Saiga antelope
The saiga (Saiga tatarica) is a critically endangered antelope which originally inhabited a vast area of the Eurasian steppe zone from the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains and Caucasus into Dzungaria and Mongolia. They also lived in North America during the Pleistocene. Today, the nominate subspecies (S. t. tatarica) is only found in one location in Russia (steppes of the northwest Precaspian region) and three areas in Kazakhstan (the Ural, Ustiurt and Betpak-dala populations). A proportion of the Ustiurt population migrates south to Uzbekistan and occasionally Turkmenistan in winter. It is extinct in China and southwestern Mongolia. The Mongolian subspecies (S. t. mongolica) is found only in western Mongolia.
Information from wikipedia
Eastern long-necked turtle
The eastern long-necked turtle (Chelodina longicollis),[4] also known as the eastern snake-necked turtle, common snake-necked turtle or common long-necked turtle,[1][5] has as its most distinctive feature its extremely long neck. In some cases, this turtle's neck can be as long as its carapace. It is a type of side-necked turtle, meaning that it bends its head sideways into its shell rather than pulling it directly back.
The eastern long-necked turtle also has powerful webbed feet for swimming, digging, and tearing apart prey. Its carapace (shell) is flattened, broad, and brown with black-edged scutes. On the underside plates (plastron) there are distinctive black lines or seams.
These turtles are found in the inland slow-moving freshwater habitats such as swamps, dams, and lakes of Australia, from northern Queensland to South Australia. They prefer a soft, sandy bottom and will bask on logs or rocks during the day.
When it feels threatened, this turtle will emit an offensive smelling fluid from its musk glands. This trait gives the turtle one of its other common names, "stinker."
Information from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Coconut crab
The coconut crab, Birgus latro, is a species of terrestrial hermit crab, also known as the robber crab or palm thief. It is the largest land-living arthropod in the world, and is probably at the upper size limit for terrestrial animals with exoskeletons in recent Earth atmosphere, with a weight of up to 4.1 kg (9.0 lb). It can grow to up to 1 m (3 ft) in length from leg to leg. It is found on islands across the Indian Ocean and parts of the Pacific Ocean as far east as the Gambier Islands, mirroring the distribution of the coconut palm; it has been extirpated from most areas with a significant human population, including mainland Australia and Madagascar.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Crystal Frog
A long-running and often violent border dispute between Ecuador and Peru kept scientists away for decades, but when they did explore the region in 2009, they found many species new to science, and some that were just bizarre, like this crystal frog with skin so translucent, you can see its heart beating through its tiny chest.
Information and picture from popularmechanics
Gastric-brooding frog
The gastric-brooding frogs or platypus frogs (Rheobatrachus) were a genus of ground-dwelling frogs native to Queensland in eastern Australia. The genus consisted of only two species, both of which became extinct in the mid-1980s. The genus was unique because it contained the only two known frog species that incubated the prejuvenile stages of their offspring in the stomach of the mother.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Chondrocladia lyra or Harp-sponge
Chondrocladia lyra, also known as the lyre sponge or harp sponge, is a species of carnivorous deep-sea sponge first discovered off the Californian coast living at depths of 10,800–11,500 feet (3,300–3,500 m) by Welton L. Lee, Henry M Reiswig, William C. Austin, and Lonny Lundsten from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
The species was listed among the Top 10 New Species 2013 discovered in 2012 as selected by the International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University out of more than 140 nominated species. The selection was publicised on 22 May 2013
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Aye-aye
The aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis) is a lemur, a strepsirrhine primate native to Madagascar that combines rodent-like teeth and a special thin middle finger to fill the same ecological niche as a woodpecker.
It is the world's largest nocturnal[4] primate, and is characterized by its unusual method of finding food; it taps on trees to find grubs, then gnaws holes in the wood using its forward slanting incisors to create a small hole in which it inserts its narrow middle finger to pull the grubs out. This foraging method is called percussive foraging.[5] The only other animal species known to find food in this way is the striped possum.[6] From an ecological point of view the aye-aye fills the niche of a woodpecker, as it is capable of penetrating wood to extract the invertebrates within.
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