Clue #1: My coat has dark brown guard hairs that hang down like a skirt, shedding moisture.
Balloon Help: An inner coat of fine, soft light brown hair is so dense, that cold can't penetrate it.
We are the only species that bunch into a circle with the calves inside when danger threatens. This wall of horns facing the predator is a good defense against wolves.
Choices: musk ox, white tailed deer, opossum, Arctic fox, bison
Biome: tundra
52-7. Wolverine
Clue #1: The Native Americans called me skunk bear.
Balloon Help: I am a fierce hunter for my size.
Over soft deep snow my large feet enable me to catch my caribou prey, which is handicapped by its heavier weight.
Clue #1: I have short rounded ears, a luxurious coat, and long hairs on the soles of my feet.
Balloon Help: My coat is white in the winter and brown in the summer.
I may follow polar bears on the pack ice and wolves on land to scavenge from their kills. I also hunt lemmings. I won't start to shiver until the temperature drops below 50 degrees below zero.
Choices: red fox, Arctic fox, red wolf, chevrotain, jackal
Biome: tundra
52-9. Gibbon
Clue #1: I live in a small family group in our own territory. From our vantage point we can see much with our binocular vision.
Balloon Help: My name means dweller in trees.
I can extend my long arms above my head to suspend and propel my body through the trees. Often I travel swinging from branch to branch, using my hands as hooks. Adults weigh 11 to 18 pounds. My arm span is about seven feet.
Clue #1: Few wild animals have had as much influence on world exploration, history and economics as me.
Balloon Help: The trade of my fur stimulated exploration of the new world. My fur pelt was used as money in colonial times.
I am the second heaviest rodent in the world. I have a torpedo shaped body, which helps me swim.
Choices: opossum, karakul, lynx, North American beaver, skunk
Biome: deciduous forest
52-11. Hornbill
Clue #1: My bill is long and down curved.
Balloon Help: The casque atop my bill helps to amplify my call and helps other birds of my kind recognize my age, sex and species. I am an important seed disperser.
The female of my species seals herself inside her nest hole and breaks out of her nest when the chicks are half grown, helping to feed them.
Clue #1: I have hands and feet which end in long, curved claws. Moths lay eggs in my hair. I spend much of my time hanging upside down.
Balloon Help: I move very slowly, finding leaves to eat.
My coat is tinged with green because of the blue green algae that grows on my hair. Caterpillars seem to feed on the algae. As an adult, I weigh about 8-17 pounds.
Choices: koala, sloth, anteater, aardvark, giant panda
Biome: tropical forest
52-16. North American Porcupine
Clue #1: I am a heavy bodied animal, but I am an excellent climber with well developed claws and unfurred soles on large feet.
Balloon Help: I climb very high in search of twigs, berries, leaves and nuts which I eat.
My body covering is my main defense. Not many animals will try to eat me. The fisher is my most adept predator.
Choices: hedgehog, North American porcupine, echidna, bush baby, colugo
Biome: temperate deciduous forest
52-18.Tapir
Clue #1: I have a large, stout body effective for pushing through dense vegetation.
Balloon Help: I am an excellent swimmer, sometimes walking on the bottom of ponds nibbling on plants.
My coloration-middle part of the body, white, front and back parts black- is a protection against predators. The pattern breaks up my body outline so predators cannot see me easily.
Clue #1: I often wade in shallow water. I do not hesitate to swim in deep water. I catch fish by crouching on a rock or sand bank.
Balloon Help: I use my paw as a scoop. My fore feet have some webbing between the toes. My claws do not retract completely.
Being a small cat, I also prey on small mammals, birds and insects.
Choices: hyrax, lynx, bobcat, badger, fishing cat
Biome: tropical forest
52-20. Slow Loris
Clue #1: I am a slow mover and can freeze "chameleon-like" for hours. This behavior helps me to hide against a leafy background.
Balloon Help: My name means "clown" in the Dutch language.
I have very large eyes in proportion to my head and an opposable thumb that is not very well developed, but gives me an astonishingly powerful grip which can be maintained for long periods. I can be up to 16 inches long.
Choices: red panda, sloth, slow loris, wallaby, gibbon
Biome: tropical forest
52-21. Tree Shrew
Clue #1: I am a small mammal with a long body and long tail. I scurry about feeding on a variety of small animal prey, especially insects.
Balloon Help: I prefer to catch food with my snout. I am squirrel-like.
Living in the trees and on the forest floor, I also eat fruit, seeds and other vegetation.
Choices: golden hamster, tree shrew, dormouse, chinchilla, mole
Biome: tropical forest
52-22. Flying Fox Fruit Bat
Clue #1: My main food is fruit juice which I obtain by squeezing pieces of the fruit pulp in my mouth. I swallow the juice and spit out the pulp and seeds.
Balloon Help: I usually roost in large numbers. At dusk, I fly to fruit trees to feed.
I am one of the largest of my kind. I have a fox-like face.
Choices: horse-shoe bat, cockatiel, little brown bat, flying fox, vampire bat
Biome: tropical forest
52-23. Silky Anteater
Clue #1: I am squirrel sized, nocturnal and live in trees. I favor the silk cotton tree because it produces seeds in large balls of soft, silverish fibers which camouflage me from owls, harpy eagles and other predators.
Balloon Help: I especially like to eat ants that live in vines and tree branches.
I have a strong prehensile tail, a long snout and sticky tongue.
Choices: three toed sloth, bush baby, silky anteater, platypus, wallaby
Biome: tropical forest
52-25.Snow Goose
Clue #1: I am a medium sized bird that lives on water. My feet and bill are pink.
Balloon Help: My call sounds like a loud, nasal high pitched bark. I have two color phases; blue or white.
I was the inspiration for a Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale.
Clue #1: I got my name because of the one or more spines on the dorsal side of my tail. My venom is very painful but rarely fatal to humans.
Balloon Help: I am often found on the bottom of the sea. I measure up to thirteen feet in diameter.
My enlarged pectoral fins are often called wings because of their graceful up and down movements in swimming.
Choices: octopus, moray eel, stingray, jellyfish, Portuguese man of war
Biomoe: coral reef
52-27.Wrasse
Clue #1: A number of my species have an unusual "cleaning" relationship with other fishes. They remove parasites and clean wounds or debris.
Balloon Help: I have well developed incisor teeth that protrude like a pair of forceps from my mouth.
I have a long slender body. My dorsal fin is elongated. I have fleshy lips.
Choices: cat fish, mackerel, leech, wrasse, butterfly fish
Biome: coral reef
52-30. Puffer fish
Clue #1: I can increase my weight up to four times when alarmed. I am poisonous.
Balloon Help: I get my name from having my body covered in spines which rise from their normal flat position when I inflate my body to defend against predators.
I have powerful jaws and a strange beak-like mouth. I am not a fast swimmer.
Clue #1: Like snakes, I swallow my prey whole, rather than chew it. I have a flattened tail for swimming and nostrils at the tip of my snout so I can breathe when almost completely submerged.
Balloon Help: I am also known as a land crocodile. I am known for my aggressiveness and large size (up to nine feet).
I am a staple in the diet of many people. I am served stewed, fried, grilled, boiled, smoked or curried. My skin is used for belts, shoes, handbags and wallets.
Choices: iguana, water monitor, gila monster, wrasse, karacal
Biome: tropical forest
52-32. Komodo Dragon
Clue #1: I have a stout, somewhat flattened body, long thick neck, and longish head. My tongue is long and deeply forked.
Balloon Help: I am the largest living lizard, found on only a few Indonesian islands.
My diet may include deer, pigs and monkeys. I can consume a pig in less than 8 minutes.
Clue #1: I cannot strike as a snake does, but must bite and hold with my teeth and hang on with a vise like grip. I spend long periods of time in my burrow, coming out after periods of rain, and even then, mainly at night.
Balloon Help: Only two out of about 3000 kinds of lizards are poisonous. I am one of the poisonous ones. The poison can cause loss of consciousness, vomiting, dizziness, or labored breathing. I live in the sand.
I can store surplus fat in my unusually thick tail. I am up to 23 inches long and weigh up to three and one fourth pounds.
Choices: crocodile, alligator, gila monster, water monitor, python
Biome: desert
52-34.Poison Arrow Frog
Clue #1: Bright colors give other animals warning of my poison so predators avoid me. I am very small, no larger than the mouse of your computer!
Balloon Help: The males carry the young on their backs to pools of water in bromeliads high in the trees. I feed on insects.
Indians have long used poisons, collected from our bodies, to make their arrow heads more deadly. I am one of the few kinds of frogs that secretes a poison strong enough to cause rapid death.
Clue #1: I have a small central body, with a toothless mouth on the underside.
Balloon Help: My body covering of plates provides me with armor, since each plate bears granules or spines.I have an internal water system of fluid filled canals.
The number of arms radiating from my center may range from 4 to 50, though five arms are more typical. If I lose an arm, I can grow another.
Choices: chitin, anemone, seastar, coral, sponge
Biome: coral reef
52-37. Anemone
Clue #1: I come in many beautiful colors. Though I am an animal, I look like a flower.
Balloon Help: I have tentacles armed with stinging cells which can paralyze and hold prey. I can also use my tentacles for defense.
I have little or no mobility. I sometimes live in a colony.
Clue #1: I am usually found where there is loose, wind blown sand. My unusual looping movement allows me to get a grip on the sand so I can move faster.
Balloon Help: I can move up to two miles per hour. The "tracks" or traces that I leave behind look like a series of parallel bars in the sand.
I am a small, squat rattlesnake.
Choices: hog nose, sidewinder, timber rattlesnake, king snake, Cooper's snake
Biome: desert
52-40. Parrotfish
Clue #1: My mouth is like a strong "beak" formed by the fusion of front teeth. I have brilliant coloration. I nibble on coral, breaking it down so it eventually becomes sand.
Balloon Help: At night I surround myself with a secreted, transparent covering of mucus.
I have large grinding teeth in the throat which chew the coral to extract the food. I also feed on small animals such as mollusks, crustaceans, sea urchins and algae.
Clue #1: My jaws carry numerous teeth that are thin and almost bristle-like. My body is short, crosswise and tall, compressed and sometimes disk-shaped.
Balloon Help: My profile is accentuated by my dorsal and anal fins that appear to be almost extensions of my body. My snout may be quite long. My small protruding mouth helps me to find food in nooks and crannies.
I can confuse predators by swimming backwards. False eye spots can be found near the base of the tail in many of my kind. My real eyes are often disguised by a stripe running through them.
Clue #1: I spend the day with most of my body hidden in a crevice, with only my head poking out to see if danger threatens or prey is about. I am a territorial carnivore.
Balloon Help: My bite is not poisonous. My blood contains a poison that can be dangerous, but is quickly destroyed by cooking. My dorsal fin runs almost the length of my body.
My teeth are adapted for holding small prey. I can reach lengths of 3 1/4 feet.
Clue #1: I am an expert diver. I have been known to dive 200 feet below the water. When on land I move one foot at a time, shuffling along with my body close to the ground or flop forward .
Balloon Help: The average foot size is about five inches long and three inches wide. The large feet move me rapidly through the water and help keep me from getting too hot or cold.
I am a goose sized waterfowl known for my call - a far carrying wail heard on my northern breeding grounds. Another of my calls sounds like a wild laugh. I live on both salt and fresh waters.
Choices: walrus, wood duck, mallard, common loon, greater scaup
Biome: temperate deciduous forest
52-54. Grey Fox
Clue #1: I frequently climb trees. I eat more plant materials than others of my kind. My diet includes fruits, grains, insects and small vertebrates.
Balloon Help: Like other members of the dog family I communicate by means of sound as well as scent marking and postures.
I hunt alone for small prey.
Choices: red fox, grey fox, Arctic fox, Mexican wolf, hyena
Biome: temperate deciduous forest
52-55. White-Tailed Deer
Clue #1: My tail is brown above but white below and on the sides. I flag my tail when danger threatens.
Balloon Help: I flee from danger with a series of bounds. I am an excellent swimmer. My feet have two big toes with curved hooves. The toes may spread apart - or stay close together, making footprints like hearts.
My young are born well camouflaged with spots. Males lose their antlers every year.
Choices: caribou, antelope, white tailed deer, bison, moose
Biome: temperate deciduous forest
52-57. Fisher
Clue #1: My head, neck, shoulders and upper back are dark brown to black. My underparts are brown. I have been trapped for my fur. My body is slender, but stocky.
Balloon Help: I am a member of the weasel family. I am a good climber.
I am the most effective predator of porcupines, which I kill by repeatedly circling and biting at the face.
Choices: lynx, tree shrew, fisher, king fisher, beaver
Biome: temperate deciduous forest
52-58. Least Weasel
Clue #1: My slender body allows me to enter and move quickly through the burrows of my prey. I sometimes attack animals larger than myself.
Balloon Help: In summer my back flanks and outer sides of my legs are brown, the tip of my tail is black, my underparts are white. In winter, my whole coat is white except for the tip of the tail, which stays black.
I can easily run over the snow. If chased, I can dive into the snow and "swim" beneath it.
Choices: fisher, least weasel, mole, gerbil, otter
Biome: temperate deciduous forest
52-59. Chipmunk
Clue #1: I have openings within the sides of my mouth which lead to pouches where I carry food to a storage site. When filled up, each pouch is almost as large as my head. I hold my tail erect.
Balloon Help: During the winter, I live off the stored food. I am not a deep winter hibernator, but retire to my burrow in October or November.
I am small and have distinctive stripes along my back.
Clue #1: I am the fastest member of the dog family running at speeds in excess of 25 MPH.
Balloon Help: Each evening I begin with yips and work up to howls. Others of my kind join the chorus which can be heard for miles. After the concert, I use my keen senses to hunt small animals, fruits and berries. Rabbits are a major item on my menu.
I am one of the few North American mammals that have expanded our range in the last 100 years.
Choices: Mexican wolf, grey wolf, coyote, red wolf, red fox
Biome: desert
52-63. Bighorned Sheep
Clue #1: I am a social animal living in a herd. Being a male, I have massive spiral horns. The animal with the biggest horns is the leader. My species is very alert and has remarkable eyesight.
Balloon Help: I am an excellent climber. I live near rocky cliffs and bluffs. When alarmed, I bound away with surprising speed and agility.
In the struggle for dominance, two males push and shove one another, and finally back away some distance, rear up on their hind legs and lunge forward and down, crashing their horns together.
Choices: big horned sheep, caribou, elk, moose, antelope
Biome: desert
52-64. Ostrich
Clue #1: Like a periscope, my long neck and sharp vision help me to see enemies from which I flee at freeway speed of 40-60MPH.
Balloon Help: I am the largest living bird. My head, neck and legs are almost bare so I can radiate heat quickly when my temperature rises.
I stand 8 feet tall and weigh up to 300 pounds.
Choices: egret, emu, ostrich, osprey, great blue heron
Biome: desert
52-65.Toco Toucan
Clue #1: I am one of the nosiest creatures in my habitat. My harsh cries carry a half mile or more.
Balloon Help: My canoe-shaped bill is almost as big as my body. It is an efficient fruit picking tool. I am crow-sized.
Sometimes, we fence with each other with our bills and toss berries into the air at one another or pass them along from bill to bill. My nickname is the Fruit Loop bird.
Choices: hyacinth macaw, blue and gold macaw, toco toucan, Alexandrine parakeet, wood duck
52-67. Leaf Cutter Ant
Clue #1: I live in a colony with a huge underground nest with many entrances. In my colony there may be between one and two and a half million individuals. I chew off pieces of leaves and bring them back to my nest.
Balloon Help: At my nest, I chew the leaves into wet mush. The mush is used to grow a mushroom- like fungus for our food.
We are the most important defoliating insect of crops in our biome.
Clue #1: My size allows me to tackle small reptiles, birds, and mammals as well as insect prey. My body is three and one half inches long with a leg span of ten inches.
Balloon: I live under stones, bark, and leaves and hunt at night. I have eight legs.
I am the largest living spider.
Choices: diamond back spider, black widow, ant, tarantula, scorpion
Biome: tropical forest & desert
52-69. Morpho Butterfly
Clue #1: Adults of my species are fluid feeders. They sip small quantities of nectar. Aircraft pilots, flying overhead have noticed my iridescent blue wings far below them, so brilliant are these colors as they flash in the sun.
I rival or even surpass birds with my bright, flamboyant wing patterns.
My wonderful iridescence is produced by many transparent, strongly reflecting scales, not by pigments. I am a quick, adept flyer, difficult for predators to catch.
Choices: moth, monarch, painted lady butterfly, hummingbird, morpho butterfly
Biome: tropical forest
52-70. Macaw
Clue #1: I am one of the largest of my kind. When fully developed my tail alone is more than two feet long. I have vivid plumage.
Balloon help: Two of my toes point forward and two point to the rear, enabling me to get a vice-like grip on branches. My hooked bill is especially adapted for cracking nuts.
My intelligence, learning capacity and memory are remarkable. I have a loud voice and can be very noisy.
Choices: toucan, macaw, peacock, yellow-naped amazon parrot, bald eagle
