My Science School

The pine marten was once abundant throughout most of Central and Northern Europe, but is now almost extinct. The pine marten of European and Central Asian forests is also called baum marten and sweet marten. They are usually found in wooded areas where they can nest in hollow trees, and old animal homes.

The pine martens are most active from dusk to night. They are also treetop hunters that can race skillfully along branches. They have sharp claws that enable them to climb and run on branches. They run fast on the ground as well. They have small, rounded, highly sensitive ears. Squirrels make a large portion of the diet of a pine marten. Their teeth are sharp and are adapted for eating small mammals, birds, insects, frogs, and carrion. They also feast on seasonally available produce such as autumn fruits and berries, but they favour animal food.

Though a civet is often called a civet cat, it does not belong to the cat family. The civet is more closely related to the mongoose. It has a unique appearance that has bagged world attention.

The face of a civet cat looks like a weasel. Its body resembles that of a cat and its tail, a raccoon’s. It is a nocturnal animal that preys on snakes and small mammals. It also eats fruits, berries and some vegetables.

Civets catch their prey by stalking and then pouncing. Once the prey is caught, they bite the prey repeatedly and eat large pieces. Some civets like the African palm civet feed on carrion as well. The African palm civet is a prominent member of the civet family.

Civets are known for raiding farms for small livestock, including chickens, lambs, and turkeys.

We all know the story of the mongoose that killed the snake to save its master’s baby. The mongoose is a small terrestrial mammal that feeds on small animals such as rodents, birds, reptiles, frogs, insects, and worms. The mongoose is found in southern Europe, Asia and Africa.

Remember Rikki-tikki-tavi from Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book? Rikki is an Indian grey mongoose. It is commonly found in the open forests and near human settlements. The Egyptian mongoose is known for digging out bugs from the ground. Its teeth are so strong that it can tear the flesh of any animal. The stripe necked mongoose is commonly found in the Western Ghats. The dwarf mongoose is the smallest of all the mongooses.

Mongooses are long faced with small rounded ears. They have small legs, but long tails. They usually live in groups. They are known for catching snakes due to their agility, thick coats, and specialized acetylcholine receptors that render them resistant or immune to snake venom.

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The green anaconda is arguably the largest and undoubtedly the heaviest snake in the world; some anacondas grow over a size of 10 meters and have a heavy build.

Anacondas are of two types - the green and the yellow anaconda. The green anaconda is known by many names like the giant anaconda, sucuri, or water kamudi.

Anacondas live in swamps, marshes, and slow-moving streams, mainly in the tropical rain forests of the Amazon and Orinoco basins. Female anacondas are usually larger than their male counterparts. Reticulated pythons-anaconda’s cousins- grow up to the same size of an anaconda. But an anaconda has more girth which makes it heavier.

Anacondas usually hunt in darkness. Rather than chasing the prey, they ambush it. They can easily camouflage near the murky waters, where they wait for their prey to come. They prey on wild pigs, deer, birds, turtles, capybara, caimans, and even jaguars.

Their jaws are attached to stretchy ligaments that help them swallow the prey as a whole regardless of its size.

The meerkat is a member of the mongoose family, usually found in southwestern Africa. Meerkats can be recognized from the position in which they stand; they often stand on their rear legs. Mother Meerkats are skilled to feed their babies while standing like this.

Meerkats usually live in packs ranging from three to twenty-five in number. They live in burrows with multiple entrances. They usually hunt in packs.

Some meerkats serve as lookouts watching for birds that could be snatched from the ground. A few of them will be busy guarding the pack while the rest look for prey. They prey on beetles, caterpillars, termites, spiders, scorpions, lizards, birds, small snakes, and rodent.

The prey is primarily located by smell.

Often, a meerkat gives out a sharp, shrill call which is the signal for all to take cover. Purring sounds are also used for communication while hunting. Meerkats can be tamed easily; therefore, they are often kept as pets to kill rodents.

Also known as the ermine, the stoat is a mustelid. Mustelids are carnivorous mammals like otters, weasels, ferrets and wolverines. Stoats are highly adaptable creatures. They are bigger than weasels and are as potent as big cats.

Highly skilled killers, stoats can subdue and devour prey, like rabbits and hares that are much bigger than themselves. They usually kill by a single bite on the neck. Stoats are quite well-known for ‘hypnotizing’ rabbits. They hunt both by day and night, don’t like to be out in the open and so tend to hunt along ditches, hedgerows and walls or through meadows and marshes.

Apart from rabbits, stoats also hunt many rodents, including voles, as well as birds. Stoats can climb trees and that is how they gain access to birds’ nests.

Stoats were native to Eurasia and America. They were brought to New Zealand in the 19th century in order to control the rabbit population. This however, had a devastating effect on the bird population in New Zealand.

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Though it looks like a small bear, the wolverine is actually the largest animal in the weasel family. The wolverine is a ferocious animal noted for its strength, cunning, fearlessness, and voracity.

Wolverines are solitary animals. They hunt by night and need a lot of room to roam around. Individual wolverines may travel 24 kilometres in a day in search of food. They often live in dens amongst roots and rocks. They are also known to dig dens in snowdrifts as well.

Small animals like rabbits and rodents are an easy catch for wolverines. They often prey on animals many times larger than their size. They occasionally feed on carrion of the corpses of larger mammals, such as elk, deer, and caribou. Their jaws are extremely powerful and can crunch through frozen meat and bone easily.

Wolverines are found in isolated areas of Canada, North West USA, Northern Europe, and Northern and Eastern Asia. Wolverine populations are steadily declining since the 19th century due to a number of reasons like trapping, range reduction and habitat fragmentation.

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The Komodo dragon grows up to a size of three meters and is the largest lizard in the world. As a result of their size, these lizards dominate the ecosystems in which they live.

The hunting style of the Komodo dragon is different from all the others in the reptile world. They have a venomous bite and usually hunt in groups. They hunt big mammals like cattle, pigs and deer. They also prey on birds and invertebrates. However, a major portion of their diet consists of carrion. They seldom need to capture live prey, since their venomous bite delivers toxins that render them lifeless.

The way Komodo dragons eat is worth mentioning. They can eat up to 80 per cent of their body weight in one sitting; their flexible jaws aid them to hog. Their large size and predatory habits have invited the world’s attention to this creature.

Tourists from around the world flock to Indonesia to see this huge lizard, where it is endemic. The Komodo dragon is protected by law and the Komodo National Park was founded in 1980 to aid the protection efforts.

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Though only of the size of a small dog, the Tasmanian Devil is the world’s largest carnivorous marsupial. It became the world’s largest carnivorous marsupial in 1936 following the extinction of the thylacine.

The Tasmanian Devil is named after the Australian island of Tasmania; it is endemic to this region. The body of the animal is covered with a coat of coarse brown or black fur which gives it the appearance of a baby bear. It would be wrong to underestimate this animal because of its size. It can run fast, climb trees and can even swim. It also has sharp teeth and strong muscular jaws that can deliver one of the most powerful bites of any mammal.

Though they are good hunters, they sometime feed on carrion as well. Apart from these, they also prey on livestock when near human settlements. Because of this, they were hunted down. Tasmanian Devils sneeze sharply before a fight. Their shrieks can be heard from more than a mile away when they are in a feeding frenzy.

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The grizzly bear has a diverse diet; it feeds on small mammals, fish, calves of many hoofed animals, berries, plant roots and shoots. Sometimes, it would also eat birds and bird eggs. In addition to these, it occasionally feeds on carrion as well.

The grizzly bear is an awe-inspiring solitary animal found in western North America. Its fur is usually brown with a tinge of white at the tips. Grizzly bears usually gather near fishing spots when the salmon run upstream for summer spawning. They hog on as many fish as they can, hoping to store all the fat needed to survive the harsh winter climate.

Grizzly bears are overprotective mothers; they would not hesitate to attack anybody who comes between the mother and her cubs.

Despite their fierce nature, human settlements and aggressive hunting eliminated most of the grizzly bear populations. Though conservation measures have helped increase the numbers, the species remains endangered today.

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The howls of a dhole are enough to chill the spine of a wild boar or a sambhar deer. The dhole is a wild Asian dog with a notorious reputation of being a ruthless killer. It lives and hunts in groups of up to 20 animals.

Dholes are surprisingly small in size; they weigh between 12-18 kilograms and are smaller than medium-sized dogs. They hunt mainly during the dawn and at times in the moonlit nights. Dhole hunting parties are known to employ a variety of tactics to bring down their prey, including splitting into small scouting groups. They usually prey on mammals like wild sheep and deer, but they are also reported to attack animals as large as tigers and bears.

Dholes roam the jungles and montane forests of Central and East Asia. They are now facing massive habitat loss due to rampant deforestation.

Yet, dholes have been almost wholly ignored by conservationists, researchers and the general public.

Hyenas are popular scavengers and this reputation overshadows the tales of their hunting skills. Hyenas are in fact good hunters. Hyenas have good strength and stamina that aid them in hunting. In addition to hunting, hyenas are also known to drive off larger predators, like lions, from their kills!

The spotted hyena is the largest of all the species of hyena. They actively hunt medium and large-sized hoofed animals, even if they scavenge occasionally.

They may kill as many as 95 per cent of all the animals they eat. They kill and eat birds, lizards, snakes, and insects. A solitary spotted hyena can chase an adult wildebeest for a distance of five kilometers at speeds of up to 60 km per hour and bring it down alone.

The striped hyena is primarily a scavenger. But it will also attack and kill any animal it can overcome. It supplements its diet with fruit as well. A clan of hyenas is usually made of ten to fifteen members. The clan leader is a female and so are many elder members of the clan.

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An apex species is an animal that is naturally not preyed on by other predators. Since the polar bear is not preyed on by any animals in its natural habitat, it is an apex predator. The polar bear is the largest of the land-living carnivores. It is also one of the most powerful predators in the Arctic though it mainly acquires food from the sea.

A polar bear spends almost half its lifetime in search of food. It predominantly hunts seals. It is known to crack the ice where a seal surfaces to breathe. It feeds on the flesh and blubber of seals. At times, it also feeds on the carcasses of whales. It is also known to attack walruses and their pups.

Polar bears are voracious eaters too; they can eat up to 40 kilograms of meat in one sitting. But a polar bear manages to catch only one or two out of 10 seals it hunts, depending on the time of year and other variables.

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The red fox is an extremely adaptable predator. That is why they are seen throughout Europe, temperate Asia, northern Africa, and North America. In fact, it has the largest natural distribution of any land mammal except human beings. it is not a surprise that it is also called the common fox.

Unlike many other members of the canine family, red foxes are solitary hunters. They hunt either early in the morning before sunrise, or late in the evening. On an average, a red fox requires half a kilogram of meat a day. They prey on rodents, rabbits, birds, and other small animals. Their diet is as flexible as their choice of habitat. They also eat fruits and vegetables, fish, frogs, and even worms. They occasionally feed on garbage too.

Red fox is a species that has benefited from living near human habitats. There are domesticated red foxes in Russia.

The jackal is usually recognized as a scavenger but jackals are efficient hunters too.

For instance, the golden jackal preys on smaller mammals such as hares, rodents, and small antelope as well as the young ones of larger antelopes. It also eats snakes, beetles, crickets, spiders, fruits, and berries.

Black backed jackals prey on smaller mammals. They also eat seals. They attack ranches and feed on sheep and goats. Jackals hunt in groups, and rarely hunt alone. A solitary jackal stands a chance of only sixteen per cent success in hunts.

They are good runners and can maintain a speed of twelve to sixteen kilometers per hour for a long time while chasing a prey. A pack of jackals is typically made of an adult pair and yearlings staying with the family as helpers.