Animals with strange names!

As promised a couple of weeks back, we introduce you to some interesting creatures from the animal kingdom today. They include animals from the Bovidae family, which is the largest and most diverse family of mammals with about 215 species, antelope , bovines and also the smelliest animal, not only in the animal world, but on Earth!

Animals are a part of our environment and the more we learn about their habitats, behaviour and habits, the easier it would be for us to understand them and protect them. So, take time to explore the world of animals whenever you can.

Chamois - climber of mountain peaks

A goat-like animal belonging to the family of Bovidae, it is native to the European Alps, but is also found in the Balkans, parts of Turkey, the Caucasious mountain range and South island of New Zealand. It lives at moderately high altitudes.

There are two species in the genus. It is a protected species as it is hunted for its skin. Chamois leather was very much in demand in many parts of the world at one time.

The chamois reaches a height of 75 cm (2 1/2 ft) and weighs about to 50 kg (110 pounds). Both males and females have short horns which are slightly curled in the backward direction.

It has a summer and winter coat; the fur turns a rich brown colour in the summer and a light grey in the winter. The fur on the face and the rump is white. There are pronounced white stripes on the coat and a black dorsal (on the back) stripe. It also has a black stripe running from the eye to mussle. A slight mane is visible around the throat.

The short, smooth summer coat has guard hairs which are about 10-20 cm long and cover a wooly underlay.

The chamois is adapted to living in steep, rugged rockey terrain and its climbing abilities are surpassed only by the Alpine ibex. The females and young or the kids live in herds, but the males live solitary lives for most of the year. The kids are fully grown by 3 years. The kids can follow their mothers almost immediately after birth.

The chamois is extremely sure-footed. The sole of the hoof is slightly hollow and soft, so this gives it a better grip on slippery surfaces. It spends the summer near the snow line in the mountain chains from the Alps to the Carpathians. It descends to lower altitudes only in the winter.

When the snow cover becomes too deep and the chamois cannot find food, it fasts for two weeks or more, without any ill effects. It eats herbs, flowers, lichens and mosses.

Its agility on the mountain face is legendary. It can easily jump over obstacles as high as 13 feet when pursued by a predator.

Zorilla, the smelliest animal on earth

A derivative of the Spanish word 'Zorro' which means pole, the zorilla belongs to the mamalian group and is certainly not a cat. In Sudan it's called 'Father of stinks'.

This skunk-like mammal lives in the African savannahs and is commonly placed with the skunk family, but is related to the weasel. It is a solitary, nocturnal animal which can be spotted mostly at sundown or dawn. When frightened, it scuttles to its burrows among the rocks. It lives mostly in its burrow during daytime and goes in search of food at night. It sometimes lives in burrows dug by other creatures.

Its fur coat is long and soft, but dense. Its mostly black and white in colour. In fact, the three or four large white stripes on the black body has earned it the name 'the striped pole cat.'

It has conspicuous(clearly visible) white marks on the face and a thick, bushy while tail with black bands. It is often mistaken for the American skunk. The zorilla which is about 11-15 inches in length with a 12 inch tail weighs around three pounds.

Its snout is long, legs are short and feet have sturdy claws. It has a springy short trot. It can stalk animals.

It's a carnivorous animal eating rodents, birds, snakes and hares. It also eats seeds, fruits and insects especially when food is scarce.The zorilla has highly developed scent glands. It can propel the strong smell a long distance, like most other American skunks.

The young are born with short fur, but the stripes are already visible. The female gives birth to a litter of 2-3 young. When confronted by a predator, it can not only eject the foul-smelling secretion from its scent glands, but also pretend to be dead like an opossum.

Sitatunga - the spectacular aquatic antelope

The sitatunga, also known as the marshbuck or the swamp-dwelling antelope, is found throughout central and western Africa. It is considered to be the only true amphibious antelope, and is distinguished by its unique structure of long and widely splayed(spread apart) hooves and loose foot joints. These features make the animal somewhat clumsy on dry land.

Essentially a solitary animal, the sitatunga lives in thickly vegetated, muddy swamps and marshes. The situtunga is a good swimmer, and can move with surprising grace and speed through the swamps. It usually stays half-submerged in the water, with only a part of its head or sometimes only the tip of its nostrils above the water. When disturbed or threatened, it can dive deeper into the water and hide among the reeds.

It is both nocturnal and diurnal, but is most active at dawn and dusk. Its diet consists of bullrushes, leaves of bushes in the swamp, grass from adjacent land and fallen fruits. It also chews on bark of some trees and bushes.

The sitatunga is about 36.6-45 inches in height at the shoulders. It has a shaggy, oily coat adaptable to the aquatic habitat it lives in. The males' coat is a greyish brown and the females' is a reddish chocolate colour. It's branded with 6-8 vertical white stripes. The male is larger than the female and has long, twisting horns which grow up to about 45-90 cm (18-36 inches).

The sitatunga's elongated hooves and flexible foot joints enable it to walk easily on soft ground without sinking. Generally, a sitatunga can live up to 20 years. The female gives birth to a single young after a gestation period of 250 days.

Kilspringer - the unique antelope walking on tiptoes

In Africaans, the name means 'rock jumper'. Unique among antelopes, the kilspringer is a small, stocky, powerful, and agile creature. It is also very shy and nervous. It is about 20-22 inches high at the shoulder and weighs around 30-40 pounds.

Except for one East African race, only the males have horns. The male's horns are rather delicate, but what's unusual is that the ears are longer than the horns. On average, the horns are about four inches long. Its thick, dense coat of coarse, grizzled fur has a special 'salt and pepper' pattern and is almost olive shaded. The eyes are large and widely spaced. The nose is short and wedge shaped. Horns are wideset and upstanding like spikes.

Usually, all hoofed animals walk on the tips of their toes, but this hoofed creature touches ground with the very tips of its vertically rising hoofs. Talking in human terms, it is like dancing on toe nails rather than on the tip of the toes. Amazingly, the unique construction of the hoof makes it possible for it to climb up practically vertical outcrops and balance on the sharpest ridges.

Found mostly in the Cape of Good Hope region in Africa and in East Africa, right into Ethiopia, the kilspringer's unique feature is its ability to bring its front and hind legs together into one spot when standing still. In fact, its feet are so small that all of its hooves can easily fit on an American dime at one time.

The kilspringer runs in jerky movements. When disturbed by predators, it bounds off, leaping from crag to crag and looks almost as if it's flying.

It is monogamous and usually stays close to its mate in pairs. The males are territorial. Females are usually larger than the males. A single fawn is born after three months.

You may be surprised to learn that it never drinks water! As its diet consists of succulent rock plants, it usually absorbs all the water it needs from these plants or by licking the dew from leaves, in the early morning. Kilspringer feeds at dawn and dusk and feeds on leaves and flowers of various herbs, fruits and shrubs. When food is not available at reachable levels, it stands on its hind legs to get at it.

Yak - the high-altitude beast of burden

The yak or grunting ox is a close relative of our own domestic cattle. It roams the mountains of the Himalaya and the Tibetan plateau. It shows a marked preference for the moorlands up to 6100 m (20,000 ft) in altitude.

This long-haired and humped bovine is massive, weighing about 37.4-46 lbs. It is about 24 inches high at the shoulder. Despite its size, it is surprisingly able to manoeuvre itself on rocks and climb well.

Both the wild and domesticated yak have long, shaggy hair to keep it insulated from the cold. Its hair inside is matted and the matting is possible due to a sticky secretion in its sweat. This secretion is used as medicine by the people of Nepal. Both gender have horns. In winter, the yak could survive temperatures as low as 40 degrees Celsius because of its long, matted fur. The fibre from its coat is used to spin yarn for knitting.

As the yak is docile and can be easily tamed, it has been domesticated. In fact, it has been serving man for over 4000 years, not only as a beast of burden, but also as a producer of milk and wool. The yak's milk is rich in butter fat.

It is also killed for its meat. The domestic variety is somewhat smaller than the wild species. The female gives birth to a single calf which becomes independent after about a year. The yak can live up to 32 years. It feeds in the morning and evening, mostly on grass and also lichens and plants.