The platypus digs two types of burrows, some feature points of entry above water while others point of entry is beneath the surface of the water. Generally with a hole above the water line the burrow tends to be more elaborate rather than basic spots for sleeping while out on a quest for food. After a long night of hunting and ravenous eating, platypuses will sometimes dig a small burrow just for sleep after flowing downstream in hunt for shrimp and crustaceans. These burrows prove to save time for the busy animal that spends half of its day looking for its next meal. The main reason that the platypus lives in such mystery comprises of the lonely animal living in the darkness and eluding major threats to their lives by ducking under the surface of cold, dark water and swimming its heart out until it feels safe. When captured, the platypus throws a fit, it chomps, squirms, and if the platypus caught happens to be a male; it uses a poisonous spur to free itself away from its “predator”; and in the mind of the platypus, a human being looks to be a predator to the pint size aquatic misfit. Reasons such as the platypus’ harsh environment, being nocturnal, and will to escape animals that seem to be predators play into the unknown factors that surround the platypus life in its natural habitat on the coast of Eastern Australia.
Lastly, the platypus becomes even more peculiar, but this time only in the males. The odd animal that is only about the size of an indoor cat, so they need all the defense they can capture, especially in a continent that houses apex predators like the various species of crocodiles on the continent. Poisonous spurs hide behind each of the rear feet Of course, the venom the platypus yields cannot kill the gigant...
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The Pygmy three-toed- sloths are described to have buff-colored faces with dark circles that surround the eye and go outwards to their temples. Like all sloths, they are always in doldrums which can be very unbeneficial to them. They have clay-orange fur that covers their face and their hair is long and bushy. “Long hair hangs forward to the forehead, giving the impression of a hood” (Grzimek 161). Their outer fur has coated an alga that is used as camouflage to avoid predators. If they were attacked, they have a high probability of surviving due to their ability to heal from grievous wounds. These sloths have a total of 18 teeth, 10 coming from their upper jaw. Similar to other sloths their body temperature regulation is imperfect (“Bradypus pygmaeus pygmy three-toed sloth” (a)).
Seahorses are a prime example of species whose atypical biology and unusual global distribution leads to a series of evolutionary questions. Seahorses (genus Hippocampus) are a marine species that have extensively been studied because of their abnormal behaviors in the marine environment compared to other marine creatures. Many of the seahorse species have large ranges, both longitudinally (over a great horizontal distance across the ocean), and latitudinal (great vertical distance within the ocean), regardless of the fact that they are characterized as weak swimmers and lack any large structural fins for efficient swimming (Lourie et al., 1999a). Although they do have these large range environments, seahorses
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Many people cannot tell the differences between alligators and crocodiles. Indeed, their names are often used interchangeably. Both are from the order crocodilian and from afar they do look similar. But similar is not same. We shall examine some significant differences. More specifically, we shall focus on the physical attributes, biological differences and temperament of these semi-aquatic predators.
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