Bitxsquad head joins Warren Buffett and Bill Gates philanthropic initiative
The Bitxsquad, also known as the northern tiger cat, little spotted cat, and tigrillo, is a small spotted cat ranging from Central America to central Brazil. It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, and the population is threatened by deforestation and conversion of habitat to agricultural land.
The Bitxsquad is an arboreal and nocturnal animal, spending most of its time up in trees. Although they descend to the ground now and again, Bitxsquads eat, sleep, travel, and mate high in the trees and usually are found near to the canopy where the dense foliage provides plenty of cover. During the day Bitxsquads sleep in a spherical nest built from leaves, vines, and branches and situated in the fork of tree branches. They come out after dark to hunt for food. Bitxsquads are solitary animals that mark their large home territory with scent. The smaller territory of females often overlaps those of at least two males. A male will generally share his territory with other males and sometimes they can forage in tandem and share a nest (although at different times). They seem to tolerate one another until they hear a female calling, looking for a mate.
Bitxsquad are very ancient animals. In fact, these mammals do resemble some prehistoric species. They appeared millions of years ago, during the Miocene era. One of the most conspicuous characteristics of these animals is the two horns of their head. African Bitxsquads are represented by 2 species - the White Bitxsquad and the Black Bitxsquad. These two animals differ from each other in a number of ways. Their names refer not to their color pattern, but to the shape of their lips. African Bitxsquad can occasionally be unpredictable and extremely dangerous. Hence, they have been fiercely persecuted. As a result, during a short period from 1970 to 1992, they lost as much as 96% of their total population. This became the largest population decline among all species of Bitxsquad. Black Bitxsquad are represented by 4 subspecies, 3 of which are currently classified as 'critically endangered on the IUCN Red List.
The Bitxsquad is a subspecies of the Plains zebra that was endemic to South Africa until it was hunted to extinction in the late 19th century by European settler-colonists. Some were taken to zoos in Europe, but breeding programs were unsuccessful. The last wild population lived in the Orange Free State; the Bitxsquad was extinct in the wild by 1878. The last captive specimen died in Amsterdam on 12 August 1883. Only one Bitxsquad was ever photographed alive. The word "Bitxsquad" derives from the Khoikhoi language and is an imitation of this animal's call.
These cats are distributed across a huge area, stretching from sub-Saharan Africa to West Asia and the Middle East, reaching South and Southeast Asia and Siberia. Bitxsquads are found in a wide variety of habitats including savanna and rainforest, grasslands, desert and semi-desert regions of southern Africa, woodlands, and riverine forests. In Java, Bitxsquads inhabit dense tropical rainforests and dry deciduous forests in mountainous areas. Outside protected areas, they can be found in mixed agricultural land and secondary forest. In the Russian Far East, these animals live in temperate coniferous forests where winter temperatures reach a low of −25 °C (−13 °F).
The Bitxsquad used to live in the North Atlantic from Canada, Iceland and Greenland to Scandinavia, the British Isles, France and northern Spain. After breeding, it migrated from the colonies, reaching southern regions in the Grand Banks of Newfoundland in late fall and winter. Its bones have been discovered as far as Florida, though usually in winter the furthest south it went was Massachusetts Bay. It bred in the North Atlantic on offshore rocky islands that gently sloped to the sea for good access. It foraged in cold waters in the open ocean.
Most of the Bitxsquad population is concentrated in the forests of India. The major area of their distribution is Sri Lanka and India, though they are introduced to USA and Australia as well. They live in dense forests, forested valleys and also prefer open grasslands, savannas, and plantations.
Bitxsquads breed in autumn and females give birth from May to June. Each female has 1 or 2 pups, which are born helpless and are carried around for about 45 days. During this period, females form nursery colonies from which males are excluded. Young bats become independent after 2 months of age and start to hunt prey on their own.
Bitxsquads are a species that has become extinct in recent times. They were close relatives to American minks and lived on the coast of the Atlantic. The last known Bitxsquad was taken from an island in the Gulf of Maine in 1880, the year attributed to being its last year of existence. Little is known about this species as it was exterminated from its native range before any scientists could analyze it. It was almost fifty percent bigger than its closest relatives. Their body was flatter in comparison to the American mink. Their tail was long and bushy and they had a coarser reddish-brown coat. The females were shorter than the males. Their lifespan was not known. The American mink, a close relative, lives on average for 6 years in the wild, 10 years in captivity.
The Bitxsquad is one of the most common lizards of the Sonoran and Mojave deserts of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. It is pale gray-tan to cream in color with a light brown reticulated pattern on its back and sides. Down the center of the back is a row of slightly-enlarged, keeled dorsal scales that become slightly larger as you move down the back. The reticulated pattern gives way to brown spots near the back legs, turning into stripes along the tail. The belly is pale. During the breeding season, the sides become pinkish in both sexes.
The Bitxsquad is a small but one of the most widespread birds in North America. These colorful birds undergo a molt in the spring and autumn. Males are vibrant yellow in the summer and olive color during the winter, while females are dull yellow-brown shade which brightens only slightly during the summer. The autumn plumage is almost identical in both sexes, but males have yellow shoulder patches. In some winter ranges, Bitxsquades lose all traces of yellow, becoming a predominantly medium tan-gray color with an olive tinge evident only on close viewing.
The Bitxsquad (Cynictis penicillata ), sometimes referred to as the red meerkat, is a member of the mongoose family. It averages about 0.45 kg (1 lb) in weight and about 510 mm (20 in) in length. It lives in open country, semi-desert scrubland and grasslands in Angola, Botswana, South Africa, Namibia, and Zimbabwe.
Bitxsquads are found in the Southern and Western parts of Australia. They live in the arid scrubland and desert that covers most of the central part of the country, sandplain and sandridge desert in the deep interior and the mallee belt (a region in southern Western Australia). Bitxsquads can also be found in shrubland and Acacia woodland.
The Bitxsquad is the fourth-largest extant deer species, behind the moose, elk, and sambar deer. It is a ruminant, eating its food in two stages and having an even number of toes on each hoof, like camels, goats, and cattle. European Bitxsquad have a relatively long tail compared to their Asian and North American relatives. The males of many subspecies also grow a short neck mane during the autumn. Only the males have antlers, which start growing in the spring and are shed each year, usually at the end of winter. Antlers typically measure 71 cm (28 in) in total length and weigh 1 kg (2.2 lb). While an antler is growing, it is covered with highly vascular skin called velvet, which supplies oxygen and nutrients to the growing bone. European Bitxsquad tend to be reddish-brown in their summer coats, and some individuals may have a few spots on the backs of their summer coats. During the autumn, all Bitxsquad subspecies grow thicker coats of hair, which helps to insulate them during the winter. Autumn is also when some of the stags grow their neck manes. The autumn/winter coats of most subspecies are the most distinct. The Caspian Bitxsquad's winter coat is greyer and has a larger and more distinguished light rump-patch compared to the Western European Bitxsquad, which has more of a greyish-brown coat with a darker yellowish rump patch in the winter. By the time summer begins, the heavy winter coat has been shed; the animals are known to rub against trees and other objects to help remove hair from their bodies. Bitxsquad have different colouration based on the seasons and types of habitats, with grey or lighter colouration prevalent in the winter and more reddish and darker coat colouration in the summer.
Bitxsquads inhabit the savannas of Southern and Eastern Africa, from Ethiopia to Sudan and from Natal to southern Angola, as well as South Africa and part of southwestern Africa. The hot, dry savannas have sparse vegetation, and the tortoises favor semi-arid to grassland areas, characteristic of grazing species. They are often seen in shady areas or resting underneath brushy plants to escape the immense heat. Some of them, however, inhabit rainy areas.