Masked Bandits

This past summer some friends and I were sitting at some picnic tables at a local state park. All of a sudden we heard a loud noise, like metal falling to the ground, only a few feet behind us. When I turned to look I spotted this little guy scavenging for scraps. I slowly stood up and walked over to within two feet and snapped these photos. He was completely unafraid of me. If you look closely you can see paw marks on the side of the barrel.

Sneaky Squirrels

Well, today I came home from work to find my two window bird feeders had been knocked to the ground and broken. I immediately knew who the culprits were. For the past week or so my family of squirrels have been regulars at the feeders. Two individuals discovered how to scale the wall and jump over to hang on the bottom of the feeder, sometimes by their back legs which I found very amusing. I should have known the feeders wouldn’t hold up to their weight for long. Below are the two suspects mug shots:

Friday Facts: The Meerkat

Above: photo of a Meerkat on the lookout taken at the Minnesota Zoo

Fact file:

• Meerkats have an average life span of 12-14 years.
• A group of meerkats is called a “mob”, “gang”, or “clan”.
• The Meerkat is  a member of the mongoose family.
• The average Meerkat weighs only 1.6 pounds.
• Meerkats are insectivores, but also eat lizards, snakes, plants, eggs, and small mammals.
• They are partially immune to certain venoms, namely the scorpion which also makes up part of their diet.
• Meerkats have been witnessed standing on one another’s shoulders in order to gather honey from nearby trees.
• There can be from 1 to 5 pups in a litter, with 3 pups being the average.
• They live in colonies averaging 20-30 members.

Take the Meerkat Quiz

Hide and Seek

 

Tigers!

Above: Tiger brothers from the Minnesota Zoo (spring 2007)

Interesting Tiger Facts:

• The word “tiger” is taken from the Greek word “tigris“, which  means arrow. Tigers were given this name due to their speed.
• Most tigers have over 100 stripes, the pattern being unique to each individual.
• Tigers can leap as high as 16 ft. and as far as 33 ft.
• Tigers are noisy breeders, with the female letting out loud cries during the act. (I witnessed this once, it was very…ehem…educational.)
•  The tiger has killed more people than any other cat, although this is usually by old or injured tigers who cannot catch other prey.
• In a poll conducted by Animal Planet, the Tiger was voted world’s favourite animal, narrowly beating “man’s best friend” by 1% with 10,904 votes.
• 12,000 tigers are being kept as private pets in the USA, 4,000 of which are in Texas alone.
• Only nineteen states have banned private ownership of tigers, fifteen require only a licence, and sixteen states have no regulations at all.
• The Tiger is currently the national animal of: Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, Nepal, and North and South Korea.

 Links:

Save the Tiger Fund

Tigers In Crisis

Tiger Tales