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Animals
Animal Fundas – 3
by
Aniket Kumar (10 years)
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In cold climates, some mammals,
such as the European Dormouse, hibernate. They do not eat during this
period-rather they live on fat stored in their bodies.
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After
several weeks of frequent feeding the adult bald eagles may starve and
torment the young into hungry flight by showing them the fish and eating it.
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The Coelacanth is a primitive
bony fish of the Indian Ocean. It is a living fossil having been around for
nearly 400 million years.
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The hooded Pitohui is the only
documented example of a poisonous bird. The feathers and skin of the hooded
Pitohui contain a powerful neurotoxin which causes numbness and tingling
skin in people.
Funda of Fundas
Legend
has it that sailors once mistakenly thought manatees were mermaids—hard to
believe once you see one up close! Reaching up to 13 feet (4 meters) long and
weighing as many as 1,300 pounds (600 kilograms), West Indian manatees look more
like small cars than people. Despite their large size, manatees are graceful
swimmers. Although they usually move along in slow motion, they can also cruise,
or swim at a steady pace, at five miles (eight kilometers) an hour. In short
bursts they can even top 15 miles (24 kilometers) an hour!
While cruising, manatees push themselves forward by moving their strong tails up
and down. They steer with the help of their flexible flippers. When in shallow
water, manatees use their flippers to walk, slowly placing one in front of the
other.
Like whales and dolphins, manatees are mammals. Although they live in water,
they have to surface frequently to breathe air. While swimming, manatees take in
air every three or four minutes. When they are resting, they can stay underwater
for up to 15 minutes.
Manatees are gentle animals. They rarely fight, and they have no natural
enemies. But these animals—sometimes called sea cows—are often hurt by boats
that travel through their waters. The slow-moving animals often can't get out of
the way in time, and many have scars from propeller blades.
In the past, manatees have been hunted for their meat, hides, oil, and bones.
Over the last hundred years, the number of manatees in the wild has decreased.
Now laws are designed to help protect them.
Manatees subsist on water plants and plants that grow at the water's edge. They
eat a lot—every day a manatee takes in up to 1 pound (0.5 kilogram) of food for
every 10 pounds (5 kilograms) it weighs. If you weighed 80 pounds (36
kilograms), you would have to eat 8 pounds (4 kilograms) of salad a day to keep
up with a manatee!
December 18, 2005
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