Feet Soaker: Verdict – Guilty!
This is a Sitatunga, a swamp antelope.
They are adapted to survive where few other antelope could. Their long and thin hooves allow them to walk across islands of floating vegetation and wet terrain without sinking. Their coat is waterproof and they are strong swimmers that can even hide underwater with only their nostrils (and maybe eyes) showing.
So when I shot this photo of this one gingerly walking through the water, I was mistaken to think he was just crossing to the other side. Instead he was just doing what he prefers to do which was to walk down the creek bed as if he had not a care in the world.
Nap Time
I was able to catch this fellow in the act of yawning evidently right before he took his nap. “Why grandma, what big teeth you’ve got.”
A Little about Leopards:
Leopards are elusive, solitary and largely nocturnal. They are known for their ability to climb and rest on tree branches during the day as well as drag their kill up in trees to prevent other larger predators from stealing it.
They are powerful swimmers and are very agile. They can run at over 58 kilometres per hour (36 mph), leap over 6 metres (20 ft) horizontally, and jump up to 3 metres (9.8 ft) vertically. They produce a number of vocalizations, including grunts, roars, growls, meows, and “sawing” sounds.
Where’s the Snow?
The polar bear is regarded as a marine mammal because it spends many months of the year at sea.
It is the largest terrestrial carnivore, sharing this title only with the Kodiak Bear.
Adult males weigh 770–1500 lbs and measure 7.9–9.8 ft in length. Adult females are roughly half the size of males and normally weigh 330–550 lb, measuring 5.9–7.9 ft in length.
Pictured is a female Polar Bear (Baltimore zoo) sitting patiently on the ground apparently looking for something . Given that I took this shot in the middle of June I couldn’t help but think that perhaps she is seeking relief from the hot summer sun and is wishing for snow.
An Ancient Pet
What Most of Us Know: The cheetah, currently on the endangered species list, achieves by far the fastest land speed of any living animal. They have the ability to reach speeds between 112 and 120 km/h (70 and 75 mph) in short bursts covering distances up to 500 m (1,600 ft), with the ability to accelerate from 0 to over 100 km/h (62 mph) in three seconds.
What Most of us Don’t Know: Ancient Egyptians often kept cheetahs as pets, and also tamed and trained them for hunting. Cheetahs would be taken to hunting fields in low-sided carts or by horseback, hooded and blindfolded, and kept on leashes while dogs flushed out their prey. When the prey was near enough, the cheetahs would be released and their blindfolds removed.
This tradition was passed on to the ancient Persians and brought to India, where the practice was continued by Indian princes into the twentieth century.
Cheetahs continued to be associated with royalty and elegance, their use as pets spreading just as their hunting skills were. Other such princes and kings kept them as pets, including Genghis Khan and Charlemagne, who boasted of having kept cheetahs within their palace grounds. Akbar the Great, ruler of the Mughal Empire from 1556 to 1605, kept as many as 1000 cheetahs. As recently as the 1930s the Emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie, was often photographed leading a cheetah by a leash.
Here’s Looking At You
I have taken several photo’s of butterflies, but this is the first time that I’ve taken one that actually turned its head to smile for my camera.
Mr. Bushy Tail
The word squirrel, first attested in 1327. It comes from the Anglo-Norman esquirel from the Old French escurel, Latin sciurus and Ancient Greek skiouros, which means shadow-tailed.
Squirrels live in almost every habitat from tropical rainforest to semiarid desert, avoiding only the high polar regions and the driest of deserts.
As their large eyes indicate, squirrels generally have an excellent sense of vision, which is especially important for tree-dwelling species.
A Tightrope of Blooms
Butterflies are quite the acrobats, ready and able to display their ability to defy gravity.
Whether it is by crawling across the top of a flower, hanging upside down on a stem or walking a miniature tightrope of blooms, they are truly amazing little creatures and enjoyable to watch.
Want to Play a Game of Darts?
The answer to the titles question is a firm NO.
As attractive as this little frog is, he is not to be played with for he is one of 175 species of the poisonous Dart Frog family and is highly toxic.
Dart frogs are native to Central and South America and are critically endangered.
They were named “dart frogs” due to the Amerindians‘ indigenous use of their toxic secretions to poison the tips of blowdarts.
I happened by this little fellows’ sanctuary just in time to watch him sneak up on his afternoon meal, which is trying its best to hide in the crack of the rock.
However, the seeker proved greater than the hider and a tasty treat was soon enjoyed by the black spotted orange amphibian.
The Purple Emperor
The Purple Emperor butterfly can be found in the woodlands of central Europe and Southern Britain.
It is a large brown butterfly with iridescent wings that shine blue or purple in the light.
Purple Emperors do not feed from flowers. Instead they feed from honeydew secreted by aphids, dung, and rotting animal carcasses.
They are high flyers and spend most of their time in the canopy of trees.
This one decided to come to ground and momentarily bask in the sun before fluttering off to feast on a nearby honeydew melon, courtesy of the butterfly keepers at Brookside Gardens “Wings of Fancy” in Silver Spring Md.
Basilisk “Little King”
Native to Latin America, the Plumed basilisks (a species of lizards) are bright green with small bluish spots along their dorsal ridge.
The word, Basilisk, is derived from the Greek word basilískos (βασιλίσκος) which means “little king.”
One of the unique attributes of this lizard is its ablilty to run short distances across water by using both its feet and tail for support. This ability has given it the nickname, the “Jesus Christ lizard.”
In Greek Mythology it is said that the stare from a Basilisk can turn a man into stone. If I didn’t know any better I would think that this little fellow, who resides at the National Zoo in Washington DC, is trying his best to turn myth into reality, and I seem to be the object of his endeavor.
Along Came a Spider
The Yellow Garden Spider is easily recognized by its striking coloration, large size, and impressive web.
A bold, contrasting pattern of black, yellow, and occasionally white, mark the abdomen and legs of the spider, which is presumably to advertise to birds and other predators that it will not make a tasty meal.
While their appearance may be alarming they are, like most spiders, essentially harmless to humans. Their bite would be an equivalent to the sting of a wasp or bee.
Although the spider itself is large, beautiful and impressive, the unique web is often its most noticeable feature.
Reaching a diameter of up to two feet (60 cm) with a distinctive zigzag pattern across the middle.
The zigzag portion of the web, thought to be an adaptation to prevent larger creatures from unintentionally destroying all the spider’s hard work, is made of noncapture silk and is not sticky. The spider typically rests, head-down, on this portion of the web, waiting for prey.
Impressively, the female eats her own web each day and constructs a new one.
I’m All Ears
Deer, a ruminant mammal which means that they have a four chamber stomach, live in all continents except Antarctica and Australia.
The Whitetail deer, pictured here, is a medium-sized deer, weighing between 130-300 lbs. Bucks have been known to get up to 375 lbs.
Deer fawns are born in late spring sometime in May or June.
Deer rely heavily on their sense of hearing and as you can see by this Doe’s perked ears , my attempt of being stealth was not as successful as I thought.
Nortorious Swamp Dweller
Alligators are only native to the United States and China.
American alligators are found in Florida, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, South and North Carolina, Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. According to the 2005 Scholastic Book of World Records, Louisiana is the state with the largest alligator population.
The majority of American alligators inhabit Florida and Louisiana, with over a million alligators in each state. American alligators live in freshwater, such as ponds, marshes, wetlands, rivers, lakes, and swamps. Southern Florida is the only place where both alligators and crocodiles live side by side.
The Chinese alligator currently is found only in the Yangtze River valley and is extremely endangered, with only a few dozen believed to be left in the wild. Indeed, far more Chinese alligators live in zoos around the world than can be found in the wild.
This fellow pictured here is an American Alligator who appears to be getting ready to take an afternoon nap, or is he contemplating me for lunch?
Just Out of Reach
Chipmunks are small striped squirrels native to North America and Asia. They are valuable little creatures in the ecosystem where their activities of harvesting and hoarding tree seeds play a crucial role in seedling establishment.
Chipmunks also play an important role as prey for various predatory mammals and birds, but are also opportunistic predators themselves, particularly with regard to bird eggs and nestlings.
This little fellow has his eyes fixed on the seeds of nearby plants however they are just out of his reach. But if there is one thing that I know about these crafty little guys is that he’ll figure out how to get them, even if it means mowing them down stem by stem.
They Call me Gila
The Gila monster (pronounced, HEE-la), is a venomous lizard native to the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexican state of Sonora.
It is a heavy, slow-moving lizard that can get up to 2 feet long and is the only poisonous lizard native to the U.S.
Though the Gila monster is deadly, its slow moving nature represents little threat to humans. However, it has earned a fearsome reputation and is sometimes killed despite being protected by state law in Arizona and Nevada.
This fellow however, has no worries as he takes an afternoon siesta at the National Zoo, in Washington D.C.
Teeming With Life
The Amazon River is the second largest river in the world (3,970-4,000 miles long) and Originates from streams in the Andes Mountains.
There are over 2,100 species of fish currently recognized in the Amazon Basin, with more being discovered every year.
My chances to take a trip to the Amazon River basin are slim but thanks to the efforts of the National Zoo in Washington DC, I am able to catch a glimpse of a few of those species of fish that live in this amazing river.
For additional information pertaining to this extremely important river to our planet, click here
The Burrower
The groundhog, also known as a woodchuck or in some areas, land-beaver, usually lives from two to three years, but can live up to six years in the wild.
They are mostly herbivores but also eat grubs, grasshoppers, insects, snails and other small animals.
They are excellent burrowers in which the average groundhog has been estimated to move approximately 710 lb of dirt when digging a burrow. They use their burrows for sleeping, rearing young, and hibernating.
Groundhogs begin to reproduce in their second year of life and their young are born in April or May. One litter is produced annually, and usually containing 2–6 blind, hairless and helpless pups. Young groundhogs are weaned and ready to seek their own dens at five to six weeks of age.
Despite their heavy-bodied appearance, they are accomplished swimmers and excellent tree climbers when escaping predators, or wanting to survey their surroundings.
This little fellow seems to be taking time to stop and smell a summer bloom right before he enjoy its tastiness.
A Sleeping Giant
The giant panda is an endangered species, threatened by continued habitat loss and by a very low birthrate, both in the wild and in captivity.
A 2007 report shows that there are 239 pandas living in captivity inside China and another 27 outside the country.
Wild population estimates vary; one estimate shows that there are about 1,590 individuals living in the wild, while a 2006 study via DNA analysis estimated that this figure could be as high as 2,000 to 3,000.
This napping fellow is enjoying a spring day perched upon a rather large tree limb at the National Zoo in Washington D.C.
I am not sure which of the two Giant pandas he is, Mei Xiang or Tian Tian who are under the Giant Panda Cooperative Research and Breeding Agreement between the Zoo and the China Wildlife Conservation Association, signed in January 2011, This agreement will extend the Zoo’s giant panda program through 2015.
Mei and Tian are the focus of an ambitious research, conservation, and breeding program designed to preserve this endangered species. For more information on Mei and Tian click here.
Dragons Do Exist
The Blue Iguana, or Grand Cayman Iguana, is one of the longest-living species of lizard (the record is 67 years). It is large and heavy-bodied ( 30lbs. – 5ft in length) with a dorsal crest of short spines running from the base of the neck to the end of its tail.
They can only be found in the wild on the Grand Cayman Islands and are on the critically endangered species list.
This fellow resides at the National Zoo in Washington D.C. And as you can see he was more than happy to smile for my camera, can you see his grin?
Bee Terrific
There are nearly 20,000 known species of bees. And they can be found on every continent except Antarctica. Bees play an important role in pollinating flowering plants, in fact, they are the major pollinator in the ecosystems that contain plants that flower.
This bee doesn’t waste anytime (hence the expression, “busy as a bee”) in gathering the first fruits of nectar from these emerging buds.
Hide and Seek
Tropical Rain forest frogs, no bigger than your thumbnail, appear to be playing a game of hide and seek.
Path Pictures is designed to offer a small resting place for folks to take time and "stop and view the roses."
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