Zoo Life
Camel
The first animal we visited was the Camels. Camels' adaptations to their desert lifestyle are well-known. Long eyelashes and elongated nostrils protect them from blowing dust and sand. Camels can survive without water for long periods of time, and energy-rich fat stored in their humps enables them to survive long periods without food. When camels do eat, they will forage on any plants available. Pregnancy in camels lasts for 11 months and calves are generally born in March and April. Spring is also the time when bactrian camels completely shed their thick dark winter coat, leaving them almost hairless during the hot summer months. Although domesticated bactrian camels number in the millions, there are less than 1,000 wild camels left in their native range in Mongolia.
Habitat: Deserts and grasslands
Did You Know? The two humps of bactrian camel calves lay flat against their sides at birth.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Camelidae
Genus: Camelus
Species: C. bactrianus
Orangutan
The second animal we went to go visit was the orangutan. The highly-intelligent, gentle orangutan is the largest tree-living mammal in the world. This ape is so well adapted (both behaviorally and physically) to a tree-dwelling lifestyle that it rarely has to descend to the ground. However, this extreme specialization may also spell the orangutan’s doom, since it restricts the other habitats that the species can occupy.
Note: There are two distinct species of orangutans: the Bornean orangutan, Pongo pygmaeus, and the Sumatran orangutan, Pongo abelii. The latter is the one you can see at the Saint Louis Zoo. Although their habits are almost identical, the two species live on separate islands in the South Pacific
Fun Facts:
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Family: Pongidae
Genus: Pongo
Gorilla
Lastly, we also went and saw the gorillas. What’s one of the first things you notice about gorillas? Probably their great size. These are the largest living primates (a group that includes monkeys, apes, and humans). A fully-grown male gorilla weighs up to 400 pounds and measures about 5 ½ feet tall. Females are just a bit shorter (about five feet) but weigh considerably less (about 200 pounds).Despite their formidable size, gorillas are gentle animals. In fact, thousands of tourists in Africa every year walk safely within a few yards of wild gorillas. These apes are aggressive only when fighting over females or protecting their family from predators and hunters.
Fun Facts
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Family: Pongidae
Genus: Gorilla
On a personal note, I believed this was truely an enlightening experience. We had the chance to view the animals and what they look and act like in real life. Not only that, but during our visit with the orangutan, it truely was interesting to see how they use their body ligaments to move around and really take advantage of the trees around them. On a side note, to see how they ate and how they have adapted and evolved over the centuries really showed me how beautiful and crazy our world is. So in conclusion I believed that the trip was a real success to get my attention for further study in animals.
The first animal we visited was the Camels. Camels' adaptations to their desert lifestyle are well-known. Long eyelashes and elongated nostrils protect them from blowing dust and sand. Camels can survive without water for long periods of time, and energy-rich fat stored in their humps enables them to survive long periods without food. When camels do eat, they will forage on any plants available. Pregnancy in camels lasts for 11 months and calves are generally born in March and April. Spring is also the time when bactrian camels completely shed their thick dark winter coat, leaving them almost hairless during the hot summer months. Although domesticated bactrian camels number in the millions, there are less than 1,000 wild camels left in their native range in Mongolia.
Habitat: Deserts and grasslands
Did You Know? The two humps of bactrian camel calves lay flat against their sides at birth.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Camelidae
Genus: Camelus
Species: C. bactrianus
Orangutan
The second animal we went to go visit was the orangutan. The highly-intelligent, gentle orangutan is the largest tree-living mammal in the world. This ape is so well adapted (both behaviorally and physically) to a tree-dwelling lifestyle that it rarely has to descend to the ground. However, this extreme specialization may also spell the orangutan’s doom, since it restricts the other habitats that the species can occupy.
Note: There are two distinct species of orangutans: the Bornean orangutan, Pongo pygmaeus, and the Sumatran orangutan, Pongo abelii. The latter is the one you can see at the Saint Louis Zoo. Although their habits are almost identical, the two species live on separate islands in the South Pacific
Fun Facts:
- In the Malay language, the name "orangutan hutan" means "person of the forest.”
- Early indigenous people of Indonesia and Malaysia wouldn’t kill an orangutan because they felt it was simply a person hiding in the trees, avoiding work.
- Although orangutans don’t use a lot of vocalizations, one sound they do make is a “kiss squeak,” often used when they’re alarmed or displeased.
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Family: Pongidae
Genus: Pongo
Gorilla
Lastly, we also went and saw the gorillas. What’s one of the first things you notice about gorillas? Probably their great size. These are the largest living primates (a group that includes monkeys, apes, and humans). A fully-grown male gorilla weighs up to 400 pounds and measures about 5 ½ feet tall. Females are just a bit shorter (about five feet) but weigh considerably less (about 200 pounds).Despite their formidable size, gorillas are gentle animals. In fact, thousands of tourists in Africa every year walk safely within a few yards of wild gorillas. These apes are aggressive only when fighting over females or protecting their family from predators and hunters.
Fun Facts
- As discussed above, recent genetic studies have shown that there are two species of gorilla, each with two subspecies. Before these studies came out, scholars believed all gorillas belonged to a single species, divided into three subspecies: western lowland, eastern lowland, and mountain. Most scientists now accept the revised scheme, which shows a genetic separation between the eastern and western types.
- The western lowland gorilla is not the gorilla featured in the book and movie Gorillas in the Mist. That’s the mountain gorilla (one of the subspecies of eastern gorilla).
- Perhaps surprisingly, the habits of western lowland gorillas are less well known that those of eastern gorillas, even though the western type is more numerous. That’s because western lowland gorillas live in such dense jungle that they’re hard to observe.
- Western lowland gorillas eat parts of at least 97 plant species.
- Gorillas can live for 50 years or more, both in the wild and in captivity, though such a long lifespan is rare.
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Family: Pongidae
Genus: Gorilla
On a personal note, I believed this was truely an enlightening experience. We had the chance to view the animals and what they look and act like in real life. Not only that, but during our visit with the orangutan, it truely was interesting to see how they use their body ligaments to move around and really take advantage of the trees around them. On a side note, to see how they ate and how they have adapted and evolved over the centuries really showed me how beautiful and crazy our world is. So in conclusion I believed that the trip was a real success to get my attention for further study in animals.