A.

Pet
1.Cat
The domestic cat (Felis catus) or the feral cat (Felis silvestris catus) is a small,
typically furry, carnivorous mammal. They are often called house cats when kept as indoor pets or
simply cats when there is no need to distinguish them from other felids and felines. Cats are often
valued by humans for companionship and for their ability to hunt vermin. There are more than 70 cat
breeds; different associations proclaim different numbers according to their standards.
Cats are similar in anatomy to the other felids, with a strong, flexible body, quick reflexes, sharp
retractable claws, and teeth adapted to killing small prey. Cat senses fit acrepuscular and
predatory ecological niche. Cats can hear sounds too faint or too high in frequency for human ears,
such as those made by mice and other small animals. They can see in near darkness. Like most
other mammals, cats have poorer color vision and a better sense of smell than humans. Cats,
despite being solitary hunters, are a social species and cat communication includes the use of a
variety of vocalizations (mewing, purring, trilling,
hissing, growling, and grunting), as well as cat
pheromones and types of cat-specific body language.
Domestic cats are similar in size to the other
members

of

the

genus Felis,

typically

weighing

between 4 and 5 kg (9 and 10 lb). Some breeds,

however, such as the Maine Coon, can occasionally
exceed 11 kg (24 lb). Conversely, very small cats, less than 2 kg (4 lb), have been reported. The
world record for the largest cat is 21 kg (50 lb). The smallest adult cat ever officially recorded
weighed around 1 kg (2 lb) Feral cats tend to be lighter as they have more limited access to food
than house cats. In the Boston area, the average feral adult male will weigh 4 kg (9 lb) and average
feral female 3 kg (7 lb). Cats average about 2325 cm (910 in) in height and 46 cm (18 in) in
head/body length (males being larger than females), with tails averaging 30 cm (12 in) in length.
Cats are obligate carnivores: their physiology has evolved to efficiently process meat, and they
have difficulty digesting plant matter. In contrast to omnivores such as rats, which only require about
4% protein in their diet, about 20% of a cat's diet must be protein. Cats are unusually dependent on
a constant supply of the amino acid arginine, and a diet lacking arginine causes marked weight loss
and can be rapidly fatal. Another unusual feature is that the cat cannot produce taurine, with taurine
deficiency causing macular degeneration, wherein the cat's retina slowly degenerates, causing
irreversible blindness.
As of a 2007 study, cats are the second most popular pet in the United States by number of pets
owned, behind the first, which is freshwater fish.

2.Dog
The domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris or Canis familiaris) is a domesticated canid which
has been selectively bred over millennia for various behaviours, sensory capabilities, and
physical attributes.
Although initially thought to have originated as an artificial variant of an extant canid species
(variously supposed as being the dhole,] golden jackal, or gray wolf]), extensive genetic studies
undertaken during the 2010s indicate that dogs diverged from an extinct wolf-like
canid in Eurasia 40,000 years ago. Their long association with humans has led to dogs being
uniquely attuned to human behavior and able to thrive on a starch-rich diet which would be
inadequate for other canid species. Dogs are also the oldest domesticated animal. Dog vary
widely in shape, size and colours.
Dogs
perform
many
roles
for
people,
such
as hunting, herding, pulling
loads, protection, assisting police and military, companionship and, more recently, aiding
handicapped individuals. This influence on human society has given them the sobriquet, "man's
best friend
The origin of the domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris or Canis familiaris) is not clear.
Whole genome sequencing indicates that the dog, the gray wolf and the extinct Taymyr wolf
diverged at around the same time 27,00040,000 years ago. These dates imply that the earliest
dogs arose in the time of human hunter-gatherers and not agriculturists.Modern dogs are more
closely related to ancient wolf fossils that have been found in Europe than they are to modern
gray wolves.[31] Nearly all dog breeds' genetic closeness to the gray wolf are due
to admixture, except several Arctic dog breeds are close to the Taimyr wolf of North Asia due to
admixture.
Domestic dogs have been selectively bred for millennia for
various behaviors, sensory capabilities, and physical
attributes. Modern dog breeds show more variation in size,
appearance, and behavior than any other domestic animal.
[
Dogs are predators and scavengers, and like many other
predatory mammals, the dog has powerful muscles, fused
wrist bones, a cardiovascular system that supports both
sprinting and endurance, and teeth for catching and tearing.
Dogs are highly variable in height and weight. The smallest
known adult dog was a Yorkshire Terrier, that stood only
6.3 cm (2.5 in) at the shoulder, 9.5 cm (3.7 in) in length along
the head-and-body, and weighed only 113 grams (4.0 oz). The
largest known dog was an English Mastiff which weighed 155.6 kg (343 lb) and was 250 cm
(98 in) from the snout to the tail.The tallest dog is a Great Dane that stands 106.7 cm (42.0 in)
at the shoulder.
In 2013, a study found that mixed breeds live on average 1.2 years longer than pure breeds,
and that increasing body-weight was negatively correlated with longevity (i.e. the heavier the
dog the shorter its lifespan)
Dog intelligence is the ability of the dog to perceive information and retain it as knowledge for
applying to solve problems. Dogs have been shown to learn by inference. A study
with Rico showed that he knew the labels of over 200 different items. He inferred the names of
novel items by exclusion learning and correctly retrieved those novel items immediately and
also 4 weeks after the initial exposure. Dogs have advanced memory skills. A study documented
the learning and memory capabilities of a border collie, "Chaser", who had learned the names
and could associate by verbal command over 1,000 words. Dogs are able to read and react
appropriately to human body language such as gesturing and pointing, and to understand
human voice commands. Dogs demonstrate a theory of mind by engaging in deception. An
experimental study showed compelling evidence that Australian dingos can outperform
domestic dogs in non-social problem-solving, indicating that domestic dogs may have lost much
of their original problem-solving abilities once they joined humans. Another study indicated that
after undergoing training to solve a simple manipulation task, dogs that are faced with an
insoluble version of the same problem look at the human, while socialized wolves do
not. Modern domestic dogs use humans to solve their problems for them.

3.Rabbit
Rabbits are small mammals in
the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in
several parts of the world. There are eight
different genera in the family classifiedas rabbits, including
the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus), cottontail
rabbits (genus Sylvilagus; 13 species), and the Amami
rabbit (Pentalagus
furnessi,
anendangered
species on Amami shima, Japan). There are many other
species of rabbit, and these, along with pikas and hares,
make up the order Lagomorpha. The male is called
a buck and the female is a doe; a young rabbit is a kitten or kit.
Rabbit habitats include meadows, woods, forests, grasslands, deserts and wetlands.
Rabbits live in groups, and the best known species, the European rabbit, lives in
underground burrows, or rabbit holes. A group of burrows is called a warren.
More than half the world's rabbit population resides in North America. They are also native to
southwestern Europe, Southeast Asia, Sumatra, some islands of Japan, and in parts
of Africa and South America. They are not naturally found in most of Eurasia, where a number
of species of hares are present. Rabbits first entered South America relatively recently, as part
of the Great American Interchange. Much of the continent has just one species of rabbit,
the tapeti, while most of South America's southern cone is without rabbits.
The European rabbit has been introduced to many places around the world.
Rabbits are herbivores that feed by grazing on grass, forbs, and leafy weeds. In
consequence, their diet contains large amounts ofcellulose, which is hard to digest. Rabbits
solve this problem via a form of hindgut fermentation. They pass two distinct types of feces:
hard droppings and soft black viscous pellets, the latter of which are known as caecotrophs and
are immediately eaten (a behaviour known as coprophagy). Rabbits reingest their own
droppings (rather than chewing the cud as do cows and many other herbivores) to digest their
food further and extract sufficient nutrients.

4.Bird
Birds (Aves) are a group
of endothermic vertebrates,
characterised
by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hardshelled eggs,
a
high metabolic rate,
a
fourchambered heart,
and
a
lightweight
but
strong skeleton. Birds live worldwide and range in size
from the 5 cm (2 in) bee hummingbird to the 2.75 m
(9 ft)ostrich. They rank as the class of tetrapods with
the most living species, at approximately ten
thousand, with more than half of these being passerines, sometimes known as
perching birds or, less accurately, as songbirds.
The fossil record indicates that birds are the last surviving group of dinosaurs,
having
evolved
from feathered ancestors
within
the theropod group
of saurischiandinosaurs. True birds first appeared during the Cretaceous period,
around 100 million years ago.]DNA-based evidence finds that birds diversified
dramatically around the time of the CretaceousPalaeogene extinction event that
killed off all other dinosaurs. Birds, especially those in the southern continents,
survived this event and then migrated to other parts of the world while diversifying
during periods of global cooling. [ Primitive bird-like dinosaurs that lie outside class
Aves proper, in the broader group Avialae, have been found dating back to the midJurassic period.] Many of these early "stem-birds", such as Archaeopteryx, were not
yet capable of fully powered flight, and many retained primitive characteristics like
toothy jaws in place of beaks, and long bony tails.
Some birds, especially corvids and parrots, are among the most intelligent
animals; several bird species make and use tools, and many social species pass on
knowledge across generations, which is considered a form of culture. Many species
annually migrate great distances. Birds are social, communicating with visual
signals, calls, and bird songs, and participating in such social behaviours
as cooperative breeding and hunting, flocking, and mobbing of predators. The vast
majority of bird species are socially monogamous, usually for one breeding season
at a time, sometimes for years, but rarely for life. Other species
havepolygynous ("many females") or, rarely, polyandrous ("many males") breeding
systems. Birds produce offspring by laying eggs which are fertilised through sexual
reproduction. They are usually laid in a nest and incubated by the parents. Most
birds have an extended period of parental care after hatching. Some birds, such
as hens, lay eggs even when not fertilised, though unfertilised eggs do not produce
offspring.
Many species of birds are economically important. Domesticated and
undomesticated birds (poultry and game) are important sources of eggs, meat, and
feathers.Songbirds, parrots, and other species are popular as pets. Guano (bird
excrement) is harvested for use as a fertiliser. Birds prominently figure throughout
human culture. About 120130 species have become extinct due to human activity
since the 17th century, and hundreds more before then. Human activity threatens
about 1,200 bird species with extinction, though efforts are underway
to protect them.
Recreational birdwatching is
an
important
part
of
the ecotourism industry.
Birds' diets are varied and often include nectar, fruit, plants, seeds, carrion, and various small
animals, including other birds.Because birds have no teeth, their digestive system is adapted to
process unmasticated food items that are swallowed whole.

5.Fish
A fish is any member of a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of
all gill-bearing aquatic craniate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this
definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well
as various extinct related groups. Most fish are ectothermic ("cold-blooded"),
allowing their body temperatures to vary as ambient temperatures change, though
some of the large active swimmers like white shark and tuna can hold a higher core
temperature.[1][2] Fish are abundant in most bodies of water. They can be found in
nearly all aquatic environments, from high mountain streams
(e.g., char and gudgeon) to the abyssal and even hadal depths of the deepest
oceans (e.g., gulpers and anglerfish). With 33,100 described species, fish exhibit
greater species diversity than any other group of vertebrates. [3]
Fish are an important resource for
humans worldwide, especially as food.
Commercial and subsistence fishers hunt
fish in wild fisheries (see fishing)
or farm them in ponds or in cages in the
ocean (see aquaculture). They are also
caught by recreational fishers, kept as pets,
raised by fishkeepers, and exhibited in
public aquaria. Fish have had a role in
culture through the ages, serving as deities,
religious symbols, and as the subjects of
art, books and movies.
Because the term "fish" is defined negatively, and excludes the tetrapods (i.e.,
the amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals) which descend from within the same
ancestry, it is paraphyletic, and is not considered a proper grouping in systematic
biology. The traditional term pisces (also ichthyes) is considered a typological, but
not aphylogenetic classification.
The earliest organisms that can be classified as fish were softbodied chordates that first appeared during the Cambrian period. Although they
lacked a true spine, they possessed notochords which allowed them to be more
agile than their invertebrate counterparts. Fish would continue to evolve through
the Paleozoic era, diversifying into a wide variety of forms. Many fish of the
Paleozoic developed external armor that protected them from predators. The first
fish with jaws appeared in the Silurian period, after which many (such as sharks)
became formidable marine predators rather than just the prey of arthropods.

6.Tortoise

Tortoises are a family, Testudinidae, of land-dwelling reptiles in the order Testudines. Tortoises
are shielded from predators by a shell. The top part of the shell is the carapace, the underside is
the plastron, and the two are connected by the bridge. The carapace is fused to both the vertebrae
and ribcage, and tortoises are unique among vertebrates in that the pectoral and pelvic girdles are
inside, rather than outside, the ribcage. Tortoises can vary in size from a few centimeters to two
meters. They are usually diurnal animals with tendencies to be crepuscular depending on the
ambient temperatures. They are generally reclusive animals.
Most land-based tortoises are herbivores, feeding on grasses, weeds, leafy greens, flowers, and
some fruits, although some omnivorous species are in this family. Pet tortoises typically require diets
based on wild grasses, weeds, leafy greens and certain flowers. Certain species
consume worms or insects and carrion in their normal habitats. Too much protein is detrimental in
herbivorous species, and has been associated with shell deformities and other medical problems. As
different tortoise species vary greatly in their nutritional requirements, it is essential to thoroughly
research the dietary needs of an individual tortoise.

7.Sugar Glider
The sugar glider (Petaurus breviceps) is a small, omnivorous, arboreal,
and nocturnal gliding possum belonging to the marsupial infraclass. The common
name refers to its preference for sugary nectarous foods and ability to glide through
the air, much like a flying squirrel.] They have very similar appearance and habits to
the flying squirrel despite not being closely related, an example of convergent
evolution. The scientific name, Petaurus breviceps, translates from Latin as "shortheaded rope-dancer", a reference to their canopy acrobatics.
Sugar gliders are characterised by their gliding
membrane, known as the patagium, which extends
from their forelegs to hindlegs. Gliding serves as
an efficient means of both reaching food and
evading predators. They are covered in soft, pale
grey to brown fur, which is lighter in colour on their
underside.
The sugar glider is endemic to
mainland Australia, New
Guinea and
certain Indonesian islands;
was introduced to Tasmania, probably in the 1830s.

and

it

Sugar gliders are found throughout the northern and eastern parts of mainland
Australia, Tasmania, New Guinea and several associated isles, the Bismarck
Archipelago,Louisiade Archipelago, and certain isles of Indonesia, Halmahera Islands of
the North Moluccas.] The earliest Australian sugar glider fossils were found in a cave
in Victoriaand are dated to 15 000 years ago, at the time of the Pleistocene epoch. The
facilitated introduction of the sugar glider to Tasmania in 1835 is supported by the
absence of skeletal remains in subfossil bone deposits and the lack of an Aboriginal
Tasmanian name for the animal.] In Australia, sugar glider distribution corresponds
with forests along the southern, eastern and northern coastlines, and extends to
altitudes of 2000 m in the eastern ranges.
The sugar glider has a squirrel-like body with a long, partially
(weakly) prehensile tail. The length from the nose to the tip of the tail is about 24 to
30 cm (1213 inches), and males and females weigh 140 grams and 115 grams
respectively. Heart rate range is 200-300 beats per minutes, and respiration rate is
16-40 breaths per minute. The sugar glider is a sexually dimorphic species, with
males typically larger than females. Sexual dimorphism has likely evolved due to
increased mate competition arising through social group structure; and is more
pronounced in regions of higher latitude, where mate competition is greater due to
increased food availability.
The fur coat on the sugar glider is thick, soft, and is usually blue-grey; although
some have been known to be yellow, tan or (rarely)albino] A black stripe is seen
from its nose to midway on its back. Its belly, throat, and chest are cream in colour.
Males have four scent glands, located on the forehead, chest, and two paracloacal
(associated with, but not part of the cloaca which is the common opening for the
intestinal, urinal and genital tracts) that are used for marking of group members
and territory. Scent glands on the head and chest of males appear as bald spots.
Females also have a paracloacal scent gland, as well as a scent gland in the pouch,
but do not have scent glands on the chest or forehead. It is nocturnal, and its large

eyes help it to see at night, and its ears swivel to help locate prey in the dark. The
eyes of the sugar glider are set far apart, allowing them to triangulate the distance
between launch and landing location during gliding.

8.Hamster
Hamsters are rodents belonging to the subfamily Cricetinae. The subfamily
contains about 25 species, classified in six or seven genera. They have become
established as popular small house pets,] and partly because they are easy to breed
in captivity, hamsters are often used as laboratory animals.
In the wild, hamsters are crepuscular and
remain underground during the day to avoid
being caught by predators. They feed primarily
on seeds, fruits, and vegetation, and will
occasionally eat burrowing insects. They have
elongated cheek pouches extending to their
shoulders in which they carry food back to their
burrows.
Hamsters are typically stout-bodied, with tails
shorter than body length, and have small, furry
ears, short, stocky legs, and wide feet. They have thick, silky fur, which can be long
or short, colored black, grey, honey, white, brown, yellow, red, or a mix, depending
on the species. Two species of hamster belonging to the genus Phodopus, Campbell's
dwarf hamster (P. campbelli) and the Djungarian hamster (P. sungorus), and two of the
genus Cricetulus, the Chinese striped hamster (C. barabensis) and the Chinese hamster (C.
griseus) have a dark stripe down their heads to their tails. The species of
genus Phodopus are the smallest, with bodies 5.5 to 10.5 cm (2.2 to 4.1 in) long; the
largest is the European hamster (Cricetus cricetus), measuring up to 34 cm (13.4 in)
long, not including a short tail of up to 6 cm (2.4 in). The Angora hamster, also known
as the long-haired or teddy bear hamster, which is a type of the golden hamster is the
second-largest hamster breed, measuring up to 18 cm (7.1 in) long.
Hamsters are omnivores. Although pet hamsters can survive on a diet of exclusively commercial
hamster food, other items, such as vegetables, fruits, seeds, and nuts, can be given. Hamsters in
the Middle East have been known to hunt in packs to find insects for food. Hamsters are hindgut
fermenters and eat their own feces (coprophagy) to recover nutrients digested in the hindgut, but not
absorbed.

9.Squirrel
Squirrels are members of the family Sciuridae, a family that includes small or
medium-size rodents.
The
squirrel
family
includes tree
squirrels, ground
squirrels, chipmunks,marmots (including woodchucks), flying squirrels, and prairie
dogs amongst other rodents. Squirrels are indigenous to the Americas, Eurasia, and
Africa, and wereintroduced by humans to Australia.[1] The earliest known squirrels
date from the Eocene period and are most closely related to the mountain
beaver and to the dormouseamong other living rodent families.
Squirrels are generally small animals, ranging in size from the African pygmy squirrel at 710 cm
(2.83.9 in) in length and just 10 g (0.35 oz) in weight, to the Laotian giant flying squirrel at 1.08 m
(3 ft 7 in) in length and the Alpine marmot, which weighs from 5 to 8 kg (11 to 18 lb). Squirrels
typically have slender bodies with bushy tails and large eyes. In general, their fur is soft and silky,
although much thicker in some species than others. The color of squirrels is highly variable between
and often even withinspecies.
In general, the hind limbs are longer than the
fore limbs, and they have four or five toes on each
paw. Their paws include an often poorly
developed thumb, and have soft pads on the
undersides. Unlike
most
mammals, Tree
squirrels can descend a tree head-first. They do so
by rotating their ankles 180 degrees so the hind
paws are backward-pointing and can grip the tree
bark.
Squirrels live in almost every habitat from
tropical rainforest to semiarid desert, avoiding only
the high polar regions and the driest of deserts.
They are predominantlyherbivorous, subsisting on seeds and nuts, but many will eat insects and
even small vertebrates.
As their large eyes indicate, in general squirrels have an excellent sense of vision, which is
especially important for tree-dwelling species. They also have very versatile and sturdy claws for
grasping and climbing.] Many also have a good sense of touch, with vibrissae on their heads and
limbs.
The teeth of sciurids follow the typical rodent pattern, with large gnawing incisors that grow
throughout life, and grinding cheek teeth set back behind a wide gap, ordiastema.
Most squirrels die in the first year of life. Adult squirrels can have a lifespan of 5 to 10 years in
the wild. Some can survive 10 to 20 years in captivity.

Squirrels cannot digest cellulose, so they must rely on foods rich in protein, carbohydrates,
and fats. In temperate regions, early spring is the hardest time of year for squirrels, because buried

nuts begin to sprout and are no longer available for the squirrel to eat, and new food sources have
not become available yet. During these times, squirrels rely heavily on the buds of trees. Squirrels'
diets consist primarily of a wide variety of plants, including nuts, seeds, conifer cones, fruits, fungi,
and green vegetation. However, some squirrels also consume meat, especially when faced with
hunger. Squirrels have been known to eat insects, eggs, small birds, young snakes, and smaller
rodents. Indeed, some tropical species have shifted almost entirely to a diet of insects.

10.Hedgehog
A hedgehog is any of the spiny mammals of the subfamily Erinaceinae, in
the order Eulipotyphla. There are seventeen species of hedgehog in five genera,
found through parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and in New Zealand by introduction.
There are no hedgehogs native to Australia, and no living species native to the
Americas (the extinct genus Amphechinus was once present in North America).
Hedgehogs
share
distant
ancestry
with shrews (family
Soricidae),
with gymnures possibly being the intermediate link, and have changed little over
the last 15 million years. [2] Like many of the first mammals, they have adapted to
a nocturnal way
of
life. Hedgehogs'
spiny
protection
resembles
that
of
the
unrelated porcupines,
which
are rodents,
and echidnas, a type of monotreme.
The name hedgehog came into use around
the year 1450, derived from the Middle
English heyghoge, from heyg, hegge ("hedge"),
because
it
frequents hedgerows,
and hoge,hogge ("hog"),
from
its
piglike
snout. Other names include urchin, hedgepig and furze-pig. The collective noun for
a group of hedgehogs is array.
Hedgehogs are primarily nocturnal, though some species can also be active
during the day. Hedgehogs sleep for a large portion of the day under bush, grass, or
rock, or most often in dens dug in the ground, with varying habits among the
species. All wild hedgehogs canhibernate, though not all do, depending on
temperature, species, and abundance of food.
During hibernation, the body temperature of a hedgehog can decrease to about
2 C (36 F). When the animal awakes from hibernation, the body temperature rises
from 25 C (3641 F) back to its normal 3035 C (8695 F) body temperature.
Although traditionally classified in the now abandoned order Insectivora,
hedgehogs are omnivorous. They feed on insects, snails, frogs and toads, snakes, bird
eggs, carrion,mushrooms, grass roots, berries, melons and watermelons. Berries constitute a
major part of an Afghan hedgehog's diet in early spring after hibernation.
Depending on the species, the gestation period is 3558 days. The average
litter is 34 newborns for larger species and 56 for smaller ones. As with many
animals, it is not unusual for an adult male hedgehog to kill newborn males.

Hedgehogs have a relatively long lifespan for their size. Larger species of
hedgehogs live 47 years in the wild (some have been recorded up to 16 years),
and smaller species live 24 years (47 in captivity), compared to a mouse at 2
years and a large rat at 35 years. Lack of predators and controlled diet contribute
to a longer lifespan in captivity (810 years depending on size).
Hedgehogs are born blind with a protective membrane covering their quills,
which dries and shrinks over the next several hours. The quills emerge through the
skin after they have been cleaned, or it falls off.