A list of seven intriguing V animals you probably never heard of.
Verdin
The Verdin (Auriparus flaviceps) is a very small passerine bird. This tit is the only species in the genus Auriparus and the only North American member of the penduline-tit family (Remizidae). Unlike the tits, it has a medium-length tail and has a sharply pointed bill. Verdins have yellow faces and chestnut shoulder. It is called Baloncillo, Párido del desierto (Spanish) and Auripare verdin (French).
Other interesting facts:
Range: Southern and East Africa
Habitat: Bushy woodlands
Size: Length: 9–11 cm (3.5–4.3 in)
Color: Adults have dull gray overall with darker shade on upperparts.
Diet: Omnivore
Prey: Leaves, Fruits, Insects
Lifestyle: Solitary
Conservation Status: Least Concern
Fun Fact: Builds roosting nests all year round.
Vervet
The Vervet Monkey (Chlorocebus pygerythrus), or simply vervet, is a medium-sized to large monkey of the family Cercopithecidae. There are five distinct subspecies of vervet monkey namely: Chlorocebus pygerythrus excubitor, Chlorocebus pygerythrus nesiotes, Chlorocebus pygerythrus hilgerti, Chlorocebus pygerythrus rufoviridis, and Chlorocebus pygerythrus pygerythrus.
Other interesting facts:
Range: United States and northern Mexico
Habitat: coastal forest, riverine woodland, and savanna
Size: Length: 46cm – 66cm (17.9in – 25.7in)
Weight: 3.5kg – 5kg (7lbs – 10lbs)
Color: overall body color is mostly grizzled-gray.
Most Distinctive Feature: Black face with white ear tufts
Diet: Omnivore
Prey: wide range of fruits, figs, leaves, seeds and flowers
Lifestyle: diurnal and social ; living in groups of up to 72
Age Of Sexual Maturity:2 – 5 years
Gestation Period: 163 days
Average Litter Size:1
Life Span: 12 – 24 years
Conservation Status: Least Concern
Fun Fact: Uses different calls upon detecting different types of predators
Vicuña
The Vicuña (Vicugna vicugna) or vicugna is the smallest of the six species of camel. The national animal of Peru, this intriguing animal produces a very expensive and extremely fine wool. The vicuña was almost hunted to extinction for its beautiful soft wool.
Other interesting facts:
Range: South America, primarily in the central Andes.
Habitat: Grasslands at elevations of 3,500-5,800 meters
Size:
Body Length: 138-151 cm / 4.6-5 ft.
Shoulder Height: 86-96 cm / 2.8-3.2 ft.
Tail Length: 23 cm / 9.2 in.
Weight: 45-55 kg / 99-121 lb.
Color: The overall color of the soft wooly coat is reddish brown with the underside of the head, and the belly being dirty white.
Distinctive Features: A pompon-like ‘mane’ of silky white hairs adorns the base of the neck
Round head, triangular ears, very long necks, and big, forward facing eyes
Diet: Omnivore
Prey: Grasses.
Lifestyle: diurnal and social; living in groups of 5-20 animals
Age Of Sexual Maturity: Around 24 months
Gestation Period: 330-350 days
Young per Birth: 1
Life Span: 20 – 24 years
Conservation Status: Threatened
Fun Fact: Very shy and constantly alert, vicuñas will flee at the slightest sign of danger.
Visayan Warty Pig
The Visayan Warty Pig (Sus cebifrons) is a small, forest-dwelling pig endemic to the Philippines. It gets its name from the three pairs of fleshy “warts” present on the pig’s face.
Range: Visayan islands of Negros and Panay in the Philippines
Habitat: Dense rain forest as well as grasslands
Size:
Head and body length: About 100 cm
Shoulder height: 58 to 63 cm (males)
Tail length: 23 cm
Adult weight: up to 80 kg (males)
Color: The overall color is dark gray
Distinctive Features: The body is sparsely covered with bristly hairs
A tuft of hair in between the ears
Distinctive white stripe which runs over the bridge of the nose behind the mouth.
Diet: Omnivorous; feeds mainly on fruits, roots, and tubers
Lifestyle: tend to live in groups of four to six
Age Of Sexual Maturity: As young as 12-14 months
Gestation Period: 118 days
Young per Birth: 2-4, with 3 being the average
Life Span: 10-15 years
Conservation Status: Critically endangered (2008)
Fun Fact: a Visayan Warty pig would grow manes, giving it a Mohawk façade
Vireo
The Vireos are small to medium-sized passerine birds confined to the New World. This intriguing animal derives its name from the Latin for “I am green”). The family comprises three distinct groups: The true vireos, the peppershrikes and shrike-vireos, and the greenlets. Most species are non-migratory.
Other interesting facts:
Range: Most species are found in found in northern South America, Central America or Mexico
Habitat: inhabit forest canopies, or mangrove swamps
Size: depending on species;
Length: 10 to 17 cm They range in size from the Choco Vireo, Dwarf Vireo and Lesser Greenlet, all at Weight: 8 to 40 grams
Color: Typically dull-plumaged and greenish in color
Diet: mainly on insects and other arthropods as well as some fruits
Lifestyle: occur in pairs or family groups
Conservation Status: Least Concern
Fun Fact: Males of most species are persistent singers
Vizcacha
Viscachas or vizcachas are are five extant species of medium-sized rat in the family Chinchillidae. These include: Plains viscacha (Lagostomus maximus), Northern viscacha (Lagidium peruanum), Mountain viscacha (Lagidium viscacia), Wolffsohn’s viscacha (Lagidium wolffsohni), and Lagidium ahuacaense.
Though they resemble rabbits, they are closely related to chinchillas.
Other interesting facts:
Range: endemic to Argentina
Habitat: inhabit rocky desert and arid environments
Size:
Length: 11 to 18 cm (4.3 to 7.1 in)
Weight: 85 to 121 grams (3.0 to 4.3 oz).
Color: has light brown fur with white underparts
Distinct Features: relatively long, bushy tail measuring about 12 to 16 cm (4.7 to 6.3 in) long
the presence of numerous whiskers on top of the mouth
Diet: herbivorous; feed on leaves, fruits and seeds as well as some fruits
Lifestyle: nocturnal and solitary
Vole
Voles are small rodents comprising more than 150 species. It resembles a mouse but with a solid body, a slightly rounder heads, and smaller eyes and ears. Some of the species of voles include: Southern red-backed voles (Clethrionomys gapperi), Long-tailed voles (Microtus longicaudus), Mexican voles (Microtus mexicanus), and Prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster).
Other interesting facts:
Range: Different vole species are found all over North America
Habitat: underground tunnels and burrows
Size:
Length: About 4 to 8.5 inches long
Weight: 0.8 to 3 ounces
Color: vary in color from brown to gray
Diet: barks, fruits, grasses, leaves, stems, Roots,
Lifestyle: are active day and night throughout the year
Age Of Sexual Maturity: 1 month
Gestation Period: 20 to 23 days
Young per Birth: 3-5 pups per litter
Life Span: 2-6 months
Fun Fact: A female vole can have 80 offspring in a year!
Check out the entire Animal Alphabet list here:
Amazing Animal Alphabet Series 1
Amazing Animal Alphabet Series 2
Hi Sir Papz. it's been a long time since my last visit. another amazing post of yours. I'm only familiar with the Visayan Warty Pig. We call it Baboy Sulop. It's a delicacy in Marawi City as what I heard when I was still studying in Iligan.
You are absolutely right here, those animals with V names are indeed intriguing and reading about their specs they are quite different from ordinary animals.
I never knew that a vicuna is a camel because we had a doctor that has the last name of Vicuna. Hehehehe!
Never heard of these animals. I had to laugh with the first one – Verdin. It is exactly what it is… "Bird din." Thanks for the info!
I never knew about the Visayan warty pig till now, interesting!
The only animal I know is the Visayan Warty Pig! It just goes to show that there are so many wonderful and amazing creatures here on Earth that I don't know.
I've only seen the Visayan warty pig, not because I knew of them from Negros Province where I came from, but because they are one of the critically endangered animals here in San Diego Zoo that the San Diego Zoo global is working on re-introducing it to its natural habitat to hopefully change from critically endangered to maybe just endangered just like how it worked on almost extinct California condors.
Oh, interesting V animals indeed! That Verdin has a colorful crowning glory.
Another great list of animals that are new to me! The Vireos should be endemic to the Philippines too because they love to sing. 🙂
yay…never heard of them all in my life just now..ang alam ko lang ata viper. 😛
now i know that a lot of animals start with letter V…thanks for that…makapaglaro nga ng PANTS dami ko na malalagay sa animals with V..LOL.
First time to hear about Vicuña.. It looks cute! 🙂
Hehehe. Natawa naman ako kay Ate Sheng. Makapaglaro nga din ng PANTS! 😀