The next oldest bear that evolved was from the Subfamily Tremaratinae, the family of the Adean (or Spectacled Bear). The Spectacled Bear diverged about 15 million years ago. They are about 5 feet long and weigh 200-300 pounds. They have a black or blackish brown coat, there muzzle throat and chest cream colored, with golden rings around there eyes. They are scarce because of over hunting and people destroying their habitat.
The gray wolf also called the timber wolf, is the largest of about 41 wild species within the dog family They range in size from 26" to 38" shoulder height, 39" to 80" in length (tip of nose to end of tail), and vary in weight from 57 to 130 pounds. Their coats may vary in color from grey to brown, from white to jet black. They usually hunt at night and feed primarily on large hoofed mammals such as deer, caribou, elk, and moose, but sometimes eat berries, birds, beaver, fish, and insects. Animals that they kill are usually young, old, or otherwise weaker members of their populations because they are easiest to capture. Most pursuits of prey range in length from 110 yds.
Gestation is about 180 to 194 days and sing births are usual. Babies cling to their mother’s fur, and as the babies get older they make their permanent riding positions on the mothers’ backs. This continues for about a year. The young are weaned at around 10 months of age and the young disperse from their natal group upon adulthood. A howlers roar can be heard from as much as 2 miles away and both males and females howl.
During the late fall whitetail will start their mating season or rut, at this time a doe ready to mate will leave her fawn in a patch of woods for two to three days looking for a suitable mate, and then return back to her fawn. The first year a buck fawn leaves it’s mother it begins to grow his first set of antlers. These antlers are two one to five inch points called spikes because of their resemblance to rail road spikes. Each year bucks will grow their antlers in the spring and lose them in winter.
Newly born kittens are about one foot long, weigh one pound with blackish-brown spots around their body (“Living with Wildlife in Lion Country”). They start to peek out of the den as their eyes open after three weeks while the female is on hunting for food. They become fully aware and playful after their eyes are opened. They are generally dependent on their mother for the milk (Crewe 5-6). The next part of a mountain lion’s life is its adolescence.
The average amount of rainfall is between 30 and 60 inches a year. The summers are much cooler with the hottest month being between 15°C and 17°C. Temperature is partly affected by cloud cover (over the forest) and cooling which reduces the temperature slightly. Winter temperatures are mild however this is not the case in all deciduous forests. In Northeast Asia, temperate deciduous forests monthly temperatures are a few degrees above freezing due to warmth carried from the sea being close by.
Polar bears Polar bears (Ursus Maritimus), apart from being found in zoos, polar bears are omnivorous mammals native to only the Arctic Circle. The polar bear is the largest terrestrial carnivore, being more than twice the size of a Siberian tiger. Adult males weigh 350–680 kg (770–1500 lbs) and measure 2.4–3 m (7.9–9.8 ft) in length. Adult females are roughly half the size of males and normally weigh 150–249 kg (330–550 lb), measuring 1.8–2.4 metres (5.9–7.9 ft) in length. When pregnant, however, they can weigh as much as 499 kg (1,100 lb).
Diprotodon - (Diprotodon Optatum) Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Diprotodontia Family: Diprotodontidae Genus: Diprotodon The Diprotodon, meaning two front teeth, was the largest ever marsupial. The finding of fossils in Lake Callabonna in South Australia indicates that they became extinct around 40,000 to 25,000 years ago. It was 3m long from head to tail and stood 2m tall from feet to shoulder and weighed something in the region of 2500kg. Inhabiting dense forests, opens woodland and general scrub he Diprotodon could adapt to many environments. They were well adapted to eating plants as they had sharp front incisors and claws, which developed and grew endlessly throughout life, were well suited to chewing off pieces of vegetation and digging up roots.
The summers are mostly warm, rainy and humid. They are also very short with about 50 to 100 frost free days. The total precipitation in a year is 30 - 85 cm (12 - 33 in) . The forms the precipitation comes in are rain, snow and dew. Most of the precipitation in the taiga falls as rain in the summer.
Daylight Savings Time Winston Churchill once said ‘“An extra yawn one morning in the springtime, an extra snooze one night in the autumn… We borrow an hour one night in April; we pay it back with golden interest five months later’” (qtd. in Minnicks). This is the epitome of what is wrong with daylight savings time. Adding an hour of daylight in the evening during the spring lets us get outside more often and enjoy the outdoors. During the fall, however, we put that hour of sunlight back in the morning, gaining an hour of sunlight at a time when most people are still fast asleep.