The lion has always been the king of beasts; even in ancient times this animal was worshipped. For the ancient Egyptians, the lion acted as a guardian creature, guarding the entrance to the other world. For the ancient Egyptians, the fertility god Aker was depicted with a lion’s mane. In today’s world, many coats of arms of states depicts the king of beasts. The coats of arms of Armenia, Belgium, Great Britain, Gambia, Senegal, Finland, Georgia, India, Canada, Congo, Luxembourg, Malawi, Morocco, Swaziland and many others depict the militant king of beasts. The African lion, according to the International Convention, was included in the Red Book as an endangered species.

All of us know since childhood what a lion looks like, because a small child can recognize the king of beasts by his mane alone. So we decided to give a brief description of this mighty beast. A lion is a mighty animal, but it is little more than two meters in length. For example, the Ussuri tiger is much longer than a lion, reaching 3.8 meters in length. The usual weight of a male is one hundred and eighty kilograms, rarely do they have two hundred.

The head and body of lions are dense and powerful. Skin color varies, depending on the subspecies. However, the main coloring for the beast kings is cream, ochre, or yellow-sand. Asian lions are all white-gray in color.

Older lions have stiff hair covering the head, shoulders, and down to the bottom of the belly. Adults have a black, thick mane or a mane of a dark, brown hue. But one of the subspecies of the African lion, the Maasai, does not have such a lush mane. Its hair does not descend to the shoulders, and there is no hair on its forehead.

All lions have rounded ears with a yellow spot in the middle. The spotted pattern remains on the skin of young lions until female lions give birth to cubs and male lions reach sexual maturity. All lions have a tassel on the tip of their tail. That is where their vertebral spine ends.

Habitat
A long – long time ago, lions lived in completely different territories than in the modern world. The subspecies of African lion, the Asiatic lion, lived mostly in southern Europe, India or inhabited the lands of the Middle East. The ancient lion lived everywhere in Africa, but never settled in the Sahara. The American subspecies of lion is therefore called the American lion because it lived in North American lands. Asian lions gradually became extinct or exterminated by man, which is why they were included in the Red Book. And African lions in small flocks remained to exist only in the African tropics.

Today, the African lion and its subspecies are found only on two continents – the Asian and African. The Asian kings of beasts live peacefully in Gujarat, India, where there is a dry, sandy climate, savannah and bush forests. According to the latest data, all five hundred and twenty-three Asiatic lions have been recorded to date.

Real, African lions will be more numerous in the western countries of the African continent. In the country with the best climate for lions, Burkina Faso, there are over a thousand lions. In addition, a lot of them live in the Congo, there are over eight hundred lions.

The wildlife no longer counts as many lions as there were in the seventies of the last century. Today there are only thirty thousand of them left, and this is according to unofficial data. African lions have taken up the savannahs of their beloved continent, but even there they cannot be protected from hunters scurrying around in search of easy prey.

The post African lion appeared first on Coal-is-Dirty.

Description and Appearance
The appearance of the brown bear is typical of all members of the bear family. The body of the animal is well developed and powerful.

Appearance.
A high withers are present, as well as a rather massive head with small ears and eyes. The length of the relatively short tail varies between 6.5-21.0 cm. Paws are quite strong and well developed, with the presence of powerful and unstretched claws. The feet are very broad, five-toed.

The size of the brown bear
The average length of the brown bear inhabiting the European part is usually about one and a half to two meters with body weight of 135-250 kg. Specimens inhabiting the middle belt of our country are smaller in size and may weigh about 100-120 kg. The largest are considered to be the Far East bears and grizzly bears, which often reach three meters in size.

Skin color
The coloration of the brown bear is quite variable. Differences in the coloration of the coat depend on the habitat, and the color of the fur can range from a light pale shade of pale to bluish-black. The standard color is considered brown.

Longevity
Under natural conditions, the average lifespan of the brown bear is about twenty to thirty years. In captivity, this species is capable of living fifty years, and sometimes more. Rare individuals survive in natural conditions up to the age of fifteen years.

The most common subspecies:

European brown bear with a body length of 150-250 cm, tail length of 5-15 cm, height at the withers of 90-110 cm and an average weight of 150-300 kg. This is a large subspecies with a powerful build and a pronounced hump on the withers. The overall coloration varies from light grayish-yellow to blackish-dark brown. The fur is thick and rather long;
Caucasian brown bear with an average body length of 185-215 cm and a body weight of 120-240 kg. The coat is short, coarse, and more pale in color than the Eurasian subspecies. The coloration varies from pale straw-colored to uniform gray-brown. There is a pronounced, large, dark-colored spot at the withers;
The East Siberian brown bear, with a body weight of up to 330-350 kg and a large skull. The fur is long, soft and dense, with a pronounced luster. Wool has a light brown or blackish-brown or dark brown coloration. For some specimens characterized by the presence in the color quite clearly visible yellowish and black shades;
Ussuri or Amur brown bear. In our country, this subspecies is well known under the name black grizzly. The average body weight of an adult male may range from 350-450 kg. The subspecies is characterized by a large and well-developed skull with an elongated nose. The skin is almost black in color. A distinctive feature is the presence of long hair on the ears.
One of the largest subspecies in our country is the Far Eastern or Kamchatka brown bear, the average body weight of which often exceeds 450-500 kg. Large adults have a large, massive skull and a wide, raised front part of the head. The fur is long, dense and soft, pale yellow, blackish-brown, or completely black in color.

The habitat where the brown bear lives
The natural range of brown bears has undergone significant changes over the past century. Previously, the subspecies was found in vast areas stretching from England to the Japanese Islands, and from Alaska to central Mexico.

The habitat of brown bears has changed during the last centuries, one of the reasons is mass extinction, which forced the bears to migrate.

Today, as brown bears are being extirpated and driven out of their living areas, the most numerous groups of the predator are registered only in western Canada, as well as in Alaska and forest areas of our country.

Lifestyle of the bear
The predator’s activity period is at dusk, early morning and evening hours. The brown bear is a very sensitive animal, which orientates in the space mainly by means of hearing, as well as by smell. A characteristic feature is poor eyesight. Despite their impressive size and large body mass, brown bears are almost silent, fast and very easy to move predators.

Brown bears are sedentary animals, but young bears that have separated from their families can roam and actively search for a mate. Bears mark the boundaries of their territory and defend them. In summer, bears rest directly on the ground, nestling among grasses and low shrubs. With the onset of autumn, the animal begins to prepare a safe winter shelter.

The post Brown Bear appeared first on Coal-is-Dirty.

Description of the leatherback sea turtle
The only modern species in the leatherback turtle family provides not only the largest but also the heaviest reptiles. The Dermochelys coriacea (leatherback turtle) weighs between 400 and 600 kg, rarely gaining twice that weight (900-plus kg).

The lute has a special shell structure: it consists of thick skin rather than horny plates like other sea turtles.

Appearance
The pseudocarapax of the leatherback turtle is represented by connective tissue (4 cm thick), over which there are thousands of small shields. The largest of them form 7 strong ridges, resembling tight ropes, stretching along the carapace from head to tail. Softness and some flexibility are also characteristic of the thoracic (not fully ossified) part of the tortoise shell equipped with five longitudinal ribs. Despite the lightness of the carapace, it reliably protects the lute from enemies, and also contributes to better maneuvering in the thick sea.

The head, neck, and limbs of juvenile tortoises display shields that disappear as they grow older (they only remain on the head). The older the animal is, the smoother its skin is. The turtle’s jaws have no teeth, but they have powerful and sharp horny edges on the outside, reinforced by the jaw muscles.

The leatherback tortoise’s head is quite large and is not able to retract under the shell. The front limbs are almost twice as large as the hind limbs, reaching a wavelength of 5 meters. On land, the leatherback turtle looks dark brown (almost black), but the main color background is diluted with light yellow spots.

Lifestyle of the lute
Were it not for their impressive size, the lute would not be so easy to spot – the reptiles do not bunch up in herds and behave like typical solitary individuals, cautious and secretive. Leatherback Turtles are timid, which is odd for their huge size and immense physical strength. Lutus, like other turtles, is rather clumsy on land, but beautiful and swift at sea. Its gigantic size and weight do not hinder it here: in water, the leatherback turtle swims quickly, maneuvers dashingly, dives deeply and stays there for a long time.

High speed (up to 35 km/h) is provided by the developed pectoral muscles and four limbs, similar to flippers. The back ones replace the rudder and the front ones work as a real engine. The leatherback turtle is reminiscent of a penguin – it seems to be floating in the water, smoothly rotating large front flippers.

Life span
All great turtles (thanks to their slow metabolism) live very long, and some species can live up to 300 years or more. Behind the wrinkled skin and sluggish movements can hide both a young and an elderly reptile, whose internal organs hardly change with time. In addition, turtles are able to go months or even years without food and drink (up to 2 years) and are able to stop and start their heart.

If it were not for predators, humans and infectious diseases, all turtles would live up to the age limit programmed in their genes. The lute is known to live about half a century in the wild, and slightly less (30-40) in captivity. Some scientists call another life span of the leatherback turtle – 100 years.

Habitat, habitat
The leatherback turtle lives in three oceans (Pacific, Atlantic and Indian), swimming up to the Mediterranean Sea, but it is not often seen. The lute was also seen in Russian (then Soviet) waters of the Far East, where 13 animals were found between 1936 and 1984. Biometric parameters of the tortoise are 240-314 kg in weight, 1.16-1.57 m in length and 0.77-1.12 m in width.

Important: As fishermen assure, the figure of 13 does not reflect the real picture: near the southern Kurils leatherback turtles are found much more often. Herpetologists believe that the reptiles are attracted here by the warm Soya Current.

Geographically these and more recent finds are distributed as follows:

Peter the Great Bay (Sea of Japan) – 5 specimens;
Sea of Okhotsk (Iturup, Shikotan and Kunashir) – 6 specimens;
South-western shore of Sakhalin Island – 1 specimen;
South Kuril Islands – 3 specimens;
Bering Sea – 1 specimen;
Bering Sea – 1 specimen; Barents Sea – 1 specimen.

Scientists hypothesized that leatherback turtles began to swim into the seas of the Far East due to the cyclical warming of water and climate. This is confirmed by the catch dynamics of pelagic marine fish and the discovery of other southern species of marine fauna.

The post Leatherback Turtle or Lute appeared first on Coal-is-Dirty.

Description of the Bengal tiger
The distinctive features of the Bengal tiger are its retracted type, sharp and very long claws, as well as its well-fluffed tail and incredibly powerful jaws. Among other things, the predator has perfectly developed hearing and eyesight, so these animals are able to see perfectly even in complete darkness. Length of a jump of an adult tiger is 8-9 m, and speed of movement at short distances reaches 60 km/h. Adult Bengal tigers sleep for about seventeen hours a day.

Appearance
The color of the Bengal tiger’s fur ranges from yellow to light orange in color, and the stripes on its fur are dark brown, bitter chocolate, or black. The belly area of the animal is white, and the tail is also predominantly white, but with distinctive black rings. The mutation of the Bengal subspecies, the white tiger, is characterized by dark brown or reddish-brown stripes on a white or light background. It is extremely rare to find absolutely white tigers without any stripes on their fur.

The average body length of an adult male Bengal tiger with tail is 2.7-3.3 m or more, and 2.40-2.65 m for females. The tail is maximal 1.1 m long and the height at withers is within 90-115 cm. Presently, Bengal tigers have the largest canines of all known representatives of the feline family. Their length can exceed 80-90 mm. The average weight of mature adult male tigers is 223-275 kg, but body weight of some, especially large specimens, reaches even 300-320 kg. The average weight of an adult female is 139.7-135 kg, and her maximum body weight reaches 193 kg.

Lifestyle, behavior
Predatory animals such as Bengal tigers live mostly alone. Sometimes, for a particular purpose, they are able to gather in small groups of a maximum of three or four individuals. Each male tiger fiercely guards his territory, and the roar of the enraged predator can be heard even at a distance of three kilometers.

Bengal tigers lead a nocturnal lifestyle, and during the daytime, these animals prefer to gain strength and rest. Strong and agile, a very fast predator, coming out to hunt at dusk or dawn, rarely remains without prey.

The area of one individual plot of raptor occupies an area of 30-3000 km2, and borders of such a plot are specially marked by males with their feces, urine and so called “scrapes”. In some cases the territory of one male partially overlaps with the territory of several females which are less territorial.

Longevity
“Bengals” prefer hot and humid climatic conditions, in which the average life expectancy is about fifteen years. In captivity, such strong and powerful predatory animals easily live to the age of almost a quarter of a century.

The white Bengal tiger
Of special interest is a small population of the white variation of the Bengal tiger (Pranhera tigris tigris v. Alba), bred by foreign scientists as a decoration for zoological parks. In the wild, such individuals would not be able to hunt in the summer, so they are practically not found in the wild. Occasionally appearing white tigers in their natural habitat are individuals with an innate type of mutation. Such a rare coloration is explained by specialists in terms of insufficient pigment content. The white tiger differs from its redskinned brethren in the unusual blue coloring of its eyes.

Habitat, habitat
All currently known subspecies of tigers, including the Bengal tiger, have a fur coloration that matches all the features of their natural habitat. The predatory species is widespread in tropical jungles, mangrove swamps, savannahs, and rocky areas up to three thousand meters above sea level.

Bengal tigers inhabit the territory of Pakistan and Eastern Iran, Central and Northern India, Nepal and Bhutan, as well as Bangladesh and Myanmar. Predatory animals of this species are found in the vicinity of the Indus and Ganges River estuaries, the Ravi and the Sutlij. The population of this tiger is less than 2.5 thousand individuals, with a probable risk of decline. Today, the Bengal tiger belongs to the category of numerous subspecies of the tiger and has been completely exterminated in the territory of Afghanistan.

The post Bengal Tiger appeared first on Coal-is-Dirty.

Description of the blue macaw
The blue macaw is one of the rarest and most extinct parrots of our planet. The latest mention of the existence of individuals of this species in natural conditions refers to the year 2000, when a very active discussion of the problems of unique, incredibly expressive bluish-blue color of the birds.

Appearance
The average body length of an adult representative of the Parrot family, the genus Blue Acres and the order Parrots is only 55-57 cm, with a maximum weight in the range of 400-450 g. The color of the plumage of the bird is very beautiful, pale blue in color. The head area is light gray, and the belly and chest are colored in shades of sea waves. The frontal area, from the eyes to the area of the epiglottis, has no plumage at all, but is dark gray in coloration. The frontal area and the ears of the bird are usually noticeably lighter than the main color of the head. The tail and wings are characteristically dark blue. The beak of the bird is a deep black color.

The irises of the adult bird are yellowish in color, and the paws have a very traditional grayish coloration. Juveniles differ from adults by a darker iris and a bone-colored stripe located in the central part of the suprabeak, but at the time of puberty this stripe disappears completely.

Lifestyle, behavior
Reliable and scientifically confirmed information about the peculiarities of the lifestyle of representatives of the species in the wild is quite scarce. These birds were not studied until the 1970s, and the most recent observations were made only on a very small group of these parrots. They are known to live in natural habitats in small flocks.

Representatives of the species inhabited mostly flat areas overgrown with thorny shrubs and tall, solitary trees. The blue macaw was also found in plantations, palm groves and wooded areas along riverbanks. Nests were built in old, rather large in size hollows. Blue-crowned geese at any age have a very calm character and are fairly peaceful feathered creatures. It is generally believed that such naturally hardy birds need the presence of regular rest and silence. The result of overwork can be the appearance of uncharacteristic aggressive behavior.

Under natural conditions, the lifestyle of such birds is secretive, and the activity of the birds was exclusively in the daytime hours. As a rule, the blue macaw could be observed flying quite high, directly above the crown of plants. During scorching heat and at night the birds rested in the dense tree foliage.

How long does the blue macaw live?
The average lifespan of representatives of this species in natural conditions can range from 10 years to a quarter of a century, and individual specimens in captivity may well live a little less than half a century.

Sexual dimorphism
Male parrots are practically indistinguishable from females in appearance, but some signs allow defining the sex of the bird quite clearly. The females have a slightly smaller skull circumference and the arrangement of feathers on the body is more even and neat.

Range, habitats
In June 2016, an individual similar in appearance to the blue macaw was spotted near the Brazilian town of Curaça. The bird was photographed the next day, but the resulting picture was of very poor quality. Nevertheless, the ornithologists who observed the bird were able to identify this parrot by its characteristic call as a blue macaw. There is an opinion that this bird was released from conditions of captivity.

The blue ara was characterized by a limited natural habitat. The species lived in the coastal forest areas of the river basin in northeastern Brazil. Such a small area of distribution is directly related to the absolute dependence of these birds on the presence of tabebuya trees (Sagaiba). They built nests in the hollows of such plants, seeds served as food, and the crown of the tree as a reliable protection and shelter for the night. Pairs, as well as small groups, are quite capable of desperately defending their territories.

The post Blue Macaw appeared first on Coal-is-Dirty.

Lemur lory in the wild
A slow and very cautious animal, it leads a mostly nocturnal lifestyle and is rather rarely grouped together. This family includes four genera and about ten species, but the thick lory is the most popular.

Characteristics and Description
The lorikeets have a thick and soft coat, which most often has a gray or brown coloration with a darker shade in the back area. Characteristic are large eyes and small-sized ears that may be hidden under the fur.

The thumbs are opposed to the rest, and the index fingers can be classified as rudimentary organs. The tail is short or absent entirely. Depending on the species, torso length varies between 17-40 cm, with a body weight of 0.3-2.0 kg.

In nature, the most common species are the following:

Small or pygmy lory with a body length of 18-21 cm;
slow lory with a body length of 26-38 cm;
the Javanese lory with a body length of 24-38 cm;
The fat lory with a body length of 18-38 cm.

Habitat.
Lorikeets naturally inhabit the tropical forests of Central Africa, and are also common in parts of Southern and Southeastern Asia. The little lory inhabits the forest areas of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. The distribution area of the slow lory is the territory of the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Java and Borneo islands.

The Javanese lory is endemic. It inhabits the central and western part of the Indonesian island of Java. The fat lorie is native to the rainforests of Bangladesh, northeast India, Indochina, and western Indonesia, and is also found on the northern edge of China and in the eastern part of the Philippines.

Lemur Nutrition
Under natural conditions, the standard diet of the lemur includes both living organisms and plant foods. The exotic animal eats a variety of crickets, lizards, small birds and their eggs.

A peculiarity of the lory is its ability to use even poisonous caterpillars and insects as food, as well as to consume resinous secretions of tropical trees. Plant food is also very important in the lemur’s diet. The animal easily eats fruits, vegetables, herbs, as well as flowering parts of various tropical plants.

Breeding peculiarities
The exotic animal is characterized by selectivity in finding a mate and creating a family. The lemur lori may search for its mate for quite a long time, remaining alone for an extended period of time. The gestation period slightly exceeds six months, after which one or two cubs are born. The born cubs are already covered with relatively thick fur, which serves as an excellent protection against adverse external influences. The cub’s weight usually does not exceed 100-120 grams, but may vary slightly depending on the species’ peculiarities.

For a month and a half or two months, the females carry the cubs on their backs. The little animals cling tenaciously to the thick fur on their mother’s belly, but may periodically move to their father’s fur, returning to the female only to feed. The duration of lactation of the lorrie lemur does not usually exceed five months. Little lemurs become independent only by the age of one and a half, when they are fully mature and receive all vital skills from their parents.

The post Lemur Laurie appeared first on Coal-is-Dirty.