The Arctic Wolf inhabits the northern part of Greenland, the Canadian Arctic and parts of Alaska. They have lived in North America  for more than two million years. When they find a den, they make a couple of chambers for food and young. Arctic wolves live on the islands of the Canadian Arctic, and the north coast of Greenland, roughly north of 70° North latitude. The Arctic Wolf is the only subspecies of the Gray Wolf that still can be found over the whole of its original range, largely because, in their natural habitat, they rarely encounter humans.

Like all wolves, Arctic Wolves hunt in packs, preying mainly on Caribou and Muskoxen, but also Arctic Hares, seals, ptarmigan and lemmings, and smaller animals such as waterfowl. To eat rodents  they must pick up their scent and find the entrance to their tiny dens to flush them out. Wolves almost never attack humans. Due to the scarcity of prey, they roam large areas, up to 2,600 km2 , and follow migrating caribou south during the winter. They are not fast runners, instead relying on stamina to take down prey

]]> http://www.pluspets.net/arctic-wolf/feed/ 0 http://www.pluspets.net/safari-south-africa/ http://www.pluspets.net/safari-south-africa/#comments Sun, 05 Sep 2010 04:25:04 +0000 Plus Pets http://www.pluspets.net/?p=1302 These photos were taken in the Kruger National Park and the nearby nature reserve in South Africa Eden photographer animalist Cameron Spencer. Kruger National Park – one of the largest reserves in South Africa, has spread on the territory of 19,000 sq. It is part of a large park Limpopo. Eden covers an area of 8498 hectares, on which there is a huge diversity of animal and bird worlds.

5 Paul the Octopus

In at number 5, he was the eight legged star of the World Cup, I’m speaking of course about psychic cephalopod, Paul the Octopus.

Bookmakers William Hill lost almost $750,000 as Paul the Octopus correctly predicted the result of every Germany game at the World Cup. He signed off with a perfect eight out of eight record by picking Spain to beat the Netherlands in the final.

4 Homing pigeons

At number four, while we humans would be rendered inert without GPS or Google maps, homing pigeons can find their way home from some 1100 miles without any guidance systems.

That’s because these pigeons have iron-containing structures in their beaks, which help them sense the Earth’s magnetic field and identify their geographical position. Now that’s smart.

3 Termites

While the idea of energy efficient homes is a relatively new concepts for us humans, termites have been at it for eons. They’re at number three in our Top 5 Animals Smarter than Us.

A termite species in Zimbabwe has developed a precise technique to farm a fungus they feed on that grows at 87 degrees Fahrenheit. With volatile outside temperatures, the termites have learnt to adjust the inside temperature of their mounds by constantly opening and closing heating and cooling vents.

2 Chimps

In at number two, while Mozart and Monet can lay claim to a photographic memories, they are the exceptions amongst the human population.
Not so in the chimp kingdom where young chimpanzees show an extraordinary working memory capability for numerical recollection, better even than that of human adults tested with the same apparatus following the same procedure.

1 Ants

In at number one, sure we humans can make babies but can we do it without males? That jaw dropping skill is a cakewalk for ants.

A super feminist ant species from the Amazon has developed the ability to reproduce via cloning — dispensing with both s*x and males — to evolve into an all-female breed. Germaine Greer eat your heart out.

]]> http://www.pluspets.net/top-5-genius-animals/feed/ 0 http://www.pluspets.net/orangutans-boxers/ http://www.pluspets.net/orangutans-boxers/#comments Fri, 27 Aug 2010 14:09:51 +0000 Plus Pets http://www.pluspets.net/?p=1260 Dressed in bright shorts and boxing gloves, these orangutans are exchanged kicks and punches in the boxing ring. This “fierce” fight takes place in an amusement park called «Safari World» on the outskirts of Bangkok.

1. Out of the darkness of the African night, the road appears the king of beasts, his piercing eyes full of purpose and power. This moment was captured wildlife photographer Hannes Lochner as part of his album of black and white photo of the African Kalahari desert. (HANNES LOCHNER / BARCROFT MEDIA)

2. Hannes Lochner made this album for two years. These photographs provide a unique perspective on wildlife of one of the most beautiful and mysterious regions of the world. “Kalahari – very dramatic and wonderful place to shoot wildlife,” – says 38-year-old photographer. (HANNES LOCHNER / BARCROFT MEDIA

3. Self-taught photographer turned pro just four years ago. Lochner and pictures of all different styles, but black and white photographs have always been in his heart a special place. (HANNES LOCHNER / BARCROFT MEDIA)

4. Hannes Lochner. (HANNES LOCHNER / BARCROFT MEDIA)

5. “I always try to get as much emotion from the animals. In black and white photographs for me a lot more emotion. You see in their eyes. And even more. ” (HANNES LOCHNER / BARCROFT MEDIA)

6. Kalahari Desert is part of the huge sand basin of the River Orange to Angola, Namibia in the west and east of Zimbabwe. On an area 350 000 sq. miles live San Bushmen, who lived in the desert for 20 000 years. (HANNES LOCHNER / BARCROFT MEDIA)

7. Although officially called the Kalahari desert in its territory has a large variety of wild animals due to frequent rains in the winter and spring. (HANNES LOCHNER / BARCROFT MEDIA)

8. Srednemaksimalnaya temperature – plus 29 °, and sredneminimalnaya – plus 12 °, evaporation 3 thousand mm. (HANNES LOCHNER / BARCROFT MEDIA)

9. ?? ?????????? ??????? ????????? ?????????? ???????? – ?????? ?????????? ? ????. ????? ??????? ????????, ????, ????? ? ??????. (HANNES LOCHNER/ BARCROFT MEDIA)

10. Although probably the most interesting animal species in the desert – surikaty. (HANNES LOCHNER / BARCROFT MEDIA)

Snow leopards are smaller than the other big cats, but like them, exhibit a range of sizes, generally weighing between 27 and 54 kilograms. Body length ranges from 75 to 130 centimetres, with a tail of 75 to 90 percent of that length.Snow leopards have long thick fur, the base colour of which varies from smoky grey to yellowish tan, with whitish underparts. They have dark grey to black open rosettes on their body with small spots of the same color on their heads and larger spots on their legs and tail. Unusually among cats, their eyes are pale green or grey in colour.

Snow leopards show several adaptations for living in a cold mountainous environment. Their bodies are stocky, their fur is thick, and their ears are small and rounded, all of which help to minimize heat loss. Their feet are wide, which distributes their weight better for walking on snow, and they have fur on their undersides to increase their traction on steep and unstable surfaces, as well as to assist with minimizing heat loss. Snow leopards’ tails are long & flexible, helping them to maintain their balance which is very important in the rocky terrain they inhabit; the tails are also very thick due to storage of fats, and are very thickly covered with fur which, apart from minimizing heat loss, allows them to be used like a blanket to protect their faces when asleep.

Pilot Whales are jet black or a very dark grey color. The dorsal fin is set forward on the back and sweeps back. The newborn whale’s dorsal fin is flexible at birth so as to facilitate the birthing process. The body is elongated but stocky and narrows abruptly toward the tail fin.Males are less gracile in form than the females. Differences between long and short-finned pilot whales are quite subtle, and where their distributions overlap it is generally not possible to tell the species apart at sea. On land specimens may be distinguished by the length of flipper, the number of teeth and the shape of the skull: the Short-finned has a more bulbous head particularly in older males; the Long-finned is squarer, and the forehead is more likely to overhang the mouth. G. macrorhynchus was described, from skeletal materials only, by John Edward Gray in 1846. He presumed from the skeleton that the whale had a large beak.

The Long-finned Pilot Whale has traditionally been hunted by whalers by the process of “driving” – where many fishermen and boats gather in a semicircle behind a pod of whales, that has been sighted close to shore, and slowly drive them towards a bay. When close enough stones attached to lines from the boats are thrown into the water behind the whales, driving them towards the beach where they become stranded and are slaughtered. This practice was common in both the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Currently only the Faroe Islands operates such a cull. Statistics have been kept for the drives in the Faroe Islands for centuries, and in the 1980s around 1,500 individuals were killed each year in this manner, declining in the 1990s to under a thousand.

]]> http://www.pluspets.net/pilot-whale-scary-magnificent/feed/ 0 http://www.pluspets.net/cutest-puppies-planet/ http://www.pluspets.net/cutest-puppies-planet/#comments Mon, 02 Aug 2010 10:00:06 +0000 Plus Pets http://www.pluspets.net/?p=1197 Here is selection of cutest puppies, that will melt your heart for sure. I hope that you are dog and puppy lovers, an that you are going to like this one. So, have a look, and enjoy in these priceless little fellas!

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