Terrestria: The Earth's Brand

Asian elephant with straight inferior edge on their ears. Photo by Thangaraj Kumaravel https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ Elephants are a series of mammal species, which form a family called Elephantidae. They have a unique and peculiar appearance, which along with many more interesting features, made them one of the most famous animals in the world. Elephants are only found in two continents: Africa and Asia. In Africa, there are two species, the African bush elephant and the African forest elephant. Both African species are notably bigger than the Asian species. In fact, the African bush elephant is the biggest land animal on the planet. Another distinction between the elephants of the two continents is the shape of their ears. Asian elephants have a straight lower border on their ear, while African species have it curved. It is very easy to remember because the ears of African elephants are shaped like the African continent. If you want to learn a little bit about the ...

Crocodilia is an order of reptiles formed by 3 different families. Those families contain genera such as crocodiles, alligators, caimans, gharials and false gharials. They have a semi-aquatic and predatory lifestyle for which they have developed some amazing adaptations. Most of them are quite big and some are giant creatures, like the saltwater and Nile crocodiles. If you want to learn about the tools that make these animals some of the most amazing predators in the world, I recommend you keep reading. Photo by: Lip Kee https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/ Just as any other predator, these reptiles have a diverse arsenal of weapons that they use to hunt. All have brutal bite forces that they use to grasp their preys tightly, leaving their victims with no option to scape. For example, the Nile crocodile, despite being the second biggest crocodile, has the strongest bite in the animal kingdom. With a snap of its jaws, it can create a pressure of 5,000 psi, 4 times t...

Some animal species have developed the amazing ability to mimic different features of other animals and benefit from it. They do it with different goals such as to avoid predators, to hunt more easily, or to ensure that their life cycle continues. Not all mimicking animals are the same, some just imitate the physical aspect and others imitate behavior as well. In today’s article, we are going to cover five of the most interesting masters of disguise in the animal kingdom, if you are interested, keep reading. 5. YELLOW-LEGGED CLEARWING: Photo by: Patrick Clement https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ As amazing as it may sound, the insect in the photo isn’t a wasp, although that is what they want everyone to believe. It is called Synanthedon vespiformis (vespiformis means with the shape of a wasp) and it is a moth. It is found in oak areas because their larvae feed on oak wood. To avoid its predators, this kind of moth mimics the size, shape and color of wasps, whi...

In today’s article we are going talk a little bit about the physiology, particularly in relation to the reproductive process, of one of the most unique genera of fishes there exisy. They are known as seahorses, which is the translation of their scientific name Hippocampus (from Greek hippos meaning “horse” and kampos meaning “sea monster”). The reason for this name is the fact that their head, neck and snout are shaped like those of horses. They are usually found in shallow and warm saltwater areas around the world. Especially in places in which they can easily find shelter, such as coral reefs, mangroves, etc. If you want to learn more about these fascinating and unique creatures, continue reading the article. Seahorses vary greatly in size among the 45 species of the genus. They can be from about 0.6 to 14.0 in (1.5 to 35.5 cm) long. As I mentioned before, their head and neck shape reminded scientists of horses, therefore earning them their name. Unlike the vast majority ...

Today we are going to talk about one of the most interesting animals in the world, the axolotl. They are being studied by scientist for many different reasons. Despite being known as Mexican walking fish, they are amphibians related to the tiger salamander. However, they aren’t just as any other salamander, they are neotenic, which means that they don’t develop adult characteristics. As they never go through metamorphosis, they remain aquatic creatures even in their adulthood. Keep reading, and I go more in depth about some of the topics that I’ve introduced so far. Photo by: Scazon https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ If you take a look at the photo, you can see that axolotls have some characteristics which aren’t present in regular adult salamanders. They retain features from the larval period throughout all their lives. Unlike salamanders, they have external gills with filaments, a caudal fin, gill slits under the external gills and they eat by suction, as they don...

Some spiders are famous for being big, like tarantulas, others are famous for being venomous, like black widows, but the ones I am going to talk about today are famous for very different reasons. With 6,000 different species, they are the biggest family of all spider, containing 13% of the known species. The members of the Salticidae family, also known as jumping spiders, have very complex visual organs, amazing jumping ability and a face perpendicular to the ground. All these unique characteristics makes them some of the most interesting spiders in the world. If you want to learn about some of their secrets, make sure to read this article until the end. Their vision is the sense from which most of their characteristics are based. Unlike most spiders, they have an excellent sight, and each of their 4 pairs of eyes have a different function. As you can see in the in the diagram, they have two anterior and two posterior pairs. Depending on their position in the head, they are surna...

Orcas are among the most intelligent animals in our planet, only equaled by elephants and hominids. Due to their intelligence, they organize themselves in extremely complex social structures. If you want to learn more about the fascinating social life of killer whales, keep reading. Unlike most animals, orcas spend all their lives with their mothers and form groups called matrilines. These are formed by a matriarch, all her sons and daughters, as well as their grandsons and granddaughters. The descendants always stay with their moms, although males usually mate with females from other groups. Matrilines never separate for more than a few hours at most. Matrilines related by an old common matriarch form bigger groups called pods. These groups separate for longer periods of time than matrilines, although never longer than weeks or a few months. Photo by: Kenai Fjords National Park https://flic.kr/p/eXyZUs Orcas are intelligent enough to develop a language and even have di...

Hummingbirds are a family of birds known for many different unique characteristics. Their frantic lifestyle demands a lot of energy, but it also gives them unique and incredible abilities that allow them to perform tasks otherwise impossible. If you would like to know more about these little, but fascinating creatures, join us in this article in which we will tell you some of their most amazing features.  Photo by: jeffreyw https://flic.kr/p/7Zw9Cm Their flight is probaly their most unique skill and the humming sound they make when they fly gives them their name. The way in which they fly is very different from any other bird you can think of, as they beat their wings at a much higher frequency, up to 80 times per second (yes, not per minute, but per second!). This unbelievable frecuency allows them to hover which, as I will tell you later in this article, is essential for their feeding method. And you may be thinking that this frantic pace must create a lot of vibration...

Although most people do not think of sharks that way, they are actually fishes, but they are a little bit different to the ones most of you will probably have in mind. Unlike the tipical fish that we all recognise as such, which are Osteichthyes (bony fishes), sharks are Chondricthyes, which means that they are cartilaginous fishes. Their skeletons aren not made out of bone, but out of cartilage. They are related to other fishes such as rays, skates or chimaeras. Photo by: Elias Levy https://flic.kr/p/oHVLa6 The fact that their skeleton is made out of cartilage makes them more flexible and lighter, which makes swimming less energy demanding for them. However, there are parts of the shark that, due to mechanical stress, need to be a little bit more rigid and, therefore, have evolved in such a way that they have a similar strength to bones. The jaw, for example, is covered in a layer of hexagonal plaques made of calcium salts known as tesserae. Depending on the size of the shark, t...

Chameleons are probably one of the most interesting families of animals in the world. They have something that make people love them, they are fascinating creatures with great adaptations and they are stunningly beautiful and colourful. If you share my passion for chameleons, join us in an article in which we will learn some of its many amazing characteristics.  Color change is undoubtedly the most famous feature of chameleons (although not all species can do it), but most people don't know its real objective. Although a few species of chameleons actually use it to camouflage, this is not the case of the majority. Most species use it to express their mood, to warn other males or to try to scare predators. Another objective of colour change is to regulate their temperature, as they are poikilotherm and, therefore, can't internally regulate it. They turn to darker colours when they want to absorb heat and to lighter colours when they need to cool down.  Photo by: Steve @ t...

Since the Middle Age, there has been a lot of mystery surrounding these nocturnal birds of prey. In some cultures, they have been repeatedly associated with magic, ghosts and spirits and, if you take a look at them, it isn’t surprising at all. There’s just something in the way they look that makes them intriguing and magical and, in today’s article, we are going to talk about a couple of their most amazing qualities.  As they are fundamentally nocturnal birds of prey, they have developed several adaptations to be able to effectively hunt in the dark, some more evident than others. Their most famous adaptation is their big eyes, which are very different from the eyes of the other birds. To give them a better sense of depth, the eyes are facing forward, giving them binocular vision, just as us humans have, and they have tubular shape. Their shapes comes with the condition that they are fixed, which means that owls have to turn their heads every time they want to look at somethin...