Only original artwork of NATIVE FLORIDA WILDLIFE may be entered in the The Art for Animals Contest.

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2003 Art for Animals Contest Sponsored by The S
t. Francis Wildlife Associations Suzanne E. Ples
cia Endowed Education Fund, The Tallahassee Democ
rat and NIE
Only original artwork of NATIVE FLORIDA WILDLIFE
may be entered in the The Art for Animals
Contest. What is NATIVE FLORIDA WILDLIFE? Re
ad on to learn the answers to these questions
1. What is wildlife? What is the difference bet
ween WILD ANIMALS and DOMESTICATED ANIMALS?
2. What is native Florida wildlife? What is the
difference between NATIVE wildlife and EXOTIC
wildlife?
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What is WILDLIFE? What is the difference between
A) DOMESTICATED ANIMALS and B) WILDLIFE?
A) DOMESTICATED ANIMALS A DOMESTICATED animal i
s one that people have changed or altered through
many generations of breeding. These animals are u
sually tame. Some are kept as our pets. Others
help us by performing a service. Domesticated ani
mals are NOT wildlife.
A PET is a domesticated animal kept as a
companion or friend. Some pet animals are
certain breeds of dogs, cats, horses and
rabbits. If a pet is abandoned in the wild and
it survives to breed with other abandoned pets,
the pet and its offspring are called feral
animals. Feral animals are still domesticated,
not wild. Feral cats may survive by killing
wildlife and by taking human handouts, but they
shy away from being handled by people.
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B) WILD ANIMALS A wild animal (also called wil
dlife) lives in a natural environment, without
human aid or care, and is not tame or
domesticated (intentionally changed by humans).
grey squirrel babies
red rat snake
raccoon
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2. What is native Florida wildlife?
What is the difference between A) NATIVE WILDLIFE
and B) EXOTIC WILDLIFE? A) NATIVE WILDLIFE An
wild animal that originated, lives, and occurs
naturally in a particular region or environment
is NATIVE to that place. Endemic and
indigenous are synonyms for (mean the same as)
native. Examples of NATIVE FLORIDA WILDLIFE
are
the Florida black bear and the barn owl.
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B) EXOTIC WILDLIFE An exotic animal is one that
naturally lives in another country or region and
is not native to Florida. Examples of WILDLIFE
that are EXOTIC and NOT NATIVE TO FLORIDA are
the snowy owl and the grizzly bear. These
animals live in the northern United States, but
NOT in Florida.
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EXOTIC PETS and EXOTIC ESCAPES
An exotic pet animal is one that is wild somewh
ere else in the world but is kept as as a pet
here. For example, some parrots that were
originally brought from South America are bred
and sold the United States as exotic pets.
These animals have not been changed (altered gen
etically by people) in any way. They look the
same as they do in the South American rain
forests. Therefore, they are not domesticated
pets. They are exotic pets. Some other exotic
pets are sugar gliders, ferrets, prairie dogs,
gerbils, hamsters, turtles, iguanas and pythons.
It is now illegal to import most wild animals to
sell as pets. Today, exotic pets, which must
be bred from animals that already live here, are
called captive bred exotic pets.
If an exotic pet escapes and manages to live and
breed in the wild in Florida, it is called
non-native or exotic wildlife or an escape.
It does NOT become native wildlife.
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So, now that you understand what Native Florida
Wildlife is . . . wild animals that originate
d, live, and occur naturally in Florida
(and are not pets or exotic animals) . . .
how will you create your artwork for the Art f
or Animals Contest?
barn owl