CHEETAH

The cheetah is a magnificent cat, it is the fastest of all land mammals, sprinting at up 95km/h after its prey.It is no match for a gun or the racing sea. Cheetahs had the most unusual lifestyle in  3000BC because they were trained by man for hunting, another odd thing was they competed against grey hounds in Harringay, London. The funny thing is, cheetahs can reach their top speed in about 3 seconds.

SIZES: Length: Head and body 130-150cm, tail 60-80cm. Weight: 45-60kg. BREEDING: Sexual maturity: 20-24 months. Mating season: Throughout the year. Gestation: 90-95 days. Litter size: up to 8 cubs, usually 2-5. LIFESTYLE: Habit: Female solitary, male lives in small groups. Diet: Various species of antelope, Also hares, rodents and sometimes larger prey such a zebra. Lifespan: About 12 years in the wild, more in captivity. RELATED SPECIES: An endangered subspecies of the cheetahs, Acrinonyx jubatus venaticus, lives in Asia.

HOW THE CHEETAH CATCHES ITS PREY:
1. When stalking a single prey the cheetah emerges from cover in order to startle the animal into running. Other big cats, such as lions, use attacks that combine surprise, ambush and hunting in a pack.
2. The cheetah follows at high speed, usually catching up with its prey within about a minute. It leaps up and brings down the prey with its forepaws.
3. The cheetah suffocates its prey by closing its jaws on the animal's windpipe. It may then drag the carcase to a safe place to be eaten, away from other Savannah predators.

THE BLUE WHALE

The blue whale is truly an ocean giant - the largest creature to have ever lived on this planet. Amazingly, it also feeds on some of the smallest animals to be found in our seas - plankton.

Instead of teeth the blue whale has a row of plates in its mouth known as baleen, which form an incredibly efficient food collecting device. Acting as an enormous sieve, the blue whales mouth can hold an inrush of up to 5 tonnes of water with each gulp!

The blue whale has around 320 baleen plates, measuring 100cm long by 55cm wide. There is a 'mostache' of bristles on the end of each plate to hold its tiny prey. Having forced the water out of its moth the whale then licks the back of its 'teeth'with its fleshy tongue to retrieve the food.

Male blue whales can grow up to 25 metres in length while females can reach a mind blowing 26 metres. They communicate by low frequency moans at around 25 Hertz, these can also contain loud and intermittent chirps and whistles.

They can live up to 80 years with mature females giving birth only every 3 years after a gestation period of 11 - 12 months.

Blues whales can be found inhabiting areas all around the world, but are mainly based in Arctic and Antarctic waters where greater quantities of plankton are found.

CONSERVATION

Since 1986, commercial whaling has ceased and blue whales now show signs of breeding success. However, it will take at least a century of protection before they are out of danger of extiction!

JAGUAR

 

This beautiful animal is called the jaguar. It is a shame that this a rare species of feline is now so rare due to being hunted for its attractive fur.

They are solitary animals, except during the breeding season when  a male and female will stay together for a short time in order to mate. The young jaguars will stay with their mother for the first few years of their life before leaving the family to find hunting territories of their own.

Although jaguars are good climbers they hunt mainly on the ground, and at night. They will, however, climb trees to lie in wait for prey. the jaguar can cover short distances rapidly, but it tires quickly and its successful kills rely both on surprise and getting close enough to unsuspecting prey.

Its main food consists of forest animals varying in size from mice to deer, but it is also a good swimmer and will catch frogs, fish, turtles and small alligators.

The jaguar is especially skilled at catching fish, which it does by lying motionless on a rock or overhanging branch and then flipping the fish out onto the bank.

Conservation
All subspecies of jaguar are endangered, and many are practically extinct outside of zoos where they have been successfully bred. Loss of habitat to farm land and over hunting for fur and to protect domestic livestock present the greatest threats.

IBERIAN LYNX

The lynx is a magnificent animal, it is a great hunter, has amazing fur and can survive in the hashes of freezing cold to baking hot. It is a rather small for a hunter, it is shy and solitary, it inhabits wooded areas of Canada, northern North America and Europe. When it has snowed where the animal lives, it builds a think layer of fur to keep itself warm. It has short but powerful legs and especially large paws to well adapt to hunting in the think snow.

The size: length: 70-110cm. Males are larger than the females. Height to shoulder: 60cm. Tail length:-15cm. Weight: 5-25kg. Breeding: sexual maturity: 1 year. Mating season: Mid March to early April. Gestation: 60-73 days. Number of cubs: Up to 4, but usually 1 or 2. Lifestyle: Habit: Solitary. Diet: small mammals, such as hares, rabbits, foxes, deer and gamebirds. Lifespan: 10-20 years. Related species, The pardel lynx, f.pardina, found in southern Europe is closely related, as is the bobcat of northern America, felis rufus.

CONSERVATION

While greatly restricted in numbers, particularly in Europe, the lynx is still widespread.

RARE SNOW LEOPARD CAUGHT ON CAMERA

Snow leopards are amazingly rare and this was caught on 'Lost Land of the Tiger' (episode 3) by Gordon Buchanan.

The snow leopard is a solitary high-altitude hunter, but because of the relative scarcity of food at the great heights in frequents, it will often migrate with its prey. The size of this animal is big but also small, the length is 1.2-1.5m, the tail is about 90cm so that is almost a whole metre, that is quiet a long tail, and the weight is 25-75kg. The breeding season is towards end of winter; female comes on heat twice, the gestation is 98-103 days, the number of young is 2-5 cubs.

The lifestyle,habit is solitary, due to scarcity of food and harsh terrain. Each snow leopard remains within its own very large territory. Their diet is wild sheep, and goats, deer,wild boar, small mammals and some birds so quiet a big diet. Their lifespan is 20 yrs in captivity.

Their related species: there are four other species in the genus panthera: the lion, the leopard, the tiger and the jaguar. Their summer coat turn darker, in the winter the spats on a snow leopard's fur are arranged in distinct rows. they are round and charcoal grey, set against a light grey to yellowish background, which grows paler in winter months.

Their face: High eye placement allows the animal to stay low behind cover when stalking its victim.

Their paws: Large paws are protected from both heat and cold by thick cushions of hair

Their hind legs: Immensely strong back legs allow leaps of up to 15m, useful for taking prey unawares.

POLAR BEAR

The polar bear, an awesome-looking animal, is one of the world’s largest land carnivores. The pure white to shades of yellow helps the polar bear to merge into the snow-covered environment. This is not a cute and cuddly animal; this is actually a giant predator. The size of the species is pretty big: the height is 1.6m to shoulder, the length is 2.2-2.5m, its feet are 30cm long and 25cm wide. If you think that’s big, the weight is so heavy, the male weighs 400-500kg, female weighs 300-350kg. The breeding maturity is 3-5 yrs; mating season is late March to early June. The gestation is about 7-8 months and the litter size usually 2.

 The lifestyle, the habit is solitary, but polar bears sometimes come together to feed, the diet is mainly seals, carrion and berries.

How the polar bear hunts seal pups?

The polar bear mostly preys on seals and their pups; it catches adults by ambushing them at their breathing holes in the ice. With the polar bears amazing sense of smell, the bear can sniff out the pup in its den up to a metre underground, digging it out and devour its meal. Ringed seals live around or under the coastal ice. The cow gives birth in a den under the snow and ice, and usually provides her pup with a breathing hole. The den keeps the pup warm and offers a degree of protection from the predatory Arctic fox and the polar bear.

CONSERVATION

Conservation programmes and disgraceful hunting exist in all countries where polar bears are found. After a sharp decline in numbers to a low of about 5,000 in post war years, the present world population is reckoned at 40,000. Future depends on the protection of Arctic environments.

WHY SHOULD YOU SAVE THE RAINFOREST?

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP YOR NAME TO THE PRINCE'S RAINFOREST PROJECT

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The rainforests are part of an ancient and complex eco-system that circles the equator and acts as one of the world’s most effective carbon sinks.

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Unfortunately, they are being destroyed at a rate of 6 million hectares a year – an incredible number to comprehend but it works out to be the size of two football pitches every second!

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Rainforests control the global climate and create much of the planets rainfall – something that is absolutely vital for the future of our global agricultural needs. They also contain an astonishing array of bio-diversity that our modern and future medicines rely on, but we need to remember that they are also home to some of the poorest populations on earth.

If deforestation could be stopped in its tracks then it would give world leaders time to create low carbon economies on which all of our futures depend.

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If the deforestation of the rainforests remains unchecked it will result in billions of environmental refugees, irregular and uncertain food production, a lack of fresh water and the increasing spread of disease.

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In addition, climate change will occur faster with even more dramatic effect, and the environmental systems that we rely on for our drinking water, food, fuel, and medicines will become drastically threatened. To make things worse the natural environmental processes that we take for granted i.e. the purification of air and water, the de-toxification of soils and flood prevention will also be harmed.

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To put it more clearly it will adversely affect every man, woman, and child on the entire planet.