HARPY EAGLE

Common Names: Aguila Harpía, Harpía

Genus: Harpia

Species: harpyja

An alarm screech goes out through the rainforest. Monkeys of all types throw themselves off high branches and out of trees to freeze in terror. Overhead a giant eagle with a seven foot wing span easily twists and turns through the treetops, hunting for any animal caught out in the open. With a single dive it tears the unlucky creature from its branch with five inch long claws on powerful legs.
The harpy eagle is one of the world's largest and most powerful of the fifty species of eagles. It lives in the tropical lowland rainforests of Central and South America, from southern Mexico southward to eastern Bolivia, southern Brazil and the northernmost parts of Argentina. It likes large areas of uninterrupted forest but will also hunt in the open areas next to patches of forest.
The harpy eagle's name comes from
the harpies of Greek mythology which were ferocious winged creatures with sharp claws, a woman's face and a vulture's body.
The average weight of a harpy eagle is 18.4 lbs (8.2 kg). Female harpy eagles are larger than the males. A female can weigh from 14 to 18 lbs (7-9 kg), while the males weigh 10 to 16 lbs (5-8 kg). Their body length is between 36 and 40 inches (1 meter).
Their feathers are slate-black above and white to light gray underneath. A black band runs across the chest up to the neck. The tail has long, dark gray feathers with horizontal bars. Their legs are covered with light gray feathers ending in yellow feet as big as a human hand, and 5 inch long talons.
The heads of both male and female are covered with a double crest of large, pale gray feathers. They raise this crest when alerted or showing hostility. A facial disk like that of an owl is thought to focus sound. Their eyes are dark brown and close-set, allowing them to judge distances. They have a powerful, hooked gray bill
Their dark gray, large, rounded, broad wings have a span of 7 feet. These wings are relatively short compared to other eagles. They are designed for speed and maneuverability necessary for flying through a forest.
The harpy eagle is monogamous, meaning it mates for life. They nest high in the canopy of emergent trees about 100 to 200 feet (40 meters) above the ground. The nests are built loosely of sticks and fresh leaves in the crutch of the first branches of ceiba or kapok trees. Usually two eggs are laid, but after the first egg hatches, the other one is ignored and fails to hatch. The incubation period lasts for 52 to 56 days

GOLDEN LION TAMARIN

Genus: Leontopithecus

Species: rosalia

The Golden Lion Tamarin is one of the most endangered mammals in the world. This Tamarin monkey is nearly extinct primarily because of its magnificent mane. Poachers desire this monkey's hide as they can sell for as much as twenty thousand dollars on the black market! This species of tamarin's hair is the color most people call strawberry blond, but redder. The thick coat of fur is longer around this monkey's bare, grayish face compared to its medium to long length body hair. The texture of the fur is silky, almost like a young cat or kittens. The mane around the face looks like a lions, and that's how it got its name, Golden, describing it has golden reddish mane, Lion because the fur around its face looks similar to a lions, and Tamarin as that is what species of monkey they are.
The Golden Lion Tamarin's eye's are quite large, and are hazel to dark brown colored. The nostrils on the face of this tamarin have very wide spacing. Looking at its entire face it is bare, flat, and the head, throat, ears, cheeks and shoulders are decorated with golden fur. The shape of this Tamarin's head is round and small, but the mane gives it a larger appearance. Their body types are slender, due to the fact that they weigh one to two pounds (14-29 oz). The Golden Lion Tamarins body has the shape of a small cat, and a squirrel combined. As easy as we lift a finger these acrobatic creatures are able to jump like a cat a space of fifteen feet between two trees; and their squirrel features are evident looking at their bodies: a tail (12.5-16 in.) longer than their head and bodies put together (8-14 in.): and little paws with sharp little claws. Their hands are like ours with five fingers, are long and thin, and unlike human hands their hands are webbed slightly and instead of flat fingernails Golden Lion Tamarin's have long claws.
Golden Lion Tamarin live in the coastal lowland Amazon rainforest of Brazil. The exact latitude and longitude would be Latitude: 5 degrees N - 15 degrees S Longitude: 35 degrees W - 65 degrees W. This monkey's habitat of lush rainforest is usually in the canopy layer, which holds plants such as grasping vines, thorn clung trees and dangling mosses, ferns, cacti, orchids, vines, and bromeliads. In fact ninety percent of the worlds vines are in the rain forest.
Golden Lion Tamarin have very strong legs which allow them to be very good
climbers. They use their amazingly strong legs to climb into their nests up in trees, where a family of Golden Lion Tamarins would normally sleep huddled together in a tree hole or thick nest of vines. In order to have protection against predators Golden Lion Tamarins share their homes with other Tamarin families. Another characteristic which adapts Golden Lion Tamarin to its environment is its long, sharp claws, that help them pick out bugs from dead logs, small tree holes, and wherever else bugs live.
Out of all of the arthropods (insects, spiders etc.) that Golden Lion Tamarins eat, one of their favorites is crickets. These Tamarins are diurnal hunters, and since they are Omnivore's they eat other varieties of food, such as the fruit of the rainforest and very small birds. They obviously have many predators, observing how endangered they are. Their predators consist of poachers, snakes, ocelots, bamboo rats, wild dogs, and owls. Since they are social and family loving, to protect themselves from predators they mob their predators. They are usually with groups of two to eight family members. Also when they are alone in a tree and an owl comes swooping over, as a survival strategy they flatten themselves against the tree, and grip the tree as hard as they can.
The Golden Lion Tamarin's gestation period is 125-132 days, and usually one or two offspring are born. If two are born they are most often non-identical twins. When these Tamarins are born they are covered all around with fur and their eyes are unusually open. For the first few weeks of these little babies lives they will cling to their mothers fur. After about four weeks these tiny babies are ready to eat solid food, and at three to five months old they can be on their own, but separated from their family for too long, they can die of loneliness. Golden Lion Tamarin fathers play a dominant roles in raising young. The young stay with the father until they're ready to nurse with the mother, and then, when they're finished they go back with the father again. The older siblings of the young Golden Lion Tamarins help teach and raise them also. At about fifteen months the mother sends the daughter away to find her own family to live with, in order for incest not to happen. The father does the same thing to a son who's sexually matured. Golden Lion Tamarins can live approximately ten to twelve years, and approximately twenty-three years in captivity.
For many happy years the Golden Lion Tamarin was classified as the most common of Tamarins in captivity. Now their status is extremely endangered and they are not the most common tamarin in captivity. In fact only about four-hundred Golden Lion Tamarin remain in their wild rainforest habitat! Their endangered lifestyle can be explained by a few different reasons. The pet trades poachers are ravaging this tamarin's numbers and will try and sell one for twenty thousand dollars, risking two years in jail. Also, Golden Lion Tamarins live in an endangered ecosystem, have predators hunting them every way they look, are harassed with parasites, and have few dependable food sources. This Tamarin is protected by the Washington National Zoo Reintroduction Program (headed by Ben Beck), because the National Zoo helps breed these creatures. When they have enough of them, they hold their little hands, and walk them back out into their wild habitat. Sadly, only 30% survive. Golden Lion Tamarins are also protected by the Chicago Brookfield Zoo, and a pair of Golden Lion Tamarins have been released into the Amazon Rain forest by the Oregon Zoo. Beautiful, furry, little creatures like the Golden Lion Tamarin should be kept alive and we should put in every effort to protect them from harmful references.

DAWN BAT

Common Names: Lesser Dawn Bat, Dobson's Long-Tongued Fruit Bat, Cave Fruit Bat, Cave-dwelling Blossom Bat

Genus: Eonycteris

Species: spelaea

The Dawn Bat is a small Southeast Asian rainforest bat which lives in the mangrove and lowland forests of Malaysia, Indonesia and Borneo. Its unique and special place in the rainforest ecosystem has only been recently discovered.
Dawn Bats have long and slender snouts which give them a dog-like appearance. Their ears are small and pointed and their eyes are round and small. The fur on the dawn bat's back is dark brown and lighter on their underside. Males have a ruff, or fur collar around their neck, which is a little darker in color then their head
and chest hair. Females only have sparse hairs around their necks. The tongue of a Dawn Bat is long and can be thrust forward into flowers, while brush-like projections allow it to pick up pollen and nectar.
The male dawn bat is larger than the female. They weigh from 55 to 82 grams while females weigh 35 to 78 grams. Dawn Bats are 8.5 to 12.5 cm long from head to tail. They either have a very small tail or none at all. Their forearm length is 6 to 8 cm long. The genus Eonycteris doesn't have a claw on their index finger like most other bats.
Female Dawn Bats reach sexual maturity after one year while males become sexually mature in two years. Females can have babies at any time of the year. Gestation is a little longer than 6 months, sometimes as long as 200 days. Usually one pup is born at a time. It attaches itself to a nipple and holds on for 4 to 6 weeks. After that time it starts to take little practice flights of its own. They aren't completely weaned until after 3 months.
Dawn Bats roost in limestone caves found in Malaysia and the Indonesian archipelago. Small groups of several dozen will roost in small shelters, while tens of thousands can inhabit larger caves. Dawn Bats are nocturnal and emerge from their caves at dusk to feed on pollen and nectar of night blooming plants. Their favorite flowers are from the Mangrove Apple (Sonneratia alba)and the Durian (Durio zibethinus). The flowers of the durian tree are large and waxy and only bloom at night. As the Dawn Bat hangs onto the flower and pushes its nose deep inside to lick the nectar, pollen covers its face and chest. They are the main pollinators of these two trees and very important to their survival.
Peaches, bananas, avocados, kapok, hemp and latex are some other plants which depend on bats for pollination. In Southeast Asia some of the largest caves with bat colonies are being destroyed by limestone quarrying. Mangrove swamps, home to the Mangrove Apple, are being filled in for development, destroying one of the Dawn Bat's main food supplies. Bats have been accused of spreading disease and destroying commercial fruit crops. However, Dawn Bats prefer ripe and strong-smelling fruit. Commercial fruit is picked green for shipping and is therefore rarely damaged by these bats.
Very little is known about the importance of bats and how forests depend on them for their survival. But it is known that they are one of the main pollinators and seed dispersers for many tropical plants. Bats often make up more than half of the mammal species in a rainforest ecosystem and most species of bats have not been studied.
Although Dawn Bats are being killed by the thousands, they are not on the CITES or IUCN list as a vulnerable or protected species. Malaysia has a Wildlife Protection Ordinance (Amendment 76). However, Dawn Bats can be killed if they pose a threat to crops or property. Since many still think they are fruit pests, the ordinance does little to protect them. People need to become more educated about the Dawn Bat to understand how important they and other bats are to the forests and crops.

COMMON PALM CIVET

Common Names: Musang, Toddy Cat
Genus: Paradoxurus
Species: hermaphroditus

The common palm civet is found from the Himalayas and southern China, to the Philippines, the Malay peninsula, and the Indonesian islands. It is a highly adaptive animal and can live
in dense forests, agricultural areas, and even alongside humans.
Weighing from 4 to 11 pounds, the palm civet's head and body length is 17 to 28 inches (43.2-71 cm), with a tail length of 16 to 26 inches (40.6-66 cm). Its ears are small and faintly pointed, as is its nose. It has a long and slender body with short legs. They have a coarse grayish to brown coat with black-tipped guard hairs over all. Three rows of black spots run along each side of its body. The hair around its eyes, cheeks and muzzle is black, with spots of white under each eye and on each side of its nose. The ears, feet and last end of its tail are also black.
Both sexes have well-developed anal scent glands looking somewhat like testes, which gives the musang its species name.
A nocturnal omnivore, the palm civet hunts alone. They are expert climbers and spend most of their lives in trees. They eat small vertebrates, insects, ripe fruits and seeds. They are very fond of palm sap, therefore their common name. The sap is used by natives to make a sweet liquor called "toddy", which gives the palm civet its other common name. The palm civet is also fond of coffee cherries. They eat the outer fruit and the coffee beans pass through their digestive tract. An expensive coffee called kopi luwak is supposedly made from these coffee beans. Kopi luwak is said to have a gamy flavor and sells for more than $100 per pound.
Palm civets stake out territories which often overlap during times of adequate food supply. When spending time in one area, musangs will use the same tree to sleep in during the day. Plam civets reproduce throughout the year although it has been recorded that kittens are most often seen from October to December. Kittens are born in a litter of 2 to 5 young. Palm civets become sexually mature at 11 to 12 months. In captivity the common palm civet can live up to 22 years.
The common palm civet disperses seeds of the trees on which it feeds by eating the seed pulp and passing the seeds well away from its parent tree. Although not much is known about the palm civet, it is believed that its nocturnal habit was developed to avoid predators. It is plentiful in its natural range and is not endangered.

CHIMPANZEE

Common Name: Chimp

Genus: Pan

Species: troglodytes

Chimpanzees are about 3 to 5 feet tall and weigh from 99 to 176 pounds. They have black hair. Adults are very often bald, usually a triangle on the forehead of the male, and more complete baldness in females. Their faces are hairless. Infants have pink faces which turn darker with age. Although chimpanzees have no tail, infants have a white tail tuft.
The favorite food of chimpanzees are fruits and young leaves, but they like many different types of food. In the dry season they will eat buds and blossoms, soft pitch, stems, galls, honey, bark and resin, seedsand nuts. Insects, like ants and termites are also in their diet. On rare occasions they will hunt small game like monkeys, pigs, and antelopes.
For the most part, chimps forage on the ground. While searching for food, troops will move around their territory, never staying long in one place. This allows the vegetation to recover before the chimps return to the area again. They do not compete for food with monkeys, who forage mostly in the canopy.
Chimpanzees reach puberty at about seven years. Females mature three to four years later. Females will not breed for three to four years after giving birth. They are capable of reproducing until the age of 40. The maximum life span in the wild is about 60 years.
The newborns are helpless at birth. After a few days it holds on to the mother's hair and at 5 to 7 months rides jockey style on the her back. By four years, the infant usually walks, but stays close to the mother for about five to seven years.
Chimp communities are made up of 15 to 100 members. Males tend to stay in the community they are born into, but females move between different communities during their adolescent years.
Chimps have developed several behavioral adaptations. At night chimps construct nests of leaves and branches 18-29 feet high in a tree. Males will hunt cooperatively for baby monkeys or bush pigs. Some groups have been observed to use thin twigs or blades of grass to extract termites from their nests. Some chimps in western Africa use wood and stone tools as hammers to open nuts.
Chimps are on the endangered species list. There may be as many as 35,000 chimps in the wild, but destruction of their habitats, hunting and commercial trapping for the animal trade had reduced their population.

BENGAL TIGER

Genus: Panthera

Species: tigris tigris

The Bengal Tiger is a beautiful animal. The base color is orange/brown, and white on the cheeks, mouth, eyebrows, and stomach. The tiger also has long black stripes on it. The weight of the tiger can be up to 575 pounds. The Bengal tiger is not the biggest tiger in the world, Its cousin the Siberian tiger is the largest tiger. The body of the Bengal tiger is broad with legs that are slender. The fur of the tiger is very fine in texture. The Bengal tiger is very sneakyand quiet. The cubs look the same. The Bengal tiger can get up to ten feet long and three feet tall.
The Bengal tiger lives in the Sundarban regions of India, Bangladesh, China, Siberia, and Indonesia. The tiger reaches maturity at the age of five, and the life span of the tiger is about 15 years. The Bengal tiger mates about any time of year. The Bengal tiger can have a litter of up to four cubs. The cubs don't hunt for themselves until they are at least 18 months old. Then they go hunting with their mother. The gestation period is about three months and ten days.
The Bengal tiger is a carnivore. It eats boars, wild oxen, monkeys, and other animals. The Bengal tiger can catch big animals, but prefers killing either young or old animals because they don't run as fast. The Bengal tiger is a nocturnal and greatly feared predator. It eats wild oxen and other animals, which eat plants , which are part of the food web. So it helps balance the web.
In the year 1900 there were 50,000 tigers on the earth, but now there is only 4,000 left in the world. So you can see that the population has decreased because of poachers and other cruel and selfish people. The Bengal tiger is protected in many places such as: The Nagarahole National Park 250 guards, and The Ranthambhore National Park 60 guards. The guards in the national parks are important because they know the kind of tools and weapons poachers use, so the guards can identify poachers. In India the Indian government made an effort to save the tigers. It was called "Project Tiger", and it was thought up in 1972 from Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Under this protection from the government, hunting and trading tiger parts were banned. A sad thing happened 8 years ago when 850 pounds of tiger bones, which adds up to about 42 tigers were found in New Delhi, India hunted by poachers. The reason why poachers and other people hunt beautiful animals like tigers is because the eyes, bones, and even whiskers are very valuable to researchers who are making medicine to treat or cure human ailment, and to give people a longer life.

ELEPHANT

Elephant

Common Names: Pygmy Elephant

Genus: Loxodonta

Species: cyclotis

It was always thought that there were two species of elephant in the world; the African savanna elephant,( Loxodonta africana) and the Asian elephant, (Elephas maximus).

But now, through DNA testing, it has been discovered that there is a third species; the African forest elephant.
When a DNA identification system was set up to trace where poached ivory was coming from, scientists found that the African elephants consisted of two very different species. They expected slight variations in the genetic makeup of the savanna elephant, but were surprised to discover the two different species.
The new species, the forest elephant, was considered to be a subspecies of the African elephant, and was known as Loxodonta africana cyclotis. That means scientists thought that, although the elephants had adapted to their forest habitat, they were still savanna elephants. But DNA evidence shows that about 2.5 million years ago two genetically different strains of elephants evolved in Africa. The forest elephant, now known as Loxodonta cyclotis,found its niche in the equatorial forests of central and western Africa. Here they have lived hidden from view and practically forgotten.
Some scientists consider the two species as different as lions are from tigers, or horses are from zebras. Genetically the difference between the two species of elephant is more than half as big as the differences between the African elephant and the Asian elephant, or 58%.
When you think of the African elephant you probably picture the savanna elephant. It is a huge animal, standing almost 12 feet tall at the shoulders. It has large ears that come to a point at the bottom. The tusks are long and slightly curved. They live on large, dry grasslands with a few thorny acacias dotting the plains.
The forest elephants look very different from savanna elephants. For one thing, they are smaller and stockier than savanna elephants. Forest elephant males only get to be about 8 feet in height while large savanna elephants can reach 13 feet. Their ears are rounded and their tusks are straight and thin with a pinkish tinge to the ivory. The lower jaw is longer, giving the forest elephant a long, narrow face. Forest elephants also live in smaller family groups. Forest elephants are also darker than savanna elephants.

Forest elephants are adapted to living in dense forests. Their tusks are straight since curved ones might get caught in the underbrush and vines of the forest. They are smaller so they can move around the dense forests more easily.
Not much was known about the forest elephants because tracking them was very difficult. Scientists have begun tagging forest elephants with tracking devices so they can be more easily followed. It has recently been discovered that forest elephants can have a home range of about 2,000 square kilometers (1,243 square miles).
Seventy years ago three to five million elephants inhabited Africa. Today only about 500,000 elephants remain. One third of these are forest elephants. Because there are now two separate species, there are fewer elephants of each species. Elephants in Africa are now more endangered than previously thought. The hard and pink ivory of the forest elephant is highly prized by poachers who are difficult to catch in the cover of the rainforest. Logging is another threat to the forest elephant.
The African elephant, Loxodont africana, is listed as endangered under the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES). Conservationists are afraid that declaring the forest elephant as a separate species could open a loophole under the current treaty and open up hunting of forest elephants for their ivory. A study of the forest elephant's status is under way, sponsored by the National Geographic Society, European Union, National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
by E. Benders-Hyde 2002