Wikipedia Trail: From Crocodiles to the Feral Cat

Crocodile

I chose to start with crocodiles due to it being involved in the story I read this week. I have been around alligators more than the normal person due to visiting Louisiana a couple times a year to see my family, so I was slightly curious to see the difference within the two. Crocodiles belong to a different family than alligators according to the Wikipedia page. The best way to tell them apart however is that crocodiles have longer and more narrow heads compared to the alligator. Crocodiles can also tolerate salt water better than alligators. Being that I am a pre-dental student I got to reading about their teeth and learned that they are polyphyodonts, meaning that they can replace all 80 of their teeth up to 50 times.

Polyphyodont

Although crocodiles are just an example of polyphyodonts, it is defined as any animal who's teeth are continually replaced according to Wikipedia. Most of the examples include fish and geckos, but there is a strange mammal who has this ability:the manatee. Although most mammals don't have this ability, most of their ancestors did. The only other two mammals are kangaroos and elephants.

Kangaroos

Seeing that kangaroos are polyphyodonts, I couldn't resist but to lead my Wikipedia trail here. I think it is cool how these creatures are so big and strong yet they are considered a marsupial. I used to own a marsupial, the sugar glider, so I always find it strange when animals have a pouch on their belly. While I read this Wikipedia page, I learned that this pouch is actually called a marsupium. I found it pretty interesting that in 2011 there was an estimated 34.2 million kangaroos living in Australia. I found it interesting that kangaroos can hop up to 43 mph for short distances. That just show how strong their legs are. I also learned that Kangaroos have the enemy of a feral cat as a predator.

I found this image of a kangaroo hopping on Wikipedia.

Feral Cat

I didn't know what type of cat this was before I started reading about it and that is because most of them avoid humans. From what I understand they are pretty much the same thing as a common alley or stray cat but apparently veterinarians and rescuers consider them different. I learned that some feral cats even live in groups together usually around a food source. I also learned that they can be socialized but the older they are, usually this makes the process very difficult. I tried to find why these cats show as a predator to the kangaroo but I had trouble finding anything about that. Either way I am now informed what the word "feral" means.