Home – worldwide
Habitat – tropical and temperate forests, grassland, suburban
Niche – most are herbivorous, some species feed on other insects
Favorite Food – plant juices
Length – up to 1 inch
Notable Feature – they produce a foul-smelling liquid to ward off predators
There are over 5,000 species of stink bugs worldwide, and they range in color from drab green and brown to brightly-colored red and yellow. Most species suck juices from trees and shrubs, but a few prey on other insects. As a result of their feeding habits on commercially-valuable crops, some species are serious pests to humans.
Stink bugs are also known as shield-bugs because of the shape of their bodies. They have broad “shoulders” that taper into their abdomens below their folded wings. They have strong angular legs for gripping plant stems and have specialized mouthparts for piercing and slurping. They are very common insects and can be found nearly everywhere in the world where there’s vegetation.
Stink bugs are so-named because of their defense against predators. If they’re disturbed, they will eject a noxious liquid from special glands in their thorax. The smell and taste of this bitter chemical weapon is enough to deter many predators and to put off a casual human collector. The bright coloration of many species is a warning sign to predators that it doesn’t taste very good. Sometimes coloration alone in the animal kingdom does the trick without needing to deploy the weapon being advertised.
Home – North and South America
Habitat – varied: tropical and temperate forest, grassland, desert, and mountains
Niche – nocturnal hunter
Favorite Food – small mammals
Length – up to 2 feet
Weight – up to 5 pounds
Status – Common
Threats – Habitat destruction
The Great Horned Owl is the largest owl in North America, and its range extends from Northern Canada down to Tierra del Fuego. It gets its name from the tufts of feathers on either side of its head that resemble horns from a distance. A silent killer of the night, it is one of the world’s most successful birds.
Great Horned Owls are some of the most sedentary birds in the world, rarely venturing far from their home tree. Because of their adaptations, they don’t need to fly far in search of food. Small mammals are plentiful across the Great Horned Owl’s wide range across North and South America, and this amazing bird has an extensive hunting arsenal. Its binocular vision is so acute that it can spy a mouse over 100 feet away, and its hearing can detect tiny movement in the leaf litter below its tree. Although owls can’t move their eyes in their sockets, they can turn their heads almost completely around their axis, allowing them to zero-in on prey. Finally, the soft feathers of an owl muffles the sound of flight, making its deadly approach nearly silent up until the point it sinks its razor-sharp talons into an unfortunate animal.
Great Horned Owls make their nests in trees, usually in a hollowed-out trunk or the abandoned nest of a hawk or crow. In sparser areas, they will nest in rocky alcoves. Although the female is the one to incubate the eggs, both parents will tend to the fledgling chicks for about 6 weeks until they leave the nest. Great Horned Owls are very territorial birds, even when not rearing young, but will defend their nests with resolve. They have been known to dive-bomb humans to frighten them away from their trees if they get too close.
Habitat destruction is the greatest threat facing Great Horned Owls because of their dependence on trees for nesting. However, their wide range has afforded them a buffer against encroachment, and they are still common in many regions of North and South America.
Home – Central America
Habitat – Tropical Forest
Niche – amphibious insectivore
Favorite Food – insects
Length – up to about 3 inches
Status – Locally Common
Threats – habitat loss, pollution, climate change
The red-eyed treefrog inhabits tropical forests of Central America, using its squishy toe pads to gain footing on wet branches in its search for insects. Because of the constant humidity in its habitat, adult red-eyed treefrogs and other treefrogs are able to live a mostly terrestrial life and only need standing water during the mating season. It is one of the most colorful frogs in the world, with striking red eyes, orange feet, and blue decals along the sides its green body.
Mating is an interesting affair for red-eyed treefrogs. Although they don’t need to mate in standing water like many other frogs, they still need to gather an amount of freshwater to allow the movement of sperm and eggs. This task falls on the female, and she carts the male on her back down to a pool of water to gather enough to lay 50 or so eggs on a chosen leaf. Ever the hard-worker, the female will continue this process a few times until she has finished laying eggs. The loafer on her back will then leave, having fulfilled his purpose of providing sperm. The eggs only take about 5 days to hatch and the newborn tadpoles will drop off of the egg-laden leaves into water. Like all amphibians, quantity of eggs laid is important. Since the eggs are so attractive to predators, only batches of hundreds will produce enough offspring with a chance to reach adulthood.
Red-eyed treefrogs are still locally common in the remaining stretches of tropical forest across Central America. As deforestation continues to reduce tree cover to make way for farmland, treefrog numbers will continue to decrease. However, loss of trees is not the only threat facing red-eyed treefrogs and others of their kind. Amphibians are notoriously vulnerable to even small changes in temperature, and the quality of water and air. Industrial pollution, even in minute amounts, has triggered massive die-offs of frogs, toads, and salamanders in all regions of the world.
Home – South Asia
Habitat – temperate mountain forests
Niche – arboreal omnivore
Favorite Food – bamboo
Length – up to 4 feet, nose to tail tip
Weight – up to 13 pounds
Status – Endangered
Threats – loss of habitat
The red panda couldn’t look more different than the better-known giant panda. Aside from a similar color pattern on its face, this member of the raccoon family is a far cry from the gigantic black and white panda in terms of looks. It’s much more raccoon-like, with a slender body and a long, bushy tail that helps it balance in the trees of Southern Asia where it lives.
Red pandas prefer dense temperate forests below the tree line on mountain slopes in Asia. The trees allow them access to the tender leaves and shoots of bamboo and as shelter from predators. Red pandas feed primarily on bamboo, but supplement their diet with fruit, grubs, eggs, and small animals. They communicate with others of their kind primarily by smell, marking territories with any number of secretions and excretions. In the world of the dense forest, animals like the red panda must rely on senses other than sight.
Females bear litters of between one and five offspring in nests built into hollow tree trunks and attend to all of the parental care. Not unlike some human relationships, the male involvement in fostering the new generation ends with mating.
Like many other animals dependent on trees, the red panda has fallen victim to loss of its natural habitat. As the forests have fallen in Southern Asia in the past half century, so have the numbers of red pandas in the wild. They are now exceedingly rare and there may be as few as 2500 left.
Home – Southern North America, Central America
Habitat – desert
Niche – insectivore
Favorite Food – ants
Length – 6 inches or less
Status – Some Species Threatened
Threats – habitat destruction, pesticides, invasive ant species
Of all the animals that can scrape out a living in the world’s deserts, lizards are among the most adapted to such harsh environments. Their hard scales provide a barrier against water loss and the abrasiveness of wind and sand. They obtain most of their water from their diverse diets and can survive long stretches of time without food. Horned lizards are among the most successful group of desert reptiles and comprise 14 different species of lizards that live in the arid regions of North and Central America.
As their name implies, horned lizards have a number of spiked projections on their head, body, and tail. In addition to their flattened, toad-like bodies, horned lizards are often referred to as horned toads or horny toads. The horns are used in courtship displays and also act as a defense against predators. However, it’s their rough, mottled skin blending seamlessly with their rocky surroundings that affords them the best protection. As long as the lizard remains still, it is virtually invisible to most predators. Some horned lizards possess more specialized defenses, like shooting blood from the eyes to confuse and frighten predators.
One of the most pressing issues of life in the desert is regulating body temperature. Like all reptiles, horned lizards are at the mercy of their surroundings when it comes to their internal heat. In order to maintain optimal temperature in the desert land of extremes, horned lizards will burrow into the sand or soil to avoid the murderous midday sun and cold temperatures at night. As the morning sun creeps over the horizon, they will raise their heads out of their burrow in order to first warm their brains. As soon as all systems are operational in the nervous system, horned lizards will then remove the rest of their bodies from the sand and begin their daily routines of basking in the sun and searching for ants to gobble up.
Horned lizards are still common across the deserts of the Southwestern United States and Mexico. Since they live in an environment that is inhospitable to man, they have been spared much of the trouble that has befallen many of their lizard relatives in other regions of the world. However, human development in arid regions still poses a looming threat.
