What is a lamb?
A lamb is a young male or female sheep under the age of 12 months.
A lamb is an herbivorous mammal, so it feeds on milk from its mother and begins to eat grass. When it matures, it stops feeding on milk and grazes on grass. It is a grazer.
Continue reading “What is a lamb?”
What are the similarities and differences between the Siberian Ibex (Capra sibirica) and the West Caucasian Tur (Capra caucasica caucasica)?
The Siberian Ibex and the West Caucasian Tur are both mountain goats in the Bovidae family of bovines and Capra genus of goats. The West Caucasian Tur is also known as the Caucasian Ibex.
The Siberian Ibex and the West Caucasian Tur are both large, wild, ungulate (hoofed) mammals.
The Siberian Ibex and the West Caucasian Tur both have ridged or ringed horns – the male has large horns and the female has much shorter horns.
Continue reading “What are the similarities and differences between the Siberian Ibex and the West Caucasian Tur?”
How big is a hippopotamus mouth?
The Hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) is a large African even-toed ungulate (hoofed) mammal in the Hippopotamidae family. Hippopotamus means river horse.
It has small ears, small eyes, and a large nose at the top of its head so that it can submerge itself underwater, with only these parts of its body showing above the water. Its head is large, with a wide mouth and canine ivory tusks.
Continue reading “How big is a hippopotamus mouth?”
The Tushetian Sheep (Ovis aries musimon) is a ruminant mammal in the Bovidae family. It is an artiodactyla – an even-toed ungulate (hoofed mammal). It is a sub-species of the primitive Domestic Sheep (Ovis aries). It is similar to the Near East Sheep and it is also known as the European Mouflon.
The Tushetian Sheep has a smooth, long, well-developed woolly coat. Its face is not woolly. It has a small, fat, woolly tail. It has long ears. The male is red-brown in summer with a white saddle patch or more white areas. The female is brownish. Both the male and female are darker in winter. The male has helix-shaped horns, but the female does not have horns.
Continue reading “Tushetian Sheep”
The Dybowski’s Sika Deer (Cervus Nippon hortulorum) is a medium-sized ungulate (hoofed) mammal in the Cervidae family of deer. It is a cervid.
The Dybowski’s Sika Deer has light-brown fur. The colour becomes darker in winter. It has thin, delicate legs. The male, called a stag, has upright antlers. The female has a pair of black bumps on her forehead.
Continue reading “Dybowski’s Sika Deer”
The White Rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum) is a large mammal in the Rhinocerotidae family of square-lipped rhinos.
The White Rhino has a wide, straight mouth.
Continue reading “The mouth of the White Rhinoceros”
The Spur-Winged Goose (Plectropterus gambensis gambensis) is a large bird in the Anatidae family of geese. It is related to the Shelduck.
The Spur-Winged Goose is black with a white face and white patches on its wings. Its belly is white. It has a red facial patch from its beak to above its eyes. The male has a larger red facial patch than the female. It has a long, S-shaped neck. It has long pinkish-red legs.
Continue reading “Spur-Winged Goose”
The Bukharan Markhor (Capra falconeri heptneri) is a large species of wild goat. It is also known as the Tadjik Markhor, the Turkmenian Markhor, or the Screw Horn Goat. It is an ungulate (hoofed) mammal.
The female Bukharan Markhor is pregnant for about 150 days (5 months), before giving birth to 1-2 live young, called kids. The photographed kids were born born 23-28 May 2020, so they are now two-and-a-half months old.
Both the male and the female have curled, corkscrew horns in a V-shape, but the male horns are much larger.
Continue reading “Bukharan Markhor Goat – Head Butting”
The Gemsbok (Oryx gazelle) is a large ungulate (hoofed) mammal. It is an antelope. It is also called the Oryx Gazelle, Gemsbuck, or South African Oryx.
The Gemsbok has light-brownish-grey fur with lighter patches towards it rear. It has a black stripe from its chin to the lower edge of its neck, and to its shoulder and legs. Its tail is long and black. It has a muscular neck and shoulders. Its legs have white ‘socks’ with a black patch on the front of its front legs. Both the male and the female have long, straight horns. The female has longer, thinner horns than the male.
Continue reading “Gemsbok”
The Finnish Forest Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus fennicus) is a large ungulate (hoofed) mammal in the deer family. It is a sub-species of the Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus). It is also known as the European Forest Reindeer. It is an artiodactyl because it has cloven (split) hooves.
The Finnish Forest Reindeer has dark-brown to light-brown fur. Its coat has two layers of fur – a thick woolly undercoat and a longer-haired overcoat. It has long legs with wide, crescent-shaped, cloven hooves for walking across deep snow. It has white hair around its short tail.
Continue reading “Finnish Forest Reindeer”
What is the difference between the American Bison (Bison bison) and the European Bison (Bison bonasus)?
The American Bison and the European Bison are large ungulate (hoofed) mammals in the bovine (cattle) family.
The American Bison and the European Bison are artiodactyl, because they have cloven (split) hooves.
The American Bison has longer hair on its neck, head, and forequarters than the European Bison.
The American Bison has less hair on its tail than the European Bison.
The American Bison has shorter horns and tail than the European Bison.
Continue reading “What is the difference between the American Bison and the European Bison?”
The American Bison (Bison bison) is an ungulate (hoofed) mammal in the bovine (cattle) family. It is a bisonid. It is also an artiodactyl because its hooves are cloven (split).
The American Bison has a stocky body with a massive head. It has a shaggy dark-brown coat of fur. Both the male and female have horns. The horns are curved and sharp.
Continue reading “American Bison”
The Mesopotamian Fallow Deer (Dama mesopotamica) is an ungulate (hoofed), ruminant mammal in the Cervidae family. It is also known as the Persian Fallow Deer.
The Mesopotamian Fallow Deer is grey-brown to reddish-brown. The male has a short neck mane. The male has antlers, made from bone and covered with velvet. It is an even-toed ungulate with two toes on each hoof, like camels, goats, and cattle.
Continue reading “Mesopotamian Fallow Deer”
The African Forest Buffalo (Syncerus caffer nanus) is a sub-species of the African buffalo. It is also known as the Dwarf Buffalo or the Congo Buffalo. It is related to the Cape Buffalo.
The African Forest Buffalo has reddish-brown fur with darker fur around its face. Its ears have long fringes of hair. It has short, backward-facing horns.
Continue reading “CREATURE FEATURE: African Forest Buffalo”
The Radiated Tortoise (Astrochelys radiata) is a reptile in the Testudinidae family of tortoises.
The Radiated Tortoise has a high-domed shell, called a carapace. Its shell is brown with yellow radiating lines from the centre of each plate. Each pattern looks like a star or sea shell. It has a blunt head and thick, stumpy feet. Its legs, feet, and head are yellow, except for a patch of black on its head.
Continue reading “Radiated Tortoise”
The Addax (Addax nasomaculatus) is an ungulate (hoofed) mammal in the antelope family. It is also known as the White Antelope and the Screwhorn Antelope. It is similar to the Scimitar Oryx.
The Addax has pale-coloured (white or sandy blonde) fur in summer that darkens to greyish-brown in winter. It has white hindquarters and legs. The hair on its head, neck, and shoulders is long and brown. Its head has brown or black markings that form an X-shape over its nose. The male and female have long, spiraled, and twisted horns. Long black hairs protrude between its horns, ending in a short mane on its neck. Its tail is short, ending with a tuft of black hair.
Continue reading “CREATURE FEATURE: Addax”
The Guanaco (Lama guanicoe) is a camelid mammal in the Camelidae family. It is related to the Llama.
The Guanaco varies in fur colour, from light-brown to dark cinnamon. It has a white underbelly. Its fur is soft. Its face is grey with small, straight ears.
Continue reading “Guanaco”
The Kangaroo, Pademelon, Tree-Kangaroo and Wallaby are all macropod (large-footed) marsupial (pouched) mammals.
The Kangaroo, Pademelon, and Wallaby have triangular-shaped faces with black noses, whereas the Tree-Kangaroo has a square-shaped face with a pink nose.
Continue reading “What are the similarities and differences in the faces of the Kangaroo, Pademelon, Tree-Kangaroo, and Wallaby?”
The American Wood Bison (Bison bison athabascae) is an ungulate (hoofed) mammal in the bovine (cattle) family. It is a bisonid. It is an artiodactyl, because it is cloven (split) hooved. It is also known as the American Buffalo, and is closely related to the European Bison, which is also called the European Wisent.
The American Wood Bison has a shaggy dark-brown coat of fur with a massive head. It is broad and muscular. Both the male and female have short, curved horns.
Continue reading “American Wood Bison”
The Vicuna (Vicugna vicugna) is camelid mammal from South America. It is related to the Llama and the Alpaca.
The male Vicuna has 32 teeth and the female has 30 teeth.
The Vicuna is a grazer, eating grass. It has six large, visible, crooked lower teeth, called incisors, at the front of its mouth, to help it cut grass.
Continue reading “Vicuna Teeth”