Galapagos Giant Tortoise |
The Galapagos giant tortoise is the largest tortoise in the world. They live in the Galapagos Islands and their population is about 15,000. the males weight can be anywhere between 115 pounds to 600 pounds, the females are smaller. They are endangered because of hunting, poisoning, and the decline of their prey. |
Black Rhinoceros |
The black rhinoceros weighs about 2,000 to 3,000 pounds and their shoulder height is about 60 to 65 inches. The black rhinoceros lives in open, dry scrubs, mountain forests, and thickets in southern and eastern Africa. There are only about 3,000 black rhinoceroses still alive today due to hunting. |
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Humpback Whale |
Humpback whales are found in all the oceans of the world. It is estimated that only 3,000 to 5,000 are still alive today. They have black bodies with white on their underside. Humpback whales can grow to be 50 feet and have slim flippers that are almost 1\3 of the length of the whales body. The humpback whale is a baleen whale but it has been known to eat small fish. |
Bald Eagle |
Bald eagles aren't really bald, their head feathers are just white. The bald eagle is the United States national symbol. The bald eagle is a member of the group of sea eagles. The bald eagle used to be common but can now only be found in parts of North America where there are rivers, lakes, or a sea coast, where it can nest without being interrupted. The length of the bald eagle is about 35 inches and the wingspan is from 6 to 8 feet long. |
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Giant Panda |
The giant panda is about 4 to 5 feet long from its nose to its end. They have a thick white coat and black fur on its ears and legs. They also have black eye patches and a black band across its shoulders. Adult giant pandas weigh about 165 to 350 pounds. They usually live by themselves in bamboo forests. The giant panda eats mostly bamboo shoots and roots. But since they sometimes eat small animals they are classified as carnivores. |
Gray Wolf |
The gray wolf also called timber wolf, belongs to the dog family Canidae which includes the jackals and the coyote. The gray wolf is the largest of the dog family. It is one of only two wolves alive today. Because of hunting and habitat destruction the gray wolf was once one of the most widespread mammals outside of the tropics. Now, they are found in big numbers only in a few places in Europe, Asia, and North America. Wolves can eat small animals, large animals, or dead carcasses and plant life. they hunt in packs of up to 30 animals and range all over their territory. Their territory may stretch from 40 to over 400 square miles. |
Bottle-Nose Dolphin |
The bottle-nose dolphin, whose scientific name is Tursiops Truncatus,has been studied the most because of its ability to adapt to salt-water tanks. It takes part in acrobatic shows and has a curiosity towards humans. Bottle-nose dolphins have that name because of their long beaks. They are found in all the oceans of the world. |
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Snow Leopard |
The snow leopard, also called the ounce, has a thick coat to protect them from the harsh winters and hair grows on their feet to help them walk on the rocks and snow. The snow leopard lives in the mountians. The mating season of the snow leopard is in late winter and early spring. 90 to 100 days after mating two or three cubs are born. The adult snow leopard weighs between 60 and 120 pounds and is about 39 to 51 inches from the nose to the tail. |
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American Bison |
The bison was once among the most common animals in North America. By the mid 1880's they were killed for sport, their hides, and part of the military's plan to supress the indians. They weigh from 700 pounds to 2200 pounds and their length is from 84 in. to 144 in. They graze on the plains and grasslands even though they used to live in the forest before they were endangered. There are no wild American Bison. They all live in both public and private parks such as Yellowstone Park and Wood Buffalo Park. |
Blue Whale |
The blue whale is the largest animal that has ever lived. They reach up to 100 feet long and weigh over 150 tons. Their colors are blue-gray speckled and white skin. They also have a very large, strong tail and relatively small flippers. The way a blue whale eats, is it strains it's food through their baleen. The blue whale has two blowholes and a 2-14 inch layer of blubber. They have a small scythe shaped dorsal fin. They have 50-70 throat grooves that go from the throat to the mid-body. They live by themselves or in small pods(groups). They often swim in pairs. Blue whales usually live for about 30-40 years. |
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Asian Elephant |
Asian Elephants weigh up to 11,500 pounds and are about 8.5 feet at its shoulders. The live in dense forests and thorn-scrub in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, southern China, Malaysia, Sumatra, and Borneo. There are only two kinds of elephants left, the Asian elephant and the African elephant, both endangered animals. One adult Asian elephant can eat up to 330 pounds of grasses, roots, leaves, and bark each day. They used to live in forest areas but they were all cut down to make farms and villages. |
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Cheetah |
Cheetahs weigh from 77-159 pounds and is about 47-59 inches at their shoulders. They live in grass and bush steppes, thick woodland areas and mountainous places in northern Iran and south of the Sahara in Africa. There are only about 5,000 to 25,000 cheetahs all over the world. Even though spotted cat fur has been ban since 1975, still poachers hunt cheetahs. |
Manatee |
Manatees live for about 60 years and grow to be about 15 feet and weigh about 3,500 pounds. They are almost hairless, thick skinned mammals with a wide tail. Their flippers which they use to push seaweed into their mouths, are very weak. |
American Crocodile |
The American crocodile is about 12 to 15 feet long and lives in fresh and briny water in central Mexico to northwestern South America, Florida, Cuba, Jamaca, and Hispaniola. The American crocodile is one of 17 out of the 22 crocodiles that are in danger. The female crocodile may help their young to hatch by cracking the shells of the eggs in their mouths. The American crocodile is endangered because its habitat is being destroyed and they are being hunted illegally for their hides. Young crocodiles have to survive from predators like raccoons, birds, crabs, and some adult crocodiles. When they're about 2 years old they are big enough to scare off predators. |
African Wild Dog |
The African wild dog is an endangered animal because of the loss of ots habitat, poisoning, and diseases. They weigh from about 23.8 to 30.4 inches at their shoulders. They live in the savanna, grassland, and open woodland in Africa south of the Sahara. There are about 4,000 to 5,000 African wild dogs total. |
Okapi |
The okapi is endangered because of the destruction of their habitat and accidentally trapping them in traps meant for smaller animals. They are about 6 feet in length and they weigh from 440 to 550 pounds. They are about 5 feet at their shoulders. The okapi lives in equatorial forest at altitudes higher than 1,640 feet in Northeastern Zaire. The number of okapis is not known, but the number might be in the tens of thousands. |
Dama Gazelle |
The dama gazelle is an endangered animal because of too much hunting, the change of their habitat, agricultural expansion, and competition from domestic stock. They weigh about 88 to 187 pounds and they are about 48 inches tall. Dama gazelles once lived from the western Sahara to sudan but are now extinct in North Africa. About 2,500 are still living in Sahel countries of Burkina Faso, Mali, Chad, and Niger. |
Steller's Sea Lion |
The Steller's sea lion is an endangered animal because of declining numbers. The reason that their numbers declined is not known. They weigh from about 550 to 2200 pounds and are about 8 to 10 feet long. They live in coastal waters near rocky islands in the Aleutian Islands and the Gulf of Alaska. They live in high latitudes of the North Pacific and the Bering Sea, from California to Japan. There are only about 116,000 Steller's sea lions left on the earth. |
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Gila Monster |
The gila monster is endangered because of habitat loss because of the building of roads and city development. They are about 15 to 23 inches and are the largest lizard that is native to the United States. The population of the gila monster is not known, but it is thought to be small. The gila monster lives in the deserts of Mexico and in the southwestern United States. |
