The Linear Cobalt Crayfish (Cambarus gentryi) is a freshwater decapod (10-legged) crustacean in the Cambaridae family of crayfish.
The Linear Cobalt Crayfish has a cobalt blue shell with orange or yellow markings. It has 10 appendages – two of them are large pincers. Its other legs have a small claw at the end. It has 20 body segments grouped into two main parts: the cephalothorax and the abdomen.
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A new and rare species of spider has been found in Australia. It is called the Giant Trapdoor Spider (Euoplos dignitas), an arachnid in the Idiopidae family of armoured trapdoor spiders.
The Giant Trapdoor Spider has a small head, a shiny, smooth, armoured (plated carapace) thorax with 8 long hairy legs, and a large furry abdomen. The male is honey-red and the female is dark-brown. The male and female have two white bands on each leg, and a white band at the top of its carapace, near its head.
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Banded Mongoose females have a unique system of supersynchrony when they have their babies – they all give birth on the same night.
The Banded Mongoose (Mungos mungo) is a small carnivorous mammal found in central and eastern Africa – and one of 25 African species of mongoose. It is related to the Meerkat.
Most mongooses are solitary, but the Banded Mongoose lives in a colony of about 20 individuals, and up to 55 individuals. The colony lives underground in burrows, called dens.
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The European Ground Squirrel (Spermophilus citellus) is a rodent mammal in the Sciuridae family of squirrels. It is also known as the European Souslik.
The European Ground Squirrel has a slender body with a short, bushy tail. Its short fur is yellowish-grey, flecked with black hair. Its underside is pale. It has large, dark eyes and small, rounded ears. It has short feet with sharp claws for digging. It has strong, gnawing teeth. It has a small nose with whiskers.
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In Southern California, urban developers built over the burrows of the local Western Burrowing Owls, destroying their habitats.
The Burrowing Owl (Athene cunicularia) is a small, long-legged bird in the Strigidae family of owls. It measures 19-28 centimetres (7-11 inches) tall, with a wingspan of 50-61 centimetres (20-24 inches). It is native to North America and South America. It prefers grasslands, rangelands, agricultural areas, deserts and other open dry areas.
Unlike most nocturnal (night) owls, the Burrowing Owl is diurnal, active during the day.
It nests in burrows underground that a prairie dog or a squirrel has dug into the soil. It also nests in other shallow, underground structures.
The San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance collaborated with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to relocate the Burrowing Owls that had lost their homes when humans began building in the area.
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The Common Earthworm (Lumbricus terrestris) is a terrestrial (land) invertebrate (without a backbone) in the Lumbricidae family of earthworms. It is also known as the Lob Worm.
The Common Earthworm is pinkish-greyish-purple. The body is cylindrical and a tube-in-a-tube, with a series of segments, called metamerisms. The last segment is the tail, and the first segment has the mouth and prostomium (flat paddle-shaped lobe). Each segment has bristle-like hairs called lateral setae. These hairs help it to move by gripping the surface of the soil. It has pores (holes) in its body that enables it to breathe. It exudes a fluid that keeps the body moist and stops it from drying out.
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The Goliath Birdeater Spider (Theraphosa blondi) is an arachnid in the Theraphosidae family of tarantula spiders. It is also called the Goliath Bird-Eating Spider.
The Goliath Birdeater Spider is light brown to golden-coloured, and hairy with eight long legs.
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The Nose-Horned Viper (Vipera ammodytes ammodytes) is a highly venomous reptile in the Viperidae family of viper snakes. It is a viperid. It is also known as the Horned Viper and Western Sand Viper. Scientists think it might be the most dangerous snake in Europe.
The Nose-Horned Viper has a head covered with small, irregular scales that can be smooth or slightly keeled (ridged). It has 10-13 small scales around its eyes. The nasal (nose) scale is large that looks like a horn with 9-17 smaller scales along it, but it is soft and flexible.
The male has irregular dark-brown, dark-grey, or black markings and a thick black stripe from its eye to its jaw. The male has V-shaped markings on its back like a zig-zag pattern. The female lacks the dark V-shaped markings on its body, and is browner and more bronze-coloured than the male. Its underbelly can be grey, yellowish-brown, or pinkish. Both have a black tongue and golden or copper-coloured eyes.
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The Mournful Spider (Pardosa lugubris) is an arachnid (eight-legged invertebrate) in the Lycosidae family of wolf spiders.
The Mournful Spider is light-brown mottled with darker-brown markings. It has eight eyes arranged in three rows; two of the eyes are large and prominent. Unlike most spiders, it has excellent eyesight.
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The Black-Tailed Prairie Dog (Cynomys ludovicianus) is a rodent mammal in the Sciuridae family of squirrels.
The Black-Tailed Prairie Dog is tan-coloured with markings of dark fur. It has a brown tail with a dark tip. Its belly is lighter coloured. It has small ears. It has long claws used for digging.
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The Australian Wolf Spider (Hoggicosa castanea) is an arachnid in the Lycosidae family of wolf spiders. It is a wandering species of spider.
The Australian Wolf Spider is brown and camouflaged in its srroundings. It has eight eyes arranged in three rows. Two of its eyes are large and prominent. Unlike most spiders, it has excellent eyesight.
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The North American River Otter (Lontra canadensis) is a freshwater, semi-aquatic mammal in the Lutrinae sub-family of the Mustelidae family of weasels. It is a mustelid. It is also known as the Northern River Otter or the Common Otter.
The North American River Otter has a long, slender body, which is streamlined for swimming. Its fur is short, thick and water-repellent. It has short legs with webbed feet for swimming, but it can also walk on land. It varies in colour from light-brown to black, with a greyish chest, neck, and throat. It has a short nose, flat head, round ears, and a nose pad (like a dog). It has long whiskers, called vibrissae. It has a long, tapered tail.
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The Large Hairy Armadillo (Chaetophractus villosus) is a mammal related to the Anteater and the Sloth.
The Large Hairy Armadillo has a series of thin, grey bony plates along its head and back. This leathery shell is called a carapace. Its pinkish-white underbelly is covered in long, coarse hair. It has long, powerful claws on its front legs for digging. It has a long snout (nose), small beige ears, and small eyes.
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The Greater Guinea Pig (Cavia magna) is a large rodent mammal. It is not a pig and it does not come from Guinea.
The Greater Guinea Pig has dark fur, such as dark-brown or reddish-brown, with a creamy-white underbelly. Its whiskers are short and dark. It has two large front teeth to enable it to gnaw plants. It has dark almond-shaped eyes.
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The Platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) is a semi-aquatic monotreme (egg-laying) marsupial (pouched) mammal. It is also known as the Duck-Billed Platypus.
The Platypus has a duck-like beak, webbed feet with sharp claws like an otter, an elongated mole-like body, and a broad, flat, beaver-like tail. Its waterproof fur is brown with a whitish underbelly. The male has a venomous spur on it hind (back) feet. The female has a spur, but it is not venomous. It has small brown eyes and small nostrils.
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The Burrowing Owl (Athene cunicularia) is a small, long-legged bird in the Strigidae family of owls.
The Burrowing Owl has white and brown flecked feathers with a white chin patch. Its chest and abdomen have white and brown bars, with some greyish feathers. It has white eyebrows, big eyes, and a dark-grey beak. It does not have ear tufts that many other owls have. It has long grey legs.
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The Yellow Mongoose (Cynictis penicillata) is a carnivorous mammal. It is also known as the Red Meerkat.
The Yellow Mongoose has a long body with rough yellowish fur, and a bushy tail. It has lighter highlights on its underbelly and chin. It has a pointy nose and small ears. Its eyes are small and dark. It has long, strong claws that dig through soil. Its claws do not retract, and therefore they are always visible.
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The Mexican Red-Knee Tarantula (Brachypelma smithii) is a large spider, and an arachnid.
The Mexican Red-Knee Tarantula is blue-black with three dark reddish-orange coloured rings on its legs. Adult males have a yellowish-brown shell, called a carapace, on its back.
The Red-and-Yellow Barbet (Trachyphonus erythroacephalus) is a bird.
The Red-and-Yellow Barbet has distinctive black, red, and yellow plumage, where the black feathers are spotted with white. It has a black forehead and crown, with a slight crest. The back of its neck is orange and red with black spots. The side of its neck is red and yellowish. Its back is mostly black with white spots. Its tail is a blackish-brown with up to eight cream spots forming bars. The under side of its tail is yellow with black bars. It has a yellow chin and throat, and there is a black patch at the centre of its throat, which is bordered by areas with more orange. Its chest is orange, and its belly is yellow. It has black wings with white spots, giving a spotted appearance.
Its beak is red. Its eyes are yellow-brown with a dark-grey or black eye-ring. Its legs and feet are blue-grey. The female is similar to the male, but duller, with less red and orange, and more yellow and white.
The Banded Mongoose (Mungos mungo) is a mammal found in central and eastern Africa.
Female Banded Mongoose have 2-6 young, called pups.
For the first four weeks, pups stay in their home, which is a den or burrow in the ground or in rock crevices.