Polar Bears

Polar Bears

Fact File 

Species: Bear

Latin name: Ursus timusmari

Meaning: maritime bear

Diet: Carnivore

Habitats: Arctic sea ice

Population: 20,000 to 25,000 (2008)

Appearance

Polar Bears have large bodies and long necks.

The Polar Bear is the largest of the bear species.
Males are about 2.6 m from head to tail. and females are about 2 m.
Males weigh about 408 kilos and females about 226 kilos .
A male Polar Bear standing on its back legs may be 3 m tall.
Their ears are small, round and close to their head.
 They have powerful heads and strong teeth.
 Their fur is white, so they blend in with the  snow around them.
They have black eyes, nose and mouth and black skin under their fur.
Their front paws are large and slightly webbed for swimming.

Habitat 

Polar bears live on the arctic sea ice that provides a platform from which they can hunt, breed, and in some cases create dens. Five nations have polar bear populations: the United States (Alaska), Canada, Russia, Greenland, and Norway.

Diet

Polar bears are carnivorous. The polar bear's body needs large amounts of seal fat; they are the most carnivorous member of the bear family. Food can be hard to find for polar bears for much of the year. The bear puts on most of its fat reserves between late April and mid-July to maintain its weight in the lean seasons. Polar bears hunt seals by waiting for them to come to the surface of sea ice to breathe. When the seal nears the surface, the polar bear will bite or grab the seal and pull it onto land to feed. 

 Polar Cubs

Polar bear baby cubs are born inside the den in November, December or January. A litter will usually consist of two polar bear baby cubs, but giving birth to one single cub is also quite common. Female polar bears will normally give birth once every three years, but it is not uncommon for a female to give birth every second year. The newborn polar bear baby cubs are approximately 30 centimetres long and will weigh 454 to 680 g.

Abilities 

Even though the water is icy, polar bears are very good swimmers. Healthy adult polar bears can swim for several days without stopping. They swim from the mainland to large, floating ice islands that have broken away. 
Although polar bears are masters of still hunting, they can reach speeds of 25 mph for short bursts. 

Threats

Climate change  

The ice is melting and sooner or later the polar bears won't have anywhere to live.

PoisoningPolar bears can eat oil through grooming and through eating prey that has been contaminated.

Poaching
People used to hunt the polar bears for warmth and food when they needed it. In Russia the people used to hunt them for food. Now people believe they are doing it for money. Polar bears skins sell for about 1000$ to 3000$.  The natives only hunt about 50 bears a year. The natives are the only people in the US  that are aloud to hunt the polar bears. 

Fun Facts

Q: What to polar bears eat for lunch?

 A: Ice berg-ers! 

Q: What did the polar bear say when it saw the igloo?    

A: "Oooo! I LOVE these things! Crunchy on the outside - with a nice chewy center!"

International Polar Bear Day takes place every year on February 27^th.

Bye and thanks for reading!!!!

Tigers

Tigers

Fact file

Species: Cats

Latin name:  Panthera tigris

Meaning:  large feline of forests in most of Asia 

having a tawny coat with black stripes

Diet: Carnivore

Habitats: Asia

Population: 3,200 individuals (20th century)

Appearance

The Tiger has a long body and a firm head with a short muzzle that contains a set of sharp teeth.  A well fed tiger is bulky, broad in the shoulders, back, and loins. Males are generally longer and heavier than females. The average length for males is about 2 meters long and with a tail length of 1 meter long. Females are usually 15 to 30 cm shorter in body length. A tiger's fur color can be from orange-red to yellow, with a lot of black stripes that have different sizes.  The back of the ear is black with a white spot in the center.

Habitat

Most Tigers live throughout Southeast Asia, China, Korea and Russia. Tigers like to live in swamps, grasslands, and rain forests. Usually where Tigers live there are trees, bushes, and tall grass. It shades the Tiger from the sun when it's extremely hot. Not only does this protect them from the sun, it also helps them to camouflage with their surroundings and surprise their prey. Unlike other cats, tigers love the water and are very sensitive to heat. Tigers are very powerful swimmers. Most tigers will soak in water usually after a kill.

Diet

Tigers eat a variety of prey ranging in size from termites to elephant calves. They may hunt tapirs, elephant and rhinoceros calves, bears, leopards and Asiatic wild dogs. Tigers mainly use on their sense of sight and hearing rather than smell when hunting. They cautiously stalk their prey from the back in attempt to get as close as possible to their unsuspecting prey. Then they attempt to take down their prey with a powerful bite to the neck. Tigers may eat up to 40 kg of meat at one time. A hungry tiger can eat as much as 27 kilograms in one night, though they usually eat less.

Babies

Female tigers give birth to as many as seven cubs at a time, which are totally dependent on their mothers for a week after birth until they open their eyes. Females will leave their mothers after about eight months while it takes males almost a year to leave their mothers. Tigers can have a litter of up to seven cubs every two years. However, the mother can only hunt for two or three cubs, so she only allows two or three to survive.

Abilities

Tigers are the largest members of the cat family and are renowned for their power and strength.They are powerful nocturnal hunters.Tigers use their distinctive coats as camouflage (no two have exactly the same stripes). They lie in wait and creep close enough to attack their victims with a quick spring and a fatal pounce. 

Threats

Tigers are also facing many threats. They are illegally killed or poached because their body parts are used in traditional Asian medicines and they are also seen as threats to human communities. There is also the reason of large habitat loss. Many organisation such as WWf or Wildlife Alliance help save tigers.You too can help, these are things you should  do:

Spread the word: Go tell others that tigers are dying and that they need our help. 
Be a responsible tourist: The wild is to be experienced and not to be disturbed and polluted.  ‘Don’t leave anything behind except foot steps, and don’t take anything except memories.’
Educate the locals:People living near the forests need to learn about the importance of tigers. They need to be told that if there are no tigers there are no forests.

Fun Stuff

International Tiger Day is on July 29. 

 Q. Why did the tiger loose at poker?     A. Because he was playing with a cheetah 

     Q: What is the fiercest flower in the garden?     A: A tiger lily! 

Bottlenose Dolphin

Bottlenose Dolphin

Fact file

Species: Cetacean
Latin name: Tursiops

Meaning:  A genus of Delphinidae

Diet: Carnivorous

Habitats: Across the world

Habitat

Bottlenose dolphins live in a variety of habitats, including in temperate and tropical waters worldwide.  Distribution is generally limited to surface water temperatures of 10° to 32°C.

Diet

Dolphins are active predators and eat a wide variety of fishes, squids, and crustaceans such as shrimps.  Dolphins use echolocation to navigate and hunt. Dolphin teeth are designed for grasping (not chewing) food. Bottlenose dolphins have 18 to 26 teeth on each side of the upper and lower jaws, a total of 72 to 104 teeth. A tooth's diameter measures about 1 cm.Dolphin teeth are not replaced when lost.

Appearance

In general, bottlenose dolphins are 2 to 3.9 m . Their average weight is 150 to 200 kg.On average, full-grown males are slightly longer than females, and considerably heavier.The bottlenose dolphin's streamlined body, together with its flippers, flukes,and dorsal fin, adapt this mammal for life in an aquatic environment. A dolphin's skin is smooth and feels rubbery, it has no hair.The dolphin's dorsal fin contains no bone, cartilage, or muscle.

Babies

Female dolphins are called cows, males are called bulls and young dolphins are called calves.  Mating season is throughout the year.  Gestation takes 9-17 months depending on the species.  When it is time to give birth, the female will distance herself from the pod, often going near the surface of the water.  There is usually one calf; twins are rare.  As soon as the calf is born, the mother must quickly take it to the surface so it can take its first breath.  The calf will nurse from 11 months to 2 years, and stay with its mother until it is between 3 and 8 years old. Calves are about 100 to 135 cm and weigh 10 to 20 kg.  Calves are darker than adults and have several vertical lines on their sides, a result of fetal folding.

Abilities

Dolphins use a blowhole on top of their heads to breathe.  Dolphins have excellent eyesight and hearing as well as the ability to use echolocation for finding the exact location of objects.  Dolphins communicate with each other by clicking, whistling and other sounds.

Fun Facts

Dolphins live in schools or pods of up to 12 individuals.  Dolphins often have playful attitude which makes them popular among humans.  They can be seen jumping, riding waves, play fighting and occasionally interacting with humans in the water.

Jokes

What did Cinderella Dolphin where to the ball?  Glass flippers! 
Does a dolphin ever do something by accident?  No, they do everything on porpoise!
Source: http://www.jokebuddha.com/Dolphin 

Welcome to Maya's blog!!!!

I'm Maya and I have created this blog write about things I like and help others when they are searching. If you are anything like me than you often have a hard time finding exactly what your looking for. On this blog you will have a variety of things to look at. If it animals, art, new recipes, activities or countries, I will try to make everything as fun as possible!!! 

I really love animals and have 3 cats. Their names are Splodge, Molly and Columbus. I got Splodge from a friend but Molly and Columbus came from an animal welfare society. Splodge is 4 yrs old but Columbus has been with us for 5-6 months and Molly for 4-5 months. 

My awesome (and cute) cats!!!
Molly on the left, Columbus in the middle and Splodge on the right!!