The Yellow Mongoose (Cynictis penicillata) is a carnivorous mammal. It is also known as the Red Meerkat.
The Yellow Mongoose has a long body with rough yellowish fur, and a bushy tail. It has lighter highlights on its underbelly and chin. It has a pointy nose and small ears. Its eyes are small and dark. It has long, strong claws that dig through soil. Its claws do not retract, and therefore they are always visible.
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The Pied Tamarin (Saguinus bicolor) is an endangered primate mammal in the monkey family.
The Pied Tamarin is black and white, with a black face, large black ears, a fluffy white collar, short white whiskers, and a greyish-brown body. It has small dark eyes. It has black feet with sharp claws that enable it to climb trees.
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The Vicuna (Vicugna vicugna) is a camelid mammal, related to the Llama.
The Vicuna has a long neck, large ears, and big eyes. It has long, soft woolly coat of fine wool. It can tolerate freezing temperatures. It is tawny-brown on the back and white on its throat and chest.
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The European Badger (Meles meles) is a mammal in the Mustelidae family. It is also known as the Eurasian Badger.
The European Badger has a small tapered head, a stocky body, small black eyes, and a short tail. It has short plantigrade feet with five toes on each foot, which means that all parts of its feet make contact with the ground. It has long, sharp claws for digging. Its claws are not retractable. Their long snouts are also used for digging.
It has black, grey, brown, and white fur. Before winter, its fur is mainly black, with a lighter belly. It has two black bands along its head, and there is a wide, white band from its nose to its crown. Its summer fur is much coarser, shorter and sparser, and is deeper in color, with the black tones becoming brownish.
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The Red-Necked Wallaby (Macropus rufogriseus rufogriseus) is a medium-sized macropod marsupial mammal. Macropod means big feet, and a marsupial mammal has a pouch for its baby. It is also known as the Bennett’s Wallaby.
The Red-Necked Wallaby is a stocky marsupial with reddish fur on its neck and shoulders, a black nose, a flat tail, two big hind (back) feet, black paws, and a white stripe on its upper lip. The rest of its body has soft grey fur.
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The Red River Hog (Potamochoerus porcus) is a wild mammal in the pig family.
The Red River Hog has striking orange to reddish-brown fur, with black legs and a tufted white stripe along its spine. It has white markings around its eyes and on its cheeks and jaws. The rest of its muzzle and face are black. Its entire body is covered in hair, with no bare skin visible. It has a thin tail with a tuft of black hair at the tip. It has long, thin ears with hair tufts.
The male has prominent whiskers and small, sharp tusks. Both the male and female have scent glands near their eyes and on their feet.
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The Rocky Mountain Goat (Oreamnos americanus) is an even-toed ungulate (hoofed) mammal. It is related to the Blue Sheep (Pseudois nayaur).
The Rocky Mountain Goat has a white double coat of fur – an undercoat and an outer layer. The undercoat has fine, dense wool and the outer layer has longer, hollow hairs. Both the male and the female have beards and long black horns. It has orange-brown eyes.
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The Armenian Mouflon (Ovis orientalis gmelini) is an endangered wild sheep, and an ungulate (hoofed) mammal. It is also known as the Armenian Sheep, Armenian Red Sheep, Iranian Red Sheep, or Trans-Caucasian Sheep.
The Armenian Mouflon looks like a sheep, but with reddish-brown fur, like a goat. Its underbelly is white. It has cloven (split) hoofs. It has large brown eyes. The male has wide, ridged horns, like the horns of a ram. It has small triangular ears.
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What is the difference between a Seal (Pusa) and a Sea Lion (Neophoca)?
A Seal and a Sea Lion are both pinnipeds – finned semi-aquatic marine mammals. A Walrus (Odobenus rosmarus) is also a pinniped.
A Seal and a Sea Lion both have flattened heads with white whiskers.
A Seal has short flippers that are thinly webbed with a claw on each small toe, whereas a Sea Lion has large skin-covered flippers.
On land, a Seal wriggles on its belly, whereas a Sea Lion walks on its flippers.
A Seal has no visible ear flaps (external ears), whereas a Sea Lion has visible ear flaps.
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The Caspian Seal (Pusa caspica) is an earless, finned semi-aquatic marine mammal in the pinniped family. It does have ear-holes, but the ears have no visible ear flaps.
The Caspian Seal has light-brown to dark-brown short fur, short black-grey flippers with thin webbing and claws on each small toe. On land, its body seems bulky, but in water, it swims quickly and easily. It has a creamy-buff underbelly. It has almond-shaped dark eyes, a flattened head, and a round nose with white whiskers.
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The European Hare (Lepus europaeus) is a lagomorph, specifically a leporid mammal, such as hares and rabbits. It is also known as the Brown Hare.
The European Hare has grey, rufous (red-brown), or brown fur. It has a white underbelly. It has black-tipped elongated ears, long legs, a flexible neck, and a short, stub, white tail, called a scut. It has large incisors (front teeth) as well as cheek teeth. It has orange-brown eyes.
Its head and body length can range from 60-75 centimetres (24-30 inches), with a tail length of 7-11 centimetres (3-4 inches). Its ears range from 9-11 centimetres (3.5-4 inches).
The Amur Tiger (Panthera tigris tigris or Panthera tigris altaica) is also known as the Siberian Tiger, the Manchurian Tiger, or the Korean Tiger. It is a large wild cat, and a mammal.
The Amur Tiger is reddish-rusty brown with narrow black transverse stripes. It has short legs and a long tail. It has moderately thick, coarse fur. The winter coat is thicker, longer, softer, and silkier. It has whiskers and hair on the back of its head and the top of its neck is elongated.
What does a tiger’s tongue look like?
Mammals have tongues. A tongue is a muscle. The left and right sides of the tongue are separated by a vertical section of fibrous tissue, called a lingual septum. A tongue has a tip and a blade (the part just behind the tip).
A tongue is used for chewing, tasting, licking, swallowing, washing, and making sounds. A tongue’s upper surface is covered with taste buds. The tongue has nerves and blood vessels, and is kept moist with saliva. It can be pink, reddish, or dark-coloured (like a giraffe’s tongue).
A human’s tongue is about 10 centimetres (4 inches) long. The Tiger (Panthera tigris) has a tongue that is about 18-23 centimetres (7-9 inches) long.
The Woodland Caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) is an ungulate (hoofed) mammal in the deer species. It is also known as the Reindeer.
The Caribou varies in size and colour, from light to dark. The Woodland Caribou has dark-brown fur. Its coat had two layers of fur – a thick woolly undercoat and a longer-haired overcoat. It has large feet with crescent-shaped, cloven hooves, which are wide for walking on snow.
Both males and females grow antlers, although the female’s anters are smaller than the male’s antlers. As antlers grow, they become covered in thick dark-brown velvet. It loses it antlers and grows a new pair each year.
What is the difference between the Central African Warthog (Phacochoerus africanus massaicus) and the Central European Wild Boar (Sus scrofa scrofa)?
The Central African Warthog and the Central European Wild Boar are both medium-sized heavy-set ungulate (hoofed) mammals, but the Warthog is pig-like and the Boar is a pig.
The Central African Warthog has two pairs of upward-curving ivory tusks protruding from its mouth. One pair of tusks is the upper pair, and the second pair of tusks is the lower pair, which is shorter than the upper pair. The male Central European Wild Boar has ivory canine teeth which protrude from its mouth, and the female has smaller canine teeth.
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The Central European Wild Boar (Sus scrofa scrofa) is a medium-sized ungulate (hoofed) mammal, and a subspecies of the Wild Boar (Sus scrofa). It is also known as the Eurasian Wild Pig. Regionally, it is known as the Western Wild Boar. It is a suid.
The Central European Wild Boar is dark grey-black or rusty-brown in colour. Its fur is thick and coarse and it also has thick underwool. The male has a thin mane along his back, and the female does not have a mane. It has a high skull and a big head. It has a short, thick neck, and a hump behind its shoulders. Its eyes are small and dark. The male has canine teeth which protrude from its mouth, and the female has smaller canine teeth.
The Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes) is a common and widespread mammal.
The Red Fox has reddish fur with yellow tints. Its winter fur is dense, long, soft, and silky. It sides are lighter than its back and its chin, lower lips, throat and front of the chest are white. The tip of its fluffy tail is white. It has a long body, long narrow head, and short legs. Its front paws have five toes and its back paws have four toes. Each toe has a strong claw. It has oval-shaped pupils with excellent vision.
Photographer: Martina Nicolls
The Amur Leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis, formerly Panthera pardus japonensis) is a critically endangered subspecies of the of the Leopard (Panthera pardus). It is also known as the North Chinese Leopard.
The Amur Leopard has thick pale-cream fur with dark markings on its head and widely-spaced rosettes on its sides. In winter, the colour of its fur changes to light-yellow to orange-brown.
The Persian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor) is an endangered wild cat subspecies of the Leopard (Panthera pardus). It is also known as the Caucasian Leopard.
The Persian Leopard has a strong, stocky body, with short legs and broad paws. It is light in colour, with variations from pale to dark. It hasblack markings on its head and neck, and larger rosette shapes on its back, sides, and tail. It has a whitish underbelly. Its nose is short and broad. Its tail is bushy, long, and flexible. Its eyes are pale-green or grey. Its ears are small and rounded.