Wild Life Animals

Wolf - Watch a Video About Wolves
Wolf weight and size can vary greatly worldwide, though both tend to increase proportionally with higher latitudes. Generally speaking, height varies from 24 to 35 inchesat the shoulder, and weight can range anywhere from 55-143 lbs.

Wolves are built for stamina, possessing features tailored for long-distance travel. Narrow chests and powerful backs and legs contribute to the wolf's proficiency for efficient locomotion.

Normally, only the alpha pair of the pack breeds, which is a kind of organization not uncommon to other pack-hunting groups.The gestation period lasts 60 to 63 days, and the pups are born blind, deaf, and completely dependent on their mother. There are 1–14 pups per litter, with the average litter size being about four to six. Pups reside in the den, where they are born, and stay there until they reach about 8 weeks of age.

Wolves typically reach sexual maturity after two or three years, at which point many of them will feel compelled to leave their birth packs and search out mates and territories of their own. Wolves that reach maturity generally live between 6 and 9 years in the wild, although in captivity they can live to be twice that age.

Wolf Video (.avi) | Wolf Video (.mov)

Polar Bear - Watch a Video About Polar Bears
The polar bear, also known as the white bear, northern bear, or sea bear, is a large bear native to the Arctic. It is well-adapted to its habitat: its thick blubber and fur insulate it against the cold, its white colour camouflages it from its prey. The polar bear hunts well, on land, on the sea ice, as well as in the water.

Most adult male polar bears weigh from 800 to 1300 lbs. A polar bear's nose and skin are black and the fur is translucent despite its apparent white hue.Polar bears are excellent swimmers and can often be seen in open waters miles from land. Polar bears mate in the spring; pairing is temporary, only lasting for the mating with no permanent bond between males and females.

Polar Bear's gestation period is 240 days, with the cubs born in early winter in a cave dug in October by the mother in deep snow. The cubs are born nearly helpless and blind, opening their eyes at about one month old, able to walk at 1.5 months, and start eating solid food at 4-5 months. They remain with their mother, learning how to hunt and protect themselves against adult males, until 10 months old.

Polar Bear Video (.avi) | Polar Bear Video (.mov)

Lions - Watch a Video About Lions
The lion is the second largest living cat, after the tiger. The male lion, easily recognized by his mane, weighs between 330-500 lb and female lions average 260-330 lb.

Lions are predatory carnivores who live in family groups, called prides. The family consists of related females, their cubs of both sexes, and one or more males (often brothers) who mate with the adult females. Although it was once thought that females did most of the hunting in the pride, it is now known that males contribute to hunting. Both males and females will defend the pride against intruders. Typically, males will not tolerate outside males, and females will not tolerate outside females. Males are expelled from the pride or leave on their own when they reach maturity.

Lion Video (.avi) | Lion Video (.mov)

Elephants - Watch a Video About Elephants
Elephants are in the family of pachyderm, and the only remaining family in the order Proboscidea in the class Mammalia.
Elephants are the largest land animals alive today.

The elephant's gestation period is 22 months, the longest of any land animal. At birth it is common for an elephant calf to weigh 265 lbs.  An elephant may live as long as 70 years. Elephants are increasingly threatened by human intrusion, with the African elephant population plummeting from 3 million in 1970 to roughly 600,000 in 1989, to 272,000 in 2000.

It has long been known that the African and Asian elephants are separate species. African elephants tend to be larger than the Asian species, and African elephants have larger ears.

The elephants most notable feature is of course their trunk. The proboscis, or trunk, is a fusion of the nose and upper lip, elongated and specialized to become the elephant's most important and versatile appendage. African elephants are equipped with two fingerlike projections at the tip of their trunk, while Asians have only one. According to biologists, the elephant's trunk is said to have over forty thousand individual muscles in it, making it sensitive enough to pick up a single blade of grass, yet strong enough to rip the branches off a tree. This appendage also plays a key role in many social interactions. Familiar elephants will greet each other by entwining their trunks, much like a handshake. They also use them while play-wrestling, caressing during courtship, and for dominance displays - a raised trunk can be a warning or threat, while a lowered trunk can be a sign of submission. Elephants can defend themselves very well by flailing their trunk at unwanted intruders or by grasping and flinging them.

An elephant also relies on its trunk for its highly developed sense of smell. Raising the trunk up in the air and swivelling it from side to side, like a periscope, it can determine the location of friends, enemies, and food sources.

Elephant Video (.avi) | Elephant Video (.mov)

Chimpanzees - Watch a Video About Chimpanzees
Chimpanzee, often shortened to chimp. Chimpanzees rarely live past the age of 40 in the wild, but have been known to reach the age of 60 in captivity.

Anatomical differences between Common and Pygmy Chimpanzees are slight, but in sexual and social behaviour there are marked differences.The exposed skin of the face, hands and "feet" varies from pink to very dark in both species, but is generally lighter in younger individuals, darkening as maturity is reached.

The 20th century saw a new age of scientific research into chimpanzee behavior. In July of 1960, Jane Goodall set out to Tanzania's Gombe forest to live among the chimpanzees. Her discovery of chimpanzees making and using tools was ground breaking, as it had previously been believed that humans were the only species to do so.

Chimpanzee Video (.avi) |  Chimpanzee Video (.mov)