A Box Jellyfish for a Pet?
April 15, 2009 by Kimberly · 11 Comments
My hubby and I watched the movie Seven Pounds with Will Smith a few nights ago, which was fabulous, I might add!
In the movie, the main character has a box jellyfish as an exotic pet in a large cylindrical tank!
What an amazing creature, which just happens to have the most deadly venom in the animal kingdom!
In fact, there have been 5,568 human fatalities due to the box jellyfish recorded since 1954.
Extreme care and caution needs to be taken when caring for a pet of this danger level.
Also, you cannot store the jellyfish with any other creature in the tank, as they’ll paralyze it and eat it.
Although so high venomous, the sea turtle is immune to the sting of the jellyfish and is one of their food sources.
However, it is a fantastical Read more
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Please Stand Up To Save Sun Bears!
April 4, 2009 by Kimberly · Leave a Comment
Have you ever heard about the plight of the sun bear, in particular, but some other species of bear as well?
They are put in a cage where they cannot move, their bile is continually drained from their stomachs through a permanent wound for their entire lives.
Often, each paw is harvested, while they are still alive, as a bear paw soup is ordered in many Asian restaurants.
So, they have the wound in their tummy with their bile being drained, and their paws are cut off one by one as they suffer in their cage that they can’t even move in…Are you kidding me???
Is that okay with you?
It’s NOT with me…Every time I think about this it makes me want to cry!
Please, help by donating and spread the word to save these animals from their awful plight!
What’s worse? The sun bear is vulnerably endangered species…
***
I hope you found this Mammal post informational on Exotic Animal Lover! Until next time…
Live Exotically,
Kimberly Edwards
P.S. Please be sure to Subscribe to Exotic Animal Lover Updates!
Technorati Tags: sun bear, animal welfare, WSPA, bear bile, endangered animals, mammals, Asian animals
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Dugongs Are an Extremely Vulnerable Species
February 3, 2009 by Kimberly · Leave a Comment
Dugongs are large marine mammals in the same order as manatees, and are often called “sea cows” as a nickname.
The majority of them live in Northern Australian waters…
I’ve had the amazing opportunity to see them out in the wild in Shark Bay off of Western Australia. Fantastic creatures! What an awesome blessing! (I know the video below is of dugongs in Shark Bay, but it will still tell you a lot about them and how they live…)
Dugong bodies are fusiform, which means they are wide in the middle and taper off at both ends.
Their Read more
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You Say Bearcat – I Say Binturong
November 24, 2008 by Kimberly · Leave a Comment
The Binturong is also called the Palawan Bearcat, Asian Bearcat, Bearcat.
However, it’s neither a bear nor a cat! LOL…It just resembles both of those animals. To me, it looks like a large raccoon species.
It, too, is an arboreal species that is nocturnal – instead of sleeping in a nest of sorts, it simply sleeps on branches of rainforests in Asia, India & Indonesia.
Although it is classified as a carnivore, it is omnivorous! It eats mostly fruit, but has been known to dabble in eating eggs, small animals like rodents and birds, shoots and leaves.
Binturong are known for their happy chuckling sounds and high-pitched wails when annoyed. It also communicates using it’s tail and scent gland.
It has a prehensile tail, meaning it works as a 5th limb or hand. Bearcats are the size of a small dog and has a coat that is thick, coarse and black.
Conservation Status:
The Binturong is considered to be a Read more
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Orangutan May Be Extinct by 2012!
November 17, 2008 by Kimberly · 3 Comments
Scientific Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Family: Hominidae
Subfamily: Ponginae
Genus: Pongo
Species: P. pygmaeus, P. abelii
As stated above, there are 2 species of orangutan. They are considered primates or apes.
They differ from other apes in that they have longer arms than other species, twice as long as their legs, and have reddish hair, instead of the characteristically black hair other apes possess.
Adult males can be up to 5′9″ tall – taller than me, and weigh up to 260 lbs…Females are typically half as heavy and reach 4′2″ tall.
Orangutans are especially known for their great intelligence.
These apes live in trees, making them an arboreal species, living in rainforests natively in Malaysia and Indonesia.
However, they are only found in Borneo and Sumatra, where everyday, they make themselves a new nest to sleep in made of branches and leaves.
They are often “hermits” of sorts, coming together mainly only to mate…But, mothers stay with their babies until they are 6 or 7 yrs old.
Only “flanged” Read more
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Help Save the Moon Bear!
November 4, 2008 by Kimberly · 2 Comments
The moon bear can also be called the Asian black bear, Tibetan black bear or Himalayan black bear.
The reason for it’s nickname is that it is a black bear with a cream or white colored “V” on it’s chest in the shape of a crescent moon facing up.
They are a medium sized bear and a close relative to the American black bear.
Adult females are typically half the size of the adult male, the latter weighing in at 220-480 lbs. Their lifespan is about 25 years.
They inhabit high elevations and lowlands alike, often sharing habitat with the larger and stronger brown bear, and the giant panda.
Although this bear is considered to be carnivorous, meat is only a very small part of it’s diverse diet of nuts, berries, grasses, fruit and other plants. They are actually omnivorous animals that eat both meat and plant-life alike.
This particular bear has been known to be quite aggressive towards humans with documentation of attacks and deaths, but although they have very few enemies in nature, the Siberian tiger has been known to target them as prey.
Conservation Status:
The moon bear is currently listed a vulnerable species. Deforestation and loss of habitat is the main aggressors in the endangerment of the moon bear.
However, the moon bear is also known as the “bile bear”, where they are held in captivity so that their bile can be extracted over and over again and sold as traditional Chinese medicine in Vietnam and China. It’s terribly painful for the bear and a terrible existence for them, as they can live up to 25 years and be kept in a cage where they can’t even move to acquire the bile. Terrible!!!
Methods of Extracting Bile: (as taken from Wikipedia.com)
“Latex catheter
In a crude surgical procedure, a latex catheter is Read more
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Giant Pandas – Giant Cute
October 29, 2008 by Kimberly · 2 Comments
Seriously, what’s cuter than a giant panda?panda, giant
A baby giant panda! LOL
If you haven’t seen this video before, it’s must-see! Too funny & waaaaaaay too cute!
Conservation Status:
The giant panda is on the endangered species list!
Scientific Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Ursidae
Genus: Ailuropoda
Species: A. melanoleuca
Adult males can weigh up to Read more
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Our New Pair of Apricot & Black Oranda Goldfish
October 21, 2008 by Kimberly · 6 Comments
We welcome our new pair of oranda.
I’ll bet you’ve never heard of apricot oranda before, and I had never seen anything like them before.
They were actually labeled orange and black oranda and were in a tank full of them, except these two weren’t the typical orange or “gold” color. They are clearly apricot in color and stood out to me!
Of course, loving unique animals, I fell in love right away.
I left the pet store and ran a bunch of errands for most of the day, but could not get these two off my mind.
So, What Did I Do?
I drove right back to the pet store and hoped for the best that they would still be there.
They were meant for us…They were staring me in the face when I got there.
I was only going to get one, but they followed each other all over the tank through the crowd of other orandas.
I didn’t have the heart to break them up, so they both came home with me.
They both are unique in their Read more
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Treats for Your Fish?
October 15, 2008 by Kimberly · Leave a Comment
This past week, I went into one of our local pet stores and noticed something I had never seen before.
I noticed they had thin slices of zucchini in the tanks for the goldfish…I didn’t look at the tropicals.
I had to ask…They said they give them a treat in each tank every day. Sometimes thin slices of zucchini, cucumber or oranges.
Since then, I’ve been “treating” my goldfish with something tasty every couple days.
* Tip: Slice the vegetable as thinly as humanly possible, so that they can actually eat it, and easily. It may be of use to you to use a mandolin or use a peeler to peel the vegetable, but extremely thin.
What I’ve noticed they especially like are Read more
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Apparently, I’m a Goldfish Freak!
October 9, 2008 by Kimberly · Leave a Comment
Who knew?
I didn’t realize that I would be a goldfish freak!
I didn’t know I’d get addicted to all of the brilliant colors and crazy mutations of different sub-species of goldfish.
I have a goldfish wishlist – I’d love a bright orange Bubble-Eye, a chocolate brown Pom-Pom with vibrant orange puffs, a gorgeous colored Celestial Eye, and a blue Oranda!
I need a bigger tank…LOL!
When you go into a good pet store and look at the community goldfish aquariums, it is simply awesome with glitters of so many different colors.
What’s even neater is that when I get these amazingly colored and unique sub-species, they will interbreed giving even more amazing babies!
I can hardly wait until Spring when Read more
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