wild life

Tigers are the largest members of the cat
family and are renowned for their power
and strength.
The tiger is capable of killing animals over
twice its size; it is one of nature’s most
feared predators.
Like its ancestor, the sabre-tooth cat, the
tiger relies heavily on its powerful teeth for
survival. If it loses its canines (tearing teeth)
through injury or old age, it can no longer
kill and is likely to starve to death.
Tigers live alone and aggressively scentmark
large territories (up to 100sq km in
size) to keep their rivals away.
They are powerful nocturnal hunters that
travel many miles to find buffalo, deer, wild
pigs, and other large mammals. A Bengal
tiger can eat 21kg of meat in a night and
can kill the equivalent of 30 buffaloes a
year.
The roar of a Bengal tiger can carry for over
2km at night.
Although tigers are powerful and fast over
short distances, the Bengal tiger cannot
outrun fleet footed prey such as deer.
Instead it uses stealth to catch its victims;
attacking from the side or the rear.
Tigers use their distinctive coats as
camouflage (no two have exactly the same
stripes).
If the kill is large, the tiger may drag the remains to a thicket
and loosely bury it with leaves, then return to it later.
As well as game animals, it preys on wild boar, monkeys,
lizards and occasionally porcupines.
TIGER
Females give birth to litters of two to six cubs, which they raise
with little or no help from the male. Cubs cannot hunt until they
are 18 months old and remain with their mothers for two to
three years, when they disperse to find their own territory.
Like domestic cats, all tigers can purr. Unlike their tame
relatives, however, which can purr as they breathe both in and
out, tigers purr only as they breathe out.
Unlike other cats, tigers are good swimmers and often cool off
in lakes and streams during the heat of the day.
Although tigers belong in the wild they are still used by
travelling circuses in the UK.
Article by Ruth Simojnn

A leopard may not
be able to change
its spots, but some
zebras change their
stripes. Zebras in
warmer places have
more stripes, a new
study
Zebra stripes not for
camouflage,
scientists confirm
For over 100 years the question of why
zebras have stripes has proved a
perpetual conundrum, even prompting
heated debates between revered
scientists.
However, the common consensus that
zebra stripes are used as camouflage to
protect them from predators has been
refuted in a new study.
Scientists at the University of Calgary
and UC Davis passed digital images of
zebras, taken in the fields of Tanzania,
through spatial and colour filters,
simulating how the animals would
appear to their main predators – lions
and spotted hyenas – as well as to
other zebras.
They also measured the width and
luminance of the stripes in order to
estimate the maximum distance they
could be detected by different species,
using information about their vision..
CONTINUE IN THE NEXT EDITION.
.
ZEBRA
Article by Majesty Odumun

Facts about eagles
There are more than 60 different species of eagle.
Eagles are different from many other birds of
prey mainly by their larger size, more powerful
build, and heavier head and beak. Most eagles are
larger than any other raptors apart from vultures.
Eagles have unusual eyes. They are very large in
proportion to their heads and have extremely large
pupils. Eagles’ eyes have a million light-sensitive
cells per square mm of retina, five times more that
a human’s 200,000. While humans see just three
basic colours, eagles see five. These adaptations
gives eagles extremely keen eyesight and enable
them to spot even well-camouflaged potential prey
from a very long distance. In fact the eagles’ vision
is among the sharpest of any animal and studies
suggest that some eagles can spot an animal the
size of a rabbit up to two miles away!
Many eagle species lay two eggs, but the older,
larger chick frequently kills its younger sibling
once it has hatched. Adults do not intervene.
.
EAGLE
Article by Princel Macnice