Review and images by Lanthanotus; edited by bmathison1972 Ants are a very common and numerous form of recent insects, and so it is no wonder that there is also a variety of myrmecophagus animals. A lot of them, though by far not all, rely on strong claws and long sticky tongues to get their small …
Review and images by Sirenia; edited by bmathison1972 When you think of domesticated farm animals, one of the first to be thought of is the pig (Sus scrofa domesticus), the delightful omnivore of the farm. There is something quite charming about the pig, maybe because it eats anything like we seem to, hence the expression …
Review and images by Suspsy; edited by bmathison1972 For millions of years, the modern thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus), also known as the marsupial wolf and the Tasmanian tiger, was one of Australia’s apex predators. But thanks to over-hunting, habitat destruction, and sheer callousness on the part of human beings, this magnificent animal has gone the way …
Review and images by Sirenia; edited by bmathison1972 When most think of dangerous animals in Africa, known for killing people, most will think of lions, crocodiles, and hyenas (oh my!). But the animal that actually kills the most people is the common hippopotamus, as they can be very aggressive about their territory. But leave them …
Review and images by stemturtle, edited by bmathison1972 The aye-aye, Daubentonia madagascariensis, is a bizarre lemur, with ears like a bat, continuously growing incisors like a beaver, and a long bony middle finger for extracting grubs from under bark. These are adaptations for percussive foraging, which is to tap on wood, echolocate movement, chew a …
Review and images by Suspsy; edited by bmathison1972 The quagga (†Equus quagga quagga) was a South African subspecies of zebra, immediately recognizable by its unique stripe pattern. During the 19th century, it was hunted relentlessly for its skin and meat, and to eliminate it as competition for domestic animals. Last minute attempts to preserve the …
Review and images by Sirenia; edited by bmathison1972 The African plains has some fantastic animals living across it. Gorillas, elephants, rhinos, and other magnificent large animals. But some of the smaller creatures also garner respect and attention. For me, the one that gains this are the meerkat (Suricata suricatta), small carnivores that live in packs …
Review and images by stemturtle; edited by bmathison1972 The potto, Perodicticus potto, may look like a little bear, but it is a strepsirrhine primate, commonly called a prosimian. The potto is nocturnal and arboreal, moving slowly through the canopy. Its distribution is the tropical rainforests of equatorial Africa, including the Congo region. The main diet …
Images by Takama; additional text by bmathison1972 The alpaca (Vicugna pacos) is classified as a thoroughly domesticated animal. Even though it has its own species-level epithet, it is merely the domestic form of the vicuña (V. vicugna). The alpaca, along with its vicuña predecessor and the related llama and guanaco, is a South American camel …
Review and images by Suspsy; edited by bmathison1972 An inevitable fact of life is that there are very few toys that can withstand rough play, especially from very small children. It was not long after the ATB posted my review of the Wild Safari American bison figure that my little boy dropped (or possibly threw) …