the lost instincts

Scarlet Macaw Ara macao Via Flickr: Only 2 Scarlet Macaw's showed up at the clay lick along with the 30+ Red and Green Macaws.

It is thought that fewer than 2500 of these cats still exist in the wild, classifying them as "Endangered".  The Andean Mountain Cat is found in the Andes mountains (as one can probably gather from the name) in South America, and is one of only 2 dozen small wild cat species in the world.  Adults usually only grow to be about 12lbs and attain a length of 25 inches with a 48 inch tail!

"Grantchester Meadows" by Pink Floyd, on their album Ummagumma, 1969.

An excellent shot of some Parakeets. Budgies are often kept as pets, and are native to Australia, predominately in the drier parts of the outback. Via Flickr: Parakeets, Budgeriers, Keets, or Budgies, breed best in groups, but are usually fine breeding in pairs. Hearing other parakeets encourages a pair to breed, which is why breeding in groups is more successful. However, many breeders choose to breed in pairs because that way they know which parents produced any given offspring.

Via Flickr: The white tiger is a recessive mutant of the Bengal tiger, which was reported in the wild from time to time in Assam, Bengal, Bihar and especially from the former State of Rewa

Moon over Jupiter How big is Jupiter's moon Io? The most volcanic body in the Solar System, Io (usually pronounced "EYE-oh") is 3,600 kilometers in diameter, about the size of planet Earth's single large natural satellite. Gliding past Jupiter at the turn of the millennium, the Cassini spacecraft captured this awe inspiring view of active Io with the largest gas giant as a backdrop, offering a stunning demonstration of the ruling planet's relative size. Although in the above picture Io appears to be located just in front of the swirling Jovian clouds, Io hurtles around its orbit once every 42 hours at a distance of 420,000 kilometers or so from the center of Jupiter. That puts Io nearly 350,000 kilometers above Jupiter's cloud tops, roughly equivalent to the distance between Earth and Moon. The Cassini spacecraft itself was about 10 million kilometers from Jupiter when recording the image data.

A very endangered species of otter native to South America. Adult giant otters can reach lengths of up to 6 feet! Via Flickr: Wild Giant River Otter (Endangered) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_river_otter

This bird is native to central America, and can be found breeding in Colombia, Panama, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Costa Rica. The bill on this toucan in particular is stunning. This bird happened to be found by the photographer in Belize. Via Flickr: Collared Aracari (Pteroglossus torquatus), Close-Up, Cayo District, Belize

Via Flickr: Native to central and eastern South America, the Hyacinth Macaw (Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus), or Hyacinthine Macaw, is the largest macaw and the largest flying parrot species in the world, though the flightless Kakapo of New Zealand can outweigh it at up to 3.5 kg. In terms of length it is larger than any other species of parrot. While generally easily recognized, it can be confused with the far rarer Lear's Macaw. Their popularity as pets has taken a heavy toll on their population in the wild. The Hyacinth Macaw survives today in three main populations in South America: In the Pantanal region of Brazil, and adjacent eastern Bolivia and northeastern Paraguay, in the Cerrado region of the eastern interior of Brazil (Maranhão, Piauí, Bahia, Tocantins, Goiás, Mato Grosso and Minas Gerais), and in the relatively open areas associated with the Tocantins River, Xingu River, Tapajós River, and the Marajó island in the eastern Amazon Basin of Brazil. It is possible that smaller, fragmented populations occur in other areas. It prefers palm swamps, woodlands, and other semi-open wooded habitats. It usually avoids dense humid forest, and in regions dominated by such habitats, it is generally restricted to the edge or relatively open sections (e.g. along major rivers).

~Elliot