Your Parents Might Not like These Top 10 Animal Facts

Here is some trivia about the creatures I've run into in the course of my studies and travel that aren't your normal animals, if you can call anyone normal.

One of the Oldest Known Life Forms is Still Alive

Well, this is an unfair listing for animal since it is in the Eubacteria Clade, one of the top three that comes in the new tree of life that is one of the causes and maybe cures for uncertainties about evolutionary theory. Based in part on traditional methods of using similarities in bone structures and other anatomical features, fossils, and other characteristics for identifying families, groups, species etc, the new tree of life also adds information from DNA to help establish clades, which are branches from the main life tree that contain characteristics specific only to that clade, and in fact, keeps the tree branches as small as possible. Some of the clades in the new tree of life are undetermined at this point and require further information to be completed. The top three branches are the Eukaryotes, Eubacteria, and Archaea, with humans and trees found on the Eukaryote branch.

To keep to the point about old age, cyanobacteria is use photosynthesis and are believed to be responsible for the oxygen in Earth's atmosphere. Fossils from the most ancient stomatolites, mats made from filaments of cyanobacteria are3.4 billion years old. We were able to see stomatolite fossils in the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. [2]

A Naughty Animal Has Sex with Multiple Partners Simultaneously

We were walking across a bridge at Lover's Key, Florida when I spotted a strange creature. Curious about the creature which I identified as a Spotted Seahare, I found that the reason that so many of them were piled together was that these creatures had both male and female reproductive organs making it possible to have sex with both another male and female Spotted Seahare at the same time, often in line. [1]

Growing Lumpy Humps is Not an Function of Old Age in Camels Who Just Keep Going

Camels humps are stored fats, I'm thinking perhaps they grew as shielding against the sun, or perhaps as energy reserves. In either case, the camel can withstand dehydration up to 30% of their body weight and having less effect on their blood than humans and is the primary reason they became the main form of transport in the desert.[2]

There's an Animal in Australia that Actually Likes Termites But Doesn't Eat Them

The Lace Monitor, a species of Goanna, or Monitor Lizards, lay their eggs in termite mounds. They lay their eggs, cover them partially, then wait patiently for the termites to completely cover the eggs and thereby protect them and keep them warm at 30C. [3]

Who Knows When Baby Will be Born When Mom Can Be Pregnant for Up to Four Years

Yep, mommy Alpine Salamander is so uncertain about cool weather conditions in the mountains that she can stay pregnant until her babies will have a good start in life.[2]

The King with the Sharpest Bill

What makes the King Vulture the king of the Amazon is his sharp bill. The other vultures like them because his bill is often able to cut through thick skins and open up a carcass for eating. He gets to eat his share and then the other vultures dive in when he leaves. But it's lonely at the top, he often travel singly or as a mated pair. See Selected Best Bird Photographs from Peru to see him standing tall.

The Greater Cane Rat isn't Really a Rat But to A Leopard and Others Good Food

While in Kruger National Park, we got to observe a leopard hunting a Greater Cane Rat. I had to laugh at the leopard's similarity in behavior to my house cat while hunting. The driver told us that when his tail stood up straight and began to shake, the leopard was about to pounce. Sure enough, he pounced but the greater cane rat dashed across underneath the trunks of about a dozen male African Elephants. You've heard the tale about how elephants are scared of mice? Well, if you saw the 11 pound, or 5 kilogram sized Greater Cane Rat, who in fact is more closely related to a porcupine. Regardless, he makes good food for leopards and others.[5]

Capybara's Don't Mind Birds Going For A Ride

The largest rodent in the world is a Capybara, found in South America. He suffers from mites and often bathes in mud to get rid of them. He also allows birds to snack on the insects of his back, allowing them to go for a ride while perched on his back.[6] Within seconds of seeing Capybaras climb out of the Amazon while in Peru, we saw birds fly down and roost. To take a look, check out Selected Best Mammal Photographs from Peru.

River Rafting is for the Birds

The Water Ouzel or American Dipper is a dark gray bird that likes to take a swim in mountain streams, despite the cold temperature of snow runoff. The reason is he can dip down and find mosquito, crane fly, dragonfly, and other larvae along the river rocks. His name Dipper, though, comes from the fact that he wags his tail up and down.[7]

The Jack O'Lantern that Walks the Mangroves

This ghoulie-want-to-be is really a crab, called the Mouthless Crab, but he's also know as the Jack O'Lantern crab because of his bright orange legs and black carapace and front purple hued claws. He's nocturnal and can be found on shore with a flashlight or by people like us hiking the edges of the mangroves in Manuel Antonio National Park in Costa Rica.[7]

[1] Eugene H. Kaplan, "Roger Tory Peterson Field Guide Southeastern and Caribbean Seashores, Easton Press, 1988

[2] Guillaume Lecointre, Herve Le Guyader, "The Tree of Life", Bleknap Press of Harvard University, 2006

[3] Gerry Swan, "Green Guide Snakes & Other Reptiles of Australia", New Holland Publishers Australia, 2001

[4] Thomas S. Schulenberg, Douglas F. Stotz, Daneil F. Lane, John P. O'Neill, Theodore A. Parker III, "Birds of Peru", Princeton University Press, 2007

[5] U. De V. Piienaar, S. J. C. Joubert, A. Hall-Martin, G. De Graaff, I.L. Rautenbach , "Field Guide to the Mammals of The Kruger National Park",C. Struik House Publishers, 1987

[6] Rexford D. Lord, "Mammals of South America", John Hopkins University Press, 2007

[7] Carol L. Henderson, "Field Guide to the Wildlife of Costa Rica", University of Texas Press, 2002