Animal Strategies The Will to Survive

Strategy refers to the implementation of coordinated actions with a specific purpose In the animal kingdom the objective is twofold getting on day after day and ensuring the survival of the species Of course it differs whether were looking at mammals reptiles herbivores or beasts of prey From cheetah and lion to leopard jackal or vulturesndashwitness their deadly hunting techniques and survival

More than 9000 types of birds have been identified on earth They are often very different in size shape and color but all have developed the same evolutionary strategy 160 million years ago the front limbs of these reptile descendants transformed into wings and the avian creatures took to the skies

Gazelles like the buffalo and all antelopes are Bovidae This large family includes more than 70 species that for the most part live in Africa All antelopes have several things in common their fur with a lighter or darker tan color the males have horns they have either 30 or 32 teeth and their eyes have horizontal pupils that give them good peripheral vision For the rest there is great diversity

The history of primates is our own history It began 65 million years ago when the ancestors of the apes were the contemporaries of the last dinosaurs Still today on the island of Madagascar we can find one of the first links in the evolutionary strategy that led to Man Primates have remained at an elementary stage of development which gives us an idea of what the primitive species may have been

Between 10000 and 15000 years ago many animals that belonged to what is sometimes called megafauna disappeared This group consisted of herbivores that had taken a different option from horses or gazelles Instead of evolving to a lighter faster animal to escape predators they decided to grow and to develop thick skins and huge massive frames Today there are still a few animals that in a way are

Size is a very relative notion in nature You can be the baby in a family of giants or the giant in a family whose largest members measure only a few centimeters You can be a little herbivore or a little predator All species have one thing in common from this standpoint this is the beginning of life All animals have the same problem when they have their young helping them grow to adulthood and