The wild boar is any of a group of large ferocious relatives of the domestic hog. A wild boar stands 3 feet high at the shoulder and is 5 feet long. It usually weighs about 300 pounds, but some have weighed as much as 600 pounds. Its grayish-brown coat of coarse hair covers a dense, woolly, yellowish-brown undercoat. The average life-span of a wild boar is 25 to 30 years.

The skink is any of a large family of lizards that are generally quite small, with cylindrical bodies and long tapering tails. Their limbs are often short and in some species completely missing. The more than 600 species are found throughout the world. Skinks are the most abundant lizards in Australia and New Guinea, and many are also found in Africa, Asia, and the western Pacific islands. They are rather poorly represented in the Americas.

The Nutria is an aquatic, nocturnal, South American rodent valued for its pelt. The nutria, or coypu, resembles a large muskrat. Its thick,' heavyset body may be 2 feet (60 cm) or more long and weigh up to 2 pounds (9 kg). It has a short neck, small ears, and blunt nose. It is generally brown, with white chin and muzzle tip. The long, coarse outer coat covers a fine, soft, slate-colored underfur that is used for fur garments. Each foot has five toes, those on the hind feet being webbed. Nutrias inhabit burrows in the banks of streams, lakes, or swamps, or build nests in the water or on shore. They may have one to several litters of young a year.

Bees are among the most useful of all insects. Honey bees produce the honey that we eat and beeswax which is used for making polishes and candles. Far more important is the part played by bees in pollinating our crops.

Bees vary in size from a small stingless species about 2 mm long to bumble bees over 25 mm long. Most bees live solitary lives - they live alone and each female makes her own small nest. Others, such as the bumble bees and honey bees, are social insects. They live and work in large family groups.

Ticks are from the same family as spiders (arachnids) but are modified so much that they look nothing like their distant cousins. They have a large black body from which mouth parts protrude and grasp the skin. The tick does not have a head as such. A tube-like mouth part pierces the victim's skin to suck up blood. When the tick is full of blood, it drops off and waits for its next victim, which may be almost any warm-blooded animal, although some species preferentially attack certain animals. A full feed of blood may last the tick for a year or more.

The Archaeopteryx was a bird-like two-legged reptile that could clamber among trees and glide from one to another like a flying squirrel does today.

Auk, any of several birds largely confined to the coastal waters of the Northern Hemisphere. Auks are members of a large family of gregarious penguin-like birds, including the puffins, murres, auklets, and dovekies. The auk has short, pointed wings and a short tail. Its legs are set far back on the body, and it walks almost erect on webbed feet. The largest living species of auk is the razorbill (Alca torda) , which is about 18 inches in length. As in most members of its family, its head, neck, sides, and back are black, and its lower portions are white. The legs and feet are black, and there is a white vertical marking on the bill and a white line from eye to beak.

Tapir, any member of the family Tapiridae in suborder Ceratomorpha (tapirs and rhinoceroses) of the order Perissodactyla, which also includes the horse.

A fabulous animal, like a horse in body but with the head, wings and front legs and claws of an eagle. The monster frequently appears in the romances of the Middle Ages and modern fantasy novels.

No animal is correctly called a panther, which is simply a common name used to refer to large animals of the cat family, especially the black leopard and also the jaguar and puma.