Animals Under water,Dolphins

Featured in art both ancient and modern, films, TV, and in aquarium shows worldwide, the Bottlenose Dolphin is likely the species most familiar to people. It is larger and more powerfully built than many other members of the family Delphinidae, but size, shape and color vary widely on an individual basis and according to location. It has adapted to an amazingly wide range of habitats including coastal reefs, bays, estuaries, river mouths, and open ocean atolls around the world from nearly 60 degrees North to 50 degrees South latitude.Tursiops truncatus is obviously an acrobatic species capable of powerful jumps, often curious towards people, and a regular bow-rider of boats. Most are varying shades of gray, with a stout broad beak and prominent dorsal fin. Males are larger than females. Studied carefully both in captivity and the wild, we know more about the reproductive biology of this species than that of most other oceanic dolphins. Gestation lasts nearly a year, 3-4’ long calves are born year round, and young are not fully weaned until 18 or 20 months old.

Most Dangerous Fish, Piranha

Piranhas inhabit exclusively the fresh waters of South America. Their geographical distribution extends from the Orinoco River basin (Venezuela) to the North, down to that of the Paran (Argentina) to the South. Over this whole area, which also embraces the entire Amazon Basin, biologists have recorded 28 carnivorous species of these fish (2). In spite of the evolutionary success of this subfamily of fish, the mechanisms that generated the species richness of this group are still insufficiently known.

Sailfish,Atlantic and Indo-Pacific

The two main subspecies of sailfish, Atlantic and Indo-Pacific, range throughout the warm and temperate parts of the world’s oceans. They are blue to gray in color with white underbellies. They get their name from their spectacular dorsal fin that stretches nearly the length of their body and is much higher than their bodies are thick.

The Beautiful Batterfly

A butterfly is an insects of the order Lepidopter. Like all Lepidoptera, butterflies are notable for their unusual life cycle with a larval caterpillar stage, an inactive pupal stage, and a spectacular metamorphosis into a familiar and colourful winged adult form. Most species are day-flying so they regularly attract attention. The diverse patterns formed by their brightly coloured wings and their erratic yet graceful flight have made butterfly watching a hobby.

Giant Panda

China's Beijing Genomics Institute in Shenzhen announced that it has mapped the entire genetic code for the giant panda using DNA sequencing and analysis equipment from San Diego-based Illumina. The project began in mid 2008 and was completed by Jan.2009.The panda at the center of this discovery is Jingjing, who lives in China's Chengdu Panda Breeding Research Center and was the mascot for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The genetic information from Jingjing is expected to be complemented in the future with genetic information from other pandas.Scientists hope to use the data from the sequencing project to better understand panda biology and reproduction. Giant pandas are difficult to breed in captivity and are currently on the endangered species list.In China, the panda's genome sequencing was ranked by the Chinese government as one of the top 10 technology achievements of the year, right up there with the nation's space shuttle and the completion of the Tibetan railway.

Swift Parrot

ONE of Australia’s rarest and fastest birds, the swift parrot, seems to be plummeting in number, and logging has been blamed.Sightings of the flashy red and green parrot have declined sharply in its winter home of flowering eucalypt woodlands in Victoria and NSW, surveys show.Checks by 400 volunteers, conducted under a federal-state recovery plan for the bird, found that instead of improving, the number of sightings declined from 2.5 per survey in 2000 to 0.5 last year.Already listed as endangered, with fewer than 1000 breeding pairs in 2003, the swift parrot might be close to critically endangered, said Chris Tzaros, conservation manager of the non-government organisation Birds Australia.

Penguins

Penguins are a group of aquatic, flightless birds living almost exclusively in the southern hemisphere. The number of penguin species is debated. Depending on which authority is followed, penguin biodiversity varies between 17 and 20 living species, all in the subfamily Spheniscinae.
The largest living species is the Emperor Penguin : adults average about 1.1 m tall and weigh 35 kg or more. The smallest penguin species is the Little Blue Penguin (also known as the Fairy Penguin), which stands around 40 cm tall and weighs 1 kg.

Polar Bear

Polar bear cubs

The polar bear (Ursus maritimus), also known as the white bear, northern bear, or sea bear, is a large bear native to the Arctic. It is well-adapted to its habitat : its thick blubber and fur insulate it against the cold, its white coloured fur camouflages it from its prey. The polar bear hunts well on land, on the sea ice, as well as in the water.

The Red Snake

The ring-necked snake, Diadophis punctatus, occurs throughout much of the United States, southeastern Canada, and most of Mexico. In Utah, the species occurs in the central area of the state, and in some parts of the West Desert. Although the ring-necked snake is moderately distributed in Utah, it is not particularly abundant in the state. Most ring-necked snakes are dark in color with a bright orange or yellow neck band and an orange-red belly. The neck band is missing, however, in some of the ring-necked snakes found in Utah.The ring-necked snake eats amphibians, lizards, snakes, and invertebrates, including worms. The ring-necked snake is often a communal nester, with each female laying a clutch of one to eighteen eggs in June or July. Eggs are laid underground, under rocks, or under logs, and hatch in about two months. Ring-necked snakes can be found near water in a variety of habitats. The ring-necked snake is a secretive nocturnal species seldom seen by the casual observer.

Black widow spider

The female black widow is easily recognized by her shiny black body and red hourglass marking underneath her round abdomen. Although black widows can be found in nearly every state they are most common in the southern areas of the United States. The black widow makes her home in wood piles, under eaves, and other undisturbed places. The bite of a black widow can be serious and require medical attention. Symptoms include pain radiating from the site of the bite, nausea, overall aching of the body, profuse sweating, and labored breathing.

Breed of the week: the stately Siberian Husky

Native to Siberia (duh), this breed was used for centuries by the Chukchi people to pull sleds and herd reindeer. They were the perfect dogs for the harsh Siberian conditions: hardy, able to integrate into small packs and content to work for hours on end. These dogs were brought to Alaska in 1909 and later to North America by fur traders in Malamute for arctic races because of their great speed.Several dog breeds are commonly employed as "sled dogs," including the Siberian Husky and Alaskan Malamute as well as rarer breeds such as the Mackenzie River Husky and Canadian Inuit Dog. Dog drivers have a long history of using crossbreeds as sled dogs as well. In the Yukon during the Gold Rush, mongrel teams were the rule. Interestingly, from 1988 through 1991, even a team of Standard Poodles competed in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race! Today, the unregistered hybridized Alaskan husky is the preferred choice for dogsled racing.