Adelie Penguin

Adelie Penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae)



Adelie penguins got their unique name after the wife of a French explorer in the 1830's. These penguins are very strong swimmers, they have been seen jumping directly from the water onto the shore. They mainly travel on land by sliding on their stomachs. They do not drink water, but they eat the snow. Adelie penguins have a special gland in their nose that takes the salt out of the ocean water. This comes in handy when they are catching and eating fish.

Adelie penguins are one of the few penguins that nest on the mainland of Antarctica. They nest along the shores that are free of ice in the summer. The penguins breed in the summer in colonies of 200,000 or more. Each female lays two eggs approximately two days apart. Typically only one of the chicks survive.

Adelie penguins are blue-black with a white underside. They have a distinctive white ring around their eyes. They range in height from 18 to 24 inches tall. They weigh approximately 8-12 lbs when fully grown. The penguins are fairly aggressive, many adults have been seen stealing rocks from neighbor's nests.

The information provided above can be found in Animal: The Definitive Visual Guide To The World's Wildlife and at Penguins Around the World: http://www.siec.k12.in.us/west/proj/penguins/adelie.html If you have any questions about the Adelie Penguin please post them in the comment section and I will do my best to answer them in a timely manner.

 

Adder

Adder (Vipera berus)



The adder, also known as the common viper, is the only venomous snake in northwest Europe. They are the widest distribute snake in the viper family. The adder can live in a wide range of habitats, including rocky slopes in the European Alps to the open tundra north of the Arctic Circle.

The adder varies in color from grey, brown, rust, or completely black. But almost all of them can be identified by a distinctive zig-zag line along their back. They have a flat head and a very thick body. They are 26-35 inches in length. Although they are mildly venomous. To a human, their bite can cause swelling and pain, but it's rarely fatal.

They primarily feed on small rodents and lizards. When adders aren't stalking their prey they are basking in the sun.The adders that live in the areas that have extreme winters, hibernate for up to 8 months. Then in the spring the snakes mate. Female adders breed once every 2 to 3 years. They produce a litter of up to 20 young that may be fathered by many different male adders.

The information provided above can be found in Animal: The Definitive Visual Guide To The World's Wildlife. If you have any questions concerning the Adder please post them in the comment section and I will do my best to answer them in a timely manner. 

Addax

Addax (Addax nasomaculatus)

Critically Endangered!

The addax is gray-brown in the winter and sandy to white in the summer. It has a white facial patch topped by a chestnut forehead tuft and spiral horns. They are approximately 5-5 1/2 ft long and they weigh 130-280 lbs. It is the most desert-adapted of antelopes, it's diet consists of coarse grasses. An addax can survive most of it's life without water, because it receives sufficient hydration from the dew and the plants it eats.

The addax is critically endangered due to hunting. When they were not endangered the addax would travel in a mixed herd of up to 20 and was led by an older male. But due to the amount of hunting the addax now either lives alone or in small groups of 2-4. Many people think the only reason the addax has been able to survive at all, is because of it's ability to live in extremely harsh conditions, including extensive areas of sand dunes, where hunters are unable to enter.

There are approximately 128-200 left in the wild today; they can be foundnd in northwest Africa. A large extent of the addax population has been kept and bred in captivity. In captivity the oldest addax recorded was 25 years old.

The information provided above can be found in Animal: The Definitive Visual Guide To The World's Wildlife and at http://www.animalinfo.org/species/artiperi/addanaso.htm
If you have any questions about the Addax please post them in the comment section and I will do my best to answer them in a timely manner.

   

Abah River Flying Frog

Abah River Flying Frog (Rhacophorus nigropalmatus)



The Abah River flying frog gets it name from how it travels. These frogs use their feet to glide from tree to tree. They have partial webbing in between their toes that serve as parachutes that allows them to "fly" across wide gaps to escape predators.

The Abah River flying frog ranges in size from 2 3/4 inches to 4 inches long. The male is typically smaller than the female.They have a flat head with large eyes that sit on top of their heads. Abah River flying frogs are bright green with white spots. They can be found in southeast Asia in brush or a forest, usually close to human civilization

The frogs breed during the rainy season. The female lays up to 800 eggs in a foam nest that is attached to a plant that hangs directly over water. The reason for this is when the eggs hatch and the tadpoles emerge, they are able to fall immediately into the water.

The information provided above can be found in Animal: The Definitive Visual Guide To The World's Wildlife.
If you have any questions about the Abah River Flying Frog please post them in the comment section and I will do my best to answer them in a timely manner. 

Aardwolf

Aardwolf (Proteles cristatus)



Aardwolves are a small, distant, relative of hyenas. They can be found in eastern and southern Africa. They are usually 26 inches long and weigh approximately 20 lbs. Unlike their relatives,  an aardwolf's diet consists of termites, maggots, grubs, and other soft-bodied creatures.

An aardwolf has yellow-white fur, with three vertical stripes on each side of it's body and diagonal stripes across the fore and hindquartes. When threatened they are able to erect their fur so that they can appear larger. They have hyena-like front teeth, but their molars are small and flat. Aardwolves are able to grind their food with their muscular stomach.

Aardwolves are solitary and nocturnal mammals that spend the day resting in their burrows. They normally have a litter of 2-4 cubs. These cubs are able to live on their own by 16 weeks.

The information provided above can be found in Animal: The Definitive Visual Guide To The World's Wildlife.
If you have any questions about an Aardwolf please post them in the comment section and I will do my best to answer them in a timely manner. 

Aardvark

Aardvark (Orycteropus afer)

Aardvark, also known as the ant-bear, is one of the most powerful mammal diggers. It has the ability to excavate burrows up to 33ft long. Aardvarks are typically 5 1/4ft long, their tail is 22in long, and they range in weight from 84-140lbs.

An aardvark is a solitary mammal found in Africa south of the Sahara. It has a large snout, large ears, a piglike body, powerful limbs, and shovel-shaped claws for digging. The aardvark has poor eyesight but it makes up for this with it's excellent sense of smell, which it uses to find termites and ants. Some aardvark's burrows are made up of extensive tunnel networks while others are shorter and provide temporary shelter. They always leave their burrow head first because they use their powerful legs to push them out.

The aardvark perfers to eat ants which are more abundant in the summer, but it also eats termites when ants are harder to find. It breaks into a nest or mound using it's front feet. The aardvark's ears fold back and it's dense hair and nostrils helps filter the dust and dirt while it digs. When the aardvark reaches the ants or termites it captures them with it's long sticky tongue. They chew one species of ant with their molar teeth, but other species of ants and all termites are swalled whole and ground up in their muscular stomach.

The information provided above can be found in Animal: The Definitive Visual Guide To The World's Wildlife.
If you have any questions about Aardvarks please post them in the comment section and I will do my best to answer them in a timely manner.