Wildlife Wednesday – Addax

One of my favorite animals that you can find in Kilimanjaro Safaris is the Addax.  I never really took notice of them until I noticed them one day near the lions.  A lioness was watching them closely and I was certain she was going to escape and have one for dinner.  I did a little bit of research about the Addax and I wanted to share so of the information I found.

Addax are also known as the screwhorn antelope.  They are critically endangered, which means that they are at an extremely high risk of extinction.  According to my safari driver recently, there are only 500 known Addax left in the world.  They live in the Sahara desert, but are extremely rare due to unregulated hunting.  They are primarily herbivores and have adapted to live in areas with scarce water sources.  They can be easily hunted do to their slow pace.  (source)

Here are some of the pictures from my visits and from Disney:

Wildlife Wednesday – White-Cheeked Gibbons

My idea for this week’s Wildlife Wednesday came straight from the Disney Parks Blog.  They posted about the White-Cheeked Gibbons and I thought I’d share my own pictures that I got a few weeks ago when I was on a special tour of Anadapur.

I was able to tour Anadapur and Expedition Everest because of a tour that was arranged by my manager.  The type of tour I took is not open to the general public, and I’m not sure if any of the regular tours offered by Walt Disney World would include everything I was able to see.  It was really exciting to be in the parks very early in the day (the Anadapur portion of the tour was around 7:30am).  As part of the tour I was able to hear the songs of the gibbons that the Disney Parks Blog talks about.  I wish I had taken the time to record it because it was amazing.  You could hear them throughout the park.

Here are some of the pictures I was able to take of the gibbons that morning, followed with some of the facts that were posted by Disney.  One of the interesting facts I learned about this family of gibbons is that the daughter will be moving to a new home in the future.  Since she is nearing maturity (she is almost gold like her mother now), she will be moved so that she can be set up with a mate and start a family of her own.  It will be sad to see her go, but it is nice to know that she will be able to start her own family soon.

White-Cheeked Gibbon Fun Facts:

• You may think you are looking at two different kinds of apes when you see the gold and the black gibbons, but you are actually seeing a female and a male. The babies are born gold to blend in with mom and then change color around one year old. The males stay black, but the females will change back to the gold color when they are sexually mature.
• Gibbons produce offspring about once every two to three years after seven to eight months of gestation. Generally, females give birth to a single offspring. Infants have the ability to cling to their mothers immediately after birth, which allows females complete range of motion while locomoting with their offspring.
• White-cheeked gibbons can be found in the canopy of tropical rainforests of Laos, Vietnam and southern China.
• Gibbons spend their whole lives in the canopy of the forests. You can help their forest homes by purchasing shade-grown coffee.

(source)