Animal Facts IV

• The lush white coat of the arctic fox provides both warmth and camouflage in winter.

• Shortened ears and thick, white fur are among the physical traits that arctic hares have adapted to survive in the harsh, frozen tundra.

• Arctic skuas, also called parasitic jaegers, have a well-earned reputation as avian pirates, stealing much of their food from other birds.

• An armadillo roots around the forest floor in search of food. Armadillos have poor eyesight but a keen sense of smell and long claws for digging.

• Asian elephants, smaller than their African cousins, are highly endangered. The subspecies shown here is found only on Borneo and faces threats from the conversion of their forest habitat to agricultural use.

• Only 370 or so Asian lions exist in the wild. A former royal reserve, India's Gir Forest, is the last home of this lion subspecies.

• Atlantic puffins spend most of their lives at sea, but return to land to form breeding colonies during spring and summer.