Posts for 'Mammals News' Category

Amniotes are the group of the vertebrates that evolved from early tetrapod amphibians, and developed eggs suited to life in a terrestrial environment. They are believed to have evolved during the early Carboniferous period, perhaps around 340 million years ago. They are subclassified into various groupings based on the design of their skulls (or in some cases the skulls of their ancestors).

* Anapsids are amniotes with solid box-like skulls. Many early reptiles, like Scutosaurus were of this type. Additionally, it is possible, although it is not entirely clear whether turtles fall within this group - they may be anapsids (they have the right skull type), or they may be diapsids (see below) which re-evolved an anapsid-type skull.

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This is a selection of long-haul, expert-escorted Naturetrek wildlife holidays, primarily focusing on mammals, that offer outstanding value for money, being amongst.

The most competitively priced group mammal holidays on the worldwide market. Indeed, they offer prices to many remote and exciting wildlife destinations in Africa.

Asia and both North and South America that cannot be matched, even by independent travel or backpacking. Yet they offer.

The same standard of accommodation (within the context of the area to be visited) as is offered on other commercial wildlife and mammal-watching holidays.

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The United States Navy has a new ally on their side in the war on terror: marine mammals. Does this seem too far fetched for you? Think again. The Navy has teamed up with Navy Marine Mammals in the fight against terrorism. These animals are based out of San Diego and have been trained alert Navy divers to devices and place markers in order to have the divers retrieve and defuse the devices.

Tom LaPuzza, of the Navy Marine Mammals program, said of the benefits of using marine mammals, “Security is of vital importance, and humans are very slow in the water. Sea lions can see five times as well. And dolphins can use their sonar to spot items that would take humans days or weeks to find.

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The bodies of more than 30 animals, including rare white tigers and lions, that died of malnutrition have been found in a mass grave near a Chinese zoo. The discovery comes just weeks after more than a dozen tigers were found to have died of starvation at another Chinese zoo amid suggestions that the administrators wanted to harvest their parts to make expensive – and banned – tiger-bone tonic.

The bones and remains of a quantity of animals could be seen poking through the snow In a three-metre deep pit near the Harbin Northern Forest Zoo, in Heilongjiang province in northeast China, state media reported.

They included two white tigers, five white lions, two leopards and five other big cats that had died in early 2008, zoo staff told a Chinese reporter. Also believed to be buried in the mass grave were two of the zoo’s three Asian elephants and 28 of its 29 endangered great bustards.

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Baltimore, MD - We are happy to announce that the Zoo will open on Saturday, March 13 at 10:00 am for the 2010 season. A Grand Opening Weekend celebration is planned for Saturday and Sunday, March 13 and 14 when all admission prices will be reduced to $5 per person. (Children under two are always free.)

“This has been a pretty tough winter for all of us in Maryland,” said Don Hutchinson, president/CEO of the Zoo. “The Zoo suffered a great deal of damage.

But I am proud of the great work our staff did during the storms and the work they are now doing to clean up the campus and ready the grounds for visitors.”

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Officials at the Metro Toronto Zoo are mourning the loss of a 17-year-old Siberian tiger. Tonghua, who died Sunday was born in Switzerland but spent his last 10 years at the zoo in Scarborough.

Zookeepers could tell his health was declining in recent days. Over the weekend, Tonghua appeared uninterested in rabbit meat, usually one of his favourite meals.

Veterinarians at the zoo sedated him to run tests, but Tonghua never woke up. "He seemed to have a lot of problems — underlying liver problems, [and] an enlarged spleen," Dr. William Rapley, executive directory of biology and Conservation at the zoo, told CBC News on Wednesday.

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Her name is Lola, but, as the song goes, she’s no showgirl. She’s a warthog like Timon’s sidekick Pumbaa in “The Lion King” — ugly tusks and all.

She is a little on the prissy side. She doesn’t like broccoli. And she doesn’t like cold weather, either, so don’t ask her to go out when it’s colder than 45 degrees.

Which means that this bitter January, Lola — like the other African animals at the Kansas City Zoo — has spent a good deal of time inside.

The zoo is open year-round, even when Swope Park looks more like an Antarctic outpost than the middle of Kansas City. But because the lions and hippos and cheetahs and elephants can’t go out in the cold and ice, the zoo reduces admission in the winter.

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What's living in your backyard? There may be more than squirrels, deer, and coyotes. When Bolton resident Janet Pesaturo set out to visit Harvard Conservation land one snowy February morning.

She was hoping to find some fox tracks, or perhaps some evidence of the otter she suspected was living in the wetland habitat.

However, as she made her way across the habitat, she stumbled upon something rather unexpected.

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One of the surfers on lower Eyre Peninsula, Jamie Kidney, says the attack was an incredible sight. "Chaos, you just saw monstrous amounts of white water and then a dolphin would go flying in the air, a killer whale would jump out of the water, grab it and body slam it," he said.

"They were just jumping out the water attacking dolphins and it was just chaos really. "Normally what you see great whites do to seals and that."

Surfer Anton Storey also watched in awe as the whales flipped dolphins into the air. "When the killer whales turned up a whole heap of dolphins started shooting towards the shallows there," he said.

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A panda research center in northwestern China has been closed to visitors as a precaution to protect the endangered species from catching swine flu, state media reported on Tuesday.

It is not known if pandas can catch swine flu, but there have been reports from veterinary and federal officials in the United States of cats and ferrets catching the disease.

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