Saturday, October 10, 2009

Black Rhino


Even though the Black rhino is called the black rhino it is more of a brownish color not black. About 3600 black rhinos live today. Hopefully that number will go up. The most fascinating part to me is the rhinos horns.They have two horns on the skull that are made of keratin with the larger front horn typically 50 cm (20 in) long, exceptionally up to 140 cm (55 in). The longest known horn measured nearly 1.5 m (4.9 ft) in length. That is taller than me. The black rhino is a herbivore so it eats leafy plants,thorny bushes,branches,shoots, and fruit.

Baltimore Checkerspot Butterfly


The Baltimore Checkerspot Butterfly has been the Maryland state insect since 1973. Very little people know about the checkerspot because they are close to extinction.Like other butterflies, the Baltimore Checkerspot searches for a host plant, which is the White Turtlehead. The problem is that the deer in the checkerspots habitat like to eat the turtlehead.Its body or thorax is dark brown, a color which extends to its wings, spotted white and then orange on their edges. As part of the family Nymphalidae,it has hairy forelegs not long enough for walking. The prominent knobs on its antennae also are a trait of this butterfly family.