Kids Encyclopedia

Polecat — The European Polecat (Mustela putorius), also known as a fitch, is a member of the Mustelidae family, and is related to the stoats, otters, weasels, and minks. They are dark brown with a lighter bandit-like mask across the face, pale yellow underbody fur, a long tail and short legs. They are somewhat larger than weasels, weighing between 0.7 …

Pocket Gopher — The pocket gophers are burrowing rodents of the family Geomyidae. These are the “true” gophers, though several ground squirrels of the family Sciuridae are often called gophers as well. The name “pocket gopher” on its own may be used to refer to any of a number of subspecies of the family. Pocket gophers, despite being largely a …

Phalanger — Phalangeridae is a family of nocturnal marsupials native to Australia and New Guinea, including the cuscuses, brushtail possums, and their close relatives. Considered a type of possum, most species are arboreal, and they inhabit a wide range of forest habitats from alpine woodland to eucalypt forest and tropical jungle. Phalangerids are relatively large, compared with other possums. The …

Peccary — Peccaries (also known as javelinas and by the Spanish names, javali or pecarí) are medium-sized mammals of the family Tayassuidae. Peccaries are members of the Artiodactyl suborder Suina as are swine Suidae and hippopotami Hippopotamidae. They are found in the southwestern area of North America and throughout Central and South America. Peccaries usually measure between 90 and 130 …

Pangolin — Pangolins or scaly anteaters are mammals in the order Pholidota. There is only one extant family (Manidae) and one genus (Manis) of pangolins, comprising eight species. There are also a number of extinct taxa. Pangolins have large scales on their skin and are found in tropical regions of Africa and Asia. The name “pangolin” derives from the Malay …

Panda — The giant panda is a mammal classified in the bear family, Ursidae, native to central-western and southwestern China. The panda was previously thought to be a member of the Procyonidae. It is easily recognized by its large, distinctive black patches around the eyes, over the ears, and across its round body. Though belonging to the order Carnivora, the …

Otter — Otters are amphibious (or in one case aquatic) carnivorous mammals. The otter subfamily Lutrinae forms part of the family Mustelidae, which also includes weasels, polecats, badgers, as well as others. With 13 species in 7 genera, otters have an almost worldwide distribution. An otter’s den is called a holt. Male otters are dog-otters, females are bitches and babies …

Oryx — An Oryx is one of three or four large antelope species of the genus Oryx, typically having long straight almost upright or swept back horns. Two or three of the species are native to Africa, with a fourth native to the Arabian Peninsula. Small populations of several oryx species, such as the “Scimitar Oryx”, exist in Texas and …

Muntjac — Muntjac are deer of the genus Muntiacus, also known as Barking Deer. Muntjac are the oldest known deer, appearing 15-35 million years ago, with remains found in Miocene deposits in France and Germany. The present-day species are native to Southeast Asia and can be found from India and Sri Lanka to southern China, Taiwan and Indonesian islands. Reeves’s …

Okapi — The okapi (Okapia johnstoni) is a mammal of the Ituri Rainforest in central Africa. Although it bears striped markings reminiscent of the zebra, it is most closely related to the giraffe. Native just to the Ituri forests situated in the north east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, it was known only to the local people until …