GORILLA’S There are roughly 700 mountain gorillas remaining on Earth, and nearly half live in the forests of the Virunga mountains in central Africa. These gorillas live on the green, volcanic slopes of Rwanda, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo—areas that have seen much human violence from which the gorillas have not escaped unscathed.

Many conservation initiatives are meant to aid mountain gorillas, and it is believed that their numbers may be steady or slowly increasing. Still they continue to face major threats from habitat loss and poaching.

Mountain gorillas have longer hair and shorter arms than their lowland cousins. They also tend to be a bit larger than other gorillas. http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/

animals/mammals/mountain-gorilla

Hippo http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/sciencefacts/animals/hippopotamus.html •Hippopotamuses are found in Africa.

•The name hippopotamus means ‘river horse’ and is often shortened to hippo.

•The hippopotamus is generally considered the third largest land mammal (after the White rhinoceros and elephant).

•Hippopotamuses spend a large amount of time in water such as rivers, lakes and swamps.

•Resting in water helps keep hippopotamuses temperature down.

•Hippopotamuses give birth in water.

•Hippopotamuses have short legs, a huge mouth and a body shaped like a barrel.

•The closest relations of the hippopotamus are surprisingly cetaceans such as whales and dolphins.

•Scientists believe this family of animals diverged in evolution around 55 million years ago.

•Although hippos might look a little chubby, they can easily outrun a human.

•Hippos can be extremely aggressive, especially if they feel threatened.

•They are regarded as one of the most dangerous animals in Africa

Jaguar http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/ani

mals/mammals/jaguar/

Jaguars are the largest of South America's big cats. They once roamed from the southern tip of that continent north to the region surrounding the U.S.-Mexico border. Today significant numbers of jaguars are found only in remote regions of South and Central America—particularly in the Amazon basin.

Kangaroo http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/

animals/creaturefeature/kangaroos/

Kangaroos possess powerful hind legs, a long, strong tail, and small front legs. They’re the biggest of all marsupials, standing over 6 feet (2 meters) tall.

Zebra http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mam

mals/zebra/

No animal has a more distinctive coat than the zebra. Each animal's stripes are as unique as fingerprints—no two are exactly alike—although each of the three species has its own general pattern.

Why do zebras have stripes at all? Scientists aren't sure, but many theories center on their utility as some form of camouflage. The patterns may make it difficult for predators to identify a single animal from a running herd and distort distance at dawn and dusk.

tarantulas http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/ani

mals/bugs/tarantula/

Tarantulas give some people the creeps because of their large, hairy bodies and legs. But these spiders are harmless to humans (except for a painful bite), and their mild venom is weaker than a typical bee's. Among arachnid enthusiasts, these spiders have become popular pets.

Camels http://

www.ftexploring.com/animals/camels/factscamel.html

Camels are in the family camelidae along with the alpaca, guanaco, llama, and vicuña. The two species of Camel are the one-humped Dromedary of western Asia and the two-humped Bactrian of central and eastern Asia.

Falcons http://

www.defenders.org/peregrine-falcon/basic-facts The Peregrine Falcon is a raptor, or bird of prey.

Adults have blue-gray wings, dark brown backs, a buff colored underside with brown spots, and white faces with a black tear stripe on their cheeks. They have a hooked beaks and strong talons. Their name comes from the Latin word peregrinus, which means "to wander." They are commonly referred to as the Duck Hawk. Peregrine falcons are the fastest-flying birds in the world – they are able to dive at 200 miles per hour

Elephants www.outtoafrica.nl/animals/engelephant.ht

ml The African elephant and the Asian

elephant are the only two surviving species of what was in prehistoric times a diverse and populous group of large mammals. Fossil records suggest that the elephant has some unlikely distant relatives, namely the small, rodentlike hyrax and the ungainly aquatic dugong. They all are thought to have evolved from a common stock .

Sea Lions www.sealion-world.com There are actually seven species of Sea Lions in the world, but people

tend to lump them all into one category. They all belong to a group of animals known as pinnipeds.

Sea Lions are very interesting animals that can end up being extremely large. The males are much bigger than the females which helps them to gain the ability to mate with them because the females will look for the largest males out there to be with.

Sea Lions are found in bodies of water all over the world, but not in the Atlantic Ocean. Many researchers find this to be a very interesting fact. Yet they can’t pinpoint reasons why this is the case. The temperatures are compatible with where some Sea Lions live. There is also plenty of the food that they consume found there.

Lions