#Elusive Pandas Caught on Camera in China Habitat New hidden camera footage from the giant panda's home offers a peek into the secret lives of China's wild creatures.
The newly released images and videos from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) show the famously endangered bears as well as some of their neighbors red pandas leopard cats
and macaques among them exploring their natural habitat. The footage comes from more than 100 automated infrared camera traps set up in nature reserves in the Sichuan region.
Wild Panda Caught on Camera But the camera traps may not have caught all of the animals unawares.
In one video clip of a group of Tibetan stump-tailed macaques one of the monkeys curiously sticks its face in front of the camera
Footage of wild giant pandas is of particular interest because there are thought to be just 1600 of the lumbering black-and-white bears left in China.
The cameras also captured other threatened species including tree-loving Asiatic black bears which are hunted for their skins paws
and even gall bladders for use in certain Asian medical traditions. Brilliantly colored birds like golden pheasants and temminck's tragopans posed for pictures too as did haired yellow-throated martens golden takins and wild boars.
Conservationists contend that efforts to protect so-called umbrella species or flagship species like giant pandas can give a boost to other species that share its habitat.
WWF officials said the diversity of animals in the footage is an encouraging sign that current efforts are working.
The images demonstrate that through the conservation of the giant panda a flagship umbrella species we can also protect other threatened wildlife from the same habitat
China has more than 10 flagship species including Amur tigers musk deer and the Yangtze finless porpoise according to WWF.
#Environmental law Fuels Black market Trade in Cat Skins Fluffy hold on to your fur: Some scoundrels may want a piece of you.
A lucrative trade in cat fur is booming in Switzerland and as a result many domestic cats are disappearing animal advocates say.
The law was designed to protect wildlife from free-roaming cats. Past studies have shown that cats kill billions of birds and other wildlife a year.
But activists say the law is being used as a cover to pick off innocent pets and skin them for their fur The Verge reported.
The cat fur trade was outlawed in Switzerland in 2008 but aâ cat-fur blanket can fetch more than $1700 according to The Verge article.
An advocacy group called SOS Chats has used hidden cameras to uncover a booming black market trade in cat skins as well as 21 cat-skin tanneries across the country.
Some farmers even admitted to the group that they were raising cats for the explicit purpose of selling them to tanneries.
Follow Tia Ghose on Twitter@tiaghose. Â Followâ Livescience@livescience Facebookâ & Google+.+Â o
Monkeys Eat What Others are Eating Just as human travelers often adopt the local cuisine wild monkeys learn to eat
what those around them are eating new research finds. A study of wild vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus aethiops) in South africa provides proof that primates other than humans adopt
and conform to cultural behaviors. Given a choice between two foods infant monkeys ate only the foods that their mothers ate.
And young males that ventured to other groups soon switched to the local diet researchers report online today (April 25) in the journal Science.
Some of the ways of learning that we have thought were distinctly human are shared more broadly across nonhuman primates said study co-author Andrew Whiten a cognitive biologist at the University of St andrews in the United kingdom. Image Gallery:
Adorable Vervet monkeys Conform to Peers Cultural learning and conformity play central roles in human life. Whereas many studies have documented cultural transmission in lab animals few have shown this phenomenon occurs in the wild.
A team of researchers studied four groups of wild vervet monkeys each containing 24 to 44 individuals (109 animals in total.
but the monkeys continued to eat only the color to which they had become accustomed.
When baby monkeys that had tasted never either color corn were allowed to feed with their mothers the little ones ate only the color of corn their mothers ate
when young-adult males from each group migrated to another group during the mating season a common practice that ensures genetic diversity in vervet populations.
Frans de Waal a primatologist at Emory University's Yerkes Primate Center who was involved not in the study called the finding striking.
Primates aren't the only animals to learn from their peers. For example another new study shows that whales pick up feeding techniques from their friends.
Collectively these studies suggest that culture is more widespread in the animal kingdom than once thought.
But old forests also provide habitat for iconic animals such as the California spotted owl and the American marten.
For the animal welfare movement to put a fine point on its impact King's measure could easily repeal all the state laws against shark finning puppy mills extreme confinement of farm animals and the slaughter and sale of meat from horses dogs
and cats. Written by a man I believe to be one of the most radical members of Congress
Pacelle's most recent Op-Ed was Advocates Creating Safety Net for Dogs in Need.
and khulans (wild asses) that are confronted with fences that they cannot pass; many die in the attempt.
The author's most recent Op-Ed was Snow leopard's Fate Hinges on Historic Talks.
A boy or girl raised by wolves or bears or apes is the original wild child often having little or no language ability or manners.
Because feral children lack socialization they are considered sometimes to represent a pure natural human state.
and Remus the twin brothers of Roman mythology rescued from certain death and raised by a wolf.
Rudyard Kipling made a hero of the feral child Mowgli an Indian boy raised by wolves in his classic
and wildly popular 1894 collection of stories The Jungle book. Writer Edgar Rice burroughs created Tarzan a boy raised by African apes in the early 1900s
years old) in Bengal India who were raised by wolves. Singh claimed that the girls whom he named Amala
and would howl at the moon like a wolf. He tried with limited success to get them to speak
In the strange case of the Indian girls Amala and Kamala for example later research concluded that though the girls did exist they had not been raised by wolves
More recently there was a 1997 memoir of ayoung Jewish girl who escaped the German Holocaust by fleeing into the forest where she was raised by a pack of wolves.
Squirrels ravens and owls also swipe murrelet eggs but jays are the biggest thieves in California gobbling up 80 percent of each year's brood.
and squirrels it's having a real impact on a very rare bird nesting overhead in an old-growth redwood tree Bensen told Ouramazingplanet.
For instance one spot lost eggs to bears so not as many jays got to sample the carbachol.
At Redwood National park the staff reconfigured the outdoor sinks so jays and squirrels can't steal leftovers from dishes.
and crabs and serve as food for animals as diverse as manatees and ducks Sumoski told Ouramazingplanet.
#Flying foxes (Actually Bats) on Remote Island Studied for First time Flying foxes? Not really foxes. They're actually bats (and one of those animals with a pretty misleading name.
But though their moniker may not be accurate they are fascinating creatures that scientists know fairly little about.
Flying foxes are the largest bats On earth and consist of more than 60 species that live throughout remote islands of the Indian
They are reddish-brown ever so-slightly resembling the color of true foxes. The largest species has a wingspan of up to 4. 5 feet (1. 4 meters)
 Pteropus pelagicus a relatively small species of flying fox with a wingspan of about 2 feet (61 centimeters) inhabits the western Pacific Mortlock Islands within the Federated States of Micronesia.
flying fox population in an effort to catalog more details about how this enigmatic creature lives.
The team also found that the bats breed year-round on the islands which separates them from most other flying fox species
Most flying foxes are seasonal in breeding patterns and maybe give birth to young over a couple month period Wiles said.
but may be preyed upon by feral cats and monitor lizards that humans have introduced. Some cultures hunt flying foxes and consider them a delicacy
but residents of the Mortlock Islands do not generally hunt the animals the researchers say.
Although there are about 18 different species of Cyclospora currently known four appear to be specific to nonhuman primates.
and norms of a so-called exceptional contemporary culture by introducing individual and named animal beings cows turkeys dolphinsâ chimpanzees
In my new book Why Dogs Hump and Bees Get Depressed (New world Library 2013) I updated many of those essays more than 100 showcasing the fascinating cognitive abilities of other animals as well as their empathy compassion grief humor joy and love.
Dogs hump for a wide variety of reasons (see this essay) and bees get depressed just like people do.
We also know that humpback whales protect gray whales from orca attacks; combat dogs and other animals suffer from PTSD;
many animals manufacture and use complex tools; and chickens rats and mice display empathy. Living up to society's own standards We must use the long overdue Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness
and the Universal Declaration on Animal Sentience to protect other animals from intentional and unnecessary harm.
#Fossils of 4. 4-Million-Year-Old Horse Found Scientists poking around Ethiopia's fossil-rich badlands say they have discovered the first pieces of an extinct species of horse that was about the size of a small zebra
But at the time this grass-eating horse roamed the planet the region would have been covered in grasslands and shrubby woods rich grounds for grazing.
Fossilized traces of the horse which was named Eurygnathohippus woldegabrieli were uncovered in the archaeologically rich sites of Aramis and Gona in Ethiopia's Middle Awash valley.
The extinct horse in this study would have actually been alive at the same time the 4. 4-million-year-oldâ human ancestor Ardipithecus ramidus
Amazing Horse Photos Among the many fossils we found are the two ends of the foreleg bone the canon brilliant white
and well preserved in the red-tinted earth study researcher Scott Simpson of Case Western Reserve's School of medicine said of the horse discovery.
The leg bone bits indicate this horse had longer legs than its ancestors. The shape and size of the leg suggest the beast was a fast runner a skill that may have helped it flee predators like lions sabre-tooth cats Simpson
and colleagues say. The horse's teeth show signs of another departure from more ancient species:
With crowns worn flatter than the teeth found on its ancestors it seems this creature became adapted to a life of grazing.
An analysis of the enamel on the fossilized teeth provided further evidence that it subsisted on grass like today's zebras wildebeests
and white rhinoceroses the scientists say. Grasses are like sandpaper Simpson explained in a statement. They wear the teeth down
The animal belonged to a group of ancient horses called Hipparionines which had toed three hooves
The researchers say this discovery helps fill in a blank spot in the evolution of horses before the animals became even better suited for a life in the grasslands growing taller and developing longer snouts for example.
This horse is one piece of a very complex puzzle that has many many pieces Simpson said in a statement.
#Fun Facts About Cheetahs Cheetahs the fastest land mammals in the world are built for speed.
Their deep chests and enlarged hearts lungs and nostrils help cheetahs take in more oxygen during intense chases.
Full-grown cheetahs are about 4 feet (1. 2 m) long not including a 30-inch (76-centimeter) tail.
Cheetahs'golden coats are embellished with many small black spots which helps them blend in with their grassy habitat.
Cheetahs prey on warthogs gazelles antelopes rabbits porcupines and even ostriches and they catch their prey by chasing it down.
These chases cost the cheetah an enormous amount of energy and they're usually all over in less than a minute.
Once a cheetah catches its prey it holds it with a strangling bite to the neck.
The cheetah is usually panting heavily due to the intense chase and its body temperature can reach 105 degrees F (41 degrees C). After about 20 minutes the cheetah's breathing
and temperature return to normal and by then its prey has suffocated. Lions and leopards can attack a cheetah
and steal its kill so cheetahs try to avoid them by hunting in the middle of the day.
Cheetahs usually eat their prey right away since they're not strong enough to hide it
or fend off other predators. Female cheetahs are solitary but males live in small permanent groups called coalitions
which are made usually up of brothers. Both males and females hunt alone. Usually only one male in a coalition mates with any particular female Cheetahs can breed at any time of year
but they tend to mate in the dry season. Baby cheetahs are born about three months later at the start of the wet season.
There are usually three to five cubs in a litter and each newborn cheetah cub weighs only 5 to 10 ounces (142 to 284 grams).
The mother cheetah hides her cubs until they're five or six weeks old; after that the cubs follow their mom and share her kills.
They wean when they're around three months old and live with their mother for about 18 months.
Cheetahs live to be about 12 years old in the wild and as long as 17 years in zoos.
 Most cheetahs live in southwestern and eastern Africa but the Asiatic cheetah (A. jubatusvenaticus) is found only in Iran.
Cheetahs roam grasslands savannas and semiarid prairies any area with open land and plenty of prey is good cheetah habitat.
The Wild Cats of Kruger National park Vulnerable to Critically Endangered Overall the species is vulnerable
but two subspecies (A. jubatusvenaticus and A. jubatushecki) are endangered both critically. Fewer than 100 Asiatic cheetahs and 250 Northwest African cheetahs remain.
There are about 7500 adult cheetahs living in the wild. Scientists think the species has declined by about 30 percent over the last three generations or about 18 years.
Their biggest threats are habitat loss and hunting by humans either for trade or to protect livestock.
Cheetahs are nearly twice as fast as racehorses: The fastest racehorse runs 43 mph (69 kph)
but cheetahs can run up to 70 mph (113 kph). A cheetah's feet don't touch the ground for more than half of the time it's running.
Look Quick: Gallery of the Fastest Beasts On land Cheetahs can turn in midair while sprinting after their prey.
King cheetahs have lengthwise stripes and are very rare. Their distinct markings are due to a recessive gene.
The name cheetah in English is derived from the Hindi word chita which means spotted one.
Emperors and other royalty hunted gazelles with trained cheetahs in the 16th century. Cheetahs are very vocal.
They make a unique bird-like sound called a chirrup when they're excited or calling their cubs.
They can't roar like lions or tigers but they do growl hiss snarl moan bleat and purr.
They get the moisture they need from the bodies of their prey so cheetahs rarely need to drink water.
Cheetahs are the only cats with black tear marks on their faces. Scientists think these might act as sun protection like football players painting black marks under their eyes.
Vision Quiz: What Can Animals See? Other resources s
#Fun Facts About Giraffes Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Cetartiodactyla Family: Giraffidae Genus:
Giraffa Species: Giraffa camelopardalis Subspecies: G. camelopardalisperalta (West african Giraffe Nigerien Giraffe) G. camelopardalisrothschildi (Ugandan Giraffe Rothschild's Giraffe) G. camelopardalisreticulate (Reticulated Giraffe) G. camelopardalis camelopardalis (Nubian
Giraffe) G. camelopardalis tippelskirchi (Masai Giraffe) G. camelopardalis angolensis (Angolan Giraffe) G. camelopardalis giraffa There's still confusion among experts about how many giraffe species
and subspecies really exist. Basic giraffe facts: Giraffes are the tallest animals in the world.
Males can grow up to 18 feet (5. 5 meters) tall females can reach 14 feet (4. 3 m) tall
and their babies called calves are born around 6 feet (1. 8 m) tall. Calves can grow up to an inch a day.
Like a human fingerprint each giraffe's coat is unique. Some subspecies have patterns that look like oak leaves
while others have shaped square patterns that make the giraffe look like it's covered by a net.
Their coat colors vary from white to light tan to nearly black depending on what they eat
and where they live. Some experts think that the patterns are for camouflage. In the wild giraffes will sleep only about 20 minutes a day
and usually not more than five minutes at a time as they need to stay alert to watch for predators.
All giraffes have covered two hair horns called ossicones. Male giraffes use their horns to playfully fight with one another.
They also spar by swinging their heads at one another and entwining their necks which is called necking.
Images: Animals'Dazzling Headgear Like camels giraffes can go for a long time without drinking water because their diet especially acacia leaves their favorite food contains a lot of water.
When they do get thirsty they have to bend down awkwardly to drink which makes them easy targets for predators.
To help protect themselves giraffes usually go to watering holes together and take turns watching for predators. Giraffes are herbivores
and they eat leaves buds and branches from mimosa and acacia trees. Their height helps them reach food well above where other animals can reach.
A giraffe may eat more than 75 pounds (34 kilograms) of food each day. Because they get just a few leaves in every bite they spend most of their day eating Acacia trees have long thorns that deter most animals but not giraffes.
Their 18-inch (46-centimeter) tongues can reach around the thorns and their thick sticky saliva coats any thorns they might swallow.
The dark blue-gray color of a giraffe's tongue helps protect it from sunburn while the giraffe is reaching for tree leaves.
Giraffes are ruminants like cows and their stomachs have four compartments that digest the leaves they eat.
After a giraffe swallows a mouthful of leaves once a ball of already-chewed leaves
or cud will make its way back up the throat for more grinding. Giraffes can breed anytime throughout the year.
A male will sort of flirt with a female in heat sometimes feeding beside her and tangling necks with her.
Females give birth to a single calf about 14 months after they mate. When a giraffe calf is born it drops to the ground head first from about 6 feet (1. 8 meters) high.
The fall surprises the calf and makes it take a big breath but doesn't really hurt it.
The calf can walk after about an hour and it can run with its mom just 10 hours after it's born.
After they're a few weeks old calves join a group of young giraffes called a crã che.
Giraffes can live up to 25 years in the wild and longer in captivity. Where giraffes live:
Giraffes used to live throughout arid and dry-savanna zones of Sub-saharan africa wherever there were trees.
Now their range has shrunk due to habitat loss. Most giraffes live in wooded savannas open woodlands and riparian forests in east Africa and the northern parts of southern Africa where they're protected by national parks. West african Giraffes only survive in the wild and the only known population lives in southwestern Niger.
The only remaining wild population of Ugandan Giraffes is in Murchison Falls National park Uganda. They've also been reintroduced to six sites in Kenya and one other site in Uganda.
Conservation status: Least Concern to Endangered Overall the species is of least concern but the subspecies listed above the West african Giraffe
and the Ugandan Giraffe are endangered both. Giraffes are widespread throughout Africa and their population totals more than 100000.
Experts believe their numbers are shrinking due to habitat loss and poaching so the species may soon be listed as threatened.
The West african Giraffe is endangered. There are currently fewer than 200 individuals in this subspecies though experts think they're on the rise thanks to conservation programs.
The Ugandan Giraffe is endangered also. There are fewer than 2500 individuals in this subspecies and experts are worried that this number is shrinking.
Odd facts: Giraffes look a little like a cross between a camel and a leopard:
They have a small hump on their back and a spotted coat. People used to call the giraffe a camel-leopard
and that's how the giraffe got its species name camelopardalis. A giraffe's foot is 12 inches (30 centimeters) across about the size of a dinner plate.
A giraffe's neck is 6 feet (1. 8 m) long and weighs about 600 pounds (272 kg).
A giraffe's back legs look shorter than its front legs but they're really about the same length 6 feet (1. 8 m). A giraffe's heart is 2 feet (0. 6 meters) long
and weighs about 25 pounds (11 kg). For a long time people thought giraffes were mute but they actually communicate by emitting moans
or low notes that humans can't hear. They can also whistle hiss moo and roar.
Besides humans giraffes'only predators are lions and crocodiles. Giraffes can defend themselves with a deadly kick
when they need to. Many male giraffes check whether a female's in heat by nudging her to make her pee.
They can usually tell by smell but some males will even taste the urine to see
if she's ready to mate. Giraffes have the same number of vertebrae in their necks as we do seven.
Each one can be over 10 inches (25.4 cm) long. Giraffes run by moving their front and back legs on one side forward together.
Their funny gait makes them pretty fast: The record running speed of a giraffe is 34.7 mph (56 kph.
Other resources: IUCN Red List: Giraffe Smithsonian National Zoo Fact Sheet: Giraffe PBS Nature Critter Guide:
Giraffe San diego Zoo: Giraffes National geographic Giraffe Fact r
#Fun Facts About Hippos Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Cetartiodactyla Family: Hippopotamidae Genus:
Hippopotamus Species: Hippopotamus amphibius Basic hippopotamus facts: Hippos are the third largest land mammal species On earth after elephants and white rhinos.
Weighing in at around 7900 pounds (3600 kilograms) adult hippos measure about 15 feet (4. 6 meters) long and 5 feet (1. 5 m) tall.
Video: Hippo Weighed on Giant Scale Their skin color varies from brown to grayish purple and they're almost completely hairless.
To protect their bare skin hippos produce a special kind of sweat that's red and acts as sunscreen insect repellent and antibiotic salve all in one.
This hulk of an animal wallows by day and grazes by night. During the day they rest play and sometimes fight in lakes rivers and swamps.
They get down to business at night grazing on land for hours at a time. They're usually sluggish out of the water
though they can run at speeds up to 30 mph (48 kph) but underwater they gracefully gallop
and walk along river and lake bottoms. Hippos are adapted well to their amphibious lifestyle. They have wide snouts
and thick lips that help them graze on tough African grasses. Their eyes ears and nostrils are located on top of their heads
and they close up when the hippo goes underwater. A hippo's entire diet consists of several species of grass
and they eat up to 88 pounds (40 kg) of it each night. That's about half as much as other hoofed mammals eat
when you take their body sizes into account but a hippo's sedentary lifestyle doesn t require much energy
so it can get by on less food. Hippos usually gather in groups of about 15 called bloats pods
or sieges with a territorial bull that's in charge of the group During the dry season though bigger groups will gather around watering holes.
This is actually when most of their breeding takes place and many baby hippos will be born about eight months later during the rainy season.
Mothers give birth to a single baby hippo or calf either on land or in shallow water.
A newborn hippo is relatively small around 55 to 120 pounds (25 to 54 kg)
and it needs its mom's protection from lions crocodiles and adult male hippos which sometimes attack calves in the water.
Hippos usually live to be about 45 years old in the wild. Where hippos live:
Hippos used to live throughout much of Africa but now they're mostly confined to protected areas in Sub-saharan africa.
They can be found near rivers lakes and swamps from Guinea in western Africa to Ethiopia on the eastern side of the continent and down to South africa.
Conservation status: Vulnerable Over the past 10 years there's been a seven  to 20 percent decline in the hippo population.
Their main threats are illegal poaching for their meat and canine teeth which are made of ivory and the loss of freshwater habitats throughout Africa.
Experts think there are between 125000 and 148000 hippos remaining in the wild. Odd facts about hippos:
A hippo's hide alone can weigh half a ton. A recent DNA study found that hippos are closely related to dolphins and whales.
Hippopotamus comes from a Greek word meaning water or river horse. Hippos have a complex form of communication that relies on grunts
and bellows and some experts think they may even use echolocation. Hippos have an amphibious call that can travel through air
and water and they have good hearing both above and below water. A hippo's call can reach 115 decibels about as loud as being near the speakers at a rock concert.
Their ivory canine teeth grow continuously and reach 20 inches (51 centimeters) in length. Hippos have adapted to be good swimmers.
Membranes between their toes turn their feet into flippers and fat beneath their skin helps them float in rivers and lakes.
Adult hippos can hold their breath and stay underwater for up to six minutes. Sleeping hippos float up to the surface to breathe.
Hippos can go three weeks without eating and they can store two days'worth of grass in their stomachs.
 Other resources: IUCN Red List: Hippopotamus Smithsonian National Zoo Fact Sheet: Hippopotamus San diego Zoo:
Hippopotamus Animal Planet Hippo Facts African Wildlife Foundation Fact Sheet:
Overtext Web Module V3.0 Alpha
Copyright Semantic-Knowledge, 1994-2011