Polar bear

The polar bear (Ursus maritimus) is a bear native largely within the Arctic Circle encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the world's largest land carnivore and also the largest bear, together with the omnivorous Kodiak Bear, which is approximately the same size.[3] An adult male weighs around 350680 kg (7701,500 lb),[4] while an adult female is about half that size. Although it is closely related to the brown bear, it has evolved to occupy a narrower ecological niche, with many body characteristics adapted for cold temperatures, for moving across snow, ice, and open water, and for hunting the seals which make up most of its diet.[5] Although most polar bears are born on land, they spend most of their time at sea. Their scientific name means "maritime bear", and derives from this fact. Polar bears can hunt consistently only from sea ice, which is why they spend much of the year on and near the edge of the frozen sea. The polar bear is classified as a vulnerable species, with eight of the 19 polar bear subpopulations in decline.[6] For decades, large scale hunting raised international concern for the future of the species but populations rebounded after controls and quotas began to take effect. For thousands of years, the polar bear has been a key figure in the material, spiritual, and cultural life of Arctic indigenous peoples, and the hunting of polar bears remains important in their cultures.

Naming and etymology

Constantine John Phipps was the first to describe the polar bear as a distinct species.[7] He chose the scientific name Ursus maritimus, the Latin for 'maritime bear',[8] due to the animal's native habitat. The Inuit refer to the animal as nanook[9] (transliterated as nanuq in the Inupiat language).[10] The Yupik also refer to the bear as nanuuk in Siberian Yupik.[11] The bear is umka in the Chukchi language. In Russian, it is usually called (blyj medvdj, the white bear), though an older word still in use is (Oshkj, which comes from the Komi oski, "bear").[12] In French, the polar bear is referred to as ours blanc ("white bear") or ours polaire ("polar bear").[13] In the Norwegian-administered Svalbard archipelago, the polar bear is referred to as Isbjrn ("ice bear"). The polar bear was previously considered to be in its own genus, Thalarctos.[14] However, evidence of hybrids between polar bears and brown bears, and of the recent evolutionary divergence of the two species, does not support the establishment of this separate genus, and the accepted scientific name is now therefore Ursus maritimus, as Phipps originally proposed.

Penguin
Penguins (order Sphenisciformes, family Spheniscidae) are a group of aquatic, flightless birds living almost exclusively in the southern hemisphere, especially in Antarctica. Highly adapted for life in the water, penguins have countershaded dark and white plumage, and their wings have become flippers. Most penguins feed on krill, fish, squid, and other forms of sealife caught while swimming underwater. They spend about half of their lives on land and half in the oceans. Although all penguin species are native to the southern hemisphere, they are not found only in cold climates, such as Antarctica. In fact, only a few species of penguin live so far south. Several species are found in the temperate zone, and one species, the Galpagos Penguin, lives near the equator. The largest living species is the Emperor Penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri): adults average about 1.1 m (3 ft 7 in) tall and weigh 35 kg (75 lb) or more. The smallest penguin species is the Little Blue Penguin (Eudyptula minor), also known as the Fairy Penguin, which stands around 40 cm tall (16 in) and

weighs 1 kg (2.2 lb). Among extant penguins, larger penguins inhabit colder regions, while smaller penguins are generally found in temperate or even tropical climates (see also Bergmann's Rule). Some prehistoric species attained enormous sizes, becoming as tall or as heavy as an adult human. These were not restricted to Antarctic regions; on the contrary, subantarctic regions harboured high diversity, and at least one giant penguin occurred in a region not quite 2,000 km south of the equator 35 mya, in a climate decidedly warmer than today.

Snowy Owl
The Snowy Owl (Bubo scandiacus) is a large owl of the typical owl family Strigidae. The Snowy Owl was first classified in 1758 by Carolus Linnaeus, the Swedish naturalist who developed binomial nomenclature to classify and organize plants and animals. The bird is also known in North America as the Arctic Owl, Great White Owl or Harfang. Until recently, it was regarded as the sole member of a distinct genus, as Nyctea scandiaca, but mtDNA cytochrome b sequence data (Olsen et al. 2002) shows that it is very closely related to the horned owls in the genus Bubo. The Snowy Owl is the official bird of Quebec.

Arctic Fox
The Arctic Fox (Vulpes lagopus[2], formerly known as Alopex lagopus), also known as the White Fox, Polar Fox or Snow Fox, is a small fox native to Arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere and is common throughout the Arctic tundra biome. The Greek word alopex, () means a fox and Vulpes is the Latin version. Lagopus is derived from Ancient Greek lago (), meaning "hare", + pous (), "foot" and refers to the hair on its feet.[3][4] Although it has previously been assigned to its own genus Alopex, genetic evidence places it in Vulpes (Mammal Species of the World) with the majority of the other foxes.

Desert Animals Addax

With its heavy head and shoulders and slender hindquarters, the addax is a clumsy-looking animal. Its coloration varies widely between individuals, but there is always a mat of dark-brown hair on the forehead, and both sexes have thin, spiral horns. Addax are typical desert-dwellers, with their large, widespreading hoofs, adapted to walking on soft sand, and they never drink, obtaining all the moisture they need from their food, which includes succulents. Their nomadic habits are closely linked to the sporadic rains, for addax appear to have a special ability to find the patches of desert vegetation that suddenly sprout after a downpour. They are normally found in herds of 20 to 200. The female produces 1 young after a gestation of 8 1/2 months.

Camels
Known as "ships of the desert", camels have been used for transporting goods across deserts for thousands of years. In fact, camels are the only desert animals that can carry heavy loads of goods and

travel for a long period of time without food or water. Transportation, however, is not the only benefit that camels can offer us. Desert people also rely on camels for their milk, meat, and fur. Even camels' droppings turn out to be useful - desert people use camels' manure as fuels. Weighing more than 1,500 pounds, adult camels can reach a height of 6 feet at their shoulders and 7 feet at their humps. Camels have two hoofed toes on each foot, under which a leathery pad links the two toes. When camels walk, they spread their toes as wide apart as possible to prevent their feet from sinking into the sand. The tough, leathery pads under their feet also allow camels to walk on stony, rough grounds. Camels are nicknamed "ships of the desert" because they walk like the motion of a rolling boat - move both feet on one side of their bodies, then both feet on the other.

Fat Sand Rat

The fat sand rat overcomes the problem of the unpredictability of desert food supplies by laying down a thick layer of fat all over its body when food is abundant. It then lives off this fat when food is short. Active day and night, this gerbil darts about collecting seeds and other vegetation which it carries back to its burrow. In early spring, a brood chamber is made and lined with finely shredded vegetation, and the first litter of the year is born in March. There are usually 3 to 5 young in a litter, and the breeding season continues until late summer.

Fennec Fox
The smallest of the foxes, the fennec fox is identified by its relatively huge ears. It shelters in burrows it digs in the sand and is generally active at night, when it preys on small rodents, birds, insects and lizards. Fennec foxes are sociable animals which mate for life; each pair or family has its own territory. A litter of 2 to 5 young is born in spring after a gestation of 50 to 51 days.

Horned Lizards
Horned lizards are odd-looking reptiles! Unlike most lizards, horned lizards have horn-like spines on their wide, flattened bodies that make them look more like toads than lizards. In fact, "horned toads" or "horny toads" are their other known identities, even though horned lizards are not related to toads at all! There are 13 different species of horned lizards. Most of them live in the United States, but some find their homes in Southern Canada or Central America. Horned lizards prefer hot, dry environments. Hence, deserts are where most horned lizards can be found. Horned lizards mainly feed on ants. They also eat small animals such as grasshoppers, spiders, and beetles. Horned lizards have two different hunting methods. Sometimes, they patrol in an open area looking for food. Other times, they just wait for their victim to come near by. With a quick flick of their tongues, horned lizards snap up prey and swallow it whole. Many animals have their eyes on horned lizards. Their natural enemies include hawks, snakes, roadrunners, coyotes, or other lizards. To avoid ending up in other animals' stomachs, horned lizards have several self-defense approaches.