Magnificent Frigatebird

Out of all the birds in the world, frigatebirds have the largest wingspan in comparison to their body.

Looks:

Frigatebirds are majestic creatures, with gleaming purple-black feathers, a deeply forked tail and a grey hooked beak. Males also have a red throat pouch that they puff up to attract females in the breeding season. Females lack this; instead they have a white patch on their chest, and a turquoise ring around their eye. Juveniles have a white head and belly.

Feeding:

A frigatebird’s diet consists of fish, squid, jellyfish and other marine animals. Lacking the waterproof oil other seabirds have, they are unable to land or take off from the water. Due to this, they are forced to snatch their food from the surface of the sea.They are also nicknamed ‘pirate birds’ due to their tendency to attack other birds and steal their food. 

Breeding:

The female makes a nest out of twigs brought to her by the male. Usually the nest is built in a clump of mangrove, though occasionally she may build it in a tree or on the ground. Afterward she lays a single white egg, which incubates for about 50 days before hatching.

The male departs once the hatchling is half-grown, leaving the female to bring up the chick alone. The male molts and breeds again with a different female, presumably never giving his previous mate a second thought.

Habitat:

These birds live in tropical locations, soaring across the sea to hunt and rarely touching land. When they do, they choose islands such as the Galapagos to breed on or rest.

Lifespan:

Frigatebirds can live for about 15 to 30 years.

Chameleons

A young Yemen Chameleon

Looks

Chameleons are lizards, best known for their ability to change colour. Many people think they do this to blend into the background—but scientists disagree. Instead they use this amazing ability to either send messages to other chameleons or adjust the temperatures of their bodies. But how do they do this, you ask?

Chameleons actually have four layers of skin, each one including different pigments. They create their colourful combinations by shrinking and expanding cells (called chromatophores), as an artist might mix their paints.

These remarkable reptiles can switch their skin to mixtures of pink, red, orange, green, black, turquoise, purple, and more! Some males even have decorative frills and horns; however, females are often rather bland—their horns are smaller than the males’ and their colours are dulled.

Along with this, chameleons possess feet that allow them to grip easily onto branches, and a tongue that can shoot out to almost twice their body length (not including the tail). And if that’s not enough, their eyes can look in two different directions at once, and focus in on their prey for better aiming.

Habitat

Half of the world’s chameleon population lives in Madagascar. They make their homes in rain forests, grasslands, forested mountains and even deserts!

Feeding

The chameleon’s diet consists of insects such as moths, crickets and caterpillars; larger species, however, may eat smaller lizards and even young birds. They use their muscled, sticky tongues to catch their food.

Breeding

After mating, the female lays her eggs in a hole she digs in the ground. The clutch size will vary between species—smaller chameleons tend to lay about three to five eggs, while larger species can produce up to one hundred!

Depending on the species, the eggs will incubate for about 12 months before the young chameleons hatch. Once free from the eggs, the young chameleons go off to find food and fend for themselves.

Galapágos Island Giant Tortoise

It is said in legends there were so many tortoises on the islands when the Spanish explorers found them that they named the islands after them—Galápagos is an old Spanish word for tortoise

Looks:

There are many species of Galapágos tortoise, and each differ in appearance. Most tortoises with domed shells live on wetter islands with vegetation near the ground, while others with flatter carapaces make their homes on dry islands. The ‘saddleback’ tortoises have shells that are raised at the rim above the neck so that the tortoises can reach up and eat from taller vegetation than the domed-shell tortoises. Saddlebacks are also smaller than the domed-shell species, and so are the islands they live on. There are, however, some intermediate tortoises whose shells are both domed and saddleback.

List of subspecies:

Abingdon Island tortoise

Volcán Wolf tortoise

Chatham Island tortoise

James Island tortoise

Duncan island tortoise

Sierra Negra tortoise

Hood island tortoise

Volcán Darwin tortoise

Floreana Island/Charles Island tortoise

Indefatigable Island tortoise

Volcán Alcedo tortoise

Iguana Cove tortoise

Feeding:

These tortoises are herbivores; their diet consists of cacti, grasses, leaves, lichens and berries. They can survive up to a year without eating or drinking, by breaking down their body fat to produce nutrients.

Breeding:

There is no specific breeding season for the Galapágos tortoise—mating will occur at any time of year. To compete for a female tortoise, two males stand as tall as they can, stretch up their necks and open their mouths wide. The tallest tortoise wins and gets the female, leaving the shorter one to back away.

Once they have mated, the females journey in July to November to dry sandy coast. They dig their nests, which may take many days to complete, using their hind legs to scoop out a hole in which the tortoise lays about sixteen eggs. When the hole is finished, the female seals the nest with a muddy plug.

The eggs are spherical and hard-shelled, and the amount of them varies with each species of Galapagos tortoise. Like alligators, the gender of the baby tortoises depends on the temperature of the nest; lower temperatures tend to produce more males.

After four to eight months, the hatchlings dig their way out of the nest. This process may take weeks, and if the soil is too hard or the nest is flooded, the newborn tortoises can die.

Life expectancy:

These tortoises reach maturity at about 20-40 years. They are known to live to about 100 years in the wild, making it one of the longest lived species in the world—an Australian tortoise, Harriet, died in 2006 in the Australian Zoo at approximately 170 years of age.

Habitat:

The Galápagos Islands, located on either side of the Equator, Pacific Ocean.

Predators:

Galapágos tortoises have few predators, because of their size and isolation, but introduced creatures like cats, pigs, rats, and other species feast on the tortoises’ eggs and food. Juvenile tortoises are also attacked by birds of prey such as the Galapágos hawk. Due to this, the Galapágos tortoise has now been added to the list of endangered animals.

Galapágos tortoises are the largest tortoises in the world