Tag terrestrial

China-America Giant Panda program ends after 50 years

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The China-America Giant Panda program at the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington DC has come to its natural end after 50 years. But maybe a new China-America loan program will commence and continue America’s love affair with the Giant Panda. 

The Atlanta Zoo in Georgia still has its Giant Pandas, although the loan program expires in late 2024. 

The agreement for the loan was that all offspring of any Giant Panda in America, or any other country, are required to travel home to China when they are of travel age. The Atlanta Zoo’s Giant Panda couple Lun Lun and Yang Yang have had five offspring returned to China. There are two offspring still in Atlanta – Ya Lun and Xi Lun. All four of them – the parents and the two cubs – will return to China at the end of 2024.

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Common Wall Lizard

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The Common Wall Lizard (Podarcis muralis) is a terrestrial reptile in the Lacertidae family of wall lizards. It is a lacertid.

The Common Wall Lizard varies in colour, but is usually mottled brown with a reticulated pattern with dark spots on its side. The male is more colourful and more patterned than the female. It has a thin, elongated appearance with a long thin tail, which is about half the length of its entire body.

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Is there a limit to how big animals can grow?

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Is there a limit to how big animals can grow?

Joshua A. Krish poses this question in his article in Live Science (March 2023) and he says that there is a limit – animals can’t grow indefinitely.

The largest land animal is the African Elephant (Loxodonta africana) which is a mammal that reaches 250 centimetres (8 feet 4 inches) tall and 750 centimetres (25 feet) long, weighing about 6 metric tons (7 tons). It is not a meat-eating carnivore. It is an herbivore and eats grass, trees, bushes, fruit, and bark.

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How far can a Grasshopper hop?

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How far can a Grasshopper hop? 

A Grasshopper is a plant-eating insect in the Orthoptera order and is common across the globe. It is terrestrial (a ground-dweller) with powerful back legs and wings.

It jumps without using its wings. It extends its large, powerful hind (back) legs and pushes against the ground to lift off. The force of the push propels it into the air. 

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Wrinkled Dune Snail

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The Wrinkled Dune Snail
(Xeroplexa intersecta previously Candidula intersecta) is an air-breathing pulmonate gastropod mollusc in the Geomitridae family of terrestrial (land) snails. It is an invertebrate, because it does not have a backbone. Its shell is its exo-skeleton (outside skeleton).

The Wrinkled Dune Snail is yellowish-beige with dark-brown and copper bands. The round, globular, coarse (not glossy) shell has a right-handed whorl, which is called a dextral shell. There are five whorls with a slightly raised central spire. Its shell aperture (opening) does not have a lip. The body is bluish-grey with long upper tentacles and short lower tentacles on ts head. Its head extends to form a snout (proboscis). Its eyes are at the tip of the tentacles.

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Grove Unbanded Snail – Yellow Form

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The Grove Unbanded Snail – Yellow Form (Cepaea nemoralis) is an air-breathing pulmonate gastropod mollusc in the Helicidae family of terrestrial (land) snails. It is a variant of the Grove Snail, also known as the Brown-Lipped Snail. It is an invertebrate, because it does not have a backbone. Its shell is its exo-skeleton (outside skeleton).

The Grove Unbanded Snail – Yellow Form can be varied in its appearance. The surface of its shell is semi-glossy. The shell has a right-handed whorl, which is called a dextral shell. The colour of the Grove Snail’s shell can be reddish, brownish, yellow, or creamy-white, with or without bands. The Grove Unbanded Snail – Yellow Form has a light, creamy yellow shell. It does not have prominent dark-brown bands or stripes. It has a white lip, not a brown lip. Its head extends to form a snout (proboscis). It has tentacles on its head. Its eyes are at the tip of the tentacles. 

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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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Common Striped Woodlouse

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The Common Striped Woodlouse (Philoscia muscorum) is an isopod crustacean in the Philosciidae family of woodlice. It is also known as the Fast Woodlouse or the European Woodlouse. 

The Common Striped Woodlouse has a shiny, brown shell-like exo-skeleton (Iike armour), although it can be yellowish-brown with rows of spots. Its head is dark and it has a dark stripe on its back. It has long antennae. It has a segmented body. The last five segments are narrower than the other segments. 

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Common Earthworm

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The Common Earthworm (Lumbricus terrestris) is a terrestrial (land) invertebrate (without a backbone) in the Lumbricidae family of earthworms. It is also known as the Lob Worm.

The Common Earthworm is pinkish-greyish-purple. The body is cylindrical and a tube-in-a-tube, with a series of segments, called metamerisms. The last segment is the tail, and the first segment has the mouth and prostomium (flat paddle-shaped lobe). Each segment has bristle-like hairs called lateral setae. These hairs help it to move by gripping the surface of the soil. It has pores (holes) in its body that enables it to breathe. It exudes a fluid that keeps the body moist and stops it from drying out. 

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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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How does a Guinea Baboon clean its ears?

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How does a Guinea Baboon clean its ears?

The Guinea Baboon (Papio papio) is a terrestrial primate mammal in the Cercopithecidae family of monkeys. It is not an ape (apes do not have tails). The Guinea Baboon is a monkey, because monkeys have tails. 

It is native to West Africa in countries such as Guinea, Senegal, Gambia, Mali, and Mauritania.

The Guinea Baboon has small ears that are similar to human ears.

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Diablito Frog

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The Diablito Frog (Oophaga sylvatica) is a small venomous amphibian in the Dendrobatidae family of poison dart frogs. 

The Diablito Frog varies in colour, from red and yellow to orange. The female has circular, round toe discs or pads that can stick to surfaces, whereas the male has heart-shaped toe discs. The female has an arched back, and the male has a curved back.

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Vineyard Snail

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The Vineyard Snail (Cernuella virgata or Helicella virgata) is a pulmonate air-breathing gastropod mollusc in the Geomitridae family of terrestrial (land) hairy snails. It is also known as the Common White Snail.

The Vineyard Snail usually has a creamy-white shell with fine growth lines. It has a darker line and white line along the outside of its shell. However, its shell can be variable. It has whorls, and the last whorl is slightly rounded. It has a brown mouth with pink inside. It shell is faintly glossy. Its body is grey.

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Green Shield Bug

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The Green Shield Bug (Palomena prasina) is an insect in the Pentatomidae family of shield bugs. 

The Green Shield Bug is solid, bright-green to bronze. It has a hard, hairless, smooth exoskeleton that looks like a shield. The shield is called a scutellum. Its underbelly is light-coloured. It has a small head with its eyes on the side of its head. It has forewings (front wings) called hemelytra, and it also has hind wings (back wings). Although it has wings, it is not a strong flyer. Its six green legs, called tarsi, have three segments. It has a sucking mouthpart. 

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Garden Snail

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The Garden Snail (Cornu aspersum) is an air-breathing pulmonate gastropod mollusc in the Helicidae family of terrestrial (land) snails. It is an invertebrate, because it does not have a backbone. Its shell is its exo-skeleton (outside skeleton).

The Garden Snail can be varied in colour, but its shell is mainly dark-brown, with stripes, flecks, or streaks in a lighter colour. The shell has a right-handed whorl, which is called a dextral shell.It has a brown lip. Its head extends to form a snout (proboscis). It has tentacles on its head. Its eyes are at the tip of the tentacles. 

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