(Ornithoptera alexandrae)

Physical characteristics
The Queen Alexandra’s Birdwing Butterfly is the worlds largest butterfly. The wingspan of this giant beauty can be as much as ten to twelve inches across.
It was named by Lord Walter Rothschild to honor Queen Alexandria of the United Kingdom.

The female of the Queen Alexandra’s Birdwing are quite a big bigger than the males. They have much broader and rounder wings as well. They can reach sizes of twelve inches while the males will normally be about ten. Their bodies alone are about three inches long.

The female of the species is brown with white marks on her wings while the males are smaller, have brown wings, with gorgeous green and blue marks on them. They also have a very brightly colored yellow belly.

What they Eat:
The Birdwing Butterfly typicallly feeds on flowers or the nectar of them. The juveniles eat a toxic plant called the pipevine plant, or the Aristolochia schlecteri. This is what the eggs are laid on and what the caterpillars hatch out onto.

Habitat and Location
The Queen Alexandrias Birdwing has only about 120 square miles of habitat in which they are found. This is located in New Guinea, near Papua. The birdwing is very abundant in this area, and is frequently seen but because the area is so small and is being threatened by habitat destruction, it is considered threatened by the IUCN.

Breeding
The female will have about 25 eggs during their entire life. Normally these eggs will take about six weeks to hatch. They are pupae for about a month or a bit more before emerging as butterflies. They usually come out of the pupa early in the morning while the humidity is very high. This is because the wings cannot dry out before they are fully expanded. Adult Birdwings will live about three months to five months. They have very few predators. One such predator is the Orb Weaving spider.

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Size and Description

The Gaboon Viper is a short and very heavy snake. They are very round in comparison to their body length. The average grown Gaboon will weigh about 18-20 pounds while it may be just four or six feet long.  The Gaboon Viper is very heavy bodied. It is excellently camouflaged with  a black or dark brown body and brown markings that run the length of its body. The head is triangular, said to be shaped like the leaves on a tree.

The Gaboon Viper has the longest fangs of any venomous snake and also makes the most venom of any other venomous snake. It is a good thing that the snake is known for being more placid since the venom is also particularly toxic. They can be very harmful if not fatal to adult humans, but they have often been said to be so placid that they can be handled by experts with nearly as much ease as handling a non toxic snake

What they Eat

The Gaboon viper is nocturnal, meaning that it hunts at night. It is not limited to the rainforests and are often seen on the roadways or logging paths. They will eat small mammals, as well as birds, frogs, and other amphibians. The Gaboon Viper is an ambush hunter, who will lie in wait on a well camouflaged area and wait for prey.

Habitat and Location
The Gaboon Viper is found in the rainforests and other moist lowlands of the  Africa. It is also found  living in or near the cacao plantations in West Africa and has been noted to be found near the  coffee plantations in East Africa. In addition they seem to be prolific in the evergreen forests that are part of Zambia.

Breeding

Gaboon Viper males engage in some very odd “wrestling” matches or combats to gain the attention of the female. The victor is the breeder.

Gaboon Vipers give birth to live babies rather than laying eggs. The term for this is that they are viviparous.  They will give birth to anywhere from 25 babies up to fifty or more per breeding, but the average is about twenty or twenty five.
The Gaboon Viper babies take nearly a year to be born. The breeding cycle for these big snakes is thought to be about every 2 or 3 years.

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Physical Characteristics

Musk Oxen are large and heavy, reaching 6 or 7 feet long in length and will have a height at the shoulder that may be as tall as 5 feet. They are very heavy bodied and full grown will weigh between 500 and 900 pounds.

They live in very cold areas and as compensation are covered in long wool that completely keeps them warm. The have an outer coat that is made of very long brown hairs, while the inner woolen coat, called qiviut was gathered by native peoples for use as spinning wool. The musk ox is well suited for life in the artic.

Males and females both have very large horns that meet in the center of their skull. The Males also grow an additoinal thing called a “boss” across their horns. The musk ox has a very strong and very musky scent that gives them their names.

Wikipedia CC Licensed Musk Ox Photo

Habitat and Location:

The Musk Ox is a tundra animal. It is found in more northern and cold locations. The Musk Ox can be found in Canada (The more northern parts) Greenland, Norway, Russian, Sweeden, Alaska. At one point the Musk Ox was extinct in Norway, Sweden and Russia, having been killed off completely but the Ox was successfullly introduced back into the wild there.

The Musk Ox is a herd animal that will roam the area in which it lives. The entire herd will range over a great area to gain access to food and water.

Diet: What They Eat:

The Musk Ox lives in a herd and will range with that herd well over the area in which they live. They will eat nearly any kind of vegetation that is available to them to eat. This includes the small shoots of trees, the lichens, tundra grasses, shrubs and any other vegetation that can be found. In winter they may paw their way through the snow to find grass.

Breeding Facts

Musk oxen undergo a male rutting season just as deer and elk do. They begin to rut in the late summer and early fall. The males will compete and do battle for possession of a harem. Only one male may mate with multiple females. The babies are born after about 8 months time. One female gives birth to just one baby every other year in the springtime.

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