What is the difference between a leopard and a cheetah?

Although both leopards and cheetahs have spots that help keep them hidden in forests and grasslands, they have different predatory jobs, or ecological niches.
Leopards hide in the grass to wait for prey, and their large, muscular legs and necks help them drag their prey into trees away from lions and hyenas.

Cheetahs are more doglike-they are built almost like racing greyhounds.
Their slender legs are built for speed and help them chase down antelope and other prey.

Why do we need rodents?

Rodent´s are natures collectors.
Chipmunks stuff food into their jaw pouches to store underground.
They may store fruits and seeds in several different borrows.
Borrowing helps turn soils and allows water to flow to deep plant roots.







Rodent´s are also natures foresters.
Gray squirrels and other squirrels are important to the life of the forest.
They bury a lot of their food in the summer and fall but often don´t find it again. Those lost and nuts and seeds become many of the new trees and shrubs that sprout each year!







Rodent´s are also natures builders.
Beaver´s build dams, lodges, and canals.
Colonies of mole rats excavate complex tunnel systems.
Muskrats and other aquatic rodents make grass lodges in swampy areas.
Squirrels create tree cavities and leaf nests.
The ponds behind beaver dams provide feeding,
resting and nesting sites for migratory birds.

How do rodents protect themselves?

Some rodents, like spiny mice and porcupines, have special sharp hairs called "quills" that help protect them from danger. Each porcupine has tens of thousnads of quills, making them some of the best-armored mammals ever.
Porcupines don´t purposely shoot quills off their bodies, the quills are so ligthly attached to the porcupines body that they immediately adhere to any predator that touches them. Ouch!

Monkeys and apes

The Titi-monkey lives in South America.

























Monkeys and apes
Have two unique characteristics
Among animals:
Hands that can grab
And eyes that face straight ahead.
Foreward facing eyes allow them
To see precise distances
As they jump and grab at branches,
Which is useful for animals
That hang out in trees!

Hamadryas Baboons

Hamadryas Baboons have thin coats
That keep them cool
As they forage for food
In dry African gorges.
They live in the semi-desert areas of Africa.

Macaques in Japan

Japanese macaques live in the snowy regions of Japan
And have thick coats of hair to keep them warm.

The friendly Polar Bear! :)

This is a true story.
It happened in the wilds of Canada's Hudson Bay.

Norbert Rosing took these stricking images
Of a wild polar bear
Coming upon tethered sled dogs!

The photographer was sure
That he was going to see the end of his dogs
When the polar bear wandered in.

It's hard to believe that this polar bear
Only needed to hug someone!

The Polar Bear returned every night
That week to play with the dogs.

May you always have love to share,
Health to spare,
And friends that care.