Peregrine Falcon

Peregrin Falcon

Peregrin Falcon

You probably thought the cheetah is the fastest animal in the world. Well the Peregrine falcon can soar to the speed of 242 miles per hour! That’s faster than a race car!

These falcons are carnivores which means that they eat only meat. The Peregrine falcon preys on medium size birds, small reptiles, rodents, or even insects.

The body length of this falcon is about 13 to 23 inches long. Their wingspan is about 29 to 47 inches long. The female sometimes measures 30% longer than the male.

Peregrine falcons have have long pointed wing. The wing color of an adult is usually bluish black with a little bit of grey. The belly and the legs are golden with black spots, and the talons are yellow with black claws. The beek is some times tan or yellow or mixed with a black or grey tip.

You can find the Peregrine in large cities were tons of rodents go to feed on garbage or in coastal areas because of small birds.

Zebra

Have you ever wondered if zebras are black with white stripes, or white with black stripes? Well, the answer is that they are both! What is interesting is that each zebra has a unique stripe pattern. That means that no two look exactly the same.

Zebras are mammals, and members of the horse horse family.  Like wild horses, zebras live in herds which are groups of mammals with hooves.  Because they live in herds, they are very social and work together like a big family.  When the herd senses danger is approaching,  the zebras all run together to try to find safety. They might have stripes to confuse their preditors. A herd of Zebras live together all there life, and sometimes work with other herds.

Zebras are pray to lions, cheetahs, and other carnivores. Zebras sometimes have have plans if they are attacked by a predator.

Zebras’ teeth grow all their life because they graze all day long and wear them down.

 

Orca

Did you know orcas are also called Killer whales? Orcas get the name “Killer Whale” because they are very violent to other animals in the wild. Another native name for an orca is called Blackfish.

Orcas live in pods. Pods are groups of marine mammals of the same species. If another animal that is not a part the pod comes into the pod the males will kill that animal. Orcas can swim 100 miles a day in their pods.

In captivity orcas are kept in 1% of their natural spaces and they are slaves to entertainment. They also die at the age of 25-30 years old.

Female orcas can live up to 100 years old while the males live to 50 years.

Orcas dorsal fins can be up to 6 and a half feet tall!

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Beaver

Have you ever herd the term ” Busy as a Beaver”? Well beavers are busy through most of the adulthood life. There are 2 types of beavers, found in forests of North America, Europe, and Asia.

Beavers build domelike homes out of sticks and mud. They are often made in the middle of ponds. The home can only be reached by an underwater entrance. The home can fit up to a family of 6 beavers!

Beavers have flat leathery tails to help them swim up to 5 miles per hour. They can stay underwater for 15 minutes with one breath. Their fur is dark brown and waterproof.

 

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Tiger

 

The tiger is the biggest cat in the world. They love to swim, unlike most cats.  They grow thick, long, reddish, orange coats with black stripes, and white underbellies. There were once 9 species of tigers: Bengal, Siberian, Indochinese, South Chinese, Sumatran, Malayan, Javan, Caspian, and Bali. Sadly, the last three of these tigers are now extinct. Tigers are very rare. There are about 4,500 living in the wild! That may seem a lot but it is not.

Tigers mainly eat ambar deer , wild pigs, water buffalo, and antelope. As you can see tigers are carnivores.

Tigers can be white or orange. White tigers live in snowy biomes, and the orange tigers live in forests and other biomes.

Tigers are my favorite animal because they are pretty and strong.

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Cheetah

Did you know a cheetah can run 70 miles per hour? That’s how fast we go on the freeway. When a cheetah is chasing it’s prey, it runs half it’s normal speed. When it runs, it has it’s tail up to help them keep balance and only one paw hits the ground at a time

Cheetahs are carnivores, which means they eat only meat. Cheetahs eat gazel, zebra and more. Cheetahs can carry their prey all the way up a tree.

To tell a cheetah and leopard apart, the cheetah has spots and leopards have a flower like pattern.

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Bottlenose Dolphins

This post is for my big brother, Decker. He loves dolphins!

You probably guessed that Bottlenose Dolphins got their name because of the shape of their beak, but did you know that they can’t smell? Nope. But they make up for that
because they have great eyesight and hearing skills!

Bottlenose Dolphins can make there own music by the sounds they make. They send messages in many ways. Using clicks and whistles, they can alert each other if they smell danger or if fish are swimming by.

Bottlenose dolphins use echolocation to find food and other things, just like bats! First, they make a high-pitched sound. Next, that sound travels through the water and hits it’s target. Then the sound returns to the dolphin like an echo. This echo tells the dolphin how far away something is, how big it is, and how fast it is moving. Their great hearing helps! Some scientists think that the sounds travel through their jaws and into their inner ear.

Dolphins are mammals like us, so that means that they have to breath air. They breath through their blowholes, and these blowholes open and close to let air in and keep water out.

Manatee

Manatee sea cow cristal river florida
© NICOLAS LARENTO – Fotolia.com

Two weekends ago, my friends Trey, Victoria, Brooklyn, and I put up a lemonade stand. We wanted to raise enough money to adopt a Manatee from the Save the Manatee Club, because Manatees are endangered. My brother helped us by making colorful signs that said “Save the Manatees.”  When we were done, we had raised $24. My mom gave us an extra dollar so we would have enough money to adopt a Manatee named Whiskers.

Did you know that manatee’s closest relative is the elephant?  They can grow 13′ long and can weigh up to 1,300 pounds?  They are pretty big, and they are good swimmers. They swim about 5 miles per hour. They swim by flapping their tails up and down, and steer with their stretchy flippers. If they’re in really shallow water, they use their front flippers to walk on while they eat sea plants and grasses. Because they are so slow, and like warm, shallow water, Manatees often get hurt by boat propellers when the drivers don’t see them.

Manatees are sea mammals like whales and dolphins. They live in water, and go to the surface to breathe air. They can stay underwater for up to 15 minutes, if they are resting.

A long time ago, people used to hunt Manatees for their meat, skin, and oil. Today, there are laws to protect them. If you would like to adopt a Manatee, or learn even more about them, you can go to www.SaveTheManatee.org.

Giraffe

This post is for Victoria who loves animals, especially giraffes.

Giraffe couple in love
© Martinan – Fotolia.com

Did you know that the giraffe is the tallest animal in the world? They can grow up to 18 feet high! Their long legs and neck help them eat leaves from tall trees. Their favorite food is the thorny leaves of an acacia tree.

The predators giraffes have to look out for the most are lions. If a giraffe senses danger he or she sends a signal to the rest of the herd. Then they all take off running at up to 35 miles per hour! If a lion tries to catch a baby giraffe, and the mom sees this, she will get ready for a fight with the lion! Her strong legs could kick and kill a lion. When they are fully grown, most lions won’t mess with giraffes.

Coyote

This is for my friend’s mom, Miss Shari.

Coyote howling in winter..Photographed in Northern Minnesota
© outdoorsman – Fotolia.com

Did you know that coyotes live all over the United States? This might be really hard to believe but coyotes even live in big cities like Los Angeles and Dallas, Texas.

Coyotes can have up to twelve pups. Coyote pups are born in spring, and when their mom thinks they’re ready, they come out of their den to play and learn. To teach their pups to hunt, a mother coyote catches a mouse very carefully, then she lets the pups chase after them until they catch one.

Coyotes are very good tricksters.  Sometimes they jump around like goofs while birds watch. Then his or her partner will catch them for diner.  That’s a good hunting trick.

In the hills by my house, where my family and I like to run and hike, there are a lot of coyotes. My school’s mascot is even a coyote.

Gray Wolves

Gray wolves
© outdoorsman – Fotolia.com

My friend Aedan wanted to learn about Wolves.

Did you know that wolves howl to send a messages to other wolves? They might howl to warn that there are other wolves in their territory. Howling skills are very important to a pack, because if a wolf is lost from the pack the other wolves can send him a signal to find his way back home. They also communicate by whimpering, whining, growling, barking, and yelping.

When a wolf wants to play, it dances around happily. Playing might look a lot like fighting, but you can tell playing and fighting apart because fighting has growling and yelping, but playing has jumping on  each other.

Wolves and dogs are closely related.

Roadrunner

Roadrunner
© Albert – Fotolia.com

Did you know that roadrunners can run up to 17 miles per hour? It is the State Bird of New Mexico.

Roadrunners don’t fly very often. They fly close to the ground when they are going down hill or sense that a predator is near,  but they can only stay off the ground for a few seconds at a time.

Roadrunners mostly eat scorpions, lizards, insects, rodents, snakes, and other birds. They do eat plants in the winter when there aren’t a lot of animals around. One of the coolest roadrunner facts is that they hunt, kill, and eat rattlesnakes! They hunt by using their wings like a bullfighter uses his red cape. Then the roadrunner grabs the rattlesnakes tail and whips it around and around, hitting it on the ground until it’s dead.

To make a nest, roadrunners use sticks and twigs. Usually females want to have it in small trees and bushes where she lays 2-12 eggs.  The eggs hatch between 18-20 days. The roadrunners that hatch last are called runts, and sometimes the parents eat them.