Iguana

True Wild Life | Iguana | Iguanas are native to the jungles of central and south America, and the Caribbean. The iguana is a large docile species of lizard, meaning that iguanas are often a popular choice when keeping exotic pets. Iguanas have excellent sight allowing the iguana to detect movement from incredibly long distances. The iguana can use this skill to seek out prey and be aware of approaching predators often before the predators has even noticed the iguana.

It is said that the iguana uses visual signals to communicate with other iguanas. The iguanas do this through a series a rapid eye movements that other iguanas are able to pick up on easily due to the excellent sight of the iguana.

Green Iguanas are forest dwelling lizards that live high in the tree canopy of the South American rainforest. Young iguanas get to grips with tree top living by staying in areas lower in the canopies while older mature adult iguanas reside higher up in the tree tops. This tree dwelling habit allows the iguana to bask in the sun, with little need to go down to the forest floor below. The only real exception to this is when the female iguanas must come down from their sky high home in order to dig burrows in which the female iguanas lay their eggs.

Although iguanas tend to prefer the forest environment, iguanas can adjust well to a more open areas. However, wherever the iguanas inhabit, iguanas prefer to have water around them as iguanas are excellent swimmers and will often dive beneath the water to avoid oncoming predators. Although iguanas are classed as omnivores, most iguana individuals in the wild, tend to enjoy a very herbivorous diet, with ripened fruit being one of the iguanas favourite foods along with leafy green plants. Most mature adult iguanas weigh around 4 kg, but it is not uncommon for large, healthy iguanas where food is in good supply, to weigh up to 8 kg and grow to over 2 meters in length.

Due to the natural green and brown colours of the scales of the iguana, iguanas are easily able to make themselves invisible to predators. Iguanas do this well as the iguana blends extremely effectively into the surrounding forest and the iguana will then remain extremely still until the predator has passed. Iguanas will often chose basking spots on those tree branches that hang over water so that if the iguana does feel threated, the iguana can leap from the tree into the water and therefore the iguana can quickly escape oncoming danger.

Quoll

  

True Wild Life | Quoll |The quoll is a medium-sized marsupial, natively found in parts of Australia, Papua New Guinea and Tasmania. The quoll is often known as the native cat, due to the cat-like appearance of the quoll. Quolls are found occupying woodland, shrubland and grassy habitats across Australia and New Guinea. Although quolls have been seen climbing trees, the quoll tends to live life on the ground.

The quoll is a nocturnal animal meaning that it spends the nights hunting and the daytimes hours resting. Unlike many other nocturnal mammals, the quoll enjoys to spend the sunlit days basking in the heat rather than hiding in a crevice or underground.

There are six different species of quoll, found across Papua New guinea and Australia. The Bronze quoll and the New Guinean quoll are natively found on the tropical island of Papua New Guinea. The Western quoll, the Northern quoll and the Tiger quoll are all natively found on the Australian mainland. Although the Eastern quoll was originally found on the Australian mainland, they are more commonly found on the island Tasmania.

Although the quoll is an omnivorous animal, the quoll is has a predominantly meat-based diet. Quoll hunt during the darkness of night, searching for small mammals, birds, small reptiles and insects. The quoll also feasts on nuts, grasses and fruits when they are available. The quoll (particularly the tiger) quoll is an apex predators in it's environment as they are one of the largest species of carnivorous marsupial in the world. The main predators of the quoll are generally human hunters, large snakes and crocodiles.

The quoll is a marsupial, meaning that the female quoll has a pouch on her tummy for her young to develop in. The baby quolls are born after a gestation period of just a few weeks, when they crawl up into the mother's pouch. The baby quolls are nursed in the pouch of the female quoll for about 2 months but are not fully independent until they are nearly 6 months old.

Bobcat

True Wild Life | Bobcat | Bobcats are widespread and adaptable predators across North America. They share the genus Lynx with the Canadian lynx, but they are a separate species with physical differences. Bobcats are usually more heavily spotted than the lynx. They have smaller feet and larger ears. They tend to have a more aggressive temperament and have been known to run the much larger lynx off of food. The bobcat's ears do have small tufts on the end like those of the lynx. Although the bobcat shares many characteristics with the Canadian Lynx, the bobcat is smaller than the lynx at about double the size of a domestic cat.

Bobcats eat mainly birds and rabbits but also eat fish and insects, that the bobcat hunts for at night. The bobcat tends stay in wooded areas and many bobcats are also found in the mountain regions of North America. Bobcats do fairly well in suburban environments and can be seen hunting at dawn and dusk.

The bobcat, like many other feline species, is highly territorial and a very solitary animal, with bobcats only really coming together to breed. Some female bobcat territories do overlap however, but the bobcat individuals mark their roaming grounds using urine and distinctive claw markings on the surrounding rocks and trees. Except at mating time bobcats avoid each other to reduce the liklihood of getting injured in a fight. This would make them unable to hunt and take care of themselves.

The bobcat has been hunted by humans for hundreds of years both for the fur for sport. The bobcat population however, appears to have suffered little and the bobcat has therefore shown itself to be a very resilient species of animal.

The bobcat is thought to have dominated its environment for thousands of years, with the bobcat having roots in Native American folklore and in tales of the first European settlers in the Northern USA and Canada. Bobcats are able to crossbreed with lynx in captivity. Commercial fur producers have done this in order to get the more vivid spotting pattern of the bobcat and the softer, longer, and denser fur and greater size of the lynx. Bobcats can also hybridize with domestic cats if raised with them. Otherwise they would consider them prey.

Lynx

True Wild Life | Lynx | The lynx is a member of the cat family and one of the bigger felines of North America. Lynx are best known for their short stubby tails and the long tufts of black hair on the ears of a lynx. There are three different types of lynx with these being the North America lynx found in Canada and Alaska, the European lynx found in Spain and Portugal and the Asian lynx which is found in Turkestan and central Asia.

The North American lynx is the biggest species of lynx and some of these lynx individuals have extremely thick and fluffy looking fur which keeps the lynx warm in the freezing Canadian winter. The European and Asian lynx species are much smaller in size and have personalities that resemble those of a domestic cat, rather than a large feline.

The lynx tends to inhabit dense shrub and grasslands in the forests of North America and parts of Eurasia. The lynx hunt small mammals, birds and fish, and the lynx are prey to few predators. Although the lynx is a ground mammal, lynx are often known to climb trees or swim in order to catch their prey. Lynx hunt small mammals, birds and fish but prefer to hunt larger mammals like reindeer, deer and elk if the lynx can find and catch them.

The lynx has large paws which help the lynx to balance and also give the lynx more power when pursuing potential meals. The lynx also has extremely acute hearing which allows the lynx to hear oncoming prey and predators over long distances, and the lynx also has a strong jaw and sharp teeth which the lynx uses to bite down on its prey.

Lynx are usually solitary animals and will spend their time both hunting and resting alone, however a small group of lynx may travel and hunt together occasionally. Lynx mating takes place in the late winter and the female lynx will give birth to two to six kittens after a gestation period of about 70 days. Female lynx will usually give birth to a litter a year. The young lynx kittens stay with the mother lynx for around nine months meaning that the lynx kittens will have the mother lynx to watch over them during their first winter. The lynx kittens then move out to live on their own as young adults. It is known that adult lynx will give their young the prey to play with it before they eat it as this thought to develop their hunting skills.

Lynx live in dens in rock crevices or under ledges which gives the lynx a safe place to rest as well as a home for when the lynx kittens arrive and need safely looking after. Lynx do not normally take their kill back to their den, the main exception to this is when the mother lynx is providing for her lynx kittens. Lynx children love to wrestle with each other.

Flying Squirrel

  

True Wild Life | Flying Squirrel | The flying squirrel is a medium-sized rodent, closely related to the squirrels found in woodlands and across grasslands around the world. Flying squirrels tend to be slightly larger in size than the common squirrel. Despite the name, flying squirrels cannot actually fly, although they can be airborne for a remarkable length of time. Instead of flying, flying squirrels move through the air by gliding (normally between the trees), with the longest recorded glide of a flying squirrel being nearly 90 meters.

Flying squirrels have a furry, stretchy membrane that stretches between their front and back legs. When the flying squirrel needs to get away quickly, it opens it's arms and legs out and uses the membrane like a parachute. Flying squirrels also have large eyes, and stubby flattened tails.

There are nearly 50 different species of flying squirrel found in forests around the world. Flying squirrels range in size and colour depending on the species of flying squirrel. The largest species of flying squirrel is the Woolly flying squirrel, which is found in Pakistan and the smallest flying squirrel species is the pygmy flying squirrel, found in the jungles of Borneo and Malaysia.

Flying squirrels are omnivorous animals meaning that their diet is based on both plant and animal matter. The flying squirrel is a nocturnal animal, so it forages for food under the cover of night as flying squirrels are not able to easily escape the birds of prey that hunt during the day. Flying squirrels eat nuts, seeds, fruits, berries, insects and bird eggs. Due to their small size, flying squirrels have numerous natural predators wherever they live in the world. Domestic cats, raccoons, snakes, birds of prey, foxes dogs and coyotes are all primary predators of the flying squirrel.

Flying squirrels are known to breed twice a year, in the early spring and again in the summer. After a gestation period of roughly 40 days, the female flying squirrel gives birth to between 2 and 7 baby flying squirrels, which are blind and naked when they are born. The baby flying squirrels develop fur and open their eyes when they are about a month old. The young flying squirrels begin to glide and forage with their mother when they are roughly 2 months old.

Fur Seal

There are eight different species of fur seal found in the worlds oceans. Only one of these fur seal species is found in the northern hemisphere with the remaining seven species of fur seal found in the southern hemisphere.

Fur seals are much more closely related to sea lions than true seals, and like sea lions the fur seal has external ears (many species of true seal are in fact earless). The fur seal also has relatively long and muscular foreflippers, and fur seals are also able to walk on all fours when the fur seals reach land.

The fur seals most distinctive characteristic is the fur seals thick underfur which helps to keep the fur seal warm in freezing cold waters. The fur seals fur however has made the fur seal a long-time object of commercial hunting by humans.

Fur seals tend to return to specific beaches or rocky alcoves to breed which the fur seals do in the summer months. The fur seal pups are sent into the water as soon as the mother fur seal is finished weaning them in order for the fur seal pups to learn how to hunt.

The fur seal spends most of its time swimming in the open oceans hunting for food. Fur seals feed on fish and plankton but are also prone to hunting squid and eels.

The fur seal is often targeted prey for large aquatic animals such as sharks, killer whales, sea lions and occasionally the larger adult leopard seals.

Proboscis Monkey

The proboscis monkey is a large tree-dwelling primate found exclusively on the island of Borneo in south east Asia. The proboscis monkeys are best known for the long noses of the males, which are thought to be related to mating in order to attract females.

The proboscis monkey has a large protruding belly that is thought to stick out so much due to the proboscis monkeys diet and complex digestion system, which along with the long nose of the males, gives the proboscis monkey very distinctive yet strange characteristics.

A study at the end of the 1980s showed that there were around 250,000 proboscis monkeys in the wild. Today there are thought to be considerably less of the proboscis monkey in the wild due to hunting and deforestation. The proboscis monkey is considered to be an endangered species.

The males proboscis monkey is much larger than the female proboscis monkey, with the male proboscis monkey being about double the weight of the female proboscis monkey. This size difference between gender is thought to be greater than that of any other primate in the world.

The proboscis monkey is a proficient swimmer and appears to spend a large amount of time in the water. Proboscis monkeys are most commonly found inhabiting mangrove swamps and will wade through shallow water and can swim when the water gets too deep.

Proboscis monkey troops consist of the alpha adult male and a number of females, as well as their offspring. It is not uncommon however for both the male and female proboscis monkeys to move between social groups.

The diet of the proboscis monkey consists mainly of leaves, shoots, seeds and unripe fruit. It is known that proboscis monkeys are not too fond of fleshy fruits and the complex nature of the digestive system of the proboscis monkey means that they are unable to digest ripe fruit.

Female proboscis monkeys give birth to one baby proboscis monkey after a gestation period of nearly 6 months. The baby proboscis monkeys are thought to be born with much darker fur, and small noses which grow in size as the baby proboscis monkey gets older. The reddish fur of the adult proboscis monkey is lthought to appear with age.