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The giant rat is not the only discovery made by the expedition team. They also found another unique type of mammal called the Bosavi Silky Cuscus. The animal – which looks like a small bear – is a marsupial that lives up trees, feeding on fruits and leaves. Weighing in at over 2kg, it has dense silky fur adapted for a mountain environment. Like the giant rat, the Bosavi Silky Cuscus also appeared to have no fear of man, suggesting these animals have never come into contact with humans before. The 82 centimeters long rat weighs around 1.5 kilograms and has a silver-brown coat of long, thick fur. A captured specimen showed no fear of humans.
The leopard gecko is a nocturnal ground-
The chupacabra (“
The name comes from the animal’s reported habit of attacking and drinking the blood of
Tube-nosed Bat is a species of vesper bat in the Vespertilionidae family. They have tube-shaped nostrils which assist them with their feeding. They are brown with white-yellow and underparts and have specks of orange around their neck. While they are roosting, their fur, which seems to look like a dead plant, camouflages them from predators. They are 3.3-6.0cm in length and have round heads, large eyes and soft fur. This bat is found in India. They are endangered due to clearing of the rain forests in which they live in and are not protected by the World Conservation Union. They feed on rain forest fruit and blossoms. As the brown tube-nosed bat holds its mouth open much of the time in order to echolocate, it is easy to see its large, sharp teeth, used to crush hard-bodied insects.
Emperor tamarins are found in the southwest Amazon Basin. The countries of their origin are southeast Peru, northwest Bolivia, and northwest Brazil. River drainage in Peru such as the Acre, Purus, and Jurua have populations of emperor tamarins. They are very light-weighted, so they can reach food at the far end of tree branches, which are unaccessable by heavier animals, including predators.
The emperor tamarins display a need for tenderness when kept as a pet. They love to be stroked by hand and will actually lay on their backs in hopes of extra petting attention. The Emperor Tamarin lives together in groups of two to eight animals. The oldest female leads the group above several mature males. Mutual grooming plays an important role for bonding and socializing.
A “flying” frog is a frog that has the ability to glide. That is, it can descend at an angle of less than 45° relative to the horizontal. Arboreal frogs (non-flying frogs) can also descend vertically, but only at angles greater than 45°, which is referred to as parachuting. Flying frogs have evolved independently among 3,400 species of frogs from both New World and Old World families and their evolution is seen as an adaptation to their life in trees, high above the ground. Characteristics of the Old World species include “enlarged hands and feet, full webbing between all fingers and toes, lateral skin flaps on the arms and legs, and reduced weight per snout-vent length”.
flying frog population is considered stable, and they have special status only in certain localities. However, they are partial to breeding and laying eggs in the fetid wallowing holes of the nearly extinct Asian rhinoceros, and further decreases in rhino populations may negatively affect the species.
7 ) Lamprey
A lamprey is a parasitic marine/aquatic animal with a toothed, funnel-like sucking mouth. Translated directly, their name means stone lickers. While lampreys are well known for those species which bore into the flesh of other fish to suck their blood, these species make up the minority. In zoology, lampreys are often not considered to be true fish because of their vastly different morphology and physiology.
The narwhal is a medium-sized toothed whale that lives year-round in the Arctic. One of two species of whale in the Monodontidae family, along with the Beluga whale, the narwhal males are distinguished by a characteristic long, straight, helical tusk extending from their upper left jaw. Narwhals have a relatively restricted and specialized diet. Their prey is predominantly composed of Greenland halibut, polar and Arctic cod, shrimp and Gonatus squid. Additional items found in stomachs have included wolfish, capelin, skate eggs and sometimes rocks, accidentally ingested when whales feed near the bottom.
The Saki Monkey is one species of the New World monkeys, which is a part of the genus Pithecia. This species is thought to be very closely related to the bearded Saki monkeys, though they are their own separate species. These monkeys are recognized by their small size and their long bushy tails. This species lives in the understory and lower canopy of the forest, feeding mostly on fruits, but also eating nuts, seeds, and insects.
They are also distinguishable due to their furry but rough skin, their grey or sometimes reddish brown coloring, their naked faces, and their hooded heads. Many state that this species of monkey is very serious looking.
The Shoebill lives only in extensive papyrus swamps in the interior of central Africa, occurring locally from s. Sudan to n. Zambia. The Shoebill is a very large bird. This species was only classified in the 19th century when some skins were brought to Europe. It was not until years later that live specimens reached the scientific community. However, the bird was known to both ancient Egyptians and Arabs.
Shoebills feed in muddy waters, preying on fish, frogs,smaller birds, reptiles such as baby crocodiles, invertebrates and small mammals. They nest on the ground and lay 2 eggs. The population is estimated at between 5,000 and 8,000 individuals, the majority of which live in Sudan.
11 ) Sloth
The sloth is a slow-moving mammal that lives in trees. Sloths spend most of their lives hanging upside-down from tree branches; they eat, sleep, mate, and give birth upside-down in the trees. They hold onto tree branches with strong, curved claws that are on each of their four feet. Male sloths are solitary, shy animals. Females sometimes congregate together. Sloths are nocturnal; they are most active at night and sleep all day. Until geologically recent times, ground sloths such as Megatherium lived in South America and parts of North America, but along with many other animals they disappeared immediately after the arrival of humans on the continent.
The Madagascar Sucker-footed Bat, Old World Sucker-footed Bat, or simply Sucker-footed Bat is a species of bat in the family Myzopodidae. It is endemic to Madagascar. It is threatened by habitat loss. It is named for the presence of small suction cups on its wrists and ankles. They roost inside the rolled leaves of palm trees, using their suckers to attach themselves to the smooth surface. Later scientists discovered that this species doesn’t use suction to attach themselves to roost sites, but instead uses a form of wet adhesion by secreting a body fluid at their pads.
he whole length of these bats usually measures no more than 2.3 inches and weighs about .3 ounces! There is just one official species of the bat known, though there have recently been reports of finding another species of the sucker footed bat.
Tarsiers are haplorrhine primates of the genus Tarsius, a genus in the family Tarsiidae, which is itself the lone extant family within the infraorder Tarsiiformes. Although the group was once more widespread, all the species living today are found in the islands of Southeast Asia. All tarsier species are nocturnal in their habits, but like many nocturnal organisms some individuals may show more or less activity during the daytime. Unlike many nocturnal animals, however, tarsiers lack a light-reflecting area of the eye.
They also have a fovea, which is atypical for nocturnal animals. The tarsier’s brain is different from other primates in terms of the arrangement of the connections between the two eyes and the lateral geniculate nucleus, which is the main region of the thalamus that receives visual information.
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