Giraffe Weevil

Name: Giraffe weevil

scientific name : Trachelophorus giraffa
WICI: A burnt giraffe wearing a red jacket with extra legs

Rate : *** ( Creepy and Alien like !!!)

Size: < 2.7cm

More information:


How do you think this creepy crawly got it's name ? By it's ultra long neck that resembles a giraffe of course ! You can find these insects in Madagascar only. However, only male giraffe weevils have  that distinctive long neck and red coat. if you look at that brown giraffe weevil below, you can tell the difference !
Enjoy the video of a giraffe weevil limerick.(Not by me of course)

male giraffe weevil

Female giraffe weevil 

Giraffe weevils are not endangered animals. They can only be found in Madagascar.They usually eat small tree leaves.

New Addition

There will be 2 new additions of a title to my posts. It is called : WHAT  I CALL IT , which also may be written as WICI :) 

There will also be a "rate" whereby I will rate how much i like that animal. 

Oh ya, and now, I will post videos from youtube more often.

enjoy :) :D 

The Singapore Zoo

Entrance of Singapore Zoo 

           Just a few days ago, my aunty and uncle brought my cousins and I to the Singapore Zoo.The Singapore Zoo is the worlds best rainforest zoo and has more than 2800 animals!
        

               A new safari is coming out soon too - River Safari opening in 2013 ! However , part of the animals from the River Safari is already opened to public ! Namely, the GIANT PANDAS ! Yep:) So first , we headed to the  preview of the pandas, Kai Kai and Jia Jia !

               Kai Kai and Jia Jia are really popular. you would have to book a time slot to visit them and pay a bit more money.Each time slot is 20 minutes. I am sure to visit the zoo earlier in the future ! The ticketing counter queue was so long !

             Anyway, when we first entered the enclosure,  we saw a beautiful bird and two super cute red pandas. When we walked a little furthur, we saw Kai Kai , the male giant panda sleeping.They say Kai Kai's head has a turf of hair which makes him look like an 'onion-head' but I could not really tell.

           After we walked through some panda information exhibition, we saw Jia Jia - the female giant panda ! Jia Jia was not sleeping. in fact, she was doing some sort of routine. She would walk through the bamboos, step on tiny logs,climb up the stairs,then rest .She did the routine over and over again! I wonder if Jia Jia misses China .

         Lastly, we visited the gift shop.My aunty bought my us some cute panda keychains! We were done with the pandas for now. Next, we decided to take a tram ride around the zoo.

         Just as we got on the tram, it started to rain! The rain was irritating.It kept getting heavier , then softer,then heavier and softer. My aunty did not want us to walk in the rain so on the tram, we circled 3 rounds around the zoo , looking at zebras,giraffes, orang utans ,elephants and much much more before stopping at Fragile Forest. However, when we just started walking in the enclosure,  my slipper broke and there was no way I could walk. So we asked a zoo keeper if there was any shop nearby that sold slippers .  Yes! Rainforest Kidzworld gift shop which was only 20 meters away. So my uncle carried my younger cousin on his back while I wore her slippers to the Rainforest Kidzworld. There, I got a pair of slippers.I felt a little 'pai sey' because my aunty had to spend money to buy me slippers :P

       Then, the rain got even more heavy! We seek shelter an the KFC there and had lunch at the same time. After lunch, we walked to Ah Meng restruant where my elder cousin got free ice cream(Because it was her birthday) Next , we went to catch the 'Elephants Of Asia' show. My cousins and me managed to squeeze at a spot in front. The elephants were really clever and strong.I also learnt how to differenciate an African elephant to an Asian elephant. Asian elephants have two domes on their head and have smaller ears while African elephants have larger ears.We also fed the elephants carrots ,apples and bananas at their end of the show.the elephants use their long trunk to take the food and put it into their mouth like a human's hand.

     We got on a boat after the show.The boat took us from pier 2 to pier 1 .We also saw a water monitor lizard swimming in the reservoir waters !

     Lastly , we headed for the Australian Outback, an enclosure which includes Wallabies,Kangaroos and cassowaries plus other Australian animals ! I loved the wallabies.

        Finally, we made our way back to the exit. I had a really good time at the zoo !!!!

giant Squid

Name: giant squid

Scientific name:  architeuthis

diet: carnivore

more information:



              Giant squids are huge creatures and are rarely seen by humans . When fully grown, a giant squid can be at least 10 meters long .Most of what people find out about them is from giant squids tat get washed up . The biggest giant squid ever found was18m and weighed around 900
kg.

              Here are some facts about the giant squid:


* Giant squids have beach-ball sized eyes !

* Scientist are not sure how this giant squid ranges, but fisher mans have spotted them in the seas all over the world.

*They are the worlds biggest invertebrates.

* Giant squids can change colour!

I found this video on youtube.

wombat

A common wombat 

Name: Wombat

Scientific name: vombatidae

Diet: Herbivore

More information:

         Wombats are found mainly in Australia.
A wombat, just like the kangaroo and other marsupials ,give birth to their young undeveloped.The young will then  crawl into their mothers pouch and spent about 5 months in there.

         wombats are nocturnal animals.They come out from their tunnels  at night to find food to eat .

         Wombats are about 70-120 cm big. They weigh approximately 15-35kg. Wombats also have incisors that cannot stop growing. they have to gnaw on tough vegetables to ensure that their incisors will not grow too long.

        Wombats , although cute, are pest to farmers because of the tunnels thy make in mud. Because of this, some farmers hunt them down. Wombats are also killed for their skin and sometimes just for fun by hunters.Thus, some species of the wombat are endangered while some species, such as the common wombat ,are not.



          

Helmeted hornbill

A helmeted hornbill 

Name: Helmeted hornbill


Scientific name: Rhinoplax vigil

diet: Omnivore

More information: 


          Helmeted hornbills are found in the South-east Asia , the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and Borneo. They are a large in the hornbill family.

        Helmeted hornbills are under the Near Threatened (NT)  on the ICUN Red List  as many people kill them for their   skull  which can be used to make ivories .

        Females weigh around 2.7kg while males weigh around 3.1kg.A female helmeted hornbill also has a blue patch on its neck . A male helmeted hornbill has a reddish patch on its neck.

       Helmeted hornbills love to eat figs too! They also eat fruits and sometimes even smaller hornbills!
    

    

Sloths

name : Sloth

Scientific name: folivora

Diet: Herbivore

More information :


           Sloths live in trees of the jungles of central and south america. They are medium - size mammals related to armadillos and ant- eaters . here are some facts about them:

* There are two families of sloth.The three-toed sloth and the two-toed sloth.

*two-toed sloths are generally larger than three-toed sloths and

*Three-toed sloths has a facial colouring which always makes them look like their smiling :)

*three-toed sloths also have 2 extra neck vertebrae .This allows them to turnn their heads almost all the way around!

* Sloths sleep for  at least 20 hours a day. They are very lazy creatures !

A sloth upside down! 

* Algae sometimes grow on the sloth's thick fur. Scientist think that this algae can  help them blend in with the green surroundings.

* sloths are good swimmers!

* There is an extinct sloth called the giant ground sloth. It can grow till as big as an elephant!