Elephants are the largest land animals now living. The elephant’s gestation period is 22 months, the longest of any land animal. At birth it is common for an elephant calf to weigh 120 kilograms (260 lb). They typically live for 50 to 70 years, but the oldest recorded elephant lived for 82 years. The largest elephant ever recorded was shot in Angola in 1956. This male weighed about 12,000 kilograms (26,000 lb), with a shoulder height of 4.2 meters (14 ft), a meter (yard) taller than the average male African elephant. The smallest elephants, about the size of a calf or a large pig, were a prehistoric species that lived on the island of Crete during the Pleistocene epoch.
The elephant has appeared in cultures across the world. They are a symbol of wisdom in Asian cultures and are famed for their memory and intelligence, where they are thought to be on par with cetaceans and hominids. Aristotle once said the elephant was “the beast which passeth all others in wit and mind. The word “elephant” has its origins in the Greek ἐλέφας, meaning “ivory” or “elephant”.
Healthy adult elephants have no natural predators, although lions may take calves or weak individuals. They are, however, increasingly threatened by human intrusion and poaching. Once numbering in the millions, the African elephant population has dwindled to between 470,000 and 690,000 individuals according to a March 2007 estimate.[14] While the elephant is a protected species worldwide, with restrictions in place on capture, domestic use, and trade in products such as ivory, CITES reopening of “one time” ivory stock sales, has resulted in increased poaching. Certain African nations report a decrease of their elephant populations by as much as two-thirds, and populations in certain protected areas are in danger of being eliminated. Since recent poaching has increased by as much as 45%, the current population is unknown (2008).
Elephant Facts
The name of an adult male is referred to as a bull
The name of an adult female is referred to as a cow
The name or offspring, or a baby Elephant, is a calf
The average size of a litter is just one elephant
The collective name for a group of Elephants is a herd
The sounds made by an adult Elephant are referred to as grunts, purrs, bellows, whistles and trumpeting
Nature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world, physical world or material world. “Nature” refers to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. It ranges in scale from the subatomic to the cosmic.
The word nature is derived from the Latin word natura, or “essential qualities, innate disposition”, and literally means “birth”.Natura was a Latin translation of the Greek word physis (φύσις), which originally related to the intrinsic characteristics that plants, animals, and other features of the world develop of their own accord. The concept of nature as a whole, the physical universe, is one of several expansions of the original notion; it began with certain core applications of the word φύσις by pre-Socratic philosophers, and has steadily gained currency ever since. This usage was confirmed during the advent of modern scientific method in the last several centuries.
Within the various uses of the word today, “nature” may refer to the general realm of various types of living plants and animals, and in some cases to the processes associated with inanimate objects–the way that particular types of things exist and change of their own accord, such as the weather and geology of the Earth, and the matter and energy of which all these things are composed. It is often taken to mean the “natural environment” or wilderness–wild animals, rocks, forest, beaches, and in general those things that have not been substantially altered by human intervention, or which persist despite human intervention. For, example, manufactured objects and human interaction generally are not considered part of nature, unless qualified as, for example, “human nature” or “the whole of nature”. This more traditional concept of natural things which can still be found today implies a distinction between the natural and the artificial, with the artificial being understood as that which has been brought into being by a human consciousness or a human mind. Depending on the particular context, the term “natural” might also be distinguished from the terms unnatural, the supernatural, and the artefactual.
Oceans
An ocean is a major body of saline water, and a principal component of the hydrosphere. Approximately 71% of the Earth’s surface (an area of some 361 million square kilometers) is covered by ocean, a continuous body of water that is customarily divided into several principal oceans and smaller seas. More than half of this area is over 3,000 meters (9,800 ft) deep. Average oceanic salinity is around 35 parts per thousand (ppt) (3.5%), and nearly all seawater has a salinity in the range of 30 to 38 ppt. Though generally recognized as several ’separate’ oceans, these waters comprise one global, interconnected body of salt water often referred to as the World Ocean or global ocean. This concept of a global ocean as a continuous body of water with relatively free interchange among its parts is of fundamental importance to oceanography.
The major oceanic divisions are defined in part by the continents, various archipelagos, and other criteria: these divisions are (in descending order of size) the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the Southern Ocean Arctic Ocean (which is sometimes considered a sea of the Atlantic). The Pacific and Atlantic may be further subdivided by the equator into northerly and southerly portions. Smaller regions of the oceans are called seas, gulfs, bays and other names. There are also salt lakes, which are smaller bodies of landlocked saltwater that are not interconnected with the World Ocean. Two notable examples of salt lakes are the Aral Sea and the Great Salt Lake.
Lakes
A lake (from Latin lacus) is a terrain feature (or physical feature), a body of liquid on the surface of a world that is localized to the bottom of basin (another type of landform or terrain feature; that is, it is not global) and moves slowly if it moves at all. On Earth, a body of water is considered a lake when it is inland, not part of the ocean, is larger and deeper than a pond, and is fed by a river. The only world other than Earth known to harbor lakes is Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, which has lakes of ethane, most likely mixed with methane. It is not known if Titan’s lakes are fed by rivers, though Titan’s surface is carved by numerous river beds. Natural lakes on Earth are generally found in mountainous areas, rift zones, and areas with ongoing or recent glaciation. Other lakes are found in endorheic basins or along the courses of mature rivers. In some parts of the world, there are many lakes because of chaotic drainage patterns left over from the last Ice Age. All lakes are temporary over geologic time scales, as they will slowly fill in with sediments or spill out of the basin containing them.
Rivers
A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing toward an ocean, a lake, a sea or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including stream, creek, brook, rivulet, and rill; there is no general rule that defines what can be called a river. Many names for small rivers are specific to geographic location; one example is Burn but this is not always the case, due to vagueness in the language. A river is part of the hydrological cycle. Water within a river is generally collected from precipitation through surface runoff, groundwater recharge, springs, and the release of stored water in natural ice and snow packs (i.e., from glaciers).
Plants And Animals
The distinction between plant and animal life is not sharply drawn, with some categories of life that stand between or across the two. Originally Aristotle divided all living things between plants, which generally do not move, and animals. In Linnaeus’ system, these became the kingdoms Vegetabilia (later Plantae) and Animalia. Since then, it has become clear that the Plantae as originally defined included several unrelated groups, and the fungi and several groups of algae and some classifications use the term bacterial flora separately from plant flora.
Among the many ways of classifying plants are by regional floras, which, depending on the purpose of study, can also include fossil flora, remnants of plant life from a previous era. People in many regions and countries take great pride in their individual arrays of characteristic flora, which can vary widely across the globe due to differences in climate and terrain.
Regional floras commonly are divided into categories such as native flora and agricultural and garden flora, the lastly mentioned of which are intentionally grown and cultivated. Some types of “native flora” actually have been introduced centuries ago by people migrating from one region or continent to another, and become an integral part of the native, or natural flora of the place to which they were introduced. This is an example of how human interaction with nature can blur the boundary of what is considered nature.
Another category of plant has historically been carved out for weeds. Though the term has fallen into disfavor among botanists as a formal way to categorize “useless” plants, the informal use of the word “weeds” to describe those plants that are deemed worthy of elimination is illustrative of the general tendency of people and societies to seek to alter or shape the course of nature. Similarly, animals are often categorized in ways such as domestic, farm animals, wild animals, pests, etc. according to their relationship to human life.
Animals as a category have several characteristics that generally set them apart from other living things, though not traced by scientists to having legs or wings instead of roots and leaves. Animals are eukaryotic and usually multicellular (although see Myxozoa), which separates them from bacteria, archaea and most protists. They are heterotrophic, generally digesting food in an internal chamber, which separates them from plants and algae. They are also distinguished from plants, algae, and fungi by lacking cell walls.
With a few exceptions, most notably the sponges (Phylum Porifera), animals have bodies differentiated into separate tissues. These include muscles, which are able to contract and control locomotion, and a nervous system, which sends and processes signals. There is also typically an internal digestive chamber. The eukaryotic cells possessed by all animals are surrounded by a characteristic extracellular matrix composed of collagen and elastic glycoproteins. This may be calcified to form structures like shells, bones, and spicules, a framework upon which cells can move about and be reorganized during development and maturation, and which supports the complex anatomy required for mobility.
Shorebirds such as Plovers, Sandpipers, Gulls and Terns (Order Charadriiformes)
Cuckoos, Roadrunners Order: Cuculiformes
Nighthawks Order Caprimulgiformes
Doves and Pigeons (Order Columbiformes)
Owls (Order Strigiformes)
Swifts, Hummingbirds (Order Apodiformes)
Kingflisher (Order Coraciiformes)
Woodpeckers (Order Piciformes)
Everything else (Order Passeriformes)
Almost one-half of North American species fit into the Passeriformes order, the perching birds. Passerines (sparrows, finches, cardinals, jays, crows, warblers and more), as they are collectively known, are the most common birds seen in residential areas and backyard feeders.
With the exception of Loons, Albatross and Nighthawks, the links in the box on the right point to pictorial essays covering all the different types of birds found in the United States. The pictures of birds link leads to a complete list of about 150 different birds.
Tigers have been classified by scientists into eight subspecies: Indian (or Bengal), Indo-Chinese, Sumatran, Amur (or Siberian), South China, Caspian (extinct), Java (extinct), and Bali (extinct).
There are probably fewer than 500 Sumatran tigers on the island of Sumatra. The roar of a tiger can be heard more than a mile away.
Bengal White Tigers
White tiger’s Fact fileThe scientific name for white tigers: Panthera Tigers
Panthera tigers are born to Bengal tigers that carry an unusual gene needed for white coloring. The White Tiger is a good swimmer, but a very poor climber.
They may be slow runners, but they are stealthy enough to catch any prey in their sights. Because they are solitary animals, they mostly hunt at night.
The other four sub-species of tiger are Siberian, South China, Indochinese, and Sumataran. There are only approximately 5,000 to 7,400 tigers left in the wild.
It is belief that if you are born in the Chinese year of the tiger you are unusually lucky. Let’s hope that some of this luck rubs off on the white tiger before it’s too late. Let’s try to protect and preserve their existence on earth.
The difference between alligators and crocodiles are :
Crocodiles and alligators are quite different. Alligators have a very broad, wide snout, and crocodiles have a narrower snout and jaw. Also crocodiles often have a lower tooth that juts out noticeably, while an alligator’s fourth tooth is hidden.
Where do they live?
Crocodiles are a cold-blooded species, and require an average temperature of approximately 80 degrees Fahrenheit to survive. This being the case, they are found on warmer continents that have swampy or humid conditions for at least part of the season.
The American alligator lives almost exclusively in the lower southeast regions of North America, from the Carolinas to Texas. The caiman, a smaller species of crocodiles, populate a large section of southern Mexico, Central and South America. The Chinese alligator lives in the lower Yangtze valley in China. The American crocodile is scattered throughout the Everglades and Florida Keys, and in Mexico and Central America. The African Nile crocodile is one of the most notorious, often growing as large as 16 to 20 feet in length. Southeast Asia has the Indo-Pacific crocodile, which lives in Indonesia, to the Philippines, and Australia.
What and How Do They Eat
Crocodiles are pure carnivores and ambush their prey by stealth. They swim either under water or skim quietly along the top of the water until they are within striking range, when they then explode upon the prey, grabbing it in their massive jaws and dragging it under water to drown. What they eat depends upon the species and where they are located. A crocodiles diet can consist of fish, turtles, rodents, birds, both small and large mammals, other reptiles and insects or young or immature crocodiles or alligators. Also, many species can exist on one large meal for over six months to a year. They store their food energy in fat cells, and draw from these in-between meals. Crocodiles will often “roll” with large prey to rip off chunks of flesh, before swallowing.
Appearance and Traits
All crocodiles have webbed feet, which are a defined mark to their life in water. They also have very tough, or armored skin, which is actually an overlapped set of scales. These scales help to protect the salt-water crocodiles and alligators from the harsh salinity of the sea. The eyes and nostrils are set up high on the head and snout to allow it to keep its main body submerged while still being able to breathe and view their surroundings with ease. Crocodiles have a vertical pupil that allows them to hunt effectively at night.
Crocodiles have an excellent sense of smell and hearing. Their jaws are enormously powerful, but only on the downward bite, which give the croc that infamous “snap,” like a spring-loaded hinge. Their teeth continue to grow their entire life. If they lose or break one off, another will soon grow to replace it. They also “shed” their teeth periodically, whether or not there’s been damage.
Their broad, heavily muscled tail assists them in swimming smoothly and quickly. Even though they have short legs, they can move surprisingly fast on dry land. Alligators and crocodiles can live up to fifty years of age on average.
Like snakes, crocodiles lay eggs. Some species build nests of debris and earth, while others excavate holes for their offspring. All species lay their eggs on land, near water but well above the water line. The eggs hatch anywhere from two to three months after being layed. Although the mother may lay as may as fifty eggs, few of the baby crocodiles will survive to adult hood. They are prey for many other animals, from birds to fish.
Crocodile Death Roll
When crocodiles catch their meal or in a fight on land or in water. They roll them selves and helps them to kill the prey or enemy. Go to http://www.youtube.com and type untamed and uncut-crocodile death roll.
It was around 6th or 7th of august we went to Jeya Book Shop, and a hell lot of exercise books. once we bought them and was on our way home, when my father had to stop because there was a truck going pass, so my father kept his foot down. And then a car came and ran over his foot! my father was in pain. And he stopped his motorbike. And yelled at him to stop the car. He called the police. And that driver wasn’t even bothered to say sorry. But when my father saw me bored he justed asked the driver’ are you a tamil?’he said yes. and my father let him go. And my father and I arrived home and told everything. My brother didn’t even believe it. I sat down on the floor and started wrapping all the books with my brown paper cover.
That wasn’t a exciting day when my father’s foot was trampled. But it was an exciting day when i bought and wrapped the books.
Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. They include for example Moose, Red Deer, Reindeer, Roe and Chital. Animals from related families within the order Artiodactyla (even-toed ungulates) are often also considered to be deer – these include muntjac and water deer. Male (and a few female) deer of all species (except the Chinese Water deer who only have short tusks instead) grow and shed new antlers each year – in this they differ from permanently horned animals such as antelope – these are in the same order as deer and may bear a superficial resemblance. The musk deer of Asia and Water Chevrotain (or Mouse Deer) of tropical African and Asian forests are not usually regarded as true deer and form their own families.
I want you to see these two clips about deer. Enjoy!
Sharks are a type of fish with a full cartilaginous skeleton and a highly streamlined body. They respire with the use of five to seven gill slits. Sharks have a covering of dermal denticles that protect their skin from damage and parasites and improve fluid dynamics so the shark can move faster. They have several sets of replaceable teeth. The earliest known sharks date from more than 420 million years ago, before the time of the dinosaurs.
Intelligence
Contrary to the common wisdom that sharks are instinct-driven “eating machines”, recent studies have indicated that many species possess powerful problem-solving skills, social skills and curiosity. The brain- to body-mass ratios of sharks are similar to mammals and other higher vertebrate species.
In 1987, near Smitswinkle Bay, South Africa, a group of up to seven great white sharks worked together to move a partially beached dead whale to deeper waters to feed.
Sharks can engage in playful activities. Porbeagle sharks have been seen repeatedly rolling in kelp and chasing an individual who trailed a piece of kelp behind it.
Speed
In general, sharks swim (”cruise”) at an average speed of 8 kilometers per hour (5.0 mph) but when feeding or attacking, the average shark can reach speeds upwards of 19 kilometers per hour (12 mph). The shortfin mako may range upwards of 50 kilometers per hour (31 mph). The shortfin mako shark is the fastest shark and one of the fastest fish. The great white shark is also capable of bursts of speed. These exceptions may be due to the “warm-blooded”, or homeothermic, nature of these sharks’ physiology.
Sleep
Some sharks can lie on the bottom while actively pumping water over their gills, but their eyes remain open and actively follow divers. When a shark is resting, it does not use its nares, but rather its spiracles. If a shark tried to use its nares while resting on the ocean floor, it would be sucking up sand rather than water. Many scientists believe this is one of the reasons sharks have spiracles. The spiny dogfish’s spinal cord rather than its brain, coordinates swimming, so it is possible for spiny dogfish to continue to swim while sleeping.
It is also possible that sharks sleep in a manner similar to dolphins, one cerebral hemisphere at a time, thus maintaining some consciousness and cerebral activity at all times.
Teeth
The teeth of sharks are embedded in the gums rather than directly fixed to the jaw, and are constantly replaced throughout the shark’s life. Multiple rows of replacement teeth are grown in a groove on the inside of the jaw and moved forward in a “conveyor belt”; some sharks can lose some 30,000 teeth in their lifetime. The rate of tooth replacement varies from once every 8–10 days to several months. In most species teeth are replaced one at a time, while in the cookie-cutter sharks the entire row of teeth is replaced simultaneously.
The shape of a shark’s tooth depends on its diet: those that feed on mollusks and crustaceans have dense flattened teeth for crushing, those that feed on fish have needle-like teeth for gripping, and those that feed on larger prey such as mammals have pointed lower teeth for gripping and triangular upper teeth with serrated edges for cutting. The teeth of plankton-feeders such as the basking shark are greatly reduced and non-functional.
Types of Sharks
Types of shark teeth
Some sharks can lie on the bottom while actively pumping water over their gills, but their eyes remain open and actively follow divers.[44] When a shark is resting, it does not use its nares, but rather its spiracles. If a shark tried to use its nares while resting on the ocean floor, it would be sucking up sand rather than water. Many scientists believe this is one of the reasons sharks have spiracles. The spiny dogfish’s spinal cord rather than its brain, coordinates swimming, so it is possible for spiny dogfish to continue to swim while sleeping.[44]
It is also possible that sharks sleep in a manner similar to dolphins,[44] one cerebral hemisphere at a time, thus maintaining some consciousness and cerebral activity at all times.
There are different kinds of trees all over the world. And some people deforest them to build more buildings and to harvest. Deforestation has a lot of disadvantages …. First of all the oxygen will be gone if more and more trees are cut. Secondly animals will loose their homes and food and will eventually die! Even if you cut two or three trees replace them by planting a sapling.
Trees help human beings and animals. So why destroy them?
The first thing that should be not allowed is to harm animals. I have heard and watched many videos of sharks, I see some people adore them, while some capture them and cut of their fins just for decoration of food. And the shark how ever dies because it has no fins to swim.
The people who adore sharks. But if you adore them too much, They give kisses to them in the belly and mouth. This is what i saw. A Couple of divers went underwater and touched them and kissed them. But one man went too close and the shark bit his mouth it took like about a lot of stitches to bring his mouth together.
Here is the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgGApgrZGzA
Don’t get freaked out!
And one more thing to mention. If a animal is in trouble. It would be very good if you save them.
There are lot of videos where people saved them. The quickest videos that can be loaded faster is YouTube
Just go to http://www.youtube.com and type untamed and uncut. There will be awesome videos!
Enjoy!
