UWC Grade 5 (2009-2010)

Love them or loathe them, snakes are undoubtedly one of the most successful of animal groups, inhabiting a wide range of habitats.  And many species in Southeast Asia have simply stunning colours and patterning.

A mildly venomous

The Reticulated Python is located in Southeast Asia in countries including but not limited to Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.

The Reticulated Python's diet consist of birds, mammals of different sizes including deer and pigs and on very rare occasions possibly humans.  Pythons will typically wait in hiding for prey to move close by before striking.  The Reticulated Python is not venomous; like other members of the Boa family it will use its large muscular body to constrict and suffocate its prey.  HabitatThe Reticulated Python can usually be found near water, including ponds and rivers, in warm and humid tropical rainforests of southeast Asia.  They may also have a tendency to live near human activity.     SizeThe average length of an adult Reticulated Python can range from 15 - 25 feet making it the longest snake and reptile in the world.  It is possible for Reticulated Pythons to grow over 30 feet in length.  The adult weight can be over 300 pounds.ReproductionUnlike other members of the Boa Family who bear live young, Pythons will lay eggs.  The female Reticulated Python can have between 25 - 100 eggs at a time.  The mother will coil around the eggs and create muscular vibrations to raise the temperature of the eggs several degrees.

birds live in the canopy (upper leaves of the trees) and in the emergents (the tops of the tallest trees). Large animals (like jaguars) generally live on the forest floor, but others (like howler monkeys and sloths) are arboreal (living in trees). Insects are found almost everywhere.

Some animals try to convince predators that they are bigger and more fierce than they really are. For example, the larva of the lobster moth (Stauropus fagi), whose larva looks like a scorpion, but is in fact completely defenseless. Many butterflies have large "eye" designs on their wings. This makes them look like the head of a very large animal instead of a harmless butterfly, and scares many predators away.

Gorilla's live mostly in Zaire, and are very large. They can be up to 5'6" tall and weigh 600 pounds, with an arm span of 9 feet. Gorilla's have coarse black hair.

There are two kind of sloths, and both are very shy and quiet. The two kinds are the three toed sloth and the two toed sloth. They are mammals and live for about ten years. Sloths stay up in trees most of the day, almost never coming down. They like to do things upside down, even sleep!

The Orangutan lives on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra in Indonesia.

The Orangutan eats tropical fruit and also leaves, bark and insects at times.

Male Orangutans weigh approximately 100 - 250 lbs and are about 4 - 5 ft. in height.  Female Orangutans will weigh approximately 60 - 110 lbs and are about 3 - 3.5 ft. in height.

Jaguar Jaguars (Panthera onca) are the largest felid species in the New World and the only member of the genus Panthera, the roaring cats, that occurs in the Americas. They are the third largest cat species, being outsized only by lions (P. leo) and tigers (P. trigris). Although not the largest felid, jaguars have the strongest jaw in relation to head size of any of the cats, a fact that should be remembered whenever planning to capture and immobilize these animals. The body weight of jaguars is 90 - 120 kg for males and 60 - 90 kg for females, with a large variation in body size. Jaguars live in a wide variety of tropical habitats, ranging from montane forest and wet savannah to tropical rain forest and deciduous tropical forest. The largest documented jaguars occur in wet savannahs while jaguars that live in more forested regions tend to be smaller in size

Physical appearance: Jaguars are the largest cat in the western hemisphere. In comparison with the leopard, the jaguar is generally larger and much stockier, with a broad heavy head, much shorter legs and tail (a good visual description might be a leopard on steroids). The background of the jaguar's coat is a tawny-yellow, like many of the Asiatic leopards, and lightened to whitish on the throat and belly. The jaguar is marked with small isolated spots on the head and neck with dark open ring structures, rosettes,on the sides and flank that generally contain one to four dark spots inside the rings. Interestingly, the rosettes of the leopard and the jaguar are almost identical with the exception of the jaguar having spots "inside" the rosettes where the leopard has none. Along the middle of the jaguar's back, a row of black spots may merge into a solid line. According to one Indian myth, the jaguar acquired its spotted coat by daubing mud on its body with its paws.

The rainforests of the world are being destroyed by loggers and development. Many species found in the rainforest are endangered. Once they disappear, they are gone forever!

The jaguar lives in biodiversity-rich regions of Central and South America. It prefers forest habitats and areas close to water sources (such as wetlands, rivers, lakes etc) as it loves water and is a great swimmer. For example, the Amazon River Basin and the wetland area of Pantanal in Brazil are home to important populations of jaguars (1).

The jaguar is a nocturnal animal – it hunts for prey mostly during the dark hours of the day. (3) Though we have heard of some recent evidence of the jaguar’s daytime hunting as well. (4) The jaguar is a very adaptable animal.

jaguars … hunt by stealth, ambushing their prey from dense cover. Long canine teeth and powerful jaw muscles enable them to kill large animals swiftly, often with a single bite to the nape.

The World's Lungs? In the past, scientists often referred to tropical rainforests as the "lungs of the world" because of the large amount of oxygen they produce. More recent evidence shows that rainforests don't have much of an effect on the world's oxygen supply. The decomposition of dead plant matter consumes roughly the same amount of oxygen that the living plants produce. But rainforests do play a key role in the global ecosystem. Some experts are now calling them the "air conditioners to the world," because their dark depths absorb heat from the sun. Without the forest cover, these regions would reflect more heat into the atmosphere, warming the rest of the world. Losing the rainforests may also have a profound effect on global wind and rainfall patterns, potentially causing droughts throughout the United States and other areas

Author: barry a bieda How does the cutting of the rainforest affect Earth? Response #: 1 of 1 Author: mortis Well, we have been cutting rainforests for thousands of years with no permanent damage to the earth at all. Forest people who cut small patches for growing gardens do not hurt the forest because the small plots recover their original growth very quickly: think of the pictures of Mayan ruins in Mexico that are completely covered by forest - these used to be open, active cities! So on a small scale, slash and burn agriculture has no effect whatever on the rain-forest- it is a sustainable use of the forest. However, on a large commercial scale, where bulldozers and flame-throwers are use to convert huge tracts of land into pasture for cattle, the ability of the forest to recover is seriously impaired, destroying the forest for a very long time, if not forever. This kind of unsustainable destructive use affects the earth by taking a large portion of the biosphere out of production - which interrupts the carbon and oxygen cycles, affects local water and soil quality, and causes a decline in the global gene pool by making many species extinct.

The incredible diversity of food sources and unique niches of the canopy trees support a wide variety of animal species. Animals often congregate around a flowering tree, which makes trees in this stage some of the best sites for viewing wildlife. In places like these, where food is abundant, animals set up territories, but since canopy leaf cover affects visual territorial displays, most animals rely on sound signals. Thus some of the loudest animals of the world are canopy dwellers. Many primates emit howls and screams, while birds use song to let other animals know that they are intruding on their space.

From birth, the orangutan undergoes variations in facial structure during the course of its lifetime: at birth its face is bare, juveniles are bearded, and adult males have skin pouches on their cheeks. Orangutans build sleeping nests, 16-80 feet (5-25 m) off the ground, each night and never return to an earlier nest.

From birth, the orangutan undergoes variations in facial structure during the course of its lifetime: at birth its face is bare, juveniles are bearded, and adult males have skin pouches on their cheeks. Orangutans build sleeping nests, 16-80 feet (5-25 m) off the ground, each night and never return to an earlier nest.

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

Mammals are the only animals with flaps around the ears.

Fish and insects do not have eyelids - their eyes are protected by a hardened lens.

The pig is rated the fourth most intelligent animal

Central America offers great biodiversity, but development, tree cutting, farming, and pollution threaten the region’s natural places.

  tableWorkaround2_colheader() tableWorkaround2(150) tableWorkaround(2) tableWorkaround2_colheader() tableWorkaround2(60) tableWorkaround(2) tableWorkaround2_colheader() tableWorkaround2(40) tableWorkaround(2) tableWorkaround2_colheader() tableWorkaround2(20) tableWorkaround(2) Home - Guide - Red-Eyed Tree Frog LocatedThe Red-Eyed Tree Frog is located in Southern Mexico, Central America including but not limited to Costa Rica, Honduras and Panama, and northern South America.DietRed-Eyed Tree Frogs are carnivorous and eat mostly insects, including crickets.  They will also feed on other smaller frogs.HabitatRed-Eyed Tree Frogs inhabit lowland rainforest areas near ponds, streams and rivers.  The Red-Eyed Tree Frog will be found near water sources that its offspring, tadpoles, will need to survive.Size and DescriptionRed-Eyed Tree Frogs will grow to be 2 cm (males) and 3 -4 cm (females) in length.  The Red-Eyed Tree Frog is well known for its bulging red eyes and beautiful blue streaks and orange toes.  When the Tree Frog sleeps it hides its sharp colors, but if it runs from a predator the bright colors may confuse or disinterest the predator.  Like many Tree F

Hornbills are important to the tropical rainforest of Borneo. Their bills help them eat large fruits and carry seeds to new areas of the forest

The island of Borneo started as a single volcano beneath the sea. Millions of years ago, it erupted. Over time, smaller eruptions and earthquakes joined land together to form an island. Today, Borneo is the third largest island in the world. It is twice the size of Japan. Three countries share the island: Malaysia, Indonesia, and Brunei.

Over 16 million people live on Borneo. Borneo’s landscape and wildlife are diverse and include high mountains and rugged coastlines. Most of the island is covered with dense, ancient tropical rainforest. Borneo’s rare and endangered wildlife includes the orangutan, Asian elephant, proboscis monkey, flying frog, and many species of rare plants.

The billions of leaves of the canopy, acting as miniature solar panels, provide the source of power for the forest by converting sunlight to energy through photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is the process by which plants convert atmospheric carbon dioxide and water into oxygen and simple sugars. Since the rate of photosynthesis of canopy trees is so high, these plants have a higher yield of fruits, seeds, flowers, and leaves which attract and support a wide diversity of animal life. Besides attracting a broad array of wildlife, the canopy plays an important role in regulating regional and global climate because it is the principal site of the interchange of heat, water vapor, and atmospheric gases. In addition to collecting solar energy and regulating the climate, the canopy shields the understory from harsh and intense sunlight, drying winds, and heavy rainfall, and retains the moisture of the forest below. Thus the forest interior is a far less volatile environment than the upper parts of the canopy ceiling. The interior region is protected from the extremes of the canopy: temperature fluctuations, damaging solar radiation, and strong winds. Light levels are diffuse and subdued, the humidity is higher and more constant, and there is very little direct sunlight in the lower canopy.

The overstory is characterized by scattered emergent trees that tower above the rest of the canopy, the tops of some species exceeding 210 feet (65 m). Below the overstory trees, the canopy stretches for vast distances, seemingly unbroken when observed from an airplane. However, despite overlapping tree branches, canopy trees rarely interlock or even touch. Instead they are separated from one another by a few feet. Why the branches of these trees do not touch is still a mystery, but it is thought that it might serve as protection from infestations from tree-eating caterpillars and tree diseases like leaf blight. To survive, canopy dwellers must have the ability to negotiate these gaps by climbing, leaping, gliding, or flying.