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BANGLADESH — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 03:23:14 CDT

Bird of the Day
Le Conte's Thrasher
This thrasher is a permanent resident in the Southwest. Like most other desert thrashers, it prefers to escape by scurrying away through the sparse vegetation, but will fly if pressed. read more

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Green Iguana

BANGLADESH — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 02:03:02 CST

Type: Reptile

Diet: Herbivore

Average lifespan in the wild: 20 years

Size: 6.6 ft (2 m)

Weight: 11 lbs (5 kg)

Did you know? In Central America, where iguana meat is frequently consumed, iguanas are referred to as "bamboo chicken" or "chicken of the trees."

Size relative to a 6ft (2m)

Green, or common, iguanas are among the largest lizards in the Americas, averaging around 6.5 feet (2 meters) in length and weighing about 11 pounds (5 kilograms).

They are also among the most popular reptile pets in the United States, despite being quite difficult to care for properly. In fact, most captive iguanas die within the first year, and many are either turned loose by their owners or given to reptile rescue groups.

The green iguana's extensive range extends from the rain forests of northern Mexico, through Central America and the Caribbean Islands, down as far as southern Brazil. They spend most of their lives in the canopy, descending only infrequently to mate, lay eggs, or change trees.

Primarily herbivores, iguanas are active during the day, feeding on leaves, flowers, and fruit. They generally live near water, and are excellent swimmers. If threatened, they will leap from a branch, often from great heights, and escape with a splash to the water below. They are also tough enough to land on solid ground from as high as 40 feet and survive.

Their stout build gives them a clumsy look, but they are fast and agile on land. They have strong jaws with razor-sharp teeth and sharp tails, which make up half their body length and can be used as whips to drive off predators. They can also detach their tails if caught and will grow another without permanent damage.

Other members of the iguana family include the Fiji Island banded iguana, the desert iguana, and the Galápagos Islands marine iguana. Their appearance, behavior, and endangered status vary from species to species.

Green Anaconda

BANGLADESH — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 01:55:56 CST

Type: Reptile

Diet: Carnivore

Average lifespan in the wild: 10 years

Size: 20 to 30 ft (6 to 9 m)

Weight: Up to 550 lbs (227 kg)

Group name: Bed or knot

Did you know? In mating, several competing males form a breeding ball around one female which can last up to four weeks.

Member of the boa family, South America’s green anaconda is, pound for pound, the largest snake in the world. Its cousin, the reticulated python, can reach slightly greater lengths, but the enormous girth of the anaconda makes it almost twice as heavy.

Green anacondas can grow to more than 29 feet (8.8 meters), weigh more than 550 pounds (227 kilograms), and measure more than 12 inches (30 centimeters) in diameter. Females are significantly larger than males. Other anaconda species, all from South America and all smaller than the green anaconda, are the yellow, dark-spotted, and Bolivian varieties.

Anacondas live in swamps, marshes, and slow-moving streams, mainly in the tropical rain forests of the Amazon and Orinoco basins. They are cumbersome on land, but stealthy and sleek in the water. Their eyes and nasal openings are on top of their heads, allowing them to lay in wait for prey while remaining nearly completely submerged.

They reach their monumental size on a diet of wild pigs, deer, birds, turtles, capybara, caimans, and even jaguars. Anacondas are nonvenomous constrictors, coiling their muscular bodies around captured prey and squeezing until the animal asphyxiates. Jaws attached by stretchy ligaments allow them to swallow their prey whole, no matter the size, and they can go weeks or months without food after a big meal.

Female anacondas retain their eggs and give birth to two to three dozen live young. Baby snakes are about 2 feet (0.6 meters) long when they are born and are almost immediately able to swim and hunt. Their lifespan in the wild is about ten years.

Pet Animal

BANGLADESH — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 01:45:55 CST

Gila Monster

BANGLADESH — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 01:45:14 CST

Type: Reptile

Diet: Carnivore

Average lifespan in the wild: 20 to 30 years

Size: 20 in (50 cm)

Weight: 4 lbs (1.8 kg)

Group name: Lounge

Did you know? A synthetic version of a protein found in Gila saliva is used as a treatment for diabetes in humans.

Protection status: Threatened

Size relative to a 6-ft (2-m)

At a length of up to two feet (0.6 meters) and a maximum weight exceeding five pounds (2.3 kilograms), the venomous Gila monster (pronounced HEE-luh) is the largest lizard native to the United States.

Easily identified by their black bodies marked with dramatic patterns of pink, orange, or yellow, Gilas are found in the Mojave, Sonoran, and Chihuahuan deserts of the southwestern U.S. and northwestern Mexico. They take their name from Arizona's Gila River basin, where they were first discovered.

The Gila monster is one of only a handful of venomous lizards in the world. Others include the similar-looking Mexican beaded lizards, as well as iguanas and monitor lizards. Its venom is a fairly mild neurotoxin. And though a Gila bite is extremely painful, none has resulted in a reported human death. Unlike snakes, which inject venom, Gila's latch onto victims and chew to allow neurotoxins to move through grooves in their teeth and into the open wound.

Gilas are lethargic creatures that feed primarily on eggs raided from nests and newborn mammals. They may spend more than 95 percent of their lives in underground burrows, emerging only to feed and occasionally to bask in the desert sun. They can store fat in their oversized tails and are able to go months between meals.

Gila populations are shrinking due primarily to human encroachment, and they are considered a threatened species.

Gavial (Gharial)

Animal-Planet — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 02:49:50 CST

Type: Reptile

Diet: Carnivore

Average lifespan in the wild: 40 to 60 years

Size: 12.25 to 15.5 ft (3.6 to 4.5 m)

Weight: 2,200 lbs (977 kg)

Did you know? The gharial's scientific name, Gavialis gangeticus is based on a misspelling of the Hindi word ghariyal.

Protection status: Endangered

Size relative to a 6ft (2m)

The crocodile-like gharial gets its name from the Hindi word ghara, a stout clay pot which resembles the bulbous growth on the nose of mature males. The growth, called a ghara, is used to attract mates and to generate bubbles, a facet of the mating ritual.

Gharials, also called gavials, are easily distinguished from crocodiles by their long, thin, almost tubular snout filled with small, razor-sharp teeth. This unique adaptation reduces drag in the water and allows them to quickly snap side-to-side to capture fish.

Gharials are among the largest of the crocodilians, with some males exceeding 20 feet (6 meters) in length. They are, unfortunately, also among the most endangered animals on the planet. Poaching for the skin trade, habitat reduction and accidental killings by fishermen have cut the wild population of this once-abundant predator to about 2,000. Males are also hunted in the belief that powder from its dried snout is an aphrodisiac.

Gharials live in the major rivers and waterways of the northern Indian subcontinent. They are likely extinct or nearly extinct in all of their range except India, where government efforts to preserve the species are having some success.

On land, gharials are unable to "high walk" like other crocodilians. They move about by sliding on their bellies. In water, however, webbed feet and a well developed, laterally flattened tail makes them the quickest and most agile of their class. They feed almost exclusively on fish, but have been known on occasion to take small mammals.

Galápagos Tortoise

Animal-Planet — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 02:43:29 CST

Type: Reptile

Diet: Herbivore

Average lifespan in the wild: 100 years+

Size: 4 ft (1.2 m)

Weight: 475 lbs (215 kg)

Did you know? Today the 3,000 to 5,000 tortoises that live on Volcano Alcedo on Isabela Island are the largest group of giant tortoises in the Galápagos.

Protection status: Endangered

Size relative to a 6ft (2m)

It is possible, though perhaps unlikely, that among the remaining giant tortoises of the Galápagos Islands, there exists an old-timer that was a hatchling at the time of Charles Darwin's famous visit in 1835. Giant tortoises are the longest-lived of all vertebrates, averaging over 100 years. The oldest on record lived to be 152.

They are also the world's largest tortoises, with some specimens exceeding 5 feet (1.5 meters) in length and reaching 550 pounds (250 kilograms).

There are now only 11 types of giant tortoises left in the Galápagos, down from 15 when Darwin arrived. Hunted as food by pirates, whalers, and merchantmen during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, more than 100,000 tortoises are estimated to have been killed off. Nonnative species such as feral pigs, dogs, cats, rats, goats, and cattle are a continuing threat to their food supply and eggs. Today, only about 15,000 remain.

The tortoises are now listed as endangered and have been strictly protected by the Ecuadorian government since 1970. Captive breeding efforts by the Charles Darwin Research Station are also having positive effects.

Galápagos tortoises lead an uncomplicated life, grazing on grass, leaves, and cactus, basking in the sun, and napping nearly 16 hours per day. A slow metabolism and large internal stores of water mean they can survive up to a year without eating or drinking.

Spanish sailors who discovered the archipelago in 1535 actually named it after the abundant tortoises; the Spanish word for tortoise is galápago.

Frilled Lizard

Animal-Planet — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 02:35:27 CST

Type: Reptile

Diet: Carnivore

Average lifespan in captivity: Up to 20 years

Size: 3 ft (0.9 m)

Weight: 1.1 lbs (0.5 kg)

Did you know? Besides defense, this lizard's colorful frill may be used to help regulate body temperature.

Size relative to a 6ft (2m)

Undoubtedly, one of the quirkiest sights in nature is the gangly retreat of an Australian frilled lizard. When this unique creature feels threatened, it rises on its hind legs, opens its yellow-colored mouth, unfurls the colorful, pleated skin flap that encircles its head, and hisses. If an attacker is unintimidated by these antics, the lizard simply turns tail, mouth and frill open, and bolts, legs splaying left and right. It continues its deliberate run without stopping or looking back until it reaches the safety of a tree.

Frilled lizards, or "frillnecks," are members of the dragon family that live in the tropical and warm temperate forests and savanna woodlands of northern Australia. They spend most of their lives in the trees, but descend occasionally to feed on ants and small lizards. Other menu items include spiders, cicadas, termites, and small mammals.

They vary in color and size from region to region. On average, the larger adults reach about 3 feet (0.9 meters) from head to tail and weigh up to 1.1 pounds (0.5 kilograms).

Their main predators are birds of prey, larger lizards, snakes, dingoes and feral cats. They are currently not threatened or protected, but habitat reduction and predation in some areas, particularly by feral cats, is affecting their populations.

Females lay 8 to 23 tiny eggs in an underground nest, and hatchlings emerge fully independent and capable of hunting and utilizing their frill. Their lifespan in the wild is unknown, but specimens in captivity have lived 20 years.

Flying Snake

Animal-Planet — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 02:21:03 CST

Type: Reptile

Diet: Carnivore

Size: Up to 4 ft (1.2 m)

Did you know? The paradise tree snake is one of the smaller flying snakes and the best glider. It’s been known to travel up to 330 feet (100 meters) in the air.

Size relative to a 6-ft (2-m)

The image of airborne snakes may seem like the stuff of nightmares (or a certain Hollywood movie), but in the jungles of South and Southeast Asia it is reality.

Flying snake is a misnomer, since, barring a strong updraft, these animals can’t actually gain altitude. They’re gliders, using the speed of free fall and contortions of their bodies to catch the air and generate lift.

Once thought to be more parachuters than gliders, recent scientific studies have revealed intricate details about how these limbless, tube-shaped creatures turn plummeting into piloting. To prepare for take-off, a flying snake will slither to the end of a branch, and dangle in a J shape. It propels itself from the branch with the lower half of its body, forms quickly into an S, and flattens to about twice its normal width, giving its normally round body a concave C shape which can trap air. By undulating back and forth, the snake can actually make turns. Flying snakes are technically better gliders than their more popular mammalian equivalents, the flying squirrels.

There are five recognized species of flying snake, found from western India to the Indonesian archipelago. Knowledge of their behavior in the wild is limited, but they are thought to be highly arboreal, rarely descending from the canopy. The smallest species reach about 2 feet (61 centimeters) in length and the largest grow to 4 feet (1.2 meters).

Their diets are variable depending on their range, but they are known to eat rodents, lizards, frogs, birds, and bats. They are mildly venomous snakes, but their tiny, fixed rear fangs make them harmless to humans.

Scientists don’t know how often or exactly why flying snakes fly, but it’s likely they use their aerobatics to escape predators, to move from tree to tree without having to descend to the forest floor, and possibly even to hunt prey.

One species, the twin-barred tree snake, is thought to be rare in its range, but flying snakes are otherwise quite abundant and have no special conservation status.

Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake

Animal-Planet — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 02:18:16 CST

Type: Reptile

Diet: Carnivore

Average lifespan in the wild: 10 to 20 years

Size: 5.5 ft (1.7 m)

Weight: 5 lbs (2.3 kg)

Did you know? Baby rattlers can actually be more dangerous than adults because they have less control over the amount of venom they inject.

Size relative to a 6ft (2m)

The eastern diamondback rattlesnake is the largest venomous snake in North America. Some reach 8 feet (2.4 meters) in length and weigh up to 10 pounds (4.5 kilograms).

These stout-bodied pit vipers generally live in the dry, pine flatwoods, sandy woodlands, and coastal scrub habitats from southern North Carolina to Florida and west to Louisiana. Their pattern of yellow-bordered, light-centered black diamonds makes them among the most strikingly adorned of all North American reptiles. They are natural exterminators, surviving on such household pests as rats and mice, as well as squirrels and birds.

Feared as deadly and aggressive, diamondbacks are actually highly averse to human contact and only attack in defense. Most bites occur when humans taunt or try to capture or kill a rattlesnake. They can accurately strike at up to one-third their body length.

Diamondback venom is a potent hemotoxin that kills red blood cells and causes tissue damage. Bites are extremely painful and can be fatal to humans. However, antivenin is widely available throughout the snake's range, and bites rarely result in death.

When cornered, rattlers feverishly shake their iconic tails as a last warning to back off. Rattles are made of loosely attached, hard, hollow segments. Snakes add a new rattle segment each time they shed. However, rattles break off frequently, and snakes may shed their skin several times a year, so it is not possible to determine a snake's age by its rattle size.

The eastern diamondback is not endangered, but because of indiscriminate killing, widespread loss of habitat, and hunting, its numbers are decreasing throughout its range.

Eastern Coral Snake

Animal-Planet — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 02:15:07 CST

Type: Reptile

Diet: Carnivore

Average lifespan in captivity: Up to 7 years

Size: 20 to 30 in (51 to 76 cm)

Group name: Bed or knot

Did you know? When threatened, a coral snake will curl the tip of its tail to confuse its attacker as to which end is its head.

Size relative to a 6-ft (2-m)

A bite from the notoriously venomous eastern coral snake at first seems anticlimactic. There is little or no pain or swelling at the site of the bite, and other symptoms can be delayed for 12 hours. However, if untreated by antivenin, the neurotoxin begins to disrupt the connections between the brain and the muscles, causing slurred speech, double vision, and muscular paralysis, eventually ending in respiratory or cardiac failure.

This iconic snake, with its bulbous head and red, yellow, and black bands, is famous as much for its potent venom as for the many rhymes—"Red and yellow, kill a fellow; red and black, friend of Jack"—penned to distinguish it from similarly patterned, nonvenomous copycats, such as the scarlet king snake.

Coral snakes are extremely reclusive and generally bite humans only when handled or stepped on. They must literally chew on their victim to inject their venom fully, so most bites to humans don't result in death. In fact, no deaths from coral snake bites have been reported in the U.S. since an antivenin was released in 1967.

Eastern coral snakes are relatives of the cobra, mamba, and sea snake. They live in the wooded, sandy, and marshy areas of the southeastern United States, and spend most of their lives burrowed underground or in leaf piles.

They eat lizards, frogs, and smaller snakes, including other coral snakes. Baby snakes emerge from their eggs 7 inches (17.8 centimetes) long and fully venomous. Adults reach about 2 feet (0.6 meters) in length. Average lifespan in the wild is unknown, but they can live up to seven years in captivity.

Burmese Python

Animal-Planet — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 02:12:56 CST

Type: Reptile

Diet: Carnivore

Average lifespan in the wild: 20 to 25 years

Size: 16 to 23 ft (5 to 7 m)

Weight: Up to 200 lbs (90 kg)

Did you know? “Baby,” an ironically named Burmese python living at the Serpent Safari Park in Illinois, is 27 feet (8.23 meters) long and holds the record as the world’s heaviest living snake at 403 pounds (183 kilograms).

Protection status: Threatened

Size relative to a 6ft (2m)

Burmese pythons, with their beautifully patterned skin, rapid growth rate, and generally docile disposition, may be best known as the large snake of choice among reptile owners. Unfortunately these potentially huge constrictors are often poorly cared for and are frequently released into the wild. Attacks on handlers, sometimes deadly, are not uncommon.

Native to the jungles and grassy marshes of Southeast Asia, Burmese pythons are among the largest snakes on Earth. They are capable of reaching 23 feet (7 meters) or more in length and weighing up to 200 pounds (90 kilograms) with a girth as big as a telephone pole. When young, they will spend much of their time in the trees. However, as they mature and their size and weight make tree climbing unwieldy, they transition to mainly ground-dwelling. They are also excellent swimmers, and can stay submerged for up to 30 minutes before surfacing for air.

Burmese pythons are carnivores, surviving primarily on small mammals and birds. They have poor eyesight, and stalk prey using chemical receptors in their tongues and heat-sensors along the jaws. They kill by constriction, grasping a victim with their sharp teeth, coiling their bodies around the animal, and squeezing until it suffocates. They have stretchy ligaments in their jaws that allow them to swallow all their food whole.

Burmese pythons are solitary animals and are generally only seen together during spring mating. Females lay clutches of up to 100 eggs, which they incubate for two to three months. To keep their eggs warm, they continually contract, or shiver, their muscles.

Habitat depletion, continued demand for Burmese pythons in the pet trade, and hunting for their skins and flesh have landed these graceful giants on the threatened species list.

Boa Constrictor

Animal-Planet — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 05:01:06 CST

Type: Reptile

Diet: Carnivore

Average lifespan in the wild: 20 to 30 years

Size: 13 ft (4 m)

Weight: 60 lbs (27 kg)

Group name: Bed or knot

Did you know? Some South Americans keep boas in their houses to control rat infestations.

Size relative to a 6-ft (2-m)

Boa constrictors wear some of the most distinctive markings of all reptiles. Depending on the habitat they are trying to blend into, their bodies can be tan, green, red, or yellow, and display cryptic patterns of jagged lines, ovals, diamonds, and circles.

Boas are nonpoisonous constrictors found in tropical Central and South America. Like their anaconda cousins, they are excellent swimmers, but prefer to stay on dry land, living primarily in hollow logs and abandoned mammal burrows.

Significantly smaller than anacondas, boas can grow up to 13 feet (4 meters) long and weigh more than 100 pounds (45 kilograms). Their jaws are lined with small, hooked teeth for grabbing and holding prey while they wrap their muscular bodies around their victim, squeezing until it suffocates. Boas will eat almost anything they can catch, including birds, monkeys, and wild pigs. Their jaws can stretch wide to swallow large prey whole.

Female boas incubate eggs inside their bodies and give birth up to 60 live babies. Boas are about 2 feet (0.6 meters) long when they are born and grow continually throughout their 25 to 30-year lifespan. The largest boa constrictor ever found measured 18 feet (5.5 meters).

Hunted for their fine, ornate skin and for sale in the exotic pet trade, some boa constrictors are endangered and most have protected status in their range.

Black Mamba

Animal-Planet — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 04:50:12 CST

Type: Reptile

Diet: Carnivore

Average lifespan in captivity: 11 years or more

Size: Up to 14 ft (4.3 m)

Weight: Up to 3.5 lbs (1.6 kg)

Did you know? Black mambas use their incredible speed to escape threats, not to hunt prey.

Size relative to a 6ft (2m)

Black mambas are fast, nervous, lethally venomous, and when threatened, highly aggressive. They have been blamed for numerous human deaths, and African myths exaggerate their capabilities to legendary proportions. For these reasons, the black mamba is widely considered the world’s deadliest snake.

Black mambas live in the savannas and rocky hills of southern and eastern Africa. They are Africa’s longest venomous snake, reaching up to 14 feet (4.5 meters) in length, although 8.2 feet (2.5 meters) is more the average. They are also among the fastest snakes in the world, slithering at speeds of up to 12.5 miles per hour (20 kilometers per hour).

They get their name not from their skin color, which tends to be olive to gray, but rather from the blue-black color of the inside of their mouth, which they display when threatened.

Black mambas are shy and will almost always seek to escape when confronted. However, when cornered, these snakes will raise their heads, sometimes with a third of their body off the ground, spread their cobra-like neck-flap, open their black mouths and hiss. If an attacker persists, the mamba will strike not once, but repeatedly, injecting large amounts of potent neuro- and cardiotoxin with each strike.

Before the advent of black mamba antivenin, a bite from this fearsome serpent was 100 percent fatal, usually within about 20 minutes. Unfortunately, antivenin is still not widely available in the rural parts of the mamba’s range, and mamba-related deaths remain frequent.

The black mamba has no special conservation status. However, encroachment on its territory is not only putting pressure on the species but contributes to more potentially dangerous human contact with these snakes.

Python

Animal-Planet — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 04:49:35 CST

Python is the common name for a group of non- venomous constricting snakes, specifically the family Pythonidae. Other sources consider this group a subfamily of the Boas (Pythoninae). Pythons are more related to boas than to any other snake-family. There is also a genus within Pythonidae which carries the name Python (Daudin, 1803). Pythons are distinguishable from boas in that they have teeth on the premaxilla, a small bone at the very front and center of the upper jaw. Most boas produce live young, while pythons produce eggs. Some species of sandboas (Ericinae) are also called python.

Pythons are found in Australia, Southeast Asia, India, and Africa.

Most pythons live in the dense underbrush of rugged tropical rainforest regions. They are excellent climbers; some species, like the Green Tree Python, are arboreal. Like all snakes, they are also capable swimmers.

Pythons range in size from 4.5 to 6 meters (15 to 20 feet) in length. They are among the longest species of snake in the world; according to the Guinness Book of World Records the Reticulated Python holds the record for longest snake, at 10m (32ft 9.5in).

Some species exhibit vestigial bones of the pelvis and rear legs, which are externally apparent in the form of a pair of anal spurs on each side of the cloaca. These spurs are larger in males than females, and are used by the male to stimulate the female during copulation. Pythons are distinguishable from boas in that they have teeth on the premaxilla, a small bone at the very front and center of the upper jaw.

Some pythons display vivid patterns on their scales while others are a nondescript brown. They usually reflect appropriate camouflage for their native habitat.

Pythons are constrictors, and feed on birds and mammals, killing them by squeezing them to death. They coil themselves up around their prey, tighten, but merely squeeze hard enough to stop the prey's breathing and/or blood circulation. Large pythons will usually eat something about the size of a house cat, but larger food items are not unknown. They swallow their prey whole, and take several days or even weeks to fully digest it. Despite their intimidating size and muscular power, they are generally not dangerous to humans. While a large adult python could kill a human being (most likely by strangling rather than actual crushing), humans are outside the normal size range for prey. Reports of python attacks on humans are extremely rare. Despite this, pythons have been aggressively hunted, driving some species (like the Indian Python) to the brink of extinction.

Most pythons have heat-sensing organs in their lips. These enable them to detect objects that are hotter than the surrounding environment. Pythons that do not have heat-sensing organs identify their prey by smell. Pythons are ambush predators: they typically stay in a camouflaged position and then suddenly strike at passing prey. They then grasp the prey in their teeth, and kill by constriction. Death is usually a result of suffocation or heart failure rather than crushing. Pythons will not usually attack humans unless startled or provoked, although females protecting their eggs can be aggressive.

Pythons lay eggs which they arrange in a pile. They coil around the pile until all eggs have hatched. Since pythons cannot regulate their internal body temperature, they cannot incubate their eggs per se; instead, they raise the temperature of their eggs by small movements of their body—essentially, they "shiver". This is one of only a few documented cases of parental behaviour in snakes. Dr. Steve Gorzula has noted in his CITES Ball Python Survey report that Ball Pythons do not exhibit shivering behavior to increase the temperature of a clutch during incubation.

Snakes

Animal-Planet — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 04:47:01 CST

There is no abstract available for this page revision.

Black

Animal-Planet — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 04:35:14 CST

Type: Reptile

Diet: Carnivore

Average lifespan in captivity: 11 years or more

Size: Up to 14 ft (4.3 m)

Weight: Up to 3.5 lbs (1.6 kg)

Did you know? Black mambas use their incredible speed to escape threats, not to hunt prey.

Size relative to a 6ft (2m)

Pytho

Animal-Planet — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 04:34:44 CST

Pythons are found in Australia, Southeast Asia, India, and Africa.

Some pythons display vivid patterns on their scales while others are a nondescript brown. They usually reflect appropriate camouflage for their native habitat.

American Crocodile

Animal-Planet — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 22:09:11 CST

Type: Reptile

Diet: Carnivore

Average lifespan in the wild: Up to 70 years

Size: Up to 15 ft (4.6 m)

Weight: Up to 2,000 lbs (907 kg)

Group name: Bask (on land) or float (in water)

Did you know? One of the largest known populations of American crocodiles is in the Dominican Republic's Lago Enriquillo, a landlocked, hypersaline lake located about 131 feet (40 meters) below sea level.

Protection status: Endangered

Size relative to a 6ft (2m)

The American crocodile is considered an endangered species in nearly all parts of its North, Central, and South American range. Survey data, except in the United States, is poor or nonexistent, but conservationists agree that illegal hunting and habitat depletion has reduced populations of this wide-ranging reptile to critical levels.

A small, remnant population lives in southern Florida, but most are found in southern Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and northern South America. Their habitat of choice is the fresh or brackish water of river estuaries, coastal lagoons, and mangrove swamps.

A prehistoric-looking creature, it is distinguishable from its cousin, the American alligator, by its longer, thinner snout, its lighter color, and two long teeth on the lower jaw that are visible when its mouth is closed.

This species is among the largest of the world's crocodiles, with Central and South American males reaching lengths of up to 20 feet (6.1 meters). Males in the U.S. population rarely exceed 13 feet (4 meters), however.

Their diet consists mainly of small mammals, birds, fish, crabs, insects, snails, frogs, and occasionally carrion. They have been known to attack people, but are far more likely to flee at the sight of humans.

Most countries in the American crocodile's range have passed protection laws, but unfortunately, few governments provide adequate enforcement.

American Alligator

Animal-Planet — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 22:05:57 CST

Type: Reptile

Diet: Carnivore

Average lifespan in the wild: 35 to 50 years

Size: 10 to 15 ft (3 to 4.6 m)

Weight: 1,000 lbs (453 kg)

Group name: Congregation

Did you know? The largest American alligator ever reported was supposedly 19.8 feet (6 meters) long, although there are doubts about the claim.

Protection status: Recovered

Size relative to a 6-ft (2-m)

The American alligator is a rare success story of an endangered animal not only saved from extinction but now thriving. State and federal protections, habitat preservation efforts, and reduced demand for alligator products have improved the species' wild population to more than one million and growing today.

One look at these menacing predators—with their armored, lizard-like bodies, muscular tails, and powerful jaws—and it is obvious they are envoys from the distant past. The species, scientists say, is more than 150 million years old, managing to avoid extinction 65 million years ago when their prehistoric contemporaries, the dinosaurs, died off.

American alligators reside nearly exclusively in the freshwater rivers, lakes, swamps, and marshes of the southeastern United States, primarily Florida and Louisiana.

Heavy and ungainly out of water, these reptiles are supremely well adapted swimmers. Males average 10 to 15 feet (3 to 4.6 meters) in length and can weigh 1,000 pounds (453 kg). Females grow to a maximum of about 9.8 feet (3 meters.)

Hatchlings are 6 to 8 inches (15 to 20 centimeters) long with yellow and black stripes. Juveniles, which are on the menu for dozens of predators, including birds, raccoons, bobcats, and even other alligators, usually stay with their mothers for about two years.

Adult alligators are apex predators critical to the biodiversity of their habitat. They feed mainly on fish, turtles, snakes, and small mammals. However, they are opportunists, and a hungry gator will eat just about anything, including carrion, pets and, in rare instances, humans.