parrot and the Pigeon are both species of birds.

The Parrot belongs to six families, whereas the Pigeon belongs to one family. The Parrot families are: Cacatuidae, Nestoridae, Psittacidae, Psittrichasiidae, Psittaculidae, and Strigopidea. The Pigeon is in the Columbidae family. 

The Parrot is arboreal, living in trees, whereas the Pigeon can be arboreal, terrestrial (living on the ground), or semi-terrestrial.

The Parrot has a slim, upright body, whereas the Pigeon has a stout body.

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Tree-Crevice Skink

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The Tree-Crevice Skink (Egernia striolata) is a reptile in the Scincidae family of skink lizards. It is a squamate. It is also called the Tree Skink.

The Tree-Crevice Skink has a thick, flattened body with small eyes. It has 26-36 rows of scales. It is dark-black to grey-brown with a pale stripe of scales down its body from its head to its tail. Its underbelly is pale or cream-coloured. It eyes have vertical, narrow pupils.

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Do Peacocks live in trees?

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Do Peacocks (or Peafowl) live in trees?

Peafowl are collectively male Peacocks and female Peahens, but mostly people say Peacocks. 

The Indian Peacock (Pavo cristatus), native to India and Sri Lanka, is a large bird in the Phasianidae family.

It has a long train of tail feathers. It can fly, but not very high and not very far. It usually just flutters for a short distance after a few hops or leaps. 

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CREATURE FEATURE: Western Gentle Lemur

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The Western Gentle Lemur (Hapalemur occidentalis) is an arboreal primate mammal in the Lemuridae family. It is also known as the Western Lesser Bamboo Lemur and the Sambirano Lesser Bamboo Lemur.

The Western Gentle Lemur has thick, grey-beige to ginger-brown fur. It has long legs, especially long back legs for leaping. It is a leaper. It has a small pink-brown nose, small rounded ears, and large orange-brown eyes.

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White-Belted Ruffed Lemur

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The White-Belted Ruffed Lemur (Varecia veriegata subcincta) is an arboreal (tree-living) primate mammal in the Lemuridae family of lemurs. It is a sub-species of the Black-and-White Ruffed Lemur. It is also known as the Northern Black-and-White Ruffed Lemur.

The White-Belted Ruffed Lemur has fluffy black and white fur. Its stomach, tail, hands and feet, forehead, face, and crown are black. It is white on the sides, back, and back legs. It has a distinct white belt around the middle of its body. It has a black nose, small ears, and bright orange eyes. Its tail is long, black, and bushy. 

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GUIANAN BROWN CAPUCHIN

CREATURE FEATURE: Guianan Brown Capuchin

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The Guianan Brown Capuchin (Sapajus apella apella) is an arboreal (tree) primate in the Cebidae family of monkeys. It is also known as the Brown Capuchin, the Guianan Black-Capped Capuchin, and the Pin Monkey.

The Guianan Brown Capuchin has dark brown-grey, rough fur, and a long thick tail. It has black hands and feet. The cap or tuft is a bunch of hair on its forehead that looks like a wig or a hat. It has a prehensile tail that is strong and able to grasp branches.

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Jackson’s Forest Lizard

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The Jackson’s Forest Lizard (Adolfus jacksoni) is a small to medium-sized reptile in the Lacertidae family of wall lizards. It is a lacertid. 

The Jackson’s Forest Lizard is long and slender with shiny scales and a long tail. It has brown stripes on either side of its body with rows of greenish spots. It has a pale underbelly. It has large black eyes with yellow eye rings. It has short legs with five toes on each foot.

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CREATURE FEATURE: Eastern Vine Snake

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The Eastern Vine Snake (Thelotornis mossambicanus) is a venomous reptile in the Colubridae family of vine snakes. It is also known as the Eastern Twig Snake, African Creep Snake, or the Savanna Vine Snake. It is a colubrid snake.

The Eastern Vine Snake is a thin, grey snake, with a beige underbelly. The top of its head is green, often with black speckles. Its body also has speckles. Its eyes have horizontal pupils, often in the shape of a keyhole. When startled, it inflates (swells) its throat to show black spots between its scales. 

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