The rhinoceros family is about 60 million years old. Back then, many types of rhinoceros lived all over the world – in Europe, Asia, and Africa, as well as in North America. Now there are only five species left in the world: the black, the white, the Indian, the Sumatran, and the Javan. All of these rhinoceroses are in danger of extinction, where they live. No on is allowed to kill rhinoceroses for any reason.
The black and white rhinoceroses live in Africa. Once they were found in many parts of Africa, but today they are scarce. Too many have been killed by people. The Indian rhinoceros used to be common all over India. The Sumatran and Javan rhinoceroses are also at risk. There are only about 500 Sumatran rhinoceroses left in all of Malaysia and Indonesia. The last fifty Javan rhinoceroses live on a reserve in Indonesia.
Rhinoceroses are vegetarians. They do not eat other animals, but live on a diet of coarse grass and leaves. There is always plenty for them to eat in the wild, whether they live in the African grasslands or the Indonesian jungle. Rhinoceroses are big, powerful animals. The largest, the Indian rhinoceros, stands six feet high at the shoulder. No other creatures in the wild dare to attack them. Only humans threaten the survival of the rhinoceroses.
Polar bears are very strong swimmers. They can keep up a steady speed of 6 M.P.H. over long distances. Polar bears use their front legs to propel themselves through the water. Their huge front paws make good paddles. The back legs are dragged behind to steer them. Polar bears can make shallow dives underwater and stay there for two minutes. They do not normally dive deeper than six feet.
Polar bear cubs are born in the winter. A female polar bear normally has twin cubs every two or three years. The cubs are only 7 to 12 inches long when they are born, and they weigh under two pounds. Polar bear cubs are born in a den that their mother has dug under the snow. The female and her cubs stay together inside the den for about three months. The cubs feed on their mother’s rich milk.
The polar bears leave the den for the first time in the spring months of March or April. The cubs are now strong and healthy. They weigh about 20 pounds. The mother bear is hungry. She did not eat all the time she was in the den and is half her normal weight. Now the mother bear needs food, and she will teach her cubs to hunt. They love to play in the snow! A year later the cubs are big enough to look after themselves.
Polar bears are curious animals. They often stand up on their hind legs to get a better look or sniff things. They will follow the tracks of snow vehicles for miles. Like all animals, they have to rely on their senses to find food and fend off surprise attacks. Polar bears do not have very good eyesight. Luckily their sense of smell is excellent. Polar bears can smell a tasty seal from far away!
Polar bears hunt alone. Their favorite food is seal meat, and they are especially fond of ringed seals. Polar bears stalk seals quietly and carefully. They crawl after them on their bellies, slipping in and out of the water between ice floes. Polar bears have to attack on land because the seals are much too quick for them in the water. Polar bears only eat part of the seals. They leave the rest for Arctic foxes to eat.
Polar bears are carnivorous, or meat-eating. In the summer months they sometimes eat leaves and berries, but they prefer meat. Polar bears eat about 8 pounds of meat each day. They eat all kinds of seals, fish, and other smaller sea mammals. Polar bears sometimes attack walrus herds. The walruses run to the sea for safety. Any that are left behind become easy prey for the polar bear.
Polar bears are the biggest and most powerful animals in the Arctic pack ice. The fear no other animal. None are larger enough to challenge the polar bear. Polar bears belong to the bear family. They are closely related to brown bears. Polar bears are as comfortable on land as in the water. They spend a lot of time on land and use the sea as a feeding ground.
Polar bears are covered in thick, creamy white fur. This fur keeps them warm and gives them good camouflage in the snowy landscape. An average male polar bear weighs over 1,000 pounds and is around ten feet long. Female polar bears are smaller, about about eight feet long. Some Alaskan polar bears have weighed well over 1,500 pounds.
Polar bears are found only in the Arctic pack ice. When the ice melts in the summer, the bears move north. They return to the southern limits of the pack ice in the winter. Polar bear populations live in five countires: the United States, Canada, Greenland, the Soviet Union, and Norway. The governments of all these countries have forbidden the hunting of polar bears.
Giant pandas spend twelve to fourteen hours a day feeding. They can eat over 25 pounds of bamboo shoots and stems daily. Pandas need vast areas of bamboo forest to provide enough food for them. But the forests are being taken over by farmers, who need the space to grow food for China’s many people. Although trees are being cut for good reason – to make paper and clear the land for farming – it destroys the only places where pandas can live.
There are many varieties of bamboo, but giant pandas in the wild only like to eat three kinds. These are called “walking stick” bamboo, “umbrella” bamboo, and “cold arrow” bamboo. Every few years, these bamboos flower, produce seeds, and then die. It takes many years for the new seed to grow into bamboo big enough for the giant pandas to eat. The “cold arrow” bamboo takes twenty years to grow back.
Giant pandas rarely leave their home territories which are about five square miles. When the bamboo there flowers and dies, the pandas never think about moving to another area to find food. They stay where they are and starve to death. The worst disaster happened in the spring of 1976, when the bamboo flowered and died in parts of China. More than 140 giant pandas died of starvation.
Not everyone knows that there are two kinds of pandas. One is the red panda and the other is the giant panda. The best known kind, loved by everyone is the beautiful black-and-white giant panda. The smaller red panda is quite common, but giant pandas are now very rare. Giant pandas are the national animal of China. They are also the emblem of the World Wildlife Fund, an organization that gives money to projects to save rare animals and plants.
Giant panda used to live in many parts of China. A few lived in the neighboring country of Burma. Scientists guess that only about one thousand giant pandas are now left. They live only in one area of China. Most pandas are found in the province of Sichuan in southwest China, on the edge of the Tibetan plateau. The giant pandas live deep in the mountainous bamboo forests.
Giant pandas were originally meat-eating animals, or carnivores. Pandas are very gentle animals and are not suited to hunting other animals for food. Over the years they have changed their eating habits. They began to eat a bushy plant called bamboo instead. But giant pandas’ bodies, which are made for eating meat, cannot digest the bushy plant properly. Because of this, less than one-fifth of the pandas’ food intake gives them any nourishment. They have to eat enormous amounts of bamboo to get the vitamins they need.
Lions are Africa’s most powerful predators. Heroic size, strength, and speed enable them to conquer even such mighty animals as the rhino and the Cape buffalo, to overtake sprinters as fast as the antelopes. Their only deadly enemy is man. Lions live on grassy plains in groups called “prides,” which may number from five to fifteen, or as many as forty. Prides often occupy one tract of land and will drive off any strange lions that intrude. Within the pride, members are loyal and affectionate, nuzzling and licking each other when they meet. Cubs are born in litters of two or three, and by two years of age only the females are still with the pride. A grown lion may measure 9 feet from nose to tail and weigh about 400 pounds. Females run a foot shorter and 100 pounds lighter. The mane is a male characteristic, but it varies with the individual: some have a great mantle, others a neck ruff, and some no mane at all.
Lions when fed and content are the picture of relaxation. Let others graze and hunt in the heat of the day; the lion prefers to loll those hours away in tall grass or the shade of a tree. But a hungry lion is a different story. Prodded by hunger, it becomes active, bold, determined,m and very much the King of Beasts. Lions will eat almost anything, but prefer animals, like the zebra and wildebeest, that are big enough to feed the pride. Hunting is done at night, and the lioness usually makes the kill, although males will help bring down large animals, like the giraffe and the Cape buffalo. Often the male circles upwind of the prey and then, with a mighty roar, stampedes it into the path of the waiting female. Over a short distance, she can run at a speed of 35 miles per hour, fast enough to keep up with all but the swiftest grazing game. The kill is made by gripping the prey’s throat in a suffocation bite, or by leaping onto its back and clawing its muzzle to turn the head, so that the animal stumbles and falls. Young lions go through a long and arduous training period in learning to hunt. As cubs they are taught to attack game caught and held for them by the lioness. In the first year of life the cubs do plenty of playful mauling and wrestling and learn to use their fangs and claws. At eighteen months they have the size and weight to try bringing down game in the field. It is often a painful lessons, as the biting, kicking victims throw off the awkward student. In time, however, the young lion learns to coordinate his strength, weight, and weapons. When this time comes, nothing in his domain can stand up to him. From then on, he is monarch of all he surveys.
The worlds fastest reptile (measured on land) is the spiny-tailed iguana of Costa Rica. It has been clocked at 21.7 mph!
The worlds largest lizard is the adult male komodo dragon found on the islands of Indonesia. The largest ever recorded was 10 feet 2 inches long and weighed 365 lbs! These lizards can eat animals as large as goats. They cannot chew so they must rip huge chunks of flesh off of their prey and swallow it whole.
The smallest lizard in the world is the rare, tiny gecko of the Virgin Islands. Only 15 specimens have ever been found. They measure 0.70 inches from snout to vent (nose to butt).
The worlds longest snake was a reticulated python that was 32 feet 9 1/2 inches long.
The heaviest snake on record is an Anaconda (Eunectes murinus) that was shot in Brazil in 1960. She was never officially weighed but scientist estimate that her 27 feet 9 inch length and her 44 inch girth must have put her over 500lbs!
The king cobra is the longest venomous snake in the world. The longest specimen ever was kept at the London Zoo and measured 18 feet and 9 inches. Zookeepers killed it in 1939 due to the outbreak of war. They feared it would escape the zoo and pose a threat to the citizens of London.
The worlds most venomous snake is the species of sea snake Hydrophis belcheri. It has a myotoxic venom that is 100 times more powerful than any land snake.
The snake that is responsible for the most deaths of humans is the saw-scaled or carpet viper. It resides from West Africa to India.
The crocodiles are of the oldest living reptiles. Some grow to in excess of 16 feet and can weigh over a ton.
Largest Crocodile….. There are four protected estuarine crocodiles in a wildlife sanctuary in India that measure over 19 feet 8 inches. The largest of the four is 23 feet long!
Smallest Crocodile….. The smallest species of crocodile is the dwarf caiman of South America. Females rarely grow beyond 4 feet and males rarely exceed 5 feet.