Meet the Bandit of the Prairie

There is only one animal in North America that can be called the "Bandit of the Prairie."Meet the Black-Footed Ferret.

The Black-Footed Ferret is one of the most endangered mammals in North America, but that was not always true. In the 1800s, they were pretty common on the prairie, but that was before people started plowing up the prairie to make homes, farms, and towns.  

Losing their habitat to people was one reason they started disappearing. The other reason has to do with prairie dogs. Black-footed ferrets are predators of prairie dogs. Prairie dogs are their food supply. Farmers started killing prairie dogs, and the food was hard to find. By 1986, there were no black-footed ferrets left in the wild, and only 18 alive in zoos. But people cared, and now there are over 600. Here are some things you might not know about the black-footed ferret.

• They are a member of the weasel family.
• Their black mask keeps the glare of the sun from hurting their eyes.
• They can twist and turn through any tunnel.
• They spend most of the time underground.
• They make prairie dog tunnels their homes.
• They hunt at night.
• They like to be alone.
• Females have one to six babies in May or June.
• Their babies are called Kits.
• Kits are born blind, and stay in the tunnel for two months.
• Kits can be on their own before winter.

Animal Girl says, "Some think this is cool, but I think it's cruel!"

Hey! I am still not allowed to have my own blog until I am 13, but I now have an email. You can send me mail at  

animalgirlsnature@gmail.com

For more information, check these web sites.

World Wildlife Fund

US Fish and Wildlife Service

Meet the Spotted Chirper

What chirps, hangs out in trees, lives in Africa, is the fastest land animal on earth, and is Africa's most endangered big cat? The spotted chirper is . . .the African Cheetah!

You would think a big cat like the cheetah would roar like a lion, right? But the cheetah actually makes chirping sounds like a bird. Sure it can growl, hiss, and purr like all big cats, but it keeps in contact with other cheetahs by chirping. Here are some facts you may not know:

• The cheetah's long legs and slender body makes them built for speed.
• Cheetahs can run up to 70 mph, but only for about half of a minute because that speed takes a lot of energy.
• Their long tail helps their balance.
• They have black lines that look like tears that run from the corner of their eyes to their mouth. These black lines keep the sun's glare away, and help the cheetah sight on their prey.
• They hunt during the day because they don't see very good at night.

Like so many other animals, cheetahs are endangered because of loss of habitat, hunted for their fur, and killed to protect livestock. One hundred years ago, there were 100,000 cheetahs in Africa. Now there are less than 10,000.To find out how you can help save the cheetah from disappearing, check out Cheetah-Namibia Wildlife Conservation.

Animals are here to share our world with us. Wouldn't life be boring without them? 

Here's what I, Animal Girl, think about our disappearing animals.

"Some think it's cool, but I think it's cruel."

Who Doesn't Love Seals?

Isn't this one of the most beautiful animals you have ever seen? Look at it's slim, athletic body, those perfect flippers, and that cute little face buried in the sand. Makes you want to reach out and touch it, doesn't it? But hold on! No touching. This is one of the most endangered mammals in the U.S. So what kind of seal is it?

Meet the Hawaiian Monk Seal

The Hawaiian Monk Seal swims, eats, and rests in the waters surrounding the Hawaiian Islands. It's name is "llio holo l ka uana" in Hawaiian. That means "dog that runs in rough water." Of course, it's not a dog, but it's playful, barks, and can bite to protect itself just like a dog.  Here are a few facts about the Monk Seal.

• It can live for 25 to 30 years
• It grow up to 7 feet long and can weigh 500 to 600 pounds.
• It eat fish, spiny lobster, eels, and octopus
•  It can dive down to 1,000 feet
• It biggest predators are Tiger and Galapagos sharks 
• Adults hunt at night, and juveniles hunt during the day

It's numbers are decreasing every year, and there are only about 1,200 left in the wild. They are victims of over-hunting, bi-catch, and habitat loss. They are no longer hunted, but they get caught in fishing nets just like dolphins and other sea animals. Their habitat is disappearing because Hawaii has more people, and that means more of the beaches are becoming people beaches not seal beaches. The Monk seal likes to rest in the sun on long sandy beaches, or hide in the brush on the shoreline when a big storm hits. If the beaches are all occupied by people, there is no room left for the Monk seals to rest, play in the surf, or to find a quiet place to have their babies. 

Remember--"Some think it's cool, but I think it's cruel" to see animals disappear.

Here are three books I like on the Hawaiian Monk Seal. They are on Amazon. Here's a secret--The Story of Hina is my favorite. I even have an autographed copy!

The Story of Hina

The Odyssey of KP2

Ching: The Hawaiian Monk Seal

For more information on the Monk Seal, please check out these sites.


Ke Kai Ola Marine Mammal Center

NOAA Fisheries 5 year plan to save the Monk Seal

ANOTHER CRITICALLY ENDANGERED ANIMAL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT!

Hello fellow animal lovers! I guess I have missed a few weeks of posting. All I can say is school kind of got in the way. Then, of course, I had a small family vacation. You know, a kid has to go where a parent goes. But I am BACK! And, I have an amazing animal to share with you. Here are a few hints:

• It's red
• It howls
• It is critically endangered
• It lives in swamps, forests, and wetlands
• It eats small mammals like rabbits, mice, and rats
• And, it was hunted to extinction in the wild in 1980

GIVE UP?

Meet the Red Wolf!

The red wolf is smaller than his cousin, the gray wolf. He lives in the southeastern part of the United States. In 1980, the red wolf was declared EXTINCT in the wild. But, thanks to a special captive breeding program, they were brought back into the wild. In 2010, there were 130 red wolves in the wild, and I hope the number keeps growing.

So why did they go extinct? They were hunted and trapped because people thought they were a threat to livestock. They also lost their habitat when trees were cut down for homes and agriculture. 

You can help the red wolf by learning more about them, and spreading the word so that we save them before they disappear. To find out more about how you can help them, please check out the following web pages.

Red Wolf Center

Wild Life Conservation Center

Some think this is cool, but I think it's cruel.

 

Central East Africa's Black Rhino is Disappearing

Photo by Craig Newton/FreeImages.com

There is one animal that lives in Central East Africa that that looks like its mother was a unicorn and its father was an elephant. Do you know what it is? It's the Black Rhino.

The Black rhinoceros is a mammal, and it's not really black. It is a dark gray or brown. But it is big! An adult can weigh over 3,000 pounds. They also have poor eyesight. They can't see very far, but they have great hearing and sense of smell.

Black Rhinos are browsers. They eat all kinds of plants, and are usually seen with their heads down close to the ground so their pointed lips can pull in their food. The sun is very hot where they live, so they eat at night or in the early morning. When it's hot, they lay in the shade or find a mud hole to stay cool. They also have two horns. One is large and one is small. It is the large one that has made them critically endangered.

Photo by Kym Parry/FreeImages.com

Poachers kill rhinos to cut off their large horn and sell it. People believe it can be used in medicine and all types of things. They even use the horn as a handle on a knife.  For more information see Save The Rhino.

Some think this is cool, but I think it's cruel!

This is a Mysterious Cat That is Endangered

Deep on the southern tip of Florida lives an amazing cat. 

It has rotating ears that gives it great hearing, fantastic night vision which is key to survival, retractable claws, and hind legs that lets them jump 15 feet into the air. Want to know which animal this is? It is the Florida Panther, and there only about 100 of them left in the wild.

The Florida Panther makes its home in the Cypress Swamps. They hunt for raccoon, opossum, white-tail deer, wild pigs, wild turkeys, and sometimes even baby alligators. Mother panthers keep their cubs in dens, and are very protective. Male panthers, alligators, and even hunters are dangerous to panther cubs.

Like other endangered animals, the Florida Panther is losing its home. Agriculture and development are taking land that once belonged to the animals that lived there. The Florida Panther needs room to roam. One panther's territory can be the size of 1,000 football fields, and they don't like sharing it with other panthers. For more information, check out Defenders of Wildlife website or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife's new book, Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge, available at Amazon.

Let's not lose another amazing animal in this world. The Florida Panther needs to be protected so it will not disappear.

"Some think it's cool, but I think it's cruel." Animalgirl

Meet One of the World's Rarest Animals

This is the Amur Leopard

The rarest big cat in the world is the amazing wild Amur Leopard. There are only 50 to 60 adults left southeastern Russia and parts of China.

This big cat lives in an area where there are very hot summers and very cold winters. You might think an animal with fur would not survive in hot summers. The Amur Leopard is different than other big cats. It's fur is short in the summer and grows long in the winter. And walking in the snow isn't hard for this leopard because it's legs are longer than all the other leopards. 

At one time, hundreds of this wild leopard lived in Amur and shared it's habitat with the Amur Tiger. Now, there are so few of them, they are rarely seen in the wild. They are disappearing because hunters kill them for their fur and their bones. Their bones are used for some Chinese medicines, and their soft fur is used to make coats and rugs and furniture. And their food is disappearing. The animals they hunt like musk deer are hard to find, so they hunt the sheep and cattle raised by farmers. This causes farmers to kill them. This is how extinction starts. An animal's food disappears when people move in. The animal hunts the people's livestock. And the farmers kills the animals.

You can help save this beautiful leopard by learning more about them. To see how you can help check out World Wildlife website, or visit Boris and Kia, two Amur Leopards, at the Oregon Zoo.

Saving this leopard is important. Every animal has something to offer the world and all of us. Losing it would mean kids like me would never be able to see a real live Amur Leopard.

"Some people think this is cool, but I think it's cruel" Animalgirl