- •Introduction
- •Verreaux’s sifaka
- •Identification: Males reach 8–10 feet in length and have a massive neck, shoulders, and mane; females are smaller.
- •Identification: a large deer (standing 4-5 feet at the shoulder) with brownish red fur and a pale rump patch; males generally have enormous antlers and a long mane.
- •Identification: a 3-4-foot-tall deer with a brownish coat and large antlers (3 feet long) in males.
- •Identification: a medium-sized deer typically with a grayish brown coat and white underparts, and antlers in both sexes. Moose
- •Identification : The largest species of deer (weighing up to 1,300 pounds); has slender legs, a pendulous nose, and (in males) prominent palmate antlers and a dewlap or “bell” beneath the throat.
- •Identification: The tallest mammal (up to 19 feet), with a sloping back, enormously long neck, bony, knobbed “horns” in both sexes, and the familiar reddish brown spotted patterning.
- •Identification: a deer-sized mammal with distinctive, sharply forked horns in males and reddish brown fur with white patches.
- •Identification: a medium-sized gazelle; males have distinctive spiral horns and a black-and-white coat; females and juvenile males are tan colored.
- •Identification: a large wild sheep (weighing up to 300 pounds) with massive spiral horns in males; coat is brown with a white muzzle, underparts, and rump patch.
- •Identification: Similar to Bighorn, except smaller and with thinner horns; coat is all white or brownish black to gray,
- •Identification: a large (6—8—foot—long) mammal with long, shaggy fur, humped shoulders, and massive, down-sweeping horns.
- •Identification: a stocky, 3-foot-tall, goatlike mammal with shaggy white fur and sharp horns in both sexes.
- •Identification: An enormous buffalo (up to 61/2 feet high) with massive forequarters, humped shoulders, and (in males) a beard.
- •Identification: Similar to American Bison but more slender, less hunched, and with longer legs.
- •Identification: a huge (II-foot-long), usually black buffalo with massive, upward-curving horns in both sexes.
- •Identification: The familiar wild horse with a black-and-white-striped pattern; Mountain Zebras usually have a distinctive dewlap.
- •Identification: a 3—5-foot-long wild pig with a large head, prominent tusks, and distinctive warts in front of the eyes and on the jaw..
- •Identification: a piglike mammal with grayish, speckled, or salt-and-pepper fur and a light-colored collar.
- •Identification: The familiar large (up to 71/2 tons), trunked mammal with enormous ears and tusks in both sexes.
- •Identification: a large wild cat (up to 550 pounds) with a prominent mane in males.
- •Identification: a small canid (body length up to 3 feet) with a bushy tail and a reddish brown coat (although some variants are silvery or black).
- •Identification: The largest wild canid (reaching up to 7 feet in length) with a gray, brown, black, or white coat.
- •Identification: a small (3 foot long), reddish brown, bearlike canid with short legs and tail. Social Organization
- •Identification: a huge bear (7–10 feet tall) with dark brown, golden, cream, or black fur..
- •Identification: a smaller bear (4–6 feet) with coat color ranging from black to gray, brown, and even white. Park, Saskatchewan, Canada; subspecies u.A. Altifrontalis.
- •Identification: a yellowish brown hyena with spotted flanks and back, a strongly sloping body profile, and rounded ears; females typically heavier than males.
- •Identification: a large (over 3 foot tall) kangaroo with a gray coat and a hair-covered muzzle.
- •Identification: a smaller kangaroo (21/2 feet tall) with a reddish brown wash on its neck.
- •Identification: a light gray kangaroo standing up to 3 feet tall, with a white facial stripe and a long, slender tail.
- •Identification: a small (6–7 pound), rodentlike kangaroo with reddish brown fur.
- •Identification: Stocky, tree-dwelling kangaroos; chestnut or chocolate brown fur with lighter patches.
- •Identification: a small, mouselike marsupial with a thick, conical, fat-storing tail.
- •Identification: a catlike marsupial, up to 2 feet long, with grayish brown fur and white splotches.
- •Identification: a medium-sized (10—15 inch), primarily tree-dwelling squirrel with a reddish brown or tawny coat and white underparts, often with a dark stripe on the side.
- •Identification: a large (20 inch), tree-dwelling squirrel with a long, bushy tail and gray, grizzled, or buff fur.
- •Identification: Small, guinea-pig-like rodents with coarse fur; Dwarf Cavies have a distinctive white eye-ring, Cuis have yellow-colored incisors.
- •Identification: a small (less than I foot long) insectivore with sandy-colored spines, white underparts, and prominent ears.
- •Identification: a dark gray goose with fine silvery-white feather patterning; the wild ancestor of domestic geese.
- •Identification: a brown-plumaged goose with a distinctive black neck and white cheek patch; varies widely in size, from 2–24 pounds.
- •Identification: a pinkish-red-billed goose with two major color phases: all-white and “blue” (grayish plumage with a white head and neck).
- •Identification: The only swan with fully black plumage; wing feathers are white, bill is bright red, and the neck is especially long.
- •Identification: a large swan (up to 33 pounds) with a black knob at the base of its reddish orange bill (less prominent in females).
- •Identification: a familiar duck with a blue wing patch, an iridescent green head and white collar in males, and brown, mottled plumage in females.
- •Identification: a grayish brown duck with a light blue upper-wing patch, tawny spotted underparts, and white, crescent-shaped facial stripes in males.
- •Identification: a broad-billed duck with a purplish black head and breast and white underparts in males, and a dark head and brownish plumage in females.
- •Identification: Cinnamon breast, dark green head and back, and white collar; adult females have white eye and bill rings.
- •Identification: a large, grayish duck with a prominent lobe hanging from the lower bill, and a spike-fan tail..
- •Identification: a gull-sized, web-footed bird with contrasting black upperparts and white underparts; some individuals have a white eye ring.
- •Identification: a large, white-plumaged, gull-like bird with an enorous wingspan (over 61/2 feet), a dark back, and a grayish black wash on the face.
- •Identification: a large (3 foot), black, web-footed bird with a white throat and white filamentary plumes on the nape.
- •Identification: Similar to Great Cormorant, but smaller and uniformly black, with a prominent forehead crest.
- •Identification: a ducklike bird with grayish white plumage, bright red eyes, and yellow facial tufts.
- •Identification: Similar to Silvery Grebe, but with a buff or chestnut wash on the breast, white streaks on the head, and black-and-white eyes.
- •Identification: a stocky, medium-sized (2 foot long) heron with a black crown and back, white underparts, gray wings, and white ribbon plumes at the nape of the neck.
- •Identification: Long-legged, typically white herons with ornamental, filamentous plumes on the back, breast, and nape; these are golden-buff-colored in the Cattle Egret.
- •Identification: Similar to Little Egret but with slaty-gray plumage and a reddish brown head and neck.
- •Identification: a large (3 foot long) heron with a gray back, white head and neck, and black “eyebrow” stripe and nape plumes.
- •Identification: a large (nearly 20 inch) wading bird with bluish purple plumage, a red shield on its forehead, and red feet with long toes.
- •Identification: Similar to Pukeko, but flightless, and with grayish brown plumage, no red frontal shield, and shorter legs.
- •Identification: Similar to Pukeko, but with black plumage and shorter legs.
- •Identification: The largest flamingo species (4—5 feet tall) with plumage ranging from pale whitish pink to bright orange-pink.
- •Identification: a large (12 inch) sandpiper with gray or brownish plumage and, in some males, spectacular ruffs and feather tufts on the head that vary widely in color and pattern (see below).
- •Identification: a medium-sized (7—8 inch) wading bird with a small head and short beak, buff-colored face and underparts, and regular dark brown patterning on the back and crown.
- •Identification: a large (13—14 inch) sandpiper with streaked and spotted, dark brownish gray plumage; long and slightly upturned bill; greenish yellow legs.
- •Identification: Slightly smaller than the Greenshank; plumage grayish brown, with black and dark brown streaks and spots; orange-red legs.
- •Identification: a fairly large (12—15 inch) sandpiper-like bird with long pink legs, white plumage with black wings and back, and a slender black bill.
- •Identification: Similar to Black-winged Stilt but with entirely black plumage.
- •Identification: a medium-sized (10 inch) sandpiper-like bird with mottled buff and black plumage; adult males have a black face and underparts bordered with white.
- •Identification: a large gull (up to 27 inches) with a dark gray back and wings; spotted black-and-white wing tips; pink legs; and a yellow bill with a red spot.
- •Identification: a smaller gull (to 17 inches) with a blue-gray mantle; more pointed black wing tips; relatively short black legs and dark eyes; and a yellowish green bill.
- •Identification: a medium-sized (16 inch) gull with gray back and wings; spotted black-and-white wing tips; bright red bill and legs; white iris.
- •Identification: Similar to Silver Gull except larger (2 feet long), legs pinkish, bill yellow with a red spot, and iris yellow.
- •Identification: a medium-sized gull (to 17 inches) with a distinctive black or chocolate brown “hood,” red legs, and a gray back and wings.
- •Identification: a medium-sized (to 18 inches) black-headed gull with white eye-crescents, a dark gray back, and red legs and bill..
- •Ivory gull
- •Identification: An all-white gull with black legs and a blue-gray bill.
- •Identification: a large (to 22 inches) gull-like bird with a black cap and crest, light gray back and wings, forked tail, and long red bill with a black tip.
- •Identification: Similar to Caspian Tern but smaller (to 17 inches) and with a more deeply forked tail and slighter bill.
- •IdentifIfAtion: a crow-sized bird with cinnamon-brown plumage and a bare, blue-gray face..
- •Identification: Adult males are black with a red crown and a light blue patch on the back; yearling males and females are all green, while younger adult males are green with a reddish crown..
- •Identification: Small (5–7 inch) birds with brown and rufous plumage and a bluish gray patch around the eyes; Ocellateds have a distinctive scalloped pattern on the back feathers.
- •Identification: a small (5 inch), plain olive-green bird with a long tail and an ocher- or tawny-colored lower breast.
- •Identification: a small to medium-sized swallow with iridescent blue-green upperparts, white underparts, and a tail that is only slightly forked.
- •Identification: a bluish brown swallow with pale underparts, buff forehead, and a chestnut throat; tail is not forked..
- •Identification: a small, sparrow-sized swallow with a slightly forked tail, brown plumage, white underparts, and a brown breast band.
- •Identification: a small songbird with bright yellow underparts, olive green upperparts, and a black crown (“hood”) and throat in adult males and some females (see below).
- •Identification: a sparrow-sized bird with olive-brown plumage, distinctive white shoulder bars, and (in males) blue-gray crown.
- •Identification: a sparrow-sized bird with olive to orange-red plumage and a distinctive crossed bill..
- •Identification: a small (61/2 inch) bird with a thick, hooked bill, grayish brown plumage, and a darker facial mask (black in males)..
- •Identification: a tiny (41/2 inch) chickadee-like bird with a bright blue crown, black-and-white face, bluish green plumage, and yellow underparts.
- •Identification: a sparrow-sized bird with bright blue plumage, white underparts, and a chestnut throat and breast.
- •Identification: a grayish buff, sparrow-sized bird with a pale gray-white crown..
- •Identification: a drab, sparrowlike bird with brownish gray plumage and a black throat patch..
- •Identification: The familiar black-bibbed sparrow; Cowbird is iridescent black with a dark brown head..
- •Identification: Light gray plumage, black wings and tail, and (in some birds) bare yellow head and fleshy black wattles.
- •Identification: a small crow with black plumage and gray on the back of the head.
- •Identification: a large (2 foot), all-black bird similar to a crow but much bulkier..
- •Victoria’s riflebird
- •Identification: Adult males are black with an iridescent sheen and metallic crown, throat, and central tail feathers; females and younger males are drabber, with brown, buff, and off-white plumage.
- •Identification: a thrush-sized bird (12 inches) with velvety black plumage and brilliant golden yellow crown, nape, upper back, and wing feathers.
- •Identification: a pheasant-sized bird with brownish gray plumage, powerful legs and claws, and long, ornate tail feathers.
- •Identification: The largest living bird (over 6 feet tall), with striking black-and-white plumage in the male and powerful legs and claws.
- •Identification: The second-largest living bird (5—6 feet tall), with shaggy, brown plumage and bare patches of blue skin on the face and neck.
- •Identification: Similar to Ostrich but smaller (up to 41/2 feet tall) and with overall grayish brown plumage in both sexes.
- •Identification: a small penguin (approximately 2 feet tall) with a black band on its chest and patches of red skin at the base of its bill..
- •Identification: a large (3 foot tall) penguin with orange ear patches and a yellow-orange wash on the breast.
- •Identification: a medium-sized penguin (up to 21/2 feet) with a white patch above the eye.
- •Identification: a large vulture (wingspan up to 9 feet) with a white head and neck and brown plumage.
- •Insects
- •Introduction
Identification: a large wild cat (up to 550 pounds) with a prominent mane in males.
CHEETAH
IDENTIFICATION: A medium-sized wild cat with a sleek, greyhoundlike physique and a spotted coat DISTIBUTION-TION: Throughout Africa and sporadically in central Asia and the Middle East; vulnerable. HABITAT: Semidesert, grassland, steppes. STUDY AREAS: Serengeti National Park, Tanzania; Lion Country Safari, California; National Zoological Park, Washington, D.C.; Hogle Zoo, Utah; subspecies A.j. jubatus, the African Cheetah.
Social Organization
Lions have two distinct forms of social organization. Some individuals are RESIDENTS, living in prides of up to a dozen or more adult females (usually all related to one another) with their cubs, along with an associated COALITION of one to nine adult males. Other Lions are NOMADS, ranging widely as solitary individuals or pairs. Female Cheetahs are largely solitary, while males are either RESIDENTS (with their own territories) or FLOATERS (without resident territories). Some males associate in groups of two to three (occasionally four) animals, often littermates (see below). The mating system is promiscuous or polygamous: males and females gen-432 erally mate with multiple partners, no long-term heterosexual bonds are formed, and males do not typically participate in parenting.
Description
Behavioral Expression: In female Lions, homosexual interactions are often initiated by one female pursuing another and crawling under her to encourage the other female to mount her. When mounting another female, a Lioness displays a number of behaviors also associated with heterosexual mating, including gently biting the mountee on the neck, growling, making pelvic thrusts, and rolling on her own back afterward. Sometimes Lionesses take turns mounting each other. Because most females in a pride are related to each ther—on average about as closely related as cousins—homosexual behavior among Lionesses may be largely incestuous. Among male pride-mates (residents), homosexual activity often begins with a great deal of affectionate activity (which is also a component of “greetings” interactions between males). This includes mutual head-rubbing (often accompanied by a low moaning or humming noise), presentation of the hindquarters to the other male, sliding and rubbing against each other, circling one another, and rolling on the back with an erect penis. This may lead to intense caressing and eventually mounting of one male by the other, including pelvic thrusting. Sometimes three males rub and roll together, mounting each other in turn. A male Lion sometimes courts a particular individual, keeping company with him for several days while engaging in sexual behavior. He typically defends his partner against intruding males, and often other males in the group will join him in attacking any interfering males. Because male pride-mates, like females, are usually related to each other (as close, on average, as half brothers), this activity may also be incestuous. Nomadic male Lions also form long-lasting platonic “companionships” with other males, spending nearly all of their time together; these male pair- or trio-bonds are generally stronger than heterosexual bonds between residents. Companions are usually close in age; some are pride-mates or brothers, although about half of all companionships include unrelated individuals. Females occasionally form companionships with each other as well.
Female Cheetahs sometimes court other females, including participation in courtship chases, play-fighting, and mating circles. Courtship chases take place in the early morning, late afternoon, or on moonlit nights; groups of Cheetahs—in—cluding females—chase a female in heat for up to 150 yards. This may be interspersed with mock-fighting, in which the courting animals (females or males) rise up on their hind legs and drop their forelegs on the female being courted. Females also sometimes join MATING CIRCLES, where the animals lie in a circle around the courted female, often while the males take turns fighting each other. A female Cheetah may also mount another female who is in heat, clasping her with the forelegs, gently biting the scruff of her neck (as in heterosexual copulation), and thrusting against her. Male homosexual mounting occurs as well, and one male may also mount another male that is in the act of mating with a female. During courtship interactions, males also sometimes lick and nuzzle another male’s genitals while closely following him, occasionally exhibiting an erection while doing so.
Male Cheetahs often live in permanent partnerships or COALITIONS, consisting of a pair or trio of animals; about 30 percent of these associations include animals that are not related to each other, while the remainder consist of brothers. Partners are strongly bonded to one another and probably remain together for life. Spending almost all (93 percent) of their time in each other’s company, male pair-mates frequently groom one another (licking each other’s face and neck), defend each other in fights, and prefer resting together in close contact (even if this means that one of them will not be fully shaded against the harsh midday sun). Bonded males also become strongly distressed when separated, continuously searching and calling loudly for one another with birdlike yip or chirp calls. On being reunited, they may engage in a variety of affectionate and/or sexual activities, including reciprocal mounting with erections, face-rubbing, and STUTTERING (a purrlike vocalization often associated with sexual excitement). These activities appear to be more common between siblings than nonsiblings. Very rarely, paired males may temporarily adopt or look after lost cubs (most other parents in this species—foster or otherwise—are single mothers).
Frequency: In Lions, homosexual behavior in females is fairly common in captivity, while in the wild, two Lionesses were observed to mount each other three times over two days. In males, homosexual mounting may account for up to 8 percent of all mounting episodes. About 47 percent of all companionships involving adult nomadic Lions are between males, and about 37 percent are between females. Homosexual behavior (courtship and sexual) in Cheetahs is also quite frequent (at least in captive or semiwild conditions). In the wild, 27—40 percent of males live in same-sex pairs while 16—19 percent live in same-sex trios. In one study, 1 out of 11 instances of foster-parenting involved a pair of males looking after a cub (representing perhaps less than 1 percent of all families, adoptive and nonadoptive).
Orientation: Female Lions and male Cheetahs that participate in homosexual mounting may be bisexual, since same-sex activity sometimes alternates (or co-occurs) with heterosexual mounting in the same session. Some female Lions react aggressively to homosexual overtures and therefore these individuals are probably predominantly heterosexual. However, other females engage in same-sex mounting even in the presence of males, indicating more of a “preference” for homosexual activity. Many male Cheetahs living in partnerships do court and mate with females. However, pairs or trios of males are only with females 9 percent of the time, and they may experience reduced heterosexual mating opportunities compared to single males. Moreover, same-sex coalitions usually constitute life-long pair-bonds (which are not found between males and females in this species). Only about half of all companionships of two to three male Lions ever become residents that mate with a pride of females. Those that don’t may associate exclusively with other males for most of their lives, while some that do join a pride may participate in both same-sex and opposite-sex activities.
Nonreproductive and Alternative Heterosexualities
More than 60 percent of male Lions (solitary or in companionships) do not become residents during their lives and therefore do not participate in breeding. When they do, however, Lions have extraordinarily high heterosexual copulation rates. The female may mate as often as four times an hour when she is in heat over a continuous period of three days and nights (without sleeping), and sometimes with up to five different males—far in excess of the amount required if mating were simply for fertilization. A number of other nonprocreative sexual behaviors occur in these felids as well. Lions sometimes mate during pregnancy (up to 13 percent of all sexual activity), and as much as 80 percent of all heterosexual mating in some populations may not result in reproduction. In fact, following arrival of new males in a pride, females often increase their sexual activity while reducing their fertility (by failing to ovulate). In addition, “oral sex” is a feature of heterosexual foreplay—female Lions may lick and rub the male’s genitals, while Cheetahs of both sexes lick their partner’s genitals as part of heterosexual courtship. Male Lions have also been observed masturbating in captivity: an unusual technique is used, in which the Lion lies on his back and rolls his hindquarters up above his head, so that he can rub his penis with one of his front legs.
In wild Cheetahs, incestuous activity occasionally takes place when adult males try to mount their mothers, who typically react aggressively to such advances. In fact, heterosexual relations are in general characterized by a great deal of aggression between the sexes. In Lions, heterosexual copulation is often accompanied by snarling, biting, growling, and threats, and sometimes the female actually wheels around and slaps the male. During Cheetah courtship chases, males often knock females down and slap them, and these interactions may develop into full-scale fights. When the female is not in heat, the two sexes live largely segregated lives. Family life in these species may also be fraught with violence: infanticide occurs in Lions (where it accounts for more than a quarter of all cub deaths) as well as Cheetahs. Abandonment by their mother is the second highest cause of cub mortality in Cheetahs, and mother Cheetahs occasionally eat their own cubs if they have been killed by a predator (adult male Cheetahs also sometimes cannibalize each other). However, female Lions often participate in productive alternative family arrangements amongst themselves, such as communal care and suckling of young, as well as the formation of CRÈCHES or nursery groups. Female Cheetahs also sometimes (reluctantly) adopt orphaned or lost cubs.
RED FOX