非洲动物

非洲动物 非洲 长尾黑颚猴 "Fever Trees" (Acacia xanthophlea) are the Vervet's favorite refuge in the riverside community. These trees provide year round forage: new leaves, tender thorns, flowers, pods, peas, gum and even bark and wood. The trees also house herbs, grasses and insects that are eaten during the rainy season. Vervets also raid crops and as agricultural pests, are second only to baboons. 巨嘴鸟 The Red and Yellow Barbet (Trachyphonus erythocephalus) is a brightly colored 'ground barbet' and a local resident of Tanzania. It frequents semi-arid bush country and open thornbush areas. It breeds in termites mounds. It is related to woodpeckers, but eats more fruit than insects. Some Leopards appear to be black. This 'melanism' is one of the most striking of aberrant coat patterns. This Leopard looks perfectly normal, but the 'melanistic' leopard looks totally black. Its spots and markings are still present and visible when the light hits the coat from the right angle. Melanism is caused by a recessive gene, which is apparently more prevelant in forests, where it would be an advantage for a nocturnal predator. The Jaguar of the Americas also exhibits melanism. The African Elephant (Loxodonta Africana) is the largest land mammal. Those large ears (up to 6 feet top to bottom and shaped like Africa) are used not only for hearing but for communication. This one was not too happy about being disturbed. He kept coming closer and closer. I kept shooting until at last all I got was the eye. Then I slowly and quietly slid down into my seat. The elephant felt around the car and finally moved on. What a thrill to be that close to a wild elephant. Here are those magnificent S-shaped horns of the male Thomson's Gazelle. In the female, they are short and pencil-thin. The "Tommy" male uses a pair of preorbital scent glands to advertise himself. This gazelle is a mixed feeder. It grazes when grass is green and supplements its diet with green browse more and more as the grass deteriorates in the dry season. Butterfly Having a wingspan of only ?", the smallest butterfly is in the world is found in South Africa. It is know as the Dwarf Blue Butterfly Chameleons Madagascar is the home of the worlds largest as well as the smallest chameleons! Almost half of the world’s chameleon species live on the island of Madagascar. Cheetahs The cheetah is the fastest land animal at 95 km/h (60mph). Elephants The African elephant is the largest living land mammal. An elephant can weigh up to 6-7 tons and has no natural enemies for he is not a predator and there is none large enough to challenge him. Did you know elephants drink up to 160 liters of water per day. An African elephant possesses such "manual" dexterity in his/her trunk tip that he/she can actually turn the pages of a book with it. Fish The only place where shools of fresh water sardines are found is in Lake Tanganyika. Frogs The world's biggest frog is found in Cameroon. Named the goliath frog, their body can be one-foot long. Giraffes Did you know that the tongue of a giraffe can be as long as 45 cm? Giraffes are 6 ft tall when they are born. Goliath Beetle The world's largest and heaviest beetle, the Goliath Beetle is found in tropical Africa. It can reach a length of 5 inches and weigh up to ? lb Gorillas The Gorilla is the largest of the living primates, male gorillas weight up to 200kg, yet are shy and retiring. Nile Crocodiles The Nile crocodile is the Africa's largest living reptile - growing to an average length of 5 m. Penguins South Africa has a penguin colony, which thrives thanks to the cold Antarctic currents on the west coast near the Cape. Seals The largest seal colony in the southern hemisphere is a Cape Cross in Namibia. Endangered Species Marine Turtles 海龟 Having traveled the seas for over 100 million years, marine turtles have outlived almost all of the prehistoric animals with which they once shared the planet. Marine turtles survived the extinction of the dinosaurs and are still present in the world's oceans today. Until recently, their success was apparent, as marine turtles crawled ashore to nest in abundance on tropical and subtropical beaches around the globe. Unfortunately threats like hunting for meat, shell and eggs; habitat destruction; fisheries bycatch; pollution; boat strikes; and introduced predators have wiped out entire turtle populations, or reduced them to mere shadows of their former glory. Today three of the seven existing species are critically endangered with extinction, three are endangered and the status of the seventh species remains unknown.