Category: Home Schooling

Common Name

Blue whale.

Scientific Name:

Balaenoptera musculus.

Classification:

Mammal.

Diet:

• Almost entirely krill a very small shrimp like animal.

Length:

 80 to 100 feet (24 to 30 meters), the longest one ever recorded was a magnificent 108 feet long.

Weight:

110,000 330,000 lb.

Habitat:

Oceans all over the world.

Endangered Status:

Blue whales are protected under both the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. They have been listed as endangered under the ESA since 1970. This means that the blue whale is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range.

Behaviour:

Like all whales, blue whales are mammals and give live birth to very large calves that they nurse for six or seven months. All of the record blue whales are females. Males do not provide parental care and do not seem to live near the females/young for most of the year.

Defense:

Blue whales count on speed to out swim the few predators such as packs of killer whales.

Life span:

80 – 90 years In the wild.

Fun fact:

A blue whales tongue alone weighs as much as a Asian elephant .

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Common Name:

Rat.

Scientific Name:

Rattus.

Classification:

Rats are mammals.

Diet:

In general, rats are omnivores, which means they will eat almost anything. Their diet may vary depending on the location they are inhabiting. Most rats prefer consuming meat, dairy-based products and vegetables. They tend to avoid fruit and food containing sugar.

Length:

Based on my experience my rat is about six inches if you don’t include the tail. 10 or 12 inches if you do.

Weight:

Brown rats are about 8.1 oz black rats average 2.9 to 8.1 oz.

Habitat:

Rats can be found all over the world except polar regions.

Endangered Status:

Rats are definitely not endangered.

Behaviour:

Rat are nocturnal which means they sleep during the day and are awake at night. this means they can avoid most of there predators like snakes and eagles.

Life span:

Two to three years according to specialists but a lot of well cared for rats live 5 to 8 and ones that live a long time can make it to 13 or 15.

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Common Name: Whip tail spider.

Scientific Name: Amblypygi.

Classification: Arachnid.

Diet: The whiptail mostly eats insects, other spiders, scorpions, lepidopterans butterflies and moths, crickets, grasshoppers, and beetles.

Length: Including the tail this odd spider is up to 4 inches in total length.

Habitat: Whiptail spiders prefer tropical and subtropical regions. Their habitats can range from forests to grasslands to dry mountainous areas where they nestle themselves in rock crevices or under debris. They have also been found under logs and rotting wood. The whiptail spiders in the U.S. live in Florida and the Southwest regions.

Behaviour: In two species of whiptail spiders, or amblypygids, mothers caress their young with long feelers and siblings stick together in social groups until they reach sexual maturity. This is surprising behavior for these arachnids, long-thought to be purely aggressive and anti-social, according to a Cornell researcher. in Males these weird arachnid are territorial and will guard there territory aggressively.

Defense: Whiptail spiders as there name indicates they have a very long tail. you may say what does this have to do with defense? I’ll tell you whats up! They have a acid like vinegar. Have you ever had vinegar in you’re eye? It hurts and that’s exactly what they aim for. Its a good method.

Life span: An average whiptail spiders live 2 to 3 years.

Fun fact: The nick name for the whiptail spider is scorpion spider.

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Common Name: Platypus.

Scientific Name: Ornithorhynchus anatinus.

Classification: Mammalia.

Diet: Animals like cray fish and worms.

Length: Almost 2 feet .

Weight: Around 5 pounds.

Habitat: Platypus mostly lives in freshwater lakes, rivers, lagoons, farm dams, and streams. Most platypuses are found in bodies of water that have earth banks with roots, overhanging vegetation, reeds, and logs to be more suitable for constructing their burrows.

Endangered Status: Platypuses are threatened.

Behaviour: The platypus hunts in the water, mostly at night.
Hearing and vision are therefore of little use in detecting the small aquatic invertebrates on which the animals primarily feed. Reflecting this fact, a platypus protects its eyes and ears by automatically closing them underwater and instead relies on its bill to locate prey.

The upper and lower bill surfaces are packed with hundreds of receptors which respond to touch and the tiny electric currents produced when invertebrates move in the water.

These receptors are also believed to be vital to the platypus’s ability to navigate successfully among rocks and other obstacles when submerged.
Platypus are specifically adapted to forage in the water and there are no reliable records of the animals feeding on dry land, although they sometimes search for prey at the water’s edge by digging under rocks or among the roots of streamside plants.
While diving, the platypus temporarily stores small food items in special cheek pouches. When the animal returns to the surface to breathe, the food is ground up very finely between rough pads located inside the bill.

Defense male Platypuses have a modified claw no there back foot if threatened they can poison there attacker and platypus venom is strong enough to kill a medium sized dog. Platypuses are nocturnal so they can avoid hawks, eagles, snakes, and other predators.

Life span: Around 11 years in the wild.

Fun fact: When the platypus was found the scientists thought that it was a fake.

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Common Name: Giant pacific octopus.

Scientific Name: Enteroctopus dofleini.

Classification: Cephalopod.

Diet: Most commonly crabs, clams and other mussels.

Length: around 6 feet.

Weight: About 110 and some up to 600 pounds.

Habitat: Pacific waters from Korea and Japan north to Alaska and Southern California. They live in fairly shallow, coastal waters down to depths of 330 feet or more.

Endangered Status: The giant pacific octopus are threatened.

Behavior: When the female giant pacific octopus lays her eggs she will blow air over her young to keep them clean. Giant pacific octopuses will do this for up to 6 to 7 months before her body gives out and the babies hatch.

Defense: Strength and being very intelligent.

Most of the time they can just out smart predators without using a defense mechanism.

Can straighten their body out and be very thin, allowing them to escape through small cracks.

Jet Propulsion is when the octupus can straighten their body out and jet extremely fast through water.

Most unique: ink sacs. A thick black cloud of ink is ejected from the octopus; the ink dulls the sense of smell for large predators.

Camouflage themselves to not only hide from predator but to communicate with other octopus to warn them of danger.

Life span: About 3 to 5 years.

Fun fact: Octopuses blood is blue.

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Common Name: Lion.

Scientific Name: Panthera Leo.

Classification: Panthera.

Diet: The flesh of giraffes antelopes zebras wildebeests buffaloes goats and other animals of Africa.

Height: 3.6 to 3.9 feet in length.

Length: Up to 8.2 feet.

Weight: Around 420 pounds.

Habitat:Parts of Africa like grasslands.

Endangered Status: Lions have bean listed as endangered with in the last few years.

Behaviour: Lions packs are very caring with there cubs if a mother is killed in a hunt the other females will take care of the orphan cubs like they were there own. If a pride is takin over by a male it will kill any cubs it finds to make the females go into heat and to make it so the future pride is made up of his young.

Defense If a pack of hyenas is big enough they can scare a pride away however most of the time living in a pack pays off so few animals can hurt a pride of lions.

Life span: 14 or 15 years.

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Common Name: Mouse deer.

Scientific Name: Tragulidae.

Classification: Mammal.

Diet: Leaves, buds, shrubs, and fruits that have fallen from trees.

Height: About a foot.

Length: 29 inches.

Weight: 11 to 18 lb.

Habitat: Mouse deer prefers habitats of higher elevations and the tropical forest regions.

Behaviour: Mouse deer take care of their young for three to six months.

Life span: About 18 years.

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