Monarch Butterfly

Migration

Monarch Butterflies

Arctic Tern

Arctic Tern

Gateway to Antarctica

Gateway to Antarctica-Antarctic Treaty System

Ozone Depletion Over Antarctica 

The Arctic tern has the most remarkable migration pattern known for any animal. Each year the Arctic tern migrates from nesting grounds in the Arctic south to the Antarctic and back, a round trip of nearly 40,000 km (25,000 mi). Nesting occurs in the autumn on Arctic beaches or in areas of tundra.

Mark Hamblin/Oxford Scientific Films/BBC Natural History Sound Library. All rights reserved.

Least Tern

One Small Tern Deserves Another-Least Tern

At 20 cm (8 in) long, the least tern is the smallest of the tern species. It dwells on coastal beaches and builds nests by making depressions in the sand. It relies on camouflage to protect its eggs and young.

Dan Guravich/Photo Researchers, Inc.

Barren Ground Caribou

Deer antlers are completely different from the hollow, permanent horns of other ruminants. Antlers are shed and regenerated annually, their growth controlled by sex hormones. In the spring, antlers have a velvet appearance due to the thin coat of fine hairs that supplies them with nourishing blood flow. Within a few months, antler growth is complete and blood circulation in the velvet ceases. The deer rubs its antlers against a tree to scrape away the dead skin. The caribou, Rangifer tarandus, is the only deer species in which females grow antlers.

Lon E. Lauber/Oxford Scientific Films

Sockeye Salmon Navigating Falls

Salmon begin their life in small, freshwater streams, where they hatch from eggs buried in gravel nests built by their parents. Following a brief residence in freshwater, the salmon swim to the sea where they mature into adults. At four to five years of age, the adults return to their home streams, completing the cycle. Sockeye salmon navigate falls, rapids, commercial fishing nets, and other obstacles during their return to spawn.

CBC/Phototake NYC

Coho Salmon

Once one of the most common species of salmon in the Pacific Northwest, the Coho have been diminished to 5 to 10 per cent of their former population by a combination of overfishing, habitat destruction, and the erection of a series of dams.

THE BETTMANN ARCHIVE/Corbis

Barn Swallow

Barn Swallow

Barn swallows are the most abundant species of the birds known as swallows, which have come to symbolize good luck and the coming of spring. Barn swallows use mud to construct open nests often in or on buildings, bridges, jetties, and other structures. Both the male and female share the task of carrying more than 1,000 mouthfuls of mud to the nest, then the female finishes the job by lining the inside of the new home with feathers and grass.

R.H. Armstrong/Animals Animals/Library of Natural Sounds, Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. All rights reserved.

Sperm Whale

SPERM WHALE

Sperm whales, found in most oceans, derive their name from the oily fat—called spermaceti—contained in their large heads. Diving deep in search of squid, sperm whales may remain submerged for as long as an hour.

Flip Nicklin/Minden Pictures

Broken-Striped Newt

The adult broken-striped newt is found in ponds, pools, and quiet streams in low-lying coastal areas of North and South Carolina. Growing to a maximum size of 9.5 cm (3.75 in), this newt feeds on insects, leeches, small amphibians, worms, small crustaceans, and frogs’ eggs.

Phil A. Dotson/Photo Researchers, Inc.

Alpine Newt

This male alpine newt (Triturus alpestris) is found over much of central Europe, southwards to the Balkan peninsula, and east to the Ukraine. It grows to a length of 7-11 cm (3-4 in). Females of the species are larger than the males.

Hans Pfletschinger/Peter Arnold, Inc.

Elephant

Discovering Laos:  The land of a Million Elephants

Elephant Man, The (1980)

Introduction to the Proboscidea

The Elephant of the Africa

The Elephant of the Cameroon

Tusk, Tusk: Lifting the ban on ivory

Wuchereria Bancroft: The causative agent of Bancroftian Filariasis

Lobster

Blue-Wildebeest, Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania  

The blue wildebeest, or brindled gnu, Connochaetes taurinus, is native to the open woodlands and grasslands of southern Africa and is one of its fastest residents. Standing about 137 cm (54 in) tall, brindled gnus are larger than the related black wildebeest (also called the white-tailed gnu), whose range is limited to Africa.

Owen Newman/Oxford Scientific Films

Migrating Wildebeest

The blue wildebeest migrates annually from Kenya to northern South Africa. Along their migratory route the wildebeest stop at watering holes on the River Grameti, where they become the chief source of food for Nile crocodiles. Scientists speculate that the crocodiles of the River Grameti may feed only once a year, when blue wildebeest arrive during their annual migration.

John Downer/Oxford Scientific Films

Homing Pigeons

The homing pigeon, a domesticated species of the rock pigeon, is trained to return to its home roost, or loft. Homing pigeons are thought to use navigation cues like the earth’s magnetic field, local topography, the sun’s position, and ultraviolet light patterns in the sky. In addition to their value in transporting messages, homing pigeons are used in research on bird migration.

Tom McHugh/Photo Researchers, Inc./Library of Natural Sounds, Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. All rights reserved.