Category Archives: Mammals

Sometimes the fur of this small cat is grey and sometimes it is reddish-brown. People thought that these were two different animals and called the grey cat the jaguarundi and the reddish cat the eyra. Eventually scientists found that both cats were the same, regardless of the colour of their fur. Sometimes a reddish-brown female … Continue reading

AT one time there were many tapirs living in the world. Fossils of them have been found in southern United States as well as in Europe. The four species of these mammals which exist in limited numbers today have changed very little from their ancestors that lived in the Pliocene Period. They are about the … Continue reading

In early spring the European male hares can be seen doing all kinds of strange antics —leaping in the air, tumbling about on the ground, and fighting among themselves. From the description “as mad as a March hare” it is obvious that this behaviour is customary at the beginning of the hare’s mating season. Hares … Continue reading

Capybaras  are the largest living rodents. When they are full grown they are about three feet long and weigh as much as one hundred pounds. They look like very large guinea pigs and are indeed closely related to them. Capybaras live in Panama and South America. They are almost always found near streams or rivers. … Continue reading

Three are two kinds of tree sloths, the two- toed and the three-toed. Both are found in Central and South America. They were given the name sloth because of their very slow, sluggish movements. Unless they are disturbed, sloths spend three-quarters of the day sleeping. Normally they sleep hanging from the branch of a tree, … Continue reading

Quite different from the uakari is the capuchin monkey, which, of the many New World kinds, is perhaps the most common, most captured, and most captivating to human audiences. The capuchin is also the most intelligent of the platyrrhini, with a brain that is highly developed and large in proportion to the size of the … Continue reading

A Monkey that blushes when it is angry is the uakari, which also enjoys the distinction of being the only one of the New World monkeys to possess a short tail, a. feature fairly common in the Old World monkeys. The uakari is a cat-sized monkey with a well-developed brain and superior intelligence. Its favoured … Continue reading

The spider monkey is a true monkey. It has nails on its toes and fingers and it possesses a tail that is prehensile and in many ways more useful to it than its hands or feet. The spider monkey’s tail is its most extraordinary possession. It is longer than the monkey’s body is—over two feet … Continue reading