Nyala (Mountain): Shy and elegant, they seek higher and higher ground

Perhaps the most distinctive and beautiful animal pair in our collection is Nathan + Nicole Nyala (Mountain).

Mountain Nyalas are an endangered antelope and can only be found in a mountainous region of Ethiopia. Unfortunately, there are only a few thousand of these beautiful creatures left in the world. Even where they live in high altitudes, human encroachment has cut into their habitat.

Mountain Nyalas look like the nyala of South Africa — but they are related to the kudu, an African antelope. The Mountain Nyala is known for several distinguishing characteristics. Both males and females will have spots scattered across their body as well as stripes. Males have unique spiral horns that twist backward. Females have long, elegant necks and large ears. Both can sport white markings on the legs and white spots on the face.

Mountain Nyalas are very secretive and do their best to stay away from humans and predators. For food, they graze on herbs and shrubs and other plant life, such as grasses, ferns, and lichens.

Coloring Book

Perhaps the favorite free item on the Noah’s Pals website is our big and beautiful coloring book with 43 pages ready to color.

A young boy in Germany (his name is Noah!) discovered the coloring book and he was kind enough to share his great work:

Thank you Noah for sharing! The grass and the tree on the Lions page are great additions!

Click on the picture below to download your free Noah’s Pals coloring book:

Cute Koala Videos

In a previous post we noted that Koalas are solitary marsupials. Most people commonly think of the Koala as a quiet and inactive animal… But they do have great personalities. Below are cute YouTube clips of the adorable Australian animal.

Running…

Jumping…

Laughing…

Mountain Goat: Sure footing helps them rise to snowy tops

Mountain goats are beautiful and peaceful creatures that are very comfortable with their sometimes very harsh environment. They are known for their beautiful woolly white double coats. They also have thick beards, and dark, shiny horns — features that are reflected in our very own Mason + Marion Mountain Goat.

While the Mountain Goat looks like a goat, it really belongs to a different genus. It is only found in North America and is also called the Rocky Mountain Goat. They like to live in high elevations away from predators, often perched on cliffs and in snowy areas. Mountain goats are among the biggest mammals to live in high altitudes and they will generally stay above tree level, but will find time to venture down to lower elevations.

Mountain goats have feet that designed for climbing steep and slick slopes. Inner pads act like skids and provide traction. Their hooves can also spread apart for better gripping. Their short and muscular legs are designed for balance and jumping, not running.

The video below shows mountain goats enjoying a summer day:

The Parent Reviews Are Coming In…

We’re very proud of our animals and we look for fun ways to spread the word about our educational toy collection. The Parent Bloggers Network has given us an opportunity to provide a great selection of Noah’s Pals to many wonderful bloggers. On Friday, the reviews started to come in and they will continue to run through Wednesday, July 25th.

Here’s the calendar:

July 13: Three Kid Circus & Suburban Oblivion

July 16: Ruthless in the Suburbs & Mom Reviews

July 17: Views From the Pants & Sarah’s Dandelions

July 18: Mother May I & Mid-Run Campaign

July 19: Mom to the Screaming Masses & Mama Maven Says

July 20: Kari’s Couch & Chaos Theory

July 23: Little Bird Reviews & Ebony Mommy

July 24: Builder Mama & The Fish Pond

July 25: Final Round Up

At AmericasMart in Atlanta

We are in Atlanta attending the AmericasMart show and looking for more and more retailers in the Southeast, as well as the rest of the country. Blogging about Noah’s Pals and animals will resume at the end of next week.

Share the Fun of Noah’s Pals

We’ve been getting more and more readers of our blog. People are coming to us directly from our Noah’s Pals website as well as from web searches on interesting animal questions, such as:
- Why do cats have whiskers?
- What sound do giraffes make?
- Can an ostrich ski?

We hope all of our readers like our blog and our animal collection. And if you really like Noah’s Pals, please be sure to share the fun by telling your friends. We have three great eCards that you can email. Click on the example below to view and send our cute Noah’s Pals eCards!

Meet “Flightless Fred” the Dodo Bird

Yet another blog post about birds…
This one is about Flightless Fred.

The remains of a dodo, Raphus cucullatus, were located in a cave and may provide the most information yet on the beloved bird that is often times a symbol for extinct species of animals. The skeleton of the flightless bird was named Fred.

Dodos became extinct in the 17th century and lived all over the island of Mauritius located on the Indian Ocean. The dodo is flightless and defenseless and apparently tasted quite good to predators. New animals introduced to the island by settlers took advantage of the easy prey.

The dodo bird is believed to be related to pigeons — but are much bigger. They may have weighed between thirty and fifty pounds and were probably covered with gray feathers and perhaps a white tail plume.

The dodo birds in our collection (named Dylan + Danielle) do not have the dark colors represented in Fred in the picture above, but they certainly have the same plump shape!

Are Prey “Hard-Wired” to Fear Predators?

A scientist at the Wildlife Conservation Society recently provided an answer to a very interesting question…

Are prey “hard-wired” to fear predators?

In other words, if an elk does not encounter a tiger in the early stage of his life, will he be afraid of it later?

Dr. Joel Berger from WCS says that answer is “no” in a recent in the journal Conservation Biology. He has found that large species only fear predators they came across on a regular basis.

The testing methodology is interesting… To identify the reaction of elks, the scientists played audio recordings of tigers and carefully watched their response. Elks that had never met a tiger did not worry too much about the sound. But elks that did have knowledge of tigers responded five times faster to the dangerous noises.

Knowing the answer to the “hard-wired” question will help conservationists better prepare animals when they are re-introduced to environments. That way, vulnerable and endangered species will have a better chance of surviving if they know to be wary of dangerous predators!

The Smiling Bird

National Geographic News reports the “rediscovery” of a rare recurve-billed bushbird that has an amazing curved beak that looks like a big smile.

The bushbird was found for the first time in forty years by scientists in Colombia. And the photograph above is first one taken of the beautiful bird. This species of bushbird has a very limited range and lives in a remote habitat.