Animal Aqua » Animal Life

Animal Life From China

AnimalAqua — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 06:07:27 +0000

Profusion of vegetation and a variety of relief have fostered the development of a great diversity of animal life and have permitted the survival of animals that elsewhere are extinct. Notable among such survivals are the great paddlefish of the Yangtze, the small species of alligator in eastern and central China, and the giant salamander (related to the Japanese giant salamander and the American hellbender) in western China. The diversity of animal life is perhaps greatest in the ranges and valleys of Tibet and Szechwan, to which region the giant panda is confined. The takin, or goat antelope, numerous species of pheasants, and a variety of laughing thrushes are to be found in all the Chinese mountains. China seems to be one of the chief centres of dispersal of the carp family and also of old-world catfishes.

The regional affinities of Chinese animal life are complex. In the Northeast there are resemblances to the animal life of the Siberian forests. Animals from Central Asia inhabit suitable steppe areas in northern China. The life of the great mountain ranges is Palearctic (relating to a biogeographic region that includes Europe, Asia north of the Himalayas, northern Arabia, and Africa north of the Sahara) but with distinctively Chinese species or genera. To the southeast the lowlands and mountains alike permit direct access to the eastern region. This part of China presents a complete transition from temperate-zone Palearctic life to the wealth of tropical forms distinctive of southeastern Asia. Tropical types of reptiles, amphibians, birds, and mammals predominate in the southernmost Chinese provinces.

Animal Life From Ukraine

AnimalAqua — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 06:04:42 +0000

The animal life of Ukraine is diverse, with about 350 species of birds, more than 100 of mammals, and more than 200 of fish. The most common predators are the wolf, fox, wildcat, and marten, while hoofed animals include the roe deer, wild pig, and sometimes elk and mouflon (a wild sheep). The wide variety of rodents includes gophers, hamsters, jerboas, and field mice. The major bird species are black and hazel grouse, owl, gull, and partridge, as well as many migrating birds, such as wild goose, duck, and stork. Among the fish are pike, carp, bream, perch, sturgeon, and sterlet. Introduced and wellacclimatized wildlife includes muskrat, raccoon, beaver, nutria, and silver fox.

Animal life ( from N.American desert )

AnimalAqua — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 06:03:20 +0000

The North American Desert harbours an abundant variety of insects, including grasshoppers that occasionally reach destructive proportions. Lizards, snakes, and other reptiles, the most conspicuous animals, are dependent on plant fluids or devoured animals for moisture. Likewise, desert birds are largely independent of water sources (and are seen almost everywhere), as they derive their moisture from the insects and spiders that they eat. Rodents (including mice, rats, and squirrels), rabbits, and bats are the most numerous mammals; essentially nocturnal, they remain underground during the heat of the day and, like the birds and reptiles, obtain moisture from their food. Higher up in the food chain are such carnivores as coyotes, bobcats, foxes, and skunks; and the largest desert mammal, found at higher elevations, is the bighorn sheep. Protective coloration, often remarkably complex, is an important feature of desert life.

[tags]animal, american, desert[/tags]

Animal life ( from Tien Shan )

AnimalAqua — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 06:02:08 +0000

The diversity and range of animals and birds in the Tien Shan increased markedly following the relocation of much of the human population to lower elevations. Species typifying the mountain fauna include the wolf, fox, and ermine. There also are many distinctively Central Asian species, inhabiting chiefly the high mountains; these include the snow leopard, mountain goat, Manchurian roe, roe deer, and mountain sheep. The forest meadow steppe zone is inhabited by bears, wild boars, badgers, field voles, members of the jerboa family (nocturnal jumping rodents), and members of the Ochotonidae family (short-eared mammals related to the rabbits). The many birds include the mountain partridge, pigeon, Alpine chough, crow, mountain wagtail, redstart, birket (a golden eagle), vulture, Himalayan snow cock, and other species. The lower zones desert and semiarid regions are visited by animals from the neighbouring plains, such as antelope, gazelles, Tolai hares, and gray hamsters. Lizards and snakes are also found.

[tags]tien shan, animal life[/tags]

Animal life ( from Malaysia )

AnimalAqua — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 06:00:41 +0000

The forests and scrublands are inhabited by a large variety of animal life. Mammals on the peninsula include the elephant, tiger, seladang (or Malayan gaur, a massive wild ox), Sumatran rhinoceros, tapir (a hoofed and snouted quadruped), wild pig, and many species of deer, including the pelandok, or chevrotain (a small, deerlike ruminant). Crocodiles, monitor lizards, and cobras also are indigenous to the country, while the green sea turtle and the giant leathery turtle nest regularly on the beaches of the east coast. Animal life in East Malaysia is even more varied than it is on the peninsula. In addition to the peninsular species, East Malaysia is also the home of the fast-disappearing orangutan and rhinoceros, the sun bear (also called the honey bear), and the unique proboscis monkey a reddish tree-living species. There also are vast numbers of cave swifts, whose nests are regularly collected and sold as the main ingredient of bird’s nest soup.

[tags]malaysia, animals[/tags]

Animal life ( from Switzerland )

AnimalAqua — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 05:59:40 +0000

The animal life of Switzerland is mainly Alpine, but a mixture of species familiar to southern and north-central Europe is also found. Animal life is protected, except during a brief annual hunting season. The Alpine tourists may observe marmots, which live in the high meadows, and the chamois. Large herds of the round ibex, which had died out in the Swiss Alps and has since been reintroduced, have again developed in several areas, especially in the Bernina region of GraubÃ¼nden (canton) and in the Saastal of Valais. In the forests there are deer, rabbits, foxes, badgers, squirrels, and many varieties of birds, including the eagle, while lake and river trout may be found but are no longer as abundant as in the past. Snakes and lizards are concentrated in the south, but insects, in great variety, are diffused throughout the country.

[tags]animal, switzerland[/tags]

Animal Life From Ural Mountains

AnimalAqua — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 05:46:00 +0000

There are no specifically mountain animals in the Urals, primarily because of the low elevations and easy accessibility, and fauna differs little from that of the adjacent areas of eastern Europe and western Siberia. The most valuable animal of the tundra is the Arctic fox. Ob lemmings, snowy owls, tundra partridge, and reindeer are other inhabitants, though the latter are few. Many wild ducks, geese, and swans breed there in summer. But the richest and most varied fauna in the Urals, including the brown bear, lynx, wolverine, and elk, are found in the forested zones.

Some have valuable furs: the sable (in the north), ermine, fox, marten (in the south), Siberian weasel, and squirrel. In the taiga there are such birds as the wood grouse, black grouse, capercaillie (another member of the grouse family), cuckoo, and hazel hen (a woodland grouse). In the mixed, broad-leaved forests of the Southern Urals’ western slopes live roe deer, badgers, and polecats, as well as many birds typical of the European part of Russia, such as the nightingale and oriole. The commonest animals of the steppe and semidesert regions are rodents, including susliks (a type of ground squirrel), jerboas (a social, nocturnal, jumping rodent), and other agricultural pests. Reptiles include the common adder and grass snake. The rivers and lakes of the Northern Urals abound in fish, the most valuable being the nelma (a species related to the whitefish), common salmon, grayling, and sea trout. Farther south, in the densely populated and industrial regions, animal life is less abundant.

The vigorous economic development and growth in population that have occurred in the Urals in the 20th century have altered considerably the chain’s landscape and the abundance of wildlife. Conservation measures during the Soviet period included establishing national nature preserves such as Pechoro-Ilych in the Northern Urals, Basegi and Visim in the Central Urals, and Ilmen and Bashkir in the Southern Urals.

Animal life ( from Himalaya )

AnimalAqua — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 05:43:43 +0000

The animal life of the eastern Himalayas is derived mainly from that of the southern Chinese and Indo-Chinese region: primarily the type of fauna found in tropical forests and only secondarily adapted to the subtropical, mountain, and temperate conditions prevailing at higher altitudes and in the drier western areas. The animal life of the western Himalayas, however, has more affinities with that of the Mediterranean, Ethiopian, and Turkmenian regions. The past presence in the region of some African animals, such as the giraffe and the hippopotamus, can be inferred from fossil remains in the Siwalik deposits of the Outer Himalayas. The animal life at altitudes above the tree line consists almost exclusively of endemic species, adapted to the cold, that evolved from the wildlife of the steppes after the uplift of the Himalayas. Elephants, bison, and rhinoceroses are restricted to certain areas of the forested Tarai regionâ€”moist or marshy areas, now largely drained at the base of the low hills in southern Nepal. The Indian rhinoceros was once abundant throughout the foothill zone of the Himalayas but is now near extinction; the musk deer and the Kashmir stag, or hangul, are also on the point of extinction. The Himalayan black bear, the clouded leopard, the langur monkey (a long-tailed Asian monkey), and the cat are some of the other denizens of the Himalayan forests. Himalayan goat antelopes, such as the tahr, also are found. In higher altitudes above the tree line, the snow leopard, the brown bear, the red panda, and the Tibetan yak can occasionally be seen. The yak has been domesticated and is used as a beast of burden in LadÄkh. The typical inhabitants above the tree line, however, are diverse types of insects, spiders, and mites, which are the only animal forms that can live as high up as 20,700 feet. Fish of the genus Glyptothorax live in most of the Himalayan streams, on the banks of which is found the Himalayan water shrew. Lizards of the genus Japalura are widely distributed. Typhlops, a genus of blind snake, is common in the eastern Himalayas. The butterflies of the Himalayas are extremely varied and beautiful, especially from the genus Troides. The birdlife is equally rich but is more in evidence in the east than in the west. In Nepal alone almost 800 species have been observed. Among some of the common Himalayan birds are different species of magpie (including the black-rumped, the blue, and the racket-tailed), titmouse, chough (related to the jackdaw), whistling thrush, and redstart. A few strong fliers, such as the lammergeier (bearded vulture), the black-eared kite, and the Himalayan griffon (an Old World vulture), also can be seen. The snow partridge and the Cornish chough are found at elevations of 18,600 feet.
[tags]animal life, himalaya, life[/tags]

Animal Life From Vietnam

AnimalAqua — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 05:41:47 +0000

The most common domesticated animals in Vietnam are water buffalo, cattle, dogs, cats, pigs, goats, ducks, and chickens. Wild game in the central highlands includes elephants and tapirs; rhinoceroses once roamed there, but none have been seen since the early 1940s. Also found in the forests are large cats, including tigers, leopards, and ounces (snow leopards); several kinds of wild oxen, including gaurs and koupreys; and various types of bears, among them black bears and sun bears (honey bears). Deer are plentiful and include the small musk deer and barking deer. Other common wild animals are wild boars, porcupines, jackals, otters, mongooses, hares, skunks, and squirrels, including flying squirrels.

There are many different kinds of small wildcats and three types of civets-Malagasy civets, binturongs, and palm civets. Primates such as the langur, macaque, gibbon, and rhesus monkey live in the forests. Crocodiles are found on the edges of some lakes and along riverbanks; other reptiles include several kinds of lizards, pythons, and cobras. Of the wide variety of land and water birds, some 600 species have been identified in southern Vietnam alone.

Animal life ( from Asia )

AnimalAqua — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 05:40:40 +0000

The Himalayas, stretching from east to west, form a barrier that largely prevents the movement of fauna southward or northward. Thus, Asia north of the Himalayas, with parts of western Asia and most of East Asia, belongs to the Palearctic (Old World) subregion of the Holarctic zoogeographic region (roughly, the Northern Hemisphere north of the tropics). Asia south of the Himalayas is called the Oriental, or Indian, region. The boundary dividing these zones east and west of the Himalayas is not well marked, however, as the mountain chains there often have a north-south trend facilitating migration of animals between them.

Asian faunal habitats have been subjected to the same disruption from human activities that has affected the continent’s vegetation, particularly in regions of extremely dense population (e.g., the great Indian river valleys and the plains and lowlands of eastern and southern China). Asia’s vastness and its numerous remote regions, however, have made it possible for many animal species to live practically undisturbed by human activity. Nonetheless, the threat of extinction remains for many species, most notably for the giant panda of China and the Sumatran rhinoceros and orangutan of Southeast Asia.

[tags]animal, asia, tropical[/tags]