Australian Shepherd

The Australian Shepherd, commonly known as the Aussie, is a breed of dog that was developed on ranches in the western United States.[2] Despite its name, the breed was not developed in Australia, but rather in the United States where they were seen in the West as early as the 1800s.[3][4][5] The breed rose gradually in popularity with the boom of western riding after World War I. They became known to the general public through rodeos, horse shows, and Disney movies made for television.

For many years, Aussies have been valued by stockmen for their versatility and trainability. They have a similar look to the popular English Shepherd and Border Collie breeds. While they continue to work as stockdogs and compete in herding trials, the breed has earned recognition in other roles due to their trainability and eagerness to please, and are highly regarded for their skills in obedience. Like all working breeds, the Aussie has considerable energy and drive, and usually needs a job to do. It often excels at dog sports such as dog agility, flyball, and frisbee. They are also highly successful search and rescue dogs, disaster dogs, detection dogs, guide, service, and therapy dogs.

Source:Wikipedia

NOTE: PLEASE Use the Older Post and Newer Post buttons just below comment box to navigate between posts.

Bison

Bison are large, even-toed ungulates in the genus Bison within the subfamily Bovinae.

There are two extant and four extinct species recognized. Of the four extinct species, three were North American: Bison antiquus, B. latifrons, and B. occidentalis. The fourth, Bison priscus, ranged across steppe environments from Western Europe, through Central Asia, and onto North America.

There are two surviving species: the American bison, Bison bison, found only in North America, is the most numerous. (Although sometimes referred to as a "buffalo," it is only distantly related to the true buffalo.) The North American species is composed of two subspecies, the plains bison, Bison bison bison, and the wood bison, Bison bison athabascae, which is the namesake of Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada. The European bison Bison bonasus, or wisent is found in Europe and the Caucasus, re-introduced after being extinct in the wild.

While all bison species are usually grouped into their own genus, they are sometimes included in the closely related genus Bos,[1] together with cattle, gaur, kouprey and yaks, with which bison have a limited ability to interbreed.

Source:Wikipedia

NOTE: PLEASE Use the Older Post and Newer Post buttons just below comment box to navigate between posts.

Beluga whale

The beluga whale or white whale (Delphinapterus leucas) is an Arctic and sub-Arctic cetacean. It is one of two members of the family Monodontidae, along with the narwhal, and the only member of the genus Delphinapterus. This marine mammal is commonly referred to simply as the melonhead, beluga or sea canary due to its high-pitched twitter.[3]

It is adapted to life in the Arctic, so has a number of anatomical and physiological characteristics that differentiate it from other cetaceans. Amongst these are its unmistakable all-white colour and the absence of a dorsal fin. It possesses a distinctive protuberance at the front of its head which houses an echolocation organ called the melon, which in this species is large and plastic (deformable). The beluga’s body size is between that of a dolphin’s and a true whale’s, with males growing up to 5.5 m (18 ft) long and weighing up to 1,600 kg (3,500 lb). This whale has a stocky body; it has the greatest percentage of blubber. Its sense of hearing is highly developed and it possesses echolocation, which allows it to move about and find blowholes under sheet ice.

Belugas are gregarious and they form groups of up to 10 animals on average, although during the summer months, they can gather in the hundreds or even thousands in estuaries and shallow coastal areas. They are slow swimmers, but they can dive down to 700 m (2,300 ft) below the surface. They are opportunistic feeders and their diets vary according to their locations and the season. They mainly eat fish, crustaceans and other deep-sea invertebrates.

The majority of belugas live in the arctic and the seas and coasts around North America, Russia and Greenland; their worldwide population is thought to number around 150,000 individuals. They are migratory and the majority of groups spend the winter around the arctic ice cap; but when the sea ice melts in summer, they move to warmer river estuaries and coastal areas. Some populations are sedentary and do not migrate over great distances during the year.

The native peoples of North America and Russia have hunted belugas for many centuries. They were also hunted commercially during the 19th century and part of the 20th century. Whale hunting has been under international control since 1973. Currently, only certain Inuit groups are allowed to carry out subsistence hunting of belugas. Other threats include natural predators (polar bears and killer whales), contamination of rivers, and infectious diseases.

Source:Wikipedia

NOTE: PLEASE Use the Older Post and Newer Post buttons just below comment box to navigate between posts.

Brown Bear

The brown bear (Ursus arctos) is a large bear distributed across much of northern Eurasia and North America. Adult bears generally weigh between 100 and 635 kg (220 and 1,400 lb). Its largest subspecies, the Kodiak bear, rivals the polar bear as the largest member of the bear family[2][3][4] and as the largest land-based predator.[5] There are several recognized subspecies within the brown bear species. In North America, two types of the subspecies Ursus arctos horribilis are generally recognized—the coastal brown bear and the inland grizzly bear; these two types broadly define the range of sizes of all brown bear subspecies. An adult grizzly living inland in Yukon may weigh as little as 80 kg (180 lb), while an adult coastal brown bear in nearby coastal Alaska living on a steady, nutritious diet of spawning salmon may weigh as much as 680 kg (1,500 lb).[3] The exact number of overall brown subspecies remains in debate.

While the brown bear's range has shrunk and it has faced local extinctions, it remains listed as a least concern species by the IUCN with a total population of approximately 200,000. As of 2012, this and the American black bear are the only bear species not classified as threatened by the IUCN. However, the Californian, North African (Atlas bear), and Mexican subspecies were hunted to extinction in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and many of the southern Asian subspecies are highly endangered. The smallest subspecies, the Himalayan brown bear, is critically endangered, occupying only 2% of its former range and threatened by uncontrolled poaching for its parts.[6] The Marsican brown bear in central Italy is believed to have a population of just 30 to 40 bears.

Source:Wikipedia

NOTE: PLEASE Use the Older Post and Newer Post buttons just below comment box to navigate between posts.

Lynx (Cat)

A lynx (/ˈlɪŋks/;[2] plural lynx or lynxes[3]) is any of the four species within the Lynx genus of medium-sized wildcats. The name "lynx" originated in Middle English via Latin from the Greek word "λύγξ",[2] derived from the Indo-European root "leuk-", meaning "light, brightness",[4] in reference to the luminescence of its reflective eyes.[4] There is considerable confusion about the best way to classify felids at present, and some authorities[who?] classify them as part of the genus Felis.

Neither the caracal, sometimes called the Persian lynx or African lynx, nor the jungle cat, called the swamp lynx, is a member of the Lynx genus.

Source:Wikipedia

NOTE: PLEASE Use the Older Post and Newer Post buttons just below comment box to navigate between posts.

Giant panda

The panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca, lit. "black and white cat-foot"),[2] also known as the giant panda to distinguish it from the unrelated red panda, is a bear[3] native to south central China.[1] It is easily recognized by the large, distinctive black patches around its eyes, over the ears, and across its round body. Though it belongs to the order Carnivora, the panda's diet is over 99% bamboo.[4] Pandas in the wild will occasionally eat other grasses, wild tubers, or even meat in the form of birds, rodents or carrion. In captivity, they may receive honey, eggs, fish, yams, shrub leaves, oranges, or bananas along with specially prepared food.[5][6]

The giant panda lives in a few mountain ranges in central China, mainly in Sichuan province, but also in the Shaanxi and Gansu provinces.[7] As a result of farming, deforestation and other development, the panda has been driven out of the lowland areas where it once lived.

The panda is a conservation reliant endangered species.[8] A 2007 report shows 239 pandas living in captivity inside China and another 27 outside the country.[9] Wild population estimates vary; one estimate shows that there are about 1,590 individuals living in the wild,[9] while a 2006 study via DNA analysis estimated that this figure could be as high as 2,000 to 3,000.[10] Some reports also show that the number of pandas in the wild is on the rise.[11][12] However, the IUCN does not believe there is enough certainty yet to reclassify the species from Endangered to Vulnerable.[1]

Source:Wikipedia

NOTE: PLEASE Use the Older Post and Newer Post buttons just below comment box to navigate between posts.

Snow leopard

The snow leopard (Panthera uncia syn. Uncia uncia) is a large cat native to the mountain ranges of Central and South Asia. It is listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species because as of 2003, the size of the global population was estimated at 4,080-6,590 adults, of which fewer than 2,500 individuals may reproduce in the wild.[1]

Snow leopards inhabit alpine and subalpine zones at elevations from 3,000 to 4,500 m (9,800 to 14,800 ft). In the northern range countries, they also occur at lower elevations.[3]

Taxonomically, the snow leopard was classified as Uncia uncia since the early 1930s.[2] Based on genotyping studies, the cat is considered a member of the genus Panthera since 2008.[1][4] Two subspecies have been attributed, but genetic differences between the two have not been settled.[1]

The snow leopard is the National Heritage Animal of Pakistan.[5]

Source:Wikipedia

NOTE: PLEASE Use the Older Post and Newer Post buttons just below comment box to navigate between posts.

Mountain goat

The mountain goat (Oreamnos americanus), also known as the Rocky Mountain goat, is a large-hoofed mammal found only in North America. Despite its vernacular name, it is not a member of Capra, the genus that includes the wild goat, Capra aegagrus, from which the domestic goat is derived. A subalpine to alpine species, it is a sure-footed climber commonly seen on cliffs and ice.

Source:Wikipedia

NOTE: PLEASE Use the Older Post and Newer Post buttons just below comment box to navigate between posts.

Zebra

Zebras (/ˈzɛbrə/ ZEB-rə or /ˈziːbrə/ ZEE-brə)[1] are several species of African equids (horse family) united by their distinctive black and white stripes. Their stripes come in different patterns, unique to each individual. They are generally social animals that live in small harems to large herds. Unlike their closest relatives, horses and donkeys, zebras have never been truly domesticated.

There are three species of zebras: the plains zebra, the Grévy's zebra and the mountain zebra. The plains zebra and the mountain zebra belong to the subgenus Hippotigris, but Grévy's zebra is the sole species of subgenus Dolichohippus. The latter resembles an ass, to which it is closely related, while the former two are more horse-like. All three belong to the genus Equus, along with other living equids.

Source:Wikipedia

NOTE: PLEASE Use the Older Post and Newer Post buttons just below comment box to navigate between posts.

Gorilla

Gorillas constitute the eponymous genus Gorilla, the largest extant genus of primates by physical size. They are ground-dwelling, predominantly herbivorous apes that inhabit the forests of central Africa. The genus is divided into two species and either four or five subspecies. The DNA of gorillas is highly similar to that of a human, from 95–99% depending on what is counted, and they are the next closest living relatives to humans after the chimpanzees (including bonobos).

Gorillas' natural habitats cover tropical or subtropical forests in Africa. Although their range covers a small percentage of Africa, gorillas cover a wide range of elevations. The mountain gorilla inhabits the Albertine Rift montane cloud forests of the Virunga Volcanoes, ranging in altitude from 2,200–4,300 metres (7,200–14,100 ft). Lowland gorillas live in dense forests and lowland swamps and marshes as low as sea level, with western lowland gorillas living in Central West African countries and eastern lowland gorillas living in the Democratic Republic of the Congo near its border with Rwanda.[2]

Source:Wikipedia

NOTE: PLEASE Use the Older Post and Newer Post buttons just below comment box to navigate between posts.