Bernese Mountain Dog


    The Bernese Mountain Dog, called in German the Berner Sennenhund, is a large-sized breed of dog, one of the four breeds of Sennenhund-type dogs from the Swiss Alps. The name Sennenhund is derived from the German Senne (“alpine pasture”) and Hund (“dog”), as they accompanied the alpine herders and dairymen called Senn. Berner (or Bernese in English) refers to the area of the breed’s origin, in the canton of Bern. This mountain dog was originally kept as a general farm dog. Large Sennenhunde in the past were also used as draft animals, pulling carts. The breed was officially established in 1907. In 1937, the American Kennel Club recognized it; today, the club classifies it as a member of the Working Group.

Appearance:

Four breeds of Sennenhund:
The four breeds of Sennenhund, with the original breed name, followed by the most popular English version of the breed name:
-         Grosser Schweizer Sennenhund, Greater Swiss mountain dog
-         Berner Sennenhund, Bernese mountain dog
-         Appenzeller Sennenhund, Appenzeller
-         Entlebucher Sennenhund, Entlebucher mountain dog

Colouring:
    Like the other Sennenhunde, the Bernese mountain dog is a large, heavy dog with a distinctive tri-colored coat, black with white chest and rust colored markings above eyes, sides of mouth, front of legs, and a small amount around the white chest. An ideal of a perfectly marked individual gives the impression of a white horseshoe shape around the nose and a white “Swiss cross” on the chest, when viewed from the front. A “Swiss kiss” is a white mark located typically behind the neck, but may be a part of the neck. A full ring would not meet type standard. The AKC breed standard lists, as disqualifications, blue eye color, and any ground color other than black.

Height and weight ranges:
    Height at the withers is 24–28 in (61–71 cm) for males, while it is 22–26 in (56–66 cm) for females. Weight is 80–120 lb (35–55 kg) for males, while it is 70–110 lb (30–50 kg) for females.

Build and proportions:
    The Bernese mountain dog is slightly longer than it is tall, and it is highly muscular.

Other physical traits:
    The head of the Bernese mountain dog is flat on the top with a moderate stop, and the ears are medium-sized, triangular, set high, and rounded at the top. The teeth have a scissors bite. The legs of the Bernese are straight and strong, with round, arched toes. The dewclaws of the Bernese are often removed. Its bushy tail is carried low.

Temperament:
    The breed standard for the Bernese mountain dog states that dogs should not be "aggressive, anxious or distinctly shy", but rather should be "good-natured", "self-assured", "placid towards strangers", and "docile". The temperament of individual dogs may vary, and not all examples of the breed have been bred carefully to follow the standard. All large breed dogs should be well socialized when they are puppies, and given regular training and activities throughout their lives.
    Bernese are outdoor dogs at heart, though well-behaved in the house; they need activity and exercise, but do not have a great deal of endurance. They can move with amazing bursts of speed for their size when motivated. If they are sound (no problems with their hips, elbows, or other joints), they enjoy hiking and generally stick close to their people. Not being given the adequate amount of exercise may lead to barking and harassing in the Bernese.
    Bernese mountain dogs are a breed that generally does well with children, as they are very affectionate. They are patient dogs that take well to children climbing over them. Though they have great energy, a Bernese will also be happy with a calm evening.
    Bernese work well with other pets and around strangers. They are excellent guardians. They tend to bond with one owner, and are somewhat aloof and 'standoffish.

Health:
    Cancer is the leading cause of death for dogs in general, but Bernese Mountain Dogs have a much higher rate of fatal cancer than other breeds; in both U.S./Canada and UK surveys, nearly half of Bernese Mountain Dogs die of cancer, compared to about 27% of all dogs. Bernese Mountain Dogs are killed by many types of cancer, including malignant histiocytosis, mast cell tumor, lymphosarcoma, fibrosarcoma, and osteosarcoma. Inherited medical problems that a Bernese Mountain Dog may face include malignant histiocytosis, hypomyelinogenesis, progressive retinal atrophy, and possibly cataracts and hypoadrenocorticism. The breed is also prone to histiocytic sarcoma, a cancer of the muscle tissue that is very aggressive, and hereditary eye diseases that are common among larger dogs. A four-year-old Bernese with lymphoma named Dylan was one of the first dogs to receive chemotherapy at the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, and it was successful.
    Bernese Mountain Dogs have an unusually high mortality due to musculoskeletal causes. Arthritis, hip dysplasia, and cruciate ligament rupture were reported as the cause of death in 6% of Bernese Mountain Dogs in the UK study; for comparison, mortality due to musculoskeletal ailments was reported to be less than 2% for pure-bred dogs in general. Owners of Bernese Mountain Dogs are nearly three times as likely as owners of other breeds to report musculoskeletal problems in their dogs; the most commonly reported being cruciate ligament rupture, arthritis (especially in shoulders and elbows), hip dysplasia, and osteochondritis.
    The age at onset for musculoskeletal problems is also unusually low. In the U.S./Canada study, 11% of living dogs had arthritis at an average age of 4.3 years. Most other common, non-musculoskeletal morbidity issues strike Berners at rates similar to other breeds. Prospective Bernese Mountain Dog owners should be prepared to cope with a large dog that may have mobility problems at a young age. Options to help mobility-impaired dogs may include ramps for car or house access, lifting harnesses and slings, and dog wheelchairs (ex: Walkin` Wheels). Comfortable bedding may help alleviate joint pain.
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Bengal Tiger


    The Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) is the most numerous tiger subspecies. By 2011, the total population was estimated at fewer than 2,500 individuals with a decreasing trend. None of the 'Tiger Conservation Landscapes' within the Bengal tiger's range is considered large enough to support an effective population size of 250 adult individuals. Since 2010, it is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List.
    As of 2010, Bengal tiger populations in India have been estimated at 1,706–1,909. As of 2014, they had reputedly increased to an estimated 2,226 individuals, but the method used in the census may not be accurate.
Bengal tigers number around 440 in Bangladesh and 163–253 in Nepal. Prior censuses placed the population of tigers in Bhutan at around 65-75 individuals, however, the latest census estimated that 103 wild Bengal tigers are living in the country.
    Bengal is traditionally fixed as the typical locality for the binomen Panthera tigris, to which the British taxonomist Reginald Innes Pocock subordinated the Bengal tiger in 1929 under the trinomen Panthera tigris tigris. The Bengal, Caspian and Siberian tigers, and lion rank among the biggest cats.
It is the national animal of both India and Bangladesh.

Characteristics:
    The Bengal tiger's coat is yellow to light orange, with stripes ranging from dark brown to black; the belly and the interior parts of the limbs are white, and the tail is orange with black rings. The white tiger is a recessive mutant of the Bengal tiger, which is reported in the wild from time to time in Assam, Bengal, Bihar and especially from the former State of Rewa. However, it is not to be mistaken as an occurrence of albinism. In fact, there is only one fully authenticated case of a true albino tiger, and none of black tigers, with the possible exception of one dead specimen examined in Chittagong in 1846.
    Male Bengal tigers have an average total length of 270 to 310 cm (110 to 120 in) including the tail, while females measure 240 to 265 cm (94 to 104 in) on average. The tail is typically 85 to 110 cm (33 to 43 in) long, and on average, tigers are 90 to 110 cm (35 to 43 in) in height at the shoulders.
    The weight of males ranges from 180 to 258 kg (397 to 569 lb), while that of the females ranges from 100 to 160 kg (220 to 350 lb). The smallest recorded weights for Bengal tigers are from the Bangladesh Sundarbans, where adult females are 75 to 80 kg (165 to 176 lb). Bengal tigers have exceptionally stout teeth, and the canines are the longest among all living felids; measuring from 7.5 to 10 cm (3.0 to 3.9 in) in length.
Genetic ancestry:
Bengal tigers are defined by three distinct mitochondrial nucleotide sites and 12 unique microsatellite alleles. The pattern of genetic variation in the Bengal tiger corresponds to the premise that they arrived in India approximately 12,000 years ago. This is consistent with the lack of tiger fossils from the Indian subcontinent prior to the late Pleistocene and the absence of tigers from Sri Lanka, which was separated from the subcontinent by rising sea levels in the early Holocene.
Body weight:
Bengal tigers may weigh up to 325 kg (717 lb) and reach a head and body length of 320 cm (130 in). Several scientists indicated that adult male Bengal tigers from Nepal, Bhutan, and Assam, Uttarakhand and West Bengal in northern India (collectively, the tigers of the Terai) consistently attain more than 227 kg (500 lb) of body weight. Seven adult males captured in Chitwan National Park in the early 1970s had an average weight of 235 kg (518 lb) ranging from 200 to 261 kg (441 to 575 lb), and that of the females was 140 kg (310 lb) ranging from 116 to 164 kg (256 to 362 lb). Males from northern India are nearly as large as Siberian tigers with a greatest length of skull of 332 to 376 mm (13.1 to 14.8 in).
Verifiable Sundarbans tiger weights are not found in any scientific literature. Forest Department records list weight measurements for these tigers, but none are verifiable and all are guesstimates. There are also reports of head and body lengths, some of which are listed as over 365.7 cm (144.0 in). More recently, researchers from the University of Minnesota and the Bangladesh Forest Department carried out a study for the US Fish and Wildlife Service and weighed three Sundarbans tigresses from Bangladesh. All three tigers were female, two of which were collared, captured and sedated, but the other one had been killed by local villagers. The two collared tigresses were weighed using 150 kg (330 lb) scales, and the tigress killed by villagers was weighed using a balance scale and weights. The two collared females both showed signs of teeth wear and both were between 12 and 14 years old. The tigress killed by the villagers was a young adult, probably between 3 and 4 years old, and she was likely a pre-territorial transient. The three tigresses had a mean weight of 76.7 kg (169 lb). One of the two older female's weight 75 kg (165 lb) weighed slightly less than the mean because of her old age and relatively poor condition at the time of capture. Skulls and body weights of Sundarbans tigers were found to be distinct from other subspecies, indicating that they may have adapted to the unique conditions of the mangrove habitat. Their small sizes are probably due to a combination of intense intraspecific competition and small size of prey available to tigers in the Sundarbans, compared to the larger deer and other prey available to tigers in other parts.
Comparing tiger versus lion, a weight range of 150 to 189 kg (331 to 417 lb) is considered fairly average for a male East African lion in the Serengeti.
Records:
Two tigers shot in Kumaon and near Oude at the end of the 19th century allegedly measured more than 12 ft (370 cm). But at the time, sportsmen had not yet adopted a standard system of measurement; some would measure between pegs while others would round the curves.
In the beginning of the 20th century, a male Bengal tiger was shot in central India with a head and body length of 221 cm (87 in) between pegs, a chest girth of 150 cm (59 in), a shoulder height of 109 cm (43 in) and a tail length of 81 cm (32 in), which was perhaps bitten off by a rival male. This specimen could not be weighed, but it was calculated to weigh no less than 272 kg (600 lb).
A heavy male weighing 570 lb (260 kg) was shot in northern India in the 1930s. However, the heaviest known tiger was a huge male killed in 1967 that weighed 388.7 kg (857 lb) and measured 322 cm (127 in) in total length between pegs, and 338 cm (133 in) over curves. This specimen is on exhibition in the Mammals Hall of the Smithsonian Institution. In 1980 and 1984, scientists captured and tagged two male tigers in Chitwan National Park that weighed more than 270 kg (600 lb).

Distribution and habitat:
In 1982, a sub-fossil right middle phalanx was found in a prehistoric midden near Kuruwita in Sri Lanka, which is dated to about 16,500 ybp and tentatively considered to be of a tiger. Tigers appear to have arrived in Sri Lanka during a pluvial period during which sea levels were depressed, evidently prior to the last glacial maximum about 20,000 years ago. In 1929, the British taxonomist Pocock assumed that tigers arrived in southern India too late to colonize Sri Lanka, which earlier had been connected to India by a land bridge.
In the Indian subcontinent, tigers inhabit tropical moist evergreen forests, tropical dry forests, tropical and subtropical moist deciduous forests, mangroves, subtropical and temperate upland forests, and alluvial grasslands. Latter tiger habitat once covered a huge swath of grassland and riverine and moist semi-deciduous forests along the major river system of the Gangetic and Brahmaputra plains, but has now been largely converted to agricultural land or severely degraded. Today, the best examples of this habitat type are limited to a few blocks at the base of the outer foothills of the Himalayas including the Tiger Conservation Units (TCUs) Rajaji-Corbett, Bardia-Banke, and the transboundary TCUs Chitwan-Parsa-Valmiki, Dudhwa-Kailali and Sukla Phanta-Kishanpur. Tiger densities in these TCUs are high, in part because of the extraordinary biomass of ungulate prey.
The Bengal tigers in the Sundarbans in India and Bangladesh are the only tigers in the world inhabiting mangrove forests. The population in the Indian Sundarbans is estimated as 70 tigers in total.

Reproduction and lifecycle:
A male and female Bengal tiger interact with each other.
The tiger in India has no definite mating and birth seasons. Most young are born in December and April. Young have also been found in March, May, October and November. In the 1960s, certain aspects of tiger behaviour at Kanha National Park indicated that the peak of sexual activity was from November to about February, with some mating probably occurring throughout the year.

Males reach maturity at 4–5 years of age, and females at 3–4 years. A Bengal comes into heat at intervals of about 3–9 weeks, and is receptive for 3–6 days. After a gestation period of 104–106 days, 1–4 cubs are born in a shelter situated in tall grass, thick bush or in caves. Newborn cubs weigh 780 to 1,600 g (1.72 to 3.53 lb) and they have a thick wooly fur that is shed after 3.5–5 months. Their eyes and ears are closed. Their milk teeth start to erupt at about 2–3 weeks after birth, and are slowly replaced by permanent dentition from 8.5–9.5 weeks of age onwards. They suckle for 3–6 months, and begin to eat small amounts of solid food at about 2 months of age. At this time, they follow their mother on her hunting expeditions and begin to take part in hunting at 5–6 months of age. At the age of 2–3 years, they slowly start to separate from the family group and become transient — looking out for an area, where they can establish their own territory. Young males move further away from their mother's territory than young females. Once the family group has split, the mother comes into heat again
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Beetles


    Beetles are a group of insects that form the order Coleoptera. The word "coleoptera" is from the Greek κολεός, koleos, meaning "sheath"; and πτερόν, pteron, meaning "wing", thus "sheathed wing", because most beetles have two pairs of wings, the front pair, the "elytra", being hardened and thickened into a shell-like protection for the rear pair and the beetle's abdomen. The order contains more species than any other order, constituting almost 25% of all known animal life-forms. About 40% of all described insect species are beetles (about 400,000 species), and new species are discovered frequently. The largest taxonomic family, the Curculionidae (the weevils or snout beetles), also belongs to this order.
    The diversity of beetles is very wide-ranging. They are found in almost all types of habitats, but are not known to occur in the sea or in the polar regions. They interact with their ecosystems in several ways. They often feed on plants and fungi, break down animal and plant debris, and eat other invertebrates. Some species are prey of various animals including birds and mammals. Certain species are agricultural pests, such as the Colorado potato beetle Leptinotarsa decemlineata, the boll weevil Anthonomus grandis, the red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum, and the mungbean or cowpea beetle Callosobruchus maculatus, while other species of beetles are important controls of agricultural pests. For example, beetles in the family Coccinellidae ("ladybirds" or "ladybugs") consume aphids, scale insects, thrips, and other plant-sucking insects that damage crops.
    Species in the order Coleoptera are generally characterized by a particularly hard exoskeleton and hard forewings (elytra, singular elytron). These elytra distinguish beetles from most other insect species, except for a few species of Hemiptera. The beetle's exoskeleton is made up of numerous plates called sclerites, separated by thin sutures. This design creates the armored defenses of the beetle while maintaining flexibility. The general anatomy of a beetle is quite uniform, although specific organs and appendages may vary greatly in appearance and function between the many families in the order. Like all insects, beetles' bodies are divided into three sections: the head, the thorax, and the abdomen. Coleopteran internal morphology is similar to other insects, although there are several examples of novelty. Such examples include species of water beetle which use air bubbles in order to dive under the water, and can remain submerged thanks to passive diffusion as oxygen moves from the water into the bubble.
    Beetles are endopterygotes, which means that they undergo complete metamorphosis, a biological process by which an animal physically develops after birth or hatching, undergoing a series of conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in their body structure. Coleopteran species have an extremely intricate behavior when mating, using such methods as pheromones for communication to locate potential mates. Males may fight for females using very elongated mandibles, causing a strong divergence between males and females in sexual dimorphism.

External morphology:
    The morphology of a beetle, with a fiddler beetle as an example species
Beetles are generally characterized by a particularly hard exoskeleton and hard forewings (elytra). The beetle's exoskeleton is made up of numerous plates, called sclerites, separated by thin sutures. This design provides armored defenses while maintaining flexibility. The general anatomy of a beetle is quite uniform, although specific organs and appendages may vary greatly in appearance and function between the many families in the order. Like all insects, beetles' bodies are divided into three sections: the head, the thorax, and the abdomen.
Head:
    The head, having mouthparts projecting forward or sometimes downturned, is usually heavily sclerotized and varies in size. The eyes are compound and may display remarkable adaptability, as in the case of whirligig beetles (family Gyrinidae), where they are split to allow a view both above and below the waterline. Other species also have divided eyes – some longhorn beetles (family Cerambycidae) and weevils – while many have eyes that are notched to some degree. A few beetle genera also possess ocelli, which are small, simple eyes usually situated farther back on the head (on the vertex).
Beetles' antennae are primarily organs of smell, but may also be used to feel a beetle's environment physically. They may also be used in some families during mating, or among a few beetle species for defence. Antennae vary greatly in form within the Coleoptera, but are often similar within any given family. Males and females sometimes have different antennal forms. Antennae may be clavate (flabellate and lamellate are subforms of clavate, or clubbed antennae), filiform, geniculate, moniliform, pectinate, or serrate.
Beetles have mouthparts similar to those of grasshoppers. Of these parts, the most commonly known are probably the mandibles, which appear as large pincers on the front of some beetles. The mandibles are a pair of hard, often tooth-like structures that move horizontally to grasp, crush, or cut food or enemies (see defence, below). Two pairs of finger-like appendages, the maxillary and labial palpi, are found around the mouth in most beetles, serving to move food into the mouth. In many species, the mandibles are sexually dimorphic, with the males enlarged enormously compared with those of females of the same species.
Thorax:
    The thorax is segmented into the two discernible parts, the pro- and pterathorax. The pterathorax is the fused meso- and metathorax, which are commonly separated in other insect species, although flexibly articulate from the prothorax. When viewed from below, the thorax is that part from which all three pairs of legs and both pairs of wings arise. The abdomen is everything posterior to the thorax. When viewed from above, most beetles appear to have three clear sections, but this is deceptive: on the beetle's upper surface, the middle "section" is a hard plate called the pronotum, which is only the front part of the thorax; the back part of the thorax is concealed by the beetle's wings. This further segmentation is usually best seen on the abdomen.
Extremities:
The multisegmented legs end in two to five small segments called tarsi. Like many other insect orders, beetles bear claws, usually one pair, on the end of the last tarsal segment of each leg. While most beetles use their legs for walking, legs may be variously modified and adapted for other uses. Among aquatic families – Dytiscidae, Haliplidae, many species of Hydrophilidae and others – the legs, most notably the last pair, are modified for swimming and often bear rows of long hairs to aid this purpose. Other beetles have fossorial legs that are widened and often spined for digging. Species with such adaptations are found among the scarabs, ground beetles, and clown beetles (family Histeridae). The hind legs of some beetles, such as flea beetles (within Chrysomelidae) and flea weevils (within Curculionidae), are enlarged and designed for jumping.
Wings:
The elytra are connected to the pterathorax, so named because it is where the wings are connected (pteron meaning "wing" in Greek). The elytra are not used for flight, but tend to cover the hind part of the body and protect the second pair of wings (alae). They must be raised to move the hind flight wings. A beetle's flight wings are crossed with veins and are folded after landing, often along these veins, and stored below the elytra. A fold (jugum) of the membrane at the base of each wing is a characteristic feature. In some beetles, the ability to fly has been lost. These include some ground beetles (family Carabidae) and some "true weevils" (family Curculionidae), but also desert- and cave-dwelling species of other families. Many have the two elytra fused together, forming a solid shield over the abdomen. In a few families, both the ability to fly and the elytra have been lost, with the best known example being the glow-worms of the family Phengodidae, in which the females are larviform throughout their lives.
Abdomen:

The abdomen is the section behind the metathorax, made up of a series of rings, each with a hole for breathing and respiration, called a spiracle, composing three different segmented sclerites: the tergum, pleura, and the sternum. The tergum in almost all species is membranous, or usually soft and concealed by the wings and elytra when not in flight. The pleura are usually small or hidden in some species, with each pleuron having a single spiracle. The sternum is the most widely visible part of the abdomen, being a more or less sclerotized segment. The abdomen itself does not have any appendages, but some (for example, Mordellidae) have articulating sternal lobes
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Bedlington Terrier


    The Bedlington Terrier is a breed of small dog named after the mining town of Bedlington, Northumberland in North East England. Originally bred to hunt vermin in mines, the Bedlington Terrier has since been used in dog racing, numerous dog sports, as well as in conformation shows and as a companion dog. It is closely related to the Dandie Dinmont Terrier, Whippet and Otterhound.
    It is described as a very versatile yet contradictory dog, being both good with children and "fit to kill any other dog of his weight". They have powerful swimming skills, comparable to those of water dogs such as the Newfoundland, and are noted for being very quick and having high endurance. Bedlingtons are noted for their similarity in appearance to lambs. The dogs have blue, liver or sandy colouration, all three of which may have tan points. Their fur forms a distinctive top knot on the dog's head.
    Originally known as the Rothbury or Rodbury Terrier, the name Bedlington Terrier was not applied to the breed until 1825, but some dogs have pedigrees that can be traced back as far as 1782. The first dog shows with a class for Bedlington Terriers was held in 1870 at Bedlington. Bedlington Terriers shown at early shows were frequently dyed to improve the look of their fur. In 1948, a Bedlington Terrier known as Rock Ridge Night Rocket won best in show at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. The breed has a high instance of copper toxicosis, but with the exception of eye problems, it is mostly free from health complaints.

Appearance:
    The Bedlington Terrier has been described as resembling a lamb. It has also been compared to a miniature version of the Scottish Deerhound. George Shields stated that exceedingly well-bred dogs possess the spirit of a thoroughbred racehorse.

    The dogs have blue, liver or sandy colouration, all three of which may have tan points. Bedlingtons carry what is known as the greying gene, a dominant trait carried on the G locus. This gene causes puppies born with black or dark brown fur to lighten to grey or liver with age. The fur of the Bedlington creates a shape on the top of the dog's head known as a topknot. Although most modern breed standards call for the dog's topknot to be lighter than its body, when the breed was first being formed there was at least one prominent breeder, Mr. Pickett, who believed that the topknot should be darker, not lighter.
    The dog's coat has been described as shaggy, hard, and rugged in style and it has also been described as linty in texture, giving the breed the nickname of "linty-haired terrier". Its coat is made up of a combination of hard and soft hairs. It is extremely difficult to maintain a "show clip", even for professionals, and grooming can be quite expensive. Dogs in what is referred to as show clip, or groomed for the show ring, cannot have fur that stands out more than 1 inch (2.5 centimetres) from their body, and the coat must have a "crisp" texture. If grooming is not performed regularly, the coat's condition rapidly deteriorates. For that reason, most Bedlingtons that are kept strictly as pets keep a lower maintenance "pet groom" style. Bedlington Terriers have been referred to as a nonshedding hypoallergenic breed.
    The head of the dog must be rounded in shape with no stop. Their eyes are almond-shaped and small, and the lips are close-fitting and lack flews. The back must be arched, and the body should be slightly longer in length than in height. Although 16.5 inches (42 cm) is the preferred height for male dogs, a range from 16 to 17.5 inches (41 to 44 cm) is allowed; for females, the preferred height is 15.5 inches (39 cm) and the acceptable range is from 15 to 16.5 inches (38 to 42 cm). Both genders must weigh between 17 and 23 pounds (7.7 and 10.4 kg). They possess a light, springy gait.

Temperament:
    Bedlingtons are sharp and plucky. Their bark has been called hound-like and has been compared to the firing of a machine gun. Fast dogs with high endurance, the Bedlington Terrier is just as quick in water as it is on land, and their swimming speed rivals that of the Newfoundland. Bedlington Terriers "have pace enough to keep up with the ordinary speed of a horse." Because of the Whippet in their lineage, they have a tendency to bolt. Their versatility has been praised, with some dogs willing to "[be] a house-dog, a gun-dog, a rat-dog, a badger-dog, or, if needed, [to] bolt a fox..."
They are also known for their intelligence and tenacity when it comes to taking on vermin. Bedlingtons are quite fond of fighting, and are prone to jealousy when around other dogs. One man stated that "this dog was about fit to kill any other dog of his weight" and compared him to the fighting dogs used in dog fighting. They have also been used in pit fighting.
However, both the AKC and the ASPCA call the breed "mild" and "gentle" and recommends it as being good with children. PetFinder says the breed is soft in temperament, companionable, demonstrative, loyal, and a quiet housedog. Although the breed may chase small animals outside, it is accepting of them inside. Playful and cheerful, the breed can be high-strung and excitable, and is prone to being headstrong. The New Zealand Kennel Club warns against keeping them with dogs that have dominant personalities, "as once challenged they are terrifying fighters, despite their gentle appearance", but otherwise the breed is good with other dogs.
Some breeders, notably George Newcombe, have argued that the working ability and courage of the Bedlington terrier has declined since it began being bred for show. Poodle may have been introduced into the breed to make the coat easier to groom and maintain. George Newcombe of the Working Bedlington Terrier Club said that "the pure [Bedlington Terrier] could no longer be considered a serious working breed" and proceeded to cross his dogs with Lakeland Terriers in an attempt to bring back the Bedlington's working qualities

Longevity:
    Median longevity of Bedlington Terriers, based on two recent UK surveys, is about 13.5 years, which is longer than for purebred dogs in general and longer than most breeds similar in size. The longest-lived of 48 deceased dogs in a 2004 UK Kennel Club survey was 18.4 years. Leading causes of death among Bedlington Terriers in the UK were old age (23%), urologic (15%), and hepatic (12.5%). The leading "hepatic" cause of death was copper toxicosis. Dogs that died of liver diseases usually died at a younger age than dogs dying of most other causes.
Bedlington Terrier owners in the UK reported that the most common health issues among living dogs were reproductive, heart murmur, and eye problems such as epiphora, retinal dysplasia, and cataracts. Bedlingtons seem to be more prone to these eye diseases than other breeds. They also have a high incidence of kidney problems. Copper toxicosis occurred among about 5% of living dogs. Inbreeding is a concern, as some dogs "[having] been bred in and in to a damaging extent." Reputable breeders will conduct DNA testing of all litters and will not allow pups who carry the copper toxicosis gene to be bred, a practice which has significantly reduced the incidence of this disease in the breed. Excepting these problems, Bedlingtons are generally a very healthy breed.

Copper toxicosis:
    Two Bedlington Terrier liver-colored and gray, fading to white at its points.
Copper toxicosis, also known as copper storage disease and copper overload syndrome, is an autosomal recessive disease that is characterized by an accumulation of copper in the liver. It is closely related to Wilson's disease in humans. Bedlington Terriers are more prone to copper toxicosis than most other dog breeds. West Highland White Terriers, Skye Terriers, and Doberman Pinschers are also prone to copper storage disease. Bedlington Terriers are the only breed of dog in which haemolysis has been reported, but there have been no reports of neurological involvement in any dog breed. Studies have shown that in Bedlingtons, the disease is caused by a defective metallothionein that causes cell lysosomes to become saturated with copper. This causes the cell to store copper in the nucleus. There are three varieties of the disease: the Asymptomatic Form occurs when copper accumulates but there are no clinical symptoms of the disorder; the Fulminating Form which is seen mostly in young dogs, causes death in two to three days, and is thought to be caused by stress; and the Chronic Form, which is characterized by an extended period of time in which liver disease slowly causes the death of the dog. Bedlingtons also have a tendency to accumulate iron in the liver, but not nearly to the extent that they accumulate copper.
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Beaver


    The beaver (genus Castor) is a large, primarily nocturnal, semiaquatic rodent. Castor includes two extant species, the North American beaver (Castor canadensis) (native to North America) and Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber) (Eurasia). Beavers are known for building dams, canals, and lodges (homes). They are the second-largest rodent in the world (after the capybara). Their colonies create one or more dams to provide still, deep water to protect against predators, and to float food and building material. The North American beaver population was once more than 60 million, but as of 1988 was 6–12 million. This population decline is the result of extensive hunting for fur, for glands used as medicine and perfume, and because the beavers' harvesting of trees and flooding of waterways may interfere with other land uses.

General:
    Beavers, along with pocket gophers and kangaroo rats, are castorimorph rodents, a suborder of rodents mostly restricted to North America. Although just two closely related species exist today, beavers have a long fossil history in the Northern Hemisphere beginning in the Eocene, and many species of giant beaver existed until quite recently, such as Trogontherium in Europe, and Castoroides in North America.
Beavers are known for their natural trait of building dams on rivers and streams, and building their homes (known as "lodges") in the resulting pond. Beavers also build canals to float building materials that are difficult to haul over land. They use powerful front teeth to cut trees and other plants that they use both for building and for food. In the absence of existing ponds, beavers must construct dams before building their lodges.
    First they place vertical poles, then fill between the poles with a crisscross of horizontally placed branches. They fill in the gaps between the branches with a combination of weeds and mud until the dam impounds sufficient water to surround the lodge.
They are known for their alarm signal: when startled or frightened, a swimming beaver will rapidly dive while forcefully slapping the water with its broad tail, audible over great distances above and below water. This serves as a warning to beavers in the area. Once a beaver has sounded the alarm, nearby beavers will dive and may not reemerge for some time. Beavers are slow on land, but are good swimmers, and can stay under water for as long as 15 minutes.
    Beavers are herbivores, and prefer the wood of quaking aspen, cottonwood, willow, alder, birch, maple and cherry trees. They also eat sedges, pondweed, and water lilies.
    Beavers do not hibernate, but store sticks and logs in a pile in their ponds, eating the underbark. Some of the pile is generally above water and accumulates snow in the winter. This insulation of snow often keeps the water from freezing in and around the food pile, providing a location where beavers can breathe when outside their lodge.
     Beavers have webbed hind-feet, and a broad, scaly tail. They have poor eyesight, but keen senses of hearing, smell, and touch. A beaver's teeth grow continuously so that they will not be worn down by chewing on wood. Their four incisors are composed of hard orange enamel on the front and a softer dentin on the back. The chisel-like ends of incisors are maintained by their self-sharpening wear pattern. The enamel in a beaver's incisors contains iron and is more resistant to acid than enamel in the teeth of other mammals.
    Beavers continue to grow throughout their lives. Adult specimens weighing over 25 kg (55 lb) are not uncommon. Females are as large as or larger than males of the same age, which is uncommon among mammals. Beavers live up to 24 years of age in the wild.

Habitat:
    The habitat of the beaver is the riparian zone, inclusive of stream bed. The actions of beavers for hundreds of thousands of years in the Northern Hemisphere have kept these watery systems healthy and in good repair.
The beaver works as a keystone species in an ecosystem by creating wetlands that are used by many other species. Next to humans, no other extant animal appears to do more to shape its landscape. Beavers potentially even impact climate change.
    Beavers fell trees for several reasons. They fell large mature trees, usually in strategic locations, to form the basis of a dam, but European beavers tend to use small diameter (<10 cm) trees for this purpose. Beavers fell small trees, especially young second-growth trees, for food.
    Broadleaved trees re-grow as a coppice, providing easy-to-reach stems and leaves for food in subsequent years. Ponds created by beavers can also kill some tree species by drowning, but this creates standing dead wood, which is very important for a wide range of animals and plants.

Social Behaviour:
    The basic units of beaver social organization are families consisting of an adult male and adult female in a monogamous pair and their kits and yearlings. Beaver families can have as many as ten members in addition to the monogamous pair. Groups this size or close to this size build more lodges to live in while smaller families usually need only one. However, large families in the Northern Hemisphere have been recorded living in one lodge. Beaver pairs mate for life; however, if a beaver's mate dies, it will partner with another one. Extra-pair copulations also occur. In addition to being monogamous, both the male and female take part in raising offspring. They also both mark and defend the territory and build and repair the dam and lodge. When young are born, they spend their first month in the lodge and their mother is the primary caretaker while their father maintains the territory. In the time after they leave the lodge for the first time, yearlings will help their parents build food caches in the fall and repair dams and lodges. Still, adults do the majority of the work and young beavers help their parents for reasons based on natural selection rather than kin selection. They are dependent on them for food and for learning life skills. Young beavers spend most of their time playing but also copy their parents' behavior. However while copying behavior helps imprint life skills in young beavers it is not necessarily immediately beneficial for parents as the young beaver do not perform the tasks as well as the parents.

    Older offspring, which are around two years old, may also live in families and help their parents. In addition to helping build food caches and repairing the dam, two-year-olds will also help in feeding, grooming and guarding younger offspring. Beavers also practice alloparental care, in which an older sibling may take over the parenting duties if the original parents die or are otherwise separated from them. This behavior is common and is seen in many other animal species such as the elephant and fathead minnow. While these helping two-year-olds help increase the chance of survival for younger offspring, they are not essential for the family and two-year-olds only stay and help their families if there is a shortage of resources in times of food shortage, high population density, or drought. When beavers leave their natal territories, they usually do not settle far. Beavers can recognize their kin by detecting differences in anal gland secretion composition using their keen sense of smell. Related beavers share more features in their anal gland secretion profile than unrelated beavers. Being able to recognize kin is important for beaver social behavior and it causes more tolerant behavior among neighboring beavers.
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Bearded Dragons


    Pogona is a genus of reptiles containing eight lizard species, which are often known by the common name bearded dragons. The name "bearded dragon" refers to the "beard" of the lizard, the underside of the throat which turns black if they are stressed or see a potential rival. They are adept climbers, spending time on branches and in bushes and near human habitation. Pogona species bask on rocks and exposed branches in the mornings and afternoons. They are found throughout much of Australia in a wide range of habitats such as deserts, shrublands and Eucalyptus woodlands.
    Several species of this genus, especially the central bearded dragon, are often kept as pets or exhibited in zoos due to their hardy nature and easy care in comparison to other exotic reptiles.

Description:
The genus Pogona is in the subfamily Amphibolurinae of the lizard family Agamidae. Characteristics include broad, triangular heads and flattened bodies with spiny scales arranged in rows and clusters. These are found on the throat, which can be expanded when threatened, and at the back of the head. These scales are used to scare off predators, yet they are not very sharp. Bearded dragons display a hand-waving gesture to show submission, and a head-bobbing display to show dominance between dragons. They have the ability to change color during rivalry challenges between males, in response to ambient temperature changes such as turning black to absorb heat, and other stimuli. Males grow up to 60 cm (24 in) long, and females up to 51 cm (20 in). Bearded dragons also produce a mild venom originating from primitive venom glands. Although generally harmless towards humans, it is effective towards smaller-sized animals.

Habitat:
    Bearded dragons originate from central Australia, where they live in the arid and subtropical woodlands, scrublands, savannas, shore areas, and into the great interior deserts. Their range extends throughout the interior of the eastern states to the eastern half of South Australia and southeastern Northern Territory. They spend most of their time in bushes and trees, and will often bask on rocks. When the climate is too hot they will often burrow underground.

Behavior:

    Adult bearded dragons are very territorial. As they grow, they establish social hierarchies in which displays of aggression and appeasement form a normal part of their social interactions. The beard is used for both mating and aggression displays. Both sexes have a beard, but males display more frequently, especially in courtship rituals. Females will, however, display their beard as a sign of aggression also. The beard darkens, sometimes turning jet black and inflates during the display. The bearded dragon may also open its mouth and gape in addition to inflating its beard to appear more intimidating. Head bobbing is another behavior and it can be seen in both females and males; they quickly move their head up and down, often darkening and flaring their beard. They do this to show dominance over smaller males, weaker males, if a male wants to mate with a female or other animals they feel threatened by. Another behavior is arm waving, done by both males and females. Standing on 3 legs the bearded dragon would lift one of its front legs and move it in a circular motion. Arm waving functions as species recognition, and it is a sign of submission. Smaller males will often respond to larger males by arm waving. Females will also arm wave to avoid male aggression, often in response to a male's head bobbing.
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