Scientific Name:
Lutra Lutra

Physical Appearance:
Its body is streamlined to glide easily through the water and it is long with a tapered tail. It has brown fur, but the undersides are pale. Its feet are webbed and it has short legs.

Natural Habitat:
Highland and lowland lakes, marshes, rivers streams and coastal areas are among its favoured habitats.

Gestation:
63 days

Diet:
They mainly feed on fish, crayfish, frogs and crabs among other aquatic invertebrates. They may also eat rabbits and rodents as well as waterfowl.

Random Fact:
This is the only wild otter found in Britain.

-------

From a distance you look like my friend,

even though we are at war.

Scientific Name:  
Ailuropoda melanoleuca

Physical Appearance:  
They are bear like in shape and are black and white. They have distinctive black patches over their eyes.

Natural Habitat:  
Dense bamboo regions and coniferous mountains in the centre of China.

Gestation:  
135 days

Diet:  
Bamboo leaves. They receive all nutrients and water from these.

Random Fact:
A giant panda may consume 12-38 kg of bamboo a day to meet its energy requirements.

Post edited at 5:07 am on Mar. 15, 2007 by UnusualOne

-------

From a distance you look like my friend,

even though we are at war.

Scientific Name:
Black (Diceros bicornis)

Physical Appearance:
Black: This rhino has a hooked-lip and is an ungulate with odd toes. It’s hide is thick, grey and hairless. It also has two short horns on its nose, a longer one to the front and shorter to the back..

Natural Habitat:
They mostly live in habitat with dense and woody vegetation.

Gestation:
16months

Diet:
The black rhino browses, its triangular-shaped lip ends in a grasping point. It eats a lot of vegetation including bus, bushes, plants leaves and trees.

Random Fact:
The black rhino is a symbol for conservation in Africa

-------

From a distance you look like my friend,

even though we are at war.

Scientific Name:  
White (Ceratotherium simum)

Physical Appearance:  
This rhino has a wide, square muzzle which is the easiest way to tell these rhino apart. It has a grey hide and long face.

Natural Habitat:  
Sticks to savannas with shade trees and water holes, as well as mud wallows.

Gestation:  
16months

Diet:  
The white rhino grazes, therefore it only eats grasses.  

Random Fact:
Can grow to be the second largest land mammal. [Only the elephant can is bigger]

Post edited at 5:25 am on Sep. 11, 2007 by UnusualOne

-------

From a distance you look like my friend,

even though we are at war.

Scientific Name:
Carcharodon carcharias

Physical Appearance:
The main thing to note is that their body is torpedo shaped, and the snout is pointed. The back of its body is dark, while underneath it is white.

Natural Habitat:
They live in coastal temperature waters. They are found on a wide range of coastlines.

Gestation:
Around 12months

Diet:
They mostly eat sea lions, and seals as they are carnivorous. Juveniles start on fish and rays, and they move upto whales, sea otters, dolphins, seals and other such marine life.  

Random Fact:
A sharks primary sense, is its sense of smell. It can smell one drop of blood in 100 litres of water.

-------

From a distance you look like my friend,

even though we are at war.

Scientific Name:
Tapirus terrestris

Physical Appearance:
It is dark brown in colour and is low to the ground. It has a short snout and medium sized ears. IT has a bristly mane of hair on its neck.

Natural Habitat:
The Brazilian tapir stays close to water, it can be found in the Amazon rainforest, and west of the Andes in River Basin. It lives all over in the north, south and west.

Gestation:
13months

Diet:
The tapir is a herbivore, it feeds on buds, leaves, shoots and grasses. As well as fruits and aquatic plants.

Random Fact:
Juveniles have a coat with faint spots and stripes on it, which fades at about a year.

Adult:

Juvenile:


-------

From a distance you look like my friend,

even though we are at war.

Scientific Name:
Arvicola terrestris

Physical Appearance:
They have a short fat face with a round body, they have dark fur, which also covers their long tail.

Natural Habitat:
Water voles like to live in the banks of slow moving rivers and streams. They also inhabit grassland and dykes.

Gestation:
20-23days

Diet:
Herbivorous, the live on grasses.

Random Fact:
Water voles are legally protected by British Law under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. Numbers have reduced by more than 90% in recent years.

-------

From a distance you look like my friend,

even though we are at war.

There are quite a few different ways of learning; this is especially useful if an animal is non-responsive to a particular method of training as you could always try a new one. Some are seen more outright successful than others, and a couple are seen as more beneficial to the dog, which is generally preferred as this allows the dog to be comfortable when learning.

Operant Conditioning
Classical Conditioning
Positive and Negative Reinforcers
Luring
Habituation

-------

From a distance you look like my friend,

even though we are at war.

Definition: Operant conditioning is also known as “Trial and Error” this is because when the animal displays a good behaviour, they receive a reward, and when it displays a bad behaviour it has a bad consequence. This allows the animal to choose its action, and the consequence it receives. This can also be described as manipulating the animals’ behaviour by using positive and negative reinforcers.
Example: An example of positive reinforcement is if you place a rat in a cage, when it presses the bar, it receives a bit of food. This strengthens the behaviour to press the bar as long as it continues to receive food.

Different Methods of Learning
Classical Conditioning
Positive and Negative Reinforcers
Luring
Habituation

-------

From a distance you look like my friend,

even though we are at war.

Definition: Classical conditioning is when an animal makes an association between one thing and something else. It is used when a stimulus and response are involved. It can either be conditioned, or unconditioned. The unconditioned stimulus and response are natural, therefore no prior learning. A conditioned stimulus and response do require learning, as the stimulus would have previously had no response until associated with the conditioned (or desired) response.
Example: An example of an unconditioned stimulus is when a female comes into heat, the male knows what he needs to do, and they either court, or just go straight into copulating depending on their species.

Different Methods of Learning
Operant Conditioning
Positive and Negative Reinforcers
Luring
Habituation

-------

From a distance you look like my friend,

even though we are at war.

Definition: A positive reinforcer is when the animal has a good thing happen, because of the behaviour it has displayed, it increases the chances of a behaviour being repeated. A negative reinforcer is when a bad thing happens because of the displayed behaviour and this decreases the chances of a behaviour being repeated.
Example: An example of positive reinforcement is when you play fetch with a dog, and give it praise and/or a treat when it returns with the stick. An example of negative reinforcement is if the dog is ignoring you, you could take the treat away, which will encourage the dog to pay attention to you in future.

Different Methods of Learning
Operant Conditioning
Classical Conditioning
Luring
Habituation

-------

From a distance you look like my friend,

even though we are at war.

Definition: This is when a treat is used to attract the dog to your hand, so it follows your hand. It is especially useful when first teaching a dog, that may be difficult to teach as the dog does not think it is learning, merely having a good time.
Example: When teaching a dog to sit, you move your hand over their head, usually this causes the dog to place its bum on the floor as it looks up to your hand.

Different Methods of Learning
Operant Conditioning
Classical Conditioning
Positive and Negative Reinforcers
Habituation

-------

From a distance you look like my friend,

even though we are at war.

Definition: This is when the response to a stimulus becomes reduced due to continuous exposure.
Example: The most common example of this is when vacuuming, the first time the dog hears the vacuum it will usually have quite a big reaction, over time as the activity is repeated the response becomes less and less, and sometimes the response completely disappears.

Different Methods of Learning
Operant Conditioning
Classical Conditioning
Positive and Negative Reinforcers
Luring

-------

From a distance you look like my friend,

even though we are at war.