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Animal of the week.
A lovebird is the common name of Agapornis (Greek: αγάπη agape 'love'; όρνις ornis 'bird'), a small genus of parrot. Eight species are native to the African continent, with the grey-headed lovebird being native to Madagascar. Social and affectionate, the name comes from the parrots' strong, monogamous pair bonding and the long periods which paired birds spend sitting together. Lovebirds live in small flocks and eat fruit, vegetables, grasses, and seeds. Black-winged lovebirds also eat insects and figs, and the black-collared lovebirds have a special dietary requirements for native figs, making them problematic to keep in captivity. Some species are kept as pets, and several colored mutations have been selectively bred in aviculture. The average lifespan is 10 to 15 years.
~Wikipedia
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The brown rat (Rattus norvegicus), also known as the common rat, street rat, sewer rat, Hanover rat, Norway rat, Norwegian rat, Parisian rat, water rat or wharf rat, is one of the best known and most common rats. One of the largest muroids, it is a brown or grey rodent with a head and body length of up to 28 cm (11 in) long, and a slightly shorter tail. It weighs between 140 and 500 g (4.9 and 17.6 oz). Thought to have originated in northern China, this rodent has now spread to all continents except Antarctica, and is the dominant rat in Europe and much of North America, making it by at least this particular definition the most successful mammal on the planet alongside humans.[2] With rare exceptions, the brown rat lives wherever humans live, particularly in urban areas. The silver fox's long outer hair can extend as much as two inches (5 cm) beyond the shorter underfur on different parts of the fox's body, particularly under the throat, behind the shoulders, on the sides and the tail. The hair of the underfur is brown at the base, and silver grey tipped with black further along the follicle. The hair is soft, glossy and was once reputed to be finer than that of the pine marten. The uniformly blackish brown or chocolate colored underfur, which is unusually long and dense, measures in some places two inches and is exceedingly fine. It surrounds the whole body even to the tail, where it is a little coarser and woollier. The fur is shortest on the forehead and limbs, and is finer on the fox's underbelly. When viewed individually, the hairs composing the belly fur exhibit a wavy appearance. There are scarcely any long hairs on the ears, which are thickly clothed with fur. The soles of the feet are so thickly covered with woolly hair that no callous spots are visible.[4] Silver foxes tend to be more cautious than red foxes.[5] When bred with another member of the same color morph, silver foxes will produce silver coated offspring, with little variation in this trend after the third generation. When mated to pure red foxes, the resulting cubs will be fiery red in overall coat color, and will have blacker markings on the belly, neck and points than average red foxes. When one such fiery red fox is mated with a silver one, the litter is almost always 50% silver and 50% red. Fiery red parents may occasionally produce a silver cub, the usual proportion being one in four. Occasionally, the colors of mixed foxes blend rather than segregate. The blended offspring of a silver and red fox is known as a cross fox.[3] The fact that sharks are completely awesome is no surprise, but some of the facts that make them so great might shock you! Follow @SharkWeek on Twitter for more fun shark facts. #1 Whale sharks are not only the largest shark species; they are also the largest fish in the world. At 40 feet long, the whale shark dwarfs the world's smallest shark, the dwarf lanternshark, which is on average 6-8 inches long. #2 The gestation period for a pregnant female shark can range from five months to two years. Yes, two years! The spiny dogfish shark takes the medal for that one. Not only is this the longest confirmed pregnancy for sharks, it is also one of the longest pregnancies of any animal. #3 It has been estimated that the bite force of great white shark is up to 4,000 PSI. For comparison, a tiger generates around 1,000 PSI of bite force. #4 Talk about an odd family tree. Some female sharks use sperm from multiple males to reproduce, making the pups half-siblings...even though they're born at the same time. #5 Tiger sharks are nicknamed the 'garbage cans' of the sea...and for good reason. Researchers have discovered many odd objects (tires, gasoline tanks, and license plates) left intact inside of their stomachs. Dolphins are highly intelligent marine mammals and are part of the family of toothed whales that includes orcas and pilot whales. They are found worldwide, mostly in shallow seas of the continental shelves, and are carnivores, mostly eating fish and squid. Dolphin coloration varies, but they are generally gray in color with darker backs than the rest of their bodies.Dolphins are well known for their agility and playful behavior, making them a favorite of wildlife watchers. Many species will leap out of the water, spy-hop (rise vertically out of the water to view their surroundings) and follow ships, often synchronizing their movements with one another. Scientists believe that dolphins conserve energy by swimming alongside ships, a practice known as bow-riding. Dolphins live in social groups of five to several hundred. They use echolocation to find prey and often hunt together by surrounding a school of fish, trapping them and taking turns swimming through the school and catching fish. Dolphins will also follow seabirds, other whales and fishing boats to feed opportunistically on the fish they scare up or discard. The earliest known sharks date back to more than 420 million years ago. Acanthodians are often referred to as "spiny sharks"; though they are not part of Chondrichthyes proper, they are a paraphyletic assemblage leading to cartilaginous fish as a whole. Since then, sharks have diversified into over 500 species. They range in size from the small dwarf lanternshark (Etmopterus perryi), a deep sea species of only 17 centimetres (6.7 in) in length, to the whale shark (Rhincodon typus), the largest fish in the world, which reaches approximately 12 metres (40 ft) in length. Sharks are found in all seas and are common to depths of 2,000 metres (6,600 ft). They generally do not live in freshwater although there are a few known exceptions, such as the bull shark and the river shark, which can survive and be found in both seawater and freshwater.
Some species live in mountainous areas, such as the Alps, northern Apennines, Carpathians, Tatras, and Pyrenees in Europe and northwestern Asia; the Rocky Mountains, Black Hills, the Cascade and Pacific Ranges, and the Sierra Nevada in North America; and the Deosai Plateau in Pakistan and Ladakh in India. Other species prefer rough grassland and can be found widely across North America and the Eurasian Steppe. The similarly sized but more social prairie dog is not classified in the genus Marmota, but in the related genus Cynomys. Marmots typically live in burrows (often within rockpiles, particularly in the case of the yellow-bellied marmot), and hibernate there through the winter. Most marmots are highly social and use loud whistles to communicate with one another, especially when alarmed. Marmots mainly eat greens and many types of grasses, berries, lichens, mosses, roots, and flowers Some species live in mountainous areas, such as the Alps, northern Apennines, Carpathians, Tatras, and Pyrenees in Europe and northwestern Asia; the Rocky Mountains, Black Hills, the Cascade and Pacific Ranges, and the Sierra Nevada in North America; and the Deosai Plateau in Pakistan and Ladakh in India. Other species prefer rough grassland and can be found widely across North America and the Eurasian Steppe. The similarly sized but more social prairie dog is not classified in the genus Marmota, but in the related genus Cynomys. Marmots typically live in burrows (often within rockpiles, particularly in the case of the yellow-bellied marmot), and hibernate there through the winter. Most marmots are highly social and use loud whistles to communicate with one another, especially when alarmed. Marmots mainly eat greens and many types of grasses, berries, lichens, mosses, roots, and flowers. The term "rat" is also used in the names of other small mammals which are not true rats. Examples include the North American pack rats, a number of species loosely called kangaroo rats, and others. Rats such as the bandicoot rat (Bandicota bengalensis) are murine rodents related to true rats, but are not members of the genus Rattus. Male rats are called bucks, unmated females are called does, pregnant or parent females are called dams, and infants are called kittens or pups. A group of rats is referred to as a mischief.[2]
The common species are opportunistic survivors and often live with and near humans; therefore, they are known as commensals. They may cause substantial food losses, especially in developing countries.[3] However, the widely distributed and problematic commensal species of rats are a minority in this diverse genus. Many species of rats are island endemics and some have become endangered due to habitat loss or competition with the brown, black or Polynesian rat.[4] The aquatic tenrec—and all tenrecs for that matter—belong to a bizarre group of animals called the Afrotheria. This group includes everything from elephants to sea cows and aardvarks to hyraxes. It is no wonder then that it took genetic evidence for researchers to finally piece this group together. For their part the thirty species of tenrec are most closely related to elephant shrews and golden moles, all of which belong to Afrotheria. But the aquatic tenrec is even unique among tenrecs, since it has wholly adapted to life in the water.
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Every week I will blog about an animal for you to read about and I will take suggestions too, enjoy! (all of the facts are from other websites.) Archives
February 2019
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