Impala | Aepyceros | Melampus

SCIENTIFIC CLASSIFICATION
COMMON NAME: Impala
KINGDOM: Animalia
PHYLUM: Chordata
CLASS: Mammalia
ORDER: Artiodactyla
FAMILY: Bovidae
GENUS SPECIES: Aepyceros (long, lyre-shaped horns) Melampus (black-footed)

DESCRIPTION: The impala is a medium-sized antelope with a dark brown back fading to a medium brown flank and a white underbelly.
MALE Only the males have horns
SIZE: MALE 58-70 cm (23-28 in.) | FEMALE 58-64 cm (23-25 in.)
WEIGHT: MALE 45.5-79.5 kg (100-175 lb.) | FEMALE Smaller and lighter than males
DIET: Includes grasses, herbs, shrubs, and fruits
GESTATION: Gestation lasts approximately 6-7 months; female typically gives birth to a single offspring
SEXUAL MATURITY: Approximately 13 months, but rarely reproduces before 2 years
LIFE SPAN: 12-17 years
RANGE: Southern and Eastern Africa
HABITAT: Inhabits dry forests, gallery forests, level and mountain country
POPULATION: GLOBAL Unknown
STATUS: IUCN Lower Risk/Conservation Dependent

Impalas are an important food source for many larger predators, especially cheetahs, lions, hyenas, etc. Young impalas may be taken by birds of prey such as Martial eagles.

These animals are probably the most common and most commonly seen antelope in eastern Africa. One subspecies, the black-faced impala is endangered, but both species suffer from over-hunting.

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Interesting facts about Seahorse

Scientific classification

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Actinopterygii

Subclass: Neopterygii

Infraclass: Teleostei

Order: Syngnathiformes

Family: Syngnathidae

Subfamily: Hippocampinae

Genus: Hippocampus

Interesting facts about Seahorse

1. Each eye can move independently.
2. International protection was provided to seahorses on May 15th, 2004.
3. Seahorses differ in color, some are orange, red, yellow, green and even grey.
4. Zebra stripes and spots, are two patterns that seahorses come in.
5. A herd, is the term a group of seahorses are known as.
6. Seahorses have an interior skeleton.
7. Seahorses are unable to curl their tail backwards.
8. Seahorses belong to the Teleost suborder or bony fish group.
9. The average lifespan of a seahorse in the wild is estimated to be 1 to 5 years.
10. Seahorses beat their dorsal fins back and forth to propel themselves through the water in an upright position.
11. The pectoral fins are used to control steering and turning.
12. The food that seahorses eat pass into their digestive systems very quickly as they do not have a stomach and teeth. As the digestion procedure in seahorses is so quick they need to constantly eat to live.
13. Daphnia, cyclops, larvae or mysids are small living things that seahorses feed on.
14. A seahorse that is two weeks old can consume 3000 to 4000 brine shrimp in a day.
15. Seahorses have a single mate for life. Every morning, they come together, dance, change their color, twirl around with linked tails and then separate for the rest of the day.
16. While mating, seahorses utter musical sounds.
17. Mating is usually done under a full moon.
18. Seahorses are the only animals in the entire animal kingdom in which the male has babies. The female seahorse deposits the eggs into the male's small pouch, these eggs are then fertilized by the male.
19. These little creatures are at risk because about twenty-five million of them are being traded around the world, in a span of a year.

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Interesting facts about Scallop

Scientific classification

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Mollusca

Class: Bivalvia

Order: Ostreoida

Suborder: Pectinina

Superfamily: Pectinoidea

Family: Pectinidae

Interesting facts about Scallop

Has 100 eyes around the edge of the shell. These eyes are probably used to detect shadows of predators such as the starfish.

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