Bubble Tip Anemone

Pink Bubble Tip Anemone

Anemones use microscopic stinging cells in their tentacles called "nematocysts" in order to stun their prey, and as a defense mechanism.  Once the prey is stunned, the tentacles move the now food towards the center of its disk, and into the mouth. The sting is less potent than other anemone species and under normal circumstances does not affect human tissue (Word of warning some people have reported allergies to these animals, though rare in occurrence). Under normal circumstances a single opening serves as a mouth, for both food intake and to expel waste.

These creatures are supported internally by water, which in turn houses zooxanthellae within its tentacles and body or base. The zooxanthella is what gives the anemone its color as well as a natural food source (supplemental feeding is still recommended). This is exactly why a strong light source is recommended but not necessary.

These anemones have been recorded to reach sizes of up to 15 inches across at its base (not foot). Which brings us to an aquarium size of no less than 24 gallons, however several aquarists have had success with these anemones in smaller nano aquariums. This brings a whole new set of issues that will affect the health and life span of the said anemone. Some of which may include stress from cramped quarters after it outgrows its aquarium, as well as water conditions that fluctuate to often or widely. Keep in mind that in a smaller aquarium it is increasingly difficult to control the water parameters accurately, primarily due to the inpatients of the owner. Any changes to the water parameters need to be done gradually, otherwise it will be stressful for the anemone sometimes leading to death.

Purple frog from India

he purple frog is the sole representative of an ancient lineage of frogs that has been evolving independently for over 130 million years. Its closest relatives are the Seychelles frogs, the ancestors of which were present on the Indo-Madagascan land mass with the purple frog’s predecessors when it broke away from the supercontinent of Gondwana 120 million years ago. Formally discovered in 2003, the purple frog spends most of the year underground, surfacing only to breed during the monsoon. It was the first new family of frogs to be discovered since 1926. This species is threatened by ongoing forest loss for coffee, cardamom and ginger plantations.

Micrathena gracilis

She’s got venom! She wears black, and she’s spiky like a demon! She’s a maiden of death, leaving behind her vicious fangs a string of hideous, staring corpses. Yeah! She delivers APOCALYPSE!

 . . . Well, if you’re a leafhopper, that is.

This little predator is often called the “spined micrathena,” but then again all three of our micrathenas are spiny, so you might as well learn its proper name: Micrathena gracilis (my-cruh-THEE-nah grah-SILL-us). By the way, I’m not being reverse-sexist by calling her a “her.” In almost all cases, when you see a spider living in a web, it’s a female. As a general rule, spider males are quite small, rarely spin webs, and have a single goal in life. And they don’t tend to live very long :/

Micrathenas are notorious for being one of the spiders that commonly builds webs across hiking trails. Micrathenas create beautiful and delicate orbs. There’s nothing clumsy about their webs. They’re shimmery and full of parallel lines so closely spaced that a mosquito cannot sneak through, and the spiders (which prefer to rest belly-up) move about their homes with grace, walking forward with their front three pairs of legs and using the back pair as a smooth-sliding hanger for the giant hind end. Usually, when seriously harassed, micrathenas plummet straight to the ground for safety.

Hey everybody i hope that you all had a great halloween! sorry i didnt post yesterday! hope u like the new topics im putting up
have a happy november 1st!
<3 Jasmine

Jumping Spiders

Jumping spiders live all around us. In fact, there are more than 4000 different species of jumpers.

The jumping spider can jump 20 to 60 or even 75-80 times the length of their body. If you were just five feet (1.5 m) tall and could jump like that, you could leap over the Buddha statue in Japan which is 328 ft (110 m) tall (one of the world’s tallest statues).

When a jumping spider is moving from place to place, and especially just before it jumps, it tethers a filament of silk to whatever it is standing on. Should it fall for one reason or another, it climbs back up the silk tether.

All  jumpers have eight eyes, and two of the eyes seem enormous for such a little body. Jumpers have a superb vision which is better than any other kind of spider. With his eight eyes a jumper can see in almost every direction at once. When it is darkest, you are looking into its retina and the spider is looking straight at you.

Jumping spiders are also very famous for their curiosity because jumpers in contrast to other  arachnids are seemingly interested in whatever approaches them. If approached by a human hand, instead of running away to safe place as most spiders do, jumpers will usually leap and turn to face the hand. Further approach may result in the spider jumping backwards while still eyeing the hand. The curious little creature will even raise its forelimbs and “hold its ground”.

Their big eyes are so sharp, they can see things clearly from as far away as 20 times the length of the spider’s body. No wonder, scientists who study jumping spiders say they’re some of nature’s best stalkers – as good as lions and tigers. They usually see their prey before their prey sees them!

Camel Spider?!

A wind spider, a sun spider or a wind scorpion, there're so many names for one creature widely known among the public as a camel spider. The reason for such a definition is just because they are found in desert regions, but it isn't actually a spider or a scorpion, it is a solifugae (the name derives from Latin, and means those that flee from the sun.) They live in various places all over the world, mainly in warm and arid.
Camel spiders first were found in the Middle East (Iraq) and also in sandy areas of the southwest United States and Mexico.
There are nearly 900 species which have been discovered so far.
A camel spider is usually seen during the spring and summer months because of the fact that they're afraid of cold weather.
They feed on insects, scorpions, or lizards and it's important to point out that they rarely hunt for prey, which is bigger than they are. They usually kill their victims with the help of chelicerae. Camel spiders often overeat so they become swollen and almost unable to move.

As for the characteristic of this species:
Camel Spiders are usually beige to brown in color, and they have very hairy legs and body. Males are usually smaller than females, with longer legs.
They have eight legs and use only three pairs of them. But it doesn't make any difficulties for them to develop a speed about 10 meters per hour; this is the maximum speed up to which they can move. A camel spider can be 5-6 inches in length. They are nocturnal creatures, so they hunt at night and look for the shade during the day.
Camel spiders are not dangerous for people. Rather often people mistaken, when they start thinking that spiders are hunting for them and even trying to kill them. Spiders will approach any shade if they have such an opportunity, including human shadows, and this gives the impression that they are following and even attacking humans, which obviously isn't true. Camel spiders just trying to hide from the sun.



They can bite only in case of self-defense, when they were disturbed and it's rather painful. Of course, it's necessary to consult a doctor immediately after being bitten by a camel spider, especially if the kind of a spider is unknown, but you should remember that they are not venomous and there's no chance of death directly caused by the bite, although there's a risk of infection.

Some common Camel Spider Myths:
1. Camel spiders can move at speeds over 30 MPH, screaming while they run.
2. Camel spiders can be as large as a frisbee.
3. Camel spiders venom is an anesthetic that numbs their prey.
4. Camel spiders can jump three feet high.
5. Camel spiders get their name because they eat the stomachs of camels.
6. They eat or gnaw on people while they sleep. Due to the numbing effect of their venom, the victim is unaware until they awake.

THE FACTS

Camel spiders top speed - 10 mph. Which is very fast for a such a small creature..


Size: Up to 8 inches, although many of our readers report larger.


Called camel spiders because they live in the desert.


Camel Spiders are solpugids.. Along with spiders, they are members of the class Arachnida.


Most people don't know that the camel spider can also be found in the southwest U.S. and Mexico

Vampire sea spiders

Weird spider-like creatures that live at the bottom of the ocean and use a 'straw' to suck on their prey are baffling scientists.

These sea spiders, some of which are blind, are defying scientific classification. 

Marine zoologist Dr Claudia Arango of the Australian Museum in Sydney agrees they are arthropods, but which type? 

She presented her research on these unusual and poorly understood animals recently at the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research meeting in Hobart.

"They are very weird looking animals," says Arango.

For over 100 years, scientists have been puzzling over how exactly to classify sea spiders or pycnogonids.

They crawl along the bottom of the sea floor, sometimes more than 6000 to 7000 metres down, where they live in the dark, feeding on slow-moving soft-bodied sponges and sea slugs.

The creatures are segmented and have an exoskeleton, which makes them an arthropod, the same grouping as crustaceans, insects, centipedes and spiders.

But they also have a very strange collection of features, including a unique feeding structure.

"They have a proboscis that's like a straw that they insert into the animals and suck out the juices," says Arango.

Such features make it difficult to fit them into any of the known groups of arthropods.

"They look like spiders, but they are not real spiders," says Arango. "It's been very hard to place them in a position within the tree of life."

Arango has been studying the diversity and evolution of sea spiders.

She has been using DNA and morphology to construct a family tree, using 60 species of sea spiders from all over the world.

This Antarctic sea spider has a 70-centimetre leg span
 (Image: Claudia Arango)

Some scientists believe that sea spiders make up a new very primitive group, at the base of the arthropod family tree.

But Arango's findings so far support another theory: that they are more closely related to the arthropod group that includes spiders and scorpions.

She stresses these are only preliminary conclusions though, and the jury remains out.

Arango says the most interesting sea spiders live in Antarctica. They are more diverse, more abundant, bigger and weirder than other sea spiders, she says.

"That makes them a very sexy and attractive fauna."

One type of Antarctic sea spider has an extra body segment giving them five pairs of legs instead of the usual four pairs.

Another type has extremely long legs spanning 70 centimetres. 

Arnago says the diversity and abundance of sea spiders in Antarctica means they probably play a very important role in its ecology, although this is yet to be elucidated.

Hey Guys!

So, this ends our little segment on hybrids. I hope that you liked my segment on hybrids! Please feel free to give me a topic that you would like me to blog about and i will do my best to oblige. Have a happy week!
<3 Jasmine

Leopons!

  OK soo im really excited that i found this. it is a Leopon :) A Leopon is the result of breeding a male leopard and a female lion. The head of the animal is similar to that of a lion while the rest of the bodies carries similarities to leopards. The most successful breeding programme was at the Koshien Hanshin Park in Nishinomiya City, Japan. Leopons are larger than leopards and likes to climb and enjoy water.


sorry this was so short yet again I really couldn't find much more on these beautiful animals :(

Wolf or Dog? You tell me!

Wolfdogs, a hybrid wolf dog mix, are usually a very beautiful mix of arctic or timber wolf and various larger domestic dog breeds. Most wolfdogs exhibit physical characteristics of both the wolf and dog in differing combinations. Scientifically the wolf is known as canis lupus and the dog as canis familiaris. Although closely related, there are anatomical and physiological differences between wolves and dogs. 

In proportion to the rest of the body, wolves have slimmer torsos, longer legs, larger feet, narrower chests, larger heads, larger teeth and more powerful jaws. In addition, unlike most dogs, wolves seldom bark past the point of their playful puppy years. A wolf's eyes are usually a golden color and their coat color varies from black to grizzled grey to white. Wolves are also believed to possess greater endurance and higher stamina than dogs. The wolf has webbed feet to provide better traction on slippery surfaces. The alaskan husky, german shepherd and malamute dog breeds are more wolf like in appearance than other canine pure bred selections and are often the breed of choice when a wolf dog hybrid is bred domestically and a wolf like appearance is important in the resulting offspring.

Crossbreeding between dogs and wolves in the wild does occur occasionally. Wolves are seasonal breeders and breeding in the wild is most likely to occur when a roaming feral dog and a lone wolf of opposite sex meet during the wolf's breeding season. Interestingly, most wolfdog hybrid wolf dog mixes are larger than their parents. The genetic description of a hybrid wolf dog offspring is most commonly represented by a percentage representing the measure of the amount of wolf blood possessed by the hybrid. Whatever the percentage, the wolfdog is usually a very gorgeous animal, beautiful to behold. The hybrid wolf dog is often a regal, highly intelligent, captivating creature. Consequently, the wolfdog has steadily grown in popularity and the number of hybrids in the US is estimated to be somewhere around 300,000.

Grolar Bears?!?!

A grolar/pizzly hybrid is the product of a grizzly bear and a polar bear. Although the two bears are genetically similar, they tend to avoid each other in the wild. During 16 April 2006, a hybrid bear was shot dead by Jim Martell,a hunter from the United States, in Canada. It was the first time a hybrid was found in the wild where previous records of grolars or pizzlies have only been found in zoos.

A grolar bear, A.K.A. a pizzly,  is one beast you don't want to meet in the woods. Interestingly, unlike many hybrid animals on this list, grolar bears are known to occur naturally in the wild.

Some experts predict that polar bears  may be driven to breed with grizzly bears at an increased frequency due to global warming, and the fact that polar bears are being forced from their natural habitats on the polar ice.


Grolar bears have "thick white fur like a polar bear" and "a wide head, brown legs, and brown paws like a grizzly

is it a dolphin? or a whale?

What happens when you take this:

And this:

You get this:

A Wholphin!

The first captive wolphin (whale/dolphin) hybrid occurred in captivity in 1985 where a female bottlenose dolphin and a male false killer whale shared a pool. False killer whales are actually members of the dolphin family The Wolphin's size, colour and shape are intermediate between the parent species. Named Kekaimalu, she has 66 teeth - intermediate between a Bottlenose (88 teeth) and False Killer Whale (44 teeth). The Wholphin proved fertile when she gave birth to a calf sired by a Bottlenose Dolphin; the calf was three quarters dolphin/one quarter Whale and thus looks more like a dolphin. Despite being fertile, Kekaimalu did not mother the calf (this is not uncommon in captive dolphins and was probably not related to her being a hybrid), but it was successfully hand-reared.

CAMA!

The hybrid animal, the product of breeding a llama and a camel, has been the only creature of this kind since her birth in 1995.
But now, thanks to better breeding techniques, there are three more camas roaming the Arabian desert.

Camas are humpless and have the long fluffy coat of a llama. Their ears are half way in length between camels and llamas, but they have the strong, desert-ready legs of a camel.

Strangest of all, camas have partially cloven feet – a halfway compromise between the foot pad of the camels and cloven feet of the llamas.

The birth of the new camas is a dream come true for Dr Lulu Skidmore and her team at Dubai's Camel Reproduction Centre.

She said: 'When we started the project, we were not sure if it would even be possible to breed them. Now we have four thriving animals.

'The main aim was to see if we could get the best from both species. We thought the long coat of the llama and the strength of the camel would make for a very useful animal.'

But the breeding process was no easy feat. Only two of the females would conceive and the others would not, even if inseminated with the same sperm from the same male.

Dr Skidmore also discovered it was impossible for a male llama to impregnate a female camel.

'Only a llama mum and camel dad seems to work,' she said. 'We had two conceptions with camel mum and llama dad but neither went to term.'

But as further camas were born, the team discovered they had produced the animal they were aiming for.

The camas behave well in a pack, and are strong but smaller and easier to handle than a camel. It is too early to tell what the life expectancy of the camas will be but the team is confident they will reach a ripe old age.

Is it a horse? Or a Zebra? Or both?

Normally hybrids are sterile: this prevents genetic characteristics from passing between the two gene pools and thus explains why they are two distinct species. This sterility is sometimes due to a difference in the number of chromosomes.

A horse+ a Zebra= A Zorse!

A zorse is a cross between a zebra stallion and a horse mare. The zorse takes the color or dominant color gene of the mare and the zebra sire gives it stripes Zorse Color Info. Photo Album A hebra is a cross between a zebra mare and a horse stallion – the rarest. Horse stallions as a general rule do not like to breed zebra mares. Zebra stallions usually must be raised in a special environment to breed horse mares.

A Donkey + a Zebra= a Zonkey!

Normally hybrids are sterile: this prevents genetic characteristics from passing between the two gene pools and thus explains why they are two distinct species. This sterility is sometimes due to a difference in the number of chromosomes

A Zonkey is a cross between a zebra stallion and a donkey jennet. The zonkey takes the color or dominant color gene of the jennet and the zebra sire gives it stripes. The zonkey is generally more easily bred for than the zorse as the donkey and zebra both communicate behaviorally using very similar language, whereas the horse language is somewhat different than the zebra's.

A Pony+ A Zebra= A Zony!

Im Sorry that I couldn't get you anymore information! This was all I could find on the internet! Hope you enjoyed!

Enchinda

Echidna Facts

• Echidna’s scientific name is Tachyglossus aculeatus (spiny fast-tongue or Spiny anteater).
• Echidna's lifespan is over 45 years
• Echidnas grow up to 50cm (20") in length
• Their tongue is very long and sticky and is perfect for catching the hundreds of termites and ants that make up their staple diet
• Each of the echidna’s spines is formed from a single hair
• An echidna can lift objects twice its weight
• Echidnas drink water and can swim
• Like the male Platypus, the male echidna has spurs, but has no venom glands attached to them
• Echidna is slightly less intelligent than a cat

Mating takes place Belly-to-belly, which avoids the male spiking himself on the female’s spinesThe echidna is best known not only as a mascot of Sydney Olympic Games 2000, but also for its amazing biology. Like the platypus, this unusual mammal lays eggs and suckles its young. The echidna and platypus are the only members of a primitive group of mammals known as monotremes.Found all over Australia, the short-beaked Echidna is covered with sharp spines and has strong legs and claws.

It has tiny eggs!

Echidnas are widely distributed throughout Australia and Tasmania. Although not commonly seen, they are not considered threatened. They live in a wide variety of habitats, from cold mountainous peaks to deserts.
They usually found in places with a good supply of ants and termites, where it lies on an ant-mound, sticks out its tongue and lets ants walk onto it. Echidnas have no teeth. It crushes its insect food between horny plates on its tongue and the roof of its mouth.

HI ALL!

This week is hybrid week. All of the animals that will be featured will be of a hybrid nature! I hope that everybody enjoys and please remember to review :) Happy Saturday :)
<3 Jasmine

Ligors and tiger and bears! Oh my!

A liger is the offspring of a lion father and a tiger mother. Though the tigers involved are usually of the orange colouration, white tigers have been hybridised with lions to produce white ligers and golden tabby tigers have been hybridised with lions to produce golden ligers.

As big cat hybridisations go, this is a relatively common combination, occurring quite often in captivity by accident, and very occasionally by design.

No official scientific name exists for hybrid animals such as these, though ligers are occasionally referred to in a light-hearted manner as Panthera leo/tigris.

A male liger may have a leonine mane, but this is much more modest than on the lion and many male ligers have little or no head decoration at all. All the ligers on this page are male, yet few show any mane, and even where they do it is puny compared to the lion.

Ligers generally inherit a love of the water which comes from their tiger parent, but it can take some time for the tiger side of their personality to convince the lion side that water is a great thing. Apparent confusion between the lion and the tiger sides of a liger's personality is quite often noted by handlers.

Hybrid animals usually display what is known as 'hybrid vigour'. This means the offspring grow much larger and faster than either parent, and it appears that many hybridisations cause gigantism.

Lligers are the largest felid in the world and can stand 12 feet tall on their hind legs. There are several photographs within this article which show comparisons between humans and ligers; they give an idea of just how huge these hybrids are. Fortunately, these cats have quite a gentle and easy going disposition. (Note that tigons are quite a different story when it comes to size. They show a tendency towards dwarfism).

Ligers may weigh in at half a ton, up to double the weight of a fully-grown Amur tiger. 'Hobbs', the liger shown below is the offspring of a Bengal tigress and an African lion. He has an estimated weight of between 800 and 1200 pounds. As a comparison, the Guinness Book of World Records lists the heaviest Amur tiger as being a 1,025 pound male, but this is highly unusual for the subspecies and a captive Amur tiger would be very lucky to reach 650-675 pounds.

Ligers share characteristics of both their parents. Some look very like lions, while others show their tiger heritage strongly.

They usually chuff like a tiger and  roar like a lion, but without giving the typical lion grunt at the end. Their vocabulary is made up both of lion and tiger sounds.

The liger pelage usually has the typical tan lion colouring, with tiger 'candle flame' shaped stripes or spots running through it. Most typically, the striping is located across the back and hindquarters, while the abdominal area is spotted. These spots are inherited from the lion parent, even though they are not normally obvious in adult lions. (Spotting can be seen on lion cubs and helps with concealment in the wild. Very occasionally, adult lions will retain these).

On ligers, tiger ear spots may or may not be present and the same applies to the tiger facial ruff.

The Hagfish is not a species that a lot of people are all that familiar with. Because of this when most people see them for the first time they are certain that the creature is either a snake or an eel, but it is neither.  The Hagfish is indeed a fish; it just does not look much like the other fish that we come across.  What makes this marine fish stand out is the fact that it does have a body like an eel or a snake and this is due to the fact that the animals have a skull but they do not have vertebrae. As you can imagine that makes the fish a bit confusing to look at.  Even many scientists believe that this is the most disgusting and odd of all of the species of sea creatures. 

Yikes!!I wouldn't want to get bitten by this!

The Hagfish is often referred to as a slime eel, but it is important to remember that they are not eels at all.  These fish are usually about 18 inches long and they have long eel like bodies and tails that resemble a paddle.  The color of the fish range from pink to blue and they often have black or white spots on them as well.  The species often have no true eyes and they do not have any fins or jaws. Instead, they have six barbs around the mouth area as well as a single nostril.  In addition, they have a pair of horizontal jaw type structures that have keratin based projections that are used for pulling at food. After this description you have probably conjured up an amazing looking fish in your mind’s eye. But, if you look at a real photo you may not have done this creature justice!


Habitat
The Hagfish is known to have been found in just about every ocean except the North Atlantic.  These fish are usually found in cold water and have been found in water as deep as 4,000 feet. They often spend their time buried in burrows on the soft bottom of the ocean. 

Remnants of fish after being eaten by the Hagfish!

Diet 
The Hagfish is known to feed off of the insides of other fish, both living and dead.  What the species does is enter the fish and literally start feeding off of it.  The Hagfish simply enters the other fish through the mouth, the gills, or the anus and when they are done eating their prey they simply exit the carcass.  Interestingly enough, the species can go for months without eating.  Fishermen often despise these fish because they are known to be in the fish that are caught and they consume the catch before the fishermen can even get their catch to the boat. 


Defensive System 
The interesting thing about the Hagfish is that it is not successfully preyed upon by many other species because when it is handled it secretes really sticky slime that does away with the ability of the predator to hold onto the fish or consume it.  It is this slime system combined with the overall appearance of the Hagfish that has many scientists referring to it as disgusting.


PLEASE CHECK OUT THE VIDEO BELOW VERY INTERESTING :)

Eddie and the Hagfish

Toad Lumpsucker

The toad lumpsucker is found in the North Pacific, southeastern Bering Sea and from the central Aleutian Islands to the northern Gulf of Alaska.

The toad lumpsucker is found on or near the ocean bottom at depths from 226 to 558 ft (69 to 170 m) down.

Not even 3 inches long, this little guy is maybe as long as a baby carrot. 
They probably eat animals found on the ocean bottom including crustaceans (like crabs or shrimp), mollusks and polychaetes (ocean worms). 

Dumbo Octopus

This little guy got his name because they swim, like Dumbo flies, by flapping their ear-like fins that are protruding from the top of their head-like bodies.They live at extreme depths of 3000–4000 meters, with some living up to 7000 meters below sea level, which is the deepest of any octopus species to be found.

They hover above the ocean floor eating worms, crustaceans and other things. The Dumbo octopus is strange in the way that it consumes food in that it swallows it prey whole, which differs from any other kind of octopus.


They move by pulsing their arms, shooting water through their funnel, by waving their ear-like fins, or any combination thereof. Males and females differ in their size and sucker patterns. Dissected females have yielded eggs during different stages of development, which has led to the conclusion that females lay eggs consistently, with no distinct breeding season.
Male Dumbo octopuses possess an enlarged segment on one of their arms, and it is thought that this arm plays a role in the reproduction of the octopuses. The arm transfers a spermatophore into the female during copulation.

Cotton balls or Bats?!

Many of us think of this *points up* when somebody mentions bats.... But have you ever thought of bats looking like this*points down*

There are twelve bats here - try and count them.  

These cute and tiny bats, which are just a little bigger than walnuts, crowd together under a heliconia leaf in the Caribbean lowland forest of  Costa Rica.  They build their tents by chewing the edges of the leaf midrib which forms a watertight, and apparently cozy, structure.  

Aren't they cute?! They wanna make you think twice about saying that you don't like bats :)

Hi Everybody!
I'm sorry that I haven't been posting! I've been super busy with school and work but I posted something new for you! Our poll on what animal should be next talked about was the Winter wonderland animals. So enjoy!
<3 Jasmine

Happy Snowy Owl

Snowy owls are mostly white with narrow, sparse brown bars and spots. Their golden colored eyes are rather small for an owl and their toes and claws are thickly covered with feathers. Their dark colored bills are short and strong and sharply pointed. They are also among the largest North American owl species.

They mainly eat mammals, ranging from small rodents to large hares. They are also known to eat birds ranging in size from small songbirds to medium-sized geese and lemmings. An adult owl may eat around 3 to 5 lemmings each day which comes out to 1600 per year.

In North America, snowy owls are found during the breeding season, around May, from the western Aleutians in Alaska to northeastern Manitoba, northern Quebec and northern Labrador in Canada. In the winter, they can regularly be found in the northern United States. Sporadically they can be found as far south as central California as well as in Texas and Florida.

 Unlike most other owl species, snowy owls hunt mainly in the daytime. Snowy owls are highly nomadic and their movements are tied to the abundance of their primary prey species, lemmings. They are known to aggressively defend their nests and will attack those that disturb their nests.

Cool Fact:The snowy owl is the official bird of Quebec, Canada.

Oh Yeah for those of you that don't know what a lemming looks check out the picture below

Source:http://www.defenders.org/wildlife_and_habitat/wildlife/snowy_owl.php?gclid=CJqSjeLD1aQCFQRM5QodIn74JA#: