10 Need to Know Animals (September Edition)

Monthly roundup of random, cool animals, some extinct, some not, some rare, some plentiful. They were selected in no order. Drum roll:

1. Moa

 

Basic Stats: Giant (12 feet in height, 520 pounds in mass) flightless bird.
Status: Extinct.
Occupies(ed): New Zealand.
Likes: The forest (personal refrigerator for its herbivore diet).
Dislikes: Hunting and habitat loss, Hasst's eagles.
Of interest:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/4161743/Extinct-animals-could-be-brought-back-to-life-thanks-to-advances-in-DNA-technology.html

2.Thylacine

Basic Stats: Known as the Tasmanian Tiger. A marsupial with killer jaws.
Status: Extinct, maybe ... possibly (many sightings still reported, nothing confirmed).
Occupies(ed): Australia,Tasmania, New Guinea.
Likes: Killing things, eating them: meaty things like unlucky wombats.
Dislikes: Hunting, hunting, hunting!
Of interest:

http://www.naturalworlds.org/thylacine/

 

3. Kakapo

Basic Stats: Adorable, nocturnal, flightless bird.
Status: Critically endangered.
Occupies(ed): New Zealand (why do all cool things reside in New Zealand?)
Likes: Plants, seeds, fruits, "booming" (male mating call).
Dislikes: cats ...
Of interest:

4. Capybara

Basic Stats: Related to Guinea Pigs and Chinchillas, largest living rodent (can weight up to 140 pounds).
Status: Least Concern.
Occupies(ed): South America.
Likes: Swimming!
Dislikes: Being eaten, probably.
Of interest: These guys are sometimes kept as pets.

5. Sandcat

Basic Stats: Cute little desert wildcat.
Status: Near Threatened.
Occupies(ed): Africa, Asia.
Likes:  The desert, burrows.
Dislikes: Wolves, snakes and raptors.
Of interest: Their giant ears help them dispense heat.

6. Jerboa



Basic Stats: Jumping rodents (can leap 3 metres).
Status: Not endangered.
Occupies(ed): Asia, Africa.
Likes: The desert heat.
Dislikes: Being prey.
Of interest:

Yum.

7. Boto

Basic Stats: River dolphins! These guys have the ability to appear pink (the higher the degree, the better for the Boto, as it attracts mates). Roughly the size of a human.
Status: Vulnerable.
Occupies(ed): The Amazon River.
Likes: Probably its amazing brain. Larger than a humans'. Though dolphins (regardless of species) have always been reported to be intelligent.
Dislikes: Land.
Of interest: These guys have made it into legend. They're said to transform into humans at night and lure unsuspecting people into the river, trapping them in an underwater abode known as the encante.

8. Llama



Basic Stats: Okay, okay, arguably not a rarity, but who doesn't love these guys. Camelids, known for their wool.
Status: N/A
Occupies(ed): South American endemically, but findable elsewhere.
Likes: Spitting, apparently.
Dislikes: The ice age, it wiped them out natively in North America.
Of interest: They were important in Incan culture. Llama's are decorated in Peru. Bug thinks this should be on our bucket list (since Peru is already on mine). It's not cruel right? The white llama on the right seems to think it's looking pretty smart ...

 

9. Canada Lynx



Basic Stats: My favourite of the big cats. Fluffy buggers. Tailless with tufts extending from their ears. Winter is no match for them.
Status: Least Concern.
Occupies(ed): Canada, parts of America (USA).
Likes: Catching prey, reproducing, your basic cat likes.
Dislikes: Being trapped for its fur, that's a bummer.
Of interest: http://www.hww.ca/hww2.asp?id=84

10. Monito del Monte



Basic Stats: Small marsupial, "Lazarus Animal" (thought to be extinct, for 11 million years to be exact!, but was found).
Status: Near Threatened.
Occupies(ed): Chile, Argentina.
Likes: Bamboo, the rain forest.
Dislikes: Daylight.
Of interest: http://www.glogster.com/glog.php?glog_id=3666268&scale=54&isprofile=true

It was hard to narrow down, I await you October ...