Painted Batagur Turtle

Wildlife Creatures | Painted Batagur Turtle | The painted terrapin, painted batagur, or saw-jawed turtle (Batagur borneoensis) is a species of turtle in the Geoemydidae family. It was formerly in its own genus, Callagur, but has been reclassified to the genus, Batagur. It is found in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand.They are in danger of extinction because people take them as pets or to eat, and because of the deteriorating environments in and around the rivers they live in. Painted Batagurs live on the Malaysian peninsula, Sumatra Island, and Kalimantan Island.

Painted Batagurs live in rivers and sometimes go near the ocean where the seawater mixes with the fresh water. They also lay eggs in sandy beaches like Green Turtles. Young Painted Batagurs eat other animals and plants. Once they become adults, their diet changes to mainly leaves and other plants.The number of Painted Batagurs is declining because people capture them to eat, in addition to river water pollution and deteriorating surrounding environments. In Thailand, where the Painted Batagur is on the brink of extinction, there are strict restrictions against their capture, sale, or purchase.

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Box turtle

Wildlife Creatures | Box Turtle | The box turtle (Terrapene), or box tortoise is a genus of turtle native to North America (United States and Mexico). The 12 taxa which are distinguished in the genus are distributed over four species. It is largely characterized by having a domed shell, which is hinged at the bottom, allowing the animal to close its shell tightly to escape predators. Box turtles have become popular pets, although their needs in captivity are complex.

The genus name.Terrapene was coined by Merrem in 1820 as a separate genus from the Emydes for those species which had a sternum which was separated into two or three divisions and which could move these parts independently. All box turtles have a highly domed carapace. All species are domed, with a first central scute at an angle of more than 50° while the next central scutes are often flattened. While T. carolina species have a prominent medial keel (a ridge over the length of the carapace).

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Malayan Tapir

Wildlife Creatures | Malayan Tapir | The Malayan tapir (Tapirus indicus), also called the Asian tapir, is the largest of the four species of tapir and the only one native to Asia. The scientific name refers to the East Indies, the species' natural habitat. In the Malay language, the tapir is commonly referred to as "cipan", "tenuk" or "badak tampong".The animal is easily identified by its markings, most notably the light-colored “patch” which extends from its shoulders to its rear.

Malayan tapirs grow to between 1.8 to 2.4 m (5 ft 10 in to 7 ft 10 in) in length. They typically weigh between 250 and 320 kg (550 and 710 lb), although some adults can weigh up to 540 kg (1,200 lb). The females are usually larger than the males. Like the other types of tapir, they have small stubby tails and long, flexible proboscises. They have four toes on each front foot and three toes on each back foot. The Malayan tapir has rather poor eyesight but excellent hearing and sense of smell.

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Iberian Lynx

Wildlife Creatures | Iberian Lynx | The Iberian lynx, (Lynx pardinus), is a critically endangered species of felid native to the Iberian Peninsula in Southern Europe. A rabbit specialist, the Iberian lynx is unable to significantly alter its diet and, as a result, its population declined sharply when its main prey was decimated by two diseases in the 20th century. It was also affected by the loss of scrubland, its main habitat, to human development. It is now one of the most endangered cat species in the world.

According to the conservation group SOS Lynx, if the Iberian lynx died out, it would be the first feline species to become extinct since prehistoric times.[5] Captive breeding and reintroduction programs have boosted their numbers. As of 2013, Andalusia has a population of 309 living in the wild. Formerly considered a subspecies of the Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx), the Iberian lynx is now classified as a separate species. Both species occurred together in central Europe in the Pleistocene epoch, being separated by habitat choice.

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Snow Leopard

Wildlife Creatures | Snow Leopard | The snow leopard (Panthera uncia or Uncia uncia) is a moderately large cat native to the mountain ranges of Central Asia. The classification of this species has been subject to change, and as of 2000, it is still classified as Uncia uncia by MSW3. and CITES Appendix I. However, with more recent genetic studies, the snow leopard is now generally considered as Panthera uncia and classified as such by IUCN. Classically, two subspecies have been attributed, but genetic differences between the two have not been settled.

The snow leopard is listed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as globally Endangered (EN). Snow leopards occupy alpine and subalpine areas generally 3,350 to 6,700 metres (10,990 to 22,000 ft) above sea level in Central Asia. McCarthy and Chapron (2003) compiled national snow leopard population estimates, updating the work of Fox (1994). Many of the estimates are acknowledged to be rough and out of date, but the total estimated population is 4,150-7,350.

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Vampire Bat

Wildlife Creatures | Vampire Bat | Vampire bats are bats whose food source is blood, a dietary trait called hematophagy. Three bat species feed solely on blood: the common vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus), the hairy-legged vampire bat (Diphylla ecaudata), and the white-winged vampire bat (Diaemus youngi). All three species are native to America, ranging from Mexico to Brazil, Chile, and Argentina. Due to differences among the three species, each has been placed within a different genus, each consisting of one species. In the older literature, these three genera were placed within a family of their own, Desmodontidae.

Because the three known species of vampire bats all seem more similar to one another than to any other species suggests that sanguivorous habits (feeding on blood) evolved only once, and the three species may share a common ancestor.Unlike fruit-eating bats, the vampire bat has a short, conical muzzle. It also lacks a nose leaf, instead having naked pads with U-shaped grooves at the tip. The common vampire bat also has specialized thermoreceptors on its nose, which aid the animal in locating areas where the blood flows close to the skin of its prey.

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Woolly Mammoth

Wildlife Creatures | Woolly Mammoth | The woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius), also called the tundra mammoth, was a species of mammoth. This animal is known from bones and frozen carcasses from northern North America and northern Eurasia with the best preserved carcasses in Siberia. They are perhaps the most well known species of mammoth. This mammoth species was first recorded in (possibly 150,000 years old) deposits of the second last glaciation in Eurasia. It was derived from the steppe mammoth (Mammuthus trogonotherii).

It disappeared from most of its range at the end of the Pleistocene (10,000 years ago), with an isolated population still living on Wrangel Island until roughly 1700 BC. Woolly mammoths are common in the fossil record. Unlike most other prehistoric animals, their remains are often not literally fossilised - that is, turned into stone - but rather are preserved in their organic state. This is due in part to the frozen climate of their habitats, and to their massive size. Woolly mammoths are therefore among the best-understood prehistoric vertebrates known to science in terms of anatomy.

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Wombat

Wildlife Creatures | Wombat | Wombats are short-legged, muscular quadrupedal marsupials, native to Australia, approximately 1 metre (40 in) in length with a short, stubby tail. They are adaptable in habitat tolerance, and are found in forested, mountainous, and heathland areas of south-eastern Australia, including Tasmania, as well as an isolated patch of about 300 hectares (740 acres) in Epping Forest National Park in central Queensland.Wombats dig extensive burrow systems with rodent-like front teeth and powerful claws. One distinctive adaptation of wombats is their backwards pouch.

Wombats are herbivores; their diet consists mostly of grasses, sedges, herbs, bark and roots. Their incisor teeth somewhat resemble those of the placental rodents (rats, mice, etc.), being adapted for gnawing tough vegetation. Like many other herbivorous mammals, they have a large diastema between the incisors and the cheek teeth, which are relatively simple. The dental formula of wombats is Upper: 1.0.1.4, lower: 1.0.1.4. Wombats' fur colour can vary from a sandy colour to brown, or from grey to black. All three known extant species of wombats average around a metre in length.

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Woolly Monkey

Wildlife Creatures | Woolly Monkey | The woolly monkeys are the genus Lagothrix of New World monkeys, usually placed in the family Atelidae. The four species of woolly monkey all originate from the rainforests of South America. They have prehensile tails and live in relatively large social groups. One species of woolly monkey, the yellow-tailed woolly monkey, has recently been placed in the genus Oreonax.Woolly monkeys are found throughout the northern countries of South America (Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela and Peru).

The species lives in social groups ranging from 10 to 45 individuals. Foraging groups, however, tend to consist of two to six individuals which branch out from the main group, which is probably intended to reduce food competition between individuals. Woolly monkey diets consist of fruit with an addition of leaves, seeds, flowers and invertebrates. Woolly monkeys have coat colour variations including dark brown, red-brown, gray and olive. Their back sides are usually lighter in color than their under-belly sides. They have black faces, and the palms of their hands are a deep pink color.

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Zebra

Wildlife Creatures | Zebra | Zebras  are several species of African equids (horse family) united by their distinctive black and white stripes. Their stripes come in different patterns unique to each individual. They are generally social animals that live in small harems to large herds. Unlike their closest relatives, horses and asses, zebras have never been truly domesticated. There are three species of zebras: the plains zebra, the Grévy's zebra and the mountain zebra. The plains zebra and the mountain zebra belong to the subgenus Hippotigris, but Grevy's zebra is the sole species of subgenus Dolichohippus.

The unique stripes of zebras make these among the animals most familiar to people. They occur in a variety of habitats, such as grasslands, savannas, woodlands, thorny scrublands, mountains, and coastal hills. However, various anthropogenic factors have had a severe impact on zebra populations, in particular hunting for skins and habitat destruction. Grevy's zebra and the mountain zebra are endangered. While plains zebras are much more plentiful, one subspecies, the quagga, went extinct in the late 19th century, though there is currently a project, called the Quagga Project.

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