Animals are multicellular living beings that inhabit from the deepest abyssal trenches of the oceans, to the peaks of the highest mountain ranges on the planet. The definition of “animal”Goes through the common characteristic to all of being unable to produce their own nutrients, that is, they are all heterotrophs.
Many of them show, however, unique and curious characters as special adaptation to the environment particular in which each one lives. Between animals with a support system or internal skeleton -better known as vertebrates– some of them may surprise us by the originality shown by the appearance of their bodies.
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Some (very curious) animals that you may not know
Next we will present you a series of curious animals, representatives of the biodiversity spread all over the planet.
Vertebrates
In this group we can highlight, among many other curious animals, the proboscis monkey, the narwhal, the platypus, the echidna, the cock-of-the-rock, the Galapagos marine iguana, the Komodo dragon, the Vietnamese mossy frog and the fish. abyssal lantern. Each of them represents a unique condition of particular taxonomic group to which they belong.
Mammals
They are characterized by presence of hair covering the body and milk production in specialized mammary glands, being also capable of regulating its internal temperature, among other diagnostic characters.
Proboscis monkey or monkey with proboscis (Nasalis larvatus): its originality is evidenced in the particular aspect of its hanging nose, which resembles the proboscis typical of elephants. He lives only in Southeast Asia, on the island of Borneo. Be part of the red list of the IUCN from endangered species.
Narwhal or sea unicorn (Monodon monoceros): is a cetacean (marine mammal) characterized in that its males develop a helical-shaped front tusk that gives it an appearance similar to that of Unicorn, ensuring entry to the list of curious animals. Another characteristic that defines it is that it does not have a dorsal fin. It lives in very cold waters of the Arctic Ocean and is capable of diving to great depths. He is related to the also very curious beluga.
Echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus): this is a small anthill, native to Australia, New Zealand and Tasmania. It is among the curious animals for being a living example of the transition of reptiles and birds towards mammals, whose greatest originality is that it has long spines in addition to being covered with hair, and its mouth does not have real lips but a long protrusion like a beak. Belonging to the group of monotremes, same as him platypus, as well it has the strange combination of being oviparous and producing milk.
Birds
This group of terrestrial vertebrates is characterized by having a body covered in feathers, light bones filled with air and a beak-shaped mouthpart. In addition, together with mammals, they are capable of self-regulating their temperature.
Guyanese cock-of-the-rocks (Rupicola rupicola): It is a native bird of the humid mountainous forests of the Guiana Shield in South America, where you live near rocky river streams. It is characterized by the contrast in color of its males, which develop a crest and head covered in beautiful and resplendent deep orange plumage, on black with white wings, and a black tail with orange details. It is included by the IUCN in the red list of threatened species of extinction.
Reptiles
To this group of vertebrates belong some terrestrial animals that can also function well in water. Among them we are going to highlight two, one American and the other with a distribution confined to some of the islands of the Indonesian archipelago.
Komodo dragon or Komodo monitor (Varanus komodoensis): This huge saury is particularly abundant on the islands of Komodo and Rinca, which are part of Indonesia, where it roams on land and water. Despite its population density, it is currently declared in Danger of Extinction by IUCN. Unlike some of its other relatives, it is a lizard aggressive and predatory, whose poisonous bite result lethal to its prey.
Galapagos Marine Iguana (Amblyrhynchus cristatus): it is an endemic species of this archipelago of the Ecuadorian Pacific. This iguana is so unique because, unlike other species capable of living in coastal plant formations, the males are able to dive in search of the seaweed that constitute their food, while the females and the young are fed scraping those same algae from the rocks where they sunbathe, during low tide.
Amphibians
Within this category are those animals with wet skin unable to regulate their internal temperature, and that develop their life cycle alternating between water and land.
Vietnamese Mossy Frog (Theloderma corticale): this curious frog, of an intense green color, is characterized by its skin has appendages that look like branches of moss, such as those that cover very different surfaces of the humid tropical forest where it lives in Southeast Asia. This peculiarity of its phenotype provides it with a defense strategy against its predators, as it is very useful as a camouflage, in addition to the fact that it bends over itself to form a bulge when it feels threatened.
Fish
To this group of vertebrates belong those animals of exclusively aquatic life (freshwater and salty), characterized by a body covered with scales and equipped with fins, which breathe through gills and regulate their body temperature according to the temperature of the water that surrounds them.
Abyssal lanternfish (Centrophryne spinulosa): this strange and curious species inhabits the abyssal ocean bottoms, in depths that go up to 4,000 meters. Because of this, these animals live to extremely low water temperatures, also subjected to huge pressures due to depth. Head this fish is disproportionately large with respect to the rest of the body and develops a powerful jaw, necessary for your predatory activity. The most curious thing about him is a frontal appendage that emerges in the form of a bioluminescent bulb that is projected in front of your body as a Lantern; this is known as illicium.