Especially in the early morning hours and in the twilight the manul goes hunting in the high-altitude steppes of the Himalaya. Their short legs show that they hunt their prey only for short distances. More often they hide near dens of small rodents and wait persistently for their prey. If the den is not very deep they reach into it and try to fish for its inhabitants. Small rodents and pikas are a large part of their prey.
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Père David's rock squirrels are endemic to China. It is not an endangered species because it is widespread and has a large total population and is also found in protected areas and very common in some places. Although they mainly live on the ground they are very good at climbing.
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The Persian gazelle is an Asian gazelle species. It owes its name to a chondroid thickening on the neck of the males wich swells up during the rut in autumn. The function of this "goiter" is attributed to acoustic enhancement.
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Pygmy marmosets reach a head to barrel length of 12-15cm and a weight of 100-120g. Therfore, they are still larger than e.g. mouse lemurs which is the smallest primate but are not counted as real monkeys. A group of pygmy marmosets consists of a couple and their (even adult) offspring. To avoid inbreeding the dominant couple suppresses reproduction of the other group members by hormones and aromatic substances.
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Since the 1930s the North American racoon has been spreading throughout Germany. As opportunists they not only eat almost everything they also inhabit the urban area where the "poltergeist" is not necessarily liked by many house and arbor owners. It is a controversial discussion whether they are dangerous for endangered native species. With a number of 800,000 animals we now have to live with them...
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Hearing the word "panda" most people visualize a large black-and-white bear. The lesser panda which is also called red panda or red cat-bear not only resembles a raccoon but is also closely related to it. The name "panda" was given to them by the Europeans who explored East Asia in the 19th century. Perhaps they derived it from the Nepalese word POONJA which can be translated to "bamboo paw". Bamboo is the favorite food of both.
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The Reeves‘ muntjac is a primeval deer species. It has small pair of antlers but also elongated, pointed and sharp corner teeth in the upper jaw. Those canines are used for fighting rivals. Five-year-old males often no longer have canines since they become thin and break easily when rubbing them on trees. Muntjacs are also called barking deer. They owe that name to their short, harsh and loud calls which resemble the barking of a dog. That way they are warning of danger.
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Monkeys are worshipped in Asia. However their resemblance of rhesus monkeys to humans has become their undoing. To this day they are used for experiments. In the 1950s about 200,000 rhesus monkeys each year were exported from India to the USA for biological, medical and psychological reasons and even for cosmic space research. Already in 1940 Karl Landsteiner discovered the so called rhesus factor (Rh+ or Rh-) in their blood which also exists in human blood.
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The Vietnamese sika deer is almost exterminated in its area of origin. The remaining livestocks live in gates in national parks (Cuc-Phuong, Cat-Ba and Ba-Vi) and are now under strict prodection. There are also many sikas on deer farms in Vietnam.
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They are known from children‘s books, video games and by their supposedly selfless behaviour: lemmings go on mass migrations and voluntarily jump off cliffs into death due to food shortages. It is all a fairytale that has been going on for over half a century. However, it true that the small vole relatives can reproduce rapidly if there are good environmental conditions. That is also important for prey pickers such as snow owls.
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One does not have to look long to notice the carmine red penis and azure blue scrotum of the male vervet monkeys. Sometimes the males even put their sexual organs to display. When a fellow species approaches the penis is also erected. With this impositioning behavior the animal signals superiority over other males and that way secures the interest of the females of the group.
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Their dress of spines turns porcupines into a less welcoming pray for predators. The effect is increased by their typical defensive behaviour: at alarm the spikes bristle up and the animals appear as twice as large. If the threat persits they will rattle their tail. If the predator kepps approaching anyways the porcupine turns to its back and ramps its spines into the enemy's body. Being in extreme distress, porcupines are able to fire off certain quills. The intruded spines get off the porcupine's back easily.
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Although hyraxes look like rodents at first glance, they are closely related to elephants and manatees. In contrast to those, however, they can climb agilely.
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