Brookfield Zoo, Chicago, Illinois




Tiger



Dolphin-Bottlenose (Tursiops truncatus) - World over in warm and tropical seas. The "beak" is short and has a turned up smile. The dorsal fin has a triangular shape hooked backwards. This Dolphin is dark gray with a cream belly. They are intelligent.

Dolphins live in a pod numbering twelve or more. They love to play, jumping out of the water and can be taught to perform as these Dolphins are showing. They can stay underwater for 6-7 minutes.

The Dolphin averages around 6 to 12 feet and weigh around 500 pounds. They have a large tail fluke and long, pointed flippers.

Grizzly Bear (Ursus arctos) - Western North America and much of Eurasia. Usually the Grizzly Bear has dark brown, but that can vary from blond to black. Their head is broad and the ears are small. A Grizzly will stand on the hind legs when looking for food but not necessarily an aggressive position.

The Grizzly Bear has a distinctive shoulder hump Their tongue is long and has a far reach. Most of the time the bear is herbivorous, dieting on berries, nuts, roots and grasses. When the salmon go upstream to spawn, the Grizzly is there to catch and feast on them, however.

This picture of the front paws of the Grizzly shows the claws that are nonretractable.

Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus) - Their range is from the Arctic in North America (Alaska and Canada) to Greenland, Norway and Russia. The Polar Bear is probably the largest carnivore in the world. The front legs are longer than the back legs, causing the back to slope down. The soles of the feet are covered with fur to help them walk on ice and snow.. They live a solitary life except during mating.

This Young Polar Bear was eating the leaves on this branch. The cubs are born in December, but do not come out of the den until sometime in April. The mother will nurse the cub or cubs (one or two) for 18 months.

Alaskan Brown Bear (Ursus arctos) - Alaska. From Nose to tail, the Alaskan Brown Bear is anywhere from 6 to 9 feet long. They weigh from 400 to 1,000 pounds. The brown bear is one of the eight kinds of bear in the world. Kodiak and grizzly bears are subspecies of the brown bear. Bears slee[p for weeks, but their body temperature does not drop much, so they do not literally hibernate. They sleep to save energy when they can't fine enough food to eat.

Mandrill (Mandrillus sphinx) - Tropical forest in Cameroons and Gabon. They roam freely on the ground. The Mandrill only will go into the trees when in danger or to sleep. His hindquarters are are hairless and colorful (scarlet, pink and violet). The face is scarlet in the central areas and patches of blue on each side. The femal is not as colorful.

Gorilla (female) - (Gorilla gorilla) - Lowland Gorillas come from Cameroons, Gabon, Zaire; The Mountain Gorillas come from Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania.

Gorilla Baby

Goeldi's Monkey (Callimico goeldii) - South America. The Goeldi has long black fur and longer mane of black fur around the head and neck. Unlike other marmosets, they have wisdom teeth. With their incisors they make gashes in trees to feed on sap and gum. They are about 9 inches long and have a 9 to 12 inch tail.
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Cotton-top Tamarin (Saguimus oedipus) - The Cotton-top Tamarin have sharp claws and pointed teeth to help catch insects and bite through tough body coverings.

Aardvark (Oreyterus afer) - Africa south of the Sahara. The Aardvark is one of the most powerful diggers among mammals. They have a cylindrical snout much like a pig. The ears are enormous and very tough. There are four strong toes on the front feet and five toes on the back feet. There limbs are extremely strong to help them dig for dinner. There are large claws on all their toes. The sticky tongue is long to catch ants and termites. The large salivary glands help the Aardvark to swallow insects whole. The modified stomach grinds up insects. The goal is to catch over 80,000 insects and termites for dinner. That's a lot of insect. The fleshy tentacles at the end of their snout seem to help them find food by vibrarions or chemicals that the insects emit. So their keen hearing and sense of smell all working together to accomplish finding those thousands for dinner. the thick hair that grows at the end of the aardvarks nose seals the nostrils to keep the dirt out of the snout when digging.

Sloth Bear ( Melursus ursinus) - India and Sri Lanks. These Asian bear eat mostly insects. They are black with a V-shaped design on the chest. They have an off-white nose and very shaggy fur. The long tongue and the ability of the mouth to form a tube in which to suck up the many termites required. The long claws can flip stones, tear apart termite mounds, break tree stumps apart just to get to those tasty insects.

Sloth Bear

Bactrian Baby Camel (Camelus bactrianus) - Central Asia, Gobi Desert. One baby was born February 28, 2008 and the other was born March 22, 2008. .
The two-humped Bactrian Camel is found wild in the Gobi desert. It can withstand high temperatures of 100 F and - 20 F In the summer they shed their shaggy winter coat. The two humps are composed of fat and will stand up straight if fed a good diet.

The Bactrian Camel lives in groups of 6-20 led by a male camel. The gestation period is 13 months long. Usually only one calf is born. The camel group is not territorial and wonders great distances in search of food and water. The camel has tiny ear flaps to keep sand out of their ear canals. A second pair of clear eyelids help them to see during a sandstorm. The feet are built to walk on sand, being rounded with two toes. The Bactrian Camel can drink 25 gallons of water in ten minutes. During times when water in low, they can get energy from the fat stored in the humps.

Giant Anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) - Central to South America, Guatemala to Argentiina, The Giant Anteater has an amazing nose. This snout is long and cylindrical in shape It has a long, sticky, spine-covered tongue about 2 feet that helps to suck up termites and ants, a big part of their diet. The ears, eyes and mouth are tiny. The Anteater has a big shaggy brown tail, silver-white stripes on the back and pale stripes on the side. They walk on their knuckles, using their large front feet with claws to rip open termite mounds and tree trunks. The gestation period is 190 days. Only one young is born. The mother carries the baby on her back for a long period of time.

Grevy's Zebra (Equus grevyi) - Ethiopia, Somalia, S. Sudan, and North Kenya. The Grevy's Zebra is the largest species of Zebra. The black and white narrow stripes go all the way down the the hooves. The belly is white. The large, furry ears also mark them as Grevy's Zebras. The tail is white with a tuft of at the tip of the tail. Of course, every Zebra has their own individual stripe pattern like our fingerprints. No two are the same.

In the wild a Grevy's male Zebra stays alone until breeding season. They tend to be too aggressive. The males can weigh 800 pounds. There is a narrow white zone on the back rump.

Grant's Zebra (Equus burchelli) - Eastern Africa. These plain zebras live in small herds. There is a dominant male and female in each herd. They have wide stripes and a striped belly. They are fast runners and stay in a group as they move for protection.

Addax (Addax nasomaculatus) - Northwest Africa. The Addax is a rare antelope found in remote desert areas. Their spiral horns have up to three turns. The hooves have a wide base which enables them to walk on sandy and soft areas. They survive without water for long periods of time.

Addax - Their white summer coat turns grayish brown in the winter. There is a white pattern running across the face from the cheeks to the nose. On their forehead is a chestnut patch.

African Elephant (Loxodonta africana) - Sub-Saharan Africa. The African Elephant is the largest living land animal The ears are larger than the Asian Elephant. The trunk is long and flexible and has two fingerlike sections at the tip. These elephants are s a social group with an elderly female at the head. Both the male and female have tusks. The elephants will visit a watering hole each day to drink, bath and wallow in.

American Bison - called Buffalo in North America ((Bison bison) - United States and Canada. Their coat is dark brown and shaggy on the shoulders, head, neck and front legs. There is thick curly hair on the forehead. They have short, upturned horns. There is a dark beard under the chin. The shoulder hump is around 6 feet. The tail is relatively short. They have black, circular hooves. The American Bison is a fast runner even though it has a huge bulk.

Lion (Panthera leo) - Africa and South Asia.

Pygmy Hippopotamus (Hexaprotodon liberiensis) - West Africa in tropical forests and wetlands. This Pygmy Hippo is nocturnal and usually is alone. It has a smaller head than it's big cousin, and is one-fifth of weight. They have a sloping forequarter.

Black Rhinoceros

Orangutan - Bornean (Pongo pygmaeus) - Borneo and Sumatra. The arms are twice the lenth of their body. The Orangutan doesn't have a tail. The coat is long and soft and varies from orange-red to reddish brown.

Red-capped Mangabey

Gibbons - white-handed (Hylobates lar) - Sumartra, Malaysia, Southwestern Thailand and Cambodia. All Gibbons are tailless and long-limbed. This small ape has long hands. The tops of the hands and feet are white. The fur is dense and vary in color from pale yellowish brown to black. The face is black. These Gibbons are the fastest moving of all the primates.