Unusual underground houses of animal builders. Animals of the mustelid family This animal often knocks out its bed

Mink- a close relative of the ferret. Now in Russia there are two types of minks: European and American. Minks have webbed feet. Their lifestyle and appearance are somewhat reminiscent of otter burrows: they settle near the water, swim and dive perfectly. They catch fish and frogs, crayfish, mollusks, insects, rodents, ducks, and sometimes even geese. American minks sometimes hunt hares. They eat berries. Where American and European minks meet, there are crossbreeds between them, but their relationship is generally not peaceful: American minks displace and even exterminate European minks.

Contrary to their name, these animals are reluctant to dig holes: most often their nests are located in hollows above the roots of old willows, under fallen trees. “There are usually one or two exits and entrances from the nesting chamber,” write V.V. Dezhkin and S.V. Marakov. - Near one of them, behind the threshold of the dwelling, there is a restroom. The mink has an innate habit of cleanliness... The floor is covered with dry grass, leaves, moss, pine needles... The animal often fluffs up its bed. He does this masterfully, with his paws and teeth at the same time, then he lies down and curls up into a ball.”

Geneticists have bred minks of various colors on fur farms: sapphire, pearl, topaz, silver, white, steel and others - more than two dozen color forms. The price of a skin of a new fashionable color at world auctions is sometimes $400.

Now we will talk about the largest animals of the mustel family. And the first of them is the sea otter, or sea otter: old males weigh 40 kg. Second place goes to the wolverine: the weight of mature ones is 32 kg (but females weigh only 16 kg).

“This is a kudoy, ​​very kudoy, ​​the very last beast,” as A.A. says. Cherkasov, the wolverine has long been a characteristic in Siberia. “Kudoy” (i.e. thin, bad) - because she eats carrion and does not disdain snakes. “She, damned, clouds her vision, so that after that the dogs see poorly and lose her from their eyes,” disgusting with the stench that she emits when the dogs surround her. Wolverine steals every suppressed animal and bird from traps (however, she manages not to fall into the trap). Hunting grub, food supplies left in the forest, also steals. And what it won’t eat or carry away, it pours its odorous liquid on it in order to mark it with its smell.

Badgers, foxes and many other animals dig holes in which they hide from bad weather and escape from enemies. These mammals are perfectly adapted to this lifestyle.

photo: Mike Seamons

What animals live underground?

Most animals that live underground settle in ready-made burrows left by previous residents. However, most mammals arrange their own homes themselves. They conscientiously take care of order and regularly clean their burrow, changing the bedding.

Moles (Tair's clan) lead a solitary life in a labyrinth of underground corridors, which can occupy an area of ​​up to 1200 m2. In the molehills, visible from the outside, there are ventilation shafts or a large chamber, which is intended for sleeping.

Badgers live in families. An ordinary hole reaches thirty meters in diameter and has several exits. The badger prefers to settle in quiet areas of the forest with soft soil, but it can also be found in the steppe or semi-desert areas. On the trees not far from its hole, marks from the badger's claws are visible - this is how the animal cleans or sharpens its claws.

photo: Andy Purviance

Wild rabbits They dig holes with their strong front paws. They are able to build large galleries with numerous rooms in which a large colony of these animals can live.

Marsupial mole, which lives in the northeast and south of Australia, moves underground in a special way - it seems as if the animal is swimming. The mole loosens the ground in front of it, quickly working with strong, pointed claws of the third and fourth fingers of the forelimbs. Then mole pushes it away with his head and rakes the soil under himself, making quick movements with his whole body, the mole deftly slips into the dug hole.

photo: Mick Talbot

Interesting facts about animals living in burrows

• Sometimes they settle in part of the Badger Hole foxes. The badger cannot stand their smell, so it is often forced to leave its hole.
• The marsupial mole digs temporary short feeding passages. After an animal walks over them, the ground crumbles. In these temporary tunnels, the marsupial mole searches underground, which form the main part of its menu. Sometimes a marsupial mole gets to the surface and continues to dig a tunnel in a new place. The muzzle of the marsupial mole is protected by a keratinized shield.
• Many mammals benefit from living underground. When it’s cold, they hide in underground galleries from the cold, and when it’s hot outside, they hide from the heat. In addition, the animals are protected from enemies and can safely raise their young.

photo:Doug Zwick

Many representatives of the mustelid family dig underground storage facilities (for example, a badger), or occupy other people's abandoned holes, as they do ferrets and stoats. Rodents also live underground - gray rats, voles and shrews; insectivores - moles.

Moles They spend most of their lives underground. They come to the surface in order to collect building material for the nest or if frost occurs, then the animals go outside to search for food. Moles are hunted by many different predators, including red foxes.

photo: Darryl Dawson

Badger practically omnivorous. It is nocturnal. The badger loves to eat earthworms. Other animals that live underground, such as African meerkats, come out to hunt during the day. They feed mainly on insects.

Animals living in countries with temperate climate, they hide in burrows from the cold. And desert residents hide underground from the sweltering midday heat.

photo: tim phillips

Animal life underground

The body shape of mammals leading an underground lifestyle is ideal for moving through underground tunnels. Thus, the mole has a pointed mouth and spade-shaped forelimbs with long claws, with which it is convenient for him to dig the ground. The mole's body tapers slightly towards the tail. Thanks to this shape, it moves forward like a rotor, and at the same time pushes part of the excavated earth towards the walls of the tunnel. The mole moves the remaining soil to its hind legs and uses them to reject them back. The mole's vision is practically undeveloped, but such a seemingly important flaw does not prevent him from leading an active lifestyle.

All eight species of badgers have a strong body with short legs that are covered with thick short hair. Their claws are very strong, non-retractable, and are perfectly suited for digging. In Australia, the equivalent of badgers is . The pouch, which is located on the stomach of a female wombat, does not open forward, like in most chipmunks. He prepares a special storage for himself for the winter. Chipmunks close the entrance to their burrow very tightly to prevent cold from getting in, and sometimes suffocate from lack of oxygen.

But usually they instinctively wake up at the moment when the oxygen in the “bedroom” runs out. Well-insulated corridors in the chipmunk's hole are 7 m long, one of them turns into a nesting chamber, since the animals mate immediately after waking up from hibernation.

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Good afternoon my dear nature lovers! Today I will tell you about interesting building animals, how, using their building instincts, they build shelters for themselves. And I’ll start my story with such a rare cute animal, the muskrat.

The muskrat does not have the ability to build above-water dwellings, but it builds underground houses very well. This is a whole labyrinth of underground passages, often ending in dead ends.

These dwellings have several nesting rooms. When the level of reservoirs changes, the muskrat digs a new house, which over time becomes multi-story. In addition to nesting holes, there are also feeding holes in which the animal deals with its prey.

All entrances to the dwelling, located in shallow water, have unique access routes in the form of trenches on the muddy bottom. They resemble river beaver channels.

In winter, when shallow water freezes over the trenches, an ice arch forms and tunnels appear. They allow the muskrat to reach deep places in complete safety.

In the spring, during the flood period, life poses difficult problems for the animal. The entire huge area of ​​the floodplain is filled with water, and the holes are also filled.

However, the animals have adapted to this and wait out the high water, escaping in tree hollows and influxes.

Surges are all kinds of debris and rubbish that are deposited by the current onto any obstacles in the floodplain, most often into thickets of trees and bushes. In the thickness of the influx, the muskrat makes lairs and calmly uses them. Often its upper neighbors are hares, various ones, and even foxes.

Temporary homes for water rats

It’s hard for the water rat in the spring too. Not only in floodplains, but also in other places, after the snow melts, the winter quarters of these rodents are filled with water. Like the muskrat, the animals use all kinds of temporary homes in the spring. They gather in large groups on bushes, branches and in the hollows of flooded trees.

After the low waters recede, the animals begin to move to various summer quarters. In swampy forest areas, water rats often settle in old stumps. The exit from such dwellings goes under water. The round nest is lined with soft and dry grass on the inside.

In the shallow bays formed at the site of clearings, very original underground houses of water rats were found. The animals took a liking to numerous stumps, gnawed holes in them, and made nests. A whole rat town formed in the stumps. Above, on the stumps, these rodents set up feeding tables and it turned out to be a real table and home.

In open sedge-tussock bogs, rats build nests in the upper part of large hummocks, and in reed thickets - in thick layers of dead plants and even in muskrat huts, but not inside, but in their thick and loose walls. Along the banks of small rivers, streams, ponds and oxbow lakes, the animals dig holes several meters long, often with two exits - underwater and surface: the enemy will not be taken by surprise - you can escape either into the water or onto land.

It happens that almost the entire life of a water rat is spent away from bodies of water, in meadows in burrows. After all, it does not need water as much as the lush grassy vegetation of humid places. However, by the will of nature or man, the water rat sometimes finds itself in interesting positions.

On the Rybinsk Reservoir, entire rat settlements on floating peat bogs traveled with their inhabitants across the expanses of water.

In winter, the rat does not need water. She does not reach cattail rhizomes or reeds from the bottom and does not swim under the ice hundreds of meters from the shore, like a muskrat or a beaver. Therefore, many animals go out into the fields in the fall, where they begin preparing for winter. First of all, they make countless tunnels, and soon vast areas of farmland are turned into rats.

During the years of rat scourge, you cannot even take a step on them, so as not to fall into the underground houses of rodents. Everywhere you look there are black piles of discarded earth. They can be counted up to 4000 pieces per 1 hectare. And there are no exits in sight. The absence of an external passage is a trick, a way of protecting against terrestrial, small predators - stoats and weasels: after all, they can easily climb along the passages of a rat.

Water rats come out in an original way. This pile of earth serves as the door to their home. The animal pushes its head through a loose earthen lump and hurries to stock up on food for the winter

• onions and potatoes,
• water horseradish bulbs,
• roots of other plants.

Rats fill their underground storehouses with cereal seeds, primarily rye and wheat. The seeds germinate in warm passages in winter and provide the owners with fresh, juicy and fortified food.

With the onset of winter, when loose, deep snow covers the ground, water rats build a large network of ground snow passages and even ground nests. They are placed in the willow bushes, in weeds and represent a grass ball with a diameter of 20-30 centimeters.

Foxes hunt for animals scurrying in countless snowy passages, trying to grab them, but that was not the case. Prey often disappears from under the nose of a predator into underground houses and becomes inaccessible: it is reliably protected by the armor of a frozen layer of earth.

Living conditions of construction animals

Last on the list of construction rodents is nutria. Living conditions at home, in the jungle South America, did not require complex building instincts from her. Therefore, her temporary homes are simple and monotonous.

In all reservoirs with dense, rich aquatic vegetation, the animal builds something similar to a duck’s nest, only larger in size. Nutria is trained on a crease made from the stems of reeds or cattails long bunches plants. A recess is made at the top for the nest. The height of this flooring is about 30-40 centimeters.

Nutria makes several similar nests. Stray males and immature individuals often do not bother with construction at all, but rest anywhere. Their roosts are usually found along the shores of a reservoir.

Such carelessness is sometimes punished by predators, especially wolves, jackals or jungle cats. It's a big surprise for them to catch a nutria on the ground by surprise - this is for them! Nutria meat is particularly tender and has a pleasant taste.

In bodies of water where vegetation is poor and there is nowhere to build a nest, nutria dig holes. Their underground houses are very simple, 2-3 meters long, running straight from the water. The entrance to the hole is only half under water, so even elementary rule– masking the door with nutria is often not followed.

Nutria almost never build temporary homes themselves, but try to use natural shelters. Almost all the animals' nests are located in the hollows of fallen trees. Sometimes minks settle in the cavities of hummocks, apparently having eaten the owner of this dwelling - water rat and expanding her room.

The animals are reluctant to dig holes on their own. The nesting chamber usually has one or two entrances and exits, and there is a latrine not far from one of the thresholds of the dwelling. Cleanliness is innate in minks. In northern cats, it appears already in the third month of life.

The interior decoration of a mink house is not tricky. The animals gnaw and scrape out the core of the hollow, creating a nesting chamber. The floor is lined with dry leaves or grass, pine needles or moss. Mink depending on the weather

• then leaves the entrance open and basks in the draft,
• then he covers it with a bunch of grass during cold weather.

The animal regularly fluffs its feather bed expertly with its teeth and paws at the same time, and then, curling up into a ball, goes to sleep in a warm and soft bed. In summer, on hot days, the bedding is temporarily thrown outside to dry, and the animals enjoy the cold floor of the home, lying on it, either on their backs or on their stomachs.

In addition to permanent nest holes, animals have many temporary stopping points where they rest while exploring their hunting area. But still, European and American minks are tightly attached to a certain area.

Another thing is the otter. She does not live in one place for a long time and wanders around her hunting area in search of fish. The scope of its migrations is enormous and sometimes amounts to several hundred kilometers. However, during the period of birth and raising the young, the female is forced to live in one place, which is provided with food on the site.

The otter digs underground nesting houses with difficulty - because its claws are weak. Usually it somewhat widens and deepens the washouts on river banks. The passage to its burrow goes under water and ends in a spacious chamber covered with dry grass, leaves, and moss.

For ventilation, 1-2 holes lead upward. They also serve as emergency exits during floods. In some warm areas In our country, the otter settles without a hole, in dense thickets, and gives birth to cubs here.

Otters find all their temporary underground shelters near bodies of water. In winter, animals make excellent use of the voids under the ice near the coast, and then not only their temporary homes, but even traces of them will not be seen. In the habits of otters one can already discern some features of those semi-aquatic animals for which the construction of a permanent roof over their head becomes optional.

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Most animals that live underground settle in ready-made burrows left by previous residents. However, most mammals arrange their own homes themselves. They conscientiously take care of order and regularly clean their burrow, changing the bedding.

Moles (genus Tair) lead a solitary life in a labyrinth of underground corridors that can occupy an area of ​​up to 1200 m2. In the molehills, visible from the outside, there are ventilation shafts or a large chamber, which is intended for sleeping.

Badgers live in families. An ordinary hole reaches thirty meters in diameter and has several exits. The badger prefers to settle in quiet areas of the forest with soft soil, but it can also be found in the steppe or semi-desert areas. On the trees not far from its hole, marks from the badger's claws are visible - this is how the animal cleans or sharpens its claws.

Wild rabbits dig holes with their strong front paws. They are able to build large galleries with numerous rooms in which a large colony of these animals can live.

The marsupial mole, which lives in the northeast and south of Australia, moves underground in a special way - it seems as if the animal is swimming. The mole loosens the ground in front of it, quickly working with strong, pointed claws of the third and fourth fingers of the forelimbs. Then the mole pushes it away with his head and rakes the soil under himself, making quick movements with his whole body, the mole deftly slips into the dug hole.

• Sometimes foxes settle in part of the Badger Hole. The badger cannot stand their smell, so it is often forced to leave its hole.
• The marsupial mole digs temporary short feeding passages. After an animal walks over them, the ground crumbles. In these temporary tunnels, the marsupial mole searches underground for invertebrates, which form the bulk of its menu. Sometimes a marsupial mole gets to the surface and continues to dig a tunnel in a new place. The muzzle of the marsupial mole is protected by a keratinized shield.
• Many mammals benefit from living underground. When it’s cold, they hide in underground galleries from the cold, and when it’s hot outside, they hide from the heat. In addition, the animals are protected from enemies and can safely raise their young.

Many representatives of the mustelid family dig underground storage facilities (for example, the badger), or occupy other people's abandoned burrows, as do ferrets and stoats. Rodents also live underground - gray rats, voles and shrews; insectivores - moles.

Moles spend most of their lives underground. They come to the surface in order to collect building material for the nest or if frost occurs, then the animals go outside to search for food. Moles are hunted by many different predators, including red foxes.

The badger is practically omnivorous. It is nocturnal. The badger loves to eat earthworms. Other animals that live underground, such as African meerkats, come out to hunt during the day. They feed mainly on insects.

Animals living in countries with temperate climates hide from the cold in burrows. And desert residents hide underground from the sweltering midday heat.

The body shape of mammals leading an underground lifestyle is ideal for moving through underground tunnels. Thus, the mole has a pointed mouth and spade-shaped forelimbs with long claws, with which it is convenient for him to dig the ground. The mole's body tapers slightly towards the tail. Thanks to this shape, it moves forward like a rotor, and at the same time pushes part of the excavated earth towards the walls of the tunnel. The mole moves the remaining soil to its hind paws and uses them to reject them back. The mole's vision is practically undeveloped, but such an important defect does not prevent him from leading an active lifestyle.

All eight species of badgers have a strong body with short legs that are covered with thick short hair. Their claws are very strong, non-retractable, and are perfectly suited for digging. In Australia, the equivalent of badgers is the wombat. The pouch, which is located on the abdomen of a female wombat, opens not forward, like in most marsupials (for example, a kangaroo), but backwards. Thanks to this, clay and sand do not get into it when digging tunnels.

The wombat's forelimbs are very short, with hard claws. The wombat digs with one or the other front paw.

Bengal and Indian bandicoots live in tropical regions of Asia. These small animals also live underground. Bandicoots have relatively small ears; Their eyesight is poor: all this is a consequence of the underground lifestyle, because underground the sense of smell is more important than sight and hearing.

Many animals hibernate during the cold season and build winter chambers underground. But not all species of mammals living underground fall into true hibernation. So, the chipmunk hibernates. He prepares a special storage for himself for the winter. Chipmunks close the entrance to the hole so tightly that the cold does not get inside, sometimes they suffocate from lack of oxygen.

But usually they instinctively wake up at the moment when the oxygen in their “sleeping” runs out. Well-insulated corridors in the chipmunk's hole are 7 m long, one of them turns into a nesting chamber, as the animals mate immediately after waking up from hibernation.

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The simplest structure that mammals build, or rather dig, is a burrow. Burrows are dug by the platypus and red fox, rabbit and armadillo, marmot and jerboa, hamster and badger and many other animals, inhabitants of all continents. The European mole is a very skilled craftsman in creating underground galleries among animals. Its burrows are complex labyrinths. The network of underground corridors laid by moles can be partially judged by the well-known molehills - mounds of discarded earth. Under one of these molehills there is a house for a mole-digger. Typically, a molehill with housing is located in a safer place, for example, under the roots, under a lying tree, and is located at a fairly large distance from the mole’s hunting area. The housing is arranged very skillfully. Inside the molehill there is a round chamber, or nest, lined with moss, dry grass, and soft roots. A tunnel leads from the nest, first down and then to the surface. It is used in case of danger to escape. Multi-meter passages branch off in different directions.

The badger hole also has a rather complex structure, with several floors and many entrances and exits. The main room, where the entire badger family gathers, is located at a depth of up to 5 meters. It is lined with dry grass, which is regularly replaced with new grass. There is order and cleanliness, fresh air in the hole.

Over many millions of years, some animals have adapted to build nests in trees. This kind of cozy nest is built by the well-known squirrel. Its spherical nest is placed on the branches. The outer layer of the nest is woven from thin twigs, the inner layer is made of dry grass, moss, and lichen. In places where there are more severe winters, squirrels thicken the walls of the nest and line it with additional down and feathers. The nest is covered with a cone-shaped roof made of tightly folded brushwood and pieces of bark to prevent rain from penetrating into the housing. And in winter, nature itself completes the snow roof. The nest has one or two entrances. When going hunting, a squirrel covers the entrance to the nest with moss or dry grass.

The squirrel is very sensitive to rain and thunderstorms. Already several hours before the storm, she worries. And as soon as it starts to rain, she climbs into her home and sits there until good weather comes.

An ingenious structure the size of an average orange is the spherical nest of a tiny mouse. This animal is a real architect, and its construction is an original structure. He builds a nest from blades of grass and leaves. Usually, the mouse weaves living plant leaves into the walls of the nest: the nest rests on them, and the plants continue to grow. Often a baby mouse hangs its nest from several stems of cereals, nettles or other plants at a height of 20 to 80 centimeters.

The baby mouse's nest has neither entrance nor exit. It's quite loose. Therefore, when the mouse goes to feed or returns from it, it easily pushes the wall of the house and climbs inside. The baby mouse's home is temporary: it only uses it to hatch its young.

The most outstanding builder among mammals is the beaver. Many people know his famous huts, dams, and dams. The beaver builds a hut from branches, pieces of young tree trunks, held together with silt. There is an access hole in the ceiling of the hut fresh air. The hut occupies a single room approximately 1.5 meters wide and about 1 meter high. There is an underwater exit leading outside the hut. Beaver lodges reach considerable sizes - they can be up to 10 meters in diameter and up to 3 meters in height. Usually beavers place them in a shallow area of ​​a river or lake.

A hive is the home of bees - the latter themselves found places for themselves either in the crevices of rocks, or in some hollow sides.

The most primitive type of shelter is a den. It is located in a small depression in the soil among fallen leaves, in a hole, in a windfall, under tree roots and stumps turned out of the ground. Hares and ungulates generally do not have permanent homes; they have disposable roosts.

Who taught them this art? All this behavior, similar to rational behavior, is explained by the most complex instincts that animals have developed over the course of their long historical development. However, it is also important that animals, from generation to generation, adopting the experience of their elders, and gradually consolidating it, learned to apply principles unknown to them and began to show exceptional construction talent, which is only known in the animal world.

Additional material

Burrows are passages dug by animals in the ground.

A nest is a temporary and even often short-term dwelling where the offspring of birds are located. Bird nests are extremely diverse in size, design, material and location

Rookery - coastal beaches, on which large concentrations of animals form. Typically, this term is applied to describe biology marine mammals. For example, coastal rookeries are formed by eared seals - northern fur seal, sea lion, etc.

A lair is a place for long-term rest, hibernation, or breeding of young in some mammals.

Dens used for a short period of time are called bedding; They are hosted by hares, rodents and most ungulates.

The shell is a shelter, a home for the mollusk, which is part of its body.

A turtle shell is a real portable home. The fact is that a turtle is a very slow and clumsy creature. Any predator could catch and eat her. And the shell helps to avoid this.

Beehive - home of bees

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A good hole, nest or shell protects animals from rain, wind, heat or cold. In addition, they can become a refuge from predators, a storehouse of food supplies and a place for the birth and raising of offspring. Trees, caves or rocks, if available, are best suited for these purposes. However, in flat places, such as the prairies of North America, they, unfortunately, do not exist. Therefore, animals such as prairie dogs settle underground in entire colonies, which can number thousands of animals. The burrows of these animals are like entire underground cities.

mobile home

The cephalopod nautilus (boat) lives in the Indian and Pacific oceans. Its house is a mother-of-pearl spiral shell divided into large number cameras The diameter of the shell can reach 25 cm. The nautilus lives in the outermost chamber, the others are filled with air and connected to the mollusk by a tube. The air pressure in the chambers is regulated by glands and allows the nautilus to float or submerge.

Stitched nest

Tailor ants living in tropical and sub-tropical tropical forests, build nests from leaves rolled into tubes. To do this, some of them connect the ends of two leaves with jaws and paws, others “sew” them together. The threads for this are provided by ant larvae, each of which contains a sticky substance. The ants lightly press on the larvae, and glue comes out of them, as if from tubes. This does not harm the larvae in any way, and they continue to develop normally.

Animal builders

Many animals build durable burrows where they eat, sleep, hide from enemies, raise their young, and also hide from the piercing cold or sultry heat. Some of the animals build homes in the water. Others “weave” hanging nests close to neighboring ones, settle in hundreds and lead a social lifestyle. There are animals that build high ground dwellings, inside of which there are passages and chambers of various sizes, and life there proceeds as in a well-organized state.

Beavers

Beavers used to be very common in Europe, Asia and North America. They are now protected by law because huge numbers of them have been exterminated for their fine fur and the musk they produce, which is used in the perfume industry. The beaver is one of the heaviest rodents, it can weigh up to 30 kg. The beaver is an excellent swimmer, it has webbed swimming on its hind legs and a very strong tail, which it uses as a rudder. Beavers eat fresh bark and young shoots of trees, which they cut down with their long incisors. In the fall, beavers make provisions for the winter and store them near their home. For their houses, beavers bring branches, bushes and tree trunks from the nearest forest to the river; they use grass, stones and silt as fastening materials. The cone-shaped hut that beavers build has a ventilation hole at the top and can be up to 1.8 m high. The entrance to the hut is always located under water. If the water is very low, beavers build a dam and turn part of the river into a reservoir, where they can swim and dive. In addition, the dam serves to protect the beaver’s home from attacks by enemies. Beaver dams last quite a long time. Some were built by previous generations. The record among such dams is the beaver family dam in Montana - its length is 685 m.

Hanging Cities

In the savannas southwest africa There live social weavers - small birds, but great builders. They place their public nests, which can be up to 5 m in diameter, on tree branches or on telegraph poles. On the underside of this huge nest there are more than 100 holes, each of which leads to a separate small “apartment” for the bird couple, in whose privacy the neighbors do not interfere.

Termites

To live, termites of the dry savannah of Africa need to maintain a constant temperature in their home. Therefore, when building their huge, durable home, they must take care of good ventilation and thermoregulation in the labyrinth of numerous chambers and galleries. The size of the termite mound is impressive in itself, but its internal structure is also surprising. The passages in the walls play the role of an air conditioner: warm air rises, gives off heat and falls down.
The nests of termites living in tropical rain forests are equipped with “umbrellas” that prevent water from getting inside. African savanna dotted with termite mounds built from particles of red clay glued together with saliva. These houses with a “pipe” reach 9 m in height.

In the state of termites, roles are assigned from birth. The queen's only concern is laying eggs. Millions of worker termites provide food and keep the “palace” clean and tidy. The termite queen, who occupies a special chamber in the depths of the termite mound, is the largest individual in the colony. The king who mates with her, the workers who feed her, and the soldiers who protect her are much smaller. The queen is a long-lived insect; she can live for decades.

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A burrow is a tunnel underground with one or more passages out, dug by animals to create space for living, temporary shelter, or simply a by-product of movement in the ground. Burrows are one of the types of protection from a number of predators, a place for storing food, therefore the burrowing lifestyle is widespread. The burrows are home to a range of fish, amphibians, reptiles (including small dinosaurs) and birds, as well as numerous invertebrates, including insects, spiders, sea urchins, crustaceans, molluscs and worms. Among mammals, animals such as rabbits and gophers live in burrows; One of the types of holes is a bear's den.

A den is a wintering shelter for a bear in natural conditions. In rare cases, dens are called burrows of other mammals.

Device

The den can be located in a specially dug hole, a hollow (in a Himalayan bear), a hole under a tree root, a cave, or an excavated anthill. Modern hunters divide dens into mounted and ground ones. The den may be located far from the bear’s summer habitat if he is not sure of its safety. It happens that many bears build dens in the neighborhood, but in the spring they scatter in different directions again. It has been observed that females build dens better than males.

The bear drags rags, moss and dry leaves into the chosen den, and covers the den with brushwood and spruce on top. The bear lies down in the den alone, while the she-bear sometimes goes with last year’s cubs and her nurse, and always lies in front of them. All bears curl up in a ball in the den, resting their muzzle on their chest and crossing their paws in front of their muzzle; hence the incorrect belief that bears suck their paws in winter. Since the animals lie with their heads towards the exit hole, their breathing causes the mouth of the den (the mouth of the den), as well as close standing trees and the bushes are covered with yellowish frost, which in open areas is visible from afar and often gives the animal away to hunters. An extremely important sign of a den is also the fact that there are no animal tracks near it, since animals, fearing a bear, avoid places that are dangerous for them.

Lie down brown bears into the den in November, wake up in March. Their offspring are born there.

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Beaver

The beaver is a mammal of the rodent genus. It has thick brown fur. The beaver is a fairly large animal, it can weigh up to thirty kilograms and reach more than a meter in length (including the tail). Lives in colonies along forest rivers, swims and dives well. The beaver skin is covered with two types of fur. Some hairs are long, black and shiny, others are shorter and softer, forming a dense undercoat that prevents water from coming into contact with the skin. The beaver feeds mainly on tree bark, as well as reeds, nettles and young shoots of trees. To fell a tree, the beaver begins to bite deep into the trunk on one side and continues working in a circle until the tree falls to the ground.

The beaver digs a hole underground, but makes its entrance and exit below the water level, which protects it from predators. The hole is large: it should fit the whole family and a supply of food for the winter. The beaver lives in forests on the banks of rivers and lakes, mainly in North America and Russia; sometimes found in Western Europe.

The beaver moves on land clumsily, but in water it is very mobile. It is water that serves real environment habitat of this animal. When there is little supply, the beaver will cut down trees to build a dam and increase the area where he can dig a burrow.

The beaver's nose, eyes and ears, like many other aquatic animals, are located so that it can see, hear and breathe while swimming without raising its head

Helping each other, beavers make a structure out of the trunks and branches they have fallen, which seems, at first glance, chaotic. In fact, this is a very durable structure that can withstand even high water.

The beaver has four long, sharp incisors covered with yellow-orange enamel. The jaw muscles are so strong that they develop pressure of up to 100 kg. The beaver needs such incisors to cut down trees and tear off the bark on which it feeds.

Another builder. Another rodent can also build complex burrows made of reeds and reeds in lakeside areas. This is a muskrat native to North America. Colonies of wild muskrats are also found in Europe.

Allergy. Many infectious diseases are accompanied by allergies, which are called infectious

Analysis of the activities of the AGIK student club to promote a healthy lifestyle for senior schoolchildren

Atros Anastasia Valerievna. There comes a time in every person’s life when important decisions must be made that determine his future path.

A wide variety of animals
Predatory animals stand out among other groups of mammals due to their diversity of appearance, biological features, adaptations to the environment. They vary greatly in their biology, giving a wide range adaptive types: The order of Carnivores currently includes approximately 100 genera and 252 species. Of these, 18 genera and 43 species are distributed in Europe, including the acclimatized raccoon and American mink. Usually the carnivorous order is divided into two suborders - land predators (Fissipedia) And aquatic predators, or pinnipeds (Pinnipedia). Often these groups are considered as independent orders, retaining the name carnivores (Carnivora) only for the first of them. All these diverse species are united by similar morphological features (mainly in the structure of the skull and dental system) and historical kinship.

Where do they live? beasts of prey
The geographical distribution of the order is very wide. Predators are found everywhere to the globe, not counting Antarctica and small oceanic islands. Particularly large habitats are characteristic of the canine, mustelid, and bear families.

A tramp who settled all over the world
Raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides), with lush sideburns and coloring similar to the American raccoon, it formerly lived in China, Japan, North Vietnam and Korea, but now, by the will of man, it has spread throughout Eurasia. She is a vagabond by nature, little attached to one place, and tirelessly travels long distances.

Lead a terrestrial lifestyle
Most predatory animals lead a terrestrial lifestyle.

The most common foxes
This is Eurasian red fox Vulpes vulpes and North American red fox Vulpes fulva. Some scientists consider them to be one species. Their body length is 90 - 105 cm, without a tail, and their weight is 7 kg. The ears are black and the tip of the tail is white. They have excellent vision, hearing and smell.

Lead water image life
Some land predators live near bodies of water and swim and dive well. Certain species, such as minks and otters, became inhabitants of fresh water bodies, and sea otters became marine animals. These species prefer to feed not on meat, but on insects, aquatic invertebrates and even plant foods. Aquatic predators also include pinnipeds (Pinnipedia): seals, sea ​​lions and walruses.

Brain Perfection
The high level of nervous activity characteristic of carnivores is ensured by the great perfection of the brain. It has well-developed hemispheres with three grooves, numerous convolutions, and large olfactory lobes.

The number of respiratory movements in mammals
depends on the size of the animal, which determines the different metabolic rates. It is (in 1 minute): for a horse - 8-16, for a black bear - 15-25, for a fox -25-40, for a rat - 100-150, for a mouse - about 200. Ventilation of the lungs not only ensures gas exchange, but it also has thermoregulatory significance. As the temperature rises, the number of respirations increases, and at the same time the amount of heat removed from the body also increases. Thus, in a dog, the ratio of heat transfer during breathing to the total heat loss at an air temperature of 8 ° C is (in percent) 14, at 15 ° C - 22, at 30 ° C - 46.

All senses are well developed
Predators have well-developed all senses. Especially the sense of smell: it is thousands of times stronger than the human sense. The sense of smell gives the predator more information about the world around him than his, also acute vision.

Pupil vertical or round
In foxes, as in cats. the pupil is vertical, oblong, whereas in wolves. jackals and dogs it is round.

Skunks have poorly developed hearing, vision and sense of smell.
Therefore it often happens that striped skunk Mephitis mephitis meets his pursuer face to face. Then he resorts to using his chemical weapons.

What types of ears are there?
The external auricles of most carnivorous species are well developed, pointed, fennec And big-eared fox unusually large, whereas in the arctic fox, ermine, weasel and others they barely protrude from the surrounding fur, and in the sea otter they are underdeveloped. Ears arctic foxes, or arctic foxes short, round. densely pubescent, retaining heat well.

The most big ears Of all the beasts of prey - fennec tree (Fennecus zerda). This miniature fox lives in the sandy deserts of North Africa, the Sinai and Arabian Peninsulas. The weight of the animal is only 1.5 kg. Its body length does not exceed 41 cm, height - 31 cm, while its ears reach 15 cm or more. Huge ears allow him to catch the slightest rustle made by his victims.

Big-eared fox
or draaishakal (Otocyon megalotis) lives in South Africa, she is thin-legged and thin-boned. Her ears, folded together, will cover her entire head. The draaishakal's ears are not pointed, like those of the fennec, but round, like spoons.

The most toothy dog
In the big-eared fox, or draaishakal (Otocyon megalotis) more teeth than any other canid - 50, while the norm is 42. The teeth are small and tuberous. This animal feeds mainly on insects, termites, and locusts.

Wolf of Africa
Hyena dog (Lycaon pictus) It is similar to a wolf not in appearance, but in its habits - the organization of round-ups and the discipline of a pack, in which there are up to 60 dogs. Outwardly, especially with their blunt muzzle, they look like hyenas.

The fewer fingers, the easier it is to jump
A hyena dog doesn’t have enough toes on its paws: not five on its front ones. like everyone else in the canine family. and four. The fewer fingers, the faster the animals run. The legs of these dogs are very well developed. It is not difficult for them to drive any zebra or antelope.

Fur
All predatory animals have well-developed hair, varying in density, length, splendor, and color. Many species are characterized by variegated fur color (spotted, striped, etc.), reaching the greatest brightness in the southern forms. In some northern species, a seasonal change in color is observed - whitening of the fur in winter (weasel, ermine, arctic fox) or its significant lightening (polar wolf).

The most expensive fur
The most expensive fur is considered to be sable, sea otter and chinchilla.

Minks of different colors
Geneticists on fur farms have bred minks of various colors: sapphire, pearl. topaz. silver, white, steel - more than two dozen color forms. The price of a skin of a new fashionable color at auctions is sometimes up to $400.

Fur animals
Many species of carnivores belong to valuable fur-bearing animals; the skins of animals from northern latitudes and high mountain regions are especially distinguished by their high value. In the current century, cage breeding of silver-black foxes, blue foxes, American minks and foxes with a completely different and amazingly beautiful coloring of skins from wild animals has become widespread. Requires 35 to 65 mink skins for mink coat, 15 beaver skins - for a beaver fur coat, from 15 to 25 fox skins for a fox fur coat, for an ermine fur coat it takes the skins of 150 animals, for a chinchilla - from 60 to 100 chinchillas.

Blue fur
Arctic fox, or Arctic fox Alopes lagopus lives in the Arctic, occurring in the icy desert hundreds of kilometers from the mainland. In winter it turns white, and Greenland foxes turn blue. Blue foxes do not lose their pigment in the summer, when they have a dark grayish-blue color, which becomes lighter in winter.

The largest of the mustelids
Old male sea otters weigh 40 kg. Second place goes to the wolverine - the weight of seasoned males is 32 kg, females - 16.

Sable or marten
Sable and marten are easily confused. But the sable’s fur is thicker, silkier, and its tail is half as long as its body. The head is grayish, lighter than the ridge, the marten has a longer tail, and the voice is the same tone as the ridge, and the light spot on the throat is always clear.

With and without tail
Most carnivores have a long, often fluffy tail, and only bears, the giant panda and a number of others have it small and hidden in the fur. Representatives of two genera of raccoons and civets have a prehensile tail. The fox's tail is the most noticeable part of the graceful figure of the animal. The tail serves as an excellent steering wheel for the fox (it can turn ninety degrees when running), and also serves as a balancer when it is necessary to run along a fallen tree across a spring or river. And it's also a good blanket for when the fox curls up to sleep. The ermine has a small tail with a black tip. By moving the dark spot left and right, the nimble predator confuses its pursuers and allows itself to be discovered by its relatives.

Short-legged dog
This bush dog (Speothos venaticus), which lives in the dense thickets of the tropical forests of Central and South America. Her body is massive and long, including her head, 60 cm, and her legs are short. no higher than 30 cm. The tail is short 15 cm. It is sometimes tamed, it gets used to people quickly, is quite smart and obedient. The owner is not greeted by wagging his tail. and a strange trembling of the slightly open corners of the lips, which at the end of the muzzle are at the same time tightly compressed.

The belly is darker than the back
Bush dog (Speothos venaticus) has a dark brown color, and its belly is sometimes darker than its back. This deviation from the norm is very rare in the coloration of animals and indicates that bush dogs spend most of their time in the shade and twilight.

Fennec fox (Fennecus zerda)
cannot tolerate prolonged direct sunlight and therefore spends the day in a hole

Most tall beast in the canine family
...This maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus), which lives on the steppe plains of Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina and southern Brazil. His height at the withers and body length are the same. To dig out a rodent, it digs the ground not with its front paws, like dogs. but only with teeth. At night, maned wolves scream in an unusual and eerie way. People are never attacked.

Dingo is Australia's only carnivorous predator
Wild dog Canis dingo has long been a difficult mystery for zoologists. This second feral dog is the only predator in the native fauna of Australia. Apparently, dingoes were brought there back in the Stone Age by hunters and fishermen who arrived from the Malay Archipelago. It is no coincidence that the dingo is close to the wild Sumatran and recently extinct Javanese dogs. In Australia, dingoes that escaped from their owners or were abandoned by them found excellent living conditions - a lot of game, a complete absence of enemies and competitors, multiplied and settled almost throughout the continent.

Claws are different
Each paw of predators has at least four toes, while bears and dogs have five. They are armed with claws, especially sharp in cats, which (with the exception of the cheetah) can retract (some civets also have retractable claws). On the contrary, in certain species of otters and in the sea otter, the claws have turned into something like nails.

Cheetahs

Ferrets

Ferrets spend most of the day in a state of rest. It takes them 20 hours to get a sound, healthy sleep.

Anal glands
A number of species have well-developed anal glands, which secrete a sharp-smelling content that serves to mark territory, and sometimes (in the skunk) for protection from enemies. A skunk sprays an odorous liquid at a distance of 15 feet. A person can detect the smell of a skunk within a mile. The skunk has two glands under its tail, they look like two papillae and are activated as soon as the skunk raises its tail, so the skunk cannot bite and smell at the same time. The animal can arbitrarily direct the stream of odorous secretion and regulate its intensity. The skunk aims at an enemy and shoots a jet of liquid that can hit at a distance of 2.7 and more meters. Sometimes it acts with one gland, sometimes with both. Each contains 5-6 rounds of ammunition. And the skunk always warns of its intentions: it raises its tail and stomps its feet. At one time, it can dispense 1 tablespoon of a thick, viscous, yellowish liquid ( chemical name butylmercaptan), which is recognized already at a distance of up to 20 miles. The secretion causes pain in the eyes, but does not lead to blindness.

Some mustelids have glands under their tails with an unpleasant odor - a kind of chemical defense against pursuers.

Violet gland
The violet gland is especially large and fragrant in the fox during the breeding season. It is placed on the top of the tail. almost at the very root, a centimeter from it. Hunters assure that if a fox is wounded and its strength is running out, all it needs to do is turn back and inhale the violet aromas, and with them vigor. Most likely the violet gland spreads the secretion. helping the groom find his way to the bride.

Fox croaking like a frog
this is a fennec(Fennecus zerda), He’s just a baby, the size of a kitten, and he weighs about half a kilogram. And his cry is not animalistic. and some kind of frog chatter.

Ermine
can chirp, hiss like a snake, and even bark.

Dressing - ferret or skunk
The bandage is a special animal. His habits are reminiscent of the ferret and the American skunk. The lifestyle in general is that of a ferret, and the manner of defense is that of a skunk: a fluffy tail reared over its back - as a sign of the first warning. if it is not taken into account. splashes of foul-smelling liquid fly from under the tail. and some of the dressings are mottled, like those of a skunk or African zorilla.

Bear or raccoon
Possessing the characteristics of a bear, raccoon, cat, marten, giant panda does not belong to either one or the other. According to the number of many anatomical similarities with the American raccoon. The panda is considered a giant raccoon. The giant panda is quite impressive in height: length up to 1.8 m, and weight up to 150 kg. Translated, panda means “bamboo eater.”

Panda's sixth finger
The sixth finger helps the clumsy panda handle thin bamboo stems - one wrist bone has lengthened and functions as thumb on our hand, opposed to all others.

Can't do two things

“Scented” skunks cannot do two things at once: they either emit an unbearable aroma or bite.

raccoon
Kinkajou (Potos flavus), the arboreal raccoon from South and Central America, and the South Asian binturong from the civet family are the only predatory animals endowed with tails capable of grasping branches. The kinkajou's tongue is also remarkable - that tongue can squeeze into any crevice and extract as much honey as the animal wants. The kinkajou's middle name is potto. Also called one African lemur. They are really similar, they are not relatives. Kinkajou often coexists on a tree with another tree raccoon - Olingo (Bassaricyon gabbii), which is very similar to it, but the olingo does not have a prehensile tail.

Climbs trees
Hunters say that, escaping from hound dogs, red fox can climb a tree, even upright ones. American gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) from the USA and Mexico lives only where there are trees. She is the only representative of the wolf family that can climb trees well. In some places they are even called tree foxes. They freely climb the trunk to the crown, walk along the branches, rest there, hide from persecution, and, on occasion, destroy the nests of squirrels and birds.

Tree raccoons
Coati (Nasuella olivacea)- very active small raccoons that spend the whole day worrying about food. With their tails raised high, they dig into the ground with their long muzzles or mobile noses; others prefer to look for prey in the trees. As soon as they sense danger, there is a loud whistle, and the whole flock is in the trees. And at night, coatis sleep - also in trees.

Minks look like otters
Minks have webbed feet. Their lifestyle and appearance are somewhat reminiscent of otter minks: they settle near the water, swim and dive perfectly. They catch fish, crayfish, shellfish, and sometimes even geese.

Fox tricks
Sometimes the fox pretends to be dead and doesn’t even blink an eye when they lift it by the tail and put it in a bag. Another trick is that the fox will take a tuft of sheep's wool or hay in its teeth and go into the lake to take a dip. Fleas do not like to swim and seem to crawl from legs to back, from back to head, and from there onto hay or fur. After which the fox throws the flea piece. Only, it seems, these are fairy tales.

Hobo Skunks and Homebodies
Striped skunks live in an area 1-1 1/2 miles in diameter, but cover only a small part of their land at night. Some skunks do not like to move away from home. but there are also tramps who travel 6 miles from home.

Half-fox, half-jackal
Maikong - Cerdocyon, With teeth he looks like a fox, and with round pupils and habits he looks like a jackal. Long-legged mikongs hunt in packs, mainly in the dense forests of South America.

In Asia there are pandas, in America there are raccoons.
Apart from two pandas, there are no other raccoons in the Old World, but in America there are 16 species of them. Raccoons are plantigrade, like bears, and their claws are semi-retractable or non-retractable. In some ways they resemble bears, in some ways they resemble martens.

The smallest predator
Weasel- this is the smallest predator, 20 cm long, which hunts game that sometimes exceeds it in size. Weasels live in Eurasia, North Africa and North America. To maintain body temperature, weasels must constantly feed; they eat food weighing a quarter of their body weight per day. They are excellent climbers, get into underground tunnels and bird nests, are brave in fights, and often make holes for themselves in old shelters or nests of their victims.

The largest marten
... this is hard. who lives in Sikhote-Alin, the Amur region and South Asia. She is taller than a sable. length with tail - a meter or more. and weighs three to six kilograms. The color is variegated, black-brown. Kharza is a brave and united beast. She hunts mainly for musk deer. moose calves, wild piglets, wapiti and wild deer.

The smallest of raccoons
...this is kakemisel (Bassariscus astutus), or cat squirrel. He is a little taller than a squirrel, his fluffy tail is 37 cm long, everything else is about the same. Yellowish-gray, the ears are large, and the tail is completely, from root to end, in black and white rings. Forest animal, secretive. In summer it feeds mainly on insects and plants, in winter on rodents. It lives in the western United States and Northern Mexico, and the larger Kakemisel, or Guayanoche, lives in Central America.

The smallest foxes
One of the smallest foxes lives in North America - this dwarf fox (Vulpes velox). This is a secretive nocturnal animal that lives in Southern Canada and the northern United States. It is two-thirds the size of an ordinary fox. It feeds on small mammals. mainly rodents, insects, passerine birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish. Vulpes velox is the size of a cat, 30 cm at the withers, 79 cm in length from head to tip of tail. Its weight is 2.3 kg. Males are slightly larger than females. Vulpes velox - very rare species, last time This fox was seen in Saskatchewan in 1930, since then it has practically disappeared from its usual habitats in Canada and the United States. By the 1990s, its population had declined by 90%.

Another little fox is the long-eared one fox Vulpes macrotis, which lives in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico

Raid
Roundup hyena dogs (Lycaon pictus) They organize according to all the rules: first they surround the herd of wildebeest, then they all rush in at once. If the chain of fierce beaters is broken. with a howl and a squeal they set off in pursuit. But they do not run haphazardly, but with intent: alone, right behind the herd. others are contrary. The tired are replaced by those who saved their strength. Rarely does anyone in the savannah escape from them. They are not afraid of people. People scream, throw sticks at them, and dogs right next to them tear the hunted animal to pieces.

The complex social life of hyena dogs
IN packs of wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) There is a strict hierarchy and discipline. And even division of labor. Some hunt. others are watching over the puppies. After a successful drive, the hunters rush to the puppies and... bowing their heads towards them, they vomit the meat they brought from their stomachs. The carcass of a half-eaten animal is always left for the nannies. And those. Having passed their duty, they immediately rush to her before the vultures steal everything.

These dogs, fierce for the enemy, live peacefully among themselves. Each pack roams a hunting range that is up to 1,500 square miles. When two hunting parties meet in the wild savannah, their friendliness knows no bounds - they jump, sniff each other, and play. And they part without quarrels. If one of the dogs falls behind and gets lost during the hunt, his companions will not leave him. Immediately, hearing the alarm call, the entire flock rushes without delay to the lost comrade.

Foxes have a cat-like personality
They never live in packs; they also hunt alone. True, sometimes foxes gather to eat a wounded roe deer or its cub, but this is not a flock, but a randomly formed group, when each comes for its share.

Unsociable jackal
Black-backed jackal (Canis mesomelas), living in Africa, does not like to communicate with its relatives. These African jackals do not often gather in small flocks: usually only when they sense that the lion has killed the antelope and has not eaten it all. It is their custom to pick up scraps from lions. The saddleback jackal got its name from the black, saddleback-like coloring of its back. The end of his tail is also black.

Marten traveler
The marten walks both on horseback - from tree to tree, and below, on the ground. runs 6-10, or even 17 km per night, especially if the winter is poor in food. It will let a rare spruce pass without checking to see if a squirrel is sleeping on it in a nest. The marten grabs protein right from the nests. The marten eats a lot of different fruits and berries. undigested marten seeds are spread throughout the forests, as if sowing them with these berries. Up to two hundred yew seeds are found in the stomachs of martens in the Caucasus

Asian jackals live together
Common or Asian jackals (Canis aureus)– animals with a highly developed social organization. They are monogamous, and the cubs - and there are from 4 to 6 in a litter - are raised by both parents. When family members scatter in different directions, they give each other signals by howling, and when they meet, they wag their tails and sniff each other. The procedure of joint licking is of particular importance, and this important element of behavior means more than a hygiene requirement. The mother diligently licks the puppies, thus expressing her affection. Licking is part of the courtship ritual. Jackals howl before going out to hunt, and this howl, similar to a scream, is picked up by other jackals. They hunt alone or in pairs; in the latter case, one of the partners drives the prey to the other.

Nomadic wolves
Red wolf, wolf (Cuon alpinus) from Asia belongs to a nomadic tribe. Red wolves, united by several families, quickly devastate the area in which they linger for a short time. They are constantly on the move, covering vast distances through the forests and mountains of Tibet. India, Sumatra, Java. Body length 76-103 cm and tail - 28-48 cm, weight - 14-21 kg. They feed mainly on various wild ungulates.

Slow foxes - corsacs
Corsac (Vulpes corsac) - long-legged red fox with large ears and a short muzzle. Their teeth are relatively small. The size of the corsac is slightly smaller than the usual red fox, about 50-60 cm. The corsac lives in the steppes and deserts of Asia, in the south of Ukraine and the Volga region, as well as in the foothills of the Caucasus and Transbaikalia. It is difficult for one fox to catch prey, because the corsac runs slowly, and an ordinary dog ​​can catch up with it without difficulty.

Foxes that live in packs
Corsacs (Vulpes corsac) They live in steppes and semi-deserts, dig holes and stay away from agricultural land. They are the most social animals of all foxes, in their burrows they live in packs, packs and hunt. Corsacs do not have a hunting area. over which they fight with trespassers, and they often migrate south if the food supply becomes scarce.

Prolonged sleep or deep hibernation
During the winter, some carnivores go into a long sleep (brown and black bears, raccoon dogs) or into real deep hibernation (badger, raccoon).

Arctic foxes don't hibernate
They remain active. Their food in winter consists of dead whale carcasses and leftovers from polar bears, as well as young seals. Arctic foxes are also called arctic foxes.

A dog that sleeps in winter
Raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides) has an unusual habit for a dog - she sleeps in a hole in the winter, from November to March or February, having accumulated fat during the fall. During the thaw, the dog awakens and wanders through the forest hungry, hoping to get hold of some prey.

Skunks sleep in winter
And in the fall they actively feed, gaining fat reserves under the skin. From the end of October they retire to their dens for the winter, but do not sleep all the time, as bears do. With slight warming (near zero) and with little snow cover, they leave their shelters and wander around the surrounding area. Up to 10 skunks can gather in one hole, although some animals prefer to spend the winter separately.

Is the panda sleeping?
In winter, when everything is covered with snow, the giant panda climbs into a hole, and although it does not hibernate like bears. it is possible that on short time still falls asleep.

Ferrets and sloths sleep for a very long time
Swiss zoologist P. Hodiger traveled for several years across countries and continents, finding out how much different animals sleep. It turned out that African lions sleep the most. Another record belongs to ferrets and sloths. Sloths sleep 15-18 hours. Ferrets also sleep up to 20 hours a day. Zebras and antelopes sleep the least.

How does a sea otter sleep?
Sea otter, sea otter (Enhydra lutra) sleeps during the day, and so that the sun does not blind her eyes, she covers them with her paws. When falling asleep at night, the otter climbs into the seaweed so that it does not get carried away by the current. In the 18th and 19th centuries, these otters were hunted to extinction along the California and Alaska coasts, and have been hunted to extinction since the 1970s. In the United States, there is a program for introducing sea otters into nature, and the population is gradually recovering.

Minks don't dig holes
Contrary to their name, minks are reluctant to dig holes: most often they settle in hollows above the roots of old willows, in fallen trees.

Coatis are good swimmers
Coati raccoons from South and Central America they swim well and love water. There are small membranes between the fingers of the nose. Their behavior is like that of all raccoons. Rinse your paws, various objects, and your tail in water.

Harmful ferret
When will this pest get into the chicken coop? will strangle a lot of birds, more than it can eat.

The domestic ferret is 2000 years old
From the African ferret, people bred the domestic ferret, or fret. This happened 2000 years ago. They hunt rabbits with frets: they let them into their holes, wearing a muzzle and a bell around their neck. The ferret cannot eat the rabbit, but drives it into a net stretched at the exit.

Fennec fox hunting near a mink
During the day Fennecs (Fennecus zerda) They hide in deep, cool holes, and in the evening they come out to the surface and listen sensitively with their huge ears to what is happening around them. He barely heard a rustle or rustle - and he was already sneaking towards the sound.

War cry of dogs
About the exit wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) hunting becomes known by the loud, rather melodic cry “ho-ho!”, which the animals exchange among themselves. In addition, they produce a sharp, angry bark and, like monkeys, a special chirping sound.

Sable on the hunt
The sable has a hunting territory of 25, 700, or even 3000 hectares. He marks it with odorous glands and droppings, which he leaves in visible places - mousehills, stumps, trees. He approaches black grouse and wood grouse carefully, quietly, then burps at the bird a meter and a half away. But the capercaillie is strong, and flies for several meters, or even a mile, with the sable clinging to it. More often than not, the sable ends such a flight in disgrace.

There is nothing worse than the caress of an animal
Where the weasel settles, there will be no mice. Weasel even strangles a hare. And having caught a black grouse by the neck, it sticks so tightly that it will never come off, strangles the scythes on takeoff and, having bitten their throats, falls to the ground with them and is never killed itself. The weasel swims well, but almost never climbs trees. It climbs, but not high.

Weasel and horses
The belief about the brownie, who weaves the mane of horses, tickles them and rides them until they sweat, is based on real facts. While hunting for mice in the stable, some weasels may have become addicted to climbing onto horses and, having bitten their skin, licking droplets of horse blood. After all, strangling a rabbit. black grouse. pigeon Weasels usually do not eat meat, but only lick blood. Some horses. Sensing affection, they become so excited. that they begin to shake. The mere smell of weasel terrifies them.

Seagulls pick up scraps after an otter
Seeing an otter feeding, seagulls circle above it in the hope of picking up scraps.

Ermine is a good hunter
... his hunting area is 50-100 hectares. and the daily search is 3-8 km. It preys on rodents, frogs, lizards, snakes, fish and birds, but on occasion it can also threaten large animals and birds: hare, black grouse and, allegedly, even wood grouse. When threatening, the ermine opens its mouth so wide that the lower jaw becomes at right angles to the upper, and in this case its head looks like a snake.

Arctic foxes follow polar bears
live arctic foxes Alopex lagopus in the tundras of Eurasia and America. on some polar islands and often follow polar bears. like jackals after lions: they feast on their scraps in times of famine.

Declining numbers of many species of fur-bearing animals
may be due to a lack of natural food. If in the forests in winter Western Siberia a lot of snow falls, and before that the earth was also saturated with autumn rains, a lot of water forms in the soil. This moisture fills the entire space under the snow, which creates unfavorable conditions for the survival of mouse-like rodents, which are the main food for fur-bearing animals - ermine, weasel, marmot, fox, raccoon dog, etc.

Crab-eating fox
Maikong (Cerdocyon thous) or Savannah fox, called a crabeater fox. However, it does not eat crustaceans more often than many other animals. The maikong inhabits the open, wooded and grassy plains of South America from northern Argentina to Colombia and Venezuela.

They don't eat weasels
Large predators - foxes and cats - do not eat weasels and only kill them by mistake. But falcons and owls do not disdain caresses.

Hyena dogs vs lion
The lion himself, if the dogs are very hungry, prefers to get out of their way, otherwise they will tear him apart, especially if he is old or too young.

When the hunter and the game change places
Black-backed jackals, having gathered in a flock, they dare to attack a python that has had a hearty lunch, unless, of course, it is very big and has eaten so much that it has become heavy and lethargic. But if the python is hungry, the roles often change: the jackal turns from hunter to game.

Are lions or hyenas the main hunters in Africa?

Tiger vs red wolves
It is bad for a tiger if he encounters a pack of red wolves where there is no flat tree nearby. which he will have time to quickly climb. The dogs pounce on the striped predator and tear at it from all sides. There is no animal, except the elephant, that could alone withstand the onslaught of red wolves for a long time

Azarov's foxes follow the jaguar
These South American foxes of the genus Dusicyon, gray, big-eared and bushy-tailed. They usually live alone or in pairs in bushes, avoiding forests. A jaguar is for them what a lion is for a jackal: they pick up scraps after it, following in its tracks.

Tools for sea otters
Previously, it was believed that only monkeys among animals could use tools. It turns out that this is not entirely true. Sea otters sea ​​otters know how to extract shellfish from their strong shells, using two stones as a hammer and anvil.

Burying supplies in the ground
When there is more production than arctic fox If he eats it, he will bury it in the ground and use his muzzle to dig into the hole and level it. that you can’t even see where he was digging. The burial may contain lemmings, mice, partridges, hares, fish, the corpse of a seal and a whale.

Bowel length
exceeds the body length of a person - 3-4 times, a wolf - 4 times.

Not all carnivores love meat
Some of Carnivora's predators are omnivorous - these are bears, foxes, badgers and mongooses. Many small carnivores are insectivores. The acidity (pH) of animal urine depends on the nature of the food. In carnivorous and omnivorous animals, the urine is acidic, while in herbivores it is alkaline.

There are more vegetarians in the south
Plant foods - fruits, fruits, berries, and less often vegetative parts of plants - are included in the food of almost all foxes, but especially in the south of their range.

What do coyotes eat?
Charles Sperry analyzed the stomach contents of 8,339 coyotes (Canis latrans) from the western USA. Their diet is as follows: rabbits 33%; carrion 25%; rodents 18%; livestock (sheep and goats) 13.5%; deer 3.5%; birds 3%; insects 1%; other mammals (skunks, weasels, shrews, moles, snakes and lizards) - 1%; plants 2%.

Vegetarian diet of the jackal
Asian jackal (Canis aureus) feeds on a wide variety of foods, mainly small animals and birds, as well as lizards, snakes, frogs, dead fish, locusts, beetles, other insects, snails, etc. Carrion and prey remains play an important role in its diet large predators, all kinds of garbage. The jackal eats many fruits and berries, including grapes, watermelons, melons, plant bulbs, and wild sugar cane roots.

Do not eat meat from animals killed by lightning
Predatory animals do not eat the meat of animals killed by lightning.

Corsacs don't drink water
Like other predators, the corsac dog can withstand hunger and even after a week or even two it remains fully active. The corsac, a typical inhabitant of semi-deserts and dry lowland steppes, does not need water.

Fenech willingly drinks water,
but, apparently, it can do without it for a long time, since it is often found far from watering places.

Coatis can't stand cigarettes
Coati raccoons Smokers from South and Central America cannot be tolerated. They say that tame coatis snatch a burning cigarette from the owner’s hands.

Jackal lives under the house
As shelters, it usually uses various natural niches and depressions, crevices among stones, sometimes holes of badgers, porcupines, foxes, and occasionally digs them on its own. There is a known case when a jackal settled under a residential building.

Badger and fox
In the spring, in an abandoned badger hole, and sometimes in the same hole with him, but in different holes, the fox gives birth to offspring. The badger, surviving the fox, seeks to bury it. the fox ruins his life by doing dirty tricks under his nose. The neat badger abandons his hole and settles in another place.

Fox towns
A pair of foxes occupies an area of ​​3 to 8 sq. km. Foxes dig holes themselves or (and very often) occupy those belonging to badgers, marmots, arctic foxes and other animals, adapting them to their needs. Foxes settle on the slopes of ravines or hills, choosing areas with well-drained sandy soil, protected from flooding by rain, melt and groundwater. The burrow has several entrance holes leading through long, sloping tunnels into a vast nesting chamber. The dwelling is well hidden in dense thickets. It is unmasked by far-stretching trails, and nearby there are large outbursts of soil near the entrances, numerous food remains, excrement, etc. Lush weed vegetation often develops in fox towns.

Temporary housing
As a rule, foxes use permanent dwellings only during the period of raising young ones, and during the rest of the year, in particular in winter, they rest in open dens in the snow or in grass and moss. However, to escape persecution, foxes often burrow at any time of the year, hiding in the first hole they come across, of which there are many in their habitats.

Erasing the cubs
The most famous raccoon (Procyon lotor) nicknamed the gargle for his habit of washing all food and even inedible objects in water. He rinses thoroughly and for a long time. Some raccoons even wash their newborn cubs with such senseless zeal that they have happened. died after being washed.

Family life of raccoons
Nose coati (Nasua nasua) live in small groups of about a dozen females and young. Adult males live alone and are called "coatimundi". only when it’s time to reproduce do they come to the company of juveniles and females - each to their own. And if another coatimundi comes here, the fights can be brutal. a week before 4-5 cubs are due to be born. the nose leaves the pack. builds a nest in a tree and gives birth there. She feeds the sucklings in this nest for five weeks, and then leads them to their temporarily abandoned comrades.

The raccoon dog is extremely prolific
- brings up to 19 puppies. This helped her spread throughout the continent. The female gives birth to offspring in an old badger hole. Males do not fight over females. Children will be born, and the legal father does not abandon them. and when the puppies grow up, he brings them prey.

Sable breeding
Sable rutting in the summer, but females only give birth to cubs next spring, in May: pregnancy lasts 253-297 days. Fertilized eggs do not develop for 7-10 months, and then within a month and a half the embryos grow and mature by spring. The male sable helps the female and brings prey to the offspring. But the family does not live long; in June the sables leave their parents.

The rarest among mustelids
American black-footed ferret(Mustela nigripes) differs from other ferrets in the coloring in the eye area - it looks as if he was wearing a mask over his eyes. It was once ubiquitous across the prairies from southern Canada to northern Mexico. At one time it was considered completely extinct, but then it was rediscovered. This species of ferret feeds on onion dogs and mice, and when in the 1980s, 98% of the prairie dog population in the United States was exterminated. The black-footed ferret has also virtually disappeared. In 1985, only 18 trochees remained in the wild. They were taken into protective custody, then multiplied in captivity, after which they were released into their habitats.

Only 500 jackals left
Ethiopian jackal (Canis simensis) outwardly it looks like a dog with a fox head; a black field stretches along the middle of its back, sharply delimited from the red sides and limbs. It lives in the mountains at an altitude of about 3000 m above sea level. It feeds mainly on small rodents and hares. The number of Ethiopian jackals is about 500 individuals. This species is listed in the International Red Book

Rare fox
This Afghan fox (Vulpes cana), which lives in Eastern Iran, Afghanistan and Northwestern Hindustan. The Afghan fox is extremely small - its body length is only 40-50 cm, its tail is 33-41 cm, and its ear height is about 9 cm. Its biology has not been studied at all; there are no complete skulls and very few skins in collections. Therefore, any information about this animal is of great interest. The species is listed in the International Red Book.

New Andean dog
This animal is known from skins and skulls; researchers have never encountered it alive. ears Andean wolf (Oreocyon hagenbecki) small and rounder; His muzzle is massive and wide. Its skull was larger (31 centimeters in circumference) than the skulls of ordinary maned wolves (an average of 24 centimeters in circumference for every twenty individuals). Its fur (blackish-brown) is not only darker, but also much thicker: the length of the fur on its back reaches 20 centimeters. Its paws are shorter and thicker, and its claws are more powerful. The Andean wolf lives in more harsh conditions, whereas maned or pampas (Chrysocyon jubatus), prefers the open spaces of plains. It may turn out that this is just a new variety of maned wolf. And only additional and mainly more complete information about this animal will help accurately determine its species. The fauna of the Andes is so little studied that many more years will pass before the mystery of the mountain wolf is solved.

Weasel - good luck
If at the beginning of your journey you come across weasel (Mustela nivalis), then according to Welsh beliefs, it will bring you good luck. In other countries, a weasel crossing your path is equivalent to a black cat. And it’s especially bad to meet a white weasel. It is very similar to the stoat, but the stoat is larger and has a black tail tip. In addition, the ermine molts and turns brown in the summer, but the white weasel does not molt and remains white. Only weasels living in Scandinavia turn white for the winter.

Dangerous in terms of epidemics
Wolf, jackal, raccoon dog Along with domestic dogs, in some cases they are hosts of the rabies virus and become very dangerous to humans.

Animals come out to man
...to populated areas, to landfills in search of food. These unfortunate animals are immediately declared rabid. This is wrong. The animals simply have nowhere to go; they have no food. These animals are in bad shape physical condition, their functions are impaired. Even if they come to populated areas, they do not find enough food there.

Norway is cleared of predatory animals

The Association of Norwegian Forest Owners has announced its intention to seek the destruction of wolves in Norway, as well as a reduction in the numbers of other large predators and bears, lynxes and wolverines.