Mammals

he morning was fair and the day proved favorable to our operations . . . in the early part of the day two of our men fired on a panther, a little below our encampment, and wounded it; they informed us that it was very large, had just killed a deer partly devoured it, and […]

Since when did they change it to opossum?  When I was comin’ up it was just possum.  Opossum makes it sound like he’s Irish or something.  Why do they gotta go changing everything? – Jesse Pinkman, Breaking Bad. The opossum is a marsupial and the only one present in North America.  The species is thought to

The ears were large, flaring forward, the eyes limpid amber, in which the pupil floated like a glittering jewel, changing color with shifts of the light: obsidian, emerald, ruby, opal, amethyst, diamond.  – William S. Burroughs, Ghost of Chance. Lemurs are primates and only found on the island of Madagascar.  They are found throughout the

his is a small primate, about 16 inches tall – but with striking coloration.  They have orange-brown fur, a golden crown, a white tip on the tail, and dark red hands and feet.  It also is known as the Madidi titi monkey, and is only found in Madidi National Park in Bolivia, which spans from

Why that’s as big as a full grown wolf!—Thorne Sherman in The Killer Shrews (1959) As implied by its name, the shrew mole has features of both.  It is in the family Talpadae with the moles but differs in a variety of ways.  Its teeth are white, which is typical of moles and in contrast