THE WILD KINGDOM

In order to enjoy the animals in the zoo, it is very important to understand the nature of wildlife, their survival and their environment. On this page, Jack the Lizard shows images created from many different information sources.

More story at The Picture-Story Show

For survival why not?

Although Chimpanzees mainly eat leaves, nuts and fruits, chimpanzees do hunt and eat meat.

According to the study of Kyoto University chimpanzee in Tanzania kill Red Colobus which is about 130 cm long and weigh 5 to 10kg for their meat. They also kill Blue duikers which is 35cm tall and weigh 4kg little antelope and Red tail monkeys. They do hunt both team and individually. While one team chase a prey up on trees, others are waiting a moment a prey down to the ground. Once a prey touched ground, it is doomed.

It is rarely witnessed that Chimps scavenge but they eat other animals left over too. The report said that Chimps scavenge the body of Bush back killed by a leopard. Chimps probably scavenge the animals which could not kill by themselves since the prey is too big, weigh about 15kg.

From ants to butterbur

Two anziani had been attacked by bear, north east Japan October 5 2008. One of them was picking up walnuts when she was assaulted from behind. Do not blame on the bear. Probably he was only finding food, and loss of habitat is the most likely reason of his action. This bear was probably a Japanese black bear.

Brown bears are also distributed in Hokkaido Island, northern part of Japan. They eat salmon like grizzly bears do in Alaska to accumulate body fat. Whereas they are omnivorous, they eat raspberries, butterbur ants, bees and deer. In fact 80 % of their diet is vegetable.

Tiny skilled hunter - Shrew

Shrews look like mice but they are not related, not even close. They are more close to moles. Anyway shrews are shrews.
They are tiny. The largest of their kind is about 14cm long and the smallest is only 3cm long , weigh about same as 1 cent U.S. coin. They are smallest mammal on the earth.
They eat mainly insects, but some of them eat fish and even a house mouse which is more bigger than shrews.

Eurasian water shrews are skilled divers. When they hunt preys in water, they use bubble because their eye sight is quite poor. They brow bubble toward a object and smell the scent of reflecting bubble to recognise the distance and if the target was prey or not.
When they catch a prey, they paralyse it with venomous saliva. The others lives on the ground use hyper frequency to hunt like some bats do.

Go Hyena Go!

If lionesses are not hungry, this kind of conflict would rarely occur. Although they compete for meat and hate each other, they do not want to hurt themselves during the fight. Simply they cannot afford to take such risks. When the preys are scarce, however this could happen. They are desperately hungry and easily irritate like us. Surprisingly hyenas are tough and consistence. They are raiders of Africa.

Go Hyena Go!

Did Yoda get a tail? No. It’s a Tarsier!

The Philippine Tarsier is a tiny primate, whose size is about a banana, 6 inches (15 cm) long. The ancestor of tarsier lived in the Philippines 40 million years ago. Astonishingly tarsier has survived in some of the Philippine islands since then. Tarsier is certainly small but it is very good hunter at night. Tarsier’s big front-faced eyes can measure the distance between itself and the prey very accurately. Tarsier also has very strong hind limb to jump at least 3 meters long between branches. Once tarsier spots a prey, it hits the prey swiftly by using their legs. During the daytime, the Tarsier hides in the hollow to avoid any predators like owls. Tarsier mainly feed insects but also catch small lizards and birds and sometimes even snakes.

It is very dangerous for even polar bears to hunt the walrus, but this one is very lucky. He found the carcass of the male walrus, which probably died from injured during the fight against another one. Arctic fox and gulls are also gathering for their share.

This is the Great White Shark attacking a Fur Seal. The Great White ambushes the seal from below. The shark prefers the prey with high contents of energy-rich fat.

You may be afraid of the shark because of the imange of the man-eater from the Steven Spielberg’s film Jaws. But human is not their favourite food as the body is consist of many bones and little muscle and fat.

Now we don't have the accurate statistic of their populations, but the number has been clearly declined. The Great White shark is now on the list of endangered species. They are very curious, and intelligent. Do you believe that they have personality?

Even if the Lion is the King of Wild, they have to be very careful to hunt an African Buffalo. Its huge horns are strong enough to hurt lions. We sometimes see the buffalo on TV on the Animal Channel or the Discovery Channel, but have we ever see them in a zoo?

The Lions like to hunt the Warthog cubs because they make such a delicious meal. But even for the Lion, King of the Wild, it is very difficult to catch these elusive little runners. And dangerous too! Just look at those sharp tusks!

The Lions team up together to capture their prey, just like the wolf packs. To catch a Zebra for example, one group of Lions chases the unsuspecting Zebras towards a second group hiding in the bush ahead. POUNCE! They get him as he runs terrified right into their waiting jaws and claws. He never had a chance.