Weekly Animal Spotlight 6: Portuguese Man-Of War

The Portuguese man-of war is a beautiful creature that is also very deadly.  It is made of other animals that build up the man of war itself. the animals are called zooids, and they connect to one another to build it up. It lives at the top of the ocean and can deliver a painful sting.  The man-of war has no means of propulsion, so it can only move from wind and ocean currents. A way of helping with a sting is putting salt water on top of the wound, do not use fresh water, it tends to make the affected area worse.

weekly animal spotlight 5: Chinese ring-necked pheasant

Hi guys! this is my very first bird spotlight!

     the Chinese ring-neck pheasant is in the Galliforme (game bird) family.  They live throughout Asia and their scientific name is Phasianus cholchicus. they have a call that sounds a lot like a chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus) call.  there are a wide veriety of forms of male pheasant color.  They have 30 subspecies and some of them are domesticated.  As with many other species of game bird, they are very commonly hunted.  Some of their predators are humans (Homo sapiens), grey foxes (Urycyon cenereoargenteus), and coyotes (Canis latrans).

weekly animal spotlight 4: moose

hi guys!  I'm back with another weekly animal spotlight!

     The moose, is an amazing and beautiful animal from North America and Europe.  they eat most land and aquatic plants, and its scientific name is Alces alces.  They mainly live in decideous and boreal forests. their main predators are grey wolfs (Canis lupus), brown bears (ursus arctos), and humans (Homo sapiens).  Once, some were introduced into New Zealand, and (possibly) went extinct.

weekly animal spotlight 3: the Fossa

the Fossa is a strange animal from Madagascar.  it is a carnivore and eats lemurs, and rodents.  it looks as if it is a type of cat although it is actually closley related to mongooses, civets and Meerkats. Fossas are active both day and night and are very fast, adding to their incredible agility. they can climb trees very well and can jump very far. their scientific name is Cryptoprocta Ferox. sadly, not much more is known about the fossa.

weekly animal spotlight 2: reindeer

the reindeer is a interesting and famous animal that lives in Canada and Russia. Sadly reindeer probably do not fly, though they are kept in herds and raised. Up in the north where they live, reindeer cheese is very popular. their scientific name is Rangifer Terandus. They are related to all species of deer, and many predators target them. predetors include arctic wolfs, (Canis Lupus Arctos) and arctic foxes (Vulpes Lagopus). They have large antlers and light brown fur. They eat mosses, ferns, and grasses. Every year large herds of reindeer migrate 1,000,000 miles. Along the way, they can get parasites that make them weak, and targets for predators.

weekly animal spotlight 1: the okapi

If you are reading this right now, you probably do not know what an okapi is or if it even exists.  It does exist and it is a animal that lives in the Congo of Africa.  Their scientific name is Okapia Johnstoni. An okapis fur is dark and it has stripes on it's legs.  They have a similar body shape to their only reletive the giraffe ( Girrafa Camiloparis) exept they do not have as long a neck as a giraffe. it has a long, flexible, blue tongue and eats leaves with it. the males have skin-covered horns called occicones on their head. They have long ears to help them detect predetors, such as the leopard ( Panthera Pardus). They are very shy and rarely seen. Occasionally they will eat charcoal. The okapi was not beleived to be real until the 20th century. the tribesman would tell stories of a kind of

Donkey that resembled a zebra. later it was confirmed to be a real species. an okapi was later shipped to the Antwerp zoo in Europe. and later another shipped to the Bronx zoo. Patrick Putnam built a research area known as Epulu, and it was used to capture okapis and send them to zoos around the world. nowadays it is the Okapi research station were they capture and study Okapis. okapis have been endangered since 2003 and are protected. Okapis are a shy and little known animal.

ethiopian wolf

the ethiopian wolf is a wolf that lives in the ethiopian highlands. it is about the same size as a coyote (or prairie wolf). it has a very long and narrow skull and red and white fur. they live in seven isolated mountain ranges at 3,000- 4,500 meters. there are an estimated 360- 440 living in the ethiopian highlands making them criticly endangered! other names for it include the abyssinian wolf, simian fox, ethiopian jackal, red jackal, abyssinian dog, and cuberow. the earliest discription of them comes from aberdeen bestiary. he wrote, ethiopia produces wolfs with manes so diversly colored, men say, that no hue is lacking. a charicteristic of  ethiopian wolfs is that they are extremely great jumpers. they never attack men however. in wenter they have a very long coat. but in summer they are hairless. the ethiopians call them theas. end qoute. they have two subspeices the northern ethiopian wolf, and the southern ethiopian wolf. suprisingly, unlike most large canids there favorite food is rats. but will also eat rock hyraxes, and occaisionally sedge leaves.