One of the first small birds that I learned the name of. Not being a birder, I first was attracted to the Green bee-eater because if it’s flashy colours, not something I’d ever seen at home in Canada.
After seeing plenty of these small birds around Africa and Asia, I quickly learned what bee-eaters generally looked like. This specific Little Green Bee-eater is the orientalis subspecies, found in India and Sri Lanka. It’s main unique feature is the yellow / rusty brown colour patch on it’s head.
Welcome to the world of Elephas and Loxodonta, a tale of two Elephants.
Below are six Elephant photos, can you name each one? Ah, but first…some Elephant education!
Once upon a time they had a big, extended family with relatives sprawled across the earth. Stegodon was known to hang out as far away as Japan, while Mammuthus constantly wandered around Europe and North America. Today, most of their family is gone. Depending who you ask only 5-6 different Elephas and Loxodonta species/subspecies exist and every single one is either endangered or classified as a vulnerable species.
Elephants are the largest land animals on Earth. Perhaps you’ve only seen them on TV or in a zoo, or maybe you’ve travelled the world and seen Loxodonta africana africana or Elephas maximus maximus in their natural habitats. Either way, let’s see how much of an Elephant expert you are.
Each picture below is either an: African Bush Elephant, African Forest Elephant, Indian Elephant, Sri Lankan Elephant, Sumatran Elephant or Borneo Pygmy Elephant.
Some Elephant species are repeated and not all of them are included…as I haven’t yet travelled to every Elephant destination in the world. Good luck guessing! The answers will be provided once some correct guesses come in.
The Common Impala is one of the most abundant animals in Africa. Found all across the grasslands of East Africa, it is fairly easy to distinguish from other antelopes.
It has a rusty-brown colour, with slightly lighter legs and lower markings. A white underbelly and black-tipped ears are also a feature of the Common Impala.
Perhaps their most ‘famous’ marking is on their rear, with black and white markings forming what looks like the letter “M”. They are a popular meal for predators like lions and leopards.
Because of their abundant numbers and their “M” marking, many people call them the fast-food, or McDonalds of Africa!
It is nearly impossible to come up with a favourite animal from the Galapagos Islands, but the Land Iguana was definitely one of my favourites.
Their sometimes bright yellow colour was pretty cool, as was watching them eat. Their main source of food is the prickly-pear cactus and I saw some land iguanas fighting over this favourite food at South Plaza Island. It was kind of amusing watch them engage in a tug-of-war battle over a cactus pod.
Sure, they’re not exactly cute and cuddly like baby seals, but with their wrinkly skin, big claws and bumpy-scaly heads I think they have their own charm.
Interesting and odd, every year scientists discover new species of animals. Sometimes they’re small insects and lizards, sometimes they discover new monkeys or fish. I’ve come across a number of strange animals on my travels and tend to be drawn to biodiversity hot spots like Madagascar and Papua New Guinea.
From the Arctic to New Zealand, here are six of the most mysterious and interesting animals I’ve heard about or seen around the world.
The island of Madagascar is home to an astonishing number of endemic species, many of which look or act in unique ways. Lemurs are the island’s most famous inhabitants, but the Aye-Aye is probably the ugliest and most mysterious. The Aye Aye is a nocturnal lemur-like creature that has developed an extremely extended baby finger that it uses like a stick to root around in tree holes. Using this unique and sensitive digging finger it taps on the wood of trees to locate hiding spots for grubs and bugs, then it digs them out! They’re believed to be evil demons by some Malagasy, who claim that if an Aye Aye points it’s finger at you, you’ve been marked for death.
These are the largest fish in our Oceans, growing to sizes in excess of 40m long! They are sharks, but are friendly, docile plankton eaters, something you typically associate more with whales. It is said that 90% or more of the large fish in our Oceans are now gone, so there is an attraction to seeing these beasts before it is too late. It used to be a rare and lucky experience to be diving or snorkelling and come across a Whale Shark, but today it is big business in places like Isla Mujeres and Holbox in Mexico, the Bay Islands in Honduras, Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia and Donsol in the Philippines.
How about a three-eyed ‘living fossil’, the last of it’s kind? Indeed 200 million years ago the Tuatara may have made more cousins and relatives roaming the Earth, but today they’re on their own. A vulnerable species found only in New Zealand and it’s surrounding islands, the Tuatara has a ‘third-eye’ that gets covered over by skin in adult Tuataras. This eye is sensitive to light and is believed to be a way to trigger sleep and hibernation in these odd animals. They look like lizards (but aren’t) and can hear, but have no visible ears. Your best chance to spot one will be finding one in captivity at a zoo or wildlife park.
They are not stuff of fantasy or only owned by Santa Claus, Reindeer really do exist and they roam free in the high Arctic. Living off the frozen tundra, Reindeer go by different names around the world, but can be found in northern Scandinavia, Russia, Canada and Alaska. We call them Caribou in North America and they’ve been domesticated enough in some extreme northern climates to be used for sledding. They are, apparently, extremely tasty to eat too. Northern Finland and Sweden are the best places for visiting Reindeer farms.
I have never seen an Angora Rabbit, but I have been to the city that they are said to originate from – Ankara, Turkey. If you’re familiar with the internet obsession with LOLcats and furry, funny animals then you need to do a Google image search for Angora Rabbits. These furballs are enough to make you burst out in smiles or laughs! Among the first domesticated rabbits in the world, they are raised for their amazingly soft, luxurious and silky fur.
Would you prefer two or three toes with your Sloth? These cute guys are a big draw for wildlife fans who visit Central and South America. It isn’t their odd looks so much that makes them mysterious and interesting, but their extremely slow metabolism. Sloths do nothing fast, including digest their food. It can take them a month to totally digest a meal! They spend their time in trees, but head towards the ground to relieve themselves when that digestion is finally done. They move so slow that their fur is sometimes coloured green because moss begins to grow on them! Aviarios del Caribe is a popular sloth rescue centre in Costa Rica if you’re yearning for some close encounters.
