Awesome animals of the week

[Kal'Narred]

My most humble apologies for failing to provide and awsom animal of the week for the last two weeks.

To make up for it, here’s three this week

 

Awesome animal 1 the Star Nosed Mole

Red Fox has been on at me for weeks to feature this one, so here it is, especially for the hot Lady Fox .

The star-nosed mole (Condylura cristata) is a small critter found in wet low areas of eastern Canada and the North-eastern America with records extending along the Atlantic coast as far as extreme south-eastern Georgia. It is the only member of the tribe Condylurini and the genus
Condylura.

Star-nosed moles are easily identified by the eleven pairs of pink fleshy appendages ringing their snout which are used as a touch organ with more than 25,000 minute sensory receptors, known as Eimer’s organs, with which this hamster-sized mole feels its way around.

The extremely sensitive nasal tentacles are covered with minute touch receptors known as Eimer's organs. The nose is approximately one centimeter in diameter with approximately 25,000 Eimer's organs distributed on 22 appendages.

 

Awesome Animal 2 the Marsupial Mole (are you spotting a theme here?)

Marsupial moles (Notoryctidae) is a family of marsupials of the order Notoryctemorphia, consisting of only two extant species:

• Notoryctes typhlops (Southern Marsupial Mole)
• Notoryctes caurinus (Northern Marsupial Mole)

Marsupial moles spend most of their time underground, coming to the surface only occasionally, probably mostly after rains. They are blind, their eyes having become reduced to vestigial lenses under the skin, and they have no external ears, just a pair of tiny holes hidden under thick hair. They do not dig permanent burrows, filling the tunnel in behind them as they move.

 

 

 

Awesome Animal 3, that’s right, you guessed it, it’s the Mole Lizard.

The Mexican mole lizard, five-toed worm lizard, Ajolote or Ajolote lizard (Bipes biporus), is one of four amphisbaenians that have legs. They are pink 6–9-inch (15–23 cm) lizard-like reptiles that live for 1 to 2 years and eat ground dwelling insects and earthworms. Their skin is closely segmented to give a corrugated appearance and like earthworms their underground movement is by peristalsis of the segments. The forelegs are strong and paddle-like while the backlegs have disappeared and are visible only as vestigial bones in X-rays.

This species is oviparous and the females lay one to four eggs in July. The species only breeds underground. The eggs hatch after two months.

The Mexican mole lizard lives in Baja California, Mexico. Like all other amphisbaenians this is a burrowing species that only surfaces at night or after heavy rain.

It is an opportunist carnivore and eats ants, termites, ground dwelling insects, larvae, earthworms, and small animals including lizards. It usually pulls its prey down to the ground to start its meal.

Length about 17–24 centimetres (6.7–9.4 in), width 6–7 millimetres (0.24–0.28 in).

 

[Bishop]

omg a snake with little legs!!