Evening Primrose — Oenothera is a genus of about 125 species of annual, biennial and perennial herbaceous flowering plants, native to North and South America. It is the type genus of the family Onagraceae. Common names include evening primrose, suncups, and sundrops. The species vary in size from small alpine plants 10 cm tall (e.g. O. acaulis from Chile), to …

Delphinium — Delphinium is a genus of about 250 species of annual, biennial or perennial flowering plants in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae, native throughout the Northern Hemisphere and also on the high mountains of tropical Africa. The common name, shared with the closely related genus Consolida, is Larkspur. The leaves are deeply lobed with 3-7 toothed, pointed lobes. The main …

Crocus — Crocus (plural: crocus, crocuses) is a genus of perennial flowering plants, native to a large area from coastal and subalpine areas of central and southern Europe (including the islands of the Aegean), North Africa and the Middle East, across Central Asia to western China. The genus Crocus is placed botanically in the iris family (Iridaceae). The plants grow …

Beech European — The European Beech or Common Beech (Fagus sylvatica) is a deciduous tree belonging to the beech family Fagaceae. The natural range extends from southern Sweden (with some isolated locations in southern Norway) to central Italy, west to France, northern Portugal, and central Spain, and east to northwest Turkey, where it intergrades with the Oriental Beech (F. orientalis), …

Acanthus — Acanthus is a genus of about 30 species of flowering plants in the family Acanthaceae, native to tropical and warm temperate regions of the Old World, with the highest species diversity in the Mediterranean region and Asia. Common names include Acanthus and Bear’s breeches. The genus comprises herbaceous perennial plants, rarely subshrubs, with spiny leaves and flower spikes …

Wolf — The gray wolf (Canis lupus), also known as the timber wolf or wolf, is a mammal of the order Carnivora. The gray wolf is the largest wild member of the Canidae family and an ice age survivor originating during the Late Pleistocene around 300,000 years ago. Its shoulder height ranging from 0.6 to 0.9 meters (26-36 inches) and …

Tenrec — Tenrecidae (common name tenrecs) is a family of mammals found on Madagascar and parts of Africa. Tenrecs are widely diverse, resembling hedgehogs, shrews, opossums, mice and even otters, as a result of parallel evolution. They can occupy several environments including aquatic, arboreal, terrestrial and fossorial. Some of these species can be found in the Madagascar dry deciduous forests, …

Tapir — Tapirs are large browsing mammals, roughly pig-like in shape, with short, prehensile snouts. They inhabit jungle and forest regions of South America, Central America, and Southeast Asia. All four species of tapir are classified as endangered or vulnerable. Their closest relatives are the other odd-toed ungulates, including horses and rhinoceroses. Size varies between types, but most tapirs are …

Springhare — The Springhare (Pedetes capensis), or Springhaas, is not actually a hare, but a member of the order Rodentia; it is the only species in its family Pedetidae and in the genus Pedetes. The Springhare resembles a small kangaroo (though unrelated) with well-developed hind legs, which allows it to leap over 2 meters in a single bound. It is …

Sea Otter — The sea otter (Enhydra lutris) is a marine mammal native to the coasts of the North Pacific, from northern Japan, the Kuril Islands and Kamchatka east across the Aleutian Islands and along the North American coast to Mexico. Adult sea otters typically weigh between 14 and 45 kg, making them the heaviest members of the weasel family, …