Barbie South Africa – August 2019

AMAzING

ANIMALS

Counting down long-living animals

BARBIE

You learn

something

new every

day!

30

did you know?

An elephant’s

permanent tusks

can be seen from

the age of two

to three years.

Macaw parrot

Life expectancy: 70-80 years

Natural predator: Large cats,

eagles and hawks

Place of origin: Central and

Southern America

There are about 20 different

species of macaw parrots

and some of these birds are

critically endangered. Originally

from rainforests, these big birds are well sought

after as pets, as they are both beautiful

and intelligent.

african elephant

Life expectancy:

60 -70 yea rs

Natural predator: Lions

(occasionally)

Place of origin: Africa

Not only do elephants

live long, they also have a

very good memory. They can

remember incidents and they

can identify humans they have

interacted with before. Although

lions are the elephant’s natural

predator, humans hunting for ivory

tuatara are their biggest enemies.

Life expectancy: 60 -10 0 ye a rs

Natural predator: Large birds of prey

Place of origin: New Zealand

Except for two of the tuatara species, the other

tuatara family members went extinct about 60

million years ago. The tuatara is not a lizard, but

the only survivor of the order Rhynchocephalia

who roamed the earth 200 million years ago.

koi fish

Life expectancy:

Up to 100 years

Natural predator:

Cats and other

carnivores

Place of origin:

Japan

Their history is

as colourful as the

variations of colour that they

are available in. Around 200BC the Chinese

took black carp, or Magoi, into Japan. The

Japanese then bred the koi according to the

naturally occurring mutation, resulting in the

lovely colours we see today.