This document provides brief summaries of 10 interesting animal species: the ring-tailed lemur, red panda, Bengal tiger, polar bear, lioness, giraffe, orca, brown bear, and baboon. It highlights some of their key physical attributes and behaviors, such as how lemurs use their hands and feet to move through trees, how red pandas use their bushy tails as blankets, and how baboons communicate with their troops using different vocalizations.

1. Animal Facts
10 Interesting animals
Photos by Melissa Morro

2. Ring-tailed Lemur
Ring-tailed lemurs
are unmistakable
because of their
long, vividly
striped, blackand-white tail.
They are residents
of many zoos.
Lemurs use their
hands and feet to
move through the
trees, but cannot
grip with their tails.

3. Red Panda
The red panda is
often unknown
because of the
black-and-white
giant that shares its
name. These
pandas typically
grow to the size of
a house
cat, though their
big, bushy tails add
an additional 18
inches. The pandas
use their ringed
tails as
wraparound
blankets in the
chilly mountain
heights.

4. Bengal Tiger
Tigers are the largest
members of the cat
family and are known
for their power and
strength. Despite their
fearsome reputation,
most tigers avoid
humans; however, a
few do become
dangerous maneaters. A hungry tiger
can eat as much as
60 pounds in one
night, though they
usually eat less.

5. Polar Bear
Polar bears roam the
Arctic ice sheets
and swim in that
region's coastal
waters. They are
very strong
swimmers, and their
large front paws are
slightly webbed to
help them paddle.
Some polar bears
have been seen
swimming hundreds
of miles from land,
but they usually
cover most of that
distance by floating
on sheets of ice.

6. Lioness
Female lions are the
pride's primary
hunters. They often
work together to
prey upon
antelopes, zebras, wi
ldebeest, and other
large animals of the
open grasslands.
Many of these
animals are faster
than lions, so the
ladies teamwork
pays off.

7. Giraffes use their
height to good
advantage and
browse on leaves
and buds in
treetops that few
other animals can
reach. Even the
giraffe's tongue is
long! The 21-inch
tongue helps them
pluck tasty morsels
from branches. A
giraffe eats
hundreds of pounds
of leaves each
week and must
travel miles to find
enough food.
Giraffe

8. Orca (Killer Wale)
Orcas, are one of the
world's most powerful
predators. They eat
marine mammals like
seals, sea lions, and
even whales. Their
teeth can be four
inches long. They use
echolocation to
communicate and
hunt, making sounds
that travel
underwater until they
encounter objects,
then bounce back,
revealing their
location, size, and
shape.

9. Brown Bear
Adult brown bears are powerful, top-of-the-food chain
predators, but much of their diet consists of
nuts, berries, fruit, leaves, and roots. Bears also eat other
animals, from rodents to moose. Despite their enormous size, brown
at speeds of 30
bears are extremely fast, having been clocked
miles per hour. They
can be dangerous
to
humans, particularly
if surprised or if a
person gets
between a mother
bear and her cubs.
The world's largest
brown bears are
found in coastal
British Columbia and
Alaska.

10. Baboon
Like other Old World monkeys, baboons do not have gripping tails, so
they spend much of their time on the ground. They can however
climb trees to sleep, eat, or look out for trouble. Males use shows of
physical power to
dominate rivals, and
troop members
spend endless hours
carefully grooming
one another to
remove insects and
dead skin. Baboons
use at least ten
different and unique
vocalizations to
communicate with
other members of
the troop.