we love animals

Hamsters :)

Written at Saturday, May 15, 2010 | back to top

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HAMSTERS

Hamsters are from the family group 'rodents', animals that have continuously growing incisors in the upper and lower jaws. They are found in almost every part of the world. There are currently 5 different species:

1) Syrian/Golden Hamsters

2) Dwarf Campbell's Russian Hamster

3)Dwarf Winter White Russian Hamster

4)Roborovski Hamster

5) Chinese Hamster

Hamsters are famously known as one of the most popular pet requests of kids(after cats and goldfish)and are commonly used in science labs for genetic tests and experiments. Their diet consists of plant-based food such as nuts, grains, fruits and vegetable. They occasionally eat tiny insects. In order to digest some of it's undigested food, it has to eat its own feces and droppings for a healthy digestive system. Hamsters store about 20% of it's fat in cheeks, probably why they can be quite chubby.

For those of you living under a rock not knowing what a hamster looks like, it is very stout bodied and has furry ears with a short tail.The Chinese hamsters are the only species with a long tail.They have short legs and wide paws. They are so tiny, about the size of your palm. Mature hamsters can grow up to 30 to 35 cm long. They have very fragile bones, so please handle them with care when you hold one :)

Hamsters come in wide range of colors, depending on their species. It is said that the rare Syrian Hamsters are the most beautiful. Hamsters have a very weak immune system and can easily catch diseases.Females are always in heat(overheating) approximately every 4 days.Symptoms are less appetite and not eating well, less active and reddening of genital areas.The infected hamsters can spread some serious diseases to it's owner, usually by bitting. Hamster bites are common cases of diseases transferable from rodents to man.

Hamsters have tiny voices and they "squek". Squeks are their methods of communicating with others and as mating call. They have very poor eyesight and are colorblind.Hamsters can only see 6 inches in front of them. The average hamster has a life span of about 2 to 4 years and weigh up to about 100 to 150 grams. Females have a gestation period of 15 days, and can give birth to an average of 7 litter. The number of litters born can be as high as 24 in one day!

Hamsters are usually nocturnal and stay up all night, but some don't. Wild hamsters usually fight each other to death. Females are the most aggressive and can kill males or even it's own mate (girl power!! :D ) They convey distress and tension by bitting, showing sense of fright by washing their faces with water(usually for home hamsters kept as pets that are provided with water) and defense when they have their front paws covering their faces? They puff up/blow up their cheeks to show anger (Isn't that just the cutest thing in the world? ) and lay motionless on their backs to show fear. If hamsters have their eyes closed, that means they are in the state of inner peace and solitude. So dear readers, if you notice one day your hamster sitting in it's cage with funny-looking eyes, please don't disturb it as it is probably meditating.

Never ever separate a hamster away from it's mate. Not only is this a selfish act, but this causes stress and depression to hamsters, especially males. The males will get depressed . Depression does not kill a hamster (not like sheep as it dies when stressed ,written in one of our previous posts). When a hamster is depressed, it gains weight and becomes obese.

Hamsters are very friendly and gentle, especially around kids. It usually remember it's relatives and responds well when its being called by the name given by its owner. It also can remember their faces and voices as well.

Fighting Fish

Written at Wednesday, May 12, 2010 | back to top

Do you know this fish? It is very pretty actually. It is called as "fighting fish"

why? all that i know it is called as fighting fish is that they will certainly fight if you put them together into the same aquarium! sometimes they might even kill each other! Especially if both are males!

i remember the first time i bought 2 fighting fishes and i put them together and went mad. sometimes i might thought: do they need a larger space than the aquarium i provide or because they love to fight?

i did learn my lesson from that incident. if i want to put two fighting fishes in one aquarium, one must be male and the other must be female or female and female because they don't fight with each other. i still don't know what might happened, so, I'm going to give it a try. after my mid-year exam ends. :)

these fighting fish is actually Siamese. most of them are. they come in different colors. you can choose any color you want (the colors range is from red to blue to white) at the shop and it only costs you $1.50. if I'm not mistaken. O:)

It's scientific name is Betta Splendens. I can't imagine if i went to shop and said: 'i want to buy a Betta Splendens' rather than saying fighting fish. :)

It's adult size is only about 7cm and it is actually quite small.

One way to distinguish a male and female fighting fish is that female is not as highly colored as male and they shorter fins.

So if you want to buy a female and a male, compare their colors! Who knows if the seller tricked you.

Dedicated to Fish of M4P

kitten(;

Written at Saturday, May 8, 2010 | back to top

well-i belived everyone do love cat am i right??how about kitten??are they the same??or maybe kitten is more more adorable than cat?the answer is YES for some reason..here are some information about kitten...hope you enjoy reading them(:

A kitten is a name for a not yet fully-grown cat.A litter of kittens usually consists of two to five kittens.kitten emerge in a sac called the"AMNION"which evetually can be bitten off and eaten by th mother.Poor them..

The mother's milk plays an important role for the kitten's nutrition and growth.It helps to transfer anti-bodies to the kitten which can also help to protect them against infectious diseases.

kitten opens their eyes about seven to ten days following birth.So,kittens are unable to see as well as adult cats until seen week after birth are reached,pity them though.

Amazingly,kitten develop very quickly from about two weeks.During that period of time,they begin to explore the world outside.As well as learning to wash themselves.As they reach three to four weeks old,the kittens are begin to eat solid food.

Last but not least,kittens are vulnerable to harm,believe me! So,start loving kittens from now on...not just kitten though other animals as well.

Proboscis monkeys

Written at Monday, May 3, 2010 | back to top

These creatures live in parts of Borneo island and some can be found in Brunei. They may not what we call as cute or adorable but what makes them unique apart from all other monkeys in the world are their enormous belly and unusual long noses. They are also called Dutch monkeys. The reason? They resembles the Dutch plantation owners in Borneo long time ago who were large men with large red noses and big potbellies.

Proboscis monkeys are famous of their cucumber shaped noses. The longer they live, the bigger their noses become. But did you know that only the males' noses get bigger? Some Proboscis Monkeys have noses reaching down to their chins, but they are primates, like humans. In fact they are so big it may be that the male needs to move his nose out of the way to eat their food. You may think it’s funny to see a picture of proboscis monkeys because they start to look like someone you know.

Baby proboscis monkeys are not so recognizable since their noses are not that big and only the nostrils can be seen. The female have rather pointy upturned ones, which is much different from the males.

So why is the nose so important to the male proboscis monkeys? Well, they are generally to attract females because for them, the bigger the nose is, the better. When the monkey becomes angry or needs to send a warning to other monkeys, the nose chamber swells with blood which then amplifies the warning calls. Animals can often have strange features but they always serve them in some way.

The habitat of Proboscis monkeys are rainforests of the lowlands and most of all mangrove-forests at the river mouths. They are able to swing from branch to branch using their hands but are also very skilled in running on all fours. If proboscis monkeys are in a hurry, they jump from tree to tree. They prefer this way to move when they have to cross rivers or escape from predators like the Clouded leopard. If there's no other opportunity to escape left, Proboscis monkey drops themselves into the water even from high branches. They are very skilled swimmers and divers. But even so, some died because the water current drives them away from land and they drowned.

Proboscis Monkeys began to disappear rapidly from 30 to 40 years ago and is one of the endangered species in the world. The reason was that people cut down their precious mangrove forests. Some even hunt them (not to eat them) and drive them away from their natural habitats to gain more land. People were unaware at that time so as we can see, there’s less proboscis monkeys to be seen nowadays.

Even though some exist in Brunei, it's really rare for us to see any of the animals. They can't be kept in a zoo because the environment is not suitable for them. So the best way to keep them alive is just to leave them alone to live in their own natural habitat.