Kiwi Bird

Kiwi bird is a flightless, solitary, nocturnal bird found just in New Zealand. Three living species, all in the genus Apteryx, comprise the family Apterygidae. They are usually classified in their own order, Apterygiformes. Named for their cry, kiwis are brownish or grayish in color and may be streaked or barred. They have small heads, hairlike plumage, minute wings, and no external tail. The bill is long and slender, with nostrils near the tip.

Kiwis range from 1.25 to 4 kg (2.75 to 9.0 lb) in weight and from 45 to 84 cm (18 to 33 in) in length and stand up to 30 cm (1 ft) high. They inhabit humid forests or swamps, where they feed on insects, snails, barries, and especially earthworms. Recent experiments confirm that kiwis locate food by smell, which is unusual for birds. The one or two very large eggs, each about 13 cm (5 in) in length and 400 g (14 oz) in weight, are laid in a burrow, and the smaller male incubates them for about 11 weeks. The little spotted kiwi, A. oweni, seems to be disappearing.

Prior to the arrival of humans in the 13th century or earlier, New Zealand's only endemic mammals were three species of bat, and the ecological niches that in other parts of the world were filled by creatures as diverse as horses, wolves and mice were taken up by birds (and, to a lesser extent, reptiles). Beside the name of animals kiwi also name of fruit, kiwi fruit, this fruit can grow in china, New Zealand and California.

Wolf

Possibly no animal has been so misunderstood feared, hated, and persecuted throughout history as the wolf. The gray wolf, also called the timber wolf, is the largest of about 41 wild species within the exception of the red wolf of southeastern. Texas and southerm Louisiana, all living wolves are consider as single species, Canis Lupus. The red wolf, canis rufus is similar to but smaller than the gray wolves and is intermediate in many characteristics between gray wolves and cayotes, indeed it has been suggested that the red wolf originated as a fertile cross between gray wolves and cayotes.

Characteristic
The size of wolves varies with geographic lacality. Adult range from about 127 to 164 cm from nose to tip of tail, from 65 to 90 cm high at the shoulder, and from 18 to 80 kg in weight. The red wolf is at the lower end of this range, seldom exceeding 30 kg in weight. Coat colors vary from pure white, which is predominant in the north, through motted gray to brown or black. Grizzled gray is the most common color. The red wolf is usually a reddish tan.

Wolves can live in a variety of habitats, ranging from arctic tundra to forest and praire. The are absent from desert and the highest mountains. At one time the wolf occured throughout most of the Nortern Hemisphere north of 20^o north latitude, or approximately from the Arctic to south central Mexico. Attempts to exterminate the animals have reduced this range considerably. On the Old world Wolf still exist in the sofyet union, china, northern India, eastern Europe, and in very small numbers, Western Europe. Most new world wolf population are in Canada and Alaska. A small population exist in Mexico. Of the 48 contigeous states only Minnessota currently has a wolf population large enough to maintain itself.