Animal Odd Couple: Elephant and Dog are Best Friends

World's Biggest Beaver Dam Visible From Space

Canadian beavers built the world's longest dam -- so big it can be seen from space.  At 2,790 feet, it is more than a half mile long.

It is twice the size of what was the world's largest, the Hoover dam, which borders Arizona and Nevada in the U.S. and spans 1,244 feet. The furry critters use trees, mud and stone to make a type of moat where they can use their swimming skills to evade any predators.

The dam, located on the southern edge of Wood Buffalo National Park in Northern Alberta, central Canada, was spotted by experts monitoring the size and spread of beaver dams in North America.

It is thought that several beaver families joined forces to create the massive dam, containing thousands of trees, and took many months to complete it.

Original article here.

Nature's 'treasure' unearthed in Borneo

Color-changing frogs, the world's longest stick insect and a slug that shoots "love darts" are among the biological "treasure" discovered by scientists in the lush green heart of Borneo.

The number of new plant species discovered in Borneo in the last three years outnumbers all the other categories combined. Sixty-seven new plants have been found, along with 29 invertebrates, 17 new species of fish, one bird, five amphibians and five reptiles.

Below are pictures of several newly discovered creatures:

Original article here.

David Attenborough Says Boo to a Sloth

Red Pandas

The below pictures are of Red Pandas, which are native to the forests in the Himalayas. There are only an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 of them worldwide.

In the past Red pandas have been misclassified as being in the same families as raccoons and bears, but have recently been reclassified in a family all their own. In fact, they are considered “living fossils" and are only distantly related to Giant Pandas.













Original article here.

10 animals with the longest life spans

The creatures featured below are from a list of the 10 longest living animals:

10. Geoducks

First on the list are these large saltwater clams that are native to the Puget Sound and have been known to live for at least 160 years. They are characterized by their long 'necks', or siphons, which can grow to over 1 meter long.



9. Tuataras

The word "dinosaur" is commonly used to describe an old person, but when it refers to a tuataras, the term is as literal as it is metaphorical. The two species of tuatara alive today are the only surviving members of an order which flourished about 200 million years ago — they are living dinosaurs. They are also among the longest-lived vertebrates on Earth, with some individuals living for anywhere between 100 and 200 years.



8. Lamellibrachia tube worms

These colorful deep sea creatures are tube worms (L. luymesi) that live along hydrocarbon vents on the ocean floor. They have been known to live 170 years, but many scientists believe there may be some that have lived for more than 250 years.



7. Red sea urchins

The red sea urchin or Strongylocentrotus franciscanus is found only in the Pacific Ocean, primarily along the West Coast of North America. It lives in shallow, sometimes rocky, waters from the low-tide line down to to 90 meters, but they stay out of extremely wavy areas. They crawl along the ocean floor using their spines as stilts. If you discover one, remember to respect your elders — some specimens are more than 200 years old.



6. Bowhead whales

Also known as the Arctic whale, the bowhead is by far the longest living mammal on Earth. Some bowhead whales have been found with the tips of ivory spears still lodged in their flesh from failed attempts by whalers 200 years ago. The oldest known bowhead whale was at least 211 years old.



5. Koi

Koi are an ornamental, domesticated variety of the common carp. The are common in artificial rock pools and decorative ponds. Amazingly, some varieties are capable of living more than 200 years. The oldest known koi was Hanako, a fish that died at the age of 226 on July 7, 1977.



4. Tortoises

Tortoises are considered the longest living vertebrates on Earth. One of their oldest known representatives was Harriet, a Galápagos tortoise that died of heart failure at the age of 175 years in June 2006 at a zoo owned by the late Steve Irwin. Harriet was considered the last living representative of Darwin's epic voyage on the HMS Beagle. An Aldabra giant tortoise named Adwaita died at the rumored age of 250 in March 2006.



3. Ocean quahog

The ocean quahog (Arctica islandica) is a species of clam that is exploited commercially. Researchers have interpreted the dark concentric rings or bands on the shell as annual marks, much like a tree has rings. Some collected specimens have been calculated to be more than 400 years old.



2. Antarctic sponge

Perhaps due to the extremely low temperatures of the Antarctic Ocean, this immobile creature has an extremely slow growth rate. Some estimate the oldest known specimens are 1,550 years old.



1. Turritopsis nutricula jellyfish

This species of jellyfish might be the only animal in the world to have truly discovered the fountain of youth. Since it is capable of cycling from a mature adult stage to an immature polyp stage and back again, there may be no natural limit to its life span. Because they are able to bypass death, the number of individuals is spiking. "We are looking at a worldwide silent invasion," says Dr. Maria Miglietta of the Smithsonian Tropical Marine Institute.



Original article here.

Strange Animals Bred for Business Purposes

Breeders around the world covet certain animals for their economic potential. Some produce a lot of meat. Some are iridescent. Others fit well into small spaces. All of the animals featured below have highly unusual attributes that make each a potentially lucrative business proposition:

Giant Guinea Pig

Cuy meat is lean, protein-packed, and versatile. Cuys, or guinea pigs, reproduce quickly, offering a steady supply of meat. One Lima, Peru official said that guinea pigs will feed a family of up to eight people for only USD $3.20. Peruvians eat about 65 million guinea pigs per year. Scientists in Peru supersized the guinea pig, introducing a giant guy weighing about 2.2 pounds, twice the usual size.



Belgian Blue

Known as the Incredible Hulk cow, Monster cow, and Schwarzenegger cow, the Belgian Blue takes the world’s blue ribbon for buffness. The cow’s hereditary myostatin defect results in excessive muscle growth known as “double muscling.” As a result, the breed produces a large amount of lean beef.



Fainting Goat

Fainting goats are bred to fall over. A hereditary disorder, myotonia congenita, causes their muscles to freeze when they’re scared, often resulting in them collapsing on their sides. Their small size makes them ideal for small farms, where they won’t hop fences—or will scare themselves into collapsing when they try. According to oral history, the fainting goat was a good asset protector. Handlers would keep them with other (more valuable) animals, like sheep. When a predator came around, the fainting goat would collapse, effectively sacrificing itself so that the other animals could safely run away.



German Giant

The German Giant, one of the biggest domestic rabbit breeds on Earth, can grow to the size of a dog. Breeders covet giant rabbits for their looks, their fur, and their meat.



Minicow

German Shepherd-sized minicows cost only a few hundred dollars. They are tiny, meaty and fit in your backyard. Homesteaders can choose from Irish Dexter, Mini Hereford, or Lowline Angus cows.



Jersey Giant

The Jersey Giant chicken was originally bred as a replacement for turkey. The breed, originally crossbred from three other kinds of chickens, produces hens weighing an average of 11 lbs, and cocks of 13 lbs. The meat industry initially took to the idea, but then cast Jersey Giants aside because they don’t grow fast enough.



GloFish

Genetically engineered GloFish come in a variety of colors, such as Sunburst Orange, Starfire Red and Electric Green. These colorful zebrafish are the world’s first genetically modified pet. In 1999, scientists inserted fluorescence proteins from coral and jellyfish into a zebrafish embryo, resulting in the GloFish’s luminescent qualities. The idea was to create a fish that would fluoresce when it came near toxins, allowing it to detect pollution. When businesspeople caught wind of the glowing fish, they saw great potential for consumer sales.



Original article here

Ferocious Swimming Tiger

Although most cats big and small are not fans of the water, tigers love it and actively seek it out as a means to cool themselves during the extreme heat of the day in much of Asia. Tigers are powerful swimmers, capable of traveling up to 4 miles in the water and commonly seen carrying their kills across lakes.

The pictures below are from a gallery of Odin, a white Bengal tiger living in Six Flags Discovery Kingdom Zoo near San Francisco. White tigers are incredibly rare in the wild. There are dozens in zoos, but with the inbreeding of these popular beasts to preserve their special trait, white tigers are more likely to be born with physical defects.

Baby Otter

Pygmy Jerboa

The video below features a pygmy jerboa. Jerboas are small jumping desert rodents found throughout Asia and northern Africa that resemble mice with long tufted tails and very long hind legs.

Meerkats Don’t Spoil Their Babies

For a meerkat pup’s first 100 days, it follows adults around throughout the day while belting out squeaky begging calls for the entire colony to hear. The adults bend to the pup’s will, sacrificing their own meals to give it meaty sustenance. But by a few months of age, meerkat pups stop begging and become nutritionally independent, acquiring their food exclusively by foraging for themselves.

Zoologists wanted to understand why a young meerkat would stop using its charm to get free food and begin working for its own food. They found that as the pups aged into juveniles their voices changed: pup begging calls reached an average of 1231 Hz, whereas the juveniles peaked at 953 Hz.

This change in pitch might make their begs less persuasive, eliciting less food and leaving the juveniles no option but to forage on their own. To explore this, the zoologists followed adult meerkats around with a loudspeaker that played younger baby meerkat begs. They found the adults started offering their own food, even to older juveniles. And the juveniles — which had been past their begging prime — eagerly ran over to grab the free meals, ceasing their own foraging.

A meerkat’s inevitably maturing voice may be crucial for its colony’s survival. A pup may prefer to get free food rather than work, but the colony would go hungry if this continued for too long.

Original article here.

Galapagos Islands: National Geographic Video

The Galapogos Islands were Darwin's laboratory for the study of the origins of life. See the creatures he studied in 1835 -- giant tortoises, sea turtles, flightless cormorants, iguanas, and penguins.



For more National Geographic videos, click here.

Extinct Animals Photographed Alive

Below are several examples from this list of 11 extinct animals that have been photographed alive.

Tasmanian Tigers:



Quagga:



Bubal Hartebeest:



Baiji River Dolphin:



Original article here.

Clouded Leopard Cubs Survive the Odds

Despite the murderous tendencies of the species while in captivity, two newborn clouded leopard cubs were found alive and well at the National Zoo.

The cubs were taken immediately from their mother before she could do them harm. Zoos have found that when a female becomes pregnant, she often kills her young accidentally or intentionally.

Below are several pictures of the cubs and their parents. The cubs eyes are not yet open. See here for a full gallery of pictures.







The mother, Jao Chu:



The father, Hannibal. The mother and father reached puberty together, increasing the likelihood that the male would not kill the female:

Pink Elephant Caught on Camera

A pink baby elephant has been caught on camera in Botswana in the the Okavango Delta.

Experts believe it is probably an albino, which is an extremely rare phenomenon in African elephants. They are unsure of its chances of long-term survival - the blazing African sunlight may cause blindness and skin problems for the calf.

While albinism is thought to be fairly common in Asian elephants, it is much less common in the larger African species.

However, there might be a ray of hope for the pink calf as it already seemed to be learning to adapt to its condition. He can seek refuge under the large trees and cake himself in a thick mud, which will protect him from the sun. Already the two-to-three-month-old calf seems to be walking in the shade of its mother, which suggests it is aware of its susceptibility to the harsh African sun.

Original article here.

Zoo Babies

Below are several examples from this gallery of 83 zoo babies from throughout the world: