Ermine

The ermine is found all over Canada, northern USA, and Eurasia. The Ermine lives in northern biomes such as taigas and tundras. The Siberian tundra is a vast land that is almost completely dark during the winter season because of its far north location. Also,

 the climate in winter is extremely cold. In fact, the Siberian Tundra is the coldest biome in the world. In the summer the Siberian tundra has many bogs and puddles scattered around the land because permafrost won't let the winter snow drain off. It is during the summer that most of the animals come out. Although the climate remains fairly cold, the Siberian Tundra is bright with sunshine. Ermines like to inhabit marshes, open spaces or rocky areas next to woodlands. The ermine is well adapted to living in this harsh environment. They make their dens in the old roots of a tree or in the crevice of a rock. Ermines are capable of having several dens.

Ermines may make their dens in the roots of trees farther south, but there are no trees on the tundra.

The ermine is a small animal that weighs between 3 - 15 ounces. The head and body length can range from 7 - 13 inches and the tail can grow up to 5 inches. The males are much longer than the females. In the spring and summer the ermine's coat is chocolate brown with a white underbelly and a black tip on the tail. In the winter the coat turns entirely white except for the black end of its tail. The ermine's flexible spine allows it to do the "marten run" in which the hind feet are tucked in by the front feet, causing the back to arch, and then extended. Since the ermine is a carnivore, it has 34 sharp teeth. It has short legs and a long body and neck. The head is triangular shaped with small round ears, small, bright eyes and long whiskers.

The male ermine reaches maturity at 12 months. The female reaches maturity at 2 months of age. The mating season is during late spring and summer. They have babies every year. Three to thirteen young are born each mating season. The birth size of the ermine is a half an ounce. When the kits [babies] are 8 weeks old their mother teaches them to how to hunt. After the mother teaches them how to hunt the female kits [babies] are ready to mate. The males aren't ready to mate and leave their mothers the next spring. The females might stay under their mother's protection in her territory. Ermines are very territorial. The female ermine has the sole responsibility of raising the young. The males do not usually help raise the young. An Ermine's life span is 4 to 7 years. Aside from raising young, the ermine is a solitary animal.

Caribou

The caribou lives in the arctic tundra, mountain tundra, and northern forests of North America, Greenland, Scandinavia, and Russia. It is estimated that there are about 5 million caribou in the world. They were first domesticated in Norway and northern Asia and known as reindeer. People used them to pull their sleds, provide milk, meat and skins to build their tents. When it was seen how valuable they were, they were brought to Alaska in 1887. Later they were brought to parts of Canada. These North American
reindeer became known as caribou. Although they are called by different names, they are both considered to be a single species.

The caribou is actually a large members of the deer family. Unlike deer, both the male and female have antlers. The antlers of the male are long, branched and massive, and they are a little flattened at the ends. The antlers of the female are much shorter, simpler and more slender and irregular. Sometimes they are completely missing.

The caribou is a sturdy animal with short legs. Its coat is brown and becomes darker in the summer and lighter in the winter. It has a ruff of long hairs under the neck, and the fur above the hooves and around the tail are almost white. The Alaskan caribou is clove-brown with a white neck and hindquarters.

Adult bulls average 350-400 pounds, but can weigh as much as 700 pounds. Mature females average 175-225 pounds They can range anywhere from 34 to 55 in height at the shoulder.

They are well adapted to living on the tundra. Their large, spreading hooves support the animal in snow in the winter and marshy tundra in the summer. Caribou are also great swimmers and use their feet as paddles. They can also lower their metabolic rate and go into a semi-hibernation when conditions get very harsh.

When it looks like there is nothing to eat on the winter tundra, caribou will scrape the snow away with their wide feet or antlers and eat lichens, dried sedges and small shrubs. In the summer they the will eat leaves of willows, sedges, flowering tundra plants, and mushrooms.

Caribou are social animals and live in huge herds. Males are often loners, until its time to mate, which begins in late September and October. The herds will often have several thousand animals in it. They will migrate more than 400-500 miles to reach winter or summer feeding grounds, and can travel up to 50 miles a day. The caribou's leg tendons make crackling sounds when it walks, which would make a migrating herd an noisy bunch indeed.

Arctic Fox

The North American tundra is located at latitudes 60° to 85° North and longitudes 55° to160° West which includes northern parts of Canada and the state of Alaska. The tundra is a cold barren wasteland that includes snow, rocks and very little variety in vegetation. It is in this place where the Arctic fox is found.

The Arctic fox (Alopex lagopus) makes its home in small burrows in frost-free ground, often in low mounds, or in rock piles. Because the Arctic fox is a scavenger it can usually find food to eat. Sometimes the fox will follow Polar bears or other predators and feed off the remains they leave behind.

The Arctic fox is about 10 -16 inches long and weighs about 6-12 pounds. It is about the size of an ordinary domesticated house cat. It has short legs a long bushy tail that it uses as insulation by wrapping it around itself when sleeping. Its long hair is white in the winter, and "blue" or gray in the summer. Its head has a stubby muzzle, small ears, and large eyes. Its feet are lined with fur, which helps it conserve heat. The Arctic fox has adapted a stealthy movement due to its predatory nature.

Both male and female mature sexually at one year of age. The mating season is May-February and the gestation period for a pregnant female is 52 days. The number of pups born can range between 6-19, and the newborns weigh approximately 2 ounces. Whelps are helpless and blind when first born. They nurse until they can eat solid food. Both parents care for the pups. The mother raises the young while the father hunts for lemmings and other food. They start to eat solids after 6 weeks and leave the den after 14-15 weeks. The whelp is usually dependent on its parent from summer to fall. Mortality rates for young foxes is very high. An average life span for the arctic fox is around three years.

The Arctic fox is a solitary animal. Arctic foxes usually live to 15 years of age. It is an omnivore (one who eats both plants and animals). A typical diet of this fox consists of birds, eggs, small mammals and fish. It will also eat berries, seaweed, insects and larvae, when other prey is scarce. The Arctic fox is a predator to lemmings (one of it's favorite foods) and voles, among other creatures. The population cycles of lemmings and voles are largely dependent on the arctic fox. The fox is prey to wolves, polar bears and golden eagles. Because it is a scavenger, it keeps the environment clean by eating dead animals and keeping the rodent population down. The Arctic fox is a diurnal creature.

African Elephant

African elephants, also known as the savanna elephants, are the largest land mammal in the world. They weigh up to 10,000 pounds and grow to 12 feet tall. They have a long trunk that is very flexible and has nostrils on the end. It is used to pick up food and water and carry it to it's mouth. On the sides of its mouth there are two long teeth that extend out from inside its mouth. These are called tusks, and are made of ivory. They have thick, gray skin on their bodies that protects them from deadly predator bites.

African elephants live on the savannas of Africa. There are two species of elephants in Africa; the savanna elephant and the forest elephant, (Loxodonta cyclotis). The savanna elephant's habitat is usually savannas or grasslands. They are herbivores, and feed on grasses, fruits, tree leaves, bark, shrubs, and vines.

African elephants live for about seventy years, and die when their molars wear down; they can't eat so they starve. There are usually 10-15 related elephants in a group. Related family members stay in close range of each other. The leader is always a female. They communicate with sounds lower than human hearing.

An elephant's gestation period is 20 to 22 months. When born, a calf weighs around 200 pounds, and is about three feet tall. A mother is usually helped by another cow during birthing. The calves nurse until they are in their third year and are very dependent on their mothers for 8 to 10 years. When they are mature, male elephants leave the herd to join bachelor herds. Females stay with the herd they were born into.

Elephants are very social animals, and learn about what to eat, where to find water and how to behave from their mothers and older bulls. Recently some orphaned bull elephants were killing rare rhinos in South Africa's Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Reserve. In a conservation effort several decades ago, orphaned elephants were moved from Kruger National Park to Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Reserve where there were no elephants. They grew up without the influence of their mothers or older bulls. It is thought that without role models they didn't know how to behave and were taking out their aggressions inappropriately on the rhinos. Older bulls were brought in to teach them how to behave themselves.

African Wild Dog

The African wild dog lives in grasslands, savannas, and open woodlands of eastern and southern Africa. They are mostly found in the African plains; they do not live in jungle areas. They also live in parts of Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, Swaziland, and in the Transvaal of South Africa. The savanna is an open grassland dotted with trees. The grass can grow to be 3 to 6 feet tall. The average temperatures is 64°F.

In the savanna there are two seasons; in the winter it is very dry and in the summer there are heavy monsoon rains. Many animals the African wild dog hunts migrate during the dry season. The African wild dogs don't follow them. During migrations the dogs survive on bugs and rodents.

The African wild dog's scientific name literally means painted wolf. Their fur is colored with red, brown, black, yellow, and white areas. Each animal has a different pattern of colors. The African wild dog has short fur. The fur on their muzzle is black and the end of their bushy tails are white. Their ears are very large and rounded. Their muzzle is short and they have powerful jaws.

They have a thin, long body, and muscular legs with only four toes on each foot, because their dew-claw is missing. The African wild dog's over all body length is between 75 and 100 cm (29 and 39 in), and they stand between 61 and 78 cm. (23 and 30 in.) at the shoulders. Their tail is between 30 and 90 cm. (12 and 15 in.). They weigh 18 to 36 kg (37 to 79 pounds). The males and females are about the same size. The African wild dog is the largest dog in Africa, and the only member of the Lycaon genus.

The African wild dog is perfectly built for the chase. Like greyhounds, they have a light body and long legs. The bones of its lower front legs are fused together to keep them from twisting when it runs. It has large ears which help radiate heat away from its body. Its short and broad muzzle has powerful muscles that allow it to grab and hang on to its prey. Its multicolored coat helps it blend in with the surroundings.

Nile Crocodile

The Nile Crocodile can grow to be five meters long. They have long snouts that can grab fish and turtles. They are dark olive in color, and young ones have bands around their body. But as they get older, the bands fade. They are the most intelligent reptiles on the earth.

Nile Crocodiles live in freshwater swamps, rivers, lakes, and other watery places. They dig dens to hide in from hot weather or danger. They are only found in Africa and Madagascar.

The crocodiles eat almost anything in the water, such as fish, turtles, or birds. They even eat buffaloes, antelope, big cats, and sometimes people, when given the chance.

The female Nile Crocodile mates around November through December. They dig a hole about 1 1/2 feet deep to lay their eggs in, a few feet from the water. They lay 40-60 eggs. The female protects the nest from danger at all times. It takes about 80-90 days for the eggs to hatch. The mother keeps the hatchlings safe by holding them in her mouth.

Nigriceps Ant

On the savannas of Kenya, Africa, there grows a tree that is exclusively inhabited by four species of stinging ants, some of which live nowhere else; Crematogaster nigriceps, Crematogaster mimosae, Crematogaster sjostedti, and Tetraponera penzigi. At the slightest movement of a branch these ants will swarm out and deliver painful stings to grazing giraffes and other browsers. Of the four species Crematogaster nigriceps, or the nigriceps ant, is the least war-like.

The tree of choice for the nigriceps ant and its competitors is the whistling thorn acacia (Acacia drepanolobium). Besides having regular thorns, the whistling thorn acacia also has modified thorn pairs which are joined at the base by a hollow, bulbous swelling up to 3cm in diameter. These thorns provide excellent nest sites for the ants. The ants have adapted to living in trees because the soil, known as "black cotton", gets waterlogged and spongy during the rainy season, and dries out and cracks during the dry season. This makes it difficult for ants to build nest underground. The acacia's have special glands called "nectaries" at the tips of their leaves that produce a sweet secretion just to feed the ants.

Savage competition for the whistling thorn exists between the four species of ants. When branches of the trees meet the ants will invade their neighbor and battle violently for control of the tree, until one colony wins. The nigriceps ant comes out very badly in these battles, losing more than any of the other three species.

To defend their trees against invasion, nigriceps ant colonies actively prune their trees. They chew off all axillary shoots (horizontal shoots), causing the tree to grow tall and skinny. In this way the ants avoid contact with other trees which may hold enemy colonies. Pruning also causes the tree to allocate more energy to new shoots, healthier leaves and larger nectaries, which is also good for the nigriceps ants.

The relationship isn't as symbiotic as was first thought and turns out to be more of a parasitic relationship. Unfortunately the ants also prune off all flower buds so the tree can't bear fruit and reproduce, and is therefore sterile. Scientists hypothesize that the whistling thorn acacia has made a trade-off between reproduction and increased vigor plus protection from browsing animals. Whistling thorn acacias bearing colonies of less destructive ants are still able to produce seeds and continue the species.