Monday, May 3, 2010

Colorful Animal Kingdom

The Wrinkled Hornbill or Sunda Wrinkled Hornbill (Aceros corrugatus) is a medium-large Hornbill which is found in forest in the Thai-Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and Borneo. It has sometimes been placed in the genus Rhyticeros together with most other species generally placed in Aceros


The West African Crowned Crane (Balearica pavonina pavonina) is a striking and colorful bird with golden feathers on top of its head that resemble a Roman helmet. It changes plumage once a year, except for the remiges, which are shed every two years simultaneously, preventing flight for a few weeks. Both male and female birds have similar plumage. The west African species has its red patch beneath the white patch on its cheek.


The Bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) is a bird of prey found in North America that is also the national bird and symbol of the United States. This sea eagle has two known sub-species and forms a species pair with the White-tailed eagle. Its range includes most of Canada and Alaska, all of the contiguous United States, and northern Mexico. It is found near large bodies of open water with an abundant food supply and old-growth trees for nesting.


The Southern cassowary (Casuarius casuarius) is a large, flightless black bird with stiff plumage, a brown casque, a blue face and neck, red nape, and two red wattles hanging down its throat. The three-toed feet are thick and powerful, equipped with a lethal dagger-like claw on the inner toe. The plumage is sexually monomorphic, but the female is dominant and larger with a longer casque and brighter-colored bare parts. The immature bird has plain brown plumage.


The Blue-and-yellow Macaw (Ara ararauna), also known as the Blue-and-gold Macaw, is a member of the macaw group of parrots which breeds in the swampy forests of tropical South America from Panama south to Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay and Trinidad. It is an endangered species in Trinidad.


Lories and lorikeets are small to medium-sized arboreal parrots which comprise the subfamily Loriinae. They are widely distributed throughout the Australasian region, including southeastern Asia, Polynesia, Papua New Guinea and Australia. Lories and lorikeets have specialized brush-tipped tongues for feeding on nectar and soft fruits. They can feed from the flowers of about 5,000 species of plants and use their special tongues to take in the nectar. The tip of their tongues have tufts of papillae (extremely fine hairs), which collect nectar and pollen.


The Roseate Spoonbill (Platalea ajaja) is a wading bird of the ibis and spoonbill family Threskiornithidae. It is a mainly resident breeder in South America, the Caribbean, and the Gulf coast of the USA.


Violet Plantain Eaters (Musophaga violacea) fly down at meal time they display spectacular red flashes on the outer 1/3 of their wings. The turacos in our gardens are about 17 inches long with unusually silky plumage. The main body and tail color is purple, with red on top of their heads, red on lower edges of wings (male only), and a white horizontal stripe under the yellow eye surround. No eyelashes. Heavy bill is yellow with orange at the tip and has a horny plate extending from the upper mandible to the forehead.


The Visayan warty pig, Sus cebifrons, is a critically endangered species of pig. The Visayan warty pig is endemic to two of the Visayan Islands in the central Philippines, and is threatened by habitat loss, food shortages and hunting - these are the leading causes of the Visayan Warty Pig's status as critically endangered. Due to the small numbers of remaining Visayan Warty Pigs in the wild, little is known of their behaviors or characteristics outside of captivity.


Cheetah, Acinonyx jubatus, are most abundant in east and southern Africa.


Hi my friends,

These are for now the last pictures from my recent visit to the zoo. They had also some Giraffes but they were hiding out somewhere in the back, in the shades. Next time maybe I will be able to capture some shots of them too, I hope :)

Thanks for all your kind comments to my "Wordless Sunday" photo from yesterday.
Stay tuned, have a wonderful day and I'll see you soon!
Susanne



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