The Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) is a medium-sized dabbling duck in the Anatidae family. It is a water bird, living in wetlands.
The male is called a drake, and the female is called a duck. The babies are called ducklings.
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The Corsac Fox at the Paris Zoo is rarely seen because it is nocturnal – active at night and sleeping during the day. Fortunately, I got a glimpse of the Corsac Fox.
The Corsac Fox (Vulpes corsac) is a medium-sized mammal in the Canidae family of carnivorous dogs, wolves, foxes, and jackals. It is also known as the Steppe Fox and the Sand Fox.
The Corsac Fox has yellowish-brown fur with paler underparts. It has pale markings on its mouth, chin, and throat. It has pointed ears with excellent hearing and small eyes with excellent vision. It has small teeth. Its feet have sharp claws.
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Which animals are bald or naked?
Some mammals and birds are born with fur, hair, or feathers – these babies or young are called precocial because they already have some features like their parents and can usually move independently soon after birth.
There are also many mammals and birds that are born pink and without fur, hair, or feathers. They are called altricial because they are helpless, usually blind, and hairless or featherless. They grow their outer covering as they mature and age.
Some mammals, and humans, are born naked and grow hair on some parts of their body. Some animals appear to be naked but, if you look closely, they have hair, like the rhinoceros, hippopotamus, and elephant, which have sparse hair or tufts (small clumps) of hair on their ears or tail. Other animals, like reptiles and fish have scales or tough skin.
Some animals have the word bald in their name, but they are not.
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The photographed juvenile White-Naped Crane is three months old. It was born between 8-10 May 2022.
The White-Naped Crane (Antigone vipio) is a large wetlands bird. It is native to Asia, in Mongolia, China and Russia. The adult measures about 130 centimetres (51 inches) tall, with a large wingspan of 2 metres (6.5 feet). The young (juvenile) White-Naped Crane looks very different from its parents.
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The Desmarest’s Hutia (Capromys pilorides) is a mammal in the Echimyidae family of rodents. It is also known as the Cuban Hutia.
The Desmarest’s Hutia is a short, stocky animal with short legs, and looks like a big hairy rat with a heavy rear end. It has thick, coarse fur ranging from black to brown, often with light-brown to reddish fur on its rump, near its tail, and on the crown of its head. It has small ears, small dark eyes, and a dark nose with dark whiskers. It has five toes with large, black claws.
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The Tolai Hare (Lepus tolai) is a lagomorph mammal in the Leporidae family of hares.
The Tolai Hare is variable in colour, but it usually has pale-brown, sandy-grey, or brownish-yellow fur. It has a white underbelly. It has black-tipped elongated ears. It has long legs, a flexible neck, and a short, stub tail, called a scut, with a brownish-black stripe on the top. It has large incisors (front teeth) as well as cheek teeth. It has orange-brown eyes.
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The Chacoan Peccary (Catagonus wagneri) is an ungulate (hoofed) mammal.
The Chacoan Peccary has a rounded body with a large head, long snout (nose) and short legs – similar to a wild pig. Its nose looks like a pig’s nose. It has grey or brown bristly fur. It has longer, darker hair along its spine, and white fur on its shoulders. It has white hairs around its mouth. It has a third hind (back) toe.
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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.
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The Ruff (Calidris pugnax) is a medium-sized wading wetlands bird. It is a Sandpiper in the Scolopacidae family of shorebirds.
The Ruff is a long-necked bird with a small head and a rounded belly. It is grey-brown with white and grey mottled underparts. It has colourful black, chestnut or white head tufts. It has a medium-sized black beak. It has long yellow or orange legs.
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The Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula) is a medium-sized bird in the duck family. It is a diving duck. It is a sea duck, living in marine (saltwater) locations, but it breeds in freshwater lakes. It is related to the Smew.
The Common Goldeneye has prominent golden eyes. The male has a dark head with greenish iridescent feathers and a round white patch below its eyes. It has a dark back, a white neck, white sides, and a white chest. The female has a brown head and a mostly grey body. Both males and females have a yellowish beak, yellow legs, and orange-yellow webbed feet. Its beak is grey, although the female has a yellow tipped beak.
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The Smew (Mergellus albellus) is a medium-sized bird in the wild duck family. It is a diving duck. It is a sea duck, living in marine (saltwater) locations, but it breeds in freshwater lakes. It is also known as the Redhead Smew and the White Nun. It is related to the Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula).
The male and female Smew look different. The male Smew is mostly white, with a black patch around his eye, a black nape, white crest feathers, and a grey rump and sides, with two fine black lines on each side of his chest. Its beak is grey. Its legs and webbed feet are grey.
The female has a rufous-brown (red-brown) head, nape and neck, a white throat and white cheeks, with grey upperparts and a mottled-grey chest. She has brown eyes, grey beak, grey legs, and grey webbed feet. Both the male and the female have a beak with a hooked tip.
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The Greater Guinea Pig (Cavia magna) is a large rodent mammal. It is not a pig and it does not come from Guinea.
The Greater Guinea Pig has dark fur, such as dark-brown or reddish-brown, with a creamy-white underbelly. Its whiskers are short and dark. It has two large front teeth to enable it to gnaw plants. It has dark almond-shaped eyes.
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The African Pygmy Goat (Capra aegagrus hircus) is a miniature domestic ungulate (hoofed) mammal.
The African Pygmy Goat has caramel, white, grey, black, or patterned fur. It has brown eyes. Both the male and the female have beards and horns.
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The Falabella Miniature Horse (Equus ferus caballus) is one of the smallest breeds of horses in the world. It is an ungulate (hoofed) equine mammal. It is not a pony.
The Falabella Miniature Horse has a small and compact body with short legs. It is an odd-toed ungulate, which means that is has a hoof with one toe. It has a thick coat of hair. It can be brown, black, white, brown and white, golden brown, or tan. Its mane is long and silky.
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The African Civet (Civettictis civetta) is a large weasel-looking or raccoon-looking mammal. It is a viverrid.
The African Civet is a stocky animal with a long body. It has short legs, a short broad neck, a pointed muzzle (nose), a long bushy tail (with black and a few white bands), and small round eyes. It has black bands surrounding its eyes (like a raccoon). It has rough black and white striped and blotched fur, called pelage. It has both long hair and short under-fur, called guard hairs. It has long, white whiskers.
It has a crest of fur along its back, which is raised when it is threatened. It has five toes on each foot. Its claws are long, curved, and semi-retractible. Its paws are completely black.
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The White-Naped Crane (Antigone vipio) is a large wetlands bird in the Gruidae family.
The White-Naped Crane has a grey and white striped neck, and a red face patch. It has a white nape (back of the neck). It has pinkish legs.
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The Kittlitz’s Plover (Charadrius pecuarius) is a small wetlands coastal bird.
The Kittlitz’s Plover has a white forehead, blackish bar on its head, with a narrow white bar on it crown, throat, and underbelly. Its body and tail are mottled brown. It has a black beak, dark-brown eyes, and black legs.
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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 Eastern Greylag Goose (Anser anser rubrirostris) is a large water bird, a wetlands bird, in the Anatidae family. There are two types: Western Greylag Goose and Eastern Greylag Goose.
The Eastern Greylag Goose has mottled and barred brown and white feathers and an orange-brown beak. It has a thick, long neck and a large head. It has pink legs and pink feet.
The Ruddy Turnstone (Arenaria interpres) is a small wading bird – a wader – that lives in wetlands. It is in the Scolopacidae family of Sandpipers.
The Ruddy Turnstone varies in colours of brown with a pattern of black and white. Its head is mainly white with black streaks on its crown, with a black pattern on its face. It has a slightly upturned wedge-shaped dark beak. Its chest is mainly black with white patches on the side, and white underparts. Its rump and tail have dark bands. Its legs are bright orange. The female is duller in colour than the male, with a browner head that has more streaks.