MANtiques is a shop in Brevard – but not just any shop. It’s a combination museum, treasure chest, and scavenger hunt all rolled into a rustic sanctuary for memorabilia, antiques, furniture, and other fine collectibles.
While the store has a masculine feel, those of the female persuasion will also find Mantiques oddly alluring, not so much “manly” but very much in keeping with traditional and authentic mountain/lodge décor.
Mantiques – Antique Shop for Men
Male peacocks, also known as peafowl, are easily recognizable by their vibrant blue or green plumage and long, ornate tail feathers, also known as trains. This long tail is a key feature for courtship displays to attract peahens (female peacocks). The term “peacock” refers to the male bird, while the female is a peahen, and the whole group is called peafowl.
Here is one looking away at Sylvan Heights Bird Park.
Peafowl
Red Shoveler is indigenous to Argentina, but there is one at Sylvan Heights Bird Park. It has beautiful plumage, which is light copper or light rusty and speckled with moderately sized black spots. The male has a pale gray head with pale yellow eyes and a “red” body with black spots. The female is mottled brown overall, but note the white sides to the pointed tail and big black bill.
Argentine Red Shoveler
The Knob-billed Duck is a large, bicolored waterbird. Both sexes are iridescent purplish-green above with a white or buff breast—a female knob-billed duck at the Sylvan Heights Bird Park. The female is similar to the male but smaller and duller than male, and she lacks the fleshy knob. Her plumage is less glossy.
Knob-billed Duck
Mandarin Ducks, at Sylvan Heights Bird Park, are native to Eastern Asia (Siberia, China, Japan). They were introduced to other parts of the world, including Europe and North America, and some populations established themselves. Mandarin ducks are sexually dimorphic—the males are elaborately colored, while the females have more subdued colors.
Mandarin Duck
Mandarin Ducks
The hamadryas also differs from other baboons in its social behaviour. Instead of maintaining a large cohesive troop, hamadryas split during the day into groups consisting of a single male and his “harem” of up to six (or more) females. Unlike most species that live in one-male social units, hamadryas males use aggression both during and after takeovers to condition females to maintain proximity.
This one at the North Carolina Zoo looks pretty aggressive.
Hamadryas Baboon Staring
Spotted two domesticated camels in the leopard terrain in Bera. The ring on the male camel’s nose is to control him, while the female is adorned with decorative marks.
Lionesses outnumber males by a substantial margin, despite a near 50% male/female birth ratio. This is probably due to the tendency of males to be nomads, take on more dangerous game, and be killed in pride takeover attempts. Lionesses are loving mothers who demonstrate communal care of cubs, with lactating mothers allowing any cub to suckle. Females employ a cooperative model of child-rearing, with one female staying behind to watch over the cubs while the other females hunt.
Here is a lioness strolling around in Gir National Park, Gujarat, India.
The chital or cheetal, also known as the spotted deer, chital deer, and axis deer, is a deer species native to the Indian subcontinent. While males weigh 150–200 lb., females weigh around 88–132 lb. Males are larger than females, and antlers are present only on males.They are quite abundant in Gir National Park, India.
The spotted deer, or chital, is the most common deer species in Indian forests. With a lifespan of about 20 to 30 years, it stands at about 35 inches tall and weighs about 187 pounds. The deer’s golden-rufus coloring is speckled with white spots, and it has a white underbelly.
Here is an image of female spotted deer in the deep forest of Tadoba National Park, India.
Sambar deer are light brown or dark with a grayish or yellowish tinge. Despite their lack of antlers, female sambar readily defend their young from most predators, which is relatively unusual among deer.
These female and young sambar deer were captured in Tadoba National Park, India.
The red-shouldered hawk is a medium-sized hawk. Its breeding range spans eastern North America and along the coast of California and northern to northeastern-central Mexico. With large, broad wings with long tails and heavy bodies, female red-shouldered hawks are larger than males. Here is a female fluttering its wings at Carolina Raptor Center, North Carolina.
Red-shouldered Hawk Female Fluttering Wings
Red-shouldered Hawk Female Fluffing Wings
The barred owl, also known as the northern barred owl, striped owl or, more informally, hoot owl, is a North American large species of owl. Here is a female barred owl at Carolina Raptor Center, Huntersville, North Carolina. Females are normally larger and heavier than males.
Barred Owl Female
Barred Owl Female Close Up