stevescrapzoo

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Bighorn Sheep

Ovis canadensis

There are seven subspecies of the Bighorn Sheep, all native to North America, from high in the Rockies to the deserts of Baja California. All are descendants of the snow sheep from 600,000 years ago. They get their name from their large horns, but they also give their name to several icons of the American west: specifically, the Bighorn River through Yellowstone, and a small tributary stream, Little Bighorn River, after which the Battle of Little Bighorn is named.

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Giraffe

Giraffa camelopardalis

The giraffe is the largest ruminant and the tallest extant terrestrial animal, standing 5-6 metres depending on the sex -- males are tallest of the two. The African boabab trees are shaped like tall mushrooms due to the height differences between the sexes: males feed from the upper leaves of the tree, while females feed from the lower.

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Crocodile

Family Crocodylidae

The largest crocodilian on Earth is the saltwater crocodile of Australia and South East Asia. It can grow to 7 metres long and weigh 2 tonnes. The smallest is the Dwarf Crocodile, native to central western Africa. They reach 1.5 metres long. It is believed they broke ranks with other crocodilians about 55 million years ago (mya).

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Sea Turtle

Superfamily Cheloniodea

There are seven sea turtles in the superfamily Chelonioidea and it's not terribly clear which one they're using in Tap Zoo. It's safe to say this is just a general entry (like jellyfish or kangaroo). As TZ gets further into the animals, they begin to get specific with the genera and species. For example, there'll be an Olive Ridley Sea Turtle in here somewhere later on but, for the moment, TZ is treating many animals higher up the taxonomic tree which is, from the top, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus and Species. Chelonioidea sits under the order Testudinae in the class Reptilia.

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Gorilla

Gorilla gorilla and G. beringei

The gorilla is the first animal the player will acquire on Tap Zoo. Physically, it is the largest genus of all the extant primates, including humans. Like the orangutan, there are two species varying in location, and have an additional four or five sub-species. Gorillas, orangutans, humans and the two chimp species -- common chimpanzees and bonobos -- comprise the Great Apes, in the family Hominidae. Naturally, some taxonomists prefer to exclude humans from categorisation as apes at all.