Top 5 most interesting animals, in my opinion of course :)

Older and wiser: Female elk can learn to avoid hunters with age

As female elk get older, they adopt strategies for avoiding hunters in Canada, according to a study published June 14, 2017 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Henrik Thurfjell from University of Alberta, Canada, and colleagues.

Once female elk reach the age of about 10 years, they are nearly invulnerable to human hunters. This age-related difference could be driven only by selection by hunters -- or it could also be driven by learning. If learning is not involved, then individuals should not adjust their behavior as they age; for example, elk that survive could simply have been more cautious all along. If learning is involved, however, then individuals should adjust their behavior as they age. Female elk are ideal for differentiating between these two hypotheses, in part because they are highly gregarious and can live upwards of 20 years, increasing the opportunities for learning.

Thurfjell and colleagues fitted 49 female elk with ages ranging from 1-18 years old at the time of capture, in Alberta and British Columbia, Canada with GPS radiocollars, and tracked them for 2-4 years. The data included distance traveled with time, terrain ruggedness (slope), and forest cover. The researchers then modeled elk with behaviors that differed amongst individuals but were constant over time in a given individual, as well as elk that could learn to adjust their behavior with age.

The researchers found that the older elk adjusted their behavior, suggesting that learning plays a role in shaping their avoidance of hunters. Specifically, older female elk reduced their movement rates, thereby reducing their detectability and so the likelihood of encountering human hunters. In addition, older female elk increased their use of safer grounds -- rugged terrain and forest -- when they were near roads, where the likelihood of being spotted by hunters is highest. Interestingly, the researchers also found that elk could differentiate between bow and rifle hunters. Older females used rugged terrain more during the season for bow hunting than during that for rifle hunting, presumably reflecting the fact that bow hunters need to stalk their prey closely and this is more difficult on slopes. Rifle hunters, in contrast, can shoot over distances of up to 300 meters. This work may have implications for managers trying to impose behaviors on animals through learning; even a low risk, suggest the researchers, could induce avoidance behavior in more experienced individuals.

Source: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170614141520.htm

Gender dictates camouflage strategy in this newly identified praying mantis group

Adult females and males in a newly identified genus of Latin American praying mantises have evolved sharply different camouflage strategies, according to a Cleveland Museum of Natural History-led study published in the journal ZooKeys.

Adult males of the new genus retain the stubby, stick-like body configuration and brown coloration they have used as nymphs, whereas adult females, whose bodies grow to be considerably larger to maximize egg production, transform their appearance to mimic a leaf. They change to green, while their forewings become larger and more rounded compared to the male's, with veins that simulate a leaf structure.

Although adult females are nearly two inches long, the members of this new mantis genus had escaped scientific recognition until recently, in part because the disparity in camouflage tactics made classification difficult.

This shrewdness inspired the name for the new mantis species: Hondurantemna chespiritoi. The genus name (Hondurantemna) derives from Honduras, where the first female specimen was found, in combination with Antemna, a Neotropical mantis to which the new lineage is closely related.

Meanwhile, the species name, chespiritoi, is a nod to the late Mexican comedian Roberto Gómez Bolaños, known as Chespirito, or Little Shakespeare. One of Bolaños' TV characters, a goofy superhero called the Red Grasshopper, was fond of saying "¡No contaban con mi astucia!" -- Spanish for "They didn't count on my cleverness!" -- when he defeated bad guys.

"I grew up watching that TV show in Brazil," says the study's lead author, Cleveland Museum of Natural History entomologist and Case Western Reserve University biology Ph.D. candidate Henrique Rodrigues.

"The first male specimen of the new mantis species was from Mexico, like Bolaños," he explains. "And the signature line of Bolaños' Red Grasshopper character kind of reminded me of the fact that you had this pretty large species of praying mantis that no one had found for many years."

Adult female and male specimens of the mantis species were in separate museum collections in Paris, France and San Francisco, California, but had remained unidentified and their relationship unrecognized for more than two decades because of their dissimilar appearances.

Entomologist Julio Rivera, Ph.D., spotted the large green female mantis in the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris and brought it to the attention of Cleveland Museum of Natural History Curator of Invertebrate Zoology Gavin Svenson, Ph.D., an international expert on praying mantises. Dr. Svenson later saw the small brown male mantis in the California Academy of Sciences and noted that the two insects, though dissimilar in color and size, had body features that hinted they might be members of the same Antemninae sub-family.

Yet, adaptation to similar environments can cause unrelated organisms to develop similar features. This phenomenon, called convergent evolution, can complicate the process of sorting out connections on the praying mantis family tree.

Dr. Svenson is leading a research project to more accurately reclassify the massive praying mantis family tree using DNA testing and insights from the insects' body form and features -- their morphology. He has consolidated many of the country's major mantis collections at the Cleveland museum, thus building the Western Hemisphere's largest assemblage of the insects to aid this effort.

The final pieces of the puzzle that allowed the Cleveland researchers to identify the new mantis lineage arrived by chance. Neil Reid, Ph.D., a lecturer at Queen's University in Belfast, Northern Ireland, contacted Dr. Svenson, wondering if he wanted to examine a group of unknown praying mantises that Dr. Reid had gathered in a Honduran cloud forest.

The specimens Dr. Reid provided included two adult females and some male and female nymphs in various stages of development. The adult females looked the same as the female from the Paris museum. The male nymphs closely resembled the adult male from San Francisco. Having the nymphs let the researchers see the separate camouflage strategies the male and female mantises adopted as they matured.

Rodrigues conducted DNA tests that confirmed the mantises all represented the same genus and species, which had not been recognized before. The analysis also showed where this new mantis group, or taxon, fit on the complex mantis family tree: verifying that it belonged in the Antemninae subfamily.

"The recognition of H. chespiritoi shows the important role genetics can play in classifying insect relationships. It also highlights the value of museum collections," Dr. Svenson says.

"When people ask us, 'Why do you collect things?', it's because we still have a shockingly small concept of the biodiversity that's out there," Dr. Svenson says. "Museums are the places that hold that biological knowledge, and we're pulling information out of them all the time."

Source: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170614112842.htm

Angora Rabbit

The Angora Rabbit is the product of hundreds of years of domestic breeding for its wool. The result looks something like a cat that has touched a power line, a cotton ball with a face, or a sheep that's been through a straightener. There are actually multiple breeds of this rabbit, and they were very popular among French royalty. I'm curious if Elmer Fudd would want to hunt one of these guys. Check out this site, which takes them very, very seriously.

Source: https://owlcation.com/stem/10-interesting-animal-species-you-probably-havent-heard-of

Tarsier

Family Tarsiidae

Tarsiers are interesting creatures.These little guys grow to be a whopping five inches. They eat insects and have been known to jump from tree to tree and eat birds.

Wait, what?
That's right. They're nocturnal, and move very, very fast using their bony fingers and long tail. Females usually have about one little baby tarsier per year. What else is unnatural about these creatures? They can twist their heads 180 degrees like an owl. If they were any bigger, I'd be terrified of them.

This once again proves that Mother Nature has more creativity than science fiction writers.

Source: https://owlcation.com/stem/10-interesting-animal-species-you-probably-havent-heard-of

Matamata Turtle

Chelus fimbriata

This South American freshwater turtle makes the list because he looks like a tank. The matamata looks bulletproof, fireproof, radiation-proof, and toughest of all, child-proof. I'm not sure about any of those claims though, as I didn't run into any support during my research. Though the shell and head look extremely tough, and probably are, they are meant for camouflage; the matamata is said to resemble a chunk of bark with dead leaves. From above, he would be very hard to see sitting on the bottom of a creek, and also a nasty surprise if you stepped on him. I say this as a person afraid of snakes and spiders. I can't imagine how the person who discovered this river monster felt.

Source: https://owlcation.com/stem/10-interesting-animal-species-you-probably-havent-heard-of

I hope you like them, i for one found the interesting. We must save those beautiful creatures that exist on this planet and for that we must focus on reducing polution.