Pink Fairy Armadillo
Location(s): Central Argentina
The pink fairy armadillo or pichiciego is the smallest species of armadillo. This desert-adapted animal is endemic to central Argentina and can be found inhabiting sandy plains, dunes, and scrubby grasslands.
Aye-aye
Location(s): Madagascar
The aye-aye is a lemur, a strepsirrhine primate native to Madagascar that combines rodent-like teeth that perpetually grow and a special thin middle finger. It is currently classified as Endangered by the IUCN.
Maned Wolf
Location(s): South America
The maned wolf is the largest canid of South America. Its markings resemble those of foxes, but it is not a fox, nor is it a wolf, as it is not closely related to other canids. It is the only species in the genus Chrysocyon (meaning “golden dog”).
Tufted Deer
Location(s): Southwestern and Central China & Northeastern Myanmar
The tufted deer is a small species of deer characterized by a prominent tuft of black hair on its forehead and fang-like canines for the males. Suffering from overhunting and habitat loss, this deer is considered near-threatened. It is restricted to forested mountain habitat up to 4500m above sea level, making study difficult.
Dumbo Octopus
Location(s): Live at depths of 3,000 to 4,000 metres (9,800 to 13,100 ft) with some living up to 7,000 metres (23,000 ft) below sea level.
Grimpoteuthis, also called Dumbo octopus, is a genus of pelagic umbrella octopus, so named for the prominent ear-like fins which characteristically protrude from the mantle just above the eyes and which give a vague resemblance to the ears of Walt Disney’s flying elephant Dumbo. The average life span of various Grimpoteuthis species is 3 to 5 years.
Naked Mole Rat
Location(s): East Africa
The naked mole-rat, also known as the sand puppy or desert mole rat, is a burrowing rodent closely related to the blesmols, native to parts of East Africa. It has a highly unusual set of physical traits that enable it to thrive in an otherwise harsh underground environment. The mole rat lacks pain sensitivity in its skin, and has very low metabolic and respiratory rates. The mole rat is also remarkable for its longevity and its resistance to cancer and oxygen deprivation.
Gerenuk
Location(s): Found in Horn of Africa and the drier parts of East Africa.
The gerenuk also known as the giraffe gazelle. It is characterised by its long, slender neck and limbs. The antelope is 80–105 centimetres (31–41 in) tall, and weighs between 28 and 52 kilograms (62 and 115 lb). The horns, present only on males, are lyre-shaped.
Dugong
Location(s): Indo-West Pacific & Northern Waters of Australia
The dugong is a medium-sized marine mammal. The dugong is largely dependent on seagrass communities for subsistence and is thus restricted to the coastal habitats which support seagrass meadows, with the largest dugong concentrations typically occurring in wide, shallow, protected areas such as bays, mangrove channels, the waters of large inshore islands and inter-reefal waters. The northern waters of Australia between Shark Bay and Moreton Bay are believed to be the dugong’s contemporary stronghold.
Lamprey
Location(s): Lampreys live mostly in coastal and fresh waters, although some species travel significant distances in the open ocean.
Lampreys are any jawless fish of the order Petromyzontiformes, placed in the superclass Cyclostomata. The adult lamprey may be characterized by a toothed, funnel-like sucking mouth. The common name “lamprey” is probably derived from Latin lampetra, which may mean “stone licker”. There are about 38 known extant species of lampreys. Parasitic species are the best known, and feed by boring into the flesh of other fish to suck their blood; but only 18 species of lampreys are parasitic. Parasitic lampreys also attach themselves to larger animals to get a free ride. Adults of the non-parasitic species do not feed; they live off reserves acquired as ammocoetes (larvae), which they obtain through filter feeding.
Star-Nosed Mole
Location(s): Found in wet low areas in the northern parts of America.
The star-nosed mole is easily identifiable by the twenty-two pink fleshy appendages ringing its snout which is used as a touch organ with more than 25,000-minute sensory receptors, known as Eimer’s organs, with which this hamster-sized mole feels its way around. With the help of its Eimer’s organs, it may be perfectly poised to detect seismic wave vibrations.
Yeti Crab
Location(s): South Pacific Ocean
This decapod, which is approximately 15 cm (5.9 in) long, is notable for the quantity of silky blond setae (resembling fur) covering its pereiopods (thoracic legs, including claws).
Blob Fish
Location(s): It inhabits the deep waters off the coasts of mainland Australia and Tasmania, as well as the waters of New Zealand.
A deep sea fish of the family Psychrolutidae. Blobfish are typically shorter than 30 cm (12 in). They live at depths between 600 and 1,200 m (2,000 and 3,900 ft) where the pressure is 60 to 120 times as great as at sea level, which would likely make gas bladders inefficient for maintaining buoyancy. Instead, the flesh of the blobfish is primarily a gelatinous mass with a density slightly less than water; this allows the fish to float above the sea floor without expending energy on swimming. Its relative lack of muscle is not a disadvantage as it primarily swallows edible matter that floats in front of it such as deep-ocean crustaceans. Blobfish are often caught as bycatch in bottom trawling nets.
Red-lipped Batfish
Location(s): Found around the Galapagos Islands and off Peru at depths of 3 to 76 m (10 to 249 ft).
This fish is mainly known for its bright red lips. Batfish are not good swimmers; they use their highly adapted pectoral fins to “walk” on the ocean floor. When the batfish reaches maturity, its dorsal fin becomes a single spine-like projection (thought to function primarily as a lure for prey).
Goblin Shark
Location(s): Goblin sharks inhabit upper continental slopes, submarine canyons, and seamounts throughout the world at depths greater than 100 m (330 ft), with adults found deeper than juveniles.
The goblin shark is a rare species of deep-sea shark. Sometimes called a “living fossil”, it is the only extant representative of the family Mitsukurinidae, a lineage some 125 million years old. This pink-skinned animal has a distinctive profile with an elongated, flattened snout, and highly protrusible jaws containing prominent nail-like teeth. It is usually between 3 and 4 m (10 and 13 ft) long when mature, though it can grow considerably larger.
Penis Snake
Location(s): Brazilian Rainforest
A creature discovered by engineers building a dam in the Amazon is a type of caecilian, a limbless amphibian that resembles an earthworm or as some are noting, part of the male anatomy. It is thought to be aquatic and lacks lungs, breathing through its skin instead.
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