As my title says, some of these creatures are really strange. Good thing I'm here to help! Now, you have probably heard of platypuses or leaf bugs, but a tenrec, blue dragon, or axolotol? Now those are weird.
Tenrecs (a mammal) communicate by making clicking sounds with their tongue or by rubbing their spines together, like crickets do. Blue dragons (AKA Blue sea slugs, my personal favorite!) are very poisonous but are gorgeous! And Axolotol (salamander) can regrow limbs and parts of their brains!
Not only are these animals incredible, but look at the Basilisk lizard, it can run on water! Margays mimic baby monkeys to fool the adults, a froghopper grasshopper can jump 140 times it's own height, and scorpions glow under UV light!
I hope you have enjoyed reading. Until next time...
Thursday, February 25, 2016
Monday, February 15, 2016
Unicorns, Mermaids, and... Terrifying screams?
These animals I am discussing today were once thought to be fantasys. But really, they're not. During Columbus's era, he claimed to see large creatures with horns atop their heads, but he was probably seeing a Rhino. Unicorns are just a fantasy but rhinos are not and, unfortunately, seriously endangered. One species, the black rhinoceros, is only surviving in captivity, only around 5 are left in the world! :(
Mermaids, half human, half fish. Weird huh? Not really... Long ago, sailors would be up for hours and would start to see things, but what they thought were these luring damsels where actually... Manatees! Honestly very peaceful. In fact, most get wounded because of humans. In Florida at certain times of the year, hundreds will gather in the warm waters to forge.
Now for the terrifying screams. Don't be alarmed, trust me, I've heard them in my own backyard. These petrifying cries often sound like a woman dying. But they are actually made by... Barn owls? Yep, you heard me. Barn owls. Tasmanian Devils will also give a piercing scream when scavenging, and will attack one another for the food (they even had a very strong bite and will eat the bones of their prey!)
These animals may be given a bad call, but they all have a God-given purpose. Thanks for reading. Til' next time...
(Next time: "the clever crowd" the smartest animals...)
Mermaids, half human, half fish. Weird huh? Not really... Long ago, sailors would be up for hours and would start to see things, but what they thought were these luring damsels where actually... Manatees! Honestly very peaceful. In fact, most get wounded because of humans. In Florida at certain times of the year, hundreds will gather in the warm waters to forge.
Now for the terrifying screams. Don't be alarmed, trust me, I've heard them in my own backyard. These petrifying cries often sound like a woman dying. But they are actually made by... Barn owls? Yep, you heard me. Barn owls. Tasmanian Devils will also give a piercing scream when scavenging, and will attack one another for the food (they even had a very strong bite and will eat the bones of their prey!)
These animals may be given a bad call, but they all have a God-given purpose. Thanks for reading. Til' next time...
(Next time: "the clever crowd" the smartest animals...)
Wednesday, February 3, 2016
"Terrible Lizards"
I have decided to speak on dinosaurs today! ;D
But did you know not all dinos are reptiles?! And some even had feathers!
These ancient monsters are incredible! Here let me tell you...
The Spinosaurus (spine-oh-sore-us), name meaning: "spine lizard" was the largest carnivore ever, up to 40-60 feet long and 11,000-20,000 pounds! It was a fish eater and lived by rivers, using it's deadly hooked claws to scoop fish up from the water. They share many similarities with crocodiles, the edge of it's mouth and the shape of it's teeth. They are also believed to have a large sail on their back, measuring up to 5.5 feet. Some studies show that this sail was used to store fat, originally thought to control body temperatures.
Another powerful dino was the Mosasaurus (mose-ah-saw-rus). It was around 50-56 feet long, weighed up to 20 tons and preyed on fish, squid, and tooth marks have also been found on ammonites (nautilus-like invertebrates). This HUGE sea beast looked like a crocodile with flippers and was the T-Rex of the seas. They are suggested to be relatives to snakes, scale impressions show they had scaly skin, similar to that of snakes.
One of the most famous dinos is... the Velociraptor (vel-oss-ee-rap-tor) name meaning: "swift plunderer". Instead of being all scaly and large, as portrayed in movies, they are actually only 6 feet long, believed to have feathers, and hunt solo or scavenge when they got the chance. The have a large, sickle-like claw that could hook onto it's prey.
Now for the final (not at all carnivorous) Argentinosaurus (are-jen-teen-oh-sore-us)! The largest land animal ever! It weighted 161,000 pounds! And was 98-100 feet long! How huge is that!? Although they had small brains, meaning they weren't very bright. Even though only a few bones have been found scientists estimate that this Titanosaur was longer than a tennis court and nearly 20 times heavier than an elephant! It's eggs were the size of footballs and most likely took around 40 years to reach full adult size!
I really hope you enjoyed reading this! Until next time...
But did you know not all dinos are reptiles?! And some even had feathers!
These ancient monsters are incredible! Here let me tell you...
The Spinosaurus (spine-oh-sore-us), name meaning: "spine lizard" was the largest carnivore ever, up to 40-60 feet long and 11,000-20,000 pounds! It was a fish eater and lived by rivers, using it's deadly hooked claws to scoop fish up from the water. They share many similarities with crocodiles, the edge of it's mouth and the shape of it's teeth. They are also believed to have a large sail on their back, measuring up to 5.5 feet. Some studies show that this sail was used to store fat, originally thought to control body temperatures.
Another powerful dino was the Mosasaurus (mose-ah-saw-rus). It was around 50-56 feet long, weighed up to 20 tons and preyed on fish, squid, and tooth marks have also been found on ammonites (nautilus-like invertebrates). This HUGE sea beast looked like a crocodile with flippers and was the T-Rex of the seas. They are suggested to be relatives to snakes, scale impressions show they had scaly skin, similar to that of snakes.
One of the most famous dinos is... the Velociraptor (vel-oss-ee-rap-tor) name meaning: "swift plunderer". Instead of being all scaly and large, as portrayed in movies, they are actually only 6 feet long, believed to have feathers, and hunt solo or scavenge when they got the chance. The have a large, sickle-like claw that could hook onto it's prey.
Now for the final (not at all carnivorous) Argentinosaurus (are-jen-teen-oh-sore-us)! The largest land animal ever! It weighted 161,000 pounds! And was 98-100 feet long! How huge is that!? Although they had small brains, meaning they weren't very bright. Even though only a few bones have been found scientists estimate that this Titanosaur was longer than a tennis court and nearly 20 times heavier than an elephant! It's eggs were the size of footballs and most likely took around 40 years to reach full adult size!
I really hope you enjoyed reading this! Until next time...
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