Saturday, January 29, 2011

Borneo Elephant


True Wild Life | Borneo Elephant | The Borneo elephant is a sub-species of Asian elephant which includes the Indian elephant, the Sumatran elephant, the Sri-Lanka elephant and the Borneo elephant. The Borneo elephant is also known as the pygmy elephant as it is the smallest of the elephant sub-species. As its name suggests, the Borneo elephant is found exclusively on the island of Borneo in the Malaysian state of Sabah and parts of Indonesian Kalimantan. Much of the Borneo elephants natural habitat has been destroyed to make way for palm oil plantations and there are now thought to be less than 1,000 Borneo elephant individuals left in Sabah.


The Borneo elephant has smaller ears than the African elephant and the Borneo elephant also has a more curved spine than the African elephant. Unlike the African elephants, the female Borneo elephants very rarely have tusks, and if the female Borneo elephant does have tusks, they are generally barely visible and can only be seen when the female Borneo elephant opens her mouth. The Borneo elephant follows strict migration routes that are determined by the monsoon season. The eldest elephant of the Borneo elephant herd is responsible for remembering the migration route of its Borneo elephant herd. This Borneo elephant migration generally takes place between the wet and dry seasons and problems arose when farms where built along the migratory routes of the Borneo elephant herds, as the Borneo elephants caused a great deal of destruction to the newly founded farmland.


Borneo elephants are herbivorous animals meaning that they only eat plants and plant matter in order to gain all of the nutrients that they need to survive. Borneo elephants eat a wide variety of vegetation including grasses, leaves, shoots, barks, fruits, nuts and seeds. Borneo elephants often use their long trunk to assist them in gathering food. Due to their large size, Borneo elephants have very few predators within their natural environment. Besides human hunters, tigers are the primary predator of the Borneo elephant, although they tend to hunt the smaller Borneo elephant calves rather than the much larger and stronger adults.


Female Borneo elephants are generally able to breed by the time they are 10 years old, and give birth to a single Borneo elephant calf after a 22 month gestation period. When the Borneo elephant calf is first born, it weighs about 100 kg, and is cared for not only by it's mother by also by other female Borneo elephants in the herd (known as aunties). The infant Borneo elephant remains with its mother until it is around 5 years old and gains its independence, with males often leaving the herd and female calves staying. Today, the Borneo elephant is considered to be an animal that is in immediate danger of becoming extinct due to the fact that Borneo elephant populations have been declining at a critical rate. Borneo elephants are thought to be suffering primarily due to habitat loss in the form of deforestation and hunting for their ivory tusks by human poachers.

Bornean Orang Utan

 
True Wild Life | Bornean Orang Utan | The Bornean orang-utan is a species of orang-utan native to the island of Borneo. The Bornean orang-utan is one of only two species of ape that are found in Asia, the other being the slightly smaller and closely related, Sumatran orang-utan. The Bornean orang-utan is found inhabiting tropical and sub-tropical rainforest in the lowlands of Borneo and can also be found grazing at elevations of up to 1500 m. The Bornean orang-utan makes full use of it's surroundings dwelling both on the ground and at different heights in the trees.
 
 
There are considered to be three different sub-species of the Bornean orang-utan, which although similar in appearance, are differentiated by the areas of the island that they occupy. The three Bornean orang-utan sub-species are the Northwest Bornean orang-utan, the Central Bornean orang-utan and the Northeast Bornean orang-utan. The Bornean orang-utan is generally a more solitary animal that the Sumatran orang-utan with male and female Bornean orang-utans only really coming together to mate. As with the other great apes, the Bornean orang-utan has a number of features which makes living in the jungle a bit easier, including having opposable thumbs which come in handy when the Bornean orang-utan is peeling fruit.

 
The Bornean orang-utan is an omnivorous animal, but the majority of it's diet is made of fruit which the Bornean orang-utan is known to travel vast distances through the forests to find. The Bornean orang-utan also eats leaves, nuts and berries, along with insects and occasionally small animals such as lizards and rodents. Due to it's large size, the Bornean orang-utan has no real predators on it's native island of Borneo. The biggest threat to the Bornean orang-utan is habitat loss caused by deforestation which has completely wiped out the Bornean orang-utan populations in certain areas.

 
The different Bornean orang-utan sexes only really come together to mate, and once born, the Bornean orang-utan baby is looked after by it's mother. The Bornean orang-utan baby clings to it's mum for the first year of it's life and may remain with her until it is nearly 10 years old. Bornean orang-utans have a relatively long childhood when compared to that of the other great apes. Today, the Bornean orang-utan is one of the world's endangered species with less than 45,000 Bornean orang-utan individuals thought to be left in the wild. The main reason for the demise in the Bornean orang-utan populations is deforestation across the island for logging and to make way for palm oil plantations.

Booby


True Wild Life | Booby | The booby is a large species of sea-bird closely related to the gannet. Boobies spend their lives at sea hunting fish and are found on the east coast of Central and South America, and across the tropical islands of the South Pacific as far west as the Galapagos islands. The booby is the most commonly found sea-bird on the Galapagos islands. There are six different species of booby found nesting on the tropical and subtropical islands and continental coasts across the south eastern Pacific Ocean, although fossil evidence suggests that there were numerous species of booby that are now extinct and are believed to inhabited regions as far east as Europe. The different species of booby are all very similar in size and appearance but each species of booby appears to have it's own uniquely distinguishable features. The different species of booby are the blue-footed booby, the red-footed booby, the brown booby, the Peruvian booby, the masked booby and the Nazca booby.


The blue-footed booby is the most well known species of booby and is most commonly found on the Galapagos islands and Ecuador. The blue-footed booby is the second largest of the booby species and is identifiable by it's bright blue feet. The female blue-footed booby is generally slightly larger than the male blue-footed booby and the female blue-footed booby also has more brightly coloured feet than the male blue-footed booby, as the male's feet are paler. The young blue-footed booby also has pale coloured feet which (in females particularly) becomes brighter as the booby gets older.


The red-footed booby is slightly smaller than the blue-footed booby but the red-footed booby is known to have a wider range from the Galapagos islands to the Caribbean. As the name suggests, the re-footed booby has bright, red feet that are a pinkish colour when the red-footed booby is young. Although the re-footed booby is known to be an agile flyer, the red-footed booby can be clumsy when taking off and landing. The red-footed booby can dive through the sky to the surface of the water to catch fish at speeds of up to 60 mph.


The brown booby is around half the size of the blue-footed booby and is found in the Caribbean Sea and in the Gulf Of Mexico. The brown booby has a black head and back and a white belly, short wings and a long tail. The brown booby breeds in a large colony on coastal islands and is known to spend the winter at sea, covering a larger area. As with other species of booby, the brown booby is incredible at diving. The Peruvian booby is native to Peru and parts of Chilli and is not as elaborate in appearance of the other booby species. The Peruvian booby is the second most common sea-bird found in Peru and is also the second biggest sea-bird that produces guano in the country. Guano is the excrement which is produces by sea-birds, bats and seals, which has high levels of phosphorus and nitrogen and so is used to make fertilizer and gunpowder.


The masked booby is distinguishable by the black colour around it's eyes. The masked booby has an enormous range that stretches from the Caribbean islands right across to Australia. The masked booby is the largest species of booby in the world and can grow to nearly a metre in height. The masked booby primarily feeds on flying fish and squid. The Nazca booby is found on islands in the eastern Pacific Ocean and is one of the most favourable birds on the Galapagos islands for eco-tourists to spot. The Nazca booby has a more rounded head than the other species of booby and is believed to be most closely related to the masked booby. The Nazca booby has a white body and a beak that is yellow or orange in colour.


The booby is rarely found in regions where it cannot nest apart from those species of booby that purposefully spend the winter at sea (like the brown booby). Typically, the booby will have the same mating partner for a few years and the booby has been known to lay it's eggs all year round, although this is quite dependent on the area which the booby inhabits. The booby lays between 1 and 3 eggs (usually 2), and the booby chicks hatch after an incubation period of 4 to 5 weeks. Due to it's large size and the areas in which it inhabits. the booby has few natural predators. The main predators of the booby are owls and large birds of prey that steal the booby chicks, but the adult booby is far to big for another bird to eat. The human is the main predator of the enormous adult booby, and occasionally the odd shark.

Bonobo


True Wild Life | Bonobo | The bonobo is a large species of primate that is only found in the Democratic Republic Of The Congo in central Africa. The bonobo is also known as the pygmy chimpanzee and the dwarf chimpanzee as the bonobo is thought to be very closely related to the chimpanzee and the two species share very similar characteristics. The bonobo is thought to have evolved from the ancestors of the common chimpanzee millions of years ago when the Congo River was formed. Today, the bonobo lives south of the Congo river and chimpanzees live north of the river meaning that they have evolved as two separate species.


Along with the chimpanzee, the bonobo is believed to be one of the closet living relatives of the human. The bonobo shares 97% of the same DNA that makes up humans and the bonobo displays very similar behaviour to humans as far as social interaction and reproduction are concerned. Along with a number of other primate species (including humans) the bonobo has opposable thumbs which allow it to grip onto food and trees.


The bonobo is smaller than the chimpanzee with adult bonobos averaging around 70cm in height and weight roughly 40kg, The bonobo has black hair covering it's body that is parted on it's head, pink lips and long legs. Generally, the body of the bonobo is not as hairy as the body of their chimp cousins. The bonobo is an omnivorous animal mainly feeding on vegetation such as fruits, leaves, flowers, bark and seeds. The bonobo also eats honey, eggs, insects and even small mammals and reptiles. The bonobo has also been known to turn to cannibalism (eats other bonobos) in captivity but it is unknown whether or not this happens in the wild.


Due to it's large size and the ability of the bonobo to escape into trees, the bonobo has few natural predators in the African forests. The main predators of the bonobo are humans who hunt the bonobo for it's meat and the odd crocodile when the bonobo gets close to the water. It is thought that other large primates may prey on the bonobo in the wild but that will often be down to disagreements over territory that turn nasty. As with many other species of large primate, the bonobo spends a great deal of time on the ground looking for food and resting with the bonobo troop. Bonobos are also known to climb into the trees if they feel threatened or are search of culinary delicacies such as honey.


Bonobos inhabit areas of the forest in troops which usually contain the alpha male bonobo, a number of females bonobos and their offspring. The bonobo troop feed together and warn off unwelcome animals along with social interacting through calls and grooming. Female bonobos breed roughly once every few of years and there has been not specific breeding season observed. After a gestation period of around 8 months, the female bonobo gives birth a single bonobo baby. The bonobo baby is nursed and cared for by the mother bonobo until it is between 3 and 6 years old. The male bonobo babies are known to be more dependent on their mothers and the female bonobo babies are more independent at a younger age. A female bonobo can expect have between 5 and 7 babies in her 40 years lifespan.


Today, the bonobo is considered to be endangered animal with only 10,000 bonobo individuals thought to be left in the wild. The bonobo populations have declined dramatically due to hunting an habitat loss. The civil unrest in the region has also made the bonobo populations more vulnerable.

Bongo


True Wild Life | Bongo | The bongo is a reddish-orange hoofed animal with white stripes running vertically along the body of the bongo. The bongo is the one largest species of Antelope and the bongo is generally found grazing in herds in the African forests. The bongo is one of the only animal species in the world of which both the male and female bongo individuals have horns. The horns of the bongo tend to be fairly long and in most cases, slightly spiraled or wavy in appearance. The bongo uses these horns both for defense purposes and in the case of the males, it is believed that the bongo individuals with the largest horns are the dominant male of the bongo herd.


The bongo is generally found in the more mountainous regions of central Africa, where the bongo inhabits dense woodland and can be found up to an altitude of 4,000 meters above sea level. Despite the colourful appearance of the bongo, the bongos white stripes actually aid the bongo in being camouflaged very successfully in the thick forests.


Originally, bongos were found in three different parts of Africa, East, Central and West. Today all three populations of the bongos ranges have shrunk in size due to habitat loss for agriculture and uncontrolled timber cutting as well as humans hunting the bongo for meat. Despite the fact that the bongo is a solitary animal, the bongo is rarely seen in herd sizes of more than 20 bongo individuals and these herds comprise predominantly of the female bongos with their young.


The bongo is a nocturnal animal and are generally found grazing the newly sprouting grasses and shrubs in the dead of night which also helps to aid the bongos survival in a land where there are many dominant carnivorous predators.
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