My Science School

Some of the most effective hunters among the carnivores are actually the smallest. The weasels, for example, are fearsome fighters, able to kill prey much larger than themselves. The fisher marten of North America preys on the formidable porcupine, while a wolverine can bring down a reindeer.

The weasel family includes weasels, polecats and martens, skunks, otters and badgers. They are generally small animals, though the giant otter can measure over 1.8 metres from nose to tail. They have long bodies with short legs and often a long tail, and can be found on and under the ground in the trees and in the water.

Most members of the weasel family feed on smaller mammals, especially rodents, but some will also eat worms, fruit, and insects. The honey badger breaks open beehives to reach the honey inside, while otters feed on fish, frogs and other water creatures. The sea otter uses a stone to crack open shellfish.

Many members of the weasel family can produce a foul-smelling liquid called musk, both to mark their territories and to defend themselves against predators. The best-known of these is the skunk. If threatened, it will turn its back on its attacker and spray musk for distances of up to seven metres.

Apart from some otters and badgers, members of the weasel family are solitary mammals, keeping to their own territories and fight. Males and females usually come together only to breed.

Although hyenas look as though they should belong to the dog family, they are actually a separate group of carnivores. Most hyenas are meat-eaters. Some live in groups and hunt or feed together. They can kill large prey such as wildebeest after chasing them for several kilometres. A hyena’s strong jaws and large teeth can crush even large bones, horns and hooves, making sure there is little left after a kill.

The aardwolf differs from other hyenas because it is nocturnal, solitary, and feeds not on meat but on termites.

          The carnivore group also includes the mongoose family and the raccoon family, many of which do not rely on meat in their diets. The mongoose family (civets and genets and mongooses) are mostly solitary animals, but some, such as the meerkats, live in large groups. While feeding above ground they all watch out for predators, and will even band together to drive them away.

The raccoon family includes raccoons, coatis and pandas. All except the giant panda are quite small animals with long tails. They are good climbers, and some feed and nest in trees. Most members of the raccoon family live alone and are nocturnal, apart from coatis which form groups of females and feed during the day.

Raccoons and coatis feed on a wide range of foods including rodents, insects, frogs, plants and fruits. Red pandas, the smaller, lesser-known relatives of the giant panda, feed on fruit, bamboo and other plant material, while giant pandas them-selves usually feed only on bamboo.

Giant pandas are solitary animals that live in bamboo forests in the mountains of China. Although the small areas where they live are protected, the surrounding forest has been cut down. This means that giant pandas cannot move to a new area to breed or to find fresh supplies of bamboo. Giant pandas also breed very slowly, raising only one young at a time. Both of these factors make them among the rarest mammals in the world.

Picture Credit : Google