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Wolverines are large, stocky animals that look like small bears, but they are the largest members of the weasel family. These tough animals are solitary, and like to roam long distances. Individual wolverines have been known to travel 15 miles (24 kilometers) in a single day in search of food. Their feet are wide and furred, webbed, and front feet have long, strong claws, which help them climb. They often follow wolves to scavenge the remains of their prey. Males mark their territories with their scent, but they allow several female wolverines to live there. Females den in the snow to give birth to two or three young each late winter or early spring. Young wolverines, called kits, sometimes live with their mother until they are two years old. Wolverines‘ thick fur is brown with two yellowish stripes on back.
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An American goldfinch soars through the warm spring air, it’s yellow feathers reflecting the sun. Suddenly the bird opens its mouth and chirps a call that sounds like “po-ta-to-chip.” This flier isn’t looking for a salty snack. It’s using this vocalization to communicate with its flock. The bird flies on, continuing its delicious call.
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Snowy plovers are small shorebirds that dash in and out of waves at the beach. While it looks like they are playing, these chunky little white birds are actually chasing after a meal of small insects and crustaceans. These small birds have rounded heads with steep foreheads and short necks. Their bills are black and they have large eyes. They have short black legs and dark gray to black feet. As plovers mature, their feathers change. Typically, their feathers are snowy white, hence their name, with black, brown, and gray markings on wings and head. They have patches of brown or black on their shoulders. Snowy plovers feast on beetles, flies, marine worms, crabs, clams, sand hoppers, seeds, and aquatic insects. While they search for food plovers will run, stop, look, and then peck and poke at plants and the sand. Plovers will run into swarms of flies with their bills open and snapping, trying to grab a bite. They nest on the sand on sparsely vegetated coastal beaches and lakeshores and also nest near man-made wastewater ponds and reservoirs. They often line their sand nests with seashells. Many sandy beaches are raked to make them attractive to humans and beach grasses are planted to control beach erosion. As a result, plovers‘ breeding numbers have decreased as their beach habitats and breeding areas are used for fun and recreation. Both parents will take care of the large eggs, but females often take over day duty and the males take over at night. Newly hatched snowy plover chicks look like fluffy white cotton balls.
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The blue whale is the largest mammal in the world. A blue whale calf weighs two tons (1,814 kilograms) at birth and gains an extra 200 pounds (91 kilograms) each day of its first year. Blue whales are able to breathe air, but they are very comfortable in the ocean waters where buoyancy helps to support their incredible bulk. These mammals are found in all the world’s oceans and often swim in small groups or alone. These giant creatures feed on tiny shrimplike animals called krill. Only a few thousand blue whales are believed to swim the world’s oceans. They were hunted for many years for their blubber and oil, and they were almost hunted to extinction. They were protected under the 1966 International Whaling Convention and are now considered to be an endangered species.
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A queen stretches out in her spacious home as her subjects scurry around her. The queen’s workers try to make her comfortable and keep her dwelling clean. This “royal” is well cared for, but you couldn’t exactly call her lifestyle luxurious. That’s because she’s a termite! LARGE AND IN CHARGE Over 2,000 species of termites can be found around the world. Termite colonies, which can include thousands of individuals, often live in large dirt mounds. When a female termite hits breeding age, she may emerge from her colony and find a mate. The pair then creates a burrow in the ground and the female (called a queen) begins to produce eggs—a lot of them. In fact this female generates around 30,000 eggs a day! Once her offspring hatch, they become part of her colony. As the female produces more and more eggs, she begins to grow. Over time she can become the length of an adult human’s index finger. That’s a hundred times bigger than any of the termites that surround her. Eventually the queen gets so large that she can barely move. Luckily members of the queen’s community are there to wait on her, um, antenna and foot. TERMITE TOWERS Many of the offspring that hatch from the queen’s eggs become worker termites. They help the queen by keeping her clean, feeding her plant fibers, and looking after newly laid eggs. These insects may also double as construction workers, carrying up soil from underground to create the colony’s mound. Some termite mounds can reach over 17 feet in height. Sounds like the termite queen and her workers really know how to go big! Watch an amazing video about termites. Text by Andrea Silen, NGS Staff
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The ocelot quietly stalks through the grass in a Mexican forest. It crouches, then—bam!—pounces on an unsuspecting mouse. Dinner is served. The rodent probably never saw this wild cat coming. Its unique spotted coat helps it blend into the forest while it hunts for prey. The ocelot’s camouflage also helps protect it as it sleeps during the day on tree branches or in bushes. Although the cat is twice the size of an average house cat, ocelots are prey for harpy eagles, pumas, jaguars, and anacondas. NIGHT CAT Ocelots are nocturnal, meaning they’re most active at night. They use their sharp vision and hearing to hunt rabbits, rodents, iguanas, fish, frogs, monkeys, and birds. When they’re ready to eat, the wild cats don’t chew their food—instead they use their teeth to tear meat into pieces and then swallow it whole. Like a domestic cat, an ocelot’s raspy tongue can clean a bone of every last tasty morsel. CUTE KITTENS An ocelot family usually includes a mom and one or two young. The kittens are born with their spots but have gray coats and blue eyes that turn golden brown when they’re about three months old. Ocelots live with their mom for about a year and then leave to find their own territory. There’s a whole lot to love about ocelots! Text by Allyson Shaw / NGS Staff
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The pileated woodpecker is one of the largest woodpecker species in North America and its look is unmistakable—a large black bird with white on each side of its neck and a red crest on its head. When it flies, white flashes are visible under its wings. The sound of the pileated woodpecker’s hammering carries a long distance through the woods where they live. They drum to attract mates and to establish the boundaries of their territory—warning other males away. They use their beaks to peck and dig under bark to find carpenter ants, beetle larvae, and other insects and will often dig large, rectangular holes in trees to uncover their meals. Some holes are so big that they weaken small, young trees. The birds also strip pieces of bark from trees looking for food. Generally, however, pileated woodpeckers help keep a forest healthy by eating wood-boring insects. A nesting pair of pileated woodpeckers usually makes a nesting hole in a large, older tree. During the day, both parents take turns incubating, or sitting on, the eggs to keep them warm. At night, only the male incubates the eggs. They generally lay four eggs at a time, which take about two weeks to hatch.
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Pufferfish can inflate into a ball shape to evade predators. Also known as blowfish, these clumsy swimmers fill their elastic stomachs with huge amounts of water (and sometimes air) and blow themselves up to several times their normal size. Some species also have spines on their skin to ward off predators. Even if a predator gobbles up a puffer before it inflates, it won’t enjoy the snack. Most pufferfish contain a toxic substance that makes them foul tasting and potentially deadly to other fish. The toxin is deadly to humans. There is enough poison in one pufferfish to kill 30 adult humans, and there is no known antidote. In Japan, they are called fugu and are a very expensive, delicious treat. They are prepared only by trained, licensed fugu chefs. Most puffers are found in tropical and subtropical ocean waters, but some species live in brackish and even fresh water. Some species of pufferfish are considered vulnerable due to pollution, habitat loss, and overfishing, but most populations are considered stable.
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National Geographic Kids
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Coyotes once lived only in prairies and deserts of the western United States and in Mexico. Today they thrive almost anywhere in North America. Adaptability—that’s the main reason for the success of the coyote. A coyote is naturally adaptable because it eats such a wide range of food. If it can’t find mice or voles to eat, lizards, insects, or even garbage will do. In Native American stories coyotes are clever and tricky. Some coyotes kill calves and lambs on people’s ranches and farms. For a century people have tried to kill coyotes by using poison, traps, and guns. Still coyotes continue to thrive. This trickster of Native American tales often gets fooled—but it always bounces back. Coyotes vary in body size from 32 to 37 inches (81 to 94 centimeters). Their tails can be up to 16 inches long (41 centimeters).
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