Okapi

We just learned about the Dolphi.

The okapi is an animal closely related to the giraffe, but looking at it you'd think it was almost a zebra because it has white and black stripes on it's legs.


(from: wikipedia - okapi)

The okapi's tongue is bluish gray, and is so long that it can lick it's own eyes and ears clean!

(from: wikipedia - okapi)

Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Kangaroos

Dolphin

Dolphins are very smart animals, but they are not fish!

They are mammals, and they breathe air just like us, but they breathe through the hole in the top of their head called a blowhole.

Some dolphins have learned that when they are looking for food on the ocean floor using their nose, they can put a sponge on the end of their nose and it will protect it from getting scratched up!


(from: wikipedia - dolphin)

Dophins have been known to sometimes save humans from shark attacks, and even to help out other animals like whales.

A bunch of dolphins is called either a school or a pod.

Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Spider Monkey

Nayala

We just learned about the Suni.

Another one of the many types of antelopes is called the nayala.

One special thing about the nayala is that the males are much larger than the females. Most types of antelopes are the same between males and females, but the nayala females look very different than the males.


(from: wikipedia - nayala)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Arctic Fox

Suni

We just learned about the Springbok type of antelope.
Not all types of antelopes are large, some are very small.

The Suni is only about 12 inches tall, and weighs about 10 pounds.
That's about the size of a house cat!

Because they are so small, they only eat plants, and they have to watch out for bigger animals like lions that might eat them!

(from: wikipedia - suni)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Chameleon

Springbok

We just learned about the Bongo type of antelope.

Another kind of antelope is the springbok.

The male springbok has a flap of skin like a pocket on it's back by its tail.
When he wants to show that he is big and strong, he will jump up in the air and flip that flap of skin up, to show how tough he is!


(from: wikipedia - springbok)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Alligators and Crocodiles

Bongo

We just learned about the Oryx.

Another type of antelope is the Bongo.

It is a bright orange-brown color, with white stripes.
The orange-brown color is so thick in their fur that it can actually rub color off on to other things.
Some people even say that when it rains the water that drips off their fur is colored orange-brown!

(from: wikipedia - bongo)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Zebras

Oryx

We just learned about the Wildebeest.

Another type of antelope is the oryx.

It's horns are so dangerous that it has even been known to kill lions with them.
Sometimes it is called the sabre antelope. Sabre is another word for a sword.

(from: wikipedia - oryx)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Prairie Dogs

Wildebeest

We just learned about the Impala.

Another type of antelope is the wildebeest.
Another name for the wildbeest is gnu, pronouced like new.

Wildebeests are very smart, and they travel in packs to help protect from other animals.
Sometimes they will even go out into fields where there are zebras, to help have a bigger group to watch out for lions.
They even have learned to understand sounds that baboons make when they are being attacked, so they know to run if danger is near.

(from: wikipedia - wildebeest)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Anteater

Impala

We just learned about the Gazelle.

Another type of antelope is the impala.

It is very good at jumping!
It can jump 9 feet in the air, taller than any person!
And it can jump more than 33 feet forward, about as long as two cars!

When a group of impalas gets scared by another animal that is attacking,
they will all start jumping around in the air to try and confuse their attacker.


(from: wikipedia - impala)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Shark teeth

Gazelle

We just learned about the Kudu.

Another type of antelope is the gazelle.

It is known for it's speed, and also it's beauty.
In arabic, the word for love poetry is ghazal, and some people think that word came from the word gazelle.


(from: wikipedia - gazelle)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Coyote Yips

Kudu

The kudu is another type of antelope.

It has spiral horns!

(from: wikipedia - kudu)

The kudu's horn is sometimes used as a loud noisemaker called the kuduzela.

Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Komodo Dragon

Antelope

We just learned about the Blue Jay.

An antelope is a type of animal that looks kind of like a deer or a goat.
There are 91 different kinds of antelope!

Most antelopes are very fast, have horns on their head, and live in Africa.


(from: wikipedia - antelope)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Camel Humps

Mink

We just learned a little about Reindeer.

The mink is a small furry animal with a long body, kind of like an otter.

Some of the mink's favorite meals is mice and rats, so long ago they were kept as pets to help hunt mice and rats that were eating people's food or carrying diseases.
They were even better than cats or terrier dogs because they were small enough to climb into places where the rats lived.


(from: wikipedia - mink)

A mink's fur is very soft and warm, so mink fur is sometimes used to make winter coats.

Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Otter Noses and Ears

Reindeer

We just learned about the Red Fox.

Reindeer are also known as caribou. (sounds like care ih boo)

They love the cold, so they only live in the frozen northern parts of the world, like the North Pole, Canada, Alaska and Russia.

(from: wikipedia - reindeer)

When a grown up reindeer walks, their knees make a clicking sound.
The bigger the reindeer, the louder the click.
Smaller reindeer know to watch out for bigger tougher reindeer when they hear loud clicks!

A reindeer's favorite food is a type of moss called lichen. (Sounds like like en)
They eat so much of it, the moss's nickname is reindeer moss.

Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Snail eye stalks, feet and shells

Red Fox

We just learned about the Moray Eel.

The red fox is a very common type of fox that lives through North America, Asia and Europe.

A boy fox is called a tod, a girl fox is a vixen, and little baby foxes are called kits.

(from: wikipedia - red fox)


What does the fox say?

Red foxes make a few different types of sounds.
One is like a high pitched barking sound.
Another is like a high shrieking sound, almost like a woman screaming.
Another is called "gekkering" and it sounds very weird, like chattering teeth and high pitched barking.

Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Spectacled Cobra

Hyena

We just learned about the Aardvark.

Hyenas are known for living in the desert, and their laughing bark sound.

Many people think hyenas only eat dead animals and never hunt themselves,
but most hyenas really do go out and hunt their own prey!

(from: wikipedia - hyena)

When we see hyenas, we mostly think they act like dogs,
but in many ways they are actually more like cats.

They clean themselves with their tongues like cats do,
and they have a rough tongue like a cat does.


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Polar Bear Skin

Aardvark

We just learned a little about the Flamingo.

Aardvarks kind of look like a cross between an anteater and a pig.
They have the pig nose, but it's a long nose with a tongue in it used to eat ants and termites.

They are so good at finding ants and termites that they can dig 2 feet deep in 15 seconds,
and they can eat as many as 50,000 of them in one night!

(from: wikipedia - aardvark)

Anteaters only eat one type of fruit, and because of that it's nicknamed the aardvark cucumber!

The cucumber needs the aardvark to eat it so that it's seeds will come out in the aardvark poop and grow somewhere else.


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Corgis

Echidna

Echidnas look kind of like a cross between an anteater and a hedgehog.

Just like a hedgehog, they have spines on their body that are poky to keep predators away.
And just like the platypus, they lay eggs like birds do!

Echidnas eat small insects with their tongues, just like anteaters do,
and some of them even have spikes on their tongue.

(from: wikipedia - echidna)

A baby echidna is called a puggle!


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Lion's Mane

Naked mole rat

We just learned about the big bird called the Ostrich.

The naked mole rat is a rat that lives mostly underground and has almost no hair.

Their families are like bees or ants, where they have one queen who is in charge of having babies,
and a bunch of workers rats who do all the work to take care of her.


(from: wikipedia - naked mole rat)

The naked mole rat's skin is interesting because they feel very little pain!


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Inside Bees

Hedgehog

Hedgehogs look kind of like tiny little porcupines.

And just like porcupines, they have poky hairs on their back (called spines) made of keratin.

Their spines don't come out like a porcupine's quills, they are just sharp.


(from: wikipedia - hedgehog)

Hedgehogs also do a funny thing called anointing.
When they find something with a new smell in the wild,
they will lick and bite that thing, and then spit on their spines.

Scientists aren't totally sure why they do this,
but some think it is so they can hide their smell from other animals that want to eat them!