Animal News - Dental Care of The King of Forest

Perform dental treatment may work against ordinary human beings. But what if the check is the teeth of a lion? This is precisely what a number of doctors and nurses at a veterinary clinic in Medellin, Colombia, on Thursday (15 / 9). It took a number of medical personnel to treat dental Tyson was named king of the jungle. The 20-year-old lion everyday lives in Santafe Zoo in Medellin. (Photo: REUTERS / Albeiro Lopera)

Animal World - Ugly Dog Contest in California

Dog beauty contest may have been the norm. However, a contest that was held in Petaluma, California, United States, Friday (24 / 6), just compare the appearance of an ugly dog. In a championship that was held as one part of the Sonoma-Marin Fair, crossbreed dog Chinese Crested and Chihuahua named Yoda managed to clinch the title 'World's Worst Dog'. (Photo: AP Photo / Noah Berger)

Animal World - Dog Surfing Competition in California

For the third time, Dog Surfing Competition held in Huntington Beach, California, USA, 23-25 ​​September 2011. In this championship, a dog named Abbie Uy types of Australian kelpies scored the Guinness World Records after successfully surf as far as 60 meters. (Photo: REUTERS / Lucy Nicholson)

Animal News - 97 pangolins smuggling foiled (Thailand)

Thai Customs Department managed to frustrate smuggling 97 pangolins worth about 32 thousand U.S. dollars. These animals are found in a car pick-up in the southern province of Prachuap Khiri Khan on Sunday (25 / 9). According to officials, pangolina are planned to be smuggled into China. (Photo: REUTERS / Chaiwat Subprasom)

Animal World - All about Rhinoceros around the world

Rhinoceros also known as rhino, is a group of five extant species of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. Two of these species are native to Africa and three to southern Asia.

The rhinoceros family is characterized by its large size (one of the largest remaining megafauna), with all of the species able to reach one tonne or more in weight; an herbivorous diet; a thick protective skin, 1.5–5 cm thick, formed from layers of collagen positioned in a lattice structure; relatively small brains for mammals this size (400–600 g); and a large horn. They generally eat leafy material, although their ability to ferment food in their hindgut allows them to subsist on more fibrous plant matter, if necessary. Unlike other perissodactyls, the African species of rhinoceros lack teeth at the front of their mouths, relying instead on their powerful premolar and molar teeth to grind up plant food.

Rhinoceros are killed by humans for their horns, which are bought and sold on the black market, and which are used by some cultures for ornamental or (largely pseudo-scientific) medicinal purposes. The horns are made of keratin, the same type of protein that makes up hair and fingernails. Both African species and the Sumatran Rhinoceros have two horns, while the Indian and Javan Rhinoceros have a single horn.

The IUCN Red List identifies three of the species as "critically endangered".

The word rhinoceros is derived through Latin from the Ancient Greek: ῥῑνόκερως, which is composed of ῥῑνο- (rhino-, "nose") and κέρας (keras, "horn"). The plural in English is rhinoceros or rhinoceroses. The collective noun for a group of rhinoceroses is crash or herd.

The five living species fall into three categories. The two African species, the White Rhinoceros and the Black Rhinoceros, diverged during the early Pliocene (about 5 million years ago) but the Dicerotini group to which they belong originated in the middle Miocene, about 14.2 million years ago. The main difference between black and white rhinos is the shape of their mouths. White rhinos have broad flat lips for grazing and black rhinos have long pointed lips for eating foliage. A popular — if unverified — theory claims that the name White Rhinoceros was actually a mistake, or rather a corruption of the word wyd ("wide" in Afrikaans), referring to their square lips.

White Rhinoceros are divided into Northern and Southern subspecies. There are two living Rhinocerotini species, the Indian Rhinoceros and the Javan Rhinoceros, which diverged from one another about 10 million years ago. The Sumatran Rhinoceros is the only surviving representative of the most primitive group, the Dicerorhinini, which emerged in the Miocene (about 20 million years b= ago). The extinct Woolly Rhinoceros of northern Europe and Asia was also a member of this tribe.

A subspecific hybrid white rhino (Ceratotherium s. simum × C. s. cottoni) was bred at the Dvůr Králové Zoo (Zoological Garden Dvur Kralove nad Labem) in the Czech Republic in 1977. Interspecific hybridisation of Black and White Rhinoceros has also been confirmed.

Animal World - All about Monkey around the world

A monkey is a primate, either an Old World monkey or a New World monkey. There are about 260 known living species of monkey. Many are arboreal, although there are species that live primarily on the ground, such as baboons. Monkeys are generally considered to be intelligent. Unlike apes, monkeys usually have tails. Tailless monkeys may be called "apes", incorrectly according to modern usage; thus the tailless Barbary macaque is called the "Barbary ape".

The New World monkeys are classified within the parvorder Platyrrhini, whereas the Old World monkeys (superfamily Cercopithecoidea) form part of the parvorder Catarrhini, which also includes the hominoids (apes and humans). Thus, scientifically speaking, monkeys are a paraphyletic group, meaning that although they are believed to have evolved from a single ancestral species, the group does not contain all the descendants of that ancestor. Old World monkeys are more closely related to homonids than they are to New World monkeys.

Monkeys range in size from the Pygmy Marmoset, at 140 to 160 millimetres (5–6 in) long (plus tail) and 120 to 140 grams (4–5 oz) in weight, to the male Mandrill, almost 1 metre (3.3 ft) long and weighing 35 kilograms (77 lb). Some are arboreal (living in trees) while others live on the savanna; diets differ among the various species but may contain any of the following: fruit, leaves, seeds, nuts, flowers, eggs and small animals (including insects and spiders).

Some characteristics are shared among the groups; most New World monkeys have prehensile tails while Old World monkeys have non-prehensile tails or no visible tail at all. Some have trichromatic color vision like that of humans, others are dichromats or monochromats. Although both the New and Old World monkeys, like the apes, have forward-facing eyes, the faces of Old World and New World monkeys look very different, though again, each group shares some features such as the types of noses, cheeks and rumps.

Animal News - Hunting Rhinoceros horns rampant in South Africa

The illegal rhino horn trade practices make South Africa lose hundreds of species of animals each year proficiency level. The poachers often kill rhinos for the horns. To anticipate this, Kruger national park in the province of Mpumalanga cut adult rhinoceros horn located in the region. The practice of cutting horns performed by a surgeon specialized animals. (Photo: REUTERS / Ilya Kachaev)

Animal World - All about KOMODO DRAGON

The Komodo dragon, Varanus komodoensis, also known as the Komodo monitor, is a large species of lizard found in the Indonesian islands of Komodo, Rinca, Flores, Gili Motang and Gili Dasami. A member of the monitor lizard family (Varanidae), it is the largest living species of lizard, growing to a maximum of length 3 metres (9.8 ft) in rare cases and weighing up to around 70 kilograms (150 lb). Their unusual size has been attributed to island gigantism, since there are no other carnivorous animals to fill the niche on the islands where they live.

However, recent research suggests that the large size of komodo dragons may be better understood as representative of a relict population of very large varanid lizards that once lived across Indonesia and Australia, most of which, along with other megafauna, died out after the Pleistocene. Fossils very similar to V. komodoensis have been found in Australia dating to greater than 3.8 million years ago, and its body size remained stable on Flores, one of the handful of Indonesian islands where it is currently found, over the last 900,000 years, "a time marked by major faunal turnovers, extinction of the island's megafauna, and the arrival of early hominids by 880 ka."

As a result of their size, these lizards dominate the ecosystems in which they live. Komodo dragons hunt and ambush prey including invertebrates, birds, and mammals. Their group behaviour in hunting is exceptional in the reptile world. The diet of big Komodo dragons mainly consists of deer, though they also eat considerable amounts of carrion.

Mating begins between May and August, and the eggs are laid in September. About twenty eggs are deposited in abandoned megapode nests or in a self-dug nesting hole. The eggs are incubated for seven to eight months, hatching in April, when insects are most plentiful. Young Komodo dragons are vulnerable and therefore dwell in trees, safe from predators and cannibalistic adults. They take about eight to nine years to mature, and are estimated to live for up to 30 years.

Komodo dragons were first recorded by Western scientists in 1910. Their large size and fearsome reputation make them popular zoo exhibits. In the wild their range has contracted due to human activities and they are listed as vulnerable by the IUCN. They are protected under Indonesian law, and a national park, Komodo National Park, was founded to aid protection efforts.

The Komodo dragon is also known as the Komodo monitor or the Komodo Island monitor in scientific literature, although this is not very common. To the natives of Komodo Island, it is referred to as ora, buaya darat (land crocodile) or biawak raksasa (giant monitor).

Animal World - All about ZEBRA around the world

Zebras are African equids (horse family) best known for their distinctive black and white stripes. Their stripes come in different patterns unique to each individual. They are generally social animals that live in small harems to large herds. Unlike their closest relatives, horses and asses, zebras have never been truly domesticated.

There are three species of zebras: the plains zebra, the Grévy's zebra and the mountain zebra. The plains zebra and the mountain zebra belong to the subgenus Hippotigris, but Grevy's zebra is the sole species of subgenus Dolichohippus. The latter resembles an ass, to which it is closely related, while the former two are more horse-like. All three belong to the genus Equus, along with other living equids.

The unique stripes of zebras make these among the animals most familiar to people. They occur in a variety of habitats, such as grasslands, savannas, woodlands, thorny scrublands, mountains, and coastal hills. However, various anthropogenic factors have had a severe impact on zebra populations, in particular hunting for skins and habitat destruction. Grevy's zebra and the mountain zebra are endangered. While plains zebras are much more plentiful, one subspecies, the quagga, went extinct in the late 19th century, though they have now been rebred from zebra DNA.

Zebra in English dates back to c.1600, from Italian Zebra, perhaps from Portuguese, which in turn is said to be Congolese (as stated in the Oxford English Dictionary). The Encarta Dictionary says its ultimate origin is uncertain, but perhaps it may come from Latin Equiferus meaning "Wild horse," from equus "horse" and ferus "wild, untamed".