Your Complete Environmental News Resource Location
___________________________________________________________________ Andean Condor (Vultur gryphus) The Andean condor is the national animal of Colombia and is one of the largest birds of prey in the world, weighing as much as 20 to 25 pounds. Adults can reach heights of four feet, with a wing span of up to 10 feet. Males are typically larger than females. Andean condors are mostly black with a fluffy white collar around their neck and white patches along their wings. These birds have bald grayish red heads, and the males have a fleshy lump at the front of their heads called a caruncle. Their beaks are large and hooked, and they have large feet with sharp claws, allowing them to easily tear apart their meals. Habitat At one time the Andean condor could be found along the entire western coast of South America from Venezuela to the southern tip of Patagonia. Today, these majestic birds inhabit only northern Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Argentina and Chile. They spend their time in high mountains, lowland deserts, open grasslands, along coastlines and in alpine regions. Unlike many other birds, the condor doesn't build nests, but lays its eggs only once every two years among boulders or in caves or holes. These places are typically harder for other predators to reach and offer their eggs and chicks more safety. Diet Andean condors are scavengers and eat primarily carrion, or dead or decaying flesh. Their excellent eyesight allows them to seek out dead or dying animals while hovering high in the sky. They use their sharp, curved beaks and claws to remove meat from carcasses or weak animals. To clean their bald heads after a meal, they scrape them along the ground to remove any food scraps. Baby animals and eggs are also occasionally part of the condor’s diet.
Honduran White Bat (Ectophylla alba) With an average length of 3.7 - 4.7 cm, Honduran white bats are tiny for a bat. True to their name, they have a fluffy white coat. Their ears, face, nose and parts of their legs and wings are bright orange. Almost no hair grows on their black wings. Since their nose protrudes from their face in a triangular shape, scientists call members of their family "leaf-nosed bats." There is a thin, black membrane covering their skull that might provide the bats with protection from ultraviolet radiation -- a natural form of sunscreen! Habitat Honduran white bats live only in the lowland rainforests of eastern Honduras, northern Nicaragua, eastern Costa Rica and western Panama. They live in rainforests that have heliconia plants. By cutting along the veins of heliconia leaves, these bats force the leaves to collapse into upside-down V-shaped "tents" that might shelter only one bat, or as many as twelve bats. When they roost, they hang close together upside down in the center of the leaf. The tents help protect them during the daytime from rain, the hot sun and predators. In fact, the bats choose leaves that are six feet off the ground -- high enough to be out of the reach of terrestrial predators. Also, the stems of heliconia plants are not very strong, so any predator brushing against the leaf causes the bats' tent to shake. This alerts the bats to danger and they fly quickly away. Why do Honduran white bats have bright white coats? Why are they not green like the leaves they hide inside? When the sun shines through the leaves of their tent, it makes the bats' white coat appear green, making them hard to spot! However, their tent is not home sweet home for long. The bats rarely return to the same tent for more than a day. Diet During the day, Honduran white bats roost under their tents. At night, they emerge to search for food. However, these creatures are not looking to suck your blood -- they only eat fruit or vegetation.
Amazon River Dolphin (Inia geoffrensis) The Amazon River dolphin averages about 6.5 feet in length. They come in all shades of pink, from a dull gray-pink, to rosy colored pink, to a bright pink like that of the flamingo. This color variation is due to the clarity of the water in which the dolphin lives; the darker the water, the pinker the dolphin will be. The sun's rays cause the dolphins to lose their pink pigmentation. Murky water helps to protect the dolphin's bright hue. These animals are also known to flush to a bright pink when excited. There are several anatomical differences between the Amazon River dolphin and other types of dolphins. For one, Amazon River dolphins are able to turn their necks from side to side while most species of dolphin cannot. This trait coupled with their ability to paddle forward with one flipper while paddling backward with the other helps them maneuver when the river floods. These dolphins will actually swim up over the flooded land and their flexibility helps them to navigate around trees. Additional characteristics that set these dolphins apart from other species are molar-like teeth that allow them to chew their prey and bristle-like hairs at the ends of their snouts that help them search for food on the muddy river bottoms. Habitat The Amazon River dolphin can be found in the Amazon River system as well as the Orinoco River system. These river systems flow throughout South America, specifically in the countries of Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Colombia, Guyana and Peru. Diet Amazon River dolphins feast on over 50 types of fish as well as crustaceans found on the river bottom and the occasional turtle.
Jaguar (Panther onca) Jaguars can reach up to six feet in length -- from their nose to the tip of their tail -- and stand up to three feet tall at the shoulder. The average male jaguar weighs about 120 pounds, but some individuals can weigh as much as 300 pounds. At birth most jaguars weigh only two pounds. Jaguars are most famous for their beautiful spotted coats. The spots are broken rosettes, rather than true spots like a leopard. These allow the jaguar to hide amongst the grasses, bushes and trees that dominate its habitat. The rare all-black (melanistic) jaguar is what we commonly refer to as a black panther. Habitat Jaguars are found in rainforests, seasonally flooded forests, grasslands, woodlands and dry deciduous forests throughout their range. Jaguars spend much of their time on the ground. They use their padded paws to move silently through the forest floor. Although not quite as agile as a leopard, jaguars are capable of climbing trees to hunt or to rest. Diet Jaguars are mostly nocturnal hunters. They use their excellent vision and sharp teeth to ambush prey and crush their skulls. Jaguars are known to eat more than 85 species of prey, including armadillos, peccaries, capybara, tapir, deer, squirrels, birds and even snails. Not confined to hunting on land, jaguars are adept at snatching fish, turtles and young caiman from the water. They are even able to hunt monkeys and other tree-dwellers who occasionally wander to lower branches. Unfortunately, jaguars compete with humans for most of their prey. In many regions they are shot on sight because of fear, concern for livestock or competition for prey.
Brown-Throated Three-Toed Sloth (Bradypus variegatus) This cat-sized mammal, typically weighing 8 - 9 pounds, has a round head, a short snout, small eyes, long legs, tiny ears and a stubby tail. Sloths have long, coarse fur that is light brown in color, but often appears green due to the blue-green algae that grow there. Instead of toes, their front and hind feet have three curved claws that allow them to easily hook onto tree branches and hang upside-down. Sloths can rotate their heads nearly 90 degrees, and their mouths are shaped so they look like they are always smiling. Males are distinguishable from females because they usually have a bright yellow or orange patch of fur located between their shoulders. Habitat The three-toed sloth is an arboreal animal, inhabiting the tropical forests of Central and South America. Their algae-covered fur helps camouflage the sloth in its forest environment. Sloths spend nearly all of their time in trees, descending to the ground only once a week to defecate. Diet Sloths are herbivores (plant eaters), feeding on a low-energy diet of leaves, twigs and fruit. Because of their slow movement and metabolism, it can take up to a month for a sloth to digest a single meal.
Blue Morpho Butterfly (Morpho peleides)Anatomy
As its common name implies, the blue morpho butterfly’s wings are bright blue, edged with black. The blue morpho is among the largest butterflies in the world, with wings spanning from five to eight inches. Their vivid, iridescent blue coloring is a result of the microscopic scales on the backs of their wings, which reflect light. The underside of the morpho’s wings, on the other hand, is a dull brown color with many eyespots, providing camouflage against predators such as birds and insects when its wings are closed. When the blue morpho flies, the contrasting bright blue and dull brown colors flash, making it look like the morpho is appearing and disappearing. The males’ wings are broader than those of the females and appear to be brighter in color. Blue morphos, like other butterflies, also have two clubbed antennas, two fore wings and two hind wings, six legs and three body segments -- the head, thorax and abdomen. Habitat Blue morphos live in the tropical forests of Latin America from Mexico to Colombia. Adults spend most of their time on the forest floor and in the lower shrubs and trees of the understory with their wings folded. However, when looking for mates, the blue morpho will fly through all layers of the forest. Humans most commonly see morphos in clearings and along streams where their bright blue wings are most visible. Pilots flying over rainforests have even encountered large groups of blue morphos above the treetops, warming themselves in the sun. The blue morpho’s entire lifespan lasts only 115 days, which means most of their time is spent eating and reproducing. Diet The blue morpho’s diet changes throughout each stage of its lifecycle. As a caterpillar, it chews leaves of many varieties, but prefers to dine on plants in the pea family. When it becomes a butterfly it can no longer chew, but drinks its food instead. Adults use a long, protruding mouthpart called a proboscis as a drinking straw to sip the juice of rotting fruit, the fluids of decomposing animals, tree sap, fungi and wet mud. Blue morphos taste fruit with sensors on their legs, and they "taste-smell" the air with their antennae, which serve as a combined tongue and nose. Capuchin Monkey (Cebus capucinus)Anatomy
Agile and lean, capuchin monkeys weigh only 3 - 9 pounds (1.36 - 4.9 kilograms). The fur of the capuchin monkey varies, but is most commonly seen with cream or light tan coloring around the face, neck and shoulders. The rest of its coat is dark brown. The hair is shorter and darker on the capuchin's back than on other parts of its body. The face of this cute monkey will range from white to pink in color. The tail is long, covered in hair and is partially able to wrap around branches. Habitat The exact range of the capuchin monkey is not known, although it is assumed that they inhabit a large range in Brazil and other parts of Latin America. Capuchin monkeys usually live in large groups (10 - 35 individuals) within the forest, although they can easily adapt to places colonized by humans. Each group is wide-ranging, as members must search for the best areas to feed. They communicate with each other using various calls. Capuchins can jump up to nine feet (three meters), and they use this mode of transport to get from one tree to another. To mark their territories, capuchin monkeys leave a scent by soaking their hands and feet in urine. Remaining hidden among forest vegetation for most of the day, capuchin monkeys sleep on tree branches and descend to the ground only to find drinking water. Diet A typical diet for capuchin monkeys includes fruit, insects, leaves and small birds. They are particularly good at catching frogs and cracking nuts, and it is suspected that they may also feed on small mammals.
 | 
UP TO DATE ANIMAL NEWS
RED EYED TREE FROG  Located The Red-Eyed Tree Frog is located in Southern Mexico, Central America including but not limited to Costa Rica, Honduras and Panama, and northern South America. Diet Red-Eyed Tree Frogs are carnivorous and eat mostly insects, including crickets. They will also feed on other smaller frogs. Habitat Red-Eyed Tree Frogs inhabit lowland rainforest areas near ponds, streams and rivers. The Red-Eyed Tree Frog will be found near water sources that its offspring, tadpoles, will need to survive.
SCARLET MACAW  Once ranging from southern Mexico to Columbia and the Caribbean, there are now less than 500 scarlet macaws remaining in the wild (1996). Costa Rica is one of the areas where they can still be found. Though thousands exist among private breeders, parrot experts doubt that any captives could ever be retrained to survive in the wild.
COOL STUFF FROM RAINFOREST ALLIANCE
 Yes this is a very cute photograph, but you know it as well as I, this is so wrong. Please, please, please pick up your garbage and put it in its respective place. Leafcutter Ant (Atta spp. and Acromyrmex spp.)Anatomy
Leafcutter ants practice advanced methods of sustainable agriculture, and operate under one of the most studied social caste systems in the natural world. Naturalist E.O. Wilson offered that leafcutters have perfectly evolved to address every small need necessary for their survival over their 50 million years in existence. Different ants are responsible for each step in the process of cultivation of fungi. According to their size, ants fulfill specific roles such as defenders of the colony, caretakers of the young, gardeners, foragers and leafcutters. Incredibly, there are even tiny ants that straddle the backs of larger worker ants and defend them from carnivorous flies. No survival task is left unassigned. Researchers marvel at the complex form of sustainable agriculture that the ants practice. Careful not to overuse a single vegetation source, leafcutters gather fragments from different plants and trees, minimizing the vegetation's tendency to build up its defenses. Some ants are equipped with a bacterium that acts as a pesticide on a particular mold, the largest threat to their fungus gardens. The ants sparing use of this protectant has kept the mold from developing a resistance, allowing the bacterium to remain an effective defense over time. Habitat Found principally in Latin America and the Caribbean, leafcutter ants inhabit the forest floor and construct an underground web of chambers where they "farm" and harvest their staple food, fungus. They create underground fungus "gardens" by clipping and gathering fresh vegetation and injecting the pieces with a fungal secretion that digests the often poisonous plants into an edible and nutritious mushroom form. Diet These ants consume more vegetation than any other animal group. Their own fungal secretion, which they inject into the leaves, can change poisonous plants into a nutritious meal.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
