Woodlouse

True Wild Life | Woodlouse | The woodlouse is not an insect but a crustacean, that has 14 parts to its body, which gives the woodlouse the flexibility to be able to curl into a ball to protect itself from danger. This means that only the hard outer shell of the woodlouse is exposed. The woodlouse is found in dark, damp places in forests and jungles throughout the world. The woodlouse feeds on decaying leaf and plant matter on the forest floor, meaning that the woodlouse plays a vital role in the natural carbon dioxide cycle.

The woodlouse is generally about 1 cm long but many species in the tropics are triple that size, some are even bigger. The woodlouse has an average lifespan of around 2 years but some are known to get up to 4 years old. The woodlouse is the only species of crustacean to inhabit inland and not watery habitats. There are thought to be over 3,000 different species of woodlouse around the world.

The woodlouse is generally grey or brown in colour but the exact colour and size of the woodlouse is dependent on the woodlouse species and the area which the woodlouse inhabits. The woodlouse is found in nearly every environment in the world besides the polar regions and the arid desert. The woodlouse is a herbivorous animal and therefore only eats organic plant matter. The woodlouse rarely eats live plants and feeds on the decaying leaf and plant matter found on the forest floor such as leaves, rotting wood and fruits that fall from the trees above.

Due to the small size of the woodlouse and despite the fact that the woodlouse can attempt to protect itself by curling up into a ball, the woodlouse is preyed upon by a number of animals around the world. Toads, centipedes, spiders, millipedes and the occasional wasp are the main predators of the woodlouse. The female woodlouse lays around 24 eggs which she keeps inside a brood pouch. The woodlouse eggs hatch after an incubation period of just a few days exposing the woodlouse babies. Due to the fact that the baby woodlice take a number of months to fully develop, the mother woodlouse will often stay close to her young until they are adult woodlice.

Wombat

True Wild Life | Wombat | The wombat is a medium sized marsupial that is found only in Australia and it's surrounding islands. Wombats are burrowing mammals that spend most of the day under ground, coming out at night to feed. The common wombat is thought to be a descendant of the giant wombat that existed around 50 million years ago. The giant wombat's extinction is said to be caused by hunting and changes to their environment including pollution and habitat loss.

The common wombat is a nocturnal herbivore and gets to about 26 years old in the wild although some wombat individuals have been known to live for longer in captivity. Wombats eats grasses, shoots and bark which the wombat needs to keep gnawing on in order to keep it's continuously growing teeth at a manageable size. Like all other marsupials, the female wombat has a warm pouch on it's belly in which the wombat babies are nurtured for the first few months of life. When the baby wombats are first born they are very small and undeveloped and crawl into the mother wombat's pouch almost immediately. The baby wombat stays in the pouch of the mother wombat until the baby wombat is around 5 months old. By the time the baby wombat is roughly 7 months old, it is able to care for itself.

Wombats have long claws which they use to dig burrows. Wombat burrows can easily become an extensive network of underground tunnels leading to small chambers. Most wombats are solitary animals but some wombats have been known to form underground colonies with other wombats.

Wombats have a few natural predators including foxes and dingos. Although the wombat is relatively defenceless when it is out and about, wombats are generally well protected in their underground burrows as many predators cannot follow the wombat into the narrow, complex tunnels. Today the wombat is considered to be an endangered species of animal. Wombat numbers have been decreasing rapidly due to habitat loss and hunting by humans who believe the wombat and it's network of underground tunnels to be an agricultural pest.

Wolverine

True Wild Life | Wolverine | The wolverine is a medium sized mammal that despite it's bear-like appearance (and it's name) is most closely related to the weasel. The wolverine is known to be strong and vicious and is said to have immense strength in comparison to it's size. The wolverine is found throughout Canada, Europe, parts of North America and the Arctic Circle where the wolverines inhabit mountainous regions and dense forests. Wolverines are also known to venture into more open areas such as plains and farmland when they are in search of food.

The wolverine generally eats mice, rats and other small mammals, birds and eggs during the summer months when these small animals are in abundance. During the bitter winter however, when snow covers the ground, the wolverine tends to hunt larger animals such as reindeer (caribou), sheep and moose. Despite the fact that the wolverine is known to be capable of hunting down and killing animals that are so much bigger than itself, the wolverine tends to prefer to scavenge the kills of other animals such as wolves and bears. The wolverine will let the larger predators hunt the prey down and the wolverine then chases the hunter away by showing its teeth and growling fiercely. Then the wolverine is left to eat the kill. The wolverine uses its large teeth and powerful jaws to crush large bones and eat meat that has been frozen in the unforgiving Arctic winter. 

The wolverine also has long, sharp, powerful claws that the wolverine uses to catch it's prey and to defend itself from predators and other wolverines. The wolverine also uses it's claws for climbing and digging. Like the skunk, the wolverine has a strong-smelling fluid called musk which the wolverine uses to warn others to stay away. Wolverines also have a thick coat of brown fur to protect them from the freezing cold temperatures. The wolverine has large feet help it move across the soft snow, with five sharp claws on each foot. Wolverines are highly territorial animals and they will fight other wolverines to defend their territory. Wolverines are not particularly fast movers (although they are known to reach speeds of more than 30mph when needed), so they do not chase or stalk their prey. However, wolverines are good climbers and often rest in trees, where the wolverines wait until the right moment to pounce on their prey from the trees or large rocks.

The female wolverine has one litter every two or three years. She digs a den with tunnels in a snowdrift that is near piles of rocks. After a gestation period of nearly 2 months, the female wolverine gives birth to a small litter of baby wolverines (known as kits), usually 2 or 3 kits are born. The mother wolverines nurses her wolverines kits until they are around 10 weeks old and are then big enough and strong enough to start learning to hunt for themselves. Wolverines usually live to between 8 and 13 years old although some wolverine individuals in captivity have been known to nearly reach the age of 20! The wolverine is considered to be a near threatened species as the wolverine numbers are declining due to hunting and habitat loss.

Wolf

True Wild Life | Wolf | The wolf is thought to be an ice age survivor, dating wolves around 300,000 years ago. The wolf is accepted to be the ancestor of the domestic dog as the wolf is thought to have selectively bred in order to breed appealing traits typical of puppies and to eliminate the not so appealing traits of adult wolves. The grey wolf is a highly adaptive animal found in all kinds of terrain. Wolves inhabit forests, deserts, mountains, tundras, grasslands and even urban areas with the wolf being a particularly dominant and ruthless predator within it's environment. They vary in color from pure white to pure black and every shade of brown and gray inbetween. At one time the wolf had the widest distribution of any mammal. The biggest wolves on earth live in Alaska and average 125-135 lb. One specimen was taken that weighed 200 lb. The smallest wolves live in Iran and average about 60 lb.

The wolf lives to be approximately 10 years old in the wild. Wolves live in packs that generally consist of the alpha male wolf, his mate the alpha female, and their offspring of various ages. Other wolves may also join, but it is the parents that are the leaders. The wolf has no real natural predators; their biggest threat is other wolf packs on adjacent territories. The wolf has been known to live up to 20 years old in captivity. Wolves are carnivorous animals and generally hunt large animals but wolves will also hunt smaller animals if they are need of their daily meal. Wolves hunt together in their packs and work together as a team in order to catch and kill a large animal such as moose and deer. Wolves are opportunists and will not waste their energy chasing a healthy deer 10 miles when an injured or sick one is available. The native Alaskan peoples call the wolf the "wild shepherd of the caribou".

Wolves have a layer of thick fur which is particularly needed for those wolves that inhabit areas of the Arctic circle where it can be extremely cold. It is during the winter months in these areas that calories are most critical . Larger animals such as elk and deer suffer greatly from the cold and lack of food to eat and it is during this time that the prey of the wolf is at its slowest and therefore is easier to catch. Wolves are considered to be an endangered species today as wolves have been widely exterminated from their former ranges by hunting, poisoning, and trapping to procure their fur and to protect livestock. Wolves have also been severely affected by habitat loss and have been pushed into smaller and smaller territories where the food source may not be plentiful enough to sustain a hungry wolf pack and where heavy inbreeding occurs.

Wolves tend to mate in late winter to early spring and the wolf cubs are born are born a couple of months later when the weather is warmer and prey is abundant. The wolf cubs then have the rest of the year to grow stronger in order to be able to survive their first cold winter. Wolf cubs stay with their mother in the wolf pack with the male wolf cubs often leaving to form a pack of their own. Wolves can interbreed freely with dogs, redwolves, coyotes, and jackals to produce fertile offspring. This is a case of incomplete speciation. There are physical, behavioral, and ecological differences between these species, but they are fully genetically compatible. None of the animals in this group can breed with foxes, which are too far separated genetically.

Wildebeest

True Wild Life | Wildebeest | The wildebeest is actually a subspecies of the antelope, despite it's bull-like appearance. There are two known species of wildebeest, both of which are native to Africa. The changing African seasons mean the wildebeest must migrate south in the winter, so the wildebeest can continue to graze on grass. Thousands of wildebeest all tend to migrate at once creating a wildebeest stampede.

The wildebeest is a primary source of prey for many large African mammals, that often pick out the weaker wildebeest from the outside of the herd. Wildebeest generally grow to around 1.5 tall but are relatively defenceless against dominant, carnivorous predators such as lions and crocodiles . The wildebeest are able to sense thunderstorms that are up to 30 miles away and the wildebeest follow these rains across Africa in what is commonly known as the great migration. The wildebeest trek around 30 miles everyday and approximately 1,000 miles a year as the wildebeest follow the rains in order to find the best grass.

When the baby wildebeest are born, they are often able to stand within a matter of minutes and these young wildebeest are soon able to run around and soon learn about the importance of protection in numbers. When the wildebeest are migrating around the African continent, the young wildebeest always stay very close to the mother wildebeest as it is easy for the young wildebeest to get lost when there are so many wildebeest travelling together or be preyed upon by watching predators.

Wildebeest inhabit large plains on the African savanna where there is plenty of food for the wildebeest to eat. Wildebeest are herbivorous animals and graze on grasses, leaves and shoots. Wildebeest live together in large herds in order to protect each other as on their own, wildebeest are defenceless and therefore vulnerable in the African wilderness. When danger is spotted, the wildebeest warn each using groaning calls and then run together creating a stampede, both to escape approaching predators and also to intimidate them.

White Tiger

True Wild Life | White Tiger | The white tigers originated in the pure Bengal strain in India. Later in captivity Siberian was crossed in to make a bigger more impressive white tiger. They do have some pigment, so they are not albinos. The white tiger has a shorter life expectancy than the orange tiger, thought to be due to the white tigers mutated genes and to the inbreeding depression necessary to perpetuate the bloodline. The white tiger was always rare to come across in the wild in India, and none have been seen in the wild for over 50 years. The gene that causes the background to be white is a simple recessive. For that reason to produce whites they must be mated either to other whites or to normal orange tigers that are carriers of the white gene. The white tiger has been known to give birth to an orange tiger when mated to an orange male. Cubs of both colors occur in the same litter.

White tigers have also sadly appealed to those who are rich who either display the white tiger in captivity or killed the white tigers for their fur. For that reason white tigers are no longer seen in the wild. All were captured for captive breeding programs or killed as trophies for rich hunters. It has been speculated that some white tiger individuals are born with a blue tinge to their black stripes. Although this has not been recorded, it is possible for a genetic mutation to occur diluting the black stripes of the white tiger a blue/gray color. This dilution of black to blue is common in horses, cats, and dogs.

As white tigers are simply a different coloured version of the normal orange tiger, there are very few differences (if any at all) in the white tiger's behaviour. The white tiger lived in a jungle habitat where there was plenty of cover for the white tiger to remain hidden and to keep on the look out for potential prey. However, they did tend to stand out against their backgrounds and did not camofluage as effectively as normal orange tigers

The tiger is a carnivorous mammal and a fearless predator hunting large mammals including deer, wild boar and cattle. Tigers are extremely stealthy animals and are able to sneak up on their prey and catch it off guard. This makes the tiger a ruthless and dominant predator within its environment. The tiger is a solitary animal and it requires a large territory in order to ensure that there is an adequate food supply. Tiger cubs remain with their mother until they are strong enough and experienced enough to hunt for themselves.

White Rhinoceros

True Wild Life | White Rhinoceros | The white rhino is the second biggest land animal and can weight around 2 tons. The white rhino is the most common species of the remaining rhino, and inhabits parts of Africa. There were around 11,000 white rhino counted in South Africa in 2005, but for unknown reasons the white rhino rate of reproduction is low. The white rhino is the only species of rhino that is not critically endangered.

The white rhino has 2 horns on its head that are made of keratin. The white rhinos front horn averaging a length of 90cm but can get up to 150cm! The white rhinoceros has a noticeable hump on the back of its neck which helps to support the white rhinos large head. Each of the white rhinos four stumpy feet has three toes will help to distribute the enormous weight of the white rhino.

The colour of the white rhino ranges from yellowish brown to grey and not white as the white rhinos name suggests (the white rhinos name is thought to have originated from a mis-translation of the white rhinos names from Dutch into English, with the white rhino thought to have been originally named the wide rhino and not the white rhino).

The ears of a white rhino can move independently which helps the white rhino to pick up more sensitive sounds but the white rhino depends most of all on its sense of smell. The white rhino, like other species of rhino has extremely poor eyesight for such a large animal.