Nature, Cultural, and Travel Photography Blog: Animals

Showing posts with label Animals. Show all posts

The fallow deer (Dama dama) is a ruminant mammal belonging to the family Cervidae, subfamily Cervinae. This common species is native to western Eurasia, but has been introduced widely elsewhere. It's small than the stag, and can vary in color from reddish-brown with white spots in summer and grayish brown in winter, to black brown or very light variations. It prefers to graze in open pastures. It's a popular park deer, and can be found in deer parks and preserves. The following pictures are taken at Lahore Zoo.

Fallow Deer (Dama dama)

Domestic Sheep

Domestic Sheep (Ovis aries)

Burchell's Zebra

The Burchell's Zebras (Equus quagga burchellii) you see here are captured at Lahore Zoo. One of them name Chanda, is one of the oldest animals of Lahore Zoo. The Chanda arrived at the Lahore zoo in 1989 and is now above 23 years of age.

Burchell's zebra (Equus quagga burchellii)

Hippopotamus Facts and Photos

The Hippopotamus or briefly Hippo (Hippopotamus amphibius) is one of the two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae. The name Hippopotamus comes from two Greek words that mean "River Horse". It's a semi-aquatic mammal which spend upto 18 hours in water to keep their bodies cool. It can stay submerged in water upto 5 minutes without breathing. Hippo is the 3rd Largest land animal after elephants and white rhinoceros. A hippo is 11 to 17 feet long and weighs from 2,300 to 3,600 kilograms. In extreme case the weight can reach upto 4,500 kg. On the average it is about 5 ft tall at the shoulder. The average life span is about 45 years. Females are smaller as compare to males. Hippo is a herbivorous, which mainly feeds on grasses. Hippos reproduce once every two years in the wild. Mating usually occurs in the water and childbirth may occurs in shallow water or on land. Gestation period is about 240 days (8 months).
Hippos are very aggressive and can be dangerous to humans. They commonly attack humans with no apparent provocation.

Hippopotamus - Hippopotamus amphibius

Funny Donkey

This is my first shot of 2012, I took this morning with my cell phone camera. Before happening this tragic event, my friend asked the donkey cart driver not to over load the cart, but he didn't give us any attention and continued placing heavy bags in the cart. The result is in front of you. The donkey remain in the air for a while but before taking the shot, his rear legs reached the ground.

Funny Donkey

Here is the 2nd shot of the tragedy.

Funny Donkey

Indus River Dolphin

The Indus River Dolphin or Bhulan (Platanista gangetica minor) is a member of the family Platanistidae. It is found only in Pakistan and lives in the lower portion of the Indus River system. It has a body length up to 2.5 m and maximum weight up to 90 kg. It has an estimated lifespan of about 20-28 years. It has tiny eyes, only able to detect light or dark, not details and that is why it's also known as "Blind Dolphin". It has a long and slender rostrum, used for catching shrimps, crabs and fish. It survives in muddy, silt-laden water and locates its prey by making high-pitched sounds and tracing the echoes. Indus River Dolphin is one of the most endangered members of the whale and dolphin family. According to a recent survey held in April 2011, there are 918 blind dolphins in the river Indus from Guddu to Sukkur.

Indus River Dolphin-Platanista gangetica minor

White Rhinoceros

White Rhinoceros (Ceratotherium Simum) is a herbivorous mammals of the family Rhinocerotidae. White Rhinoceros live singly or in small herds in the African savannah. There was once less than fifty white rhinos left in the world. However due to adequate protection measures they are now in thousands. They basically feed on grasses. They have an average lifespan of about 40-50 years. Their average weight rang from 1,800-2,700 kg. Their gestation period consist from 16-18 months. They are hunted illegally for their horns, which are used to make medicine, ornaments and dagger handles.

White Rhinoceros (Ceratotherium Simum)

Toy Dinosaur

While testing the focusing quality and how to get best focus using my old and new cameras, I selected this toy dinosaur as an object and took some shots. Though cannot reached any conclusion, however it lead me to create a post on my blog. This plastic toy dinosaur is my son favorite toy and always love to play with it. He cannot pronounce the word "dinosaur" correctly, so he pronounces it like dandosa (dan-do-sa) and now everyone in our home called it dandosa.

Toy Dinosaur

Markhor-National Animal of Pakistan

Markhor (Capra falconeri) is the National Animal of Pakistan. It's a species of wild goat in genes Capra, subfamily Caprinae, family Bovidae. It's a high altitude mountain goat, found between 600-3,600 meters in elevation. In Pakistan it's found in Gilgit-Baltistan, Hunza-Nagar Valley, northern and central Pakistan, and Azad Kashmir. It spends summer at higher altitudes than winter. In the winter months it moved down from high altitudes to lower altitudes to avoid extrems cold.
Markhors are active during daylight and twilight. They are lively and quick and can easily climb and jump over rocky landscape. Males are generally found singles while females gather into group of up to 9. The number of mature Markhors is less than 2,50 and is grouped as endangered species by International Union For Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Markhor-National Animal of Pakistan (Model)

Pet Monkey

Some people like monkeys and keep them as pet. But whenever I see a monkey with a chain or rope in the neck, I feel pity for it. I'm not concerned with whether keeping monkeys as pets are good or bad, rather I'm concerned about their proper care, including food, cleanliness, caging and proper health care. I'm also concerned with the harm or diseases they can pass to human. Anyhow in the country where people facing shortage of food and health facilities, how would these pets get proper attention and care?

Pet Monkey

Animals Models

The only thing I liked in Lahore zoo were the models of different animals. The animals in the models were looking healthy and beautiful. Here are the pictures of different animals models I took at Lahore zoo.

Animals Models

The Indus River Dolphin is a species of dolphin found in Pakistan. They are blind.

Indus River Dolphin Model

The Lahore Zoo

The Lahore zoo was established in 1872 and there was a time when it was considered as the largest zoo of Asia. I read and heard a lot about the beauty and variety of different species of animals in Lahore zoo. But my first visit to the zoo was very discouraging. I found the animals in very measurable conditions. The animal were kept in unnatural environment. The only thing I liked there were the models of different animals. Here are some pictures I took in the zoo.

Elephant (Suzi)