Amazing animals of our planet. Strange and rare animals (61 photos). Pike blenny
Regional state educational institution for orphans,
and children left without parental care
"Special correctional school - boarding school for orphans,
and children left without parental care,
With disabilities health of Sayansk"
"Amazing Animals of Planet Earth"
Completed:
3rd grade student
OGOKU SKSHI Sayansk
Kuleshov Andrey
Supervisor:
primary school teacher
Pilipenko Natalia Yurievna
Sayansk 2015
Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………….…….2
Theoretical part……………………………………………………………...……3
a) Marmoset……………………………………………………………………..……....3
b) Goatzin……………………………………………………………………………….. 3- 4
c) Holothuria…………………………………………………………………...…4-5
3. Conclusions………………………………………………………………………………………...…5
4. List of references………………………………………………..……6
Introduction
Research topic "Amazing animals of planet Earth..." I chose,
because I am interested in learning about the life of animals on our planet. I like to read books, magazines, encyclopedias, and look at pictures about animals. I wanted to know what unusual animals live on Earth: where they live, what they look like, what they eat.
I really like to learn everything new, amazing, unusual, so it was very interesting for me when preparing for the conference.
Relevance of the selected topic– many animals have disappeared due to human fault, so it is very important to know which animals have survived on the globe, and whether there is a danger of their extinction.
Goal of the work: study, select and systematize scientific material on this topic.
Object of study: various animals, their life and adaptation to the external environment by studying material in the scientific literature.
Based on the object to achieve the goal, the following are defined: tasks:
Discover unusual animals of planet Earth, the existence of which I did not even suspect.
Collect interesting facts unknown to me about unusual animals.
Determine whether there is a danger of their extinction.
1. Introduction
Our planet is home to a huge number of living organisms, amazing in their diversity. Among them are polar bears - the kings of the Arctic and scorpions - the kings of the desert. These are penguins, the indigenous inhabitants of Antarctica and the amazing animals of Australia. And what unusual marine animals live in the seas and oceans. The air is the habitat of a variety of birds and insects. For many inhabitants of the animal kingdom, rivers and soil are their home.
In total there are about 1 million 500 thousand species various animals. They inhabit the entire globe: land, seas, rivers, oceans. In other words, their habitat is diverse: water, air, land.
2. Theoretical part
Today we will present to your attention stories about the most amazing and incredible animals on the planet, inhabitants of the earth, air and water.
Marmoset
Amazing creation nature - marmoset mammal.
It's rare, huh 
a little-known animal - the smallest monkey in the world. The length of her body is about 12 cm, and the length of her tail is 15 cm. Despite her small size, marmosets are relatives of both the huge orangutan and man himself.
They live in the dense tropical forest of South America, in swampy and humid areas. They are on the list of protected species.
The marmoset is dark or dark brown in color, and the hair on the head and tail is sometimes red, white or silver-brown.
Marmosets lead a strictly diurnal and predominantly arboreal lifestyle. They mainly feed on plant foods: tree sap, fruits, seeds, flowers, nectar and mushrooms. Insects are also an important food source.
Animals have fast, sharp and completely unexpected movements. Sometimes they manage to disappear so quickly that a person, it seems, does not even have time to blink an eye. This ability is the marmoset's only method of defense when facing a stronger opponent. They live as a large family, raising children as a flock.
Marmosets are very shy and cautious in nature. Their enemies are snakes, cats, predator birds. But this little monkey can be tamed and then it becomes a true friend to a person. In captivity, marmosets live 18 years, 5-6 longer than in nature.
Goatzin
Lives in the tropical forests of the Amazon basin bird with "hands" . This an amazing bird the size of a crow - the hoatzin. The main color is red-brown with a greenish tint, decorated everywhere with colored inserts: the tips of the tail feathers are white, on the head there is a red-orange crest of thin feathers, the face is blue, and the chest is light brown or reddish. All this beauty is securely held on strong legs. The tail is long, the wings are wide. The long neck ends with a small head with a chic decoration in the form of a high crest.
Unlike their feathered relatives, in addition to two regular legs, chicks have additional ones that perform the duties of hands. These are modified wings with claws. Wing-feet help to hold tightly to tree branches, as well as to hang for a long time. With their help, hoatzins move deftly within a few days after birth. When a still fledgling chick, deftly moving all four limbs, climbs down or up a tree trunk, it is very easy to mistake it for some outlandish lizard. Another strange hoatzin chicks can swim. In the water they hide from enemies if they find them not in the nest. As the hoatzin matures into an adult bird, it loses its claws and ability to swim. But he gains the ability to “sing.”It's interesting that he doesn't sing like many others common birds, and croaks like a frog.The hoatzin hardly flies; most of the time it rests onand rarely comes down to earth.In its appearance, the hoatzin resembles the first bird - Archeopteryx.
The hoatzin feeds on leaves and builds its nest from them. Hoatzins are the only ruminant birds. Its strong defensive weapon is a strong, unpleasant odor, and the meat is unfit for food.
The main danger of extinction of the marmoset and hoatzin is deforestation of the tropical forest.
Holothuria
The following unusual animal lives in sea depths- ThisHolothuria.
They are also called sea capsules or sea cucumbers. Their closest relatives are starfish and sea urchins. They usually live on the seabed. Only a few live near the surface of the water.
The sea cucumber has an elongated, cylindrical body and can be red, black, blue, green or brown. The size of the sea cucumber depends on the species. The smallest can be around 30 cm, while the larger species can reach up to 1 meter in length
Although the sea cucumber has a skeleton, it is soft to the touch as the skeleton is made up of plates and spines. These sea creatures have no brain. Sea cucumbers have five rows of tentacles on the surface of the body. Thanks to them, they move around and use them for feeding.
When confronted with danger, the sea cucumber is able to push out internal organs along with a toxic substance. All missing organs can be restored in the next 1.5-5 weeks.
The lifespan of sea cucumbers is from 5 to 10 years. wildlife.
Sea cucumbers playing important role in the purification of nature. Their activity occurs mainly at night.
These animals are used as a delicacy, and in Asia - as part of food. Although exploitation of sea cucumbers is increasing, they are still abundant in the wild and are not listed as endangered.
While conducting research, my teacher and I used a variety of materials: encyclopedias, the Internet, educational literature. The magazines “In the Animal World”, “Funny Animals”, “Geolenok”, “Anthill”, “Animals of Our Planet”, etc. helped us a lot.
Conclusion
Having studied the materials of books and encyclopedias on my topic, I came to the conclusion that the animal world is large and diverse. No encyclopedia can even briefly tell about absolutely all representatives of animals. It is possible that scientists have yet to discover new species that are still unknown to science.
MThe world of animals is interesting,
And wonderful with riddles,
Like in nature, where they live,
How they walk or run.
What they eat, how they get it,
Paths where they hide their own,
Interesting creatures
And a source of knowledge!
Bibliography
1. Great encyclopedia “Whychek”. Publishing house "Rosmen", Moscow, 2003
2. Children's encyclopedia. " Big Book questions and answers for the very smart.” Publishing house "Modern Literator", Minsk, 2008.
3. Children's encyclopedia. What's happened? Who it? 1,2,3 volume. Publishing house "AST", Moscow, 2003
4. Interactive encyclopedia. Publishing house "Makhaon", 2011
5. Who? Where? Why? An illustrated encyclopedia for little kids.
Publishing house "Eksmo", Moscow, 2010
6. Schoolboy Yu.K.. Animals. Complete encyclopedia. Publishing house "Eksmo", Moscow, 2010
7. These mysterious animals., Rosmen publishing house, Moscow, 2010.
8. "Big Encyclopedia for Schoolchildren." Publishing house Rosmen. M.2000
9. "Child in the world of search." Ed. Dybina O.V. M. 2009
10. Poglazova O. T. The world, 1st grade Smolensk, “21st Century Association”, 2012
11. Schoolboy Yu.K. Animals. Complete encyclopedia. - M.: Eksmo, 2008
12. Encyclopedia “Secrets of Living Nature”, Moscow “Bustard”, 2000.
Internet resources
"In the world of animals" 1998,
"Funny Animals" 2009,
"Geolenok" 2003,
"Anthill" 1994
"Animals of our planet."
How many amazing creatures live with us on the planet! We know very little about some of them, and for some, acquaintance with humans becomes fatal, since after the discovery of some species of animals they began to exterminate them. And yet, we hope that the rare and amazing animals of planet Earth, which will be described in the article, will remain an adornment of our world for a long time.
named ay-ay
In Madagascar, there lives a creature that is classified as a prosimian - the aye-aye or the aye-aye. This is the most amazing animal in the world and, moreover, the rarest in number (only 50 individuals). When the researcher Pierre Sonner first discovered it, he decided that it was a rodent, since the teeth of the arm are very similar to those of a squirrel.
The animal grows up to 44 cm, but its fluffy tail grows much longer than its body - up to 60 cm. And the most amazing thing about the little arm is the middle fingers of its forelimbs. This is something the animal cannot do without.
With it, the little arm cleans its fur, drinks water (after dipping its finger in it and then licking it) and, most importantly, obtains food. She taps the bark of the tree with her finger and, having found a suitable place, gnaws the bark. Then the little hand lowers its finger into the hole in order to prick the larva onto the claw and send it into the mouth. In captivity, even after receiving a bowl of sweet syrup, the little hands turn it over, gnaw a hole in the bottom, and then drink the syrup using their irreplaceable finger.
Tarsier - owner of the largest eyes
Some researchers believe that the most amazing animals in the world are tarsiers. The appearance of these crumbs is amazing. Their body length does not exceed 15 cm, but their eyes are 16 mm in diameter. If such proportions were translated into human height, then our eyes would be the size of an apple!
The tarsier can rotate its head almost 360°. And animals are able to communicate using ultrasound. These tiny primates lead night look life, hunting insects, while they deftly jump onto a branch, throwing back their hind legs like a frog. And long fingers with flattened pads help them hold on and not fall.
The snapping turtle is a dinosaur that has survived to this day.
We are accustomed to the fact that turtles are slow and harmless creatures, but the vulture turtle will force us to change our established opinion. Outwardly, this most amazing animal in the world looks like a dinosaur that has survived to this day. And her character is not honey!
This inhabitant of US freshwater rivers can grow up to 1.5 m and weigh 80 kg. It is decorated with a “beak”, very similar to the beak of the bird of the same name, and on the tongue this creature has a small, constantly moving process, very similar to a worm. By the way, it is used by the turtle to catch it by burying itself in the mud and opening its mouth.
The turtle's shell is crowned with three saw-like bone ridges, and the tail is only slightly shorter in length than the crocodile's. If we add here the numerous warts that cover its neck and chin, as well as the algae covering its shell, then the appearance of the snapping turtle is very unattractive. But she can survive underwater for 50 minutes and has very sharp eyesight.
Blob fish
The depths of the ocean are home to many bizarre and little-studied creatures. And the blobfish, an inhabitant of the deep sea, can easily be classified as “the most amazing animal in the world.” This gelatinous, sedentary lump actually only vaguely resembles a fish. And almost human dissatisfaction is completely surprising.
The body of the fish is only 30 cm long, it is devoid of scales and covered with mucus, and the massive head is decorated with a process similar to a drooping nose. The huge mouth of this “beauty” has lips twisted in a displeased and disgusted grimace.
The blob fish does not like to swim. Although her jelly-like body is lighter than water and can float calmly in the depths of the ocean, she more often just lies motionless on the bottom and patiently waits for all sorts of small creatures to swim into her mouth.
By the way, this sea blob incubates its eggs until fry emerge from them. And even after that, she continues to take care of them.
Copepod - the strongest creature on the planet
And in the water column live tiny blind crustaceans, whose body length does not exceed 10 mm - these are the strongest and
Amazing world These multicellular organisms are being closely studied by Danish scientists. They found that copepods are capable of covering a distance of 50 cm in a second, which is five hundred times the body length of this creature. If a person had such capabilities, he could easily jump a kilometer! This is power! Copepods are 10 or even 30 times stronger than any animal and even a machine.
When jumping, copepods reach speeds of up to 6 km/h, and if these figures are translated into human parameters, it turns out that a person with a height of 170 cm could accelerate to a speed of 1000 km/h. Like this!
There are also spiders among the crabs
In the Pacific Ocean near the shores of Japan lives the most amazing animal in the world - the spider crab. It weighs almost 20 kg, and the size of its body together with its paws reaches 4 m. True, the body itself is only 35 cm. This crab is classified as a long-livers, it is believed that it can live up to 100 years!
Our arthropod giant is so huge that if he wanted to walk along the shore, he could easily step over the van with vacationers. Fortunately, these crabs live only at a decent depth - up to 300 m. And only in order to lay eggs they rise to a depth of fifty meters.
By the way, if a spider crab loses one of its monstrous legs, then it grows back and becomes longer with each molt.
A miracle of nature - a fish with a transparent head
The most amazing animals on the planet have in their ranks and such a miracle as Creatures like her cannot be found in the whole world. Her head is covered with a transparent shell and filled with liquid inside. And the fish’s eyes are inside this “aquarium” and can only look up, in the same place where they should be; the fish’s nostrils are located.
This unreal creature was discovered only in 1939, as it lives at great depths (up to 800 m). But only in 2004 were scientists able to study the life of this amazing animal in more detail.
They discovered that the fish, having seen an object suitable for hunting from below, becomes vertical, causing its eyes, which are in a special liquid, to turn, allowing it to take a closer look and then eat it.
A selection of the 30 most unusual creatures of our planet...
Based on materials from: wikipedia.org & animalworld.com.ua & unnatural.ru
Madagascar suckerfoot
Found only in Madagascar. At the bases of the thumbs of the wings and on the soles of the hind limbs, sucker bats have complex rosette suckers, which are located directly on the skin (unlike the suckers in sucker-footed bats). The biology and ecology of the suckerfoot has been virtually unstudied. Most likely, it uses rolled up leathery palm leaves as shelters, to which it sticks with its suckers. All suckers were caught close to the water.
Angora rabbit (ladies)
These rabbits look quite impressive; there are specimens whose fur reaches up to 80 cm in length. Their wool is extremely valuable, and a wide variety of things are made from it: stockings, scarves, gloves, just fabrics and even linen. One kilogram of this rabbit's wool is valued at about 10 - 12 rubles. One rabbit produces about 0.5 kg of this wool per year, but usually much less. Most often, Angora rabbits are bred by women, which is why they are sometimes called “ladies’ rabbits.” The average weight of such a rabbit is 5 kg, body length 61 cm, chest girth 35-40 cm, but other options are possible.
Monkey marmoset
This one amazing view monkeys living on Earth. The weight of an adult does not exceed 120 g. When you look at this tiny creature the size of a mouse (10-15 cm) with a long tail (20-21 cm) and large Mongoloid eyes with a conscious gaze, you feel some embarrassment.
Coconut crab
This is one of the representatives of decapod crustaceans. Habitat of this animal West Side Pacific Ocean and islands in the Indian Ocean. This animal of the land crayfish family is quite large for representatives of its species. An adult can reach 32 cm in length and weigh up to 3-4 kg. For quite a long time it was mistakenly believed that palm thief can split coconuts with its claws in order to then eat them, but now scientists have definitely proven that this cancer, despite the enormous strength of its claws, is not capable of splitting coconut, but it could easily break your arm...
Coconuts that split when they fall constitute their main source of nutrition, which is why this crayfish was named the palm thief. However, he is not averse to enjoying other food - the fruits of plants, organic elements from the earth, and even God's creatures similar to themselves. His character, meanwhile, is timid and friendly.
The coconut crab is unique in its kind, its sense of smell is as developed as that of insects, and it also has olfactory organs that ordinary crabs lack. This feature developed after this species left the water and settled on land.
Unlike other crabs, they move forward rather than sideways. They don't stay in the water for long.
Sea cucumber. Holothuria
Sea cucumbers, egg capsules (Holothuroidea), a class of invertebrates such as echinoderms. The modern fauna is represented by 1,150 species, divided into 6 orders, which differ from each other in the shape of the tentacles and calcareous ring, as well as the presence of some internal organs. There are about 100 species in Russia. The body of sea cucumbers is leathery to the touch, usually rough and wrinkled. The body wall is thick and elastic, with well-developed muscle bundles. Longitudinal muscles (5 ribbons) are attached to the calcareous ring around the esophagus. At one end of the body there is a mouth, at the other there is an anus. The mouth is surrounded by a corolla of 10-30 tentacles, which serve to capture food, and leads into a spirally twisted intestine.
They usually lie “on their side”, raising the front, oral end. Holothurians feed on plankton and organic debris extracted from bottom silt and sand, which is passed through the digestive canal. Other species filter food from bottom waters with tentacles covered with sticky mucus.
Hell Vampire
This animal is a mollusk. Despite its external similarity to an octopus or squid, scientists have separated this mollusk into a separate series, Vampyromorphida (Latin), because only it has retractable, receptive, whip-shaped filaments.
Almost the entire surface of the mollusk’s body is covered with luminescent organs - photophores. They appear as small white discs enlarging at the ends of the tentacles and at the base of the fins. Photophores are absent only on inside membraned tentacles. The hellish vampire has very good control over these organs and is capable of producing disorienting flashes of light lasting from hundredths of a second to several minutes. In addition, it can control the brightness and size of the color spots. 
Amazonian dolphin
This is the largest in the world river dolphin. Inia geoffrensis, as scientists have named it, can reach 2.5 meters in length and weigh up to 200 kg. Juveniles are light gray in color, but become lighter with age. The Amazonian dolphin has a full body, with a narrow snout and a thin tail. Round forehead, slightly curved nose and not big eyes. You can meet the Amazonian dolphin in the rivers and lakes of Latin America.
Star-nosed
The star-nosed insect is an insectivorous mammal from the mole family. You can meet such an animal only in South-Eastern Canada and the north-eastern USA. Externally, the star-nosed snake differs from other animals of this family and from other small animals, only it is characterized by the structure of its snout in the form of a rosette or an asterisk made of 22 soft mobile fleshy naked rays. The size of the star-nosed ray similar to its European relative the mole. Its tail is relatively long (about 8 cm), covered with scales and sparse hair. When the starfish is looking for food, the rays on the stigma are constantly moving, with the exception of the two middle ones, they are directed forward and do not bend. When he eats, the rays are pulled together into a compact lump; While eating, the animal holds the food with its front paws. When the starfish drinks, it immerses both the stigma and all the whiskers in the water for 5-6 seconds.
Fossa
These amazing animals live only on the island of Madagascar; there are nowhere else in the world, not even in Africa. Fossa is a rare animal and the only representative of the genus Cryptoprocta, while Fossa is the most large predator, living on the island of Madagascar. The appearance of the Fossa is a little unusual: it is something between a civet and a small puma. At times, the Fossa is also called the Madagascar lion; the ancestors of this animal were much larger and reached the size of a lion. The fossa has a strong build, a massive and slightly elongated body, its length can reach up to 80 cm (on average the fossa body reaches 65-70 cm). The fossa's paws are high, but rather thick, and the hind paws are longer than the front paws. The tail of this animal is very long, often reaching the length of the body and reaching up to 65 cm. 
Japanese giant salamander
The largest amphibian found in the world, this salamander can reach 160 cm in length and weigh up to 180 kg. In addition, such a salamander can live up to 150 years, although the officially recorded longest age of a huge salamander is 59 years.
Madagascar crayfish (or Aye-Aye)
The Madagascar monkey (lat. Daubentonia madagascariensis) or aye-aye, is a mammal of the suborder of prosimians; the only representative of the family of arms. One of the rarest animals on the planet - there are only five dozen individuals, which is why it was discovered relatively recently. The largest animal of the nocturnal primates. 
The body length of the arm is 30-37 cm without a tail, 44-53 cm with a tail. Weight - about 2.5 kg. The head is large, the muzzle is short; The ears are large and leathery. The tail is large and fluffy. The coat color ranges from dark brown to black. They live in the East and North of the island of Madagascar. They are nocturnal. They feed on the fruits of mango trees and coconut palms, the core of bamboo and sugar cane, tree beetles and larvae. They sleep in hollows or nests.
This animal is one of the most unique mammals on the planet; it has no similar features to any other animal. The little arm has a thick, wide head with large ears, which makes the head appear even wider. Small, protruding, motionless, and glowing eyes with smaller pupils than those of a nocturnal monkey. Its muzzle bears a close resemblance to the beak of a parrot, an elongated body and a long tail, which, like the whole body, is sparsely covered with long, stiff, bristle-like hair. And finally, unusual hands, and these are hands, their middle finger has the appearance of a withered one - all these features connected together give the aye-aye such a unique appearance that you involuntarily rack your brains in a vain zeal to find a related creature similar to this animal.” - this is what A.E. Bram wrote in his book “Animal Life”.
Listed in the “Red Book”, ay-ay is the most remarkable animal, over which a serious danger of extinction hangs. Daubentonia madagascariensis is the only representative of not only the genus, but also the family that has survived to this day.
Guidak
The photo shows the longest-living and at the same time the largest (up to 1 meter in length) burrowing mollusk in the world (the age of the oldest individual found is 160 years). The concept of Guidak was taken from the Indians and is translated as “deep-digging” - these gastropods can actually bury themselves quite deep in the sand. A “leg” protrudes from under the thin, fragile shell of the hyodac, which is three times larger than the shell (there have been cases where specimens with a leg length of more than 1 meter were found). The mollusk meat is very tough and tastes like abalone (this is also a mollusk, terribly tasteless, but with a very beautiful shell), so Americans usually cut it into pieces, beat it and fry it in butter with onion.
Liger
The liger (English liger from the English lion - “lion” and English tiger - “tiger”) is a hybrid between a male lion and a female tigress, looking like a giant lion with blurry stripes. The appearance and size are similar to the cave lion and its relatives that became extinct in the Pleistocene American lion. Ligers are the largest big cats in the world today. The largest liger is Hercules from the interactive theme park Jungle Island.
Male ligers, with rare exceptions, have almost no mane, but unlike lions, ligers know how and love to swim. Another feature of ligers is that female ligers can give birth to offspring, which is unusual for feline hybrids. The extraordinary gigantism of ligers is due to the fact that ligers receive genes from their lion father that promote the growth of their offspring, while the tiger mother does not have genes that inhibit the growth of their offspring. While the tiger father does not have genes that promote growth, the lioness mother has genes that inhibit growth, which are passed on to her offspring. This explains the fact that the liger is larger than the lion, and the tiger lion is smaller than the tiger.
Imperial tamarin
The name of the species (“imperial”) is associated with the presence of fluffy white “whiskers” on these monkeys and is given in honor of Kaiser Wilhelm II. Body length - about 25 cm, tail - about 35 cm. Weight of adult individuals - 250-500 grams. Tamarins feed on fruits and lead a diurnal lifestyle. They live in small groups of 8-15 individuals.
Emperor tamarins are native to the Amazon rainforest and are found in northwestern Brazil, eastern Peru and northern Bolivia. In the east, the range is limited by the Gurupi River, in the upper reaches of the Amazon - by the Putumayo rivers in the north and Madeira in the south. Although the species lives in hard-to-reach places, it protective status assessed as vulnerable.
Cuban slittooth
The Cuban slittooth, a strange creature that looks like a large hedgehog with a funny long-nosed muzzle, when it bites, kills insects and small animals with poisonous saliva. The slit tooth is not dangerous for humans, quite the contrary. Until 2003, the animal was considered extinct until several specimens were caught in the forest. The slittooth has no immunity to its poison, so fights between males are usually fatal for all participants.
Kakapo parrot
The New Zealand kakapo parrot, also known as the owl parrot, is probably the most unusual parrot in the world. He never flies, weighs 4 kilograms, croaks in a nasty voice and is nocturnal. It is considered an extinct species in nature due to ecological imbalance caused by rats and cats. Experts hope to restore the kakapo population, but it is very reluctant to breed in zoos.
Cyclocosmia
This species of spider stands out from the representatives of its genus only by the very original shape of its abdomen. Cyclocosmia digs burrows 7-15 cm deep in the ground. Its abdomen, at the end, is as if chopped off and ends with a chitinized flat disc-shaped surface; it serves to close the entrance to the burrow when the spider is in danger. This method of defense is called Pragmosis (eng. Phragmosis) - a method of defense in which an animal, if threatened, hides in a hole and uses part of its body as a barrier, blocking the path of a predator.
Tapir
Tapirs (lat. Tapirus) are large herbivores from the order of equids, somewhat reminiscent of a pig in shape, but with a short trunk adapted for grasping.
The sizes of tapirs differ from species to species, but as a rule, the length of a tapir is about two meters, the height at the withers is about a meter, and the weight is from 150 to 300 kg. Life expectancy in the wild is about 30 years, the cub is always born alone, pregnancy lasts about 13 months. Newborn tapirs have protective coloring consisting of spots and stripes, and although this coloring appears to be the same, different types there are some differences. The front paws of tapirs are four-toed, and the hind paws are three-toed; the toes have small hooves that help them move on muddy and soft ground.
Mixin
The hagfish (lat. Myxini) lives at depths of 100-500 meters, its predominant habitat is near the shores North America, Europe, Iceland, East Greenland. Sometimes it can be found in the Adriatic Sea. IN winter time The hagfish sometimes descends to great depths - up to 1 km.
The size of this animal is small - 35-40 centimeters, although sometimes giant specimens are found - 79-80 centimeters. Naturalist Carl Linnaeus, who discovered this miracle in 1761, initially even included it in the class of worms because of its specific appearance. Although in fact hagfish belong to the class of cyclostomes, which are the historical predecessors of fish. The color of hagfish can vary, but the predominant colors are pinkish and gray-red.
A distinctive feature of hagfish is the presence of a number of holes that secrete mucus, which are located along the lower edge of the animal’s body. It should be noted that mucus is a very important secretion of hagfish, which is used by the animal to penetrate into the cavity of the fish chosen as a victim. Mucus also plays an important role in animal respiration. The hagfish is a veritable mucus-creating plant, particularly when placed in a bucket, full of water, then after some time all the water is converted into mucus.
The fins of hagfishes are actually not developed; they are difficult to distinguish on long body animal. Organ of vision - the eyes see poorly; they are masked by light areas of skin in this area. The round mouth has as many as 2 rows of teeth, and there is also one unpaired tooth in the palate area. Hagfish “breathe through their nose”, and water enters the hole at the end of the snout - the nostril. The respiratory organs of hagfish, like all fish, are gills. The area where they are located are special cavities-channels running along the animal’s body. The hagfish hunts only those fish that are sick, weakened (for example, after spawning) or caught in gear or nets installed by humans. The attack process itself occurs as follows: the hagfish eats through the wall of the fish’s body with its sharp teeth, after which it enters the body, consuming first the internal organs, and then muscle mass. If the unfortunate victim is still able to resist, then the hagfish passes into the gills and fills them with mucus, abundantly secreted by its glands. As a result, the fish dies from suffocation, leaving the hunter the opportunity to eat its body
Proboscis
The proboscis monkey, or Kahau (lat. Nasalis larvatus) is a monkey widespread only in one small area of the globe - the valleys and coast of the island of Borneo. The proboscis monkey belongs to the family of thin-bodied monkeys and received its name due to its huge nose, which is a distinctive feature of males.
It has not yet been possible to establish the exact purpose of such a large nose, but, obviously, its size plays a role in choosing a mating partner. The fur of these monkeys is yellowish-brown on the back and white on the belly, the limbs and tail are gray, and the face is not covered with hair at all and has a rather bright reddish tint, and in the cubs a bluish tint.
The size of an adult proboscis monkey can reach 75 cm, excluding the tail, and twice that size from the nose to the tip of the tail. Average weight males weigh 18-20 kg, females weigh almost half as much. Almost never moving away from the water, proboscis whales were known as excellent swimmers who could travel more than 20 meters underwater. In open shallow water tropical forests proboscis monkeys move, like most primates, on four limbs, but in the wild thickets of mangroves (the so-called tropical forests of Borneo) they walk on two legs, almost vertically.
Axolotl
Representing the larval form of Ambystoma, the axolotl is considered one of the most interesting objects for study. Firstly, axolotls do not need to reach adult form and undergo metamorphosis. Surprised? The secret lies in neoteny - a phenomenon in which sexual maturity occurs in the axolotl even in “childhood” age. Note that the tissues of this larva react rather poorly to the hormone secreted by the thyroid gland.
Experiments have proven that lowering the water level during home breeding of these larvae promotes their transformation into adults. The same thing happens in cooler, drier climates. If an axolotl lives in your aquarium, and you want to turn it into an ambistoma, then be sure to add the hormone thyroidin to the larva’s food. A similar result can be achieved with an injection. As a rule, the transformation of an axolotl will take several weeks, after which the larva will change its body shape and color. In addition, the axolotl will permanently lose its external gills.
Literally translated from the Aztec language, axolotl is a “water toy,” which is quite consistent with its appearance. Once you see an axolotl, you are unlikely to forget its unusual, bizarre appearance. At first glance, the axolotl resembles a newt, but has a rather large and wide head. The smiling “face” of the axolotl deserves special attention - tiny beady eyes and an excessively wide mouth.
As for the amphibian’s body length, it is about thirty centimeters, and axolotls are characterized by the regeneration of lost body parts. The natural habitat of the axolotl is concentrated in Xochimailco and Cholco - mountain lakes Mexico.
If you look closely at the amphibian's head, you will notice six long gills, symmetrically located on the sides of the head. The axolotl's gills externally resemble thin shaggy twigs, which the larva cleans from time to time of organic debris.
Thanks to their wide, long tail, axolotls are excellent swimmers, although they prefer to spend most of their lives at the bottom. Why bother with unnecessary movements if the food floats into your mouth by itself?
At first, biologists were quite surprised respiratory system axolotls, including both lungs and gills. For example, if the aquatic habitat of an axolotl is not sufficiently saturated with oxygen, the larva quickly adapts to such a change and begins to breathe with its lungs.
Naturally, the transition to pulmonary breathing negatively affects the gills, which gradually atrophy. And, of course, it is worth paying attention to the original coloring of the axolotl. Small black spots evenly cover the green body, although the axolotl's abdomen remains almost white.
Zoologists have made different assumptions as to what exactly attracts the candira to the human genitals. The most plausible assumption seems to be that the candiru are extremely sensitive to the smell of urine: it happened that the candiru attacked a person a few moments after he urinated in the water. It is believed that candiru are able to find the source of smell in water.
But the candiru does not always penetrate the victim. It happens that, having overtaken prey, the candiru bites through the skin of a person or the gill tissue of a fish with long teeth that grow in their upper jaw and begins to suck blood from the victim, causing the body of the candiru itself to swell and swell. Candiru hunt not only fish and mammals, but also reptiles.
Tarsier
Tarsier (Tarsier, lat. Tarsius) is a small mammal from the order of primates, the very specific appearance of which has created a somewhat ominous halo around this small animal weighing up to one hundred and sixty grams.
Particularly impressionable tourists say that the first time they see huge shining eyes looking at them without blinking, and the next moment the animal turns its head almost 360 degrees and you look straight at the back of its head, you feel, to put it mildly, uneasy. By the way, local aborigines still believe that the tarsier’s head exists separately from the body. Well, this is all speculation, of course, but the facts are obvious!
There are about 8 species of tarsier. The most common are the Bankan and Philippine tarsier, as well as separate species- tarsier-ghost. These mammals live in Southeast Asia, the islands of Sumatra, Borneo, Sulawesi and the Philippines, as well as in adjacent territories.
Externally, tarsiers are small animals, the size of which does not exceed sixteen centimeters, with large ears, long thin fingers and a long tail of about thirty cm, and at the same time with very little weight.
The animal's fur is brown or grayish, and its eyes are much larger compared to human proportions - about the size of an average apple.
In nature, tarsiers live in pairs or small groups of eight to ten individuals. They are nocturnal and feed exclusively on animal origin - insects and small vertebrates.
Their pregnancy lasts about six months and they are born small animal, which, just a couple of hours after birth, clinging to its mother’s fur, will make its first journey. Average duration The lifespan of a tarsier is about ten to thirteen years.
Narwhal
Narwhals (lat. Monodon monoceros) are a protected rare species belonging to the unicorn family and are listed in the Red Book of Russia due to their small numbers. The habitat of this marine animal is the waters of the Northern Arctic Ocean, as well as the North Atlantic. The size of an adult male often reaches 4.5 meters, weighing about one and a half tons. Females weigh slightly less. The head of an adult narwhal is round, with a large, tuberous forehead, and there is no dorsal fin. Narwhals are somewhat reminiscent of beluga whales, although compared to the latter, the animals have a somewhat spotted skin and 2 upper teeth, one of which, growing, turns into a three-meter tusk weighing up to 10 kg.
The narwhal tusk, twisted to the left in the form of a spiral, is quite rigid, but at the same time it has a certain limit of flexibility and can bend up to thirty centimeters. Previously, it was often passed off as a unicorn horn, which had healing power. It was believed that if you throw a piece of narwhal horn into a glass of poisoned wine, it will change its color.
IN given time There is a hypothesis, which is very popular in scientific circles, proving that the narwhal’s horn, covered with sensitive endings, is needed by the animal to measure water temperature, pressure and other parameters of the aquatic environment that are no less important for life.
Narwhals most often live in small groups of up to ten animals. The diet of narwhals, which, by the way, can hunt at depths of more than a kilometer, consists of cephalopods and bottom fish. The enemies of narwhals in nature can be called other inhabitants of these territories - polar bears and killer whales.
However, the greatest damage to the narwhal population was caused by people who hunted them for their delicious meat and horns, which are successfully used to make a variety of crafts. At this time, animals are under state protection.
Octopus Jumbo
Dumbo is a very small and unusual deep-sea octopus, a representative of the cephalopods. Lives only in the Tasman Sea.
Jumbo apparently got his name in honor of the famous cartoon character, Dumbo the elephant, who was ridiculed for his big ears(in the middle of the body the octopus has a pair of rather long, oar-shaped fins resembling ears). Its individual tentacles are literally connected to the ends by a thin elastic membrane called the umbrella. It, together with the fins, serves as the main mover of this animal, that is, the octopus moves like jellyfish, pushing water out from under the umbrella bell.
The largest Jumbo was discovered in the Tasman Sea - half the size of a human palm.
Medusa Cyanea
Jellyfish Cyanea - considered the largest jellyfish in the world, found in the Northwest Atlantic. The diameter of the bell of the cyanea jellyfish reaches 2 meters, and the length of the thread-like tentacles is 20-30 meters. One of these jellyfish, washed ashore in Massachusetts Bay, had a bell diameter of 2.28 m, and its tentacles extended 36.5 m.
Each such jellyfish eats about 15 thousand fish during its life.
Piglet squid
This is a deep-sea marine inhabitant, which received the nickname “pig squid” because of its round body. The scientific name of piglet squid is Helicocranchia pfefferi. Not much is known about him. It is found in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans at a depth of about 100 meters. Swims slowly. And under the eyes (like many deep-sea animals) it has luminous organs - photophores.
“Little Pig”, unlike other squids, swims upside down, so its tentacles look like a tuft.
Snake Carla
There are currently 3,100 known species of snakes on our planet. But the snake Carla from the island of Barbados is the smallest of them. The maximum length it reaches in adulthood is 10 centimeters.
Leptotyphlops carlae was first officially described and identified as a new species in 2008. Blair Hedge, a biologist at Penn State, named the snake after his wife, herpentologist Carla Ann Hass, who was also part of the team that made the discovery.
It is believed that the Barbados thread, as this snake is also called, is located close to the theoretically possible minimum size for snakes, which evolution allows. If suddenly the snake happens to be even smaller, it simply will not be able to find food for itself and will die.
The snake Carla feeds on termites and ant larvae.
Due to its miniature size, the thread snake bears only one egg, but it is a large one. The size of the born snake at the moment of birth is half the mother’s body. However, this is normal for snakes. How smaller snake, the larger in proportion her offspring are - and vice versa.
Leptotyphlops carlae has so far been found only on the island of Barbados in the Caribbean Sea, and even then only in the east-central part of it. Most of Barbados' forests have been cleared. And since the thread snake lives only in the forest, it is assumed that the territory suitable for habitation of the strange creature is limited to just a few square kilometers. So the survival of the species is a concern.
Lamprey
Lampreys look like eels or huge worms, although they have nothing to do with either one. They have a naked body covered with mucus, which is why they are mistaken for worms. In fact, these are primitive vertebrates. Zoologists group them into a special class of cyclostomes. You can’t say about cyclostomes that they have a tongue without bones. Their mouth is equipped with a complex system of cartilage that supports the mouth and tongue. There are no jaws, so food is sucked into the mouth like into a funnel. Along the edges of this funnel and on the tongue there are teeth. Lampreys have three eyes. Two on the sides and one on the forehead.
Lampreys are predators and attack mainly fish. The lamprey attaches itself to the victim, gnaws through the scales, drinks the blood and snacks on the meat (from the area it bit into). In our country, lamprey fishing is carried out in the Neva and other rivers flowing into the Baltic Sea, as well as in the Volga. In Russia, lamprey is considered an exquisite delicacy. But in many countries, such as the USA, lampreys are not eaten.
Killer Clam
This curiosity lives on coral reefs at a depth of almost 25 meters. The mollusk weighs up to 210 kilograms with a body length of up to 1.7 meters. Life expectancy is up to 150 years. Due to its impressive size, it gave rise to many rumors and dark legends.
It is called Giant clam (from the English giant clam), Tridacninae, Tridacna. The giant clam is a delicacy in Japan, France, Southeast Asia and many Pacific Islands. Lives due to symbiosis with the algae that live on it. It also knows how to filter water passing through it and extract plankton from there.
It doesn’t actually eat people, but if a careless diver tries to touch the mollusk’s mantle with his hand, the shell flaps will reflexively close. And since the compression force of the tridacna muscles is enormous, a person risks dying from lack of oxygen. This is where the name “killer clam” comes from.
On my website I regularly tell you about, for example, just a couple of days ago I published an article about. The rating of the article exceeded all my expectations and I decided to add more to this list 25 extraordinary animals.
1. Deciduous sea Dragon
What kind of animal: Sea fish, a relative of the seahorse.
Habitat: In the waters washing southern and western, often in shallow water, in moderately warm water.
Special features: Branches of the head and body, similar to leaves, serve only for camouflage. It moves using the pectoral fin located on the crest of the neck, as well as the dorsal fin near the tip of the tail. These fins are completely transparent.
Dimensions: grows up to 45 cm.
By the way: the leafy sea dragon is the official emblem of the state of South Australia.
2. Malayan bear or biruang
What kind of animal: Mammal of the bear family.
Habitat: From the northeast and the southern part through Myanmar, Thailand, the Indochina and Malacca peninsulas to Indonesia.
Special features: Stocky, strong animal with a short and wide muzzle. The ears are short and rounded. The limbs are high with disproportionately large paws; the claws are very large, curved. Feet are bare. The fangs are small. The biruang's fur is short, stiff and smooth. The color is black, on the face it turns into roan-yellow. On the chest there is usually a large whitish or red spot in the shape of a horseshoe, reminiscent in shape and color of the rising sun. A nocturnal animal, it often sleeps all day or sunbathes in the branches of trees, where it builds a kind of nest for itself.
Dimensions: The smallest representative of the bear family: it does not exceed 1.5 m in length (plus a 3-7 cm tail), height at the withers is only 50-70 cm; weight 27-65 kg.
By the way: Biruangs are one of the most rare species bears.
3. Komondor
What kind of animal: The Hungarian Shepherd is a breed of dog.
Special features: When keeping a Komondor, it is necessary special care behind its fur, which can reach almost a meter in length. It cannot be combed, but as it grows, the formed strands must be separated so that the hair does not fall off.
Dimensions: This “king of the Hungarian Shepherds” is one of the largest dogs in the world, the height at the withers of males is more than 80 cm, and the long white hair, curled into original laces, makes the dog even more massive and impressive.
By the way: Feeding this huge dog is not particularly difficult. Like any herding dog, they are very unpretentious and eat very little, a little more than 1 kg of food per day.
4. Angora rabbit
What kind of animal: A rodent-type mammal.
Habitat: Where its home is, since it is a pet. More precisely - everywhere.
Special features: This animal is indeed extremely impressive; there are specimens whose fur reaches a length of up to 80 cm. This wool is very valued, and a wide variety of useful things are prepared from it, even underwear, stockings, gloves, scarves and, finally, just fabrics. A kilogram of Angora rabbit wool is usually valued at 10 - 12 rubles. One rabbit can produce up to 0.5 kg of such wool per year, but usually produces less. The Angora rabbit is most often bred by ladies, which is why it is sometimes called “ladies’ rabbit”.
Dimensions: Average weight 5 kg, body length 61 cm, chest circumference 38 cm, but variations are possible.
By the way: These rabbits should be combed every week, because if you don't take care of their fur, they get a disgusting appearance.
5. Red Panda
What kind of animal: an animal of the raccoon family.
Habitat: China, northern Burma, Bhutan, and northeastern India. Not found west of Nepal. Lives in mountain bamboo forests at an altitude of 2000-4000 m above sea level in a temperate climate.
Special features: The fur of the red panda is red or hazel on top, dark, reddish-brown or black below. The hair on the back has yellow tips. The paws are glossy black, the tail is red, with inconspicuous lighter narrow rings, the head is light, and the edges of the ears and muzzle are almost white, and there is a mask-like pattern near the eyes. The red panda leads a predominantly nocturnal (or rather, twilight) lifestyle; during the day it sleeps in a hollow, curled up and covering its head with its tail. In case of danger, it also climbs trees. On the ground, pandas move slowly and awkwardly, but they climb trees very well, but, nevertheless, they feed mainly on the ground - mainly on young leaves and bamboo shoots.
Dimensions: Body length 51-64 cm, tail 28-48 cm, weighs 3-4.5 kg
By the way: Red pandas live alone. The female’s “personal” territory occupies an area of about 2.5 square meters. km, the male is twice as large.
6. Sloth
What kind of animal: A partially toothed mammal belonging to the Bradypodidae family.
Habitat: found in Central and South America.
Special features: Sloths spend almost all their time hanging on a tree branch with their backs down; sloths sleep 15 hours a day. The physiology and behavior of sloths is focused on strict energy savings, because... They feed on low-calorie leaves. Digestion takes about a month. In a well-fed sloth, ⅔ of its body weight may be food in its stomach. Sloths Long neck to remove leaves from large territory without moving. The body temperature of an active sloth is 30-34 °C, and at rest it is even lower. Sloths really don’t like to get out of trees, because on the ground they are completely helpless. In addition, it requires energy. They climb down to relieve natural needs, which they do only once a week (therefore bladder they have a huge one) and sometimes to move to another tree, where, in order to further save energy, they often gather in groups in the forks of branches. There is an assumption that at the same time they mate lazily.
Dimensions: The body weight of different species of sloths varies from 4 to 9 kg, and the body length is about 60 centimeters.
By the way: Sloths are so slow that the moth often lives in their fur.
7. Imperial Tamarina
What kind of animal: Primate, prehensile-tailed monkey.
Habitat: In the rain forests of the Amazon River basin in areas of southeastern Peru, northwestern Bolivia and northwestern Brazil.
Special signs: Distinctive feature species - a particularly long white mustache, hanging down to the chest and shoulders in two strands. The toes have claws, not nails, only the big toes of the hind legs have nails. They spend most of their lives in trees, where larger species of monkeys cannot climb due to their weight.
Dimensions: Body length is 9.2-10.4 inches, tail length is 14-16.6 inches. The weight of adults is 180-250 g.
By the way: Tamarins live in groups of 2-8 individuals. All members of the group have their own rank, and at the highest level is the old female. Therefore, males carry the cubs.
8. White-faced Saki
What kind of animal: Primate, broad-nosed monkey.
Habitat: They live in rain forests, drier forests and even the savannas of the Amazon, Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname and Venezuela.
Special features: The coat color is black, the front of the head, forehead and throat of males are light, almost white. Sometimes the head is reddish in color. The fur is thick and soft, the tail is long and fluffy. The tail is not prehensile. Females have a general coloration of brown and uniform. There are lighter stripes around the nose and mouth.
Dimensions: Males weigh 1.5-2 kg and are slightly heavier than females. Body length 15 inches, tail 20 inches.
By the way: White-faced sakis spend their entire lives in trees. Sometimes they go down to lower tier tropical forest (on the lower branches of trees and shrubs) in search of food. In case of danger, they make long jumps, while the tail serves as a balancer. Active during the day and night.
9. Tapir
What kind of animal: A large herbivore from the order of equids.
Habitat: In Central America, in warm places South America and Southeast Asia.
Special features: Tapirs are relatively ancient mammals: even among the remains of animals 55 million years old, you can find many tapir-like animals. The closest animals to tapirs are other odd-toed ungulates: equines and rhinoceroses. Their front legs are four-toed, and their hind legs are three-toed; their toes have small hooves that help them move on muddy and soft ground.
Dimensions: The sizes of tapirs differ from species to species, but, as a rule, the length of a tapir is about two meters, the height at the withers is about a meter, and the weight is from 150 to 300 kg.
By the way: Tapirs are forest animals that love water. In forests, tapirs feed on fruits, leaves and berries. Their main enemy is man, who hunts tapirs for their meat and skin.
10. Mixins
What kind of animal: an animal from the jawless class.
Habitat: Inhabits the seas temperate latitudes, staying near the bottom at a depth of up to 400 m. At salinity below 29%, they stop feeding, and at 25% and below they die.
Special features: The hagfish's mouth opening lacks a suction disc and is surrounded by only two pairs of antennae. By gnawing into the skin of the victim with strong horny teeth, they inject enzymes that dissolve proteins. Hagfishes most often prey on weakened vertebrate and invertebrate animals, as well as carrion. Often they find skeletons of fish covered with skin, and inside there are hagfish that have eaten all their entrails and muscles.
Dimensions: Body length up to 80 cm.
By the way: In Japan and some other countries, hagfish are eaten.
11. Star-nosed
What kind of animal: Insectivorous mammal mole family.
Habitat: Found only in southeastern Canada and the northeastern United States.
Special features: Externally, the star-nosed snake differs from other members of the family and from other small animals only in its characteristic stigma structure in the form of a rosette or star of 22 soft, fleshy, mobile bare rays.
Dimensions: The star-nosed mole is similar in size to the European mole. The tail is relatively long (about 8 cm), covered with scales and sparse hair
By the way: When the starfish is looking for food, the fleshy rays on the stigma are in constant motion, with the exception of the two middle ones, which are directed forward and do not bend. When he eats, the rays are pulled together into a compact pile; While eating, the animal holds the food with its front paws. When the starfish drinks, it immerses both the stigma and the entire mustache in water for 5-6 seconds.
12. Proboscis
What kind of animal: A species of primates from the subfamily of slender-bodied monkeys within the family Ape.
Habitat: Distributed exclusively on the island of Borneo, where it inhabits coastal regions and valleys.
Special features: The most striking feature of the proboscis is its large nose, similar to a cucumber, which, however, is only found in males. The fur of proboscis dogs is yellowish-brown on the upper side and white on the underside. Arms, legs and tail gray, and the hairless face is red.
Dimensions: The size of proboscis monkeys reaches from 66 to 75 cm, the tail is approximately as long as the body. The weight of males ranges from 16 to 22 kg, twice the weight of females.
By the way: Proboscis monkeys are excellent swimmers, jumping into the water directly from trees and able to overcome up to 20 meters while diving underwater. Of all primates, they are perhaps the best swimmers.
13. Lesser cape-bearer
What kind of animal: Family of mammals of the order edentates.
Habitat: Armadillos inhabit steppes, deserts, savannas and forest edges of Central and South America.
Special features: These are the only modern mammals whose body is covered on top with a shell formed by cutaneous ossifications. The shell consists of the head, shoulder and pelvic shields and a number of hoop-like stripes encircling the body from above and from the sides. The parts of the shell are interconnected by elastic connective tissue, which gives mobility to the entire shell.
Dimensions: Body length from 12.5 (frilled armadillos) to 100 cm (giant armadillo); weight from 90 g to 60 kg. Tail length from 2.5 to 50 cm.
By the way: The respiratory tract of armadillos is voluminous and serves as a reservoir of air, so these animals can hold their breath for 6 minutes. This helps them cross bodies of water (often armadillos simply cross them along the bottom). The air taken into the lungs compensates for the weight of the heavy shell, allowing the armadillo to swim.
14. Axolotl
What kind of animal: The larval form of an amphibian from the Ambystomidae family.
Habitat: In mountain ponds of Mexico.
Special features: Long, shaggy branches grow on the sides of the axolotl’s head, three on each side. These are gills. Periodically, the larva presses them to the body and shakes them to clean them of organic residues. The axolotl's tail is long and wide, which helps it when swimming. It is interesting that the axolotl breathes with both gills and lungs - if the water is poorly saturated with oxygen, then the axolotl switches to pulmonary breathing, and over time its gills partially atrophy.
Dimensions: Total length - up to 30 cm.
By the way: Axolotls lead a very calm, measured lifestyle, not bothering themselves with unnecessary expenditure of energy. They lie calmly on the bottom, sometimes, wagging their tail, they rise to the surface of the water “for a breath of air.” But this is a predator that attacks its prey from ambush.
15. Aye-aye
What kind of animal: the largest animal of their nocturnal primates.
Habitat: Eastern and northern Madagascar. Lives in the same ecological niche as woodpeckers.
Special features: It has a brown color with white speckles and a large fluffy tail; like woodpeckers, it feeds mainly on worms and larvae, although it was initially believed - because of their teeth - that they feed like rodents.
Dimensions: Weight – about 2.5 kg. Length – 30-37 cm without tail and 44-53 cm with tail.
By the way: One of the rarest animals on the planet - several dozen individuals, which is why it was discovered relatively recently.
16. Alpaca
What kind of animal: an animal of the camel family.
Habitat: Peru, Bolivia, Chile, at an altitude of over 3500-5000 meters.
Special features: Valued primarily for its wool (24 natural shades), which has all the properties of sheep, but is much lighter in weight. 5 kg of wool is sheared from one individual; they are sheared once a year. The absence of front teeth forces alpacas to pick up food with their lips and chew with their lateral teeth. A very good-natured, intelligent, inquisitive animal.
Dimensions: Alpaca height is 61-86 cm, and weight is 45-77 kg.
By the way: The Indians believed that in order for an alpaca's wool to be blessed, it was necessary to kill it by tearing its heart out of its chest. Nowadays this is considered barbaric, but cases when several men hold an alpaca while someone cuts out a heart from its chest still occur.
17. Tarsier
What kind of animal: a mammal from the genus of primates.
Habitat: Tarsiers live in Southeast Asia, primarily on the islands.
Special features: Tarsiers are especially distinguished by their long hind limbs, large head that can rotate almost 360°, and good hearing. The fingers are extremely long, the ears are round and bare. The soft wool has a brown or grayish tint. However, the most noticeable feature is the large eyes, up to 16 mm in diameter. When projected onto human height, tarsiers correspond to the size of an apple.
Dimensions: Tarsiers are small animals, their height ranges from 9 to 16 cm. In addition, they have a bare tail with a length of 13 to 28 cm. Weight varies from 80 to 160 grams.
By the way: In the past, tarsiers played a big role in the mythology and superstition of the peoples of Indonesia. The Indonesians thought that the heads of tarsiers were not attached to the body (since they could rotate almost 360°), and were afraid to encounter them, because they believed that the same fate could happen to people in this case.
18. Dumbo Octopus
What kind of animal: A small and peculiar deep-sea octopus, a representative of cephalopods.
Habitat: Found in the Tasman Sea.
Special features: Apparently he got his nickname in honor of the famous cartoon character - the baby elephant Dumbo, who was ridiculed for his large ears (in the middle of the body the octopus has a pair of rather long, paddle-shaped fins resembling ears). Its individual tentacles are literally connected to the ends by a thin elastic membrane called the umbrella. It, together with the fins, serves as the main mover of this animal, that is, the octopus moves like jellyfish, pushing water out from under the umbrella bell.
Dimensions: the found octopus is half the size of a human palm.
By the way: Little is known today about the varieties, habits and behavior of these octopuses. Watch on YouTube.
19. Frilled lizard
What kind of animal: A lizard from the agamidae family.
Habitat: Northwestern Australia and southern New Guinea. There it lives in dry forests and forest-steppes.
Special features: Coloration from yellow-brown to black-brown. It stands out for its long tail, which makes up two-thirds of the length of the frilled lizard's body. However, the most noticeable feature is the large collar-shaped fold of skin located around the head and adjacent to the body. The fold contains numerous blood vessels. The frilled lizard has strong limbs and sharp claws.
Dimensions: The length of the frilled lizard ranges from 80 to 100 cm, females are significantly smaller than males.
By the way: When in danger, it opens its mouth, sticks out its brightly colored collar (it can stand up to 30 cm from the body), stands on its hind legs, makes hissing sounds and hits the ground with its tail - which makes it seem scarier and more dangerous than it is.
20. Narwhal
What kind of animal: a unicorn, a mammal of the unicorn family.
Habitat: The narwhal lives in high latitudes - in the Arctic Ocean and the North Atlantic.
Special features: Body size and shape, pectoral fins and the dark coloring of their suckers, narwhals are similar to beluga whales, but adult individuals are distinguished by their spotting - grayish-brown spots on a light background, which sometimes merge - and the presence of only 2 upper teeth. Of these, the left one develops in males into a tusk up to 2-3 m long and weighing up to 10 kg, twisted in a left-hand spiral, while the right one usually does not erupt. The right tusk in males and both tusks in females are hidden in the gums and develop rarely, in about one case out of 500.
Dimensions: The body length of an adult narwhal is 3.5-4.5 m, newborns are about 1.5 m. The weight of males reaches 1.5 tons, of which about a third of the weight is fat; females weigh about 900 kg.
By the way: It’s not exactly clear why a narwhal needs a tusk, but not to break through a crust of ice. This tusk is a sensitive organ and presumably allows the narwhal to sense changes in pressure, temperature and relative concentration of suspended particles in the water. By crossing their tusks, narwhals apparently clear them of growths.
21. Madagascar suckerfoot
What kind of animal: Chiropteran mammal.
Habitat: Found only in Madagascar.
Special features: On the bases of the thumbs of the wings and on the soles of the hind limbs, sucker bats have complex rosette suckers, which are located directly on the skin (unlike the suckers on sucker-footed bats).
Dimensions: Small animal: body length 5.7 cm, tail 4.8 cm; weight 8-10 g.
By the way: The biology and ecology of suckerfoot has been practically unstudied. Most likely, it uses rolled up leathery palm leaves as shelters, to which it sticks with its suckers. All suckers were caught close to the water. Listed in the Red Book with the status “vulnerable”.
22. Pygmy marmoset
What kind of animal: One of the smallest primates, belongs to the broad-nosed monkeys.
Habitat: South America, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador.
Special features: The marmoset's nostrils are directed forward, and its nose is large and wide.
Dimensions: The weight of an adult does not exceed 120 g.
By the way: Lives well in captivity. When kept, it requires a constant temperature of 25-29 degrees, slightly more high humidity 60%.
23. Drop fish
What kind of animal: fish, scientific name Psychrolutes marcidus.
Habitat: lives in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans, found in deep waters (about 2800 m) of the coast of Australia and Tasmania.
Special features: Drop fish live at depths where the pressure is several tens of times higher than at sea level, and in order to maintain viability, the body of the drop fish consists of a gel-like mass with a density slightly less than water; this allows fish to swim above the seabed without expending energy to swim.
Dimensions: Maximum body length is about 65 cm.
By the way: Lack of muscles is not a disadvantage, since the blob fish feeds on prey that swims around it.
24. Platypus
What kind of animal: Aquatic mammal of the order Monotreme.
Habitat: Australia.
Special Features: Its most curious quality is that it has a duck’s beak instead of a normal mouth, allowing it to feed in the mud like birds.”
Dimensions: The body length of the platypus is 30-40 cm, the tail is 10-15 cm, it weighs up to 2 kg. Males are about a third larger than females.
By the way: The platypus is one of the few poisonous mammals, for humans it is generally not fatal, but it causes very severe pain, and swelling develops at the injection site, which gradually spreads to the entire limb; pain can last for many days or even months.
25. Shoebill or royal heron
What kind of animal: A bird of the wavy order.
Habitat: Africa.
Special features: The shoebill’s neck is not very long and thick. The head is large, with a small and, one might say, sloppy crest at the back of the head. The beak is massive and very wide, somewhat swollen. There is a hanging hook at the end of the beak. The shoebill's plumage is generally dark gray, with powdery down on the back, but no such down on the chest. The legs are long and black. The shoebill has a short tongue; There is no muscular stomach, but the glandular one is very large.
Dimensions: Shoebill is a large bird, in a standing position it has a height of 75-90 cm; wing length 65-69 cm.
By the way: This lethargic bird often stands completely still, holding its large beak on its chest. The shoebill feeds on various aquatic animals - fish, crocodiles, frogs and small turtles.
Today I decided to write about the most unusual animals on our planet. As it turned out, there are quite a few of them; I didn’t even know about many of them before. I'll start my post with Star-nosed:
An unusual mole that feeds on insects. What makes it unique is its fleshy nose with 22 pink tentacles.
Fainting goats
In the state of Tennessee, through the efforts of breeders, a breed of goats was developed that, in emergency situations, fall into a stupor. This is due to a rare genetic disease - in stressful situations, animals experience complete muscle paralysis, since it is impossible to stand in this state, they fall on their side or on their back. At the same time, the goats are fully conscious. Situations in which a fainting goat may lose its “feelings”: a threat to life, a large amount of its favorite grain and a charming representative of the opposite sex.
Angora rabbit
One of the most ancient breeds of rabbits, and the fluffiest.
Aye-aye or Little Hand
Lives in Madagascar. Despite the fact that it resembles a rodent, it belongs to the suborder of prosimians.
Pacu fish
A relative of the piranha. Gained fame thanks to human teeth. The basis of the fish’s diet is plants and nuts, however, there are legends about biting male testicles.
Giant isopod
It looks like a huge woodlice and lives underwater at a depth of 170-2000 meters. It can reach up to 37 cm in length and weigh 1.7 kg.
Snakehead
The fish is distinguished not only by its appearance, but by its bad character. She eats all the fish in the pond, not excluding her offspring. But that’s not all - when everything in the reservoir is eaten, the fish moves to land - in search of a suitable victim, the fish can remain on the ground for up to three days. There are known cases of attacks on people.
Saigas have lived on earth since the time of mammoths and saber-toothed tigers; they are one of the most ancient mammals.
Grimpoteuthys or Dumbo the Octopus
The deepest sea octopus. Can live at a depth of 4900 meters. Personally, it looks like Pikachu to me
Red-lipped damselfish
The inhabitants of the Galapagos Islands mostly move along the bottom instead of swimming. They became widely known thanks to such provocative “makeup”.
Maned wolf
It can be found in South America. Unusual long legs have developed as a result of evolution, so the animal can overcome better tall grass, growing on the plains.
Hell Vampire
The only cephalopod that can live at a depth of a thousand meters.
Japanese giant salamander
The largest amphibian. It can grow up to 160 cm in length and reach a weight of up to 180 kg. Life expectancy is up to 150 years.
bearded pig
There are three types of bearded pig: the curly bearded pig, the Bornean bearded pig and the Palawan bearded pig.
Sumatran rhinoceroses
Even-toed ungulates are animals from the rhinoceros family. The smallest representatives of their family.
Forest giraffe or okapi
A bizarre animal that resembles a zebra horse. Found only in the area Democratic Republic Congo. The female carries the cubs for a whopping 450 days!
Palm thief
The decapod crayfish got its nickname due to its addiction to coconuts. They can grow up to 40 cm in length and weigh 4 kg.
Mudskipper
Leapers inhabit mangrove forests and tropical coasts. Not only do they feel great on the ground, but they can also climb trees. To attract partners they jump high.
Tibetan fox
One of the smallest representatives of its species, the fox's head appears square due to its thick fur.
Mouse Deer Kanchili
The smallest representative of artiodactyls. The size of an adult mouse deer is 44-45 cm. Life expectancy is 12 years.
