There are more than 4 500 different species of mammals, from the largest, the blue whale, to the smallest, the pygmy shrew.
As David Attenborough writes in his foreword to The Life of Mammals (BBC, 2002):
“We have a special regard for mammals. We are, after all, mammals ourselves. Indeed, we tend to talk as if mammals are the only kind of animals that exist – until, hard-pressed, we are forced to admit that birds, butterflies and bluebottles are also animals. Mammals, for the most part, have hair and are the only animals that rear their young on milk. Even so, there are a baffling number and variety of them. ... And they are more varied in shape and size than any other animal group.”
In the past six months or so,
Earth-Touch has served footage of a dazzling online gallery of mammals from around the world that fly, swim, run, dig, jump, hunt and play
. Here, we offer a smattering of some of them in a year-end summary, many of them rarely seen or endangered:
African wild dogs, filmed in Botswana, Southern AfricaAfrican wild dogs are highly endangered, with only a few thousand left in the world.
Each animal’s coat is different, like fingerprints, allowing members of the pack to easily identify individuals.
They hunt in packs.
View them digesting the spoils of a hunt in the Earth-Touch clip,
Wild dogs rest and play.
Bottle-nose dolphins, filmed off Mozambique, Southern Africa
Dolphins are among the most human-like of mammals, with their expressive faces, high intelligence and ability to communicate.
One of the most common species sighted off the eastern coast of Southern Africa is the Indian Ocean bottlenose dolphin (
Tursiops aduncus), which lives in pods of sometimes 100 or more animals.
Dolphins are, in fact, small whales, whose ancient ancestors were
land-dwelling animals. The Indian Ocean bottlenose dolphin has been recognised as a species separate from the common bottlenose dolphin
(Tursiops truncatus) only
in the past few years.
In the clip
Dolphin encounter, Earth-Touch crew member Graeme Duane swims amongst a pod of about 50 bottlenose dolphins, near Techobanini in southern Mozambique.
Bison, filmed in Wyoming, USA
When the first Europeans journeyed west in North America, there were tens of millions of bison on the continent. But by 1900, due to widespread hunting for meat, skins and sport, only 1 000 or so remained. Today, mainly due to conservation efforts, those numbers have climbed again to about 60 000.
One of the best places to see bison today is in the Yellowstone National Park in the USA, which falls mostly in the northwestern state of Wyoming, with some overlap into Montana and Idaho.
Bison are nomadic grazers, and travel in herds except for non-dominant bulls such as the one that features in the clip,
Bison in wintery setting.
Buffalo, filmed in the Okavango Delta, Botswana
Buffalo (
Syncerus caffer), sometimes known as Cape buffalo, are one of the “big five” animals to see in Africa (along with elephant, lion, rhino and leopard), and are one of the continent’s most dangerous – and feared – animals.
Females weigh on average between about 500kg and 600kg (1 102lb to 1 323lb), while males are heavier, at around 700kg to 800kg (1 543lb to 1 764lb), though large, mature males can weigh up to 900kg (1 984lb) or more.
Buffalos are herd animals, sticking together to protect one another, and can have enough courage to chase off lions, as you will see in the Earth-Touch clip,
Lions foiled by buffalo herd.
Cheetahs, filmed in Botswana, Southern Africa
There are two main subfamilies of cats, which are distinguishable by their size. The “big” cats, or Pantherinae, are the tiger, lion, jaguar and all species of leopard. There are over 30 species of “small” cats, or Felinae, including the lynx, bobcat, ocelot, domestic cat, serval and puma. So there are big cats and there are small cats. And then there is the cheetah ...
The cheetah fits into neither of the main cat subfamilies and is in a class of its own, the Acinonychinae.
Although it could qualify as a big cat due to its size, it differs from the other cats in that it is built for speed with a lean, long body, deep, powerful chest, and small, sleek head. It also has long, dog-like limbs, and its claws are short and blunt, with no claw sheaths, giving it extra agility.
Watch these beautiful creatures in their natural setting in the Earth-Touch clip, Cheetahs watch the sun go down.
Elephants, filmed in Botswana, Southern AfricaOne of the most popular elephant clips we’ve served on Earth-Touch so far is
Elephants race for water, filmed in the Kalahari Desert.
We also developed a multimedia elephant widget, a standalone, interactive module containing loads of information about these graceful giants. Find out how much longer an elephant’s gestation is than a human’s, how elephants contribute to planting new trees, how elephants communicate and more by accessing the
elephant widget.
Elk, filmed in Wyoming, USA
Bull elks (Cervus elaphus) use their antlers to spar with competing bulls. They have a loud “bugling” call, raising their snouts and stretching their necks and making their presence known far and wide. They are impressive animals, standing about 1.5m (5ft) tall, with six-tined antlers that can reach 2m (6.6ft) in length.
Thanks to conservation efforts, about 750 000 of these animals remain, mostly confined to protected areas in the western United States and Canada.
See these majestic animals in the Earth-Touch clip, Elk in Yellowstone.
Giant anteater, filmed in Pantanal, Brazil, South America
The giant anteater (
Myrmecophaga tridactyla) is a strange-looking creature with a long, narrow, almost tubular head and a long, thin, sticky tongue which can reach a length of 60cm (2ft).
Giant anteaters open up termite nests with their long, strong claws and insert their tongues, which can flicker in and out of their mouths 150 times a minute, licking up the ants and termites that have been exposed. They are slow-moving and generally solitary, and are found in several South American countries in tropical moist forest, dry forest, savannah habitats and open grasslands. The female gives birth to a single young. The World Conservation Union lists the species as “Near Threatened” and its numbers are declining, mostly due to loss of habitat.
See this fascinating animal in the Earth-Touch clip,
Anteater on the move.
Giant otter, filmed in Pantanal, Brazil, South America
Although not the heaviest – the sea otter is the heaviest – the giant otter (Pteronura brasiliensis) is the longest of all the otters and can reach 1.8m (6ft) in length. They are sleek animals with fine, velvety fur, dark brown in colour with a distinctive white mark on the throat and a flattened tail.
These animals, which are native to the South American countries of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela,
are on the World Conservation Union’s Red List of endangered species and it’s estimated that there are only a few thousand left.
View a family of these beautiful creatures in the Earth-Touch clip,
Giant otters frolic.
Lions, filmed in Botswana, Southern AfricaView our first-ever footage of lions, filmed on 30 March 2007,
Vultures lead to lions.
One of our most popular lion clips has been
Lusty roar of a lion, showcasing from close up why this animal is referred to as “King of the Beasts”.
Another favourite is one showcasing fairly young cubs,
Lion cubs lead the way.
Meerkats, filmed in the Little Karoo, South AfricaMeerkats are highly sociable and live in groups of up to about 30 individuals, which is considerably larger than the single family unit of most other social carnivores.
These enchanting little animals live the saying, “safety in numbers”, banding together to scare off predators like cobras, and organising within family groups to keep a constant eye out for danger. View the first footage of meerkats in the Little Karoo ever served by Earth-Touch,
Meerkats huddle in the cold – it was to become an instant hit and one of the all-time favourite videos of users on the site.
Moose, filmed in Wyoming, USA
Moose (Alces alces), as they are known in North America, are the largest deer in the world.
In Europe, the same animals are known as “elk”, but in North America, elk are a different species (Cervus elaphus), and are the world’s second-largest deer, after moose. In North America, moose are also known by their Native American name, “wapiti”. See these animals in the Earth-Touch clip, Moose family relaxes in the grass, filmed in Wyoming, USA.
Rhesus monkeys, Thailand, South East Asia
Rhesus macaques
(Macaca mulatta) have the widest distribution of any primate after humans, and are found across Asia, in India, Afghanistan, Thailand, China, Pakistan, Bhutan, Burma, Nepal, Bangladesh, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam
.
These highly intelligent Asian monkeys live in many different climates and habitats and feed on seeds, fruits, herbs, roots and insects. In the wild, they live in troops of 12 to 20 animals usually consisting of females and babies, as the males leave the troop when they reach adulthood.
Watch the Earth-Touch
clip
Rhesus monkeys relax in the branches, filmed in a forest in Thailand. The clip marks the fourth continent Earth-Touch has served wildlife footage from, after Africa, North America and South America.
Serval cat, filmed in Botswana, Southern Africa
You may ask yourself what a serval is – and with good reason. This uncommon, secretive spotted feline is seldom seen, especially at such close range and during the day, as it’s mostly nocturnal. It is one of the smaller, more elegant cats, with relatively large ears, which it uses to locate its prey.
In the Earth-Touch clip
Serval feasts on mamba, a serval
(Felis serval) feeds on a snake she has just killed – an uncommon sight, especially as the snake is a deadly black mamba.
What makes this sighting very special is that there have rarely been recordings of servals feeding on snakes, and in this case the snake happened to be one of the quickest and deadliest of all snake species. Serval usually prey primarily on small rodents and birds.
Southern right whales, filmed off the coast of Southern Africa
“Right” whales are so named because they are relatively easy to catch, stick close to coastlines, carry a high percentage of baleen (whalebone) and blubber, and float when dead – hence they were the “right” whales to hunt, particularly in the 1800s and early 1900s.
There are about 7 000 southern right whales (Eubalaena australis) left in the world. The species was almost hunted to extinction, but was saved by a 1937 worldwide ban on hunting right whales. (Illegal hunting, however, has carried on sporadically since then.)
Each Southern Hemisphere winter, some of these whales travel north to the eastern coast of Southern Africa, to calve. View spectacular footage of a southern right whale in the Earth-Touch clip, Close encounter with a leviathan.
White-tailed deer, filmed in Florida, USA
White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) are found throughout North America, inhabiting Canada, the United States, and south to Bolivia in Central America. These browsers are the most common large mammal found in North America.
White-tailed deer have acute senses of sight, hearing and smell, helping it to sense danger.
When alarmed, this deer holds its tail erect, exposing the white underneath. View these beautiful animals in the Earth-Touch clip, Deer family in Myakka Park, Florida.
Wrinkle-lipped bats, filmed in Thailand, South East Asia
Thailand has some wonderful limestone cliffs and caves which are home to numerous fascinating creatures, the most conspicuous of which are the many species of bats.
In Red Cliff Cave in Thung Salaeng Luang National Park in north-central Thailand alone, there are reportedly about 1-million wrinkle-lipped bats (Chaerephon plicata).
The earliest bats evolved about 50-million years ago. Watch a blur of beating wings emerging from Red Cliff Cave to hunt at dusk in the Earth-Touch clip, Thousands of bats hunt at dusk
Zebras filmed in Kalahari Desert, Botswana
Every individual zebra has a matchless stripe pattern made up of black stripes on a white base.
Not only are they all different, but the pattern of stripes on the left-hand side differs from that on the right.
The distinctive pattern of each zebra, as well as scent, allows the mother to identify her foal in the first days after birth, even in a large herd.
A zebra has more capillaries below its black stripes, which are thought to aid heat regulation and keep the zebra cool under the hot African sun, as black absorbs heat better than white.
View these iconic African mammals kicking and fighting for water in the dry Kalahari Desert in the Earth-Touch clip
Zebra numbers increase at the waterhole.
All images © Earth-Touch 2007
10. Serval feasts on mamba
9. Elephants race for water
8. Eyeball to eyeball with a great white shark
7. Tiger sharks at close range
6. Encounter with a big fish
5. Masters of the sneak
4. Lions foiled by buffalo herd
3. A brush with blacktip sharks
2. Meerkats huddle in the cold
1. Close encounter with a leviathan
