Category Zoology

Groundhogs live in widely branched burrows below the ground, but come out on the surface every day to collect grasses, seeds, and insects. A few species live in colonies in high mountains. They divide work amongst them—when a few animals have gone out in search of food, the others are on guard. If they sense danger from approaching enemies, they emit a shrill whistle to warn the others. In the summer, the animals must feed enough to put on a thick layer of fat so that they can survive the 6-9 months long winter sleep. 

Both animals have adapted to their mountain habitat. The chamois live in the upper mountain forests and fields and climb higher only in summers. The ibexes, on the other hand, live in icy and rocky regions and look for food in mountain meadows. They never go down to the forest. Species of ibexes are found in the mountain regions of Europe and Asia, on the Arabian Peninsula, and in north-eastern Africa. Chamois, on the other hand, are found only in the mountains of Europe: in the Alps, Carpathian Mountains, and Pyrenees as well as in Caucasus Mountains. 

Most of the forest ants build hills at sunny forest edges from needles, twigs, and moss. The well-organized huge colonies of ants are called ‘hills’. Several hundred queens live with their ‘community’ in these hills. The ants divide the work among themselves. While the queens lay eggs, the soldier ants must provide protection for the eggs and the worker ants get food for the larvae. In the month of June, the winged male and female ants hatch. The males die after the nuptial flight. The impregnated young queens look for a new ground or return to the old one to lay eggs.

Ticks transmit dangerous diseases so we should be on the look out for them while walking in the forest or in a large field. If they have bitten and are still attached to the blood in the skin, they should be removed carefully by forceps. The ticks release food remains in the blood of the ‘host’ when they bite. Sometimes disease-causing germs are transferred to our blood in this way. Ticks are responsible for many diseases such as Lyme disease, Colorado tick fever, tularemia, tick-borne relapsing fever, babesiosis, ehrlichiosis, tick-borne meningoencephalitis, and bovine anaplasmosis.

It is easy to distinguish between the large fallow deer, the red deer, and the small deer. The male red deer has royal antlers with several ends, while a roebuck (male roe deer) has only one small horn. The small deer, red deer, and fallow deer belong to the biological family of the stag, which also includes the moose and the reindeers. The small deer, weighing about 15 kg, are the most frequently seen today. They live in the area between forest and arable land. The female doe can give birth to two to three fawns, which bear three long series of white spots on the back. Red deer weigh up to 150 kg and prefer to live in forest clearings. The hinds (female red deer) can give birth to a maximum of one calf in a year.