Tag Archives: Wildlife

Macaw

Scarlet Macaws are bright, colorful parrots native to the rainforest of Central and South America. These highly intelligent birds live in large groups and are very vocal.  Capable of mimicking a variety of sounds, including human speech, macaws are loud. Their squawks, and screeches can be heard from miles away.  Scarlet macaws are protected underContinueContinue reading “Macaw”

Crawdad

Found a little friend hanging out in the water. This is a northern clearwater crayfish. They can be found all over Michigan in rocky streams, lakes, and rivers. There are more than 540 species of crayfish worldwide. They can be found everywhere except in Africa and Antartica.   Crayfish have excellent eyesight and can move eachContinueContinue reading “Crawdad”

Small but Deadly

The phantasmal poison dart frog lives on the slopes of the Andes Mountains in Ecuador. As their name suggests, they are poisonous. Their poison comes from their diet, which includes ants, spiders, mites, and other insects. The frogs metabolize the toxins from their prey and combine them to produce a poison that they secrete throughContinueContinue reading “Small but Deadly”

Living in Slow Motion

Sloths are native Central and South America. All sloths have 3 toes on their back feet, but two-toed sloths only have 2 toes on their forelimbs.  This is a two-toed sloth. You can see that the front limbs have two toes while the back have three. They spend most of their time hanging out inContinueContinue reading “Living in Slow Motion”

Peafowl

Even though most people refer to both sexes as peacocks, only the males are called peacocks. The females are called peahens. And peafowl is the term for both.  Peacocks use their bright iridescent trains to attract peahens. Another technique males use is quivering their feathers to produce infrasonic sounds (low frequency). Baby peafowl are calledContinueContinue reading “Peafowl”

A Mob of Meerkats

Meerkats are members of the mongoose family. They live in the African savannah and yes like Timon they do eat insects, grubs and termites. They also eat scorpions, luckily they are immune to most venoms.    Meerkats live in large groups called mobs, clans or gangs. The mob is led by an alpha female, called theContinueContinue reading “A Mob of Meerkats”

The worlds largest bird

You guessed it…The Ostrich  These birds are not just big, they are powerful. The ostriches’ main defense is its legs. They can run up to 43 mph (70 kph). When running isn’t an option, ostriches use their foot equipped with a 4-inch long claw. A single kick from an ostrich can kill a lion.   OstrichesContinueContinue reading “The worlds largest bird”

What is the Buzz?

…..Bees… Bees are extremely important pollinators. They are a vital part of our ecosystems, without them the human population would plumate. About ⅓  of the world’s food production depends on bees to pollinate the crops.  Although honeybees are not endangered other bees are. On the IUCN Red list 16 bee species are listed as vulnerable,ContinueContinue reading “What is the Buzz?”