Sunday 11 March 2007 Cape Hyrax - "rock rabbit"

The Cape Hyrax (Procavia capensis), like all hyraxes, slightly resembles a rabbit superficially. They live between the rocks and can often be found in burrows of other animals, like meerkats and aardvarks. People from South Africa call them "dassies" or "rock rabbits". "Dassie" means badger in German as well as in Afrikaans, which gives reason to believe the early colonist mistook the Cape Hyrax for a badger in the 17th century. Cape Hyraxes produce large amounts of dung and urine that has been used by locals in the treatment ofepilepsy and convulsions.

Image: Dassie (Cape Hyrax) photographed on Table Mountain by Andreas Tusche, Cape Town. The photo was taken on the rocks near the upper cable car station. Licensed under GFDL

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Wednesday 07 March 2007 Capybara - the world's largest living rodent

The capybara (Hydrochaeris hydrochaeris) is a semi-aquatic herbivorous animal and lives in South America, east of the Andes. It is the world's largest living rodent. Adults reach 105 and 135 cm (40-55 in) in length, and weigh as much as 35 to 65 kg (75-140 lbs). They are good swimmers, and have partially webbed feet. They do a lot of things in the water: mating, hiding from predators, and they can stay submerged for several minutes. Capybaras can even sleep underwater, by leaving their noses just above the water to breathe.

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Friday 02 March 2007 Golden lion tamarin - one of the rarest animals in the world

The Golden Lion Tamarin (Leontopithecus rosalia) is endemic to Brazil. Golden lion tamarins live in the closed canopy, where they live 10 to 30 meters off the ground. They sleep in tree holes for protection. Golden lion tamarins are one of the rarest animals in the world, according to some environmentalists. Estimates are that there are only 1000 left in the wild. Its habitat has been destroyed and broken up by logging and agriculture. Because of this populations became isolated, which resulted in inbreeding, likely to result in extinction. To make things worse, there is only one breeding pair per group. The golden lion tamarin certainly is one of the most endangered primates on the planet. Reintroduction programs are successful, but the continuing destruction of its habitat gives less hope. It is hunted by birds of prey, large cats and snakes. The golden lion tamarin can become 15 years of age. Their diet consists of snails, spiders, eggs, birds, fruits, vegetables and small lizards.

Links

Range of the golden lion tamarin from Natureserve

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Thursday 01 March 2007 Beech marten - ruiner of cars

The Beech Marten (Martes foina) or Stone marten is thin, long and short-legged, and its brown covering has a white (forked) mark at the throat's area, and this sets them apart from the Pine marten (marking is cream-colored).

The Beech Marten often lives in places that are occupied by humans, and they can also be seen in the countryside areas, but they stay away from territories that are bare. A Beech Marten can be found in mainland Europe and West/Central Asian territories. At daytime, this marten sleeps and they hunt for preys during the twilight hours. They are omnivorous creatures and the diet mainly consists of small mammals, eggs and earthworms.

Beech Martens have their mating period from June all the way to August, and a male would attempt to mate with a female from within his ground (home) area. A male's first approach might be faced with aggressiveness by the female. The male Beech Marten would keep at it, via a cooing verbalization. The mating would ordinarily happen during dark and would just last up to an hour, on the average.

Litter size is three to four newborns, all of them blind and bald. The weaning would be at two months, however, the mother and newborns would stay together during the tutor sessions. The parent would be teaching these young on hunting methods. The sexual maturity would be attained at fifteen to twenty-seven months.

Basically, this marten is nocturnal, and apart from the breeding periods lives solitary. How it moves is anchored on the speed of its motion, if it is slow, back feet are a bit off-center vis-a-vis the front feet. If one is running, the back feet land at the same area where the front legs do.

Interesting fact: They are known for an inclination of ruining cars, they bite ignition leads and even braking hoses.

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