The Wild Life Blog

RACCOONS
The Raccoons are found in the forests of Tropical Central and South America. The Raccoons family is divided into two subfamilies:
i. Raccoons, Coatis and Kinkajou
ii. Red Panda

RACCOONS
There are 7 species of Raccoon. The most familiar one is the Common Raccoon with black mask and ringed tail. Its food includes Fish, Frogs, Insects, small mammals and fruits. It hunts for food under water with its sensitive paws.

KINKAJOU
The Kinkajous Uses its prehensile tail to cling to branches while it feeds. It mainly feeds on Fruit and Nectar. Though it is a Carnivore, its back teeth are blunt and can only be used for crushing fruit.

COATIS
The Coatis lives both on the ground and in the trees. Female and the young Coatis form groups and hunt for food such as Insects, Lizards and Tubers. They use their forepaws and long snout to hunt in the narrow gaps on the ground and on the forest floor.

Penguin

Eudyptula minor is a social bird, and is the most nocturnal of all penguin species. During the day it is either hunting at sea or in its nest sleeping. Little penguins live in loose colonies, composed of birds of all ages. They form small, very vocal groups when coming ashore at night, but then disperse to respective territories. The little penguin has a surprisingly diverse array of visual displays for many social situations. For example, fighting stances, warding off unfamiliar birds, and mating displays.
The little penguin has large range of calls, in addition to its visual displays. Sounds range from soft mewing notes, to loud screams, to growling, and even trumpeting calls.
Individuals undergo a complete body molt sometime from December to March, after the breeding season. This usually takes place at the breeding site and lasts from 10-18 days.
Eudyptula minor has a distinct sexual behavior. The male stands in a distinctive stance with flippers up, bill also pointed upward, accompanied by a braying call to attract a female. He will often build a nest to court her. Once male and female are mated they form a long-term monogamous pair, usually for life. Although they do not hunt for food together during the day they both come back to their shared nest at night.
Once a pair has bred and laid eggs both raise young together. Although eggs may sometimes be deserted there is no record of deserted young. Food is transferred directly from parent to young through regurgitation. Aggression between parents and children is rare, and only occurs when fully fledged young are driven from the nest. Adults are, however, aggressive toward young other than their own if approached for food. Fledglings usually migrate to different areas after becoming independent of their parents (Marchant & Higgins 1990; Heather & Robertson 1997).

Genetic Erosion

Genetic erosion is a process whereby an already limited gene pool of an endangered species of plant or animal diminishes even more when individuals from the surviving population die off without getting a chance to meet and breed with others in their endangered low population.
Genetic erosion occurs because each individual organism has many unique genes which get lost when it dies without getting a chance to breed. Low genetic diversity in a population of wild animals and plants leads to a further diminishing gene pool, inbreeding and a weakening immune system and fast tracks that species towards eventual extinction.
All the world’s endangered species are plagued by varying degrees of Genetic Erosion and most need a human assisted breeding program to keep their population viable and to keep them from going extinct in the long run. The more critically endangered the species is (the smaller the population is), the more magnified the effect of genetic erosion gets when each surviving individual of the species is lost without getting a chance to breed.
Genetic erosion gets compounded and accelerated by habitat fragmentation, today most endangered species live in smaller and smaller chunks of fragmented habitat interspersed with human settlements and farmland making it impossible for them to naturally meet and breed with others of their kind, many die off without getting a chance to breed and pass on their genes in the living population.
The gene pool of a species or a population is the complete set of unique alleles that would be found by inspecting the genetic material of every living member of that species or population. A large gene pool indicates extensive genetic diversity, which is associated with robust populations that can survive bouts of intense selection. Meanwhile, low genetic diversity (see inbreeding and population bottlenecks) can cause reduced biological fitness and an increased chance of extinction.