Hanekom Family in Wellington New Zealand
The Cotton Top Tamarin (Saguinus oedipus) live in small social groups of between two and thirteen individuals.
In this group there is a single dominant monogamous breeding pair. The dominant female uses pheromones to inhibit the reproductive cycle of the other females in the group.
Although all the offspring belongs to a single pair, care for the young seems to be a responsibility shared by the whole group.
(#68 of 100)
Pelicans have no nostrils and breath through their mouths.
(#67 of 100)
The Esmeralda is one of the largest tall ships to sail the world’s oceans.
She is a Spanish manufactured steel-hulled four-masted barquentine (manufactured and delivered as a schooner) taken into service in 1953.
She is used as a training ship of the Chilean Navy and act as a type of floating embassy for Chile.
In spite of her impressive size and a claim during her service to be in podium position for both longest and tallest ocean going sailing ship, she has been surpassed several times by even larger tall ships.
The largest square rigged ocean going tall ship is currently the 5 masted clipper ship the Royal Clipper, with 5202 square metres of sail, launched as recently as the year 2000.
(#66 of 100)
The Cango caves natural monument near Oudtshoorn in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa is one of the first natural resources to receive protection in South Africa. The first Caves Regulation was published in 1820 banning the collection of souvenirs and fines for damaging the caves.
How large the cave complex is is still unknown, but what is known is that it exceeds 5 kilometers in length. The single largest chamber in the complex is 107 meters across and 16 meters high.
(#65 of 100)
The warthog has a relatively short neck. To get its mouth closer to the ground it kneels when it eats and slowly crawls forward on its front knees as it forages.
(#64 of 100)
Legend has it that Chinese alchemist mixed saltpeter (or potassium nitrate) with sulfur and charcoal to form crude gunpowder
sometime between 600 and 900 C.E. while searching for an
elixir for immortality.
Gunpowder was used in fireworks prior to being used in weapons.
The colours in fireworks is due to burning metals. Elements burn at different light frequencies (wavelengths) and different mixes of metals result in different fireworks colours:
(#63 of 100)
The moon is in synchronous rotation with the earth. This means that the moon turns around its own axis at the same speed it orbits earth. The result is that the same side of the moon is always visible from earth.
Due to irregularities in the moon’s orbit, slightly different portions of the moon is visible at different times, but no more than 59% of the moon’s surface can ever be observed from earth.
(#62 of 100)
The Elephant has the longest gestation period of any mammal (roughly 22 months). This is longer than larger mammals like whales including the largest of all; the Blue Whale.
Interestingly, the Indian Elephant, which is smaller than the African Elephant has a longer gestation period (mean of 645 and 640 days respectively).
(#61 of 100)
The Malayan Sun Bear (Helarctos malayanus) is the smallest of the world’s eight surviving bear species but it has the longest tongue.
It is an opportunistic omnivore (of the bears only the polar bear is a true carnivore) that uses its long tongue to get to ants, termites, bugs, honey and other delicacies.
A bear’s age can be determined from its teeth because bear teeth has year rings much like the year rings in trees.
(#60 of 100)
Rabbits have been domesticated many years ago. Hares on the other hand have not.
Unlike rabbits that burrow for protection hares rely on speed and agility. Hares do not burrow (that’s a rabbit hole) but spend their lives above ground.
While rabbits give birth to blind and naked young in burrows, hares give birth in shallow depressions to young with eyes open and a pelt.
(59 of 100)