Male giraffes (the tallest of all animals) can grow to more than eighteen feet tall, nearly five feet taller than African elephants (the second tallest animal.) With their long legs, long neck, and tawny brown patches, it would be easy …[Continue]

Sea turtles are huge marine reptiles that live around the world in warm ocean waters, although the leatherback (one of seven sea turtle species) can be found in cold Canadian water. Unfortunately, sea turtles are threatened by a black market …[Continue]

The elephant is the earth’s largest land animal. Asian (also known as Indian) elephants are found in Southeast Asia, and can be distinguished by their arched back which is slightly taller than their shoulders or rump. African elephants (which live …[Continue]

Gorillas are the largest of the apes and have no natural enemies except for man. They make their home in the rain forests of Africa, near the equator. I was amazed to learn they were not discovered by man until …[Continue]

Whales hold several world records. Whales are the largest aquatic mammals (bigger than sharks or dolphins.) Grey whales migrate further than any other mammal (about 10,000 miles a year.) And the blue whale is the earth’s largest animal (even beating …[Continue]

Fairy tales and folklore have given the wolf a bad rap. But their modern-day tale has a happy ending. After years of extinction in the continental United States, wolves were successfully reintroduced into Yellowstone Park and central Idaho in 1995 …[Continue]

In all the world, no butterflies migrate like the monarchs of North America. They travel up to three-thousand miles twice a year: south in the fall and north in the spring. To avoid the long, cold northern winters, monarchs west …[Continue]

Adult grizzly bears (also known as brown bears) measure from six to eight feet long, and weigh 350 to 500 pounds. There are approximately 1,200 grizzlies in the continental states (where they are endangered), about 25,000 in Canada, and roughly …[Continue]

One of the reasons we find dolphins (and their cousins, whales and porpoises) so delightful is their playful behavior at the ocean’s surface. Breaching, spy hopping, and spouting are just three of the many dolphin antics that scientists have named. …[Continue]

Is an ape a monkey? And what about a lemur? Although often called monkeys, apes and lemurs are not monkeys. Apes are larger and more intelligent than monkeys, with arms longer than their legs. Most monkeys have tails, but apes …[Continue]