Slightly smaller in body size to than the Southern Sable but with much larger horns, head and body length 190-255 cm, shoulder height 117-143 cm and weight of 190-250 kg for males and 160-180 kg for females. They live in family groups of maternal herds of 10-30 animals led by an adult male.
Native to Angola, found only in North central Angola in a limited area between the Cuanza and Luando rivers. Status Critically endangered.
In formation and figure taken from the book Bovids of the Wold (Princeton Fiend Guides)
credits to @metalhead444 and @safariwrld

Largest wild sheep in the world, with the most massive horns. General color in winter is pale to dark brown tinged with white hairs.
Head and body length in males 172-200 cm and 167-174 cm in females, Shoulder height in males 115-120 cm and 100-114 cm in females, Tail legth 9,5-12 cm, Weight of males 101-175 kg and 80-100 kg in females.
They live in herds of females with lambs and yearlings of both sexes, up to 27 individuals. Mixed herds in the mating season. Main predator is the Gray wolf.
Native: China, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia. Found mainly in Altai Mountains of West Mongolia.
Information and figure taken from the book Bovids of the World (Princeton Field Guides)
Credit to @josemountainhunter with pictures 1 2 and 4 and picture 3 credit to @monochromeoutdoors

The snakeheads are members of the freshwater perciform fish family Channidae, native to parts of Africa and Asia. These elongated, predatory fish are distinguished by their long dorsal fins, large mouths, and shiny teeth. They breathe air with gills, which allows them to migrate short distances over land. They have suprabranchial organs developing when they grow older, which is a primitive form of a labyrinth organ. The two extant genera are Channa in Asia and Parachanna in Africa, consisting of about 40 species.
The various species of snakeheads differ greatly in size. Dwarf snakeheads, such as Channa gachua, do not surpass 25 cm (10 in) in length. Most other snakeheads reach between 30 and 90 cm (12 and 35 in). Five species (C. argus, C. barca, C. marulius, C. micropeltes and C. striata) can reach 1 m (3 ft 3 in) or more.
Snakeheads are thrust-feeders that consume plankton, aquatic insects, and mollusks when small. As adults, they mostly feed on other fish (such as carp) or on frogs. In rare cases, small mammals such as rats are eaten.
Credits to @snakehead_indonesia @hobiaquarium @kanicennix and @azzamrodcrafter

Since social media is being used a lot to upload videos, here's some tips so you can know how to embed the videos you find on either Instagram or Twitter and want to post them here.

Instagram: You copy the url of the video in question, like: https://www.instagram.com/p/BXioMXjj3NU/...=londolozi

And then you insert it in between here: [insta][/insta]

So it looks like this:

Twitter: For Twitter it is almost the same process. Copy the url of the video: https://twitter.com/twitter/statuses/925679434484633600

And insert it in between this: [tweet][/tweet]

So it looks like this: 

Don't leave spaces, otherwise the video won't show.

It is also called the greater one-horned rhinoceros and great Indian rhinoceros, is a rhinoceros native to the Indian subcontinent. It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, as populations are fragmented and restricted to less than 20,000 km2 (7,700 sq mi). The Indian rhinoceros has a thick grey-brown skin with pinkish skin folds and a black horn. Its upper legs and shoulders are covered in wart-like bumps. It has very little body hair, aside from eyelashes, ear fringes and tail brush. Males have huge neck folds. Its skull is heavy with a basal length above 60 cm (24 in) and an occiput above 19 cm (7.5 in). Its nasal horn is slightly back-curved with a base of about 18.5 cm (7.3 in) by 12 cm (4.7 in) that rapidly narrows until a smooth, even stem part begins about 55 mm (2.2 in) above base. In captive animals, the horn is frequently worn down to a thick knob.
The rhino's single horn is present in both males and females, but not on newborn young. The black horn is pure keratin, like human fingernails, and starts to show after about six years. In most adults, the horn reaches a length of about 25 cm (9.8 in), but has been recorded up to 36 cm (14 in) in length and weight 3.051 kg (6.73 lb).
Among terrestrial land mammals native to Asia, the Indian rhinoceros is second in size only to the Asian elephant. It is also the second-largest living rhinoceros, behind only the white rhinoceros. Males have a head and body length of 368–380 cm with a shoulder height of 170–186 cm, while females have a head and body length of 310–340 cm and a shoulder height of 148–173 cm (4.86–5.68 ft). The male, averaging about 2,200 kg is heavier than the female, at an average of about 1,600 kg.
Pictures taken in Kaziranga National Park credit to @keyurpatel1504

S. gracilis was the smallest species at 55 to 100 kg (120 to 220 lb) in weight about the size of a jaguar. The earliest species of Smilodon is S. gracilis, which existed from 2.5 million to 500,000 years ago (early Blancan to Irvingtonian ages) and was the successor in North America of Megantereon, from which it probably evolved.
S gracilis was similar to its predecessor Megantereon of the same size, but its dentition and skull were more advanced, approaching S. fatalis.
credits to @donosaurologia

The bull shark (Carcharhinus leucas), also known as the Zambezi shark or, unofficially, as Zambi in Africa and Lake Nicaragua shark in Nicaragua, is a requiem shark commonly found worldwide in warm, shallow waters along coasts and in rivers. The bull shark is known for its aggressive nature, predilection for warm shallow water, and presence in brackish and freshwater systems including estuaries and rivers.
Bull sharks can thrive in both salt and fresh water and can travel far up rivers. They have been known to travel up the Mississippi River as far as Alton, Illinois, although few freshwater human-shark interactions have been recorded. Larger sized bull sharks are probably responsible for the majority of near-shore shark attacks, including many bites attributed to other species.
Unlike the river sharks of the genus Glyphis, bull sharks are not true freshwater sharks, despite their ability to survive in freshwater habitats.
Bull sharks are large and stout, with females being larger than males. The bull shark can be up to 81 cm (2.66 ft) in length at birth. Adult female bull sharks average 2.4 m (7.9 ft) long and typically weigh 130 kg (290 lb), whereas the slightly smaller adult male averages 2.25 m (7.4 ft) and 95 kg (209 lb). While a maximum size of 3.5 m (11 ft) is commonly reported, a single record exists of a female specimen of exactly 4.0 m (13.1 ft). The maximum recorded weight of a bull shark was 315 kg (694 lb).
The bull shark's diet consists mainly of bony fish and small sharks, including other bull sharks, but can also include turtles, birds, dolphins, terrestrial mammals, crustaceans, echinoderms, and stingrays. They hunt in murky waters where it is harder for the prey to see the shark coming.
credit to @zehngut @deepdivemexico @grillobsb and @living.animals

New study suggests insect populations have declined by 75% over 3 decades




A new scientific study has found "dramatic" and "alarming" declines in insect populations in areas in Germany, which researchers say could have far-reaching consequences for the world's crop production and natural ecosystems.
The study, published on Wednesday in peer-reviewed journal PLOS One has found that, in German nature reserves, flying insect populations have declined by more than 75% over the duration of the 27-year study.
"The flying insect community as a whole... has been decimated over the last few decades," said the study, which was conducted by Researchers from Radboud University in the Netherlands and the Entomological Society Krefeld in Germany.




"Loss of insect diversity and abundance is expected to provoke cascading effects on food webs and to jeopardize ecosystem services."
Co-author Caspar Hallman said he and his colleagues were "very, very surprised" by the results.

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"These are not agricultural areas, these are locations meant to preserve biodiversity, but still we see the insects slipping out of our hands," he told CNN.


'Could be everywhere'
Entomologists have long had evidence of the decline of individual species, said Tanya Latty, a research and teaching fellow in entomology at Sydney University's School of Life and Environmental Sciences.
However, few studies have taken such a broad view of entire insect populations, she says.
"This study lumps all flying insects together," she said, which gives researchers a more accurate picture of the overall decline.
"If you see these sort of dramatic declines in protected areas it makes me worry that this (trend) could be everywhere," she said.
"There's no reason to think this isn't happening everywhere."
Hallman said he hoped the study could be "repeated in other parts of the world."
Worrying decline
The long-term study used Malaise traps -- a sophisticated kind of insect net which catches a wide variety of insects -- set up in 63 German nature protection areas over the course of 27 years.
By measuring the weight of the insect catch -- known as the biomass -- from each of the Malaise traps, researchers were able to ascertain the drop in insect numbers.
The study reported a seasonal decline of 76%, and mid-summer decline of 82% in flying insect biomass over the 27 years of study.
"We show that this decline is apparent regardless of habitat type," the study says.
Latty says it's particularly worrying that the study recorded the declines in protected areas, meaning that for agricultural or urban areas the trend could be even more pronounced.
The report suggests climate change, loss of insect habitats and potentially the use of pesticides, are behind the alarming decline. Latty says it's unlikely there's one "smoking gun," but rather a combination of contributing factors.
Biologists, volunteers rush to save Florida butterfly species
Underestimated
Latty says the importance of insects -- which make up around 70% of all animal species -- is underestimated.
"We don't often think about insects other than 'eww, an insect.' But these are the organisms running the world.
"Insects pollinate the crops we eat, they contribute to pest control, we'd have to use more pesticide. They're even crucial in waste control -- most of the waste in urban areas is taken care of by ants and cockroaches."
Insects, she says, are "crucial" to biodiversity, and "we exist because of biodiversity."

Knock-on effects
Species who rely on insects as their food source -- and, up the food chain, the predators which eat these animals -- are likely to suffer from these declines. Pollination of both crops and wild plants are also affected, as is nutrient cycling in the soil.
Indeed, "ecosystem services provided by wild insects have been estimated at $57 billion annually in the USA," the study says, quoting an earlier study.
Some 80% of wild plants rely on insects for pollination; 60% of birds rely on insects as a food source, according to the study.
Latty says she hopes the decline is reversible.
"The first step is acknowledging that we have a problem, and working to correct that -- how do we design our agriculture to encourage insects? It could be something as simple as growing wildflowers along the edges of fields."
She says we also need to improve people's education around insect populations -- "that insects are important, absolutely crucial to our survival," and to deal with pests sensibly.
"There's so much going on out there, it's a struggle to convince people that insects are important. We've probably only identified only 10% of insects and some are going extinct before we can even name them."


http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/19/europe/ins...index.html

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 12.65 m (41.5 ft) and a weight of about 21.5 t (47,000 lb). The whale shark holds many records for sheer size in the animal kingdom, most notably being by far the largest living nonmammalian vertebrate.
Whale sharks have a mouth that can be 1.5 m (4.9 ft) wide, containing 300 to 350 rows of tiny teeth and 10 filter pads which it uses to filter feed. Whale sharks have five large pairs of gills. The head is wide and flat with two small eyes at the front. Whale sharks are grey with a white belly. Their skin is marked with pale yellow spots and stripes which are unique to each individual. The whale shark has three prominent ridges along its sides. Its skin can be up to 10 cm (3.9 in) thick. The shark has a pair of dorsal fins and pectoral fins. Juveniles' tails have a larger upper fin than lower fin, while the adult tail becomes semilunate. The whale shark's spiracles are just behind its eyes.
The whale shark is the largest non-cetacean animal in the world. The average size of adult whale sharks is estimated at 9.7 m (31.82 ft) and 9 t (20,000 lb). Several specimens over 18 m (59.05 ft) in length have been reported. The largest verified specimen was caught on 11 November 1947, near Baba Island, in Karachi, Pakistan. It was 12.65 m (41.50 ft) long, weighed about 21.5 t (47,000 lb), and had a girth of 7 m (23.0 ft).
credits to @flyingkiwiontheroad @amo_denise @hkalex83 and @nimusao

The body of the mako shark is cylindrical, fusiform and hydrodynamic. There is sexual dimorphism since the female is visibly larger than the male. An adult can measure between 3.2 and 3.8 meters in length and weigh between 60 and 135 kilograms although females can reach 150 kilos. It has a powerful caudal fin semicircular with a highly developed lower lobe. It has two dorsal fins but the second one is much smaller than the first one, as well as two pectoral fins shorter than the length of the head. Its gill slits are long and have small black eyes; Young individuals have the tip of the snout black. Its teeth are large and very sharp, and they stand out when the shark closes the mouth.
Its body has a gray or metallic blue color on the dorsal area and a lighter color in the belly area.
The mako is the fastest shark on Earth. It reaches up to 32 kilometers per hour with gusts of 72 km/h and is capable of traveling up to 55 kilometers in a single day. Therefore it shows signs of being a migratory species. This fish can also jump, as it has been seen doing it out of the water reaching up to 9 meters height.(sharks-world)
credits to @poopdeck @brewman_salvage @projectaware and @makomarine117