Animals Evolved

Siberian tigers are really rare species and only about 450 Siberians survive in the wild.

Shenyang Forest Wild Animal Zoo, a Chinese zoo in north-west China, could not afford to feed the tigers 20lbs of beef every day.  The zookeeper used cheap chicken bones to feed the tigers and starvation caused the tigers to death.  The problem has not been solved for two years and there are 30 tigers remain on site.

Source: The Sun

Adam Foster, 23, took photos at Chester Zoo.  A pair of Humboldt penguins posed when Adam approached them.

“Once a couple, always a couple”

Humboldt penguins will stay together and mate for life.  A pair of penguins appeared and helped each other to adjust feathers to show their best side for Adam Foster to compose their photo.

Source: Telegraph

A black penguin was spotted in Fortuna Bay, South Georgia, a British overseas territory.  Dr Allan Baker, ornithologist of University of Toronto suspected the bird suffered from gene mutation and lost control of pigmentation patterns.

Source: mailonline

On February 24, 2010, Tilikum, one of the killer whales at Seaworld Park, Orlando, killed trainer Dawn Brancheau, 40.  It was the third time Tilikum involved in human death.

According to Chuck Tompkins, head of animal at all Seaworld Park, trainer Dawn Brancheau was rubbing Tilikum after noontime show.  The 12,000 pounds killer whale snatched the trainer with its jaws and drowned her.  Seaworld Park later suspended killer whale shows at all of its parks, which includes San Diego and San Antanio.

Source: Newsvine

Treo is a black Labrador.  Treo is also a British army sniffer dog.

Treo was awarded PDSA Dickin Medal, which is the most important and highest bravery award a military animal can receive.  Treo honourly received the bravery medal for savings lives of soldiers in Afghanistan by finding hidden bombs twice.  Troe has retired and become its handler Sergeant Dave Heyhoe’s family dog.

The award was introduced in 1943.  There are 26 other dogs, 32 World War II messenger pigeons, three horses and one cat received the award in history.

Source: CBBC

Two pandas, Mei Xiang (female panda) and Tian Tian (male panda), at the National Zoo in Washington DC attempted to mate.  Panda mating emphasizes on timing, and panda only made one day in a year.

The two pandas attempted to mate on Saturday night.  The two pandas were observed and later determined that the mating was not successful.  Both pandas were then anesthetized so that semen could be removed from Tian Tian and artificially inseminated Mei Xiang.  The zoo had tried to conduct artificial insemination last year but the attempt was not successful.  Mei Xiang and Tian Tian were successfully inseminated artificially in and gave birth to a cub, Tai Shan, in 2005.

Source: msnbc

Perhaps the most intriguing buys one can ever purchase: the most complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton of its kind. The T-Rex dinosaur, Samson is found in 1987 and was excavated in 1992. Samson is believed to be aged 66 million years old and is now on sale with a hefty price tag of 4.8million pounds.

Source: Mail Online

The dwarf of dwarves best describes Koda, an American Miniature horse which was born with dwarfism. Koda is 1 years old, weighing a mere 35kg at 59cm tall. Koda’s extreme minute size has caused it disastrous health problems, that a vet has wanted to euthanise Koda but was forunately prevented by his nurse Ms Stephenson.

Despite Koda’s hefty surgery bills to treat his symptoms, Koda is well-liked and being doted on in the clinic where it is kept. Clients of the vet clinic sometimes mistaken Koda for a toy horse. Koda has a great personality in contrast to its size. In the absence of mingling with other euqines, Koda gets along well with humans that it was given the opportunity to visit elderly homes.

Source: Yahoo News (Australia) , Mail Online , Barcroft Media

Take out your ruler and take this – Scooter is only 3 inches tall, incredibly tiny for a Maltese. Scooter has most likely beaten the record of the last tiny dog (Chihuahua) by an inch.

Scooter resides at New Zealand with its owner Cheryl McKnight. The size of her dog also had serious disadvantages such as being unable to find a suitable sized leash or dog jumper for Scooter. Regular pet  food dish and bedding may prove too huge for Scooter which eats from an egg cup and sleeps in a shoe box, comfortably. Scooter can easily sit in tea cups.

Source: Mail Online

In a German zoo, a pair of ‘homosexual’  male penguins, had won their chance to adopt an egg. The egg was fertilised by a pair of heterosexual penguins, but for unknown reasons have decided to kick out one of their eggs. The particular egg was then given to the homosexual male penguins, Z and Vielpunkt, who faithfully took care of the egg and brought the chick to life.

As astonshing as the news would sound, this is not unusual in the animal kingdom. In the case of penguins, both female and male take turns to look after their young. There is no specific motherly or fatherly figures in the upbringing of the penguins.

Source: Los Angeles Times, The Local, Mail Online