Leafs

Tuesday 4 February 2014

The Shoebill (Shoe like Bill)

 




The Shoebill is a tall bird, with a typical height range of 110 to 140 cm (43 to 55 in) and some specimens reaching as much as 152 cm (60 in). Length from tail to beak can range from 100 to 140 cm (39 to 55 in) and wingspan is 230 to 260 cm (7 ft 7 in to 8 ft 6 in). Weight has reportedly ranged from 4 to 7 kg (8.8 to 15.4 lb) in the Shoebill.
The Shoebill also known as Whalehead or Shoe-billed Stork, is a very large stork-like bird. It derives its name from its massive shoe-shaped bill. The Shoebill was only classified in the 19th century when some skins were brought to Europe. It was not until years later that live specimens reached the scientific community. However, the bird was known to both ancient Egyptians and Arabs.


Narwhal (Dolphin with a Stick)



Narwhal means "corpse whale" in Old Norse; this is perhaps a description of their skin, which is bluish-gray with white blotches (young narwhals are brown). Narwhals have a cylindrical body (with no dorsal fin) and a round head with a small mouth on their blunt snout.
Narwhals can grow to be about 16 feet (4.9 m) long (not counting the tooth), and weigh about 1.8 tons (1.6 tonnes). Females are slightly smaller, averaging about 13 feet (4 m) long, and weighing 1 ton (0.9 tonnes). At birth, narwhals are about 5 feet (1.5 m) long and 175 pounds (80 kg). All narwhals have two teeth in their upper jaw. After the first year of a male narwhal's life, its left tooth grows outward, spirally. This long, single tooth projects from its upper jaw and can grow to be 7-10 feet (2-3 m) long.

Blue parrotfish


                                                                            
Blue parrotfish are uniformly blue with a yellow spot on their heads that fades as they age. They average 30–75 cm in length with a maximum length of 1.2 m. They develop a large "beak" like other parrotfish that is used for scraping algae and small organisms from rocks. They are found on coral reefs at depths of 3–25 m (9–82 ft) in the western Atlantic from Maryland in the United States to Bermuda, the Bahamas, and south to Brazil.