My Science School

The lilac-breasted roller is an African member of the roller family of birds. It is widely distributed in sub-Saharan Africa, and is a vagrant to the southern Arabian Peninsula. It prefers open woodland and savanna, and it is for the most part absent from treeless places. Usually found alone or in pairs, it perches conspicuously at the tops of trees, poles or other high vantage points from where it can spot insects, lizards, scorpions, snails, small birds and rodents moving about on the ground. Nesting takes place in a natural hole in a tree where a clutch of 2–4 eggs is laid, and incubated by both parents, who are extremely aggressive in defence of their nest, taking on raptors and other birds. During the breeding season the male will rise to a fair height (69 to 144 metres), descending in swoops and dives,[3] while uttering harsh, discordant cries. The sexes are different in coloration, and juveniles lack the long tail streamers of adults. This species is unofficially considered the national bird of Kenya. Alternate names for the lilac-breasted roller include the fork-tailed roller, lilac-throated roller (also used for a subspecies of purple roller) and Mosilikatze's roller.

 

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Birds are the only animals in the world with feathers, which provide a protective and warm covering and help them fly. Their wings make them the best fliers of all the flying animals. Like mammals, birds are warm-blooded. However, unlike most mammals, they lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young.

Feathers

Different feathers have very different shapes, depending on their job. The largest and strongest are the flight feathers on a bird’s wings and tail. Down feathers are small and fluffy, and sit next to the bird’s body to keep it warm. Contour feathers are longer and stiffer, and cover the outside of the body to give the bird a streamlined shape. Flight feathers are the longest and toughest feathers. They line the bird’s wings and tail, and push against the air to power the bird in flight.

Bill

Birds don’t have teeth. Instead, they have a light but strong bill for feeding. The bills have different shapes, depending on a bird’s diet. Rollers mainly eat insects.

Some of the most important aspects of a bird's bill are not specific features, but the general jizz of the bill. When first studying bird bills, look for the following features.

• Size: How large does the bill appear in proportion to the bird's head? Check for length as compared to the length of the head as well as the width of the bill and how that width may change along the bill's length.


• Shape: Bill shapes vary widely, from delicate triangles or thin, needle-like bills to thick, bulbous bills to sharply curved bills to radical shapes that include spoon-like tips or horny casques. When the shape is very unique, that can be a diagnostic clue for a bird's identity even if other field marks cannot be seen.


• Color: The color of a bill can be a clue for species, gender, or age. Note the overall color as well as any specific markings, such as a colored tip or base, sub terminal band or color differences between the top and bottom of the bill.

Tail

The tail is used like a rudder to steer when flying, or for balance when the bird is perched on a branch or walking on the ground. Birds use their tails to create lift and control drag during slower flights and to help steer during turns. They also furl their tails to reduce drag during faster flights. Bird tails have evolved to serve a number of specialized roles apart from flight and display. A woodpecker's tail, for instance, has a row of prongs that helps her hang against tree trunks while she jackhammers the bark. Her tail acts as a stabilizer that forms a tripod with her legs. Brown creepers' tails afford them similar vertical foraging. Bird tails can stand in for bird calls, too. The most dynamic example is probably Wilson's snipes. During courtship, their tail feathers whir and whistle as they engage in dizzying dances.

Feet

Birds are bipedal, which on two feet. They have between two and four toes, which end in a sharp claw. Hawks, eagles and owls have strong feet with long claws or talons to help them capture, grasp and kill their prey. Woodpeckers have four toes, two pointed forward and two pointed backward. This arrangement helps them grasp tree bark and climb. Song birds use their feet for perching and walking or hopping. Three toes pointing forward with one opposing toe helps them grasp their perch. Wading birds such as cranes and herons have long toes to help them walk through soft bottoms in wetlands in search of food. Swimming birds, such as ducks and geese, have webbing between their toes to help them paddle in water.

Wings

Instead of arms with hands, birds have wings. Birds fly either by flapping their wings or using them to glide in the air. A few birds can also hover. There are four general wing types:

1. Elliptical wings – found on bats and most small forest and scrub-dwelling birds, such as robins and sparrows. These wings allow a high degree of control and manoeuvrability in confined spaces, and minimize drag to allow rapid ascent and descent. Wing beat is usually rapid. Elliptical wings are highly slotted between the primary feathers which help to prevent stalling during sharp turns, low-speed flight, and frequent landing and takeoff.

2. High speed wings – found on swallows, falcons, shore birds, and ducks. Birds that feed on the wing or make long migrations. The bones are relatively long, and the wings taper to a point to allow for high flight speed with low drag, and low energy consumption during flight. Because the wings are also thin, they must be flapped for short glides and during descent, and flaps are fairly rapid but small. This type of wing is aerodynamically efficient for high-speed flight but cannot easily keep a bird airborne at low speeds.

3. Long soaring wings – found on terns, albatrosses, gannets, frigate birds, gulls and other sea birds. The wings have a high aspect ratio resembling those of sailplanes. The open spaces allow for long wings to create good lift with little energy expenditure. They are also adapted for high speed and dynamic soaring. However, they are less manoeuvrable than the wide, slotted wings of land soarers. Birds with this kind of wing can glide easily over large expanses of water and have exploited the sea winds.. However, the birds must usually run and take off into the wind to get off the ground, and usually land easily on water.

4. High-lift/Broad soaring wings – found on vultures, condors, hawks, ospreys, pelicans and eagles. These wings are broad and only relatively long, allowing for takeoff and landing in fairly confined areas, high lift, low speed soaring, and slow descents. Many of these birds are land soarers with good manoeuvrability required for tactic soaring in the air currents over land.

Eggs and nest

Most female birds make a nest, where they lay their eggs. The young grow inside, while the parents keep the eggs warm, taking it in turns to sit on them. When the time is right, the chicks peck their way out of the shell. Nests provide a safe place for eggs and young birds to develop. Bird nests are extremely diverse, although each species typically has a characteristic nest style. Some birds do not make nests at all and instead lay their eggs in a simple scrape in the ground. Other birds construct nests from natural materials, such as grass, leaves, mud, lichen, and fur, or from man-made materials like paper, plastic, and yarn. Nests can be found almost anywhere – on the ground, in trees, in burrows, on the sides of cliffs, in and on man-made structures, etc. Females typically build nests, but sometimes either parents or just the male will build it.

 

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Mammals living in the sea can stay underwater for long periods of time. Their streamlined shape helps to make them very good at swimming.

Dolphins

Dolphins are fast swimmers and like to leap out of the water. Dolphins live in the world’s seas and oceans and in some rivers too. Some dolphin species prefer to live in coastal areas, others like shallow water but prefer to live away from the coast close to patches of shallower water which are located further out to sea. River dolphins such as the Amazon River dolphin and the South Asian river dolphins only live in fresh water rivers and lakes. Some dolphin species have populations that live in fresh water; these include the tucuxi Irrawaddy dolphin and finless porpoise.

Manatees

Manatees are slow-movers. There are three species of manatee, distinguished primarily by where they live. The West Indian manatee ranges along the North American east coast from Florida to Brazil. The Amazonian manatee species inhabit the Amazon River and the African manatee swims along the west coast and rivers of Africa.

Whales

Whales are the largest animals alive today. Some whales, like belugas, narwhals, and bowheads, typically spend their whole lives in arctic regions. While these animals still do migrate, they normally remain in arctic waters. Some strays have been observed outside of the arctic. For example, three belugas were seen in Rhode Island waters in 2015. A lone bowhead was seen off Cape Cod in 2012 and 2014.

There are few endemic cetaceans in warmer water, with a notable example being the near extinct vaquita in Mexico, along with some species of dolphins.

Seals

Seals dive deep looking for food. True seals typically live in the cold ocean waters of the Arctic or off the coasts of Antarctica. Some seals make caves in the snow to live in. Fur seals and sea lions live in the Northern Pacific between Asia and North America and off the coasts of South America, Antarctica, southwestern Africa and southern Australia.

Sea otters

This aquatic member of the weasel family is found along the coasts of the Pacific Ocean in North America and Asia. The sea otter spends most of its time in the water but, in some locations, comes ashore to sleep or rest. Sea otters have webbed feet, water-repellent fur to keep them dry and warm, and nostrils and ears that close in the water.

 

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There are more types of mammal on land because there are so many different places where they can live. This might be a desert, a leafy forest, or even underground.

Bears

Bears are the largest meat-eating animals (carnivores) living on land. Bears are found on the continents of North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. Common characteristics of modern bears include large bodies with stocky legs, long snouts, small rounded ears, shaggy hair, plantigrade paws with five nonretractile claws, and short tails.

Squirrels

Squirrels use their bushy tails for balance when running along branches. The squirrel family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels, chipmunks, marmots(including woodchucks), flying squirrels, and prairie dogs amongst other rodents. Squirrels are indigenous to the Americas, Eurasia, and Africa, and were introduced by humans to Australia.The earliest known fossilized squirrels date from the Eocene period and are most closely related to the mountain beaver and to the dormouse among other living rodent families.

Camels

Camels are mammals with long legs, a big-lipped snout and a humped back. There are two types of camels: dromedary camels, which have one hump, and Bactrian camels, which have two humps. Camels' humps consist of stored fat, which they can metabolize when food and water is scarce.

Gorillas

Gorillas are the largest of all the primates. These gorillas live on the green, volcanic slopes of Rwanda, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo—areas that have seen much human violence from which the gorillas have not escaped unscathed.

Anteaters

The giant anteater can be found in multiple habitats, including grassland and rainforest. It forages in open areas and rests in more forested habitats. It feeds primarily on ants and termites, using its fore claws to dig them up and its long, sticky tongue to collect them. Though giant anteaters live in overlapping home ranges, they are mostly solitary except during mother-offspring relationships, aggressive interactions between males, and when mating. Mother anteaters carry their offspring on their backs until weaning them.

Giraffes

Giraffes have the longest neck of any living animal. The giraffe (Giraffa) is an African even-toed ungulate mammal, the tallest living terrestrial animal and the largest ruminant. Its scattered range extends from Chad in the north to South Africa in the south and from Niger in the west to Somalia in the east. Giraffes live in herds of related females and their offspring, or bachelor herds of unrelated adult males, but are gregarious and may gather in large aggregations.

Zebras

Zebras live in large herds on grassy plains. The Zebra lives in Africa and boast one of the largest numbers of animals of any species, There isn’t a lot that zebra won’t eat and they are first into the range to get the food, tramping down whatever lies in their way, while the other animals follow closely behind.

Zebra will travel many miles to graze on a favored food, during the day. They may walk as far as ten or twelve miles in a day to eat.

Elephants

Elephants are the largest animals that live on land, and they're one of the most unique-looking animals, too. With their characteristic long noses, or trunks; large, floppy ears; and wide, thick legs, there is no other animal with a similar physique.

Most experts recognize two species of elephant: the Asian elephant and the African elephant, who live on separate continents and have many unique features.

Rhinoceroses

The rhinoceros is a large mammal native to Africa and Asia. There are five species of rhino found in the world with 3 out of the 5 species of rhino now considered to be critically endangered. The rhino is thought to be the second biggest land mammal in the world behind the African elephant.

The five species of rhinoceros are the white rhino (which is the largest species of rhino) and the black rhino which are both native to Africa and are only really distinguished in size as they look fairly similar. The Indian rhino, the Sumatran rhino and the Javan rhino are all native to Asia and are much smaller in size than the white rhino and the black rhino of Africa.

Hares

Hares are classified in the same family as rabbits. They are similar in size and form to rabbits and have similar herbivorous diets, but generally have longer ears and live solitarily or in pairs. Also unlike rabbits, their young are able to fend for themselves shortly after birth rather than emerging blind and helpless. Most are fast runners. Hare species are native to Africa, Eurasia, North America, and the Japanese archipelago.

Armadillos

Armadillos live in temperate and warm habitats, including rain forests, grasslands, and semi-deserts. Because of their low metabolic rate and lack of fat stores, cold is their enemy, and spates of intemperate weather can wipe out whole populations.

Most species dig burrows and sleep prolifically, up to 16 hours per day, foraging in the early morning and evening for beetles, ants, termites, and other insects. They have very poor eyesight, and utilize their keen sense of smell to hunt. Strong legs and huge front claws are used for digging, and long, sticky tongues for extracting ants and termites from their tunnels. In addition to bugs, armadillos eat small vertebrates, plants, and some fruit, as well as the occasional carrion meal.

Foxes

Foxes are small-to-medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. Foxes have a flattened skull, upright triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail. Twelve species belong to the monophyletic "true foxes" group of genus Vulpes. Approximately another 25 current or extinct species are always or sometimes called foxes; these foxes are either part of the paraphyletic group of the South American foxes, or of the outlying group, which consists of bat-eared fox, gray fox, and island fox. Foxes live on every continent except Antarctica.

Koalas

Though often called the koala “bear,” this cuddly animal is not a bear at all; it is a marsupial, or pouched mammal. After giving birth, a female koala carries her baby in her pouch for about six months. When the infant emerges, it rides on its mother's back or clings to her belly, accompanying her everywhere until it is about a year old.

Koalas live in eastern Australia, where the eucalyptus trees they love are most plentiful. In fact, they rarely leave these trees, and their sharp claws and opposable digits easily keep them aloft. During the day they doze, tucked into forks or nooks in the trees, sleeping for up to 18 hours.

Monkeys

Old World monkeys live in rainforests, mountains, and savannas across Africa, India, Japan, and Asia. Examples of Old World monkeys are baboons and mandrills.

The 78 species of Old World monkeys have some common characteristics. They have small nostrils that are close together, and most have a really cool pouch in their cheeks. They store food here while they are on the move. Wouldn't that be awesome if you could store your snacks in your cheeks for later? Most Old World monkeys also have a neat adaptation called a rump pad. This gives their bottom a little extra cushion. Most Old world monkeys do not have the prehensile tails.

Leopards

Leopards are big cats that hunt at night. Leopards are found in Africa and Asia, from the Middle Eastern nations to Russia, Korea, China, India, and Malaysia. Consequently, they live in a wide variety of habitats including forests, mountains, deserts and grasslands. 

Hedgehogs

Hedgehogs have prickly spines for defence. Hedgehogs can be found in Europe, Asia, Africa and New Zealand, according to National Geographic. They can live in a wide range of habitats, including savannas, forests, deserts, scrublands and suburban gardens.

Hedgehog homes are usually burrows and nests they build themselves. Hedgehog burrows can be up to 20 inches (50 cm) deep, according to the San Diego Zoo, and nests are made from leaves, branches and other vegetation. Sometimes, hedgehogs take over burrows that other animals have left behind or nestle between rocks.

Moles

Moles dig tunnels with their spadelike hands. Moles are found on every continent except Antarctica and South America. They live in grasslands, urban areas, gardens, grasslands, sand dunes, mixed woodland or any area that has soil where they can dig tunnels. Moles use tunnels to travel, but tunnels are more than just underground highways. Moles dig special chambers at the ends of tunnels that serve as bedrooms and birthing areas. Sometimes moles will live in a series of tunnels for generations before moving.

Moles have kitchens, as well, in tunnel chambers. They eat mostly earthworms, and keep them alive and immobile by biting their heads, and then store them in the chamber.

 

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There are more than 5,000 different types of mammal in the world today. They are divided into three groups, based on how their babies are born and raised.

Egg-laying mammals

Monotremes are the only mammals to lay eggs. The monotremes are typified by structural differences in their brains, jaws, digestive tract, reproductive tract, and other body parts compared to the more common mammalian types. In addition they lay eggs rather than bear live young, but like all mammals, the female monotremes nurse their young with milk. Echidnas, or spiny anteaters, and the duck-billed platypus from Australia are the two types of monotremes alive today. The first things you probably notice about an echidna are the spines that cover most of its body, except for its face and belly. The animal also has short fur in between its spines, as well as on its underside. The spines are a great protection against predators. When the echidna wedges itself in a hole or rolls up in a ball, it's almost impossible to attack this living pincushion!

The echidna's long front claws might look scary too, but they're more useful in digging than in protection.

There are two types of echidnas, short-beaked and long-beaked. The short-beaked is much smaller than its cousin, weighing from five to 15 lbs., with a length of 12 to 18 inches.

Pouched mammals

Marsupials are mammals that carry their babies in a pouch to keep them safe. Australia is home to many marsupials, including kangaroos and koalas. They are notable because they have pouches in which they place their young when they are born. This pouch is near the mammary glands so the mother can nurse the young animals. When they are big enough, they leave the pouch and are on their own. They give live birth, but they do not have long gestation times like placental mammals. Instead, they give birth very early and the young animal, essentially a helpless embryo, climbs from the mother's birth canal to the nipples. There it grabs on with its mouth and continues to develop, often for weeks or months depending on the species. 

Placental mammals

Placental mammals, such as pigs, give birth to babies that are more developed than marsupial babies. This is the largest group of mammals and includes humans. The placentals include all living mammals except marsupials and monotremes. Although some authorities consider the marsupials (cohort Marsupialia) to be placental mammals, these animals have a less-developed, less-efficient type of placenta that limits the gestation period. The true placenta of the placentals allows for a longer developmental period within the protection of the womb, a factor considered to have contributed to the evolutionary success of the group. Fossil evidence shows that the first placental mammals evolved between about 163 million and 157 million years ago during the Jurassic Period (201.3 million to about 145 million years ago).

 

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Mammals

From anteaters to zebras, and even humans like you, mammals come in all shapes and sizes. However, all mammals feed their young with milk. Most mammals give birth to live young, and almost all have hair on their body.  Only mammals have a lower jaw that is hinged directly to the skull. They also have specialized teeth, which means that they can bite, grip, tear, cut, chew, and grind their food. The planet’s largest animals belong to this group, including whales, elephants, and tigers.

Warm blood

Mammals have a constant body temperature. They produce their own heat to keep warm or sweat to cool down. This means they can be active whether conditions are hot or cold. They do this by generating their own heat when they are in a cooler environment, and by cooling themselves when they are in a hotter environment. To generate heat, warm-blooded animals convert the food that they eat into energy. They have to eat a lot of food, compared with cold-blooded animals, to maintain a constant body temperature. Only a small amount of the food that a warm-blooded animal eats is converted into body mass. The rest is used to fuel a constant body temperature.

Fur

Only mammals are covered in hair. Many hairs tightly packed together make fur. This protects the skin, and helps to keep the mammal warm and dry. Mammals are the only animals with true hair.  Hairs are dead cords of a substance called keratin which is also what our fingernails are made from.  The most important part is that hair is dead.

Milk

Milk is a nutrient-rich, white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for infant mammals before they are able to digest other types of food. Female mammals produce milk to feed their young. The babies suckle from their mothers to drink the milk, which is packed with all the nutrients they need.

Mammal facts

1. Sea otters have the thickest fur of all mammals. An adult may be covered in 800 million hairs.


2. Female elephants carry their baby for an incredible 22 months before they give birth.


3. A common tenrec holds the record for the most young born in one litter. She had 32 babies. Tenrecs are small mammals that live in Madagascar.


4. Blue whale babies are the largest on Earth. They weigh 2.5 tonnes (2.7 tons) when they are born.


5. Hooded seal mothers produce milk that is more than 60 per cent fat. That is richer than ice cream.

 

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Mammals

Only mammals have a lower jaw that is hinged directly to the skull. They also have specialized teeth, which means that they can bite, grip, tear, cut, chew, and grind their food. The planet’s largest animals belong to this group, including whales, elephants, and tigers.

Mammals are sometimes divided into three types based on how they give birth and take care of their young.

• Live young - Most mammals give birth to live young (instead of laying eggs like birds or reptiles). These mammals are called placental mammals.


• Marsupials - Marsupials are special types of mammals that carry their young in a pouch. Some marsupials include the kangaroo, the koala, and the opossum.


• Egg laying - A few mammals lay eggs, they are called monotremes. Monotremes include the platypus and the long-nosed spiny anteater.

Fish

The first vertebrates were fish. Most fish, including carp, have a hard, bony skeleton. However, sharks and rays have a softer skeleton, which is made of a flexible material called cartilage. Fish have developed special senses, too. Because water transmits sounds, disperses chemicals, and conducts electricity better than air, fish rely less on their vision and more on their hearing, taste, and smell. Many can detect motion in the water using a special row of scales with sensors known as the lateral line. Others can find their prey and even navigate by detecting electrical charges.

One reason fish are so diverse is that 70 percent of the planet is covered in water. The animals in this group live in a variety of habitats ranging from coral reefs and kelp forests to rivers, streams, and the open ocean. Another is that fish are very old on the evolutionary scale. According to fossil records, they have been on Earth for more than 500 million years! The total number of living fish species—about 32,000— is greater than the total of all other vertebrate species (amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals) combined.

Reptiles

Reptiles have highly bendy backbones. Whether they have four legs, like lizards, or no legs at all, like snakes, most reptiles are fast movers and efficient hunters. Reptiles are covered with scales to protect themselves. Reptiles are capable of living on both land and in water. The body structure of the reptiles is designed to make them adapt to survive both on land and in water. The feet of the reptiles have claws in their toes and the body is covered with scaly skins.

Reptiles are cold blooded animals. They regulate their body temperature by adapting to the outside temperatures. To keep them warm they stay in the sun and to keep them cold they stay in the water or hide under the ground or rock. Reptiles are air breathing animals and give birth to the young one by laying eggs. Usually reptiles breathe through lungs but sometimes they can suck up oxygen in the water through the membranes present in the mouth.

Birds

Birds have special bodies that allow them to fly. Their arms have become wings and their skeleton has strong, but light bones, which makes flying easier. Only birds have feathers, which keeps them warm and help them fly.

Birds are warm blooded vertebrates that belong to the class aves. The body of the birds is streamlined and is covered with feather and its forelimbs are converted into wings. Today about 9,703 species of birds live all over the globe and they are divided into 23 orders, and 142 families. 

Birds are the only creatures in the world that have the capacity to walk, fly, sing, dance and swim. Birds are warm blooded animals with high body temperature that is necessary for their flights. The most highlighted characteristic of the birds is its feathers. No other living organisms in the world have wings (feathers). They are the light weight organisms and they have the capacity to grow feathers each year.

Amphibians

These were the first four-limbed vertebrates to walk on Earth. Their skeletons are a mix of bone and cartilage. Some amphibians such as frogs are good at swimming and jumping.

Amphibians are cold blooded animals that posse’s backbone and are the direct offspring of fishes. They have the capacity to live both on land as well as in water. Amphibians have complex circulatory system unlike fish that have scales. The larvae of the amphibians that develop in the water breathe through gills while the adults breathe through skins and lungs. Some amphibians are terrestrial at some point of time in their life cycle.

 

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Animals with backbones are called vertebrates. They have a bony skeleton under their skin and muscles, which provides a strong framework that supports their body and helps them move. They may look very different at first glance, but all vertebrate skeletons share some features, such as a skull to protect the brain.

Vertebrate animals can be either warm-blooded or cold-blooded. A cold-blooded animal cannot maintain a constant body temperature. The temperature of their body is determined by the outside surroundings. Cold-blooded animals will move around during the day between the shade and the sun to warm up or cool down. Cold-blooded animals are ectothermic, which means outside heat. Reptiles, amphibians, and fish are all cold-blooded. 



Warm-blooded animals are able to regulate their internal temperature. They can sweat or pant to cool off and have fur and feathers to help keep them warm. Warm-blooded animals are called endothermic, meaning "heat inside". Only birds and mammals are warm-blooded. 

 

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If an animal is to stay alive, it is vital for it to be able to sense what is happening around it. The five major senses that animals use are sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. Some animals have extra senses and can detect electricity or even magnetism!

Some dolphins, whales, and bats navigate and track prey using echo location. This is a very advanced form of hearing that allows them to “see” their surroundings by listening to and analyzing the way sound reflects off objects in their environment. Many fish sense their surroundings with a lateral line system, which detects changes in water pressure. This allows them to feel the movement of other animals in the water nearby. Snakes use a special apparatus called Jacobsen's organ to smell. The snake's forked tongue collects chemicals from the air, which it pulls in and holds against the organ, located in the roof of its mouth. Sharks, and some other fish are sensitive to the electric fields generated by other animals in the water. They use this information to track prey. Weak electric currents are sometimes used to repel sharks.

 

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Some female animals, such as seals, grow their young inside their bellies before giving birth. The babies may stay with their mother for a while to learn how to find food and avoid predators. Other animals, including birds and some reptiles and insects, lay eggs and protect them until the newborns hatch.

During sexual reproduction, the haploid gametes of the male and female individuals of a species combine in a process called fertilization. Typically, the small, motile male sperm fertilizes the much larger, sessile female egg. This process produces a diploid fertilized egg called a zygote.

Some animal species—including sea stars and sea anemones, as well as some insects, reptiles, and fish—are capable of asexual reproduction. The most common forms of asexual reproduction for stationary aquatic animals include budding and fragmentation, where part of a parent individual can separate and grow into a new individual. In contrast, a form of asexual reproduction found in certain insects and vertebrates is called parthenogenesis (or “virgin beginning”), where unfertilized eggs can develop into new male offspring. This type of parthenogenesis is called haplodiploidy. These types of asexual reproduction produce genetically identical offspring, which is disadvantageous from the perspective of evolutionary adaptability because of the potential buildup of deleterious mutations. However, for animals that are limited in their capacity to attract mates, asexual reproduction can ensure genetic propagation.

 

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Many animals are able to send messages to each other. This is called communication. They may use their body to communicate. Monkeys, like this mandrill, can scream a warning, while many birds have their own special song. Some animals, such as beetles, use chemicals scents to send a message. Many animals communicate by smell: they release pheromones (airborne chemicals) to send messages to others. Pheromones play an important part in reproduction and other social behavior. They are used by many animals, including insects, wolves, deer, and even humans!

Bees dance when they have found nectar. The scout bee will dance in the hive, and the dance directs other bees to the location of the nectar. Chimpanzees greet each other by touching hands. Male fiddler crabs wave their giant claw to attract female fiddler crabs. White-tailed deer show alarm by flicking up their tails. Dogs stretch their front legs out in front of them and lower their bodies when they want to play. Elephants show affection by entwining their trunks. Giraffes press their necks together when they are attracted to each other. Gorillas stick out their tongues to show anger. Horses rub noses as a sign of affection.

 

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Animals move around in a variety of ways, including hopping, jumping, running, crawling, slithering, flying, or swimming. Many animals use their legs to move, but others may use wings or fins. There are also many animal species that depend on their environment for transportation, a type of mobility called passive locomotion, e.g., sailing (some jellyfish), kiting (spiders), rolling (some beetles and spiders) or riding other animals (phoresis).

Animals move for a variety of reasons, such as to find food, a mate, a suitable microhabitat, or to escape predators. For many animals, the ability to move is essential for survival and, as a result, natural selection has shaped the locomotion methods and mechanisms used by moving organisms. For example, migratory animals that travel vast distances (such as the Arctic tern) typically have a locomotion mechanism that costs very little energy per unit distance, whereas non-migratory animals that must frequently move quickly to escape predators are likely to have energetically costly, but very fast, locomotion.

 

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Animals get their energy from food. Many are carnivores, which means they eat meat. Others are herbivores, called omnivores, eat both animals and plants. Some animals, including some worms, insects, lampreys and the vampire bat, feed on blood. A few animals eat a wide range of both plant and animal food: they are omnivores. Finally, detrivores, such as dung beetles and crabs, eat dead or rotting food and wastes. Animals don’t only need protein and energy, they also need vitamins and minerals. Farmers can buy vitamin and mineral mixes that can be supplemented into an animal’s daily ration. Vitamins and minerals can also be feed as a solid block that the animals will lick while out grazing.

Two very important minerals are calcium and phosphorous. These minerals are important for proper bone and teeth development, metabolism, and more. It is normally suggested that the ratio of calcium to phosphorous is about 2:1 for normal functions. One easy way to keep this balance is to feed dicalcium phosphate. Like other nutrients, the levels of these minerals also depends on the age of the animal.

 

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All animals need oxygen to survive. They get it either by breathing air or by absorbing oxygen from water into their body. Dolphins live in water and breathe air through the blowhole on top of their head. All vertebrate animals that live on land have lungs. When we breathe in, the muscle below the rib cage (called the diaphragm) is pulled down, and air gets sucked into the rib cage, filling the lungs. Blood cells circulating through tiny blood vessels near the lungs pick up oxygen and carry it around the body to the sites of respiration. Air is then forced out of the lungs as the diaphragm bows upwards. Birds are different from humans in many ways. As you probably know, they fly, and their bodies are well adapted for flight. Their lungs are very efficient: they take in much more oxygen per breath than other animals do. Because they get this extra oxygen they have lots of energy to direct to the flight muscles in their wings - they can flap away for hours! Frogs and toads have lungs, but when they are in water they can also breathe through their skin.

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Millions of different types of animal live on Earth. Each kind of animals is known as a species. Whether they are as tiny as an ant or as big as an elephant, all animals have a few things in common. For example, animals must eat other living things to survive, unlike plants, which get their energy from sunlight. Animals can also move from pace to place, whereas plants cannot. There are characteristics by which we recognize animals — they are multicellular, get the energy necessary for life by eating other organisms, and can move and sense their environment. Animals are a group of organisms in the family Animalia.  Animals can be insects, mammals, reptiles, fish, and other organisms that are not plants.  In agriculture, animals are raised for food, fiber, and fuel.  These animals are known as livestock.  Companion animals are what we call dogs, cats and other animals that provide companionship to humans.

 

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