Sheep with Big horn - Bighorn sheep

Hi,   since after long time we meet again, today we will see a ship which may give you a head butt with his big horn yes we are going to see Big Horn Sheep.

                                                 Classification

Kingdom:        Animalia                                             Phylum:           Chordata

Class:             Mammalia                                           Order:            Artiodactyla

Family:           Bovidae                                              Subfamily:     Caprinae

            Genus: Ovis

Bighorn Sheep are the symbol of Rocky Mountain National Park. Bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) are one of two species of mountain sheep in North America. They range in color from light brown to grayish or dark brown, and have a white rump and lining on the backs of all four legs. Bighorn sheep get their name from the large, curved horns on the males, or rams. They are legendary for their ability to climb high, steep, rocky mountain areas.

The bighorn sheep is a species of sheep native to North America named for its large horns.

These horns can weigh up to 14 kg (30 lb), while the sheep themselves weigh up to 140 kg (300 lb). Recent genetic testing indicates three distinct subspecies of Ovis canadensis, one of which is endangered: O. c. sierrae. Sheep originally crossed to North America over the Bering land bridge from Siberia; the population in North America peaked in the millions, and the bighorn sheep entered into the mythology of Native Americans. By 1900, the population had crashed to several thousand, due to diseases introduced through European livestock and overhunting. Ovis canadensis is one of three species of mountain sheep in North America and Siberia; the other two species being O. dalli, which includes Dall sheep and Stone's sheep and the Siberian snow sheep, O. nivicola. Wild sheep crossed the Bering land bridge from Siberia into Alaska during the Pleistocene (about 750,000 years ago) and subsequently spread through western North America as far south as Baja California and northwestern mainland Mexico.

Bighorn sheep are named for the large, curved horns borne by the rams (males). Ewes (females) also have horns, but they are shorter with less curvature. They range in color from light brown to grayish or dark, chocolate brown, with a white rump and lining on the backs of all four legs. Males typically weight 58–143 kg, are 90–105 cm tall at the shoulder, and 1.6–1.85 m long from the nose to the tail. Females are typically 34–91 kg, 75–90 cm tall, and 1.28–1.58 m long. Male bighorn sheep have large horn cores, enlarged cornual and frontal sinuses, and internal bony septa. These adaptations serve to protect the brain by absorbing the impact of clashes.

Bighorn sheep have preorbital glands on the anterior corner of each eye, inguinal glands in the groin, and pedal glands on each foot. Secretions from these glands may support dominance behaviors. Mating occurs in the fall when rams use their horns as weapons of battle to fight for dominance or female mating rights. In this display called "rut," rams face each other, rear up on hind legs and pitch forward at speeds up to 40 mph. The loud crash of horns signals contact and can be heard up to one mile away. This ritual is repeated until one animal concedes and walks away. Bighorn sheep skulls are thick and bony to absorb this repeated impact with little physical injury to the ram.

The Rocky Mountains and Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep occupy the cooler mountainous regions of Canada and the United States. In contrast, the desert bighorn sheep subspecies are indigenous to the hot desert ecosystems of the Southwestern United States and Mexico. Bighorn sheep generally inhabit alpine meadows, grassy mountain slopes, and foothill country near rugged, rocky cliffs and bluffs. Since bighorn sheep cannot move though deep snow, they prefer drier slopes, where the annual snowfall is less than about 150 cm per year. A bighorn's winter range usually lies at lower elevations than its summer range.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century, there were between 1.5 million to two million bighorn sheep in North America. Today, there are less than 70,000.

Bighorn sheep eat different foods depending on the season. During the summer, they subsist on grasses or sedges. During the winter they eat more woody plants, such as willow, sage and rabbit brush. Desert bighorn sheep eat brushy plants such as desert holly and desert cactus.

Slow Loris - Cute Slow Dangerous

Hey guys i hope last blog quite interesting to but now we are going to know a very cute but slow and very dangerous and also a rare animal Slow Loris. 

Let’s know about a animal that is different AND extraordinary:

Classification-:

Kingdom:      Animalia                                 Phylum:        Chordata

Class: Mammalia                                        Order:         Primates

Suborder:    Strepsirrhini                         Family:         Lorisidae

Subfamily:   Lorinae                                  Genus:         Nycticebus

Size of the loris depends on the species. Bornean slow loris is the smallest species; it weighs only 9 to 11 ounces. The Bengal slow loris is the largest species; it weights between 2.2 and 4.6 pounds and reaches length between 10 and 15 inches .Slow lorises are a group of several species of nocturnal strepsirrhine primates that make up the genus Nycticebus. Found in Southeast Asia and bordering areas, they range from Bangladesh and Northeast India in the west to the Sulu Archipelago in the Philippines in the east, and from Yunnan province in China in the north to the island of Java in the south.

Slow lorises have a round head, a narrow snout, large eyes, and a variety of distinctive coloration patterns that are species-dependent. Their arms and legs are nearly equal in length, and their trunk is long and flexible, allowing them to twist and extend to nearby branches. 

The hands and feet of slow lorises have several adaptations that give them a pincer-like grip and enable them to grasp branches for long periods of time.

Slow lorises have a toxic bite, a trait rare among mammals and unique to lorisid primates. 

The toxin is obtained by licking a gland on their arm, and the secretion is activated by mixing with saliva. Their toxic bite is a deterrent to predators, and the toxin is also applied to the fur during grooming as a form of protection for their infants. The secretion from the arm contains a chemical related to cat allergen, but may be augmented by secondary toxins from the diet in wild individuals.

 Slow lorises move slowly and deliberately, making little or no noise, and when threatened, they stop moving and remain motionless. 

Their only documented predators—apart from humans—include snakes, changeable hawk-eagles and orangutans, although cats, civets and sun bears are suspected. Little is known about their social structure, but they are known to communicate by scent marking. Males are highly territorial. Slow lorises reproduce slowly, and the infants are initially parked on branches or carried by either parent.

 They are omnivores, eating small animals, fruit, tree gum, and other vegetation. Slow lorises have one of the slowest primate life histories; six months pregnancy for these pint-sized primates produces babies the weight of a handful of paperclips (less than 50 g). 

They can live to be 25 years old. The slow loris has a reduced second finger for gripping and one of the longest tongues of all the primates, which they use to drink nectar.Although the slow loris is a small mammal, their home ranges can be the size of 35 football pitches

The slow loris is endangered due to both habitat loss and hunting for illegal pet and traditional medicine trades. In some parts of Asia it is known as the animal which can cure 100 diseases. Slow lorises are in serious danger of extinction, with the biggest threat to survival being the illegal trade in wildlife. Having a slow loris as a pet encourages the trade and therefore pushes these extraordinary animals closer to extinction.

Each of the slow loris species that had been identified prior to 2012 are currently listed as either "Vulnerable" or "Endangered" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) on their Red List. When they were all considered a single species, imprecise population data together with their regular occurrence in Southeast Asian animal markets combined to erroneously suggest that slow lorises were common. 

This manifested as incorrect Red List assessments of ‘Least Concern’ as recently as 2000.The three newest species are yet to be evaluated by the IUCN, although each were once thought to be subpopulations of the Bornean slow loris—which was evaluated as "Vulnerable" in 2008. With this division of its range and population, the Bornean slow loris and the three new species face a higher risk of extinction than before.

Since 2007, all slow loris species have been protected from commercial international trade under Appendix I of CITES. Furthermore, local trade is illegal because every nation in which they occur naturally has laws protecting them. Despite their CITES Appendix I status and local legal protection, slow lorises are still threatened by both local and international trade due to problems with enforcement. Surveys are needed to determine existing population densities and habitat viability for all species of slow loris. Connectivity between protected areas is important for slow lorises because they are not adapted to dispersing across the ground over large distances.

A FLOWER WHICH BLOOMS ONE’S IN 3000 YEARS

      A FLOWER WHICH BLOOMS ONE’S IN 3000 YEARS 

The Udumbara flower is said in Buddhist legend to bloom only once every 3,000 years, the last time being before the birth of Buddha.

The Udumbara words come from Pali, Sanskrit language.  Refers to the tree, flower and fruit of the “Ficus racemosa”.  It is also mentioned in Vedic texts as the source of wood for rituals and amulets.

According to Bhikkhu Bodhi, Vedic sacrifices used uḍumbara wood for many different ritual purposes such as a ladle and post, as well as amulets made of uḍumbara wood are mentioned in Vedic texts. Spotted again across the world in the past 20 years or so, some say the udumbara could herald the coming of a great sage or enlightened being.

The flower is last said to have bloomed before the birth of Buddha in 623 BC and has not been seen since then until relatively recently. It was spotted in South Korea in 1997 when it appeared on a statue of Buddha and since then there have been a number of other sightings of this rare and mysterious flower. In 2010, Chinese state-run media reported sightings of the flower, which it called ‘celestial.’ All such articles were removed shortly after they were published by the atheist regime, but by then they had spread across the Internet.

The story was picked up by The Telegraph in the UK which reported that the flower had been found in the home of Chinese nun Miao Wei, 50, who discovered the cluster of white flowers under her washing machine while cleaning. At first she thought the stems were worm eggs until the next day when she noted that they had grown 18 white tiny flowers on top and smelled “fragrant.”

Other sightings have been made by a Chinese farmer who spotted a cluster of 38 of the flowers growing on a steel pipe in his garden.

It was also seen at Chonggye-sa Temple in Seoul where the flower blossomed on a statue of Buddha.

Guys isn’t it great a flowers blooms ones in 3000 years, only the lucky one can see it……!!!

We will meet in next blog with new unique subject ……..!!!