Top Animal Pictures and Fact Pages:
Chinese Zodiac Animals
The Chinese have an astrological system with a 12-year cycle. Animals represent each year in the cycle with certain characteristics. These are the “Chinese astrological signs” or the “zodiac symbols” for the given years. The word “zodiac” comes from the Latin “zodiacus”, which in turn comes from the Greek “zoidiakos kuklos”, meaning “circle of the zodiac”, or “circle of animals”. This is using the root of the word “zoo” meaning animal which is now used in English to mean animal park (short for zoological park) and also used in the word “zoology” meaning the study of animals.
Pygmy Tarsier Rediscovered in Indonesia
The Pygmy Tarsier which was once thought to be extinct, and not seen since the 1920s, has been rediscovered on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi by a group of scientists from Texas. Only last year on the same island, a different species of tarsier was identified (Tarsius sangirensis) by a group of international scientists. Logging and other threats to the habitat of the tarsiers threaten its existence. The inhabitants of the volcanic island are also a threat to the tarsier as they hunt and eat them. Pictures below.