Life
Mammals
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Mammals
Mammals are warm-blooded vertebrates: animals with backbones. Their key characteristic, one possessed by no other kind of animal, is their ability to nurture their young with milk...
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Aardvark
The aardvark is a secretive animal. Living on the grasslands and open woodlands of Sub-Saharan Africa, it forages alone at night for food, using its keen senses of smell and...
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Anteaters
Anteaters live on the grassy plains and in the rainforests of Central and South America, feeding on ants and termites. They have a long snout and a long tail. Giant anteaters have...
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Antelopes
Antelopes are fast-running bovids with long legs. They have hooves that are split into two toes and feed on grasses and other plants. The group includes gazelles, impalas, kudus...
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Armadillos
The armadillo is a type of mammal protected by a scaly suit of armour. Armadillos feed mostly on small animals and insects, for which they go foraging in the early mornings and...
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Badgers
Badgers are nocturnal, omnivorous (feeding on both plants and animals) members of the weasel family. They have stocky bodies and strong paws for burrowing. There are 11 species of...
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Bats
Several kinds of mammals can glide through the air for short distances, but bats are the only mammals that can truly fly. Their wings are made of skin stretched tightly between the...
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Bears
Bears are large, heavily built mammals. They include the largest carnivorous (flesh-eating) mammals on land: the polar bear and Kodiak bear, a subspecies of the brown bear...
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Beavers
The beaver is a large rodent that builds dams out of wood and mud to create deep-water ponds that provide a defensive barrier for their homes. Beavers are found in North America...
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Blue whale
The blue whale is a rorqual, a group of baleen whales that includes the Bryde's, humpback, fin, minke and sei whales. The largest living animal on Earth—probably the largest...
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Camels
Camels are even-toed ungulates—animals with hooves instead of claws. The camel group includes two "true" camels, the dromedary and the Bactrian, and the more distantly related...
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Cats
Cats are predatory carnivores with long tails and muscular bodies. The cat family is divided into the big cats or panthers—the lion, tiger, jaguar, cheetah and the leopards—and...
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Cattle, sheep and goats
Cattle, bison, buffalo, sheep and goats are all bovids, a family of hooved animals (ungulates) with bony horns encased in tough keratin and hooves that are split into two toes...
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Cheetah
The cheetah is the smallest of the big cats. It has a lean body, long legs and spotted markings that help it blend into the tall, dry grasses of its savanna habitat in Africa and...
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Chimpanzee
The chimpanzee is a great ape that lives in the rainforests, woodlands and savanna of Central and West Africa. Humans’ closest relative, the chimpanzee is one of the most...
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Colugo
Otherwise known as the flying lemur, the colugo glides between the trees of the Southeast Asian rainforest. It has a loose flap of skin that stretches between its neck, fingers...
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Deer
Deer are long-legged, two-toed ungulates—mammals with hooves instead of claws. Living in woodlands, forests, tundra or grasslands, deer feed on leaves, grass, twigs and shoots...
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Dogs
Dogs are carnivores (flesh-eaters) with powerful jaws. Their strong legs carry them great distances when hunting. They grab small prey in their jaws or pounce on them with their...
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Dolphins and porpoises
Dolphins, like whales, are mammals that live permanently in the water. Along with whales and porpoises, they belong to the cetacean group. There are 41 species of dolphin, ranging...
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Elephants
The largest land animals in the world, elephants have large ears and long, flexible trunks. There are two species of elephant. The African elephant lives in grasslands or in...
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Foxes
Foxes are members of the dog family with pointed muzzles and bushy tails. There are 13 species of fox. They include the red fox, which is by far the commonest and most widespread...
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Giant panda
The giant panda is a large black and white bear from the mountain forests of southwestern China. It is easily distinguished by its black eye-patches. A solitary animal, the giant...
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Gibbons
The gibbons are the lesser apes, to distinguish them from the great apes—chimpanzees, orang-utans and gorillas. Gibbons are smaller and less intelligent than the great apes. All...
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Giraffe
Standing over 5 metres (16 feet) tall, the giraffe is the world's tallest animal and the largest ruminant. It has long legs, a sloping back and an extremely long neck. This means...
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Gorillas
Gorillas are large great apes from the rainforests of Central Africa. Adult males reach heights of up to 1.8 metres (5 feet 11 inches) when standing upright, making gorillas the...
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Hedgehogs, moles and shrews
Hedgehogs, moles and shrews are a loosely related group of small animals. They have long snouts and very keen senses of smell that they use to find their prey. Most eat insects...
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Hippopotamus
Hippopotamuses are large African semi-aquatic mammals: they live both in the water and on land. They are ungulates, mammals that have hooves instead of claws. The hippo is...
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Horses
Horses, asses and zebras live in open grasslands and scrubland, feeding mainly on grass. They are ungulates, a group of mammals that have hooves instead of claws on their feet...
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Hyenas
Although hyenas look as though they should belong to the dog family, they are actually a separate group of carnivores. There are four species: the meat-eating spotted, striped and...
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Kangaroos
The kangaroo is a large marsupial that moves by bounding on its long hind legs. Females have pouches where their young develop. Kangaroos live in groups, called “mobs”, of up...
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Koala
The koala is a type of marsupial from eastern and southern Australia. It is often mistakenly called a koala bear because of its similarity to a small bear. Koalas live in trees...
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Lemurs and relatives
Lemurs, tarsiers, bushbabies, lorises and pottos are all primates: relatives of monkeys, apes and humans. They form a group known as the lower primates, or prosimians. They have...
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Leopards
Leopards are a type of big cat from Africa and parts of Asia. They live in both savanna grasslands and rainforest. Most leopards have cream and gold fur with black rosette-like...
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Lion
The lion is a tawny-coloured big cat that lives in Africa and a small part of India. Unlike other big cats, lions live together in groups called prides. A pride consists of...
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Llamas
The llama family is made up of those smaller members of the camel family that live in the Andes mountains of South America. They are agile, long-legged animals that feed on grass...
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Manatees
Manatees are mammals that live in water all the time, but come to the surface to breathe. They have large, bulky bodies and live in tropical coastal waters and rivers: off the...
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Marsupials
Marsupials are mammals that do not give birth to fully developed young. Instead, their young are born at a very early stage, and then continue to develop while clinging to their...
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Mongooses
The mongoose family includes the 34 species of mongoose and the meerkat. Their home range is Asia, Africa, and southern Europe, but they have also been introduced to other areas...
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Monkeys
Monkeys are primates, usually with long tails and with nails instead of claws. There are Old World monkeys (from Europe, Africa or Asia) and New World monkeys (from the Americas)...
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Orang-utan
The orang-utan is a great ape with very long arms, black skin and red hair. Orang-utans live alone, spending nearly all their time in the trees, travelling slowly through the...
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Orca
The orca, or killer whale, is the largest member of the dolphin family, found in all oceans of the world. It has distinctive black and white colouring and grows up to 10 metres (33...
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Otters
Otters are semi-aquatic, fish-eating mammals. Members of the weasel family, most species of otter live near rivers or ponds, while the sea otter lives in the coastal waters of the...
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Pangolins
Pangolins are solitary, nocturnal animals from Africa and Asia. They feed from ant or termite nests, shooting their worm-like sticky tongues in and out to pick up many insects at...
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Pigs
Pigs have short legs, large heads and stocky bodies covered with bristly hair. They belong to the ungulate group of hoofed animals. Pigs have four toes on each foot, although they...
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Platypus and echidna
The platypus lives in rivers and lakes across eastern Australia and Tasmania. It has webbed feet, a broad flat tail, dense, brown fur and a broad, rubbery, duck-like bill which it...
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Polar bear
The polar bear has a thick, white, waterproof coat. Underneath its skin there is a 10-centimetre (4-inch) thick, insulating layer of blubber. Its claws and hairs on the soles of...
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Rabbits and hares
Rabbits and hares are rodent-like mammals with four pairs of front teeth, one pair behind the other. They belong to a family called the lagomorphs, meaning "hare-shaped", which...
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Raccoons
The scientific name for the raccoon family is the procyonids. They include the raccoons, coatis, kinkajous and cacomistles. All are quite small animals with long tails. They are...
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Rhinoceroses
A rhinoceros is a large mammal with three toes on each foot. It is an ungulate, a group of herbivorous mammals with hooves. Rhinos like to be near water to keep cool, and roll in...
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Rodents
Rodents are a very large group of mammals that includes mice, rats and squirrels, as well as beavers, dormice, lemmings and porcupines. They are usually small animals, with short...
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Seals and sea lions
Seals and sea lions are marine mammals that spend most of their time in the ocean waters, but come out on to land to breed and suckle their young. Their four limbs have developed...
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Sloths
The sloth, from the South American rainforest, spends most of its life hanging upside down in trees. It is a nocturnal animal, with long legs, a flat face and long, curved claws...
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Sperm whale
At up to 18 metres (60 ft) long, the sperm whale is the largest of the toothed whales. It has the largest brain of any animal. It can can dive to depths of at least 1000 metres...
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Spider monkey
The spider monkey spends almost its entire life life high above the ground in the trees of the Central and South American rainforest. A social animal, it lives in bands of about 20...
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Tapirs
Tapirs are bulky mammals with trunk-like snouts that live in the rainforests of Central and South America and Southeast Asia. They are odd-toed ungulates, the group of plant-eating...
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Tiger
The tiger is the world’s largest cat. It has a huge, muscular body and powerful jaws with long, sharp teeth. The dark stripes on its coat help it to blend into its surroundings...
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Walrus
The walrus is a large, slow-swimming Arctic mammal with huge tusks. Along with seals, sea lions and fur seals, it is a member of the pinniped group. Its massive body is covered...
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Weasels
The weasel family, also called the mustelids, includes weasels, stoats, minks, ferrets, polecats, martens, the sable, skunks, otters, badgers and the wolverine. They are carnivores...
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Whales
Whales are ocean-living mammals that live permanently in the water. Together with dolphins and porpoises, they make up the group of mammals called cetaceans. Whales have a long...
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Wolf
Grey wolves are large, wild dogs with powerful jaws and sharp hearing. They will eat anything they can find: animals already killed, farm stock, vegetation—even waste from...
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Zebra
Many members of the horse family have beautiful colouring or markings, but the zebra is the most spectacular of all. The black and white stripes, which are unique to each zebra...
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