Circle of Animals

 I’m a Mayfly I am an insect that flies.  I live by waterways, streams, lakes and ponds. I’m an aquatic insect with wings.  I can be seen by those who go fly fishing by streams where I habitat.  Mayflies live all throughout the world and are solitary in nature because of their extremely short lifespans as adults.  I have the shortest lifespan of any living thing on the earth as a mature mayfly. As a female mayfly, I only live a few minutes to reproduce and lay my eggs. Mayflies have no ability to feed so they die soon after they’re born.  Some female mayflies can reproduce without a mate to carry on their species through parthenogenesis.  They’re able to produce eggs without a mate because they only live a few minutes as adults.  Male mayflies live longer. They can live for up to a day.  Mayflies spend most of their lives as nymphs in the water where they can live from 2 weeks to 2 years. As nymphs they live in the water and have gills to bre...

I’m a Termite  I am an insect that has a highly structured social network. Termites live in colonies with a caste system. Some colonies accommodate hundreds of termites while super colonies accommodate millions of termites living together in a cooperative society.  There are workers who are the builders of the nest.  They are the engineers and construction workers of the colony building the nest and also foraging for food and carrying away their dead.  There are soldiers who are the protectors of the nest and they are there to defend from the predators that threaten their colony and their main purpose is to keep the queen and king safe. There are also those who are responsible for the survival of the nest and colony as they contribute to their continuation through reproduction with the queen and king at the center of the colony. The queen and king are equally important in the colony and produce pheromones that allow them to mate and to be the sole source for reproduc...

I’m a chipmunk  I’m irresistible  I’m cute I’m popular  I’m smart  I’m small I’m a rodent Chipmunks are part of the squirrel family  They are the smallest members  They have stripes  They are most active during the day and sleep at night. They live in dens and hibernate in the winter creating burrows. They are solitary creatures and prefer to be alone. They do also gather in groups and if you see a bunch of them together that is known as a scurry of chipmunks.  They are climbers and can navigate trees but they spend most of their time on the ground. Baby chipmunks known as kits, pups or kittens are born with no sight and are nursed by their mothers.  They are no bigger than a jellybean, weighing in at 3 grams each but mature after 8 weeks gaining their vision, growing in size and venturing out in the wild on their own. Chipmunks mate and give birth in the spring and by the fall the little babies are on their own after two months in their moth...

I’m a Panther I’m a cat that roams in the wild. My habitat is in the grasslands, forests, swamps, marshes, savannas, deserts and mountains. I can be found in North America, South America, Africa, Europe and Asia. I am compared to the leopard, jaguar, cougar and puma.  I’m the panther.  I’m usually brown in color with green eyes. I’m also a dark black and sometimes white. As a black panther in the wild I stand out with my green eyes. I make for a very big black cat. Panthers are not social. They live solitary lives and only get together when mating. Panther cubs live with their mother panthers until they’re ready to meet the challenges of the wild on their own at around 18 months. Their mothers protect them and hunt for food for them as well as for themselves.  Baby panther cubs are born without sight in their first two weeks so they are completely helpless and must depend on their sense of smell to recognize their mother. Eventually they do develop a keen sense of sight. ...

I’m a Hippopotamus  I’m an animal that lives on land and in the water. I’m quite the big one yet I’m smaller than the elephant and the rhinoceros. Hippopotamuses range in length from 10 to 18 feet and grow to a height of 5 feet.  Adult males weigh between 3,500 lbs and 9,000 lbs while adult females weigh on average 3,000 lbs.  Their babies weigh between 50 and 100 lbs at birth.  Pygmy hippopotamus weigh between 400 to 600 lbs as they are much smaller than the larger river hippopotamus.  Hippopotamuses when hungry graze in the grasslands near rivers to eat grass and while in water they eat water lilies, water lettuce and aquatic plants. You would never guess it but my distant relatives are the whale, porpoise and dolphin. I resemble them in some ways but I am a species all my own. The translation of hippopotamus is literally water horse.  Hippopotamuses have two species, the pygmy hippo and the common river hippo and their native land is Africa.  The hi...

I’m a Raccoon  I’m a cute little guy They call me Rocky I have distinguishing features  I am white, gray and black in color and I look like I’m wearing an El Zorro mask as I have a black stripe covering my face horizontally with white above my eyes and white around my black nose creating the illusion of a mask.  I also have paws that when outstretched make me a darling in photos. Take as many as you like but be careful with flash photography.  I have sensitive eyes to the light. I’m colorblind so I can’t distinguish colors. Raccoons grow within a family where mother raccoon nurses her young kits to maturity. Raccoons are social within the family structure and gather into small groups. They can also be solitary.  Raccoons venture out from their den and their protective mother’s eye at around 12 weeks.  Raccoons are sly and cunning similar to the fox and very intelligent with strong memories and good problem solving skills. Raccoons are also mischievous creat...

I’m a Panda I’m a beautiful bear that is unique and very popular. I come from far away. I make my home in the bamboo forests and certain mountainous areas in China. I am black and white with patches. My face and body are mostly white with black patches around my eyes, my ears and my body.  I love my homeland of China where I am treated with dignity, respect and reverence. I have a diet that consists mostly of bamboo leaves, stems and shoots. I go crazy over bamboo and have developed a liking to it. Pandas generally only inhabit small scattered regions in the China vast lands and are entirely dependent on bamboo as their food source so they must live in regions abundant with bamboo so they seek the bamboo forest for their habitat. Pandas are not social animals as you would think. They actually only get together to mate and once they have babies the male goes on his own leaving the female to raise her young. They essentially live solitary lives during their lifetime. Their life expec...