What Are Aphids?

Aphids

Aphids are tiny soft-bodied insects that such the juices of plants.  During the summer, you may find the stems and leaves of you garden plants crowded with tiny pear-shaped insects called aphids.  Another name for them is “plant lice.”

Aphids are among the most common insect pests of plants.  The aphid lives only to eat.  Its mouth is shaped into a sharp beak with which the insect pierce the plant’s leaf or stem and greedily sucks up the sap.

Aphids multiply so rapidly that hardly a green plant on earth would not be infested by them if the insects were not gobbled up in great numbers by such aphid enemies as ladybird beetles and aphid lions.  While aphids are harmful to plans, they are useful to many ants.

Most aphids produce a sweet liquid called honeydew which some ants love to eat.  By gently storing the aphid’s back with its antennae, the ant coaxes the aphid to give off droplets of honeydew, which are lapped up by the ant.–Dick Rogers

What Is A Kinkajou?

Kinkajou

A Kinkajous (pronounced KINK  kuh joo) is a small animal that lives in the forests of Central and South American.

The kinkajou is about the size of a cat and somewhat resembles a monkey.  It has large eyes, soft, woolly, yellowish-brown fur, and a long grasping tail that can be used to hold on to limbs.

The native regard the kinkajou as a kind of monkey, but the paws are paws, not hands, and they are armed with sharp claws, not nails.

Kinkajous spend most of their lives in trees.  They hide in tree during the day and feed at night on fruits, insects, and honey.  When feeding, they call to each other in a shrill scream.  It is so loud that it can be heard nearly a mile away.

A kinkajou litter usually consists of one or two young.  By the time the cubs are seven weeks old they can hang by their tails.  Young kinkajous raised in captivity become very tame and are said to make delightful pets.–Dick Rogers

Why Are Dalmatians Called Fire Dogs?

Dalmatian

The Dalmatian has been traditionally the pet of firemen, and was once kept as a companion to race alone with the horse-drawn fire engines. 

The Dalmatian is a large, white-spotted dog that looks a pointer.  Dalmatian are popularly known as fire dogs and are often found today as pets of firemen at fire station. 

Another  name for the Dalmatian is the coach dog.  These dogs were once used to run along with horse-drawn coaches to protect them from highwaymen.  At the end of the journey they stood guard over the coach. 

When early-time firemen began  using horses to pull their fire engines, they adopted the Dalmatian as a companion to run along with fire horses. 

Later, when fire engines became motorized, the Dalmatian was still kept as a mascot.  Dalmatian are not born with a spots.  Dalmatian puppies are pure white when they are born.  The black or brown spots appear after about three weeks.  Dalmatian were named for Dalmatia, in Yugoslavia, where they were ones raised as watchdogs.–Dick Rogers

What is a GNU?

Gnu

Gnus are large, ox-like African antelopes.  A gnu (pronounced noo) is a large, ox-like African antelope with high shoulders, a pushy, horse like tail and a long, sad-looking face.  

Long, thin legs and a tuft or chin whiskers add to its queer appearance.  There are two kinds of gnus – the silvery-gray brindled gnu and the smaller dark-colored white-tailed gnu.  Brindled gnus are found living on the open grassland of Central Africa.  

When frightened, the gnu prances about leaps into the air and kicks its heels, then dashes away with a toss of its head.  Like other antelopes, gnus are fast runner and can run a speed up to 40 miles an hour to escape an enemy.

The white-tailed gnu is nearly extinct.  Once found in vast herds roaming the plains of South Africa, white-tailed gnus today are kept and protected in zoos and in special parks so they won’t disappear from the earth.  Gnus are also known as wildebeests.–Dick Rogers

What Does The Sawfish Use Its Saw For?

Sawfish

The sawfish uses its saw like snout mainly to attack other fish to catch its food.  A sawfish looks like a big shark with a long, flat, saw like snout.

The “saw” of an adult sawfish is often 5 feet long, and is armed with sharp feet.  The sawfish uses its saw like snout mainly to catch it’s prey.

To get food, it attacks whole schools of fish, slashing left and right with its fearful weapon as it goes.  It then feasts upon the victims at its leisure.  The sawfish also uses its toothy snout to defend itself against strong enemies. 

And the saw can also be used as a shovel for digging up shellfish and other food in the muddy sea bottom.  Because of its wicked snout, the sawfish is one of the most dangerous of all sea fish.  Even very young sawfish are dangerous.

Another interesting fish, also named after its long beak, is the swordfish.  The swordfish used its sword in much the same manner as the sawfish uses it saw.–Dick Rogers

What Is A Snapping Turtle

Snapping Turtle

The common snapping turtle of North America is a large bad tempered turtle having a powerful jaws which snap with great forces.  This tells us how the snapping turtle gets its name.

Snapping turtles live in muddy streams and swampy ponds.  A full-grown “snapper” may weigh 30 pounds and have a shell a foot long.

It may look clumsy, but it can move quickly on land and can make short leaps on its strong legs to snaps its food.  When this turtle is attacked, it snaps with lightning speed, its strong, sharp-edged jaws can inflict dangerous bites.

A close relative of a common snapper is the big alligator snapping turtles that lives in the rivers of the gulf states.  They are the biggest snappers of all.  A big one can weigh 140 pounds or more.  A snapping turtles shell can be 2 feet long and is covered with rows of bumps, much like the skin of a real alligator.–Dick Rogers

What Kind Of Cat Is A Manx?

Manx 

Manx cats are the only cats born without tails.  They run with a hopping, rabbit like gait, because of their long hind legs. 

Have you ever seen a cat running with no tail and a sort of hopping like a rabbit?   Such a cat is the Manx.  The Manx cat is very strange one as it is the only cat born without a tail.

Its hind legs are longer than the front ones, giving it a hopping gait when running.  A Manx can run faster than most other kinds of cats.

The ancestors of the Manx can came from the Isle of Man, a British Island in the Irish Sea between England and Ireland.  The first cats on the Isle of Man swam ashore from sinking Spanish ships some 400 years ago.

Many says that the story of how they got to be tailless.  One says that these cats loitered on the way into the Ark, and Noah slammed the door on their tails.  Another says that a Manx is the result of a rabbit mating with a cat.  The truth is most likely that this cat lost their tails as a result of a quirk of nature.–Dick Rogers