# data[].attributes.body
Domain:Eukaryota

Kingdom:Animalia

Phylum:Chordata

Class:Mammalia

Order:Eulipotyphla

Family:Erinaceidae

Subfamily:Erinaceinae

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Domain: Eukaryota

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Reptilia

Order: Squamata

Suborder: Serpentes

Family: Boidae

Subfamily: Boinae

Genus: Eunectes

Oh my gosh, ______________😏

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Scientific Name: Canis lupus

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Mammalia

Order: Carnivora

Family: Canidae

Genus: Canis

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Crocuta crocuta

Domain: Eukaryote

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Hyaenidae
Genus: Crocuta
Species: Crocuta crocuta

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Scientific classification

Domain:Eukaryota

Kingdom:Animalia

Phylum:Chordata

Class:Mammalia

Order:Rodentia

Family:Caviidae

Genus:Hydrochoerus

Species:hydrochaeris

Binomial name

Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris

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Lagenaria siceraria

Kingdom: Plantae

Clade: Tracheophytes

Clade: Angiosperms

Clade: Eudicots

Clade: Rosids

Order: Cucurbitales

Family: Cucurbitaceae

Genus: Lagenaria

Species: L. siceraria

# data[].attributes.body
| Domain: | Eukaryota
| Kingdom: | Animalia
| Phylum: | Chordata
| Class: | Aves
| Order: | Sphenisciformes
| Family: | Spheniscidae
| Genus: | Aptenodytes
| Species: | A. forsteri

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Peregrine falcons are the fastest animals on the planet - even faster than cheetahs. Peregrine falcons circle the skies, searching for prey; when the spot prey, like pigeons, they tuck in their wings and plummet head first towards the ground. They can top speeds of 200 mph (321 kmph).

Domain: Eukaryote
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Falconiformes
Family: Falconidae
Genus: Falco
Species: peregrinus

# data[].attributes.body
Every organism is given a name composed
of:
it’s Genus (with a capital letter) and
its species (without a capital letter)

e.g. Pacific Salmon:

1. Domain: Eukarya

2. Kingdom: Animalia

3. Phylum: Chordata

4. Class: Actinopterygii

5. Order: Salmoniformes

6. Family: Salmonidae

7. Genus: Oncorhynchus

8. Species: nerka

Oncorhynchus comes from the Greek ὄγκος (onkos) meaning "barb", and ῥύγχος (rhynchos) meaning "snout". Nerka is the Russian name for the anadromous form.

# data[].attributes.body
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Ophidiiformes
Family: Ophidiidae
Genus: Acanthonus
Species: A. Armatus

The only member of its genus, Acanthonus, the bony-eared assfish is a cusk-eel that lives by the sea floor in depths of 1,171 to 4,415 metres.

# data[].attributes.body
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Poales
Family: Poaceae
There are 5 different clades that fall under "bamboo."

It's considered as the most privative grass

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
bamboo, (subfamily Bambusoideae), subfamily of tall treelike grasses of the family Poaceae, comprising more than 115 genera and 1,400 species. Bamboos are distributed in tropical and subtropical to mild temperate regions, with the heaviest concentration and largest number of species in East and So…

# data[].attributes.body
Genus: Nyctereutes
Species: Canid

Hana E.

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The boa constrictor (scientific name also Boa constrictor), also known as the red-tailed boa, is a species of large, non-venomous, heavy-bodied snake that is frequently kept and bred in captivity.[5][6] The boa constrictor is a member of the family Boidae. The species is native to tropical South America.

# data[].attributes.body
Kingdom: Animalia - eukaryotic organisms, multicellular, and heterotrophic
Phylum: Chordata - vertebrate
Class: Mammalia - milk production, fur/hair, three middle ear bones, neocortex
Order: Cetartiodactyla - the merging of the two orders Cetacea for large sea creatures and Artiodactyla for even-toed because the whale's ancestors were considered to be very similar to even-toed herbivores
Family: Eschrichtiidae - the grey whale is the only existing member in this family
Genus: Eschrichtius - only comprised of the grey whale as well as the extinct Akishima whale with its name honouring zoologist Daniel Eschricht
Species: robustus - strongly built, robust

# data[].attributes.body
Scientific name: Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris
Genus = Hydrochoerus
Species = hydrochaeris

Height: 50 – 62 cm (Adult, At the withers)

Trophic level: Herbivorous Encyclopedia of Life

Mass: 35 – 66 kg (Adult)

Family: Caviidae

Kingdom: Animalia

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Siberian Tiger

# data[].attributes.body
Domain: Eukaryotic
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Chondrichthyes
Order: Lamniformes
Family: Lamnidae
Genus: Carcharodon
Species: C.charias

Fact: The Great whites family Lamnidae, comprising of a family of sharks called Mackerel sharks, came from the greek   word "Fish of prey." This is based on how their overall shape and physiological distinctions compared to other sharks, which consists of a fast moving;muscular body, short to mid sized fins, pointed snouts, and most distinctive of all- their warm blooded nature due to advance blood vessels and a strong  heart that pumps oxygenated rich blood that keeps the animals muscles not only hyperactive, but ensures its overall body temperature is at least 30 degrees warmer than the surrounding water temperature. This adaptation has allowed the shark to swim in much colder waters of both Mossel bay in South Africa along with the Atlantic waters in North America, in which the shark stalks colonies of seals-its main source of food.

# data[].attributes.body
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Chondrichthyes
Order:
Orectolobiformes
Family:
Rhincodontidae
Genus:
Rhincodon
Species:
R. typus

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The whale shark (Rhincodon typus) is a slow-moving, filter-feeding carpet shark and the largest known extant fish species. The largest confirmed individual had a length of 18.8 m (61.7 ft). The whale shark holds many records for size in the animal kingdom, most notably being by far the largest living nonmammalian vertebrate. It is the sole member of the genus and the only extant member of the family Rhincodontidae, which belongs to the subclass Elasmobranchii in the class Chondrichthyes. Before 1984 it was classified as Rhiniodon into Rhinodontidae.

The whale shark is found in open waters of the tropical oceans and is rarely found in water below 21 °C (70 °F). Studies looking at vertebral growth bands and the growth rates of free-swimming sharks have estimated whale shark lifespans at 80-130 years. Whale sharks have very large mouths and are filter feeders, which is a feeding mode that occurs in only two other sharks, the megamouth shark and the basking shark. They feed almost exclusively on plankton and small fishes and pose no threat to humans.

The species was distinguished in April 1828 after the harpooning of a 4.6 m (15 ft) specimen in Table Bay, South Africa. Andrew Smith, a military doctor associated with British troops stationed in Cape Town, described it the following year. The name "whale shark" refers to the fish's size: it is as large as some species of whale. In addition, its filter feeding habits are not unlike those of baleen whales.

Description

Whale sharks possess a broad, flattened head with a large mouth and two small eyes located at the front corners. Unlike many other sharks, whale shark mouths are located at the front of the head rather than on the underside of the head. A 12.1 m (39.7 ft) whale shark was reported to have a mouth 1.55 m (5.1 ft) across. Whale shark mouths can contain over 300 rows of tiny teeth and 20 filter pads which it uses to filter feed. The spiracles are located just behind the eyes. Whale sharks have five large pairs of gills. Their skin is dark grey with a white belly marked with an arrangement of pale grey or white spots and stripes that is unique to each individual. The skin can be up to 15 cm (5.9 in) thick and is very hard and rough to the touch. The whale shark has three prominent ridges along its sides, which start above and behind the head and end at the caudal peduncle. The shark has two dorsal fins set relatively far back on the body, a pair of pectoral fins, a pair of pelvic fins and a single medial anal fin. The caudal fin has a larger upper lobe than the lower lobe ( heterocercal).

Evidence suggests that whale sharks can recover from major injuries and may be able to regenerate small sections of their fins. Their spot markings have also been shown to reform over a previously wounded area.

The complete and annotated genome of the whale shark was published in 2017.

Whale sharks have mutations at sites that in humans cause congenital stationary night blindness. These mutations make the whale shark's rhodopsin unstable in shallow water where the temperature is higher and the full spectrum of light is present as otherwise the pigment would hinder full color vision. The rhodopsin is stable, however, in the colder environment at 2,000 meters below the surface where the shark dives and only blue light reaches. The mutations thus allow the shark to see well at both ends of its great vertical range.

The whale shark is the largest non- cetacean animal in the world. Evidence suggests that whale sharks exhibit sexual dimorphism with regards to size, with females growing larger than males. A 2020 study looked at the growth of whale shark individuals over a 10-year period. It concluded that males on average reach 8 to 9 meters (26 to 30 ft) in length. The same study predicted females to reach a length of around 14.5 m (48 ft) on average, based on more limited data. However, these are averages and do not represent the maximum possible sizes. Previous studies estimating the growth and longevity of whale sharks have produced estimates ranging from 14 to 21.9 meters (46 to 72 ft) in length. Limited evidence, mostly from males, suggests that sexual maturity occurs around 8 to 9 meters (26 to 30 ft) in length, with females possibly maturing at a similar size or larger. The maximum length of the species is uncertain due to a lack of detailed documentation of the largest reported individuals. Several whale sharks around 18 m (59 ft) in length have been reported.

Large whale sharks are difficult to measure accurately, both on the land and in the water. When on land, the total length measurement can be affected by how the tail is positioned, either angled as it would be in life or stretched as far as possible. Historically, techniques such as comparisons to objects of known size and knotted ropes have been used for in-water measurements, but these techniques may be inaccurate. In 2011, laser photogrammetry was proposed to improve the accuracy of in-water measurements.

Reports of large individuals

Since the 1800s, there have been accounts of very large whale sharks. Some of these are as follows:

In 1868, the Irish natural scientist Edward Perceval Wright obtained several small whale shark specimens in the Seychelles. Wright was informed of one whale shark that was measured as exceeding 45 ft (14 m). Wright claimed to have observed specimens over 50 ft (15 m) and was told of specimens upwards of 70 ft (21 m).

Hugh M. Smith described a huge animal caught in a bamboo fish trap in Thailand in 1919. The shark was too heavy to pull ashore, and no measurements were taken. Smith learned through independent sources that it was at least 10 wa (a Thai unit of length measuring between a person's outstretched arms). Smith noted that one wa could be interpreted as either 2 m (6.6 ft) or the approximate average of 1.7 to 1.8 m (5.6-5.9 ft), based on the local fishermen. Later sources have stated this whale shark as approximately 18 m (59 ft), but the accuracy of the estimate has been questioned.

In 1934, a ship named the Maunganui came across a whale shark in the southern Pacific Ocean and rammed it. The shark became stuck on the prow of the ship, supposedly with 15 ft (4.6 m) on one side and 40 ft (12.2 m) on the other, suggesting a total length of about 55 ft (17 m).

Scott A. Eckert & Brent S. Stewart reported on satellite tracking of whale sharks from between 1994 and 1996. Out of the 15 individuals tracked, two females were reported as measuring 15 m (49 ft) and 18 m (59 ft) respectively. A 20.75 m (68.1 ft) long whale shark was reported as being stranded along the Ratnagiri coast in 1995. A female individual with a standard length of 15 m (49.2 ft) and an estimated total length at 18.8 m (61.7 ft) was reported from the Arabian Sea in 2001. In a 2015 study looking into the size of marine megafauna, McClain and colleagues considered this female as being the most reliable and accurately measured.

On 7 February 2012, a large whale shark was found floating 150 kilometres (93 mi) off the coast of Karachi, Pakistan. The length of the specimen was said to be between 11 and 12 m (36 and 39 ft), with a weight of around 15,000 kg (33,000 lb).

Distribution and habitat

The whale shark inhabits all tropical and warm-temperate seas. The fish is primarily pelagic, and can be found in both coastal and oceanic habitats. Tracking devices have shown that the whale shark displays dynamic patterns of habitat utilization, likely in response to availability of prey. Whale sharks observed off the northeast Yucatan Peninsula tend to engage in inshore surface swimming between sunrise and mid-afternoon, followed by regular vertical oscillations in oceanic waters during the afternoon and overnight. About 95% of the oscillating period was spent in epipelagic depths (<200 metres (660 ft)), but whale sharks also took regular deep dives (>500 metres (1,600 ft)), often descending in brief "stutter steps", perhaps for foraging. The deepest recorded dive was 1,928 metres (6,325 ft), making the whale shark the deepest diving fish to be recorded. Whale sharks were also observed to remain continuously at depths of greater than 50 metres (160 ft) for three days or more.

The whale shark is migratory and has two distinct subpopulations: an Atlantic subpopulation, from Maine and the Azores to Cape Agulhas, South Africa, and an Indo-Pacific subpopulation which holds 75% of the entire whale shark population. It usually roams between 30°N and 35°S where water temperatures are higher than 21 °C (70 °F) but have been spotted as far north as the Bay of Fundy, Canada and the Sea of Okhotsk north of Japan and as far south as Victoria, Australia.

Seasonal feeding aggregations occur at several coastal sites such as the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia, Darwin Island in the Galápagos, Quintana Roo in Mexico, Mafia Island of Pwani Region in Tanzania, Inhambane province in Mozambique, the Philippines, around Mahe in the Seychelles, the Gujarat and Kerala coasts of India, Taiwan, southern China and Qatar.

Growth and reproduction

Growth, longevity, and reproduction of the whale shark are poorly understood. There was uncertainty as to whether vertebrae growth bands are formed annually or biannually, which is important in determining the age, growth, and longevity of whale sharks. A 2020 study compared the ratio of Carbon-14 isotopes found in growth bands of whale shark vertebrae to nuclear testing events in the 1950-60s, finding that growth bands are laid down annually. The study found an age of 50 years for a 10 m (33 ft) female and 35 years for a 9.9m male. Various studies looking at vertebrae growth bands and measuring whale sharks in the wild have estimated their lifespans from ~80 years and up to ~130 years.

Evidence suggests that males grow faster than females in the earlier stages of life but ultimately reach a smaller maximum size. Whale sharks exhibit late sexual maturity. One study looking at free-swimming whale sharks estimated the age at maturity in males at ~25 years.

Pupping of whale sharks has not been observed, but mating has been witnessed twice in St Helena. Mating in this species was filmed for the first time in whale sharks off Ningaloo Reef via airplane in Australia in 2019, when a larger male unsuccessfully attempted to mate with a smaller, immature female.

The capture of a ~10.6 m (35 ft) female in July 1996 that was pregnant with ~300 pups indicated that whale sharks are ovoviviparous. The eggs remain in the body and the females give birth to live young which are 40 to 60 cm (16 to 24 in) long. Evidence indicates the pups are not all born at once, but rather the female retains sperm from one mating and produces a steady stream of pups over a prolonged period.

In a report from Rappler last August 2019, whale sharks were sighted during WWF Philippines' photo identification activities in the first half of the year. There were a total 168 sightings - 64 of them "re-sightings" or reappearances of previously recorded whale sharks. WWF noted that "very young whale shark juveniles" were identified among the 168 individuals spotted in the first half of 2019. Their presence suggests that the Ticao Pass may be a pupping ground for whale sharks, further increasing the ecological significance of the area.

The whale shark is a filter feeder - one of only three known filter-feeding shark species (along with the basking shark and the megamouth shark). It feeds on plankton including copepods, krill, fish eggs, Christmas Island red crab larvae and small nektonic life, such as small squid or fish. It also feeds on clouds of eggs during mass spawning of fish and corals. The many rows of vestigial teeth play no role in feeding. Feeding occurs either by ram filtration, in which the animal opens its mouth and swims forward, pushing water and food into the mouth, or by active suction feeding, in which the animal opens and closes its mouth, sucking in volumes of water that are then expelled through the gills. In both cases, the filter pads serve to separate food from water. These unique, black sieve-like structures are presumed to be modified gill rakers. Food separation in whale sharks is by cross-flow filtration, in which the water travels nearly parallel to the filter pad surface, not perpendicularly through it, before passing to the outside, while denser food particles continue to the back of the throat. This is an extremely efficient filtration method that minimizes fouling of the filter pad surface. Whale sharks have been observed "coughing", presumably to clear a build-up of particles from the filter pads. Whale sharks migrate to feed and possibly to breed.

The whale shark is an active feeder, targeting concentrations of plankton or fish. It is able to ram filter feed or can gulp in a stationary position. This is in contrast to the passive feeding basking shark, which does not pump water. Instead, it swims to force water across its gills.

A juvenile whale shark is estimated to eat 21 kg (46 pounds) of plankton per day.

The BBC program Planet Earth filmed a whale shark feeding on a school of small fish. The same documentary showed footage of a whale shark timing its arrival to coincide with the mass spawning of fish shoals and feeding on the resultant clouds of eggs and sperm.

Whale sharks are known to prey on a range of planktonic and small nektonic organisms that are spatiotemporally patchy. These include krill, crab larvae, jellyfish, sardines, anchovies, mackerels, small tunas, and squid. In ram filter feeding, the fish swims forward at constant speed with its mouth fully open, straining prey particles from the water by forward propulsion. This is also called 'passive feeding', which usually occurs when prey is present at low density.

Due their mode of feeding, whale sharks are susceptible to the ingestion of microplastics. As such, the presence of microplastics in whale shark scat was recently confirmed.

Relationship with humans

Behavior toward divers

Despite its size, the whale shark does not pose any danger to humans. Whale sharks are docile fish and sometimes allow swimmers to catch a ride, although this practice is discouraged by shark scientists and conservationists because of the disturbance to the sharks. Younger whale sharks are gentle and can play with divers. Underwater photographers such as Fiona Ayerst have photographed them swimming close to humans without any danger.

The shark is seen by divers in many places, including the Bay Islands in Honduras, Thailand, Indonesia ( Bone Bolango, Cendrawasih Bay), the Philippines, the Maldives close to Maamigili (South Ari Atoll), the Red Sea, Western Australia ( Ningaloo Reef, Christmas Island), Taiwan, Panama ( Coiba Island), Belize, Tofo Beach in Mozambique, Sodwana Bay ( Greater St. Lucia Wetland Park) in South Africa, the Galapagos Islands, Saint Helena, Isla Mujeres ( Caribbean Sea), La Paz, Baja California Sur and Bahía de los Ángeles in Mexico, the Seychelles, West Malaysia, islands off eastern peninsular Malaysia, India, Sri Lanka, Oman, Fujairah, Puerto Rico, and other parts of the Caribbean. Juveniles can be found near the shore in the Gulf of Tadjoura, near Djibouti, in the Horn of Africa.

Conservation status

There is currently no robust estimate of the global whale shark population. The species is considered endangered by the IUCN due to the impacts of fisheries, by-catch losses, and vessel strikes, combined with its long lifespan and late maturation. In June 2018 the New Zealand Department of Conservation classified the whale shark as "Migrant" with the qualifier "Secure Overseas" under the New Zealand Threat Classification System.

It is listed, along with six other species of sharks, under the CMS Memorandum of Understanding on the Conservation of Migratory Sharks. In 1998, the Philippines banned all fishing, selling, importing, and exporting of whale sharks for commercial purposes, followed by India in May 2001 and Taiwan in May 2007.

This species was also added to Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora ( CITES) in 2003 to regulate the international trade of live specimens and its parts.

Hundreds of whale sharks are illegally killed every year in China for their fins, skins, and oil.

In captivity

The whale shark is popular in the few public aquariums that keep it, but its large size means that a very large tank is required and it has specialized feeding requirements. Their large size and iconic status have also fueled an opposition to keeping the species in captivity, especially after the early death of some whale sharks in captivity and certain Chinese aquariums keeping the species in relatively small tanks.

The first attempt at keeping whale sharks in captivity was in 1934 when an individual was kept for about four months in a netted-off natural bay in Izu, Japan. The first attempt of keeping whale sharks in an aquarium was initiated in 1980 by the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium (then known as Okinawa Ocean Expo Aquarium) in Japan. Since 1980, several have been kept at Okinawa, mostly obtained from incidental catches in coastal nets set by fishers (none after 2009), but two were strandings. Several of these were already weak from the capture/stranding and some were released, but initial captive survival rates were low. After the initial difficulties in maintaining the species had been resolved, some have survived long-term in captivity. The record for a whale shark in captivity is an individual that, as of 2021, has lived for more than 26 years in the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium from Okinawa Ocean Expo Aquarium. Following Okinawa, Osaka Aquarium started keeping whale sharks and most of the basic research on the keeping of the species was made at these two institutions.

Since the mid-1990s, several other aquariums have kept the species in Japan ( Kagoshima Aquarium, Kinosaki Marine World, Notojima Aquarium, Oita Ecological Aquarium, and Yokohama Hakkeijima Sea Paradise), South Korea ( Aqua Planet Jeju), China ( Chimelong Ocean Kingdom, Dalian Aquarium, Guangzhou Aquarium in Guangzhou Zoo, Qingdao Polar Ocean World and Yantai Aquarium), Taiwan ( National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium), India (Thiruvananthapuram Aquarium) and Dubai ( Atlantis, The Palm), with some maintaining whale sharks for years and others only for a very short period. The whale shark kept at Dubai's Atlantis, The Palm was rescued from shallow waters in 2008 with extensive abrasions to the fins and after rehabilitation it was released in 2010, having lived 19 months in captivity. Marine Life Park in Singapore had planned on keeping whale sharks but scrapped this idea in 2009.

Outside Asia, the first and so far only place to keep whale sharks is Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, United States. This is unusual because of the comparatively long transport time and complex logistics required to bring the sharks to the aquarium, ranging between 28 and 36 hours. Georgia keeps two whale sharks: two males, Taroko and Yushan, who both arrived in 2007. Two earlier males at Georgia Aquarium, Ralph and Norton, both died in 2007. Trixie died in 2020. Alice died in 2021. Georgia's whale sharks were all imported from Taiwan and were taken from the commercial fishing quota for the species, usually used locally for food. Taiwan closed this fishery entirely in 2008.

Human culture

In Madagascar, whale sharks are called marokintana in Malagasy, meaning "many stars", after the appearance of the markings on the shark's back.

In the Philippines, it is called butanding and balilan. The whale shark is featured on the reverse of the Philippine 100-peso bill. By law snorkelers must maintain a distance of 4 ft (1.2 m) from the sharks and there is a fine and possible prison sentence for anyone who touches the animals.

Whale sharks are also known as jinbei-zame in Japan (because the markings resemble patterns typically seen on jinbei); gurano bintang in Indonesia; and ca ong (literally "sir fish") in Vietnam.

The whale shark is also featured on the latest 2015-2017 edition of the Maldivian 1000 rufiyaa banknote, along with the green turtle.

References

1. Smith, Andrew (5 November 1828). "Descriptions of New or imperfectly known Objects of the Animal Kingdom, found in the South of Africa". The South African Commercial Advertiser. Vol. 3, no. 145 - via Center for Research Libraries Document Delivery System. Reprinted in Penrith (1972).

2. Melville, R. V. (1981). "Opinion 1278. The Generic Name Rhincodon A. Smith, 1829 (Pisces): Conserved". The Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature. 41 (4): 215-217.

3. ^ Smith, Andrew (1829). "Contributions to the Natural History of South Africa, &c". The Zoological Journal. 4: 443-444.

4. ^ Martin, R. Aidan. "Rhincodon or Rhiniodon? A Whale Shark by Any Other Name". ReefQuest Centre for Shark Research.

5. ^ Brunnschweiler, J. M.; Baensch, H.; Pierce, S. J.; Sims, D. W. (3 February 2009). "Deep-diving behaviour of a whale shark Rhincodon typus during long-distance movement in the western Indian Ocean". Journal of Fish Biology. 74 (3): 706-14. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8649.2008.02155.x. PMID 20735591.

6. ^ Tomita, Taketeru; Murakumo, Kiyomi; Komoto, Shinya; Dove, Alistair; Kino, Masakatsu; Miyamoto, Kei; Toda, Minoru (29 June 2020). "Armored eyes of the whale shark". PLOS ONE. 15 (6): e0235342. Bibcode:2020PLoSO..1535342T. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0235342. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC . PMID 32598385.

7. ^ Womersley, Freya; Hancock, James; Perry, Cameron T.; Rowat, David (February 2021). "Wound-healing capabilities of whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) and implications for conservation management". Conservation Physiology. 9 (1): coaa120. doi:10.1093/conphys/coaa120. PMC . PMID 33569175.

8. ^ Read, Timothy D.; Petit, Robert A.; Joseph, Sandeep J.; Alam, Md. Tauqeer; Weil, M. Ryan; Ahmad, Maida; Bhimani, Ravila; Vuong, Jocelyn S.; Haase, Chad P. (December 2017). "Draft sequencing and assembly of the genome of the world's largest fish, the whale shark: Rhincodon typus Smith 1828". BMC Genomics. 18 (1): 532. doi:10.1186/s12864-017-3926-9. ISSN 1471-2164. PMC . PMID 28709399.

9. Meekan, Mark G.; Taylor, Brett M.; Lester, Emily; Ferreira, Luciana C.; Sequeira, Ana M. M.; Dove, Alistair D. M.; Birt, Matthew J.; Aspinall, Alex; Brooks, Kim; Thums, Michele (2020). "Asymptotic Growth of Whale Sharks Suggests Sex-Specific Life-History Strategies". Frontiers in Marine Science. 7. doi:10.3389/fmars.2020.575683. ISSN 2296-7745. S2CID 221712078.

10. Wintner, Sabine P. (2000). "Preliminary Study of Vertebral Growth Rings in the Whale Shark, Rhincodon typus, from the East Coast of South Africa". Environmental Biology of Fishes. 59 (4): 441-451. doi:10.1023/A:1026564707027. S2CID 20461057.

11. Stevens, J. D. (1 March 2007). "Whale shark (Rhincodon typus) biology and ecology: A review of the primary literature". Fisheries Research. Whale Sharks: Science, Conservation and Management. 84 (1): 4-9. doi:10.1016/j.fishres.2006.11.008. ISSN 0165-7836.

12. ^ Rohner, C. A.; Richardson, A. J.; Marshall, A. D.; Weeks, S. J.; Pierce, S. J. (2011). "How large is the world's largest fish? Measuring whale sharks Rhincodon typus with laser photogrammetry". Journal of Fish Biology. 78 (1): 378-385. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8649.2010.02861.x. PMID 21235570. S2CID 6882935.

13. ^ Gudger, E. W. (1938). "Whale Sharks Rammed by Ocean Vessels: How These Sluggish Leviathans Aid in Their Own Destruction". New England Naturalist. New England Museum of Natural History: Boston Society of Natural History. 1-15. OCLC 1759776.

14. ^ Maniguet, Xavier (1992). The Jaws of Death: Shark as Predator, Man as Prey. HarperCollins Publishers Limited. ISBN 978-0-00-219960-5.

15. ^ Eckert, Scott A.; Stewart, Brent S. (1 February 2001). "Telemetry and Satellite Tracking of Whale Sharks, Rhincodon Typus, in the Sea of Cortez, Mexico, and the North Pacific Ocean". Environmental Biology of Fishes. 60 (1): 299-308. doi:10.1023/A:1007674716437. ISSN 1573-5133. S2CID 22173382.

16. ^ Katkar, B.N. (1996). "Turtles and whale shark landed along ratnagiri coast, maharashtra". Marine Fisheries Information Service. 141: 20.

17. ^ Venkatesan, V; Ramamurthy, N; Boominathan, N; Gandhi, A (2008). "Stranding of a whale shark, Rhincodon typus (smith) at Pamban, Gulf of Mannar" (PDF). Marine Fisheries Information Service. 198: 19-22.

18. ^ Borrell, Asunción; Aguilar, Alex; Gazo, Manel; Kumarran, R. P.; Cardona, Luis (2011). "Stable isotope profiles in whale shark (Rhincodon typus) suggest segregation and dissimilarities in the diet depending on sex and size". Environmental Biology of Fishes. 92 (4): 559-567. doi:10.1007/s10641-011-9879-y. ISSN 0378-1909. S2CID 37683420.

19. ^ Dekker, Stefanie (17 July 2020). "'What a privilege': Swimming with endangered whale sharks in Qatar". Aljazeera.

20. ^ de la Parra Venegas, Rafael; Hueter, Robert; Cano, Jaime González; Tyminski, John; Remolina, José Gregorio; Maslanka, Mike; Ormos, Andrea; Weigt, Lee; Carlson, Bruce; Dove, Alistair (29 April 2011). "An Unprecedented Aggregation of Whale Sharks, Rhincodon typus, in Mexican Coastal Waters of the Caribbean Sea". PLOS ONE. 4. 6 (4): e18994. Bibcode:2011PLoSO...618994D. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0018994. PMC . PMID 21559508.

21. ^ Dove, Alistair (27 January 2015), Yucatan Whale Sharks Swimming in Troubled Waters, archived from the original on 7 November 2017

22. ^ Clingham, Elizabeth; Brown, Judith; Henry, Leeann; Beard, Annalea; Dove, Alistair D (2016). Evidence that St. Helena island is an important multi-use habitat for whale sharks, Rhincodon typus , with the first description of putative mating in this species. doi:10.7287/peerj.preprints.1885v1. OCLC 8162956757.

23. ^ Joung, Shoou-Jeng; et al. (July 1996). "The whale shark, Rhincodon typus, is a livebearer: 300 embryos found in one 'megamamma' supreme". Environ. Biol. Fish. 46 (3): 219-223. doi:10.1007/BF00004997. S2CID 22250254.

24. ^ Clark, Eugenie. "Frequently Asked Questions". Sharklady. Archived from the original on 5 March 2001.

25. ^ Schmidt, Jennifer V.; Chen, Chien-Chi; Sheikh, Saad I.; Meekan, Mark G.; Norman, Bradley M.; Joung, Shoou-Jeng (4 August 2010). "Paternity analysis in a litter of whale shark embryos". Endangered Species Research. 12 (2): 117-124. doi:10.3354/esr00300.

26. ^ "'Largest number in years': Over 100 new whale sharks spotted in Donsol". Rappler.com. 30 August 2019.

27. Jurassic Shark (2000) documentary by Jacinth O'Donnell; broadcast on Discovery Channel, 5 August 2006

28. ^ Motta, Philip J.; et al. (2010). "Feeding anatomy, filter-feeding rate, and diet of whale sharks Rhincodon typus during surface ram filter feeding off the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico" (PDF). Zoology. 113 (4): 199-212. doi:10.1016/j.zool.2009.12.001. PMID 20817493.

29. ^ Yong, Mila Mi Hua; Leistenschneider, Clara; Miranda, Joni Anne; Paler, Maria Kristina; Legaspi, Christine; Germanov, Elitza; Araujo, Gonzalo; Burkhardt-Holm, Patricia; Erni-Cassola, Gabriel (2021). "Microplastics in fecal samples of whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) and from surface water in the Philippines". Microplastics and Nanoplastics. 1 (1): 17. doi:10.1186/s43591-021-00017-9. PMC . PMID 34939039.

30. Compagno, Leonard J. V. (26 April 2002). Sharks of the World: An Annotated and Illustrated Catalogue of Shark Species Known to Date: Bullhead, Mackerel and Carpet Sharks. Vol. 2. Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). ISBN 978-92-5-104543-5.

31. Robbins J. (18 July 2017). ^ Watch Iranian fisherman 'surf' on top of a whale shark across the Persian Gulf. International Business Times. Retrieved on 29 September 2017

32. Pictures of the Day: Tuesday, Aug. 04, 2009. Time magazine, "A 40-foot whale shark and a brave snorkeler swim off the South African coast."

33. ^ Womersley, Freya C.; et al. (2022). "Global collision-risk hotspots of marine traffic and the world's largest fish, the whale shark". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 119 (20): e2117440119. Bibcode:2022PNAS..11917440W. doi:10.1073/pnas.2117440119. hdl:10754/676739. PMC . PMID 35533277.

34. ^ Duffy, Clinton A. J.; Francis, Malcolm; Dunn, M. R.; Finucci, Brit; Ford, Richard; Hitchmough, Rod; Rolfe, Jeremy (2018). Conservation status of New Zealand chondrichthyans (chimaeras, sharks and rays), 2016 (PDF). Wellington, New Zealand: Department of Conservation. p. 11. ISBN 9781988514628. OCLC 1042901090.

35. ^ "Memorandum of understanding on the conservation of migratory sharks" (PDF). Convention on migratory species. p. 10.

36. ^ Whale Sharks Receive Protection in the Philippines Archived 16 February 2020 at the Wayback Machine. hayop.0catch.com. 27 March 1998

37. ^ "Whale Shark's Death Sparks Debate". wsbtv. 30 November 2007. Archived from the original on 25 March 2010.

38. ^ "Dubai hotel releases whale shark back into the wild". Associated Press. 20 March 2010. Archived from the original on 7 August 2015.

39. ^ "Resorts World considering alternatives to whale shark exhibit". AsianOne Travel. 16 May 2009. Archived from the original on 9 June 2013.

Further reading

External links

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The whale shark (Rhincodon typus ) is a slow-moving, filter-feeding carpet shark and the largest known extant fish species. The largest confirmed individual had a length of 18.8 m (61.7 ft). The whale shark holds many records for size in the animal kingdom, most notably being by far the largest living nonmammalian vertebrate.

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The word “Leo” is the lion's name which is Latin but, it is also possible that the Hebrew term “lavi”  and the ancient Greek (leon) are related. ”Panthera's” scientific name is said to come from the Greek words pan- ("all") and ther ("beast"). The term Panther, which means "the yellowish animal," is thought to have originated in East Asia and was then brought into English through the ancient languages.

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Subphylum: Vertebrata

Class: Mammalia

Order: Carnivora

Family: Felidae

Subfamily: Pantherinae

Genus: Panthera

Species: Panthera leo (P. Leo)

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This is also known as the Atlantic Puffin.
Frater means brother in Latin.
Cula means small in Latin.
Arctica means arctic.

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The sea otter is a marine mammal that is listed as an endangered species due to oil pollution and conflicts with fisheries; they are commonly caught in fishing gear. Their binomial name, "Enhydra Lutris", is derived from the greek word "enhydra", which means "in water". "Lutris" is a latin word, which means "otter."
Domain: Eukaryote
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Mustelidae
Genus: Enhydra
Species: Enhydra Lutris

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Classified as Ailurus fulgens, the red panda is a small mammal native to the eastern Himalayas and southwestern China. It has dense reddish-brown fur with a black belly and legs, white-lined ears, a mostly white muzzle and a ringed tail. The red panda is relatively close to the American raccoon, and diverged from their common ancestor with bears about 40 million years ago.

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Siberian Husky or binomial name: Canis lupus 

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Domain: Eukaryote
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Candiae
Genus: Canis
Species: lupus

Canis lupus means a wolf with a brindled grey coat living in forested northern regions of North America. For many years, there has been a distinction between wolves and dogs at the species level (canis lupus was the binomial name for wolves, while canis familiaris was the binomial name for dogs). However, recent DNA discoveries have uncovered that dogs and wolves are very similar, with dogs (including Siberian Huskies) being the direct descendants of grey wolves. Therefore, scientists have agreed that because of the similarities between their DNA, wolves and dogs are sub-species of canis lupus and share the same classification from domain to species, with their sub-species names being canis lupus lupus for wolves and canis lupus familiaris for domesticated dogs.

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Chameleons or chamaeleons ( family Chamaeleonidae) are a distinctive and highly specialized clade of Old World lizards with 202 species described as of June 2015. The members of this family are best known for their distinct range of colors, being capable of shifting to different hues and degrees of brightness. The large number of species in the family exhibit considerable variability in their capacity to change color. For some, it is more of a shift of brightness (shades of brown); for others, a plethora of color-combinations (reds, yellows, greens, blues) can be seen.

Chameleons are distinguished by their zygodactylous feet, their prehensile tail, their laterally compressed bodies, their head casques, their projectile tongues, their swaying gait, and crests or horns on their brow and snout. Chameleons' eyes are independently mobile, and because of this there are two separate, individual images that the brain is analyzing of the chameleon's environment. When hunting prey, they focus forward in coordination, affording the animal stereoscopic vision.

Chameleons are adapted for climbing and visual hunting. The use of their prehensile tail offers stability when they are moving or resting while on a branch in the canopy; because of this, their tail is often referred to as a "fifth limb." Another character that is advantageous for being arboreal is how laterally compressed their bodies are; it is important for them to distribute their weight as evenly as possible as it confers stability on twigs and branches in the trees. They live in warm habitats that range from rainforest to desert conditions, with various species occurring in Africa, Madagascar, southern Europe, and across southern Asia as far as Sri Lanka. They have been introduced to Hawaii, California, and Florida.

In 1986, the family Chamaeleonidae was divided into two subfamilies, Brookesiinae and Chamaeleoninae. Under this classification, Brookesiinae included the genera and Rhampholeon, as well as the genera later split off from them ( and Rieppeleon), while Chamaeleoninae included the genera Bradypodion, , , and , as well as the genera later split off from them (, Nadzikambia and ). Since that time, however, the validity of this subfamily designation has been the subject of much debate, although most phylogenetic studies support the notion that the pygmy chameleons of the subfamily Brookesiinae are not a monophyletic group.

While some authorities have previously preferred to use this subfamilial classification on the basis of the absence of evidence principle, these authorities later abandoned this subfamilial division, no longer recognizing any subfamilies with the family Chamaeleonidae.

In 2015, however, Glaw reworked the subfamilial division by placing only the genera and within the Brookesiinae subfamily, with all other genera being placed in Chamaeleoninae.

Some chameleon species are able to change their skin coloration. Different chameleon species are able to vary their coloration and pattern through combinations of pink, blue, red, orange, green, black, brown, light blue, yellow, turquoise, and purple. Chameleon skin has a superficial layer which contains pigments, and under the layer are cells with very small (nanoscale) guanine crystals. Chameleons change color by "actively tuning the photonic response of a lattice of small guanine nanocrystals in the s-iridophores". This tuning, by an unknown molecular mechanism, changes the wavelength of light reflected off the crystals which changes the color of the skin. The color change was duplicated by modifying the osmolarity of pieces of white skin.

Color change in chameleons has functions in camouflage, but most commonly in social signaling and in reactions to temperature and other conditions. The relative importance of these functions varies with the circumstances, as well as the species. Color change signals a chameleon's physiological condition and intentions to other chameleons. Because chameleons are ectothermic, another reason why they change color is to regulate their body temperatures, either to a darker color to absorb light and heat to raise their temperature, or to a lighter color to reflect light and heat, thereby either stabilizing or lowering their body temperature. Chameleons tend to show brighter colors when displaying aggression to other chameleons, and darker colors when they submit or "give up". Some species, particularly those of Madagascar and some African genera in rainforest habitats, have blue fluorescence in their skull tubercles, deriving from bones and possibly serving a signaling role.

Some species, such as Smith's dwarf chameleon, adjust their colors for camouflage by the vision of the specific predator species (bird or snake) by which they are being threatened.

Chameleons have two superimposed layers within their skin that control their color and thermoregulation. The top layer contains a lattice of guanine nanocrystals, and by exciting this lattice the spacing between the nanocrystals can be manipulated, which in turn affects which wavelengths of light are reflected and which are absorbed. Exciting the lattice increases the distance between the nanocrystals, and the skin reflects longer wavelengths of light. Thus, in a relaxed state the crystals reflect blue and green, but in an excited state the longer wavelengths such as yellow, orange, green, and red are reflected.

The skin of a chameleon also contains some yellow pigments, which combined with the blue reflected by a relaxed crystal lattice results in the characteristic green color which is common of many chameleons in their relaxed state. Chameleon color palettes have evolved through evolution and the environment. Chameleons living in the forest have a more defined and colorful palette compared to those living in the desert or savanna, which have more of a basic, brown, and charred palette.

The oldest described chameleon is Anqingosaurus brevicephalus from the Middle Paleocene (about 58.7-61.7 mya) of China. Other chameleon fossils includeChamaeleo caroliquarti from the Lower Miocene (about 13-23 mya) of the Czech Republic and Germany, and Chamaeleo intermediate from the Upper Miocene (about 5-13 mya) of Kenya.

The chameleons are probably far older than that, perhaps sharing a common ancestor with iguanids and agamids more than 100 mya (agamids being more closely related). Since fossils have been found in Africa, Europe, and Asia, chameleons were certainly once more widespread than they are today.

Although nearly half of all chameleon species today live in Madagascar, this offers no basis for speculation that chameleons might originate from there. In fact, it has recently been shown that chameleons most likely originated in mainland Africa. It appears there were two distinct oceanic migrations from the mainland to Madagascar. The diverse speciation of chameleons has been theorized to have directly reflected the increase in open habitats (savannah, grassland, and heathland) that accompanied the Oligocene period. Monophyly of the family is supported by several studies.

Daza et al. (2016) described a small (10.6 mm in snout-vent length), probably neonatal lizard preserved in the Cretaceous ( Albian- Cenomanian boundary) amber from Myanmar. The authors noted that the lizard has "short and wide skull, large orbits, elongated and robust lingual process, frontal with parallel margins, incipient prefrontal boss, reduced vomers, absent retroarticular process, low presacral vertebral count (between 15 and 17) and extremely short, curled tail"; the authors considered these traits to be indicative of the lizard's affiliation with Chamaeleonidae. The phylogenetic analysis conducted by the authors indicated that the lizard was a stem-chamaeleonid. However, Matsumoto & Evans (2018) reinterpreted this specimen as an albanerpetontid amphibian. This specimen was given the name Yaksha perettii in 2020, and was noted to have several convergently chameleon-like features, including adaptations for ballistic feeding.

While the exact evolutionary history of color change in chameleons is still unknown, there is one aspect of the evolutionary history of chameleon color change that has already been conclusively studied: the effects of signal efficacy. Signal efficacy, or how well the signal can be seen against its background, has been shown to correlate directly to the spectral qualities of chameleon displays. Dwarf chameleons, the chameleon of study, occupy a wide variety of habitats from forests to grasslands to shrubbery. It was demonstrated that chameleons in brighter areas tended to present brighter signals, but chameleons in darker areas tended to present relatively more contrasting signals to their backgrounds. This finding suggests that signal efficacy (and thus habitat) has affected the evolution of chameleon signaling. Stuart-Fox et al. note that it makes sense that selection for crypsis is not seen to be as important as selection for signal efficacy, because the signals are only shown briefly; chameleons are almost always muted cryptic colors.

Chameleons vary greatly in size and body structure, with maximum total lengths varying from 15 mm (0.59 in) in male Brookesia micra (one of the world's smallest reptiles) to 68.5 cm (27.0 in) in the male Furcifer oustaleti. Many have head or facial ornamentation, such as nasal protrusions, or horn-like projections in the case of Trioceros jacksonii, or large crests on top of their heads, like Chamaeleo calyptratus. Many species are sexually dimorphic, and males are typically much more ornamented than the female chameleons.

Typical sizes of species of chameleon commonly kept in captivity or as pets are:

The feet of chameleons are highly adapted to arboreal locomotion, and species such as Chamaeleo namaquensis that have secondarily adopted a terrestrial habit have retained the same foot morphology with little modification. On each foot, the five distinguished toes are grouped into two fascicles. The toes in each fascicle are bound into a flattened group of either two or three, giving each foot a tongs-like appearance. On the front feet, the outer, lateral, group contains two toes, whereas the inner, medial, group contains three. On the rear feet, this arrangement is reversed, the medial group containing two toes, and the lateral group three. These specialized feet allow chameleons to grip tightly onto narrow or rough branches. Furthermore, each toe is equipped with a sharp claw to afford a grip on surfaces such as bark when climbing. It is common to refer to the feet of chameleons as didactyl or zygodactyl, though neither term is fully satisfactory, both being used in describing different feet, such as the zygodactyl feet of parrots or didactyl feet of sloths or ostriches, none of which is significantly like chameleon feet. Although "zygodactyl" is reasonably descriptive of chameleon foot anatomy, their foot structure does not resemble that of parrots, to which the term was first applied. As for didactyly, chameleons visibly have five toes on each foot, not two.

Some chameleons have a crest of small spikes extending along the spine from the proximal part of the tail to the neck; both the extent and size of the spikes vary between species and individuals. These spikes help break up the definitive outline of the chameleon, which aids it when trying to blend into a background.

Chameleons have the most distinctive eyes of any reptile. The upper and lower eyelids are joined, with only a pinhole large enough for the pupil to see through. Each eye can pivot and focus independently, allowing the chameleon to observe two different objects simultaneously. This gives them a full 360-degree arc of vision around their bodies. Prey is located using monocular depth perception, not stereopsis. Chameleons have the highest magnification (per size) of any vertebrate.

Like snakes, chameleons do not have an outer or a middle ear, so there is neither an ear-opening nor an eardrum. However, chameleons are not deaf: they can detect sound frequencies in the range of 200-600 Hz.

Chameleons can see in both visible and ultraviolet light. Chameleons exposed to ultraviolet light show increased social behavior and activity levels, are more inclined to bask, feed, and reproduce as it has a positive effect on the pineal gland.

All chameleons are primarily insectivores that feed by ballistically projecting their long tongues from their mouths to capture prey located some distance away. While the chameleons' tongues are typically thought to be one and a half to two times the length of their bodies (their length excluding the tail), smaller chameleons (both smaller species and smaller individuals of the same species) have recently been found to have proportionately larger tongue apparatuses than their larger counterparts. Thus, smaller chameleons are able to project their tongues greater distances than the larger chameleons that are the subject of most studies and tongue length estimates, and can project their tongues more than twice their body length.

The tongue apparatus consists of highly modified hyoid bones, tongue muscles, and collagenous elements. The hyoid bone has an elongated, parallel-sided projection, called the entoglossal process, over which a tubular muscle, the accelerator muscle, sits. The accelerator muscle contracts around the entoglossal process and is responsible for creating the work to power tongue projection, both directly and through the loading of collagenous elements located between the entoglossal process and the accelerator muscle. The tongue retractor muscle, the hyoglossus, connects the hyoid and accelerator muscle, and is responsible for drawing the tongue back into the mouth following tongue projection.

Tongue projection occurs at extremely high performance, reaching the prey in as little as 0.07 seconds, having been launched at accelerations exceeding 41 g. The power with which the tongue is launched, known to exceed 3000 W kg −1, exceeds that which muscle is able to produce, indicating the presence of an elastic power amplifier to power tongue projection. The recoil of elastic elements in the tongue apparatus is thus responsible for large percentages of the overall tongue projection performance.

One consequence of the incorporation of an elastic recoil mechanism to the tongue projection mechanism is relative thermal insensitivity of tongue projection relative to tongue retraction, which is powered by muscle contraction alone, and is heavily thermally sensitive. While other ectothermic animals become sluggish as their body temperatures decline, due to a reduction in the contractile velocity of their muscles, chameleons are able to project their tongues at high performance even at low body temperatures. The thermal sensitivity of tongue retraction in chameleons, however, is not a problem, as chameleons have a very effective mechanism of holding onto their prey once the tongue has come into contact with it, including surface phenomena, such as wet adhesion and interlocking, and suction. The thermal insensitivity of tongue projection thus enables chameleons to feed effectively on cold mornings prior to being able to behaviorally elevate their body temperatures through thermoregulation, when other sympatric lizards species are still inactive, likely temporarily expanding their thermal niche as a result.

Certain species of chameleons have bones that glow when under ultraviolet light, also known as biogenic fluorescence. Some 31 different species of Calumma chameleons, all native to Madagascar, displayed this fluorescence in CT scans. The bones emitted a bright blue glow and could even shine through the chameleon's four layers of skin. The face was found to have a different glow, appearing as dots otherwise known as tubercles on facial bones. The glow results from proteins, pigments, chitin, and other materials that make up a chameleon's skeleton, possibly giving chameleons a secondary signaling system that does not interfere with their color-changing ability, and may have evolved from sexual selection.

Chameleons primarily live in the mainland of sub-Saharan Africa and on the island of Madagascar, although a few species live in northern Africa, southern Europe (Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece), the Middle East, southern India, Sri Lanka, and several smaller islands in the western Indian Ocean.

Chameleons inhabit all kinds of tropical and mountain rain forests, savannas, and sometimes deserts and steppes. The typical chameleons from the subfamily Chamaeleoninae are arboreal, usually living in trees or bushes, although a few (notably the Namaqua chameleon) are partially or largely terrestrial. Most species from the subfamily Brookesiinae, which includes the genera , Rieppeleon, and Rhampholeon, live low in vegetation or on the ground among leaf litter. Many species of chameleons are threatened by extinction. Declining chameleon numbers are due to habitat loss.

Chameleons are mostly oviparous, with some being ovoviviparous.

The oviparous species lay eggs three to six weeks after copulation. The female will dig a hole-from 10-30 cm (4-12 in), deep depending on the species-and deposit her eggs. Clutch sizes vary greatly with species. Small species may only lay two to four eggs, while large veiled chameleons ( Chamaeleo calyptratus) have been known to lay clutches of 20-200 (veiled chameleons) and 10-40 (panther chameleons) eggs. Clutch sizes can also vary greatly among the same species. Eggs generally hatch after four to 12 months, again depending on the species. The eggs of Parson's chameleon ( Calumma parsonic), a species that is rare in captivity, are believed to take more than 24 months to hatch.

Chameleons lay flexible-shelled eggs which are affected by environmental characteristics during incubation. The egg mass is the most important in differentiating survivors of Chameleon during incubation. An increase in egg mass will depend on temperature and water potential. To understand the dynamics of water potential in Chameleon eggs, the consideration of exerted pressure on eggshells will be essential because the pressure of eggshells play an important role in the water relation of eggs during entire incubation period

The ovoviviparous species, such as the Jackson's chameleon ( Trioceros jacksonii) have a five- to seven-month gestation period. Each young chameleon is born within the sticky transparent membrane of its yolk sac. The mother presses each egg onto a branch, where it sticks. The membrane bursts and the newly hatched chameleon frees itself and climbs away to hunt for itself and hide from predators. The female can have up to 30 live young from one gestation.

Chameleons generally eat insects, but larger species, such as the common chameleon, may also take other lizards and young birds. The range of diets can be seen from the following examples:

The veiled chameleon, Chamaeleo calyptratus from Arabia, is insectivorous, but eats leaves when other sources of water are not available. It can be maintained on a diet of crickets. They can eat as many as 15-50 large crickets a day.

Jackson's chameleon (Trioceros jacksonii) from Kenya and northern Tanzania eat a wide variety of small animals including ants, butterflies, caterpillars, snails, worms, lizards, geckos, amphibians, and other chameleons, as well as plant material, such as leaves, tender shoots, and berries. It can be maintained on a mixed diet including kale, dandelion leaves, lettuce, bananas, tomatoes, apples, crickets, and waxworms.

The common chameleon of Europe, North Africa, and the Near East, Chamaeleo chamaeleon, mainly eats wasps and mantises; such arthropods form over three-quarters of its diet. Some experts advise that the common chameleon should not be fed exclusively on crickets; these should make up no more than half the diet, with the rest a mixture of waxworms, earthworms, grasshoppers, flies, and plant materials such as green leaves, oats, and fruit.

Some chameleons like the panther chameleon of Madagascar regulate their vitamin D3 levels, of which their insect diet is a poor source, by exposing themselves to sunlight since its UV component increases internal production.

Chameleons are preyed upon by a variety of other animals. Birds and snakes are the most important predators of adult chameleons. Invertebrates, especially ants, put a high predation pressure on chameleon eggs and juveniles. Chameleons are unlikely to be able to flee from predators and rely on crypsis as their primary defense. Chameleons can change both their colors and their patterns (to varying extents) to resemble their surroundings or disrupt the body outline and remain hidden from a potential enemy's sight. Only if detected, chameleons actively defend themselves. They adopt a defensive body posture, present an attacker with a laterally flattened body to appear larger, warn with an open mouth, and, if needed, utilize feet and jaws to fight back. Vocalization is sometimes incorporated into threat displays.

Chameleons are parasitized by nematode worms, including threadworms ( Filarioidea). Threadworms can be transmitted by biting insects such as ticks and mosquitoes. Other roundworms are transmitted through food contaminated with roundworm eggs; the larvae burrow through the wall of the intestine into the bloodstream.

Chameleons are subject to several protozoan parasites, such as Plasmodium, which causes malaria, Trypanosoma, which causes sleeping sickness, and Leishmania, which causes leishmaniasis.

Chameleons are popular reptile pets mostly imported from African countries like Madagascar, Tanzania, and Togo. The most common in the trade are the Senegal chameleon ( Chamaeleo senegalensis), veiled chameleon ( Chamaeleo calyptratus), panther chameleon ( Furcifer pardalis), and Jackson's chameleon ( Trioceros jacksonii). The U.S. has been the main importer of chameleons since the early 1980s accounting for 69% of African reptile exports. However, there have been large declines due to tougher regulations to protect species from being taken from the wild and due to many becoming invasive in places like Florida. They have remained popular though which may be due to the captive-breeding in the U.S. which has increased to the point that the U.S. can fulfill its demand, and has now even become a major exporter as well. In the U.S. they are so popular, that despite Florida having six invasive chameleon species due to the pet trade, reptile hobbyists in these areas search for chameleons to keep as pets or to breed and sell them, with some selling for up to a thousand dollars.

Aristotle (4th century BC) describes chameleons in his History of Animals. Pliny the Elder (1st century AD) also discusses chameleons in his Natural History, noting their ability to change color for camouflage.

The chameleon was featured in Conrad Gessner's Historia animalium (1563), copied from De aquatilibus (1553) by Pierre Belon.

In Shakespeare's Hamlet, the eponymous Prince says "Excellent, i' faith, of the chameleon's dish. I eat the air, promise-crammed." This refers to the Elizabethan belief that chameleons lived on nothing but the air.

Le Berre, François; Bartlett, Richard D. (2009). The Chameleon Handbook. Barron's Educational Series. 3rd Edition. ISBN 0764141422.

"Scientists find Madagascar chameleon last seen 100 years ago". Associated Press. 30 Oct 2020.

Anderson, C. V.; Deban, S. M. (2010). "Ballistic tongue projection in chameleons maintains high performance at low temperature". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 107 (12): 5495-5499. Bibcode:2010PNAS..107.5495A. doi:10.1073/pnas.0910778107. PMC . PMID 20212130.

Anderson, C. V.; Deban, S. M. (2012). "Thermal effects on motor control and in vitro muscle dynamics of the ballistic tongue apparatus in chameleons". Journal of Experimental Biology. 215 (24): 4345-4357. doi:10.1242/jeb.078881. PMID 23125336.

Anderson, C. V.; Sheridan, T.; Deban, S. M. (2012). "Scaling of the ballistic tongue apparatus in chameleons". Journal of Morphology. 273 (11): 1214-1226. doi:10.1002/jmor.20053. PMID 22730103. S2CID 21033176.

Davison, Linda J. Chameleons: Their Care and Breeding. Hancock House Publishers, 1997.

de Groot, J. H.; van Leeuwen, J. L. (2004). "Evidence for an elastic projection mechanism in the chameleon tongue. ". Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B. 271 (1540): 761-770. doi:10.1098/rspb.2003.2637. PMC . PMID 15209111.

de Vosjoli, Philippe. Essential Care of Chameleons. Advanced Vivarium Systems, 2004.

Herrel, A.; Meyers, J. J.; Nishikawa, K. C.; De Vree, F. (2001). "Morphology and histochemistry of the hyolingual apparatus in chameleons". Journal of Morphology. 249 (2): 154-170. doi:10.1002/jmor.1047. PMID 11466743. S2CID 3246256.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Chameleons or chamaeleons ( family Chamaeleonidae) are a distinctive and highly specialized clade of Old World lizards with 202 species described as of June 2015. The members of this family are best known for their distinct range of colors, being capable of shifting to different hues and degrees of brightness.

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The genus Ranunculus comes from the latin for two words: Rana meaning "frog" and unculus meaning little. These plants grow in moist areas- like little frogs! The species name acris means "sharp tasting" and was probably given to this plant as it is one of the most acrid of the genus :)

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The oldest public wildflower garden in the United States

Common Name
Tall Buttercup (European Buttercup, Upright Meadow Crowfoot, Common Buttercup)

Scientific Name
Ranunculus acris L.

Plant Family
Buttercup (Ranunculaceae)

Garden Location
Upland

Prime Season
Late Spring to Late Summer Flowering

Buttercups comprise about 275 different species. Most grow in bogs or moist areas, some in drier meadows. At Eloise Butler there are Buttercups in the Woodland Garden near and in the wetland and also in the Upland Garden.

The Tall Buttercup is an introduced species, a naturalized perennial, that has erect stems with soft hair, 1 to 3 feet high, with branching in the upper portion. Stems do not root at nodes.

The leaves are compound, basal and stem leaves vary in size, with the larger basal leaves divided into 3 to 5 sessile lobes which are deeply cleft or toothed, and on long stalks, as much as 8 inches long. Stem leaves have just a few simple segments and short stalked except the most upper which are stalkless. All leaf stalks are hairy. Leaves are usually all below the middle of the stem.

Inflorescence: Flowers occur in loose branching groups at the top of stems.

The flowers have 5 golden yellow shining petals and are from 2/3 to 1 1/4 inches wide when open; there are 5 greenish-yellow spreading sepals which have fine hair and fall away during flowering. The petals are broadly roundish and twice to 3x as long as the sepals. Nectaries are at the base of the petals. The center of this buttercup flower is a mass of stamens (30 to 70) with yellow anthers which surround a green immature receptacle composed of numerous carpels (15 to 40) each with a short style. This receptacle is not hairy. It blooms later than the other 3 buttercups in the Garden, usually late May to late summer.

Seed: The carpels mature to dry brown globose achenes 2-3 × 1.8-2.4 mm, that have margins forming a narrow rib. The tip has a persistent short triangular shaped beak that can be either curved or straight. Buttercup seeds need some cold stratification for germination, at least 30 days and some species require 60 days.

Toxic: Buttercups have hazardous properties - see notes below.

Habitat: Tall Buttercup grows from a short rhizome or caudex, the base of the plant is not bulbous. It is found in old fields, roadsides, meadows, and tended areas that are infrequently cut. It prefers sun but will grow and flower in partial sun. The plant can become weedy as the rhizome can create offshoots. New plants usually flower the second year.

Names: Ranunculus acris is in Ranunculus Sect. Ranunculus. The generic name Ranunculus, is from two Latin words, 'rana' meaning ' frog' and 'unculus' meaning 'little' and together they refer to a group of plants, many of which grow in moist places - like little frogs. The species, acris, is from the Latin for 'sharp tasting' and probably was used to describe this species as it is one of the most acrid of the genus. See notes below. The family name of Buttercup, used to be "Crowfoot', hence the continuation of the old name in many of the species common names. The name "European" Buttercup has been used as this is a world-wide species, originating in Eurasia. The author name for the plant classification, 'L.' refers to Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778), Swedish botanist and the developer of the binomial nomenclature of modern taxonomy.

Comparisons: While the tall flower stalks make this species recognizable, here are a few other buttercups for comparison: Kidney-leaf Buttercup, R. abortivus; Swamp Buttercup, R. hispidus; Cursed Crowfoot, R. sceleratus; Hooked Crowfoot, R. recurvatus; and Bristly Buttercup, R. pensylvanicus.

See bottom of page for notes on the Garden's planting history, distribution in Minnesota and North America, lore and other references.

Below: A grouping of Tall Buttercup along the Goldenrod Trail in the Upland Garden. All photos - June.

Notes: A native of Europe it is now naturalized in much of Eastern Minnesota down through the metro area counties plus a few counties in the SE Corner. The plant was included on Eloise Butler's early list of indigenous plants in the Garden area - she first noted it in her log on June 30, 1917 when she found one in bloom. Martha Crone included it on her 1951 Garden Census, she had planted the species in 1948. There are also native varieties of Buttercup in Minnesota, including 3 within the Garden, , and R. recurvatus. R. acris is one of 16 buttercup species found in Minnesota. In North America R. acris is found throughout except for 7 states of the south central U.S.

Toxicity: Many of the species of Buttercup are poisonous and will severely irritate the skin. If taken internally the plant can cause stomach inflammation. R. acris has acrid and poisonous juices which can be fatal to browsing animals in the spring when the leaves are young and they eat a lot of them causing inflammation of the mouth and digestive tract; this is caused by the glycoside ranunculin. Cattle can be affected if they eat the plant but they normally refuse it which explains Eloise Butler's comment given below about being a pest of the hayfields. Milk from cows who have eaten the plant will have a bitter taste. When the plant is dried, however, the poisonous material evaporates. [Note: Ranunculin in moist plant tissue breaks down to the toxin protoanemonin, which is what causes the tissue damage. This has also been linked to the poisoning of bees who had taken in Buttercup pollen - see this article on bees - pdf. and this article on Ranunculin and Anemonol - pdf]

Legend: The legend of this plant family is this: Ranunculus, a Libyan boy who sang very beautifully, always wore green and gold silk. While singing in the woods, wood nymphs heard him and to get some peace and quiet, they turned him into a green and gold flower.

Eloise Butler Notes: On April 30, 1911, Eloise Butler published an article in Minneapolis Sunday Tribune in which she discussed Buttercups. Here is what she wrote:

"A number of the early flowering plants are members of the crowfoot family [Ranunculaceae -in current times this family is now called the Buttercup Family], [such] as the anemones and buttercups. In the divided leaves of a crowfoot, as some of the buttercups are called, the early botanists saw a resemblance to a bird's foot. The buttercups of Minnesota are not so much in evidence as the tall European buttercup [ Ranunculus acris L.] the pest of the hay fields - farther east.

One early species, Ranunculus abortivus, [Littleleaf Buttercup] has so small a flower that a novice would scarcely notice it, and is surprised to hear it named a buttercup. Neither would a child be likely to apply the time-worn test of holding the flower to your face to learn if you love butter. This lowly buttercup [her text omits the common name] blooms sparsely on the prairie with the pasque flower. The specific name rhomboideus [prairie buttercup] indicates the shape of the leaf. The low, tufted R. fascicularis [early buttercup] has a larger flower, but is not conspicuously massed. Our two prettiest buttercups are aquatics - one with shining, yellow petals; the other with smaller white flowers and long, railing stems; and both bearing finely dissected leaves.

The large Crowfoot family is without strongly marked characters. Its plants have usually an acrid taste; the leaves are generally more or less cut or divided; the corolla is often wanting, and, when this is the case, the calyx is colored like a corolla; the stamens are numerous; the pistils vary in number from one to several; and all the parts of the flower are distinct or unconnected." [Entire Article]

References and site links

References: Plant characteristics are generally from sources 1A, 32, W2, W3, W7 & W8 plus others as specifically applied. Distribution principally from W1, W2 and 28C. Planting history generally from 1, 4 & 4a. Other sources by specific reference. See Reference List for details.

Identification booklet for most of the flowering forbs and small flowering shrubs of the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden. Details Here.

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plants of the eloise butler wildflower garden

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Buttercups comprise about 275 different species. Most grow in bogs or moist areas, some in drier meadows. At Eloise Butler there are Buttercups in the Woodland Garden near and in the wetland and also in the Upland Garden.

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family of poisonous snakes originating from ancient greek: ἔλλοψ éllops "sea-fish"

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name of a family, originating from the latin coluber meaning snake

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the latin prefix in the suborder of brown hyenas is feliformia, meaning feli- (cat) + formia (formed/shaped/alike), meaning they are cat-like

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Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Feliformia
Family: Hyaenidae
Genus: Parahyaena
Species: P. brunnea

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Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptylia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Colubridae
Subfamily: Dipsadinae
Genus: Heterodon
Species: Platirhinos

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Pteromys volans the prefix “ptero” means wings of feathers, often used when referring to animals with the ability to fly, previously also seen in the name pterodactyl.

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Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Canidae
Genus: Canis
Species: Lupus

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A cat (Felis domestica)
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Feliformia
Family: Felidae
Subfamily: Felinae
Genus: Felis
Species: F. catus

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Scientific classification

Clownfish or anemonefish are fishes from the subfamily Amphiprioninae in the family Pomacentridae. Thirty species of clownfish are recognized: one in the genus Premnas, while the remaining are in the genus Amphiprion. In the wild, they all form symbiotic mutualisms with sea anemones. Depending on species, anemonefish are overall yellow, orange, or a reddish or blackish color, and many show white bars or patches.

| Kingdom:  | Animalia
| Phylum:  | Chordata
| Class:  | Actinopterygii
| Clade:  | Percomorpha
| (unranked):  | Ovalentaria
| Family:  | Pomacentridae
| Subfamily:  | Amphiprioninae

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Homo sapiens

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Genus: Daubentonia
Species: madagascariensis

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Kingdom: | Animalia
Phylum: | Chordata
Class: | Mammalia
Order: | Primates
Suborder: | Haplorhini
Infraorder: | Simiiformes
Family: | Cercopithecidae

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Japanese dwarf flying squirrels are the cutest animal on planet Earth. They are native to Japan and live in sub-alpine forests and boreal evergreen forests. I want to squish them.

Domain: Eukaryote
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Sciuridae
Genus: Pteromys
Species: P. momonga

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elton

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Dog (Canis lupus familiaris) / bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus)

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Dog (Canis lupus familiaris) / bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus)

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In Latin, Canis means dog, lupus means wolf and familiaris means friendly or familiar. The latin translated to friendly wolf dog

For the bottlenose dolphin, tursiops is Latin and also Greek and means dolphin like, while truncatus is Latin and referring to the worn teeth

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Chamaeleo zeylanicus:
It is the Indian Chamaeleo
Chamaeleo is derived from greek and is a combination of 'chamai' (on the ground) and 'leōn' ('lion') - could be related to the lizard's fearsome aspect.

Ursus maritimus:
It is the Polar Bear
'Ursus' is derived from Latin meaning 'bear'
'Maritimus' derived from Latin meaning 'of the sea'

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the scientific name for foxes are Vulpes vulpes which means fox in Latin

the scientific name for cats is Felis catus which means cat or ferret in Latin.

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Binomial name:
Oryctolagus cuniculus - European rabbit, Old World, native to southern Europe and northern Africa, widely domesticated and developed in various colors for various needs.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Lagomorpha
Family: Leporidae
Genus: Oryctolagus
Species: Oryctolagus cuniculus

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Binomial name
Driloleirus americanus

The giant Palouse earthworm (Driloleirus americanus) is a species of earthworm from the genus Driloleirus. It is found in the Palouse region of Eastern Washington and North Idaho, in the United States.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Annelida
Class: Clitellata
Order: Megadrilaceae
Family: Megascolecidae
Genus: Driloleirus
Species: americanus

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Family: Megapodiidae
Binomial name: Alectura lathami
The Australian Brush turkey, is scientifically known as Alectura lathami. The Australian brush Turkey is one of about 22 species of megapode, which means ‘big feet’. The birds from the Megapodes family are a distinct group of fowl-like birds from the Order, Galliformes; they include other birds such as turkeys, quails, junglefowl, and peafowl

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Family: Rabbit
Binomial Name: American sable
Meaning:
American- obviously means the country where American sable lives in.
sable- a small animal from cold regions that has very soft, dark brown fur, or the fur of animal used

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Binomial name: Homo sapiens
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Eukarya
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Family: Hominidae
Genus:  Homo
Species: Homo Sapiens

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The scientific name of the Domestic Cattle is Bos taurus. Bos is the genus for both wild and domestic cattle and cow. Taurus specifically refers to the domestic cattle.

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The scientific name of the Giant Pacific Octopus is Enteroctopus dolfleini. The genus - Enteroctopus means giant octopus. Members of this genus are often characterized by their large size. Dolfeini specifically refers to the Giant Pacific Octopus which is commonly found in the Pacific Ocean.

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Allures fulgent means reddish-brown Old World raccoon-like carnivore; in some classifications considered unrelated to the giant pandas.

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The golden jackal is a wolf-like canid that is native to Southeast Europe, Southwest Asia, South Asia, and regions of Southeast Asia.

Binomial name
Canis aureus

Kingdom: | Animalia
Phylum: | Chordata
Class: | Mammalia
Order: | Carnivora
Family: | Canidae
Genus: | Canis
Species: | C. aureus

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Vachellia anegadensis, the pokemeboy, is a species of plant in the family Fabaceae. It is found only in the British Virgin Islands, specifically only in the two locations of Anegada (northernmost isladn) and Fallen Jerusalem. It is threatened by habitat loss and put on IUCN's Red List as of 2018.

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The pistol shrimp employs an intriguing firearm-like mechanism to stun or kill its prey.

It is of the kingdom Animalia, phylum Arthropoda, class Malacostraca, order Decapoda, family Alpheidae, genus Alpheus, and species bellulus.

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They are the sole living representatives of their family and genus. They are monotypic taxons.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Monotremata
Family: ornithorhynchidae
Genus: Ornithorhynchus
Species: O. anatinus
Binomial name: Ornithorhynchus anatinus

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Blue-footed booby - scientifically known as Sula nebouxii - which is a marine bird living in subtropical and tropical areas. Distinct for its bright blue feet, it evolved this characteristic as a sexually elective trait. Sula in Norwegian stands for a gannett or booby, while nebouxii was used in honour of a French surgeon, Adolph Simon Neboux.

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Domain - Eukaryote
Kingdom - Animalia
Phylum - Chordata
Class - Mammalia
Order - Primates
Family - Callitrichidae
Genus - Leontopithecus
Species - Leontopithecus rosalia

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Hylochoerus meinertzhageni the only member of its genus, is native to wooded habitats in Africa and is generally considered the largest wild member of the pig family, Suidae; however, a few subspecies of the wild boar can reach an even larger size. Despite its large size and relatively wide distribution, it was first described only in 1904. The specific namehonours Richard Meinertzhagen, who shot the type specimen in Kenya and had it shipped to the Natural History Museum in England.

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Kingdom: | Animalia
Phylum: | Chordata
Class: | Actinopterygii
Order: | Blenniiformes
Family: | Chaenopsidae
Genus: | Neoclinus
Species: Neoclinus Blanchardi

The sarcastic fringehead (Neoclinus blanchardi) is a small but very hardy saltwater fish that has a large mouth and aggressive territorial behavior, for which it has been given its common name. When two fringeheads have a territorial battle, they wrestle by pressing their distended mouths against each other, as if they were kissing. This allows them to determine which is the larger fish, which establishes dominance.[3]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcastic_fringehead

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Glaucus atlanticus

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A good list of latin / greek roots used in biology

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A good list of latin / greek roots used in biology

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This could be a place for reference.

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This list of Latin and Greek words commonly used in systematic names is intended to help those unfamiliar with classical languages to understand and remember the scientific names of organisms. The binomial nomenclature used for animals and plants is largely derived from Latin and Greek words, as are some of the names used for higher taxa, such as orders and above. At the time when biologist Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778) published the books that are now accepted as the starting point of binomial nomenclature, Latin was used in Western Europe as the common language of science, and scientific names were in Latin or Greek: Linnaeus continued this practice.

While learning Latin is now less common, it is still used by classical scholars, and for certain purposes in botany, medicine and the Roman Catholic Church, and it can still be found in scientific names. It is helpful to be able to understand the source of scientific names. Although the Latin names do not always correspond to the current English common names, they are often related, and if their meanings are understood, they are easier to recall. The binomial name often reflects limited knowledge or hearsay about a species at the time it was named. For instance Pan troglodytes, the chimpanzee, and Troglodytes troglodytes, the wren, are not necessarily cave-dwellers.

Sometimes a genus name or specific descriptor is simply the Latin or Greek name for the animal (e.g. Canis is Latin for dog). These words may not be included in the table below if they only occur for one or two taxa. Instead, the words listed below are the common adjectives and other modifiers that repeatedly occur in the scientific names of many organisms (in more than one genus).

Adjectives vary according to gender, and in most cases only the lemma form ( nominative singular masculine form) is listed here. 1st-and-2nd-declension adjectives end in -us (masculine), -a (feminine) and -um (neuter), whereas 3rd-declension adjectives ending in -is (masculine and feminine) change to -e (neuter). For example, verus is listed without the variants for or Galium verum.

The second part of a binomial is often a person's name in the genitive case, ending -i (masculine) or -ae (feminine), such as Kaempfer's tody-tyrant, Hemitriccus kaempferi. The name may be converted into a Latinised form first, giving -ii and -iae instead.

Words that are very similar to their English forms have been omitted.

Some of the Greek transliterations given are Ancient Greek, and others are Modern Greek.

In the tables, L = Latin, G = Greek, and LG = similar in both languages.

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List of Latin and Greek words commonly used in systematic names - Wikipedia

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia This list of Latin and Greek words commonly used in systematic names is intended to help those unfamiliar with classical languages to understand and remember the scientific names of organisms. The binomial nomenclature used for animals and plants is largely derived from Latin and Greek words, as are some of the names used for higher taxa, such as orders and above.

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Kingdom: | Animalia
Phylum: | Chordata
Class: | Reptilia
Order: | Testudines
Suborder: | Cryptodira
Superfamily: | Testudinoidea
Family: | Testudinidae
Genus: | Indotestudo
Species | I. elongata

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Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Psittaciformes
Family: Psittacidae
Genus: Cyanopsitta
Species: C.spixii

A macaw that is officially declared extinct in the wild, though it is still present in captivity such as the Spix Macaw in Jurong Bird Park in Singapore. There is only about 97 Spix Macaw left on Earth. It is the bird that is used to inspired the movie: Rio in which the 2 main characters Jewel and Blu are Spix Macaws

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Kingdom: | Animalia
Phylum: | Chordata
Class: | Aves
Order: | Passeriformes
Family: | Corvidae

The Eurasian magpie, for instance, is thought to rank among the world's smartest creatures,[1][2] and is one of the few non-mammal species able to recognize itself in a mirror test.[3]

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Binomial Name: Canis lupus familiaris
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Caniformia
Family: Canidae
Genus: Canis
Species: Canis Lupus

Brian R.

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The emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri) is the tallest and heaviest of all living penguin species and is endemic to Antarctica. The male and female are similar in plumage and size, reaching 100 cm (39 in) in length and weighing from 22 to 45 kg (49 to 99 lb). Feathers of the head and back are black and sharply delineated from the white belly, pale-yellow breast and bright-yellow ear patches.

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The worms in the phylum Annelida (from the Latin root word annelus meaning ring) typically have complex segmented bodies (Fig. 3.43). The body of an annelid is divided into repeating sections called segments with many internal organs repeated in each segment. Earthworms (class Oligochaeta) are familiar terrestrial members of this phylum and leeches (class Hirudinea) are well-known parasitic members of the phylum, most commonly found in freshwater. The polychaete worms or “bristleworms” (class Polychaeta) are the largest group in the phylum Annelida. They occur mostly in marine and brackish water habitats.

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Emperor penguins were described in 1844 by English zoologist George Robert Gray, who created the generic name from Ancient Greek word elements, ἀ-πτηνο-δύτης [a-ptēno-dytēs], "without-wings-diver". Its specific name is in honour of the German naturalist Johann Reinhold Forster, who accompanied Captain James Cook on his second voyage and officially named five other penguin species.[2] Forster may have been the first person to see the penguins in 1773–74, when he recorded a sighting of what he believed was the similar king penguin (A. patagonicus) but given the location, may very well have been A. forsteri.[3]

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Emperor penguins （Aptenodytes forsteri）        were described in 1844 by English zoologist George Robert Gray, who created the generic name from Ancient Greek word elements, ἀ-πτηνο-δύτης [a-ptēno-dytēs], "without-wings-diver". 

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Emperor penguins （Aptenodytes forsteri）        were described in 1844 by English zoologist George Robert Gray, who created the generic name from Ancient Greek word elements, ἀ-πτηνο-δύτης [a-ptēno-dytēs], "without-wings-diver". 

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Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Artiodactyla
Infraorder:	Cetacea
Family:	Delphinidae
Genus:	Orcinus
Fitzinger, 1860[5]
Species:	O. orca

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Kingdom: | Animalia
Phylum: | Chordata
Class: | Mammalia
Order: | Artiodactyla
Infraorder: | Cetacea
Family: | Delphinidae
Genus: | Orcinus
Species: | O. orca

“of the realms of the dead" + “tun, cask; whale"

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The giant huntsman spider (Heteropoda maxima) found in Laos, is a species of huntsman spider (Sparassidae), a family of large, fast spiders that actively hunt down prey. It is considered the world's largest spider by leg span, which can reach up to 30 cm

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means horse

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Koalas are fucking horrible animals. They have one of the smallest brain to body ratios of any mammal, additionally - their brains are smooth. A brain is folded to increase the surface area for neurons. If you present a koala with leaves plucked from a branch, laid on a flat surface, the koala will not recognise it as food. They are too thick to adapt their feeding behaviour to cope with change. In a room full of potential food, they can literally starve to death. This is not the token of an animal that is winning at life. Speaking of stupidity and food, one of the likely reasons for their primitive brains is the fact that additionally to being poisonous, eucalyptus leaves (the only thing they eat) have almost no nutritional value. They can't afford the extra energy to think, they sleep more than 80% of their fucking lives. When they are awake all they do is eat, shit and occasionally scream like fucking satan. Because eucalyptus leaves hold such little nutritional value, koalas have to ferment the leaves in their guts for days on end. Unlike their brains, they have the largest hind gut to body ratio of any mammal. Many herbivorous mammals have adaptations to cope with harsh plant life taking its toll on their teeth, rodents for instance have teeth that never stop growing, some animals only have teeth on their lower jaw, grinding plant matter on bony plates in the tops of their mouths, others have enlarged molars that distribute the wear and break down plant matter more efficiently... Koalas are no exception, when their teeth erode down to nothing, they resolve the situation by starving to death, because they're fucking terrible animals. Being mammals, koalas raise their joeys on milk (admittedly, one of the lowest milk yields to body ratio... There's a trend here). When the young joey needs to transition from rich, nourishing substances like milk, to eucalyptus (a plant that seems to be making it abundantly clear that it doesn't want to be eaten), it finds it does not have the necessary gut flora to digest the leaves. To remedy this, the young joey begins nuzzling its mother's anus until she leaks a little diarrhoea (actually fecal pap, slightly less digested), which he then proceeds to slurp on. This partially digested plant matter gives him just what he needs to start developing his digestive system. Of course, he may not even have needed to bother nuzzling his mother. She may have been suffering from incontinence. Why? Because koalas are riddled with chlamydia. In some areas the infection rate is 80% or higher. This statistic isn't helped by the fact that one of the few other activities koalas will spend their precious energy on is rape. Despite being seasonal breeders, males seem to either not know or care, and will simply overpower a female regardless of whether she is ovulating. If she fights back, he may drag them both out of the tree, which brings us full circle back to the brain: Koalas have a higher than average quantity of cerebrospinal fluid in their brains. This is to protect their brains from injury... should they fall from a tree. An animal so thick it has its own little built in special ed helmet. I fucking hate them.

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The koala or, inaccurately, koala bear[a] (Phascolarctos cinereus) is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia. It is the only extant representative of the family Phascolarctidae and its closest living relatives are the wombats, which are members of the family Vombatidae.
Koala's diets consists exclusively of Eucalyptus leaves. These leaves have very limited nutritional value so koalas spend 20 hours a day sleeping. They are also highly unintelligent as they cannot recognize even Eucalyptus leaves as food when it is on the ground. Therefore, koalas can starve to death when on top of a pile of leaves.

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Tardigrades (/ˈtɑːrdɪɡreɪd/), known colloquially as water bears or moss piglets,[1][2][3][4] are a phylum of eight-legged segmented micro-animals.[1][5] They were first described by the German zoologist Johann August Ephraim Goeze in 1773, who called them little water bears. In 1777, the Italian biologist Lazzaro Spallanzani named them Tardigrada /tɑːrˈdɪɡrədə/, which means "slow steppers".[6]

They have been found everywhere in Earth's biosphere, from mountaintops to the deep sea and mud volcanoes,[7] and from tropical rainforests to the Antarctic.[8] Tardigrades are among the most resilient animals known,[9][10] with individual species able to survive extreme conditions—such as exposure to extreme temperatures, extreme pressures (both high and low), air deprivation, radiation, dehydration, and starvation—that would quickly kill most other known forms of life.[11] Tardigrades have survived exposure to outer space.[12][13] There are about 1,300 known species[14] in the phylum Tardigrada, a part of the superphylum Ecdysozoa consisting of animals that grow by ecdysis such as arthropods and nematodes. The earliest known true members of the group are known from Cretaceous amber in North America, but are essentially modern forms, and therefore likely have a significantly earlier origin, as they diverged from their closest relatives in the Cambrian, over 500 million years ago.

Tardigrades are usually about 0.5 mm (0.02 in) long when fully grown.[1] They are short and plump, with four pairs of legs, each ending in claws (usually four to eight) or suction disks.[1][15] Tardigrades are prevalent in mosses and lichens and feed on plant cells, algae, and small invertebrates. When collected, they may be viewed under a low-power microscope, making them accessible to students and amateur scientists.[16]

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Despite its size, the chihuahua is the spawn of the devil. They have an aggressive behaviour and are just repulsive to look at. Humans should be cursed to breeding such a beast. It is a breed of the species Canis familiaris which literally means dog slave.

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Fluttershy is a female Pegasus pony and one of the main characters of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic. She lives in a small cottage near the Everfree Forest and takes care of animals, the most prominent of her charges being Angel the bunny. She represents the element of kindness.

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Often presented in Kimpossible, the naked mole-rat (Heterocephalus glaber), also known as the sand puppy, is a burrowing rodent native to parts of East Africa. It is closely related to the blesmols and is the only species in the genus Heterocephalus of the family Heterocephalidae. The naked mole-rat and the Damaraland mole-rat (Fukomys damarensis) are the only known eusocial mammals, the highest classification of sociality. It has a highly unusual set of physical traits that allow it to thrive in a harsh underground environment and is the only mammalian thermoconformer, almost entirely ectothermic (cold-blooded) in how it regulates body temperature.

The naked mole-rat lacks pain sensitivity in its skin, and has very low metabolic and respiratory rates. While formerly considered to belong to the same family as other African mole-rats, Bathyergidae, more recent investigation places it in a separate family, Heterocephalidae. The naked mole-rat is also remarkable for its longevity and its resistance to cancer and oxygen deprivation.

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Scientific classification

Kingdom: | Animalia
Phylum: | Chordata
Class: | Mammalia
Order: | Monotremata
Family: |Ornithorhynchidae
Genus: | Ornithorhynchus
Species: | O. anatinus

The platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus), sometimes referred to as the duck-billed platypus, is a semiaquatic, egg-laying mammal endemic to eastern Australia, including Tasmania. The platypus is the sole living representative of its family (Ornithorhynchidae) and genus (Ornithorhynchus), though a number of related species appear in the fossil record.

Trust me - J.c

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A lynx is mostly known for it's sharp ears and piercing eyes that reflect, giving it it's Latin/Greek name: λύγξ - There are 4 possible types of Lynxes, being Bobcats, Canada Lynxes, Eurasian Lynxes and Iberian Lynx. They are meat eaters and are considered an endangered feline.

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Canis Lupus Familiares

Canis Lupus is the family name for the wolves, dogs, coyotes and other similar animals that could have stemmed from a very similar ancestor. The word "familiaris" means domestic or home which shows that Canis Lupus Familiaris are just normal house dogs that we can keep at home.

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Canis lupus familiaris (dogs)

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Identity

Preferred Scientific Name

Canis lupus familiaris Linnaeus, 1758

Preferred Common Name

Other Scientific Names

Canis dingo Blumenbach, 1780

Canis familiaris Linnaeus, 1758

Canis familiaris domesticus Linnaeus, 1758

Canis lupus Linnaeus, 1758

Canis lupus dingo Meyer, 1793

International Common Names

English: domestic dog; domestic dog (feral)

Local Common Names

Summary of Invasiveness

Canis lupus familiaris (the dog) is possibly the first animal to have been domesticated by humans. It has been selectively bred into a wide range of different forms. They are found throughout the world in many different habitats, both closely associated with humans and away from habitation. They are active hunters and have significant negative impacts on a wide range of native fauna.

Taxonomic Tree

Top of page

Domain: Eukaryota

Kingdom: Metazoa

Phylum: Chordata

Subphylum: Vertebrata

Class: Mammalia

Order: Carnivora

Suborder: Fissipeda

Family: Canidae

Genus: Canis

Species: Canis lupus familiaris

Description

Domestic dogs are believed to have first diverged from wolves around 100,000 years ago. Around 15,000 years ago dogs started diverging into the multitude of different breeds known today. This divergence was possibly triggered by humans changing from a nomadic, hunting based-lifestyle to a more settled, agriculture-based way of life (Vilà et al. 1997). Domestic dogs have been selectively bred for various behaviours, sensory capabilities and physical attributes, including dogs bred for herding livestock (collies, shepherds, etc.), different kinds of hunting (pointers, hounds, etc.), catching rats (small terriers), guarding (mastiffs, chows), helping fishermen with nets (Newfoundlands, poodles), pulling loads (huskies, St. Bernards), guarding carriages and horsemen (Dalmatians), and as companion dogs. Domestic dogs are therefore extremely variable but the basic morphology is that of the grey wolf, the wild ancestor of all domestic dog breeds.

Distribution

Dogs have been transported by humans to most areas of the world, including many places (such as oceanic islands) where large mammal carnivores do not naturally occur. Dogs have been taken to most inhabited islands in the Pacific but the extent to which they have become feral on forested islands is unclear. R. Hay (pers. comm. 1999), for example, saw little evidence that dogs on Niue were penetrating the forest to any great degree, but this may have been because of the sharp pinnacles and cracks in the limestone substrate. Dogs can range through a wide variety of habitats from open rangeland or desert to thick forest.

Distribution Table

The distribution in this summary table is based on all the information available. When several references are cited, they may give conflicting information on the status. Further details may be available for individual references in the Distribution Table Details section which can be selected by going to Generate Report.

Last updated: 10 Jan 2020

Habitat

Dogs are usually closely associated with humans so can potentially be found in all habitats. Feral and ranging domestic dogs may be found far from human habitation.

Habitat List

Terrestrial

Terrestrial - Managed

Cultivated / agricultural land

Present, no further details

Harmful (pest or invasive)

Terrestrial ‑ Natural / Semi-natural

Natural forests

Present, no further details

Harmful (pest or invasive)

Coastal areas

Present, no further details

Harmful (pest or invasive)

Biology and Ecology

Nutrition
Mainly carnivorous but may eat plant material and invertebrates

Reproduction
Placental, sexual. 4-12 puppies per litter. Both males and females become sexually mature at around 6-12 months.

Means of Movement and Dispersal

Introduction pathways to new locations
Transportation of domesticated animals:

Local dispersal methods
Escape from confinement: It is important to recognise that, even though there may be no truly feral dogs in a location, an uncontrolled domestic dog can wreak havoc on mammals and birds.

Impact Summary

Impact
General Impacts Compiled by IUCN SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG)
In Israel, free-ranging feral dogs are a major threat to populations of endangered mountain gazelles (see Gazella gazella ssp. gazella in IUCN Red List of Threatened Species) (Manor and Salz, 2004). Canine Distemper Virus (CDV) is thought to have caused several fatal epidemics within the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem in East Africa. The source of the CDV was probably domestic dogs in the local villages surrounding the park. The canids affected included silver-backed jackals ( Canis mesomelas) and bat-eared foxes ( Otocyon megalotis) in 1978 and endangered African wild dogs (see Lycaon pictus in IUCN Red List of Threatened Species) in 1991. The Serengeti lion population (see Panthera leo in IUCN Red List of Threatened Species) which remained unaffected during these two epidemics was hit by an epidemic in early 1994, caused by a morbillivirus which is closely related to CDV. Later that year the epidemic had spread north to lions, hyenas, bat-eared foxes and leopards in the Maasi Mara National reserve. This epidemic claimed at least 30% of the lion population (estimated at 3000 in Serengeti at that time). It is suggested that the possible route of transmission from domestic dogs was the spotted hyena that range through human habitation and travel long distances within the park (Roelke-Parker et al. 1996).

Uncontrolled domestic dogs can be equally as damaging as truly feral animals. In New Zealand, during study of kiwi (see Apteryx australis; Apteryx haastii; Apteryx mantelli; and Apteryx owenii in IUCN Red List of Threatened Species) in a Northland forest, the loss of 13 out of 23 kiwi fitted with transmitters was found to be the result of predation by one German shepherd dog. It was estimated that this single dog alone had killed 500 out of 900 birds, although this estimate was considered to be possibly conservative (Taborsky 1988). Seabirds and mammals are included among the prey taken by feral dogs (e.g. Dickman, 1996, Stevenson and Woelher, 2007).

Threatened Species

Threatened Species

Conservation Status

Where Threatened

Mechanism

References

Notes

Caretta caretta (loggerhead sea turtle)
VU (IUCN red list: Vulnerable); USA ESA listing as endangered species

Predation
US Fish and Wildlife Service, 2011b

Charadrius alexandrinus nivosus
USA ESA listing as threatened species

Predation
US Fish and Wildlife Service, 2007c

Eretmochelys imbricata (hawksbill turtle)
CR (IUCN red list: Critically endangered); USA ESA listing as endangered species

Predation
US Fish and Wildlife Service, 2007b

Gopherus agassizii (desert tortoise)
VU (IUCN red list: Vulnerable); USA ESA listing as threatened species

Predation
US Fish and Wildlife Service, 2010e

Lepidochelys olivacea (olive ridley sea turtle)
VU (IUCN red list: Vulnerable); USA ESA listing as endangered species

Predation

US Fish and Wildlife Service, 1998; Andrews et al., 2006; Abreu-Grobois and Plotkin, 2008

Monachus schauinslandi (Hawaiian monk seal)
EN (IUCN red list: Endangered); USA ESA listing as endangered species

Interaction with other invasive species

National Marine Fisheries Service, 2007

Odocoileus virginianus clavium (Key deer)
National list(s); USA ESA listing as endangered species

Predation

US Fish and Wildlife Service, 2010d; NatureServe, 2006; Lopez et al., 2003

Sylvilagus transitionalis (New England cottontail)
VU (IUCN red list: Vulnerable)

Predation
US Fish and Wildlife Service, 2013d

Synthliboramphus hypoleucus (Xantus' murrelet)
EN (IUCN red list: Endangered)

Predation
US Fish and Wildlife Service, 2012

Risk and Impact Factors

Top of page Invasiveness

Proved invasive outside its native range

Highly adaptable to different environments

Is a habitat generalist

Highly mobile locally

Benefits from human association (i.e. it is a human commensal)

Long lived

Impact outcomes

Conflict

Host damage

Negatively impacts animal health

Reduced native biodiversity

Threat to/ loss of endangered species

Threat to/ loss of native species

Impact mechanisms

Competition (unspecified)

Pest and disease transmission

Interaction with other invasive species

Predation

Uses

Domesticated dogs have been bred to assist humans in a wide range of activites including farming, hunting and companionship.

Uses List

General

Pet/aquarium trade

Sport (hunting, shooting, fishing, racing)

Working animals (miscellaneous)

Prevention and Control

Due to the variable regulations around (de)registration of pesticides, your national list of registered pesticides or relevant authority should be consulted to determine which products are legally allowed for use in your country when considering chemical control. Pesticides should always be used in a lawful manner, consistent with the product's label.
Management Information Compiled by IUCN SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG)
The principal techniques to control wild dogs are exclusion fencing, shooting, trapping and poisoning. Poisoning using 1080 is the most cost-effective means of reducing populations of wild dogs over large areas of remote or inaccessible country. New techniques such as the use of livestock guarding dogs, poison ejecting devices and toxic collars have been suggested as alternatives to current methods.

The Australian Bureau of Rural Sciences (BRS) in cooperation with the Vertebrate Pests Committee of the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Resource Management (SCARM) has published guidelines for managing the impacts of dingoes ( Canis lupus dingo) and other wild dogs ( C.l. familiaris) as part of the Managing Vertebrate Pests series. Please follow this link to view and download Fleming, P., Corbett, L., Harden, R. and Thomson, P. (2001) Managing the Impacts of Dingoes and Other Wild Dogs. Bureau of Rural Sciences, Canberra.

Bibliography

Anderson, A. J. 1990. Kuri. In King, C. M. (ed.) The Handbook of New Zealand Mammals. Oxford University Press, Auckland: 281-287.

Atkinson, I. A. E. and Atkinson, T. J. 2000. Land vertebrates as invasive species on islands served by the South Pacific Regional Environment Programme. In: Invasive Species in the Pacific: A Technical Review and Draft Regional Strategy. South Pacific Regional Environment Programme, Samoa: 19-84.

Barnett, B. D. 1982. Feral dogs of southern Isabela. Noticias Galapagos 35: 15-16.

Bauer, H. & Nowell, K. 2004. Panthera leo. In: IUCN 2007. 2007 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species http://www.iucnredlist.org/search/details.php/15951/all

BirdLife International 2004. Apteryx australis. In: IUCN 2007. 2007 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

BirdLife International 2004. Apteryx haastii. In: IUCN 2007. 2007 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/141094/0

BirdLife International 2004. Apteryx mantelli. In: IUCN 2007. 2007 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/150471/0

BirdLife International 2004. Apteryx owenii. In: IUCN 2007. 2007 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/141093/0

Blank, D.A. 2003. Gazella gazella ssp. gazella. In: IUCN 2007. 2007 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/8970/0

Bomford, M., 2003. Risk Assessment for the Import and Keeping of Exotic Vertebrates in Australia. Bureau of Rural Sciences, Canberra. http://www.feral.org.au/feral_documents/PC12803.pdf

CONABIO. 2008. Sistema de información sobre especies invasoras en México. Especies invasoras - Mamíferos. Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad. Fecha de acceso. http://www.conabio.gob.mx/invasoras/index.php/Especies_invasoras_-_Mam%C3%ADferos

Dickman, C.R. 1996. Impact of exotic generalist predators on the native fauna of Australia..Wildlife Biology 2: 185-195

Fleming P, Corbett L, Harden R and Thomson P., 2001. Managing the Impacts of Dingoes and Other Wild Dogs. Bureau of Rural Sciences Canberra Australia http://www.feral.org.au/index.cfm?fuseaction=search.ReferenceDetails&ID=1485&fer_ref_type=Book

Gargominy, O., Bouchet, P., Pascal, M., Jaffre, T. and Tourneu, J. C. 1996. Conséquences des introductions d'espèces animales et végétales sur la biodiversité en Nouvelle-Calédonie.. Rev. Ecol. (Terre Vie) 51: 375-401.

Glen, A.S., Gentle, M.N. and Dickman, C.R. 2007. Non-target impacts of poison baiting for predator control in Australia. Mammal Review Volume 37 Issue 3 Page 191-205, July 2007

Hunt, G.R., Hay R., Veltman, C. 1996. Multiple kagu Rhynochetos jubatus deaths caused by dogs attacks at a high altitude site on Pic Ningua, New Caledonia. International Bird Conservation, 6 : 295-306.

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. http://www.iucnredlist.org/

IUCN/SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG)., 2010. A Compilation of Information Sources for Conservation Managers Involved in the Prevention, Eradication, Management and Control of the Spread of Invasive Alien Species that are a Threat to Native biodiversity and Natural Ecosystems.

Körtner, G. 2007. 1080 aerial baiting for the control of wild dogs and its impacts on spotted-tailed quoll (Dasyurus maculatus). Wildlife Research 34: 48-53

Lapidge, Bourne, Braysher, and Sarre., 2004- present feral.org.au [Online]. Web-based ( http://www.feral.org.au) http://www.feral.org.au/content/species/dog.cfm

Macdonald, D. W. and C. Sillero-Zubiri. 2004. Biology and conservation of wild canids. Oxford University Press, UK.

Manor, M. and Saltz, D. 2004. The impact of free-roaming dogs on gazelle kid/female ratio in a fragmented area. Biologocal Conservation 119:231-236.

Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle [Ed]. 2003-2006 . Canis familiaris. Inventaire national du Patrimoine naturel, site Web : http://inpn.mnhn.fr. Document téléchargé le 28 mars 2008 . http://inpn.mnhn.fr/isb/servlet/ISBServlet?action=Espece&typeAction=10&pageReturn=ficheEspeceDescription.jsp&numero_taxon=162663

Pacific Invasives Initiative (PII), 2006. Mont Panié Mammal Control 'Proof-of-Concept' Project http://www.issg.org/cii/PII/demo/mtPanie.html

Pacific Invasives Initiative (PII), 2006a. Viwa Island Restoration Project http://www.issg.org/cii/PII/demo/viwa.html

Pascal, M., Barré, N., De Garine-Wichatitsky, Lorvelec, O., Frétey, T., Brescia, F., Jourdan, H. 2006. Les peuplements néo-calédoniens de vertébébrés : invasions, disparitions. Pp 111-162, in M.-L. Beauvais et al., : Les espèces envahissantes dans l'archipel néo-calédonien, Paris, IRD Éditions, 260 p.+ cédérom

Roelke-Parker, M.E.; Munson, L.; Packer, C.; Kock, R.; Cleaveland, S.; Carpenter, M.; O'Brien, S.J.; Pospischil, A.; Hofmann-Lehmann, R.; Lutz, H.; Mwamengele, G.L.M.; Mgasa, M.N.; Machange, G.A.; Summers, B.; Appel, M.J.G., 1996. A canine distemper virus epidemic in Serengeti lions (Panthera leo). Nature [0028-0836]:1996 vol:379 iss:6564 pg:441

Sillero-Zubiri, C., M. Hoffman, and D. W. Macdonald (eds.). 2004. Canids: foxes, wolves, jackals and dogs. Status survey and conservation action plan. IUCN/SSC Canid Specialist Group. Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK. Sillero-Zubiri, C., M. Hoffman, and D. W. Macdonald (eds.). 2004. Canids: foxes, wolves, jackals and dogs. Status survey and conservation action plan. IUCN/SSC Canid Specialist Group. Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK. http://www.canids.org/cap/COVER.pdf

Taborsky, M. 1988. Kiwis and dog predation: observations in Waitangi State Forest. Notornis 35: 197-202.

Varnham, K. 2006. Non-native species in UK Overseas Territories: a review. JNCC Report 372. Peterborough: United Kingdom. http://www.jncc.gov.uk/page-3660

Vila, C., Savolainen, P., Maldonado, J.E., Amorim, I.R., Rice, J.E., Honeycutt, R.L., Crandall, K.A., Lundeberg, J. and Wayne, R.K. 1997. Multiple and ancient origins of the domestic dog. Science 276: 1687-1689

References

Abreu-Grobois, A, Plotkin, P, 2008. Lepidochelys olivacea. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.1 www.iucnredlist.org

Andrews HV, Tripathy A, Aghue S, Glen S, John S, Naveen K, 2006. The status of sea turtle populations in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. In: Towards An Integrated And Collaborative Sea Turtle Conservation Programme in India: a UNEP/CMS-IOSEA Project Report [ed. by Shanker K, Andrews HV]. Mamallapuram, Tamil Nadu, India: Centre for Herpetology/Madras Crocodile Bank Trust, Post Bag 4,

Caribbean Conservation Association, 1991. St. Lucia Country Environmental Profile. St. Lucia Country Environmental Profile. Castries, Saint Lucia 335 pp.
ISSG, 2011. Global Invasive Species Database (GISD). Invasive Species Specialist Group of the IUCN Species Survival Commission. http://www.issg.org/database
Lopez RR, Silvy NJ, Frank PA, Pierce BL, 2003. Effects of supplemental feeding on Key deer behavior in urban areas, Florida Scientist, 66267-272.
National Marine Fisheries Service, 2007. In: Recovery Plan for the Hawaiian Monk Seal (Monachus schauinslandi). Second Revision. National Marine Fisheries Service, 165 pp.
NatureServe, 2011. NatureServe Explorer: An online encyclopedia of life [web application]. Version 7.1. Arlington, Virginia, USA: http://www.natureserve.org/explorer

Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States, 2012. Management Plan for the Millet Nature Trail, St. Lucia. The OECS Protecting the Eastern Caribbean Region's Biodiversity Project Inception Report. Unpublished Draft. Castries, Saint Lucia: OECS, 31 pp.
US Fish and Wildlife Service, 1984. In: Mona Iguana Recovery Plan. US Fish and Wildlife Service, 26 pp. http://ecos.fws.gov/docs/recovery_plan/840419b.pdf US Fish and Wildlife Service, 1992. In: Recovery Plan for the Puerto Rican Crested Toad (Peltophryne lemur). US Fish and Wildlife Service, 43 pp. http://ecos.fws.gov/docs/recovery_plan/920807a.pdf US Fish and Wildlife Service, 1998. In: Recovery Plan for U.S. Pacific Populations of the Olive Ridley Turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea). US Fish and Wildlife Service, 63 pp. http://ecos.fws.gov/docs/recovery_plan/981201a.pdf US Fish and Wildlife Service, 2000. In: Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Final Rule to List the Riparian Brush Rabbit and the Riparian, or San Joaquin Valley, Woodrat as Endangered. US Fish and Wildlife Service, 10 pp. US Fish and Wildlife Service, 2004. In: Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Listing the San Miguel Island Fox, Santa Rosa Island Fox, Santa Cruz Island Fox, and Santa Catalina Island Fox as Endangered. US Fish and Wildlife Service, 19 pp. US Fish and Wildlife Service, 2006. In: California least tern (Sternula antillarum browni). 5-year Review: Summary and Evaluation. US Fish and Wildlife Service, 32 pp. US Fish and Wildlife Service, 2007. In: Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Proposed Rule To List Six Foreign Bird Species Under the Endangered Species Act. 72(241) US Fish and Wildlife Service, 71298-71315. https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2007-12-17/pdf/E7-24347.pdf US Fish and Wildlife Service, 2007. In: Hawksbill Sea Turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata). 5-Year Review: Summary and Evaluation. US Fish and Wildlife Service, 90 pp. US Fish and Wildlife Service, 2007. In: Recovery Plan for the Pacific Coast Population of the Western Snowy Plover (Charadrius alexandrinus nivosus). US Fish and Wildlife Service, 292 pp. http://ecos.fws.gov/docs/recovery_plan/070924.pdf US Fish and Wildlife Service, 2010. In: Attwater's Prairie-Chicken Recovery Plan, Second Revision. US Fish and Wildlife Service, 107 pp. US Fish and Wildlife Service, 2010. In: Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Determination of Threatened Status for Five Penguin Species. 75(148) US Fish and Wildlife Service, 45497-45527. http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2010-08-03/pdf/2010-18884.pdf US Fish and Wildlife Service, 2010. In: Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Final Rule To List the Galapagos Petrel and Heinroth's Shearwater as Threatened Throughout Their Ranges. 75(2) US Fish and Wildlife Service, 235-249. https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2010-01-05/pdf/E9-31308.pdf US Fish and Wildlife Service, 2010. In: Key deer (Odocoileus virginianus clavium). 5-Year Review: Summary and Evaluation. US Fish and Wildlife Service, 29 pp. + appendices. US Fish and Wildlife Service, 2010. In: Mojave Population of the Desert Tortoise (Gopherus agassizii). 5-Year Review: Summary and Evaluation. US Fish and Wildlife Service, 123 pp. http://ecos.fws.gov/docs/five_year_review/doc3572.DT%205Year%20Review_FINAL.pdf US Fish and Wildlife Service, 2010. In: Pacific Pocket Mouse (Perognathus longimembris pacificus). 5-Year review: summary and evaluation. US Fish and Wildlife Service, 86 pp. US Fish and Wildlife Service, 2010. In: San Joaquin Kit Fox (Vulpes macrotis mutica). 5-Year Review: Summary and Evaluation. US Fish and Wildlife Service, 121 pp. US Fish and Wildlife Service, 2011. In: Alameda Whipsnake (Masticophis lateralis euryxanthus). 5-Year Review: Summary and Evaluation. US Fish and Wildlife Service, 34 pp. http://ecos.fws.gov/docs/five_year_review/doc3886.pdf US Fish and Wildlife Service, 2011. In: Endangered and Threatened Species; Determination of Nine Distinct Population Segments of Loggerhead Sea Turtles as Endangered or Threatened. 76(184) US Fish and Wildlife Service, 58868-58952. http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-09-22/pdf/2011-23960.pdf US Fish and Wildlife Service, 2012. In: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service species assessment and listing priority assignment form: Synthliboramphus hypoleucus. US Fish and Wildlife Service, 24 pp. http://ecos.fws.gov/docs/candidate/assessments/2012/r8/B098_V01.pdf US Fish and Wildlife Service, 2013. In: Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; 12-Month Finding on Two Petitions to Delist the Preble's Meadow Jumping Mouse. 78(101) US Fish and Wildlife Service, 31680-31712. http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2013-05-24/pdf/2013-12387.pdf US Fish and Wildlife Service, 2013. In: Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Determination of Endangered Status for the Taylor's Checkerspot Butterfly and Threatened Status for the Streaked Horned Lark; Final Rule. 78(192) US Fish and Wildlife Service, 61452-61503. https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2013-10-03/pdf/2013-23567.pdf US Fish and Wildlife Service, 2013. In: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service species assessment and listing priority assignment form: Gopherus morafkai. US Fish and Wildlife Service, 98 pp. http://ecos.fws.gov/docs/candidate/assessments/2014/r2/C07G_V01.pdf US Fish and Wildlife Service, 2013. In: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service species assessment and listing priority assignment form: Sylvilagus transitionalis. US Fish and Wildlife Service, 31 pp. http://ecos.fws.gov/docs/candidate/assessments/2013/r5/A09B_V01.pdf US Fish and Wildlife Service, 2014. In: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service species assessment and listing priority assignment form: Kinosternon sonoriense longifemorale. US Fish and Wildlife Service, 24 pp. http://ecos.fws.gov/docs/candidate/assessments/2014/r2/C067_V01.pdf
Distribution References

CABI Data Mining, 2001. CAB Abstracts Data Mining.,

CABI, Undated. CABI Compendium: Status as determined by CABI editor. Wallingford, UK: CABI

Caribbean Conservation Association, 1991. St. Lucia Country Environmental Profile., Castries, Saint Lucia: St. Lucia Country Environmental Profile. 335 pp.
Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG), 2011. Global Invasive Species Database (GISD). In: Global Invasive Species Database (GISD), Auckland, New Zealand: University of Auckland. http://www.issg.org/database
Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States, 2012. Management Plan for the Millet Nature Trail, St. Lucia. In: The OECS Protecting the Eastern Caribbean Region's Biodiversity Project Inception Report, Castries, Saint Lucia: OECS. 31 pp.

Contributors

Compiled by: IUCN SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG) with support from the Overseas Territories Environmental Programme (OTEP) project XOT603, a joint project with the Cayman Islands Government - Department of Environment

Last Modified: Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Distribution Maps

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Don't need the entire report? Generate a print friendly version containing only the sections you need. Preferred Scientific Name Canis lupus familiaris Linnaeus, 1758 Preferred Common Name Other Scientific Names Canis dingo Blumenbach, 1780 Canis familiaris Linnaeus, 1758 Canis familiaris domesticus Linnaeus, 1758 Canis lupus Linnaeus, 1758 Canis lupus dingo Meyer, 1793 International Common Names English: domestic dog; domestic dog (feral) Local Common Names Canis lupus familiaris (the dog) is possibly the first animal to have been domesticated by humans.

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This means wise man in Latin

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The American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus) is a species of crocodilian found in the Neotropics. It is the most widespread of the four extant species of crocodiles from the Americas, with populations present from South Florida and the coasts of Mexico to as far south as Peru and Venezuela.

The habitat of the American crocodile consists largely of coastal areas. It is also found in river systems, but tends to prefer salinity, resulting in the species congregating in brackish lakes, mangrove swamps, lagoons, cays, and small islands. Other crocodiles also have tolerance to saltwater due to salt glands underneath the tongue, but the American crocodile is the only species other than the saltwater crocodile to commonly live and thrive in saltwater. They can be found on beaches and small island formations without any freshwater source, such as many cays and islets across the Caribbean. They are also found in hypersaline lakes; one of the largest known populations inhabits Lago Enriquillo in the Dominican Republic.

The American crocodile is one of the largest crocodile species. Males can reach lengths of 6.1 m (20 ft 0 in), weighing up to 907 kg (2,000 lb). On average, mature males are more in the range of 2.9 to 4.1 m (9 ft 6 in to 13 ft 5 in) in length weighing up to about 400 kg (880 lb). As with other crocodile species, females are smaller, rarely exceeding 3.8 m (12 ft 6 in) in length even in the largest-bodied population.

Like any other large crocodilian, the American crocodile is potentially dangerous to humans, but it tends not to be as aggressive as some other species. American crocodiles coexist with the American alligator in Florida, and with the smaller spectacled caiman within Central America and South America.

The American crocodile was described by Georges Cuvier in 1807, and became known as the "sharp-snout alligator". In 1822, Constantine Samuel Rafinesque postulated that the species was in fact a crocodile.

The species was redescribed as Crocodylus floridanus by William Temple Hornaday in 1875, when Hornaday and C. E. Jackson were sent to Florida to collect alligator hides. Upon hearing of a "big old gator" in Arch Creek at the head of Biscayne Bay, Hornaday and his companions searched for it and reported:

In a few hours, we got sight of him, out on the bank in a saw-grass wallow. He was a monster for size-a perfect whale of a saurian, gray in color-and by all the powers, he was a genuine crocodile!

Crocodylus floridanus is now considered an invalid junior synonym of C. acutus.

Until 2020, the evolution of the American crocodile was poorly understood. However, the discovery of the Miocene species Crocodylus checchiai indicates that it, the Orinoco crocodile ( Crocodylus intermedius), Morelet's crocodile ( C. moreletii), and the Cuban crocodile ( C. rhombifer) all share an ancestor hailing from Africa. The newly discovered animal may also represent the base of the evolutionary radiation of these animals, representing the missing link between crocodiles in Africa and the Americas.

The genus Crocodylus likely originated in Africa and radiated outward toward Southeast Asia and the Americas, although an Australia/Asia origin has also been considered. Phylogenetic evidence supports Crocodylus diverging from its closest recent relative, the extinct of Madagascar, around 25 million years ago, near the Oligocene/ Miocene boundary. American crocodile populations in Florida, Jamaica and Hispaniola (in the Dominican Republic) differ in gene frequencies.

Below is a cladogram based on a 2018 tip dating study by Lee & Yates simultaneously using morphological, molecular ( DNA sequencing), and stratigraphic ( fossil age) data, as revised by the 2021 Hekkala et al. paleogenomics study using DNA extracted from the extinct .

The American crocodile is a highly fecund species. Average clutch size is 38 eggs, and fecundity is over 20% after 15 years old. The species has a high adult survival rate and a long life span. Like all true crocodilians, the American crocodile is a quadruped, with short, stocky legs; a long, powerful tail; and a scaly hide with rows of ossified scutes running down its back and tail. Its snout is elongated and includes a strong pair of jaws. A 3.2-metre (10 ft 6 in), 164-kilogram (362 lb) specimen had a bite force of 4,355 N (979 ). Its eyes have nictitating membranes for protection, along with lacrimal glands, which produce tears.

The nostrils, eyes, and ears are situated on the top of its head, so the rest of the body can be concealed underwater for surprise attacks. Camouflage also helps it prey on food. The snout is longer and narrower than that of the American alligator, but broader on average than that of the Orinoco crocodile. American crocodiles are also paler and more grayish than the relatively dark-hued American alligator. This crocodile species normally crawls on its belly, but it can also "high walk". Larger specimens can charge up to nearly 16 km/h (10 mph). They can swim as fast as 32 km/h (20 mph) by moving their bodies and tails in a sinuous fashion, but they cannot sustain this speed.

Adults have a uniform grayish-green coloration with white or yellow undersides, while juveniles have dark cross-banding on the tail and back.

The American crocodile is sometimes confused with the Morelet's crocodile, a smaller species that is native to Mexico.

New hatchlings are about 27 cm ( in) in length and about 60 g (2 oz) in mass. The average adult in the continental rivers can range from 2.9 to 4 m (9 ft 6 in to 13 ft 1 in) long and weigh up to 382 kg (842 lb) in males, while females can range from 2.5 to 3 m (8 ft 2 in to 9 ft 10 in) and weigh up to 173 kg (381 lb), the lower total length representing their average size at sexual maturity, the upper representing the expected upper size limit for the respective sex in most known populations. Common weights of adult American crocodiles in Florida may range from 50 to 250 kg (110 to 550 lb) with corresponding lengths of 2.5 to 3.85 m (8 ft 2 in to 12 ft 8 in). With extensive conservation efforts underway, there appears to be an increase in the number of large American crocodiles in Florida, some of the largest reportedly exceeding 4 m (13 ft 1 in) in length. Eight adult American crocodiles from Costa Rica ranged in total length from 2.82 to 4.83 m (9 ft 3 in to 15 ft 10 in). Large adults of this species are capable of reaching 500-600 kg (1,100-1,300 lb) in weight, with individuals approaching 6 m (19 ft 8 in) exceeding 1,000 kg (2,200 lb) in weight, ranking it among the largest living crocodilians in the Neotropical realm. Body mass can be fairly variable in mature adults. A large male specimen from Costa Rica measuring 4.83 m (15 ft 10 in) in total length weighed about 538 kg (1,186 lb). On the other hand, another specimen measuring 3.95 m (13 ft 0 in) in total length was found to have weighed 500 kg (1,100 lb) An individual named "Papillon" was considered to be one of the largest American crocodiles in captivity. It measured 4.3 m (14 ft 1 in) in length, weighed 500 kg (1,100 lb), and was estimated to be more than 80 years old when he died. The largest recorded female measured 4.4 m (14 ft 5 in) in length and weighed 450 kg (1,000 lb). Exceptionally large specimens may arguably exceed 5 m (16 ft 5 in), possibly reaching or exceeding 6.1 m (20 ft 0 in), but such specimens are unverified and possibly dubious although some are arguably supported by size projections from skull lengths. These exceptionally large crocodiles are estimated to range between 6 and 7 m (19 ft 8 in and 23 ft 0 in) in length and weigh between 900 and 1,300 kg (2,000 and 2,900 lb), though these are mere estimations and not verified.

A large American crocodile in the Tárcoles River, Costa Rica; large specimens there can reach over 4.5 meters long and weigh up to over a half ton.

The American crocodile is the most widespread of the four extant species of crocodiles from the Americas. They are saltwater-tolerant, and have thus been capable of colonizing a multitude of islands within the Caribbean, and on some coastal Pacific islands as well. They inhabit waters such as mangrove swamps, river mouths, fresh waters, and salt lakes, and can even be found at sea, hence their wide distribution throughout southern Florida, the Greater Antilles (excluding Puerto Rico and Isla de la Juventud, where they are replaced by the introduced spectacled caiman), Martinique, southern Mexico (including the Yucatán Peninsula), Central America, and the South American countries of Colombia, Peru, Venezuela (including on Margarita Island), and Ecuador. The American crocodile is especially plentiful in Costa Rica.

American crocodiles coexist with the smaller spectacled caiman within Central America. The only other crocodiles present within the American crocodile's range are the Morelet's crocodile, and the critically endangered Cuban and Orinoco crocodiles.[citation needed ] In addition, an American/Cuban crocodile hybrid was recently discovered in the Cancún area of Mexico. The crocodile likely originated in the Zapata Swamp of Cuba (the only place where these wild hybrids exist, and where the two species are sympatric), and swam to the Yucatán Peninsula.[citation needed ]

One of its largest documented populations (the largest in the Caribbean) is in Lago Enriquillo, a hypersaline lake in the Dominican Republic. In Haiti, the only population known is in the brackish lake Etang Saumâtre, where the population is nearing extirpation due to overhunting and poaching. In Jamaica, the species inhabits most of the swamps available, as well as brackish portions of rivers. American crocodiles have recently been sighted in Grand Cayman, leading experts to believe the species may be swimming from Cuba (which is home to a large American crocodile population) and slowly repopulating Grand Cayman.

The American crocodile's saline tolerance may have allowed it to colonize limited portions of the United States, particularly southern Florida. Contrary to popular misinformation, the presence of the American alligator is not the reason the American crocodile was unable to populate brackish waters north of Florida, but rather the climate, as crocodiles are less tolerant of cold. Within the United States, the American crocodile's distribution is generally limited to the southern tip of Florida, though at least two have been found as far north as the Tampa Bay area. They are primarily found south of the latitude of Miami, in Everglades National Park, Florida Bay, Biscayne Bay, Dry Tortugas National Park and the Florida Keys. A sizable population occurs near Homestead, at the Turkey Point Nuclear Generating Station. Some individuals have been sighted in Palm Beach, Brevard, Pinellas and Sarasota counties. Their range in Florida is the only place in the world where alligators and crocodiles coexist.

The current US population, estimated at 2,000 and growing, is a sign of return to the northernmost portion of their range. There were suspicions as early as 1829 by Rafinesque that there were more than just alligators in the state, but confirmation could not be acquired until 1869, when a specimen could be brought back for examination. Records show they were plentiful in areas like Key Largo, Miami Beach, and wherever there were the appropriate mangroves for nesting and foraging. However, at the end of the 19th century, hunting them for their leather became a cottage industry in South Florida, and beginning in 1910, habitat destruction commenced on a massive scale, with the construction of a railroad designed to connect the mainland with the Keys. Crocodile hunters, who migrated to the upper Florida Keys before and after the railroad's construction, slaughtered almost every crocodile in northeast Florida Bay for the commercial market. The widespread hunting did not cease until the 1970s: at one point in that decade, there were fewer than thirty total nests counted. As of 2020, further population seems to be expanding south to reclaim former habitat in the Florida Keys, where numbers are multiplying quickly, and old records indicate they once inhabited mangroves as far north as Tampa Bay.

American crocodiles are more susceptible to cold weather than American alligators. American crocodiles do not have social groups but occasionally, they congregate for feeding and basking in the daytime. While basking, they will leave their mouths wide open that exposes blood vessels in the mouth to cooler and warmer air, which helps regulate body temperature. While an American alligator can survive in water temperatures of 7.2 °C (45.0 °F) and below for some time, an American crocodile in that environment would lose consciousness and drown due to hypothermia. American crocodiles, however, have a faster growth rate than alligators, and are much more tolerant of saltwater.

Unlike other crocodiles, the American crocodile uses acoustic signals to communicate. Crocodile communication is centered on short-distance communications during courtship and hatching.

Cleaning symbiosis involving fish and the American crocodile has been described.

Adult male C. acutus

American crocodiles are apex predators, and any aquatic or terrestrial animal they encounter in freshwater, riparian and coastal saltwater habitats is potential prey.

The snout of the American crocodile is broader than some specialized fish-eating crocodilians (e.g., gharials and freshwater crocodiles), allowing it to supplement its diet with a wider variety of prey. In addition the snout gets even broader and bulkier as the animal matures, a sign for a shift in prey items. Prey species have ranged in size from the insects taken by young American crocodiles to full-grown cattle taken by large adults, and can include various birds, mammals, turtles, snakes, lizards, smaller crocodilians, echinoderms, crabs, other crustaceans, snails, frogs, fish, and occasionally carrion. In Haiti, hatchling and juvenile American crocodiles lived primarily off of fiddler crabs ( Uca ssp.), making up 33.8% and 62.3% of the diet by weight, respectively. Elsewhere, aquatic insects and their larvae and snails are near the top of the food list for American crocodiles at this very early age. Immature and subadult American crocodiles, per a study in Mexico, have a more diverse diet that can include insects, fish, frogs, small turtles, birds and small mammals. One specimen of 1.2 m (3 ft 11 in) had a catfish, a mourning dove and a bare-tailed woolly opossum in its stomach.

In Florida, bass, tarpon and especially mullet, large crabs, snakes, mammals that habit the riparian and coastal regions of the Everglades, such as opossums and raccoons appeared to be the primary prey of American crocodiles. In Haiti, adults appeared to live largely off of various birds, including herons, storks, flamingos, pelicans, grebes, coots and moorhens, followed by concentrations of fish including and Cichlasoma, at times being seen to capture turtles, dogs and goats. One 3 m (9 ft 10 in) adult from Honduras had stomach contents consisting of a 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) crocodile of its own species, a turtle shell and peccary hooves. It was noted that historically in Mexico that, among several local farmers, the capturing of livestock by American crocodiles has been a source of some conflict between humans and American crocodiles and large adults occasionally can become habitual predators of goats, dogs, pigs and cattle. In Quintana Roo, Mexico, most prey that could be determined was fish for sub-adults and adults with sub-adults having a broader prey base than either younger or adult American crocodiles. In Costa Rica, American crocodiles have been recorded hunting and killing adult female olive ridley sea turtles ( Lepidochelys olivacea) when they come to nest around beaches. Reportedly, these American crocodiles hunt primarily in the first few hours after nightfall, especially on moonless nights, although they will feed at any time. It hunts in the typical way for most crocodilians, ambushing terrestrial prey when it comes to edge of the water or is sitting in shallows and dragging it down to be drowned or attempting to ambush aquatic prey from near the surface of the water.

Interspecies predatory relations

Adult American crocodiles are apex predators; they have no natural predators. They are known predators of lemon sharks, and sharks avoid areas with American crocodiles.

American crocodile (left) and an American alligator (right) at a dry sand pond in the Everglades, Florida. American crocodiles and alligators are usually very tolerant of one another in places where they co-exist. However, they sometimes compete with each other for food and other resources.

Usually, American alligators are dominant over and more behaviorally aggressive than American crocodiles. However, on one occasion, an American crocodile in a Florida zoo escaped its cage and started a fight with a large male American alligator in a bordering pen, and was killed. Conversely, there is one confirmed case of an American crocodile preying on a sub-adult American alligator in the wild in Florida. American alligators and American crocodiles do not often come into conflict in the wild, due largely to habitat partitioning and largely separate distributions.

There are several records of American crocodiles killing and eating spectacled caimans in South America. Areas with healthy American crocodile populations often hold only limited numbers of spectacled caimans, while conversely areas that formerly held American crocodiles but where they are now heavily depleted or are locally extinct show a growth of caiman numbers, due to less competition as well as predation. In areas of Cuba where the two species coexist, the smaller but more aggressive Cuban crocodile is behaviorally dominant over the larger American crocodile. In Mexico, some Morelet's crocodile individuals have escaped from captivity, establishing feral populations and creating a problem for the populations of American crocodile, which must compete with this invasive species.

American crocodiles breed in late fall or early winter, engaging in drawn-out mating ceremonies in which males emit low-frequency bellows to attract females. Body size is more important than age in determining reproductive capabilities, and females reach sexual maturity at a length of about 2.8 m (9 ft 2 in). In February or March, gravid females will begin to create nests of sand, mud, and dead vegetation along the water's edge. Nest location is crucial, and with the correct amount of vegetation, the eggs will develop within a small temperature range. Because sex determination is temperature-dependent in crocodilians, slight aberrations in temperature may result in all-male or all-female clutches, which would possibly harm the health of the population. About one month later, when it is time to lay, the female will dig a wide hole diagonally into the side of the nest and lay 30 to 70 eggs in it, depending on her size. Females will maintain and reuse these holes for many years. After laying, the female may cover the eggs with debris or leave them uncovered. The white, elongated eggs are 8 cm (3 in) long and 5 cm (2 in) wide, with a number of pores in the brittle shell.

During the 75- to 80-day incubation period, the parents will guard the nest, often inhabiting a hole in the bank nearby. Females especially have been known to guard their nests with ferocity. But in spite of these precautions, American crocodile eggs sometimes fall prey to raccoons (arguably the most virulent natural predator of crocodilian nests in the Americas), coatis, foxes, skunks or other scavenging mammals (including coyotes in Mexico and American black bears in southern Florida), as well as large predatory ants, crabs and vultures. In Panama, green iguanas were seen to dig up and prey on American crocodile eggs occasionally, although in several cases were caught by the mother American crocodile and eaten. Crocodilian eggs are somewhat brittle, but softer than bird eggs. Despite noticeable nest guarding during egg incubation, guarding of young after hatching seems to be minimal in this species.

This species exists mostly in tropical areas with distinct rainy seasons, and the young hatch near the time of the first rains of the summer (July-August) after the preceding dry season, and before the bodies of water where they live flood. In this stage of development of their young, mother American crocodiles exhibit a unique mode of parental care. During the hatching process, when the young American crocodiles are most vulnerable to predation, they will instinctively call out in soft, grunt-like croaks. These sounds trigger the female to attend to the nest, uncovering the eggs if they have been covered. Then she will aid the hatchlings in escaping their eggs and scoop them up with her mouth, carrying them to the closest water source.

The hatchlings, which are 24 to 27 cm ( to in) in length, have been reported to actively hunt prey within a few days of hatching. It is not uncommon for the mother to care for her young even weeks after they have hatched, remaining attentive to their calls and continuing to provide transportation. About five weeks after hatching, the young American crocodiles disband in search of their own independent lives. Most of them will not survive, being preyed upon by several types of raptorial birds, other reptiles, and large fishes (e.g., barred catfish, Atlantic tarpons, common snook and lemon sharks, boa constrictors, black spiny-tailed iguanas and spectacled caimans). Those that do survive grow rapidly, feeding on insects, fish and frogs. Additionally, some young American crocodiles feed on each other.

Crocodylus acutus in La Manzanilla, Mexico.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the species as vulnerable, but it has not been assessed since 1996. On March 20, 2007, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service declassified the American crocodile as an endangered species, changing its status to " threatened". It remains protected from poaching and killing under the federal Endangered Species Act. NatureServe considers the Florida population "Imperiled".

Because of hide hunting, pollution, loss of habitat, and commercial farming, the American crocodile is endangered in parts of its range. As a result of overhunting in the 1950s and 1960s, Venezuela banned commercial crocodile skin harvesting for a decade starting in 1972. In southern Florida, about two-thirds of American crocodile deaths are attributed to road collisions, about 10% to intentional killing, and only about 5% to natural causes. In recent years in Jamaica there has been rampant poaching of the species for their meat and there has been a significant population drop compounded by the lack of action by the government. On Hispaniola, they were once found throughout the island, but currently, the only confirmed remaining presence is at the two largest lakes on the island: Etang Saumâtre in Haiti, and Lago Enriquillo in the Dominican Republic.

An estimated 1,000 to 2,000 American crocodiles live in Mexico, Central America and South America, but population data is limited. An additional 500 to 1,200 are believed to live in southern Florida.

An American crocodile in Everglades National Park. Although considered only moderately aggressive by the standards of crocodilians worldwide, the American crocodile is likely the most dangerous American crocodilian and attacks are frequently fatal due to the size and formidable teeth of the species.

Attacks by American crocodiles have been reported in Mexico, Costa Rica, and Panama. The American crocodile rates somewhere in the middle of all crocodilians temperamentally. A study by the IUCN found that it has the highest incidence of reported attacks on humans of any of the crocodilians from the Americas, but fatalities were rare. The species usually does not attack people as regularly as Old World crocodiles do; the estimated number of attacks is considerably smaller than those by the saltwater ( C. porosus) and Nile crocodiles ( C. niloticus), which are considered the most aggressive crocodilians towards humans. Particular to this species, it is noted for having a shy demeanor and clearly does not want anything to do with humans; it will not stand its ground and will flee humans at the very sight of them. The Cuban crocodile ( C. rhombifer) is rather more aggressive in interspecies interactions than the American crocodile and attacks and displaces American crocodiles when they are kept in mixed species enclosures at zoos or at crocodile farms together, despite being smaller than the American species. However, attacks on humans are rarely reported in Cuban crocodiles, due to its much more limited habitat and range.

In May 2007, two instances occurred within one week of children being attacked and killed by this species-one in Mexico just south of Puerto Vallarta and one in Costa Rica. On August 24, 2014, a man and a woman were swimming in a canal in Gables by the Sea, a community in Coral Gables, Florida, at 02:00, a canal where crocodiles were known to occur, when they were bitten in the shoulder and the hand by an American crocodile. Although the crocodile was 3.68 m (12 ft 1 in) in length, and weighed an estimated 250 kilograms (550 lb), it did not press the attack, but released and moved away from its victims. (Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission, Crocodile Response Program) This was the first documented wild crocodile attack on humans in Florida since records of human-crocodile conflict have been kept. There have reportedly been 36 American crocodile attacks on humans from 1995 to 2017 in the Cancun area of southeastern Mexico.

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28. ^ Schmidt, Karl Patterson (1924). "Notes on Central American crocodiles". Fieldiana Zoology. Field Museum of Natural History. 12 (6): 79-92. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.3195. hdl:10111/UIUCOCA:notesoncentralam126schm. OCLC 670073573.

29. ^ Villegas, Alejandro; Schmitter-Soto, Juan Jacobo (10 December 2008). "Feeding habits of the american crocodile, crocodylus acutus (cuvier, 1807) (reptilia: crocodylidae) in the Southern Coast of Quintana Roo, México". Acta Zoológica Mexicana. 24 (3): 117-124. doi:10.21829/azm.2008.243911.

30. ^ Ortiz, R. M.; Plotkin, P. T. & Owens, D. W. (1997). "Predation upon olive ridley sea turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea) by the American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus) at Playa Nancite, Costa Rica" (PDF). Chelonian Conservation and Biology. 2: 585-586.

31. ^ Sisneros, Joseph A.; Nelson, Donald R. (2001). "Surfactants as chemical shark repellents: past, present, and future". In Sisneros, Joseph A.; Nelson, Donald R. (eds.). The behavior and sensory biology of elasmobranch fishes: an anthology in memory of Donald Richard Nelson. Springer Netherlands. pp. 117-130. doi:10.1007/978-94-017-3245-1_9. ISBN 978-94-017-3245-1. ProQuest 821748525.

32. ^ Ogden, John C. (24 April 1978). "Status and Nesting Biology of the American Crocodile, Crocodylus acutus, (Reptilia, Crocodilidae) in Florida". Journal of Herpetology. 12 (2): 183-196. doi:10.2307/1563406. JSTOR 1563406.

33. Ramos Targarona, Roberto; Rodríguez Soberón, Roberto; Tabet, Manuel Alonso and Thorbjarnarson, John B. ^ Cuban Crocodile, Crocodylus rhombifer. iucncsg.org.

34. ^ Ogden, John C. (1978). "Status and Nesting Biology of the American Crocodile, Crocodylus acutus, (Reptilia, Crocodilidae) in Florida". Journal of Herpetology. 12 (2): 183-196. doi:10.2307/1563406. JSTOR 1563406.

35. ^ Platt, Steven G.; Thorbjarnarson, John B. (2000-08-01). Price, A. H. (ed.). "Nesting Ecology of the American Crocodile in the Coastal Zone of Belize". Copeia. 2000 (3): 869-873. doi:10.1643/0045-8511(2000)000[0869:NEOTAC]2.0.CO;2. ISSN 0045-8511. S2CID 86266024.

36. ^ "U.S. Crocodiles Shed "Endangered" Status". National Geographic Society. 21 March 2007. Archived from the original on 10 December 2008.

37. ^ Pough, F. Harvey; Andrews, Robin M.; Cadle, John E.; Crump, Martha L.; Savitsky, Alan H.; Wells, Kentwood D. (2004). Herpetology. Pearson Prentice Hall. pp. 628-9. ISBN 978-0-13-100849-6.

38. ^ Brien, Matthew L.; Cherkiss, Michael S.; Mazzotti, Frank J. (September 2008). "American crocodile, Crocodylus acutus, mortalities in southern Florida" (PDF). Florida Field Naturalist. 36 (3): 55-59.

39. ^ "Crocodile makes off with boy". Television New Zealand. Reuters. 5 May 2007. Archived from the original on 9 December 2008.

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The American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus ) is a species of crocodilian found in the Neotropics. It is the most widespread of the four extant species of crocodiles from the Americas, with populations present from South Florida and the coasts of Mexico to as far south as Peru and Venezuela.

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Vultur gryphus is a famous south american bird being the only animal is the Vultur genus.

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Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Proboscidea
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Species: E. maximus
Subspecies: E. m. maximus

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Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
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Genus: Lissodelphis
Species: Lissodelphis Borealis

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The American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus) is a species of crocodilian found in the Neotropics. It is the most widespread of the four extant species of crocodiles from the Americas, with populations present from South Florida and the coasts of Mexico to as far south as Peru and Venezuela.

The habitat of the American crocodile consists largely of coastal areas. It is also found in river systems, but tends to prefer salinity, resulting in the species congregating in brackish lakes, mangrove swamps, lagoons, cays, and small islands. Other crocodiles also have tolerance to saltwater due to salt glands underneath the tongue, but the American crocodile is the only species other than the saltwater crocodile to commonly live and thrive in saltwater. They can be found on beaches and small island formations without any freshwater source, such as many cays and islets across the Caribbean. They are also found in hypersaline lakes; one of the largest known populations inhabits Lago Enriquillo in the Dominican Republic.

The American crocodile is one of the largest crocodile species. Males can reach lengths of 6.1 m (20 ft 0 in), weighing up to 907 kg (2,000 lb). On average, mature males are more in the range of 2.9 to 4.1 m (9 ft 6 in to 13 ft 5 in) in length weighing up to about 400 kg (880 lb). As with other crocodile species, females are smaller, rarely exceeding 3.8 m (12 ft 6 in) in length even in the largest-bodied population.

Like any other large crocodilian, the American crocodile is potentially dangerous to humans, but it tends not to be as aggressive as some other species. American crocodiles coexist with the American alligator in Florida, and with the smaller spectacled caiman within Central America and South America.

The American crocodile was described by Georges Cuvier in 1807, and became known as the "sharp-snout alligator". In 1822, Constantine Samuel Rafinesque postulated that the species was in fact a crocodile.

The species was redescribed as Crocodylus floridanus by William Temple Hornaday in 1875, when Hornaday and C. E. Jackson were sent to Florida to collect alligator hides. Upon hearing of a "big old gator" in Arch Creek at the head of Biscayne Bay, Hornaday and his companions searched for it and reported:

In a few hours, we got sight of him, out on the bank in a saw-grass wallow. He was a monster for size-a perfect whale of a saurian, gray in color-and by all the powers, he was a genuine crocodile!

Crocodylus floridanus is now considered an invalid junior synonym of C. acutus.

Until 2020, the evolution of the American crocodile was poorly understood. However, the discovery of the Miocene species Crocodylus checchiai indicates that it, the Orinoco crocodile ( Crocodylus intermedius), Morelet's crocodile ( C. moreletii), and the Cuban crocodile ( C. rhombifer) all share an ancestor hailing from Africa. The newly discovered animal may also represent the base of the evolutionary radiation of these animals, representing the missing link between crocodiles in Africa and the Americas.

The genus Crocodylus likely originated in Africa and radiated outward toward Southeast Asia and the Americas, although an Australia/Asia origin has also been considered. Phylogenetic evidence supports Crocodylus diverging from its closest recent relative, the extinct of Madagascar, around 25 million years ago, near the Oligocene/ Miocene boundary. American crocodile populations in Florida, Jamaica and Hispaniola (in the Dominican Republic) differ in gene frequencies.

Below is a cladogram based on a 2018 tip dating study by Lee & Yates simultaneously using morphological, molecular ( DNA sequencing), and stratigraphic ( fossil age) data, as revised by the 2021 Hekkala et al. paleogenomics study using DNA extracted from the extinct .

The American crocodile is a highly fecund species. Average clutch size is 38 eggs, and fecundity is over 20% after 15 years old. The species has a high adult survival rate and a long life span. Like all true crocodilians, the American crocodile is a quadruped, with short, stocky legs; a long, powerful tail; and a scaly hide with rows of ossified scutes running down its back and tail. Its snout is elongated and includes a strong pair of jaws. A 3.2-metre (10 ft 6 in), 164-kilogram (362 lb) specimen had a bite force of 4,355 N (979 ). Its eyes have nictitating membranes for protection, along with lacrimal glands, which produce tears.

The nostrils, eyes, and ears are situated on the top of its head, so the rest of the body can be concealed underwater for surprise attacks. Camouflage also helps it prey on food. The snout is longer and narrower than that of the American alligator, but broader on average than that of the Orinoco crocodile. American crocodiles are also paler and more grayish than the relatively dark-hued American alligator. This crocodile species normally crawls on its belly, but it can also "high walk". Larger specimens can charge up to nearly 16 km/h (10 mph). They can swim as fast as 32 km/h (20 mph) by moving their bodies and tails in a sinuous fashion, but they cannot sustain this speed.

Adults have a uniform grayish-green coloration with white or yellow undersides, while juveniles have dark cross-banding on the tail and back.

The American crocodile is sometimes confused with the Morelet's crocodile, a smaller species that is native to Mexico.

New hatchlings are about 27 cm ( in) in length and about 60 g (2 oz) in mass. The average adult in the continental rivers can range from 2.9 to 4 m (9 ft 6 in to 13 ft 1 in) long and weigh up to 382 kg (842 lb) in males, while females can range from 2.5 to 3 m (8 ft 2 in to 9 ft 10 in) and weigh up to 173 kg (381 lb), the lower total length representing their average size at sexual maturity, the upper representing the expected upper size limit for the respective sex in most known populations. Common weights of adult American crocodiles in Florida may range from 50 to 250 kg (110 to 550 lb) with corresponding lengths of 2.5 to 3.85 m (8 ft 2 in to 12 ft 8 in). With extensive conservation efforts underway, there appears to be an increase in the number of large American crocodiles in Florida, some of the largest reportedly exceeding 4 m (13 ft 1 in) in length. Eight adult American crocodiles from Costa Rica ranged in total length from 2.82 to 4.83 m (9 ft 3 in to 15 ft 10 in). Large adults of this species are capable of reaching 500-600 kg (1,100-1,300 lb) in weight, with individuals approaching 6 m (19 ft 8 in) exceeding 1,000 kg (2,200 lb) in weight, ranking it among the largest living crocodilians in the Neotropical realm. Body mass can be fairly variable in mature adults. A large male specimen from Costa Rica measuring 4.83 m (15 ft 10 in) in total length weighed about 538 kg (1,186 lb). On the other hand, another specimen measuring 3.95 m (13 ft 0 in) in total length was found to have weighed 500 kg (1,100 lb) An individual named "Papillon" was considered to be one of the largest American crocodiles in captivity. It measured 4.3 m (14 ft 1 in) in length, weighed 500 kg (1,100 lb), and was estimated to be more than 80 years old when he died. The largest recorded female measured 4.4 m (14 ft 5 in) in length and weighed 450 kg (1,000 lb). Exceptionally large specimens may arguably exceed 5 m (16 ft 5 in), possibly reaching or exceeding 6.1 m (20 ft 0 in), but such specimens are unverified and possibly dubious although some are arguably supported by size projections from skull lengths. These exceptionally large crocodiles are estimated to range between 6 and 7 m (19 ft 8 in and 23 ft 0 in) in length and weigh between 900 and 1,300 kg (2,000 and 2,900 lb), though these are mere estimations and not verified.

A large American crocodile in the Tárcoles River, Costa Rica; large specimens there can reach over 4.5 meters long and weigh up to over a half ton.

The American crocodile is the most widespread of the four extant species of crocodiles from the Americas. They are saltwater-tolerant, and have thus been capable of colonizing a multitude of islands within the Caribbean, and on some coastal Pacific islands as well. They inhabit waters such as mangrove swamps, river mouths, fresh waters, and salt lakes, and can even be found at sea, hence their wide distribution throughout southern Florida, the Greater Antilles (excluding Puerto Rico and Isla de la Juventud, where they are replaced by the introduced spectacled caiman), Martinique, southern Mexico (including the Yucatán Peninsula), Central America, and the South American countries of Colombia, Peru, Venezuela (including on Margarita Island), and Ecuador. The American crocodile is especially plentiful in Costa Rica.

American crocodiles coexist with the smaller spectacled caiman within Central America. The only other crocodiles present within the American crocodile's range are the Morelet's crocodile, and the critically endangered Cuban and Orinoco crocodiles.[citation needed ] In addition, an American/Cuban crocodile hybrid was recently discovered in the Cancún area of Mexico. The crocodile likely originated in the Zapata Swamp of Cuba (the only place where these wild hybrids exist, and where the two species are sympatric), and swam to the Yucatán Peninsula.[citation needed ]

One of its largest documented populations (the largest in the Caribbean) is in Lago Enriquillo, a hypersaline lake in the Dominican Republic. In Haiti, the only population known is in the brackish lake Etang Saumâtre, where the population is nearing extirpation due to overhunting and poaching. In Jamaica, the species inhabits most of the swamps available, as well as brackish portions of rivers. American crocodiles have recently been sighted in Grand Cayman, leading experts to believe the species may be swimming from Cuba (which is home to a large American crocodile population) and slowly repopulating Grand Cayman.

The American crocodile's saline tolerance may have allowed it to colonize limited portions of the United States, particularly southern Florida. Contrary to popular misinformation, the presence of the American alligator is not the reason the American crocodile was unable to populate brackish waters north of Florida, but rather the climate, as crocodiles are less tolerant of cold. Within the United States, the American crocodile's distribution is generally limited to the southern tip of Florida, though at least two have been found as far north as the Tampa Bay area. They are primarily found south of the latitude of Miami, in Everglades National Park, Florida Bay, Biscayne Bay, Dry Tortugas National Park and the Florida Keys. A sizable population occurs near Homestead, at the Turkey Point Nuclear Generating Station. Some individuals have been sighted in Palm Beach, Brevard, Pinellas and Sarasota counties. Their range in Florida is the only place in the world where alligators and crocodiles coexist.

The current US population, estimated at 2,000 and growing, is a sign of return to the northernmost portion of their range. There were suspicions as early as 1829 by Rafinesque that there were more than just alligators in the state, but confirmation could not be acquired until 1869, when a specimen could be brought back for examination. Records show they were plentiful in areas like Key Largo, Miami Beach, and wherever there were the appropriate mangroves for nesting and foraging. However, at the end of the 19th century, hunting them for their leather became a cottage industry in South Florida, and beginning in 1910, habitat destruction commenced on a massive scale, with the construction of a railroad designed to connect the mainland with the Keys. Crocodile hunters, who migrated to the upper Florida Keys before and after the railroad's construction, slaughtered almost every crocodile in northeast Florida Bay for the commercial market. The widespread hunting did not cease until the 1970s: at one point in that decade, there were fewer than thirty total nests counted. As of 2020, further population seems to be expanding south to reclaim former habitat in the Florida Keys, where numbers are multiplying quickly, and old records indicate they once inhabited mangroves as far north as Tampa Bay.

American crocodiles are more susceptible to cold weather than American alligators. American crocodiles do not have social groups but occasionally, they congregate for feeding and basking in the daytime. While basking, they will leave their mouths wide open that exposes blood vessels in the mouth to cooler and warmer air, which helps regulate body temperature. While an American alligator can survive in water temperatures of 7.2 °C (45.0 °F) and below for some time, an American crocodile in that environment would lose consciousness and drown due to hypothermia. American crocodiles, however, have a faster growth rate than alligators, and are much more tolerant of saltwater.

Unlike other crocodiles, the American crocodile uses acoustic signals to communicate. Crocodile communication is centered on short-distance communications during courtship and hatching.

Cleaning symbiosis involving fish and the American crocodile has been described.

Adult male C. acutus

American crocodiles are apex predators, and any aquatic or terrestrial animal they encounter in freshwater, riparian and coastal saltwater habitats is potential prey.

The snout of the American crocodile is broader than some specialized fish-eating crocodilians (e.g., gharials and freshwater crocodiles), allowing it to supplement its diet with a wider variety of prey. In addition the snout gets even broader and bulkier as the animal matures, a sign for a shift in prey items. Prey species have ranged in size from the insects taken by young American crocodiles to full-grown cattle taken by large adults, and can include various birds, mammals, turtles, snakes, lizards, smaller crocodilians, echinoderms, crabs, other crustaceans, snails, frogs, fish, and occasionally carrion. In Haiti, hatchling and juvenile American crocodiles lived primarily off of fiddler crabs ( Uca ssp.), making up 33.8% and 62.3% of the diet by weight, respectively. Elsewhere, aquatic insects and their larvae and snails are near the top of the food list for American crocodiles at this very early age. Immature and subadult American crocodiles, per a study in Mexico, have a more diverse diet that can include insects, fish, frogs, small turtles, birds and small mammals. One specimen of 1.2 m (3 ft 11 in) had a catfish, a mourning dove and a bare-tailed woolly opossum in its stomach.

In Florida, bass, tarpon and especially mullet, large crabs, snakes, mammals that habit the riparian and coastal regions of the Everglades, such as opossums and raccoons appeared to be the primary prey of American crocodiles. In Haiti, adults appeared to live largely off of various birds, including herons, storks, flamingos, pelicans, grebes, coots and moorhens, followed by concentrations of fish including and Cichlasoma, at times being seen to capture turtles, dogs and goats. One 3 m (9 ft 10 in) adult from Honduras had stomach contents consisting of a 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) crocodile of its own species, a turtle shell and peccary hooves. It was noted that historically in Mexico that, among several local farmers, the capturing of livestock by American crocodiles has been a source of some conflict between humans and American crocodiles and large adults occasionally can become habitual predators of goats, dogs, pigs and cattle. In Quintana Roo, Mexico, most prey that could be determined was fish for sub-adults and adults with sub-adults having a broader prey base than either younger or adult American crocodiles. In Costa Rica, American crocodiles have been recorded hunting and killing adult female olive ridley sea turtles ( Lepidochelys olivacea) when they come to nest around beaches. Reportedly, these American crocodiles hunt primarily in the first few hours after nightfall, especially on moonless nights, although they will feed at any time. It hunts in the typical way for most crocodilians, ambushing terrestrial prey when it comes to edge of the water or is sitting in shallows and dragging it down to be drowned or attempting to ambush aquatic prey from near the surface of the water.

Interspecies predatory relations

Adult American crocodiles are apex predators; they have no natural predators. They are known predators of lemon sharks, and sharks avoid areas with American crocodiles.

American crocodile (left) and an American alligator (right) at a dry sand pond in the Everglades, Florida. American crocodiles and alligators are usually very tolerant of one another in places where they co-exist. However, they sometimes compete with each other for food and other resources.

Usually, American alligators are dominant over and more behaviorally aggressive than American crocodiles. However, on one occasion, an American crocodile in a Florida zoo escaped its cage and started a fight with a large male American alligator in a bordering pen, and was killed. Conversely, there is one confirmed case of an American crocodile preying on a sub-adult American alligator in the wild in Florida. American alligators and American crocodiles do not often come into conflict in the wild, due largely to habitat partitioning and largely separate distributions.

There are several records of American crocodiles killing and eating spectacled caimans in South America. Areas with healthy American crocodile populations often hold only limited numbers of spectacled caimans, while conversely areas that formerly held American crocodiles but where they are now heavily depleted or are locally extinct show a growth of caiman numbers, due to less competition as well as predation. In areas of Cuba where the two species coexist, the smaller but more aggressive Cuban crocodile is behaviorally dominant over the larger American crocodile. In Mexico, some Morelet's crocodile individuals have escaped from captivity, establishing feral populations and creating a problem for the populations of American crocodile, which must compete with this invasive species.

American crocodiles breed in late fall or early winter, engaging in drawn-out mating ceremonies in which males emit low-frequency bellows to attract females. Body size is more important than age in determining reproductive capabilities, and females reach sexual maturity at a length of about 2.8 m (9 ft 2 in). In February or March, gravid females will begin to create nests of sand, mud, and dead vegetation along the water's edge. Nest location is crucial, and with the correct amount of vegetation, the eggs will develop within a small temperature range. Because sex determination is temperature-dependent in crocodilians, slight aberrations in temperature may result in all-male or all-female clutches, which would possibly harm the health of the population. About one month later, when it is time to lay, the female will dig a wide hole diagonally into the side of the nest and lay 30 to 70 eggs in it, depending on her size. Females will maintain and reuse these holes for many years. After laying, the female may cover the eggs with debris or leave them uncovered. The white, elongated eggs are 8 cm (3 in) long and 5 cm (2 in) wide, with a number of pores in the brittle shell.

During the 75- to 80-day incubation period, the parents will guard the nest, often inhabiting a hole in the bank nearby. Females especially have been known to guard their nests with ferocity. But in spite of these precautions, American crocodile eggs sometimes fall prey to raccoons (arguably the most virulent natural predator of crocodilian nests in the Americas), coatis, foxes, skunks or other scavenging mammals (including coyotes in Mexico and American black bears in southern Florida), as well as large predatory ants, crabs and vultures. In Panama, green iguanas were seen to dig up and prey on American crocodile eggs occasionally, although in several cases were caught by the mother American crocodile and eaten. Crocodilian eggs are somewhat brittle, but softer than bird eggs. Despite noticeable nest guarding during egg incubation, guarding of young after hatching seems to be minimal in this species.

This species exists mostly in tropical areas with distinct rainy seasons, and the young hatch near the time of the first rains of the summer (July-August) after the preceding dry season, and before the bodies of water where they live flood. In this stage of development of their young, mother American crocodiles exhibit a unique mode of parental care. During the hatching process, when the young American crocodiles are most vulnerable to predation, they will instinctively call out in soft, grunt-like croaks. These sounds trigger the female to attend to the nest, uncovering the eggs if they have been covered. Then she will aid the hatchlings in escaping their eggs and scoop them up with her mouth, carrying them to the closest water source.

The hatchlings, which are 24 to 27 cm ( to in) in length, have been reported to actively hunt prey within a few days of hatching. It is not uncommon for the mother to care for her young even weeks after they have hatched, remaining attentive to their calls and continuing to provide transportation. About five weeks after hatching, the young American crocodiles disband in search of their own independent lives. Most of them will not survive, being preyed upon by several types of raptorial birds, other reptiles, and large fishes (e.g., barred catfish, Atlantic tarpons, common snook and lemon sharks, boa constrictors, black spiny-tailed iguanas and spectacled caimans). Those that do survive grow rapidly, feeding on insects, fish and frogs. Additionally, some young American crocodiles feed on each other.

Crocodylus acutus in La Manzanilla, Mexico.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the species as vulnerable, but it has not been assessed since 1996. On March 20, 2007, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service declassified the American crocodile as an endangered species, changing its status to " threatened". It remains protected from poaching and killing under the federal Endangered Species Act. NatureServe considers the Florida population "Imperiled".

Because of hide hunting, pollution, loss of habitat, and commercial farming, the American crocodile is endangered in parts of its range. As a result of overhunting in the 1950s and 1960s, Venezuela banned commercial crocodile skin harvesting for a decade starting in 1972. In southern Florida, about two-thirds of American crocodile deaths are attributed to road collisions, about 10% to intentional killing, and only about 5% to natural causes. In recent years in Jamaica there has been rampant poaching of the species for their meat and there has been a significant population drop compounded by the lack of action by the government. On Hispaniola, they were once found throughout the island, but currently, the only confirmed remaining presence is at the two largest lakes on the island: Etang Saumâtre in Haiti, and Lago Enriquillo in the Dominican Republic.

An estimated 1,000 to 2,000 American crocodiles live in Mexico, Central America and South America, but population data is limited. An additional 500 to 1,200 are believed to live in southern Florida.

An American crocodile in Everglades National Park. Although considered only moderately aggressive by the standards of crocodilians worldwide, the American crocodile is likely the most dangerous American crocodilian and attacks are frequently fatal due to the size and formidable teeth of the species.

Attacks by American crocodiles have been reported in Mexico, Costa Rica, and Panama. The American crocodile rates somewhere in the middle of all crocodilians temperamentally. A study by the IUCN found that it has the highest incidence of reported attacks on humans of any of the crocodilians from the Americas, but fatalities were rare. The species usually does not attack people as regularly as Old World crocodiles do; the estimated number of attacks is considerably smaller than those by the saltwater ( C. porosus) and Nile crocodiles ( C. niloticus), which are considered the most aggressive crocodilians towards humans. Particular to this species, it is noted for having a shy demeanor and clearly does not want anything to do with humans; it will not stand its ground and will flee humans at the very sight of them. The Cuban crocodile ( C. rhombifer) is rather more aggressive in interspecies interactions than the American crocodile and attacks and displaces American crocodiles when they are kept in mixed species enclosures at zoos or at crocodile farms together, despite being smaller than the American species. However, attacks on humans are rarely reported in Cuban crocodiles, due to its much more limited habitat and range.

In May 2007, two instances occurred within one week of children being attacked and killed by this species-one in Mexico just south of Puerto Vallarta and one in Costa Rica. On August 24, 2014, a man and a woman were swimming in a canal in Gables by the Sea, a community in Coral Gables, Florida, at 02:00, a canal where crocodiles were known to occur, when they were bitten in the shoulder and the hand by an American crocodile. Although the crocodile was 3.68 m (12 ft 1 in) in length, and weighed an estimated 250 kilograms (550 lb), it did not press the attack, but released and moved away from its victims. (Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission, Crocodile Response Program) This was the first documented wild crocodile attack on humans in Florida since records of human-crocodile conflict have been kept. There have reportedly been 36 American crocodile attacks on humans from 1995 to 2017 in the Cancun area of southeastern Mexico.

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# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus ) is a species of crocodilian found in the Neotropics. It is the most widespread of the four extant species of crocodiles from the Americas, with populations present from South Florida and the coasts of Mexico to as far south as Peru and Venezuela.