Animal Facts | Part-2

• Which newborns can fend for themselves?

A young wildebeest in Africa is born with its eyes open and with a well-developed coat of hair. Within a few minutes it can stand; within a day it can run well-enough to keep up with the herd. A hunting dog, from the same part of Africa, has its eyes closed at birth. Bears are born in an even less developed state, not only blind but naked and often weighing less than a pound.

For Part-1 of Animal Facts, Please click the below link 'Text'

>> Text

In general, plant-eating mammals are more fully developed at birth than predators. One of the main survival traits of such creatures as deer and wildebeest is the ability to hide or run from danger - and the sooner they can do it, the better. A young carnivore, in contrast, has much to learn about hunting, and develops its skills during a long period of time.

• Who uses baby-sitters?

Baby-sitting is not a human invention. When a pack of hunting dogs goes out in search of prey, the younger pups are left behind at the den, guarded by several females. Wolves often leave their cubs under the watchful eye of an "aunt". Lions do something similar, though the guardian is perhaps not so much an official baby-sitter as a lazy female who hopes to get her food the easy way - not by hunting but by sharing what the other adults bring back. Regardless of her motives, the cubs do get protection as a result.

Though an elephant herd moves as a unit, and so has no need of baby-sitters, adults and adolescents will take care of a calf that is not their own, comforting it and picking it up when it stumbles. Sometimes a nursing elephant will even suckle another mother's calf.

• What do parents teach their young?

Though fawns, baby rabbits, and other young plant-eating mammals usually have little to learn beyond how to conceal themselves and escape. Such skills do not always come naturally. When danger threatens, a dog may nudge her fawn into a concealing thicket; from repeated experience, the youngster learns where it can hide. Animals learn the signals their species uses to communicate by observing how parents and other adults react. By imitating the parent, they also learn what kind of food to eat.

Young carnivores must learn much more demanding skills - how to stalk, ambush, and kill. Scientists believe that much of the play these animals engage in is actually training for adulthood. Mostly, however, the lessons occur when the youngsters accompany their parents and imitate them. Young mink and raccoons, for example, watch their mothers turn over stones in a streambed to look for crayfish. Young lions and wolves go with their elders on hunts.

In some species the parent takes a more active role in training. A house cat will bring an injured mouse home as practice for her kittens. The mother cheetah cripples and retrieves a young gazelle. Through cruel by human standards, these activities are necessary for survival, for only through practice does a young predator learn how to kill.

• Does city wildlife include anything besides pigeons?

Pigeons are among the most numerous urban animals, but they are by no means all there is. Other winged residents include certain kinds of gulls, crows, vultures, and storks. Hedgehogs abound near European population centres; foxes and martens (a type of weasel) have been sighted in or near New York and Copenhagen respectively. The coyote's howl is familiar to Los Angeles hillside residents, the jackal's call to people in some African and Asian cities.

By definition a city is a large concentration of humans living on land that is for the most part no longer in a natural state. Whether a plant or animal survives in a given city depends on the habits, hardiness, and adaptability of the species, and the kind of habitat on the city's outskirts. In some cases the presence of particular plant or animal reflects the tolerance people have - or do not have - for the species. City dwellers in Western countries often welcome squirrels; sharing urban space with animals is routine in Hindu and Buddhist cultures.

• Where can you find animals in a city?

Given adequate food and cover, indoors or out, wildlife can occurr just about anywhere. Swifts and martins build nest inside buildings or under eaves; pigeons roost along a ledge. Monkeys and bats occupy Asian temples. City parks - especially large, open parks like the big ones in New York, San Francisco, Munich, London. Amsterdam, and Delhi - are home to diverse animal life.

Manicured cemeteries afford sanctuary for birds. A long-eared owl moved into Moscow University's botanical gardens to feed on sparrows. Opossums sheltered in a hedges near the headquarters of the Los Angeles police department. Peregrine falcons have been introduced to various North American cities, making their homes on skyscrapers there.

Birdwatchers who explore garbage dump near cities find much to hold their attention, but others sorts of animals live there too. The Canadian town of Churchill has shared its dump with polar bears. In Africa, Scavengers may include hyenas, jackals, and an occasional warthog, as well as vultures and marabou storks.

• What do zoos do for wildlife?

Zoos are, of course, a guaranteed places to see animals in the city. Few creatures there can be considered wildlife - probably only the free-living hangers-on, such as squirrels and birds, which inhabit the surrounding parkland and scavenge for food. But zoos do far more for wildlife than provide sanctuary for animals. Major ones have research operations concerned with the conservation and perpetuation of species in the wild, and all perform an immeasurable role in educating the public about wildlife.

• Is the presence of wildlife in the city good or bad?

Caterpillars chomping away at a carefully nurtured garden, squirrels gnawing through telephone cables, termites undermining a home - wildlife around people can be a nuisance or worse. Certain diseases have been linked to bird droppings, and rabies can be transmitted by such creatures as foxes, skunks, and bats. But the infinitely varied music of songbirds, the delicate flutter of butterflies, the soft furriness of a scampering squirrel -  all these elicit a different response. The presence of animals and greenery in the city offers beauty, serenity, and a sense of oneness with nature.