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It is actually a member of the rodent family that belongs in the same species as the guinea pig, agouti, coyphillas and chinchillas and is considered the largest type of rodent throughout the world.

The Capybara are a very heavy set animal with a short head and sports a coat of reddish colored fur with lighter coloring underneath.

Primates are a group of mammals that include prosimians, monkeys, and apes. Humans are primates, too. We are a type of ape. Most primates have hands and feet that can grasp, and many have tails. There are about 230 primate species. Most primates are found in tropical environments. The only great exception to this is humans. We live all over the planet. Almost all primates eat both plants and animals. Most primates are threatened or endangered.

The Big ThreePrimates belong to one of three general groups: prosimians, monkeys, and apes. ©G.Ellis/GLOBIO.org Prosimians include lemurs, tarsiers and lorises. ©G.Ellis/GLOBIO.org Monkeys include new world and old world monkeys as well as macaques and baboons. ©G.Ellis/GLOBIO.org Apes include chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, and humans. Prime Locations for P

What Sets Primates Apart Humans are the only primates that are strictly bipedal, meaning they walk upright on two feet. Humans live all over the planet in almost every environment. ©G.Ellis/GLOBIO.org As primates evolved over the past 50-60 million years, two important things happened. 1) Their faces flattened and the eyes moved to the front of the head, giving them binocular vision. 2) They developed hands with separate fingers and opposable thumbs. This allowed them to grasp and hold on to branches and other objects. These two important developments make primates very different from all

The Champions of the Animal KingdomPeople are good at a lot of things, but if animals could enter the Olympics as one team they would probably win almost all the medals! Animals can outrun, outswim, and outjump all humans. Young cheetahs learn to hunt by watching their mother. Later, they start taking part in the hunt. Cheetahs are the fastest land animal and can reach speeds of 113kph in short bursts. ©G.Ellis/GLOBIO.org Fastest Mammal on Land Cheetahs can run up to 113 kph. Fastest Mammal in Water Dall porpoises can swim up to 56 kph. Fastest Flying Bird Peregrine falcons can dive toward the ground at more than 320 kph. Fastest Flightless Bird North African ostriches are the fastest birds on land. They can run at speeds up to 72 kph. They are also the biggest bird. They can weigh 155 kg. Fastest Fish Sailfish can swim up to 109 kph. Loudest Animal The blue whale’s low-frequency pulses are as loud as 188 decibels. This is louder than a jet engine. A blue whale’s call can be detected more than 805 km away. On land, the loudest animals are howler monkeys. Their howls can be heard 4.8 km away.

Arctic terns migrate to and from the Antarctic - about 35,405 km round trip - each year. Among mammals, gray whales and northern elephant seals are the migration champions. They travel up to 20,900 km round trip each year. Deadliest Animal Female Anopheles mosquitoes, which carry and transmit malaria, play a role in the deaths of more than a million people each year. Most Venomous Animal A single sea wasp (a kind of jellyfish with 60 tentacles, each 4 m long) has enough venom to kill 60 adult humans. Strongest Animal The rhinoceros beetle can lift 850 times its own weight

I sure hope this father survived the war and was able to come home to his little child.

The identification, ongoing protection and presentatiosn of cultural values is paramount. This includes cultural sites and their traditional knowledge (sometimes referred to as intellectual and cultural property rights) such as food and medicine resources. They want to be able to hunt and gather their traditional foods and other resources, while managing impacts which have the potential to impair these activities through disturbance and habitat destruction. Other important aspirations relate to the future of Rainforest Aboriginal people's communities and their survival into the 21st century. Many Rainforest Aboriginal people want to get more involved in cultural tourism because it means they can present their culture and benefit economically. One of the most heart-felt aspirations Rainforest Aboriginal people have is to get secure title to their traditional lands to ensure the integrity and survival of their cultures.  

Camel spiders became an Internet sensation during the Iraq war of 2003, when rumors of their bloodthirsty nature began to circulate online. Many tales were accompanied with photos purporting to show spiders half the size of a human. For many years, Middle Eastern rumors have painted camel spiders as large, venomous predators, as fast as a running human, with a voracious appetite for large mammals. The myths are untrue. These creatures do not actually eat camels' stomachs or sleeping soldiers, and they are not so large—but the real camel spider is still an amazing predator. The camel spider's history of misinformation begins with a misidentification. Camel spiders are not even spiders. Like spiders, they are members of the class Arachnida, but they are actually solpugids. Camel spiders, also called wind scorpions and Egyptian giant solpugids (SAHL-pyoo-jids), are only about 6 inches (15 centimeters) long. Photos that purport to show creatures six times that size have misleading perspective—the spider is invariably placed in the foreground where the lens makes it appear much bigger than its actual size. True, they are fast, but only compared to other arachnids. Their top speed is estimated at 10 miles (16 kilometers) per hour. Camel spiders are not deadly to humans (though their bite is painful), but they are vicious predators that can visit death upon insects, rodents, lizards, and small birds. These hardy desert dwellers boast large, powerful jaws, which can be up to one-third of their body length. They use them to seize their victims and turn them to pulp with a chopping or sawing motion. Camel spiders are not venomous, but they do utilize digestive fluids to liquefy their victims' flesh, making it easy to suck the remains into their stomachs.

All Grown Up Male orangutans are large apes. They are generally more than twice the size of females. Males may weigh around 90 kg. Females rarely reach 40 kg. ©G.Ellis/GLOBIO.org Around the age of

Desert biomes can be classified according to several characteristics. There are four major types of deserts: Hot and dry Semiarid Coastal Cold

Deserts cover about one fifth of the Earth's surface and occur where rainfall is less than 50 cm/year.

The animals include small nocturnal (active at night) carnivores. The dominant animals are burrowers and kangaroo rats. There are also insects, arachnids, reptiles and birds. The animals stay inactive in protected hideaways during the hot day and come out to forage at dusk, dawn or at night, when the desert is cooler.

Why Do We Need To Conserve?One answer is very simple. We need to conserve to make certain we have resources for ourselves and for people in the future. Conservation will allow future generations to enjoy natural resources such as clean rivers and lakes, wilderness areas, a diverse wildlife population, healthy soil, and clean air. Resources Are Necessary for Life! Many natural resources are necessary for our survival. It may be difficult to imagine that we could ever run out of fresh water, clean air, and good soil for growing food. But in some places this is already happening.

Using less paper, reusing paper, and recycling paper saves trees and water. Recycling aluminum cans will save money, resources, and prevent pollution. For example, it takes much less energy to recycle an aluminum soft drink can than it does to make a new one. Making energy uses up resources like oil and coal. So just by recycling the aluminum cans you use, you become an instant conservationist!

Using less paper, reusing paper, and recycling paper saves trees and water. Recycling aluminum cans will save money, resources, and prevent pollution. For example, it takes much less energy to recycle an aluminum soft drink can than it does to make a new one. Making energy uses up resources like oil and coal. So just by recycling the aluminum cans you use, you become an instant conservationist!

Indeed, tropical forest is a victim of a spiritual crisis in humanity. The destruction of tropical forest reflects an all too-widespread willingness to submit to an economic determinism every bit as rigid as that of Marx. Egbert Giles Leigh Jr. (1) Rain Forest Destruction, Madagascar Photo: Jonathan TalbotWorld Resources Institute, 2003 We learn from Columbia Encyclopedia that in very early times forests covered virtually the whole land surface of the Earth, apart from the areas of perpetual snow (such as the north pole). (2) And as recently as 19 th century, tropical rain forests in their own right covered around 20% of all the dry land area of the Earth, but this figure was only 7% by the end of the 20 th century. (3) Probably the main fundamental factor that has been invariably pushing rain forest destruction more and more over the decades and indeed centuries, is the demand for the rain forest as a enormous economic and social resource. First of all, tropical rain forests are “treasure troves of nature” – they contain endless supplies of resources widely used in human societies, such as food, timber, raw materials etc. Second, rain forests cover huge swathes of land. And the land has always been a limited resource required for accommodation of ever growing human populations.

Captured and killed in Florida, juvenile Burmese pythons (left), a young African rock python (center), and a larger African rock python lay coiled on a tray in a Unversity of Florida laboratory in late August 2009.

The Harpy Eagle (Harpia harpyja) is one of the world's largest birds of prey, reaching over three feet from head to tail. This awesome predator is a powerful flyer, able to pluck a sloth or monkey off a tree branch. It gets its name from a mythical Greek demon that preyed on people

Eaten Any Wood Today? You may have! And you probably brushed your teeth with it. Chances are you even dressed with wood. Skeptical? Don’t be. We’re all familiar with forest products like lumber, furniture, and paper. But few of us realize how many different things we regularly use that are manufactured from trees. In fact, more than 5,000 wood and paper products make our lives better each day. Here are just a few: Fruits and NutsFruit from trees such as apples and peaches, as well as nuts from trees such as walnuts, are all favorite products grown on trees. Bandage StripsTree gum, sap extracted from trees, makes the adhesive on bandage strips stick to your skin. Baseball BatsThe white ash tree is a hardwood that is used to make baseball bats—including, of course, Kentucky’s own Louisville Slugger! CandlesTree gum can be used to make candles. ClothingCellulose is used to produce rayon and acetate, which can be used to make a vast array of clothing such as ties, shirts, dresses, and suits. CombsWood pulp and cellulose can be used to make plastics for items such as hair combs. Cough SyrupCellulose products, used for their even-flowing consistency, often thicken cough syrups and other liquid oral medicines. CrackersNot only is the cracker box a product of trees, but the crackers themselves can be made using a high-purity cellulose. CrayonsGum extracted from trees can help make crayons. Eyeglass FramesCellulose wood fibers are dissolved and can then be formed into molded articles like eyeglass frames. Football HelmetsEthyl cellulose is responsible for making the hard, impact-resistant plastics found in football helmets. GumGum and synthesized essential oils from trees can be used to make chewing gum. Ice CreamIce cream can be made with cellulose, which comes from trees. LipstickCellulose can help give lipstick its easy-apply texture. MakeupMakeup sometimes gets its creamy texture from the tree derivative cellulose. Maple SyrupSap from trees is used to make syrup. Milk CartonsMilk cartons can be made from pulpwood. Nail PolishNail polish contains nitrocellulose to help make the polish glossy when it dries. NewspaperPulpwood is used to make newspaper, wrapping paper, book paper, and wallpaper. PaintMethylcellulose, a product made from cellulose, gives paints their thick consistency. Parmesan CheeseCellulose powder is sometimes used to help keep grated Parmesan cheese pieces from caking together. PencilsTree logs are used to make pencils. PerfumeTree bark is used to make “tall oil,” which cosmetic companies can use to make perfumes. Photo FilmLogs are reduced to pulp, and the pulp is processed to create cellulose acetate chemicals that can be used to make photographic film. ShampooMethylcellulose can be used to thicken shampoo and conditioner. Without it, they would just be soapy water! SpongesCellulose is broken down into chemicals that can be used to make sponges. TiresTree-produced chemicals can be used for making the synthetic rubber found in tires. Toilet PaperWood pulp makes paper products such as toilet tissue, paper towels, napkins, and facial tissue. ToothpasteCellulose can be used in toothpaste to give it a paste-like consistency.

"In art there is no disability" Le Vu Long, Choreographer - Together Higher, Vietnam