Aye Aye

http://www.arkive.org/...



The bizarre aye-aye is one of the most unusual primates on the planet, so much so that it was originally classified as a rodent. The thick coat is slate grey to brown with white flecks from the long guard hairs, which are lighter at the tip. The face is paler than the rest of the body with large, leathery ears and prominent, yellowish-orange eyes. The hands are the most striking feature of this animal however; the elongated, thin fingers have curved, claw-like nails and the third digit is extremely thin so that it appears to be little more than skin and bone. The aye-aye is the largest nocturnal primate and has a long bushy tail.

They live in Madagascar and are one of the weird animals on Earth. Let's hear it for primate diversity!

The Giant Otter

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The giant otter, known locally as the 'river wolf', is one of South America's top predators and is the largest of the otter species in terms of length. The long sinuous body is covered with velvety, reddish-brown fur, which is thick and water-repellent. A patch of cream colouring is present on the throat and chin, the pattern of which is unique to each individual. The short legs end in large webbed-feet and these, along with the rudder-like tail, allow the otter to move quickly through the water. Prey movements are detected by the large eyes and sensitive whiskers.

Size Male length: 1.5 - 1.8 m (2) (That would be six feet.)

Female length: 1.5 - 1.7 m (2)

They live in the Amazon and are as big you and I. If we do all come back as animals, I hope to do well enough for the karma wheel to send me back as one of these.

Mediterrranean Monk Seal

http://www.arkive.org/...



The Mediterranean monk seal is one of the most endangered mammals in the world. The description of this species by Aristotle was the first known written description of a pinniped (a group that includes seals, sea lions and walrus), and the head of a monk seal appeared on one of the first ever coins, around 500 BC. Adults have a brown or grey coat, which becomes paler on the undersurface and often features a white patch on the belly. Old males are darker in colour and often become black, but retain the ventral white patch. Newborn infants are black and woolly with a white or yellow patch on the belly, the shape of which can sometimes be used to determine the sex of an individual.

Sloth Bear

http://www.arkive.org/...



The small sloth bear is unique amongst the bears, as insects are its main food source. It has a long, shaggy black coat, which on some individuals appears to have a cinnamon tinge, and there is a pale white/cream marking on the chest. The muzzle is also pale in colour and these bears have a shaggy mane of hair around the shoulders. The snout is relatively long, the lips are bare, and sloth bears lack upper incisors, all of which are adaptations for their insect-based diet. The front feet are turned inwards and have large and slightly curved ivory claws for digging. Early explorers saw these bears lying upside down in trees and gave them their common name of sloth bear.

Sloth bears are unique amongst bears in that the majority of their diet is composed of insects, particularly termites and ants. They live in Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka.

The Birds

Blyth's Tragopan

http://www.arkive.org/...



This brilliantly-coloured pheasant is the largest of all tragopans, and is easily recognised by its bright yellow bare facial skin, rusty-red head, neck and breast, and smoky-grey lower breast and belly. The back and rest of the body is brownish red, densely spotted with small white dots. A distinctive black band extends from the base of the bill to the crown and another black band extends behind the eye. Like other tragopans, males have two pale-blue fleshy `horns' that become erect during courtship, and a brilliantly coloured, inflatable lappet that hangs from the throat. The lappet is yellow bordered with blue, and like the horns, can be expanded and exposed during courtship display.. Females are dark brown with a mixture of black, buff and white mottling.

These live in Bhutan, which is always on my short list to visit. Did you know Bhutan does not have a Gross National Product, but instead uses Gross National Happiness?

Sri Lankan Frogmouth

http://www.arkive.org/...



Distinctive in both its appearance and its loud laughing song, the Sri Lankan frogmouth is a tropical bird related to the nightjars. So called because of its large, gaping mouth, the Sri Lankan frogmouth's head is as wide as its body, and has a broad, flattened, hooked bill. The female is rusty red with sparse white freckling, whereas the male is grey and more heavily spotted with white. The tail feathers are long and narrow.

The frogmouth is lucky enough to live in some of the United Nation's Biosphere Reserves.

Reptiles

The Chinese Crocodile Lizard

http://www.arkive.org/...



The Chinese crocodile lizard is so named for the appearance of its tail, which has an enlarged pair of scales running in two sharply protruding ridges down its length like a crocodile. Like the distant relative after which it is named, this lizard is semi-aquatic, and its extremely powerful tail helps make it a strong swimmer. Colouration is highly variable, combining shades of grey and brown on the upper surface and yellowish-tan on the lower with distinctive bright orange markings. Males are usually more colourful than females, often being strikingly adorned with brilliant orange sides and throat, occasionally extending into the side of the head, with these bright colours intensifying during the breeding season.

Until recently, this species was thought to be restricted to the Dayao Shan mountain range of the east central Guangxi Province of south-eastern China, but in 2003 a population was also discovered in the Quang Ninh Province of north-eastern Vietnam.

Mugger

http://www.arkive.org/...



The broad snout of the mugger makes it look more like an alligator than a crocodile, but the large and visible fourth tooth indicates that it is a true crocodile. The head is flat with the eyes, ears and nostrils all on the top to allow the mugger to submerge the rest of the body, but still keep these sensory organs above the water. The eye is protected by a clear third eyelid for underwater vision, and the windpipe can be covered with a flap of skin to allow the crocodile to attack underwater without letting water into the lungs. The mugger has webbed feet, but these are not used in swimming, as they are tucked against the body whilst the flat tail propels the mugger through the water. Juveniles are light tan in colour with black cross-banding on the body and tail but this fades with age as the body becomes grey to brown. Males are larger than females.

If we attack Iran, expect to find these in the waters, which might come as a shock to our troops.

Mountain Horned Agama

http://www.arkive.org/...



This little guy gets no love, all that is know about them is that they are dying out in Sri Lanka.

Amphibians

Axolotl

http://www.arkive.org/...



This astonishing species is part of the family of `mole salamanders', but exhibits an unusual and extreme trait known as neoteny, or paedomorphosis. This is the retention of larval stage characteristics throughout life, so axolotls usually never fully resemble an adult salamander. Unlike other amphibians, most axolotl fail to metamorphose, living permanently in water. Although it does develop lungs, the axolotl's most bizarre feature is its retention of its branch-like gills. These are external projections from the neck on each side of the head. Each side has three branches covered with feathery filaments which increase the surface area for gas exchange. The axolotl has a long, slim and darkly coloured body, and short legs, with four digits on the front feet and five digits on the hind feet. Albino individuals have been bred in captivity, but are not known to live in the wild.

I am lucky enough to have seen these in the wild, they are as freaky as advertised, like they were just popping in and visiting our planet.

Chinese giant salamander

http://www.arkive.org/...



The Chinese giant salamander is the largest salamander in the world, and is fully aquatic, with many adaptations for this lifestyle. It grows up to 1.8 meters in length, though most individuals found today are considerably smaller. The skin is dark brown, black or greenish in colour and irregularly blotched. It is also rough, wrinkled and porous which facilitates respiration through the skin as this large amphibian lacks gills. This species has an elongated body, and two pairs of legs which are roughly similar in size. The snout is less rounded than that of the related Japanese giant salamander and the tail is a little longer and broader. Both species have tubercles on the head and throat, though their arrangement is different. The Chinese species has small, paired tubercles arranged in rows parallel with the lower jaw, while the Japanese species' tubercles are mostly single and irregularly scattered. The eyes are tiny, with no eyelids, and positioned on top of the broad, flat head, providing the salamander with poor vision.

Size Length: 1.8 metres, Weight 25 kg or Six feet long and 55 pounds. Yes, that is a big for a salamander.

Hainan Pseudomoustache Toad

http://www.arkive.org/...



This little guy also gets no love. Who cannot love a toad with a moustache?

Fish

Bowmouth Guitarfish

http://www.arkive.org/...



Named for its distinctive mouth which undulates like a longbow, this deep-bodied guitarfish is unmistakable. The species has a broad, rounded snout, a head that is distinctly demarcated from the pectoral fins, and a tail that is much longer than the body. The dorsal fins are tall and shark-like, earning the species its alternative common name of sharkfin guitarfish, and heavy ridges of spiky, sharp thorns appear on the bony ridges on the head, used in defensive butting. The most distinctive feature of this species is probably its unusual markings and colouration, although these usually become fainter in larger individuals. The body is white below and blue-grey above, with white spots on the fins, body and tail, a large blue-edged, black spot above each pectoral fin, and dark bands between the eyes. Juveniles are brown with partial ocelli (eye-spots) over the pectoral fins and black bars between the eyes. The bowmouth guitarfish uses its heavily ridged teeth in undulating rows to crush crabs and shellfish.

Javanese Cownose Ray

http://www.arkive.org/...



Cownose rays (Rhinoptera) have earned their common name for their unusual-looking heads, which feature a double-lobed snout and indented forehead. As with most rays, the body is flattened, with the pectoral fins broadly expanded and fused with the head and trunk to form a disc. This smooth-skinned species is characterised by a kite-shaped body-disc, which is brown on the upper surface and white below. The long, thin, whip-like tails of cownose rays (Rhinoptera) are distinctly demarcated from the body and armed with one or more stings.

Weedy Seadragon

http://www.arkive.org/...



Weedy seadragons are one of only two species of seadragons, the second is known as the leafy seadragon (Phycodurus eques) due to the greater number of leaf-like appendages along its body. Seadragons resemble the seahorses to which they are related, having a bony-plated body and elongated snout; their tails are not prehensile however. Adult weedy seadragons are a reddish colour, with yellow and purple markings; they have small leaf-like appendages that provide camouflage and a number of short spines for protection. Males have narrower bodies and are darker than females. Seadragons have a long dorsal fin along the back and small pectoral fins on either side of the neck, which provide balance.

Invertebrates

Dlinza Pinwheel

http://www.arkive.org/...



This exceptionally striking snail immediately stands out for the unusual whorl of bristles that radiate out from the edge of its shell, somewhat resembling the pinwheel firework after which it is named. The fragile, almost translucent pale-brown shell is a spiral shape with up to five whorls, sculptured with widely spaced axial riblets.

Known only from Dlinza Forest, in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, which covers an area of just c. 250 hectares.

Dracula ants

http://www.arkive.org/...



The recently discovered Dracula ant is a highly unusual species, so named because of its grisly feeding habits of drinking the blood of its young. First described in 1994, these ants did not attract much scientific attention until the discovery of an entire colony in 2001. The Dracula ant has since attracted widespread interest not only because of this curious behaviour, but also because of its seemingly ancestral morphology. Unlike most ants, these orange coloured ants have abdomens that closely resemble those of wasps, from which ants are believed to have descended some 70 to 80 million years ago. Thus, they have been described as a possible `missing link' in ant evolution. Winged males are a darker orange than the workers, the queen is yellow and the larvae are white.

Hungry Dracula ants scratch and chew holes into their larvae and suck out the hemolymph, the ant equivalent of blood. This practice has been described as a form of `non-destructive cannibalism', since the larvae are not killed by it. Nevertheless, when hungry workers enter the chamber, the larvae have been observed attempting to flee and escape their fate.

Plants

Flame Tree

http://www.arkive.org/...



The flame tree, also known as royal poinciana or flamboyant, is a member of the bean family (Leguminosae) and is widely regarded as one of the most beautiful tropical trees in the world. This aptly named tree produces striking flame-like scarlet and yellow flowers in spring before the leaves emerge. As the trees mature, they develop broad umbrella-shaped crowns, and are often planted for their shade-giving properties. The delicate, fern-like leaves are composed of small individual leaflets, which fold up at the onset of dusk. This tree produces brown, woody seed pods that reach lengths of up to 60 cm; they turn reddish-brown to almost black when ripe.

Pride of Burma

http://www.arkive.org/...



This stunning tree is the only member of the genus Amherstia. The extravagant flowers are seen hanging from the long inflorescence, or flower stalk, which is a bright crimson red at the end. There are 5 petals although 2 of these are minute and the rest are of unequal size. The petals are also crimson; the two medium sized petals are yellow at the tip and the largest petal is broad and fan-shaped with a wavy upper margin and a yellow triangle of colour extending from the lip down into the flower. This large petal may be 7.5 centimetres long and over 4 centimetres wide at the end. There are either 9 or 10 stamens, 9 of which are partially fused into a pink sheath; the stamens are of two differing lengths with the longer ones having larger anthers. The compound leaves bear 6 - 8 large leaflets; these are broadly oblong in shape and are a whitish colour underneath. The fruits, or seedpods, are 11 to 20 centimetres long. They are roughly scimitar-shaped and the woody outer case opens to disperse the seeds.

Fungi and Lichen

Erioderma Pedicellatum

http://www.arkive.org/...



This extremely rare lichen is slate-coloured and is curled and white at the edges. It is a leafy, petal-shaped lichen that is seen growing on the bark of certain trees. Lichens consist of two different organisms, a 'mycobiont' (a fungus) and a 'phycobiont' (either an alga, which is a simple plant, or a cyanobacterium, a bacteria that can photosynthesise), which live together in a symbiotic association. The phycobiont in boreal felt lichen is a cyanobacteria, and this lichen is likely to be extremely susceptible to atmospheric pollution.

We should try and save all our symbiotes.

Weather earthstar

http://www.arkive.org/...



Unlike other fungi, earthstars can move! With a strong tendency to absorb and lose water, their outer layers uncurl when it rains. The fruit body of the weather earthstar is onion-shaped when closed but, when expanded, the outer layers split into 6 - 10 `star-like' rays that curve outwards. The rays spread with enough force to push aside leaves, raising the inner spore-filled sac above surrounding debris. The rays close when they dry and the sac lowers. This species is pale brown with a whitish inner layer that, once exposed, eventually flakes off in patches.

Did you get that, this is a fungus that can move. The weather earthstar is found in Britain and Europe, which I guess makes them the hipsters of fungi world.

With this type of diversity on Earth, wouldn't it be a good idea to check out the rain forests, before we cut them all down?

Just imagine what we are losing.