Wander Lord

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Category Archive: Animals

Interesting facts about Cuckoos

Interesting facts about Cuckoos

Interesting facts about Cuckoos

Cuckoos are named for the sounds they make. There are more than 125 different types of cuckoos throughout the world. Most of them live in forests, others live in open areas. Most cuckoos eat insects, especially caterpillars. Some of the larger species of cuckoos also feed on lizards, snakes, small mammals, and other birds.
The cuckoos vary greatly in size, with the range of body length being about 16–70 cm. Most of them are gray or brown. A few types have brightly colored feathers.
Some kinds of cuckoos do not raise their own young. They are nest-parasites and lay eggs in the nests of other kinds of birds that have similar-looking eggs. The female cuckoo may also remove any pre-existing eggs of the host species. In most cases, the host species is much smaller than the parasite and it is quite difficult to feed the voracious young cuckoo. The young cuckoo hatches quite quickly and while still blind, deaf and completely naked ejects the unhatched eggs of the host from the nest.
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Beautiful and Unusual Nests

Beautiful and Unusual Nests

Beautiful and Unusual Nests

Birds are well known for building nests for their eggs. Some fish, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and insects also build nests. Some fish hollow out nests in underwater gravel or sand. Frogs make nests out of mud or hardened froth. Alligators build mounds of grasses and mud. Cobras push together nests of leaves. Rabbits, mice, moles, and gophers make their nests underground.
Birds build nests in trees, in bushes, in caves, on buildings, on the ground or underground. They use a wide range of building materials: twigs and grass, mud, feathers, plant fuzz, and bits of spiderweb. Some birds use their saliva to bind the materials together.
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Crane – beautiful wading bird

Crane - beautiful wading bird

Crane – beautiful wading bird

Cranes are tall, wading birds known for their courtship dances, and voices. Today there are 15 crane species throughout the world, except South America and Antarctica.
Cranes have long legs, a long neck, and a narrow, tapered bill. They eat grains, and invertebrates they catch in the water.
Most cranes migrate fairly long distances to their nesting sites.
The largest crane, and the rarest Asian crane, is the red-crowned, or Japanese, crane. It can weigh up to 11.4 kg. It has vivid red feathers on the top of its head, but its body is snowy white. In 1952, this crane became Japan’s national bird.
The smallest crane is the demoiselle crane of Europe and North Africa.
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Canary – cute little bird

Canary – cute little bird

Canary – cute little bird

The canary is a small bird. Canaries are known for their singing. These birds are found wild in the Canary, Azores, and Madeira islands off the coast of northwestern Africa. They live in the forests, located mainly in mountainous areas. However, canaries can be found in places where people live – in the gardens and parks, small towns or villages. Many years ago people began breeding these wild birds. Today the canary is one of the most popular pet songbirds in the world.
The canary is closely related to goldfinches, siskins, redpolls, finches, cardinals, and sparrows.
In the wild, canaries are about 14 centimeters in length. Pet canaries differ in size, form, feather color, and song.
These birds have short, cone-shaped bills. They eat seeds and fruits.
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Hedgehog – prickly mammal

Hedgehog – prickly mammal

Hedgehog – prickly mammal

Hedgehogs are small mammals. They live in the wild in Europe, Africa, and Asia. Some people keep them as pets. Hedgehogs are found in deserts, forests, grasslands, marshes, and gardens. They are nocturnal animals. During the day they sleep in holes and come out at night to eat insects, especially earthworms, slugs, spiders, small reptiles. Their strong claws are useful for digging insects out of the ground. They are popular in gardens, where they eat insect pests.
There are 15 species of hedgehog.
The hedgehogs have thousands of sharp spines that cover everything except the belly, legs, face, and ears. They curl into a ball to protect themselves from predators. If attacked, a hedgehog will fight quite noisily, screaming in fury. Spines are updated every three years.
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Sponge – Plant or Animal?

Sponge - Plant or Animal?

Sponge – Plant or Animal?

Sponges are animals, but very strange. They don’t have the body parts and don’t even move around. They stay attached to an underwater rock or coral reef and look like plants. That’s why for a long time people thought sponges were plants.
There are nearly 5,000 different kinds of sponges. Most of them live in the ocean, but a few live in freshwater.
They are different in shapes: may be flat like spreading moss or like trees with branching arms.
A sponge’s body is a soft mass of cells supported by a skeleton. Holes in a sponge’s skin let water flow inside.
A sponge gets oxygen to breathe from water through its body. They eat by straining the water around them. All sponges feed on tiny plankton. On average, they eat about 2/3 of their own weight. The water enters the body through a large number of openings, but it always leaves through a single opening.
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Amazing Badger

Amazing Badger

Amazing Badger

Badgers are mammals that related to weasels, skunks, marten, otters, and mink. They are known for their powerful digging. There are eight species of badger. They live in many habitats, including grasslands and forests. The different species range from 33 to 81 centimeters long and are about 23 to 30 centimeters high.
Badgers have a strong body, with short, powerful legs, and a short tail. Most of them have gray or brown fur, and black-and-white marks on the face and back. They are generally active at dusk, night, and dawn.
Badgers eat insects, lizards, birds, plants and small animals such as squirrels, mice, and rabbits.
Like skunks, badgers have scent glands near the tail and shoot a liquid from these glands at their enemies.
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