Lice are divided into three groups: sucking lice, elephant lice and chewing lice. Lice with sucking mouthparts belong to the order Anoplura (although some taxonomists call this a suborder in the order Pthiraptera). Sucking lice are parasites of mammals. There are…
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Caecilians look like worms or snakes but they are neither. They are more closely related to frogs and salamanders and are classified as amphibians. They do not resemble other amphibians because they have adapted to a burrowing life style, which has led to…
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Australia has a three birds belonging to the family called the Megapodidae (meaning big feet): the Brush turkey, the orange-footed scrubfowl and the malleefowl. These birds are classified in the order Galliformes, which also contains turkeys and chickens, and Megapodes are indeed,…
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Salamanders are amphibians. They are lizard-like in shape, with long bodies and tails, and four legs that stick out to the sides of the body. Unlike lizards, they have soft, scale-less skin and soft shelled eggs that must be laid…
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Animals are like humans in their social habits: some like lots of company, others do not. Birds fly in flocks, fish swim in unison, and packs of dogs roam the hills together. And yet animals, as well as humans, have…
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Polar Bears can take the cold but not the heat. When the environment heats up they move farther north. They are world travelers and inadvertantly are ambassodors of peace: On their annual trek from warmer to colder climates,the have forced…
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Honey bees first originated in tropical Eurasia some eight to eleven million years ago. There are now at least ten distinct species and numerous sub-species, predominantly in Asia, such as the Asian giant or rock honey bee (Apis dorsata), the…
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The Giant Panda is probably the most recognized of all the endangered animals. The giant panda has the typical body shape of the bear. It has black fur on ears, eye patches, muzzle legs and shoulders. Typically the coloring of…
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Blood is not a primary component of a mosquito’s diet. In fact, almost the entire diet of male and female mosquitoes alike consists of nectar, a fact which many plants take advantage of in order to cross-pollinate. The male mosquito…
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The unexplained die-off of honey bees in recent years is reaching epidemic proportions, creating a crisis in conventional fertilization management. Since Colony Collapse Disorder is drastically reducing the numbers of bees in each hive, but without apparently leaving behind bodies,…
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