The Hippopotamus

The Hippopotamus was named by the greeks as the “river horse” because they love water, they can spend up to 16 hours a day in rivers and lakes to keep themselves cool in the African sun. If I spent that long in water, there’s a chance the wrinkles would make me look like some sort of giant raison

Location: Africa
Diet: Herbivore
Lifespan: Up to 40 years in the wild
Interesting fact: When hippos bask on the shoreline they can often be seen to leak an oily red substance, this started a myth at how hippos sweat blood. In fact the liquid is a skin moistener and sunblock which can also provide protection from germs.

Here’s an extraordinary video of Karl Pilkington visiting a family that have a hippo as a pet. We really would not recommend this, but we do love Karl pilkington’s reaction!

The Raccoon

The raccoon is one of those instantly distinguishable animals. Known mainly for its bandit style mask markings, there’s no wonder why a video game was made called sly raccoon which told the tale of a Raccoon thief!

Location: America
Diet: Omnivore
Lifespan: 2 to 3 years in the wild

Interesting fact: Considering their relatively small lifespan, raccoon in the northern parts of America will gorge themselves in spring and summer and then spend a great deal of the winter asleep in a den.

To celebrate the raccoon interesting markings we found a video of a thieving raccoon in action who must be beginning work on decorating his den. 

The Chimpanzee

Today’s animal is the Chimpanzee, they are our closest living relatives with their DNA matching more than 98% of humans!

Location: Africa

Diet: Omnivore
Lifespan: 45 years in the wild
Interesting fact: Chimpanzees are among the smartest animals on the planet, considering how closely their DNA matches a humans it’s not that surprising! However, Chimpanzees are one of the few animals who use tools, but they can also be taught to use some basic sign language.

Here’s a clip showing a chimpanzee’s problem solving skills!

Cat Artwork!

We have ran out of all of our big cats that are included in the game, so what we wanted to do now was share all artwork for the cubs, male and female cats in one single blog post. Look below for all art work. We’ll be sharing some more animals next week so stay tuned!

The Bengal Tiger

Bengal Tiger Cub

Female Bengal Tiger

Male Bengal Tiger

The Black Panther

Black Panther Cub

Female Black Panther

Male Black Panther

The Cheetah

Cheetah Cub

Female Cheetah

Male Cheetah

The Puma

Puma Cub

Female Puma

Male Puma

The Jaguar

Jaguar Cub

Female Jaguar

Male Jaguar

The Lion

Lion Cub

Female Lion (Lioness)

Male Lion

The Snow Leopard

Snow Leopard Cub

Female Snow Leopard

Male Snow Leopard

The Lion

Today’s Animal a Day feature returns to one of the more well-known species, the lion. Despite the global thought of the lion being king of the jungle we've not seen any paperwork or royal jewellery to back these claims, but what can be said about the Lion is that it is a stunning big cat that can also be incredibly dangerous.

Location: Africa
Lifespan: 15 years in the wild, but can reach up to 30 years old while in zoos.
Protection status: Vulnerable
Diet: Carnivore
Interesting fact:  Lion cubs won’t begin their first hunt until they reach one year old.

We’ve stumbled across this popular video of a lioness interacting with a baby at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.

Of course, intentions of the lioness were not clear! One of the people working at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo however did say that the lioness was showing traits of playfulness and curiosity though. Anyway, when protecting a species like the lion you need to make sure that you have the right habitat fence type for them. In Zoo Park, each animal prefers a certain type of fence type.