The Yellow Moth (Dysphania sagana) is a nocturnal insect in the Geometridae family.
The Yellow Moth is bright yellow with blackish edges and two bands of semi-transparent white spots on its fore-wings (front wings). Its hind-wings (back wings) are bright yellow with small black spots. Its head, thorax, and abdomen are yellow.
The Bristlenose Catfish (Ancistrus cirrhosus) is a freshwater fish in the Loricariidae family. It is also known as the Bushynose Catfish.
The Bristlenose Catfish has an armour-plated body – it is covered with bony plates. It has a suckermouth and a flattened, wide head. The male has fleshy tentacles, similar to spines, on his head. The female has much smaller tentacles on her nose. It can be brown, grey, grey, golden, or albino, with tiny white or yellowish spots.
Why do some vultures have a featherless neck – or almost featherless neck?
A vulture’s head and neck are featherless as an adaptation for hygiene.
Continue reading “Why do some vultures have a featherless neck?”
The King Vulture (Sarcoramphus papa) is a large bird of prey, and a raptor.
The King Vulture has white and black feathers, with a grey to black ruff (collar) around its neck. It also has grey flight feathers and grey tail feathers. Its head and neck are bald, with the skin colour varying from yellow, orange, blue, and purple to red. It has a distinctive orange fleshy carbuncle on its hooked reddish beak. It has white eyes with a red eye-ring. It does not have eyelashes. It has grey legs with long grey claws.
The Banded Mongoose (Mungos mungos) from Africa is a small, short-legged carnivorous mammal that lives in burrows, called dens. It has long, strong claws that dig through soil.
Its claws do not retract, so they are always visible. There are five toes on each foot, and each toe has a medium-sized claw.
The Black Pacu (Colossoma macropomum) is a tropical freshwater fish in the Serrasalmidae family – it is a serrasalmid fish, meaning ‘serrated salmon family.’ It is also known as the Tambaqui and the Black-Finned Pacu. It is a characin fish, like the Tetra.
The Black Pacu is similar in shape to the Piranha because it is laterally compressed with large eyes and a slightly arched back. It has molar-like teeth, similar to human teeth (not sharp teeth like the Piranha). The lower part of its body is blackish, and the rest of its body is grey, yellowish, or olive. Its fins are black.
The African Rhinoceros is a distinctive animal due to its thick, armoured skin and large curved horn. Rhinoceros means ‘nose with a horn.’ The critically endangered Black Rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis) is also called the Hook-Lipped Rhinoceros. The White Rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum) is also called the Square-Lipped Rhinoceros. Most rhinos in zoos are the Southern White Rhinoceros.
Some animals are described as ‘rhinoceros’ in their scientific or common name because they have a horn that looks like a rhinoceros horn.
The Rhino Catfish (Pterygoplichthys scrophus) from South America is a fish with a ridged, armoured body and two horn-like protrusions from its head that looks like the horns of a rhinoceros. The protrusions are actualy nostril flaps so that water doesn’t get up its nose. Its body is completely covered in small plates that look like armour.
The Lemon Emigrant Butterfly (Catopsilia pomona pomona) is a medium-sized common insect.
The Lemon Emigrant Butterfly is white or yellow on the upperside of its wings. It has a faint dark border on its forewings (front wings). It has reddish-ringed silver spots on the underside of its wings. It has reddish antennae.
The Tailed Sulphur Butterfly (Dercas verhuelli) is a small-to-medium sized insect in the Pieridae family of yellow and white butterflies.
The Tailed Sulphur Butterfly has yellow wings tipped in the top corner with a brown-black patch. From the black patch is a faint streak of orange-brown, with an orange-brown blotch on the forewings (front wings). Its body is yellowish with short antennae. Its hindwings (back wings) look as if they have been cut short with scissors.
What is the difference between the Great Capricorn Beetle (Cerambyx cerdo) and the Rhesus Capricorn Beetle (Dorcadion carinatum)?
The Great Capricorn Beetle and the Rhesus Capricorn Beetle are both insects in the Cerambyx family of longhorn beetles.
The Great Capricorn Beetle and the Rhesus Capricorn Beetle both have hard, protective wing cases, called elytra, that are reddish-brown at the tips.
The Great Capricorn Beetle is thinner than the Rhesus Capricorn Beetle.
The Rhesus Capricorn Beetle (Dorcadion carinatum) is an insect in the Cerambyx family of longhorn beetles.
The Rhesus Capricorn Beetle has an elongated black body with short, segmented antennae. It has wing cases called elytra. The elytra are reddish-brown at the tips. It has short jaw-like nippers, or pincers, at its mouth.
The Banggai Cardinalfish (Pterapogon kauderni) is an endangered tropical marine (saltwater) fish.
The Banggai Cardinalfish is pale whitish-beige with black vertical bands. It has a black vertical band running through its eyes. It has a long dorsal fin behind a smaller tasseled fin. Its pelvic fins are broad. It has a deeply-forked tail. Along its tail and across its body are a series of small white spots.
Photographer: Martina Nicolls
The Madagascar Diadem (Hypolimnas dexithea) is a butterfly in the brush-footed family of butterflies. It is also known as the Madagascar Eggfly.
The Madagascar Diadem has black, white, and orange wings. Its forewings (front wings) are black with a white band and white spots. Its hindwings (back wings) are white with a band of orange. Its wings are laced with black and white edges. Its body is black.
The False Water Cobra (Hydrodynastes gigas) is a venomous colubrid snake. It is not related to the cobra, but it can flatten its neck to make it look larger, just as a cobra does. It does not rear up like a cobra. It is also known as the Brazilian Smooth Snake.
The False Water Cobra is olive-green or brown with dark spots and bands. It has large eyes with circular pupils. Its colour becomes darker towards its tail. It has good vision. It has rear fangs. Its tongue is black.
The Red-Legged Seriema (Cariama cristata) is a medium-sized bird. It is also called the Crested Cariama.
The Red-Legged Seriema has medium-brown feathers with black markings. It has a pale-brown head, neck and chest, with white on its underbelly. It has a long neck, long tail, and long red legs. Its beak is red and its eyes are yellow. It has soft feathers emerging from the base of its beak. Its tail has a black band near the tip, with a white band at the tip.
The Anglerfish (Lophius piscatorius) is a bony marine (saltwater) fish. It is commonly known as the Angler in the Lophiidae family of monkfish.
The Anglerfish is mainly all head and hardly any body. It has no scales. Its head is large, broad, and flat. It has a fleshy growth from it head, called the esca or illicium, which acts like a lure. The esca, or illicium, is commonly known as the ‘fishing rod.’ It has a very wide mouth with jaws that have long pointed teeth. Its teeth point inwards. It has long filaments along the middle of its head.
Its pectoral and pelvic fins act like legs, and it can walk along the bottom of the sea. It has fringes on its head and body that look like seaweed, so that it can be camouflaged in its environment.
What is unusual about the ears of the Praying Mantis?
Animals have two ears. The Praying Mantis is an insect and most insects have two ears.
But the Praying Mantis is the only animal in the world with a single ear.
Its one ear is located in a fold on the underside of its thorax.
The Giant Asian Mantis (Heirodula membranacea) is a large insect in the mantid family. It is a phasmid.
The Giant Asian Mantis is long and green and can be camouflaged in plants. It can also be brown, reddish-brown, or yellow-green. It has a hard shell, called an exo-skeleton. The male and the female have wings, but the wings of the female are too small for flying.
What is the difference between the African Lion and the White Lion?
The White Lion (Panthera leo) is a feline, or felid, mammal – a wild cat. It is different from the African Lion (Panthera leo leo) and the Asiatic Lion (Panthera leo persica), but it is more similar to the African Lion.
The White Lion is not albino. It is leucistic, which means that it has reduced colouring, but not complete albinism. An animal that is albino lacks colour and has pink eyes. A leucistic animal does not have pink eyes.
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The Sailfin Tang (Zebrasoma veliferum) is a marine (saltwater) reef fish.
The Sailfin Tang is beige with broad, yellow stripes and darker bands. It has yellow dots and stripes on the darker bands. It has a dark band with yellow dots across its eyes and another dark band behind its eye. It can turn dark-brown when it is stressed. It has a disc-shaped or round body. It has an extended snout (nose). It has a fin across the top of its body, called a sailfin. It has a yellow tail.