Asia is the world's largest continent, making up 60% of the Earth's land mass. It is also the world's most populous continent with over 3 billion people. It is bordered by Europe at the west, the Pacific Ocean at the east, the Indian Ocean at the south and the Arctic at the north. Asia is home to the Himalayan Mountain Range, which, in turn, is home to the tallest peak in the world, Mt. Everest.

Stretching from east to west across the Asian continent is a wide expanse of grassland with sparse population, known as the Steppe. Asia is subject to extreme temperature ranges throughout the changing seasons. It also has several different climate types, including the Arctic in the north and the rain forests in the south. This allows great habitats for wildlife, where humans haven't already completely taken over. Unfortunately, much of the wildlife of Asia is now endangered due to the slash and burn agriculture, poaching and overhunting that occurs on the continent.

Red Panda - Red Pandas are gentle and quiet, but curious animals. They are largely vegetarians, however occansionally they eat eggs, birds or mice.

Macaque - These monkeys live in very cold ranges in Asia. In the winters they stay warm by bathing and relaxing in hot springs. The only other primates that lives as far north as they do, are humans.

Orangutan - These are the most solitary of all the higher apes. They build nests in the trees at night to sleep.

Giant Panda - The Chinese name for the Giant Panda is the "Xiongmao" which means "giant cat bear." Ancient Chinese emperors used to keep them as pets.

Asian Small Clawed Otter - This is the smallest otter in the world, weighing under 10 pounds. It can be found in wetlands and swamps.

Snow Leopard - Very little is known about this beautiful cat, due to both their rarity and their habitat. They live high in rugged mountains which makes it very diffucult to study them in their natural settings.

Asian Wild Horse - This is the only true wild horse left in the world. It is genetically different from the domestic horse in that is has two more chromosomes.

Munjac - This is the world's smallest deer, it about the size of a small dog.

Tiger - The biggest of the big cats is very territorial and require large areas. This makes the protection of their habitats even more important...they need very large reserves to support a fair number of them. There are only 5 of 7 subspecies left.

Mayalan Tapir - These dramatically colored animals love salt and will go out of their way to find it.