Tasmanian devil

The Tasmanian Devil is a marsupial (mammal with a pouch) found only on the wilds in an island called Tasmania. It is carnivorous. It is an endangered animal which used to be found in Australia. It is of the size of a small dog.

Food

The Tasmanian Devil has a very strong bite, strong enough to break bones because it likes to eat bone marrow (a substance that creates red blood cells). It is a scavenger. It eats garbage, carrion, and meat. Despite its appearance, it is very fast, it can swim and even climb trees.

Pictures

Now a video

Duck billed platypus

The duck billed platypus is a species of mammal. It lives in the forests of Australia. A very interesting fact about them is that they are one of the very few mammals to lay eggs! The males have a spike on their hind limb which produces venom. When underwater, it senses its pray using electrolocation. It has thousands of electroreceptors on its body to detect tiny electrical pulses set of by living beings. Another creature which is well-known to use electrolocation is the shark.

Food

The duck billed platypus likes to eat crayfish. Its diet also consists of frogs, fish, insects which fall into the water, spiders, freshwater mussels, etc. A duck billed platypus has to eat 1/3 to 1/2 of its body weight each day.

Pictures

 

Now a video

Rain

The day was so grey,

All I could say is that it is a horrible day.

When I was going to school, it started to rain,

I fell down and cried in pain.

I couldn't see a thing because it was so foggy,

I shouted and shouted very sadly.

All my cries were in vain,

Oh, why did it even start to rain

A clock

In our house is a clock so old,

It must be worth a block of gold.

I love to hear it go tick,

The clearest tick I cannot pick.

When it breaks its so distracting,

One of the times it broke was when I was batting.

In the clock is a coo-coo with a nose so long,

When it comes out, it sings a little song.

Lyrebirds

The Lyrebird is a subspecies of bird that is mostly native to Australia. Lyrebirds are amazing for their ability to mimic sounds from its surroundings, including those that are man-made. In the below video, you can see a Lyrebird showing off his ability to imitate several other bird species along with a camera shutter, car alarm and even a chainsaw. They are very shy, that is why people don't know much about them. They are mostly ground dwelling, though they can fly if they need to.

Habitat

The lyrebird is found in many rain forests in Australia. You can also find lyrebirds in national parks in Australia. During mating, the females create an open area mound in dense bush, on which they dance and sing for mates. The female makes an untidy nest, which is usually low to the ground in a moist gully, where she lays a single egg. She is the only parent, who incubates the egg over 50 days until it hatches. She is also the only protector of the chick when it hatches.

Now a video

Now some pictures

Honey badgers

Honey badgers are a species of badger (obviously). They are also known as the Ratel. As they are closely related to skunks, they can also produce the stench known for skunks. The stench is a foul smelling liquid
that is sprayed out of a gland under it's tail. Honey badgers are very tough animals. They are so tough that
even lions are scared of them. They live in Africa, Southwest Asia, and India.

Diet

Honey badgers love bee honey, thus giving them their name. They often go in search of hives to get it.

Once they find a hive, they spray a foul smelling liquid into the hive to fend the bees off. Then they eat 

their hard earned treat. Their diet further consists of insects, eggs, snakes, rodents, birds and many 

more. They also eat berries, roots and bulbs. Honey badgers hunt rodents such as gerbils by digging 

them out of their burrows.

Symbiotic Relationship With Honey Guide Bird

Honey badgers are known to have a symbiotic relationship with Honey guide birds in which, the bird is supposed to guide the badger to find the bee hives, and the badger shares the hive with the bird. Even though the wikipedia page dismisses this belief, I found a video that proves otherwise, see this for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3t_vXWgoWdc

Now a video showing how tough Honey badgers are

Now some pictures

Coconut crabs

Coconut crabs are a species of terrestrial hermit crab. They are also called robber crabs or palm thieves. They are the strongest and the biggest of all the arachnids. They measure three feet across.  They are also very intelligent.  Coconut crabs are usually blue but they can be red or orange.

They use their claws to rip off strips of the husk and expose the inner hard shell. They then grab the coconut, climb up a tree, and drop it down to break it open and expose the white flesh inside. The stronger adults can crack them directly. Coconut crabs are also scavengers and known to steal food.

They have a keen sense of smell. They can detect vibrations under the ground, just like snakes. They don't see very well. Coconut crabs are usually nocturnal. During the day the crabs hide in burrows or crevices.

Here is the wikipedia article about them: link

Bats

Bats are the one of the symbols of Halloween. They are rumored to be blind. Is this true? Read on to find out.

Are bats blind?

No. Bats are not blind, they can see just like us in the daytime. Also in the nighttime, their visibility is similar to ours. That is why bats use echolocation to get around. The bat emits a high pitch scream which humans cannot hear. They make the scream through their nose because they cannot do it through their mouth while eating. The scream hits an object and the echo comes back to the bat. The bat receives the echo through its ears and identifies the position. Bats can use echolocation to hunt, avoid obstacles and avoid predators.

What do bats eat?

Bats primarily eat insects, but some bats eat fruits. An insect eating bat is very good for the environment because a single bat could eat upto 100 mosquitoes in a single night.

Flying foxes

Flying foxes are the biggest type of bat. The Indian flying fox can grow to be up to 6 feet long! Flying foxes are not really foxes, but a type of bat. They are called flying foxes because their heads look like a fox's head.

They do not eat insects, they eat fruits.

Check out this video

Now some pictures

Killer whales

Killer whales are a species of oceanic dolphin which (surprisingly) eat other dolphin species.They are the biggest type of dolphins. They are also called Orcas. Their diet further consists of sharks, seals and fish. They are known to play with their food before eating it. They are called "Wolves of the ocean", because they hunt tactically as pack like wolves. They are very social animals, with packs (collective noun for killer whales) ranging up to ten or twenty. They catch their prey using echolocation. They are mammals and cannot breath under water, so they hold their breath while diving. Though they breath when they reach surface, they cannot stay out of water for more than ten minutes. That is because their skin needs to be constantly wet. They are very intelligent animals. While catching seals on icebergs, they tip the iceberg over so that the seals fall into the ocean. They can also be trained to do tricks.

Check out this video on killer whales

Now a picture

Nature

Grasses and flowers

Fruits and leaves

All moving slowly in the breeze

When the breeze stops they all freeze.

Streams, ponds, lakes, and rivers

All that thirst quenching waters

All the animals crowd around

Nature is everywhere, look around

By,

Ashvin Dara 

My Favorite Bird -- Perigrine Falcon

The Peregrine Falcon is the fastest bird on the planet. It achieves a speed of up to 242 mph while doing aerial dives called stoops. It is found widely on many continents making it the most widespread bird too. See below for some information and pictures.

Measurements

Both Sexes

Length

14.2–19.3 in
36–49 cm

Wingspan

39.4–43.3 in
100–110 cm

Weight

18.7–56.4 oz
530–1600 g   

Other Names

• Duck Hawk
• Faucon pèlerin (French)
• Halcón peregrino (Spanish)

source of all pictures and measurements = http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/peregrine_falcon/id

Check out this awesome video on measuring Peregrine Falcon's speed

In peregrine falcons, the male is the bigger falcon. So in the measurements, the smaller measurements are the female ones. In the video, the first time they let the falcon go, the speed was 180 mph. The second time, it reached 242 mph. That was probably because they let it go higher the second time. The higher it is, the more time the falcon has to accelerate. Peregrine falcons have long wings. They fold their wings to make themselves streamlined to cut through the air.

Hope you too would like this animal as much as I do!

Octopuses and squids

Octopuses and squids can change color in seconds to hide from predators. They are really intelligent. In fact, they are the most intelligent of all invertebrates (animals without backbones). Octopus and squid are mollusks. They are related to snails.

Arms and tentacles

Octopuses use their tentacles for gripping, touching and tasting. Squids also use their 2 arms and 8 tentacles for these purposes. Suckers on the bottom of these arms and tentacles help them to keep a hold of their prey and force the prey into its beak-like mouth.

Jet propulsion

To make a quick escape from predators, octopuses and squids may use jet propulsion. They suck water into a sack behind its eyes, then squirt it out. As the water shoots out backwards, the force pushes the animal forward.