animalworld:

CARACAL - by request
Caracal caracal /ˈkærəkæl/
© Paula~Koala

• The pupils of a caracal’s eyes contract to form circles rather than the slits found in most small cats.
• The most conspicuous feature of the caracal is elongated, tufted black ears.
• The origin of its name, karakulak, Turkish for “black ear”.
• A juvenile has black on the outside of the ears, which disappears as it becomes an adult.
• Its ears, which it uses to locate prey, are controlled by 29 different muscles.
• Believed to be closely related to the African golden cat and the Serval.
• The caracal is classified as a small cat, yet is amongst the heaviest of all small cats, as well as the quickest, being nearly as fast as the serval.
• The feet of a caracal have numerous stiff hairs growing between the pads. These probably help the animal walk on soft sand.
• The jaw is short and equipped with powerful teeth.
• It is best known for its spectacular skill at hunting birds, able to snatch a bird in flight, sometimes more than one at a time.
• It can jump and climb exceptionally well, which enables it to catch hyraxes better than probably any other carnivore. If no cover is available in which to conceal itself, a caracal may flatten itself against the ground and remain motionless, allowing its coat colour to act as camouflage.
• Life expectancy in the wild is 12 years, and 17 years in captivity.

Fact Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caracal

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animalworld:

LADYBIRD SPIDER
Eresus cinnaberinus (Kollari)
©omeuceu

Males are up to 11 mm long, females can reach up to 20 millimetres (0.79 in). Males have a black prosoma and a strikingly red opisthosoma with four black dots (sometimes with white lining), resembling a Ladybird. The black legs have white stripes, the hind legs are partly red. Females are black with some white hairs, only the front is sometimes yellow.

It prefers sunny, dry locations and is widely distributed in Central and Southern Europe.

These spiders live in up to 10 centimetres (3.9 in) long underground tubes with a diameter of about one centimetre. On top they are much wider and lined with cribellate silk. Many webs can usually be found in the same place, sometimes up to ten on a single square metre. E. cinnaberinus mainly catches millipedes and beetles. Males walk around during September, searching for females. If it finds one, it lives with the female in her tube, and they feed from the same web.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eresus_kollari

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