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Archey’s Frog – Leiopelma Archeyi
Archey’s Frog is a nocturnal species that lives under stones and logs during the day and is a terrestrial breeder.
Fast Facts:
Type:Amphibian
Diet:Carnivore
Average life span in captivity:14 years
Group name:Army
Protection status:Endangered
Map:
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Northern Leopard Frog – Rana Pipiens
Named for the spots across their green backs, northern leopard frogs will eat just about anything that crosses their paths.
Fast Facts:
Type:Amphibian
Diet:Carnivore
Average life span in the wild:2 to 4 years
Size:3 to 5 in (7.6 to 12.7 cm)
Group name:Army
Protection status:Endangered
Size relative to a tea cup:
Map:
Did you know?
A genetic mutation gives rise to the Burnsi leopard frogs, which have no spots.
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Poison Dart Frog – Dendrobatidae
Poison dart frogs, like this sapphire-blue species, are highly toxic. Their brilliant colors serve as warnings to potential predators to keep away.
Fast Facts:
Type:Amphibian
Diet:Carnivore
Average life span in the wild:3 to 15 years
Size:1 in (2.5 cm)
Group name:Army
Protection status:Endangered
Size relative to a paper clip:
Map:
Did you know?
The only natural predator of most of the poison dart frog family is a snake calledLeimadophis epinephelus, which has developed a resistance to the frogs’ poison.
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Mexican Axolotl – Ambystoma Mexicanum
The ghostly looking Mexican axolotl retains some of its larval features for life, including its feathery pink external gills.
Fast Facts:
Type:Amphibian
Diet:Carnivore
Average life span in the wild:10 to 15 years
Size:Up to 12 in (30 cm)
Weight:2.11 to 8 oz (60 to 227 g)
Protection status:Endangered
Size relative to a tea cup:
Map:
Did you know?
Because they have the ability to regenerate lost body parts, axolotls are probably one of the most scientifically studied salamanders in the world.
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Golden Poison Dart Frog – Phyllobates Terribilis
Fast Facts:
Type:Amphibian
Diet:Carnivore
Average life span in captivity:10 years
Size:1 in (2.5 cm)
Weight:Less than 1 oz
Group name:Army
Protection status:Endangered
Size relative to a paper clip:
Map:
Did you know?
The only natural predator of the golden poison dart frog is Leimadophis epinephelus, a snake that has developed a resistance to the frog’s poison.
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Water Buffalo – Bubalus Bubalis
Both male and female water buffalo wear the species’ signature backward-curving horns, although the females’ horns are significantly smaller.
Fast Facts:
Type:Mammal
Diet:Herbivore
Average life span in captivity:Up to 25 years
Size:Head and body, 8 to 9 ft (2.4 to 2.7 m); Tail 2 to 3.3 ft (60 to 100 cm)
Weight:1,500 to 2,650 lbs (700 to 1,200 kg)
Group name:Herd
Protection status:Endangered
Size relative to a 6-ft (2-m) man:
Map:
Further Facts: (click to view further information)
Further Facts:
The water buffalo, or Asian buffalo, as it is often called, is the largest member of the Bovini tribe, which includes yak, bison, African buffalo, various species of wild cattle, and others.
Standing 5 to 6.2 feet (1.5 to 1.9 meters) tall at the shoulder, wild water buffalo are formidable mammals with sparse gray-black coats. Males carry enormous backward-curving, crescent-shaped horns stretching close to 5 feet (1.5 meters) long with deep ridges on their surface. Females are smaller in size and weight, but they also have horns, although they are proportionately smaller.
Water buffalo spend much of their day submerged in the muddy waters of Asia’s tropical and subtropical forests. Their wide-splayed hoofed feet prevent them from sinking too deeply in the mud and allow them to move about in wetlands and swamps. These marshes provide good cover and rich aquatic plants to forage on, although water buffalo actually prefer to feed in grasslands on grass and herbs.
Females normally produce calves every other year, after a gestation of 9 to 11 months. Young bulls typically remain with maternal herds, which consist of around 30 buffalo, for three years after birth. They then go on to form small all-male herds.
Water buffalo have been domesticated for more than 5,000 years. They have buttressed humanity’s survival with their meat, horns, hides, milk, butterfat, and power, plowing and transporting people and crops.
Wild water buffalo are endangered and live only in a small number of protected areas stretching across India, Nepal, and Bhutan, and a wildlife reserve inThailand. And populations are likely to diminish as they are interbred with domesticated water buffalo.
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Walrus – Odobenus Rosmarus
Both male and female walruses have tusks and have been observed using these overgrown teeth to help pull themselves out of the water.
Fast Facts:
Type:Mammal
Diet:Carnivore
Average life span in the wild:Up to 40 years
Size:7.25 to 11.5 ft (2.2 to 3.5 m)
Weight:Up to 1.5 tons (1.4 metric tons)
Group name:Herd
Protection status:Endangered
Size relative to a 6-ft (2-m) man:
Map:
Further Facts: (click to view further information)
Further Facts:
The mustached and long-tusked walrus is most often found near the Arctic Circle, lying on the ice with hundreds of companions. These marine mammals are extremely sociable, prone to loudly bellowing and snorting at one another, but are aggressive during mating season. With wrinkled brown and pink hides, walruses are distinguished by their long white tusks, grizzly whiskers, flat flipper, and bodies full of blubber.
Walruses use their iconic long tusks for a variety of reasons, each of which makes their lives in the Arctic a bit easier. They use them to haul their enormous bodies out of frigid waters, thus their “tooth-walking” label, and to break breathing holes into ice from below. Their tusks, which are found on both males and females, can extend to about three feet (one meter), and are, in fact, large canine teeth, which grow throughout their lives. Male walruses, or bulls, also employ their tusks aggressively to maintain territory and, during mating season, to protect their harems of females, or cows.
The walrus’ other characteristic features are equally useful. As their favorite meals, particularly shellfish, are found near the dark ocean floor, walruses use their extremely sensitive whiskers, called mustacial vibrissae, as detection devices. Their blubbery bodies allow them to live comfortably in the Arctic region—walruses are capable of slowing their heartbeats in order to withstand the polar temperatures of the surrounding waters.
The two subspecies of walrus are divided geographically. Atlantic walruses inhabit coastal areas from northeastern Canada to Greenland, while Pacific walruses inhabit the northern seas off Russia and Alaska, migrating seasonally from their southern range in the Bering Sea—where they are found on the pack ice in winter—to the Chukchi Sea. Female Pacific walruses give birth to calves during the spring migration north.
Only Native Americans are currently allowed to hunt walruses, as the species’ survival was threatened by past overhunting. Their tusks, oil, skin, and meat were so sought after in the 18th and 19th centuries that the walrus was hunted to extinction in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and around Sable Island, off the coast of Nova Scotia.
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Orangutan Pongo – Pygmaeus
With arms reaching 7 feet (2 meters) from fingertip to fingertip, orangutans are aptly suited for a life in the trees of Southeast Asia.
Fast Facts:
Type:Mammal
Diet:Omnivore
Average life span in the wild:30 to 40 years
Size:Standing height, 4 to 5 ft (1.2 to 1.5m)
Weight:73 to 180 lbs (33 to 82 kg)
Protection status:Endangered
Size relative to a 6-ft (2-m) man:
Map:
Further Facts: (click to view further information)
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