Boa constrictors are ambush hunters. They stay still and wait for prey to come near them before striking. Their teeth, which grab their prey, are small and hooked. They then wrap their bodies around them and squeeze or constrict them. It was previously thought that boa constrictors suffocate their prey, but it is now thought that they cut off blood circulation from the heart to the rest...
Crocodiles, part of the ancient order of crocodilians, are the largest living reptile in the world. Other crocodilians include alligators, caimans, and gharials. They are closely related to birds and dinosaurs and have been around since before the dinosaurs went extinct. Crocodiles are thick-skinned, snouted, scaly, and cold-blooded animals. The largest species of crocodile, the saltwater crocodile...
Chameleons change colors to communicate emotions to other chameleons. For example, if a chameleon is excited or angry, they will become bright orange in color. Color also determines mating behavior. Brighter males are more successful in mating than duller males are. In addition, receptive females will change colors when they want to mate...
Sea turtles are reptiles that are very well-suited to aquatic life. One way this can be seen is in how they've been around for more than 100 million year, towards the end of the jurastic period. They are very similar now to how they were then as well. Sea turtles have a hydrodynamic shape, flipper like limbs, and a large size. They range from 2 - 6 feet. Their front flippers are long...
Sloths are mammals found in Central and South American rainforests. They are grey and brown, and they have coarse hairs. Three-fingered sloths are around the size of a medium-sized dog, with lengths between 24 - 27 inches. Two-fingered sloths are a little bit bigger than three-fingered ones. They have long limbs and curved claws, which is helpful for their arboreal lifestyle...
Bats are the most widespread mammal, after the rodent, in the world. There are over 1,400 species of bats, and their appearances differ for each species. Bat wingspans vary from 15 centimeters to around 2 meters. Different species can weigh anywhere from 2 grams to 1.5 kilograms. There are two main groups of bats. The microbats are the most common group. Microbats are small in size...
Lions are known as “the king of beasts” because they are a formidable predator. They are the largest of the large cats, second only to the tiger, and they have powerful jaws. They stand at 1 - 1.2 meters tall at the shoulders and males can weigh from 180 - 230 kg while females can weigh from 130 - 180 kg. Males typically have a mane of hair circling the head and females don’t have this feature...
The aye-aye is considered by many to be the strangest looking primate. They have thick dark brown to black fur, sparse white hairs on top of their coat, huge ears, round eyes, and bony hands. Aye-ayes are the biggest nocturnal primate at about 38 cm (or 15 inches) long, but this doesn't include their bushy tail, which is longer than their body. They also sport forever growing incisors, which is a rodent-like...
Elephants, the largest land animals, are found in tropical and subtropical parts of Asia and Africa. They are characterized by their large size, long trunks, wide ears, and high intelligence. An adult African elephant stands three to four meters high and weighs up to 8,000 kg. Their trunks can weigh up to 135 kg (almost 300 pounds), and they are highly dexterous. Their trunks are the most agile part of.....
The platypus, found exclusively in Australia and Tanzania, looks like a hodgepodge of traits from different animals. It has brown fur that makes it well insulated, a bill, a flat tail, venomous spurs, and webbed feet. It looks like a mix between a reptile, beaver, otter, and duck. One of the first seen, observers thought someone had sewn a duckbill onto a mammal...
Orangutan is directly translated to “person of the forest” in the Maylasian language. This is an appropriate name as they are close cousins to the human. The orangutan is found only on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo in Southeast Asia. You can spot them from their red-orange hair, brown skin, cheek flaps, and interesting body proportions. The orangutan has the longest arms...
One interesting feature of the opossum is their difference in behavior in summer versus winter. The opossum isn’t a true hibernator, but it does slow down during the winter in a nest lined with leaves. The opossum also has a prehensile (gripping) tail which aids it in climbing trees. In addition, like all marsupials, they have opposable thumb-like toes on their front and back legs...
The Deep Sea Anglerfish are found in waters across the world, from subarctic to subantarctic waters, excluding the Mediterranean sea. While you can find them in most bodies of water, they are still naturally rare, and there is still much research needed to understand these fish. One thing we do know is that anglerfish look like no other animal. Their appearances have inspired some...
The bottlenose dolphin is a mammal that has piqued the interest of scientific research for a long time. You can see the dolphins at many aquatic shows, but they are found in temperate waters. You might see one because these dolphins tend to enjoy staying close to shore. They get their name from the shape of their elongated upper and lower jaws...
Woodpeckers have a chisel-shaped bill that can penetrate trees. They don’t make much noise when they do this, and most of the noise you’ll hear from them is them communicating through tapping their bills. They tap rapidly in short bursts and then take breaks in between. They need to do this because their skulls heat up from the constant...
Hunting in the mornings, golden eagles love to feed on mammals such as hares, rabbits, and jackrabbits. They sometimes feast on large birds and mammals like swans, deer, and foxes. They find live prey, but sometimes they eat carrion and hunt for dead fish. They have been known to take food from other nests as well Golden eagles are successful in...
Their large eyes give them impeccable vision, they can see predators from a far distance. They often look up from eating to look around. When they see predators, they may lie down flat on the ground to hide, or they might run. Ostriches are fast runners, they can comfortably run at 31 mph and they can reach around 43 mph when...
You may think of penguins as wattlers, but they often slide on the stomachs propelled by their feet. This is called tobogganing, and it’s much faster than wattling. Penguins spend a lot of time in the sea to forage for food, so luckily, they can hold their breaths for 20 minutes. They often dive over 100 meters...
Hummingbirds are very good fliers. They can fly fast in one direction and then immediately stop in less than a second. They can fly backwards and at strange angles. They can also hover for a long time, and hovering takes a lot of energy, especially for a bird that has to beat their wings really fast. The birds take in a lot of oxygen especially for a bird that...
Barn owls are the most widespread landbird and one of the most widespread species around the world, they are on every continent besides Antarctica. Barn owls are white and brown or white and grey and they are speckled on most of their body. They have short squarish tails that separate them from the typical owl. Their faces are shaped...
Magnificent Frigatebirds are a type of seabird with the largest wingspan-to-weight ratio of any bird. They have a wingspan of up to 7.5 feet and a body length of 89-114 cm. Frigatebirds are mostly black birds but the females have a white underbelly and the males have a large red gular pouch which can be...
Praying mantises have a distinct feature of bulbous eyes placed on a triangular shaped head. Mantises have long bodies and an elongated thorax that looks like a neck. The front two legs of the mantis are bent and held at an angle that makes the mantis look like it’s praying. The praying mantis female is larger than the male and...
Assassin bugs don’t look like killers, but they are. They tend to be between 4.0 and 40 mm long with dull colors, however some are very bright. They have long heads that make them look like they have necks, they have bulging eyes, and they all have a long needle as a mouth called a “rostrum”. These bugs look silly, not dangerous...
The most interesting feature about the emerald jewel wasps is what they do when they reproduce they zombify a cockroach. The female wasp will first find a cockroach, when she finds it she will carefully approach the cockroach. The female wasp is much smaller than the roach, afterall. When she gets close enough, she will sting...
They live for a while, some species of dragonflies can live for up to six years. Dragonflies are long insects with a wide wingspan, some have up to a 6 inch wingspan. They have strong wings and are excellent fliers, especially on sunny days. They can fly upside down as well as backwards and dragonflies are also strong hunters. Dragonflies are...
The males who are lucky enough to survive long enough to mate, still die after successfully mating with a female. Most female ants die, but the ones who survive start new colonies and become the queens. Soon after, the females take off their wings (to establish their royalness) and lay eggs. If the queen wants males, she will fertilize her...
In the fall, male and female aphids mate and the fertilized females lay eggs on a plant host that will survive the harsh winter. The aphids that hatch from these eggs in the spring are all females. The aphids continue to reproduce in the spring and summer, but this time without males. The females that hatched in the spring are already pregnant...