Animals

Thursday, 22 January 2026
27 facts about turtles
27 facts about turtles
The only vertebrates so armored
The first turtles appeared on Earth at the end of the Permian about 240 million years ago. Although the first ones had neither plastron nor carapace, ...

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Dodo bird
We can only determine the appearance of the dodo bird from subfossils - not fully fossilized.
Subfossils are the remains of living organisms that died on the geological scale more recently, in t ...
Otters
Otters have webbed feet.
Along with muscular tails they use as rudders, they are agile swimmers, adapted to efficient hunting in the water.
Common kingfisher
Common kingfishers are the size of a sparrow.
Their body length ranges from 16 to 18 centimeters and their weight is between 35 to 40 grams. The w ...
European tree frog
They are carnivorous.
They hunt mainly arthropods. Their prey is usually spiders, flies, beetles, butterflies, and caterpi ...
Red panda
Female red pandas can give birth to up to four cubs per litter.
Usually, a pair is born. Cubs are born blind but fully furred. They leave the nest after three to four months and are fully independent after a year.
Grey heron
Both parents incubate the eggs.
About 25 days pass from laying the egg to hatching. After the young hatch, the male and female are a ...
Javan hawk-eagle
The breeding usually happens every two years.
The young typically stay with their parents for a year after fledging.
Turtles
Turtle carapace is actually transformed ribs. They are the only vertebrates possessing such bony armor.
The armor consists of a convex carapace located on top and a flat plastron that covers the animal from below.
Laughing kookaburra
Their population is stable, listed as the least-concern species on the IUCN Red List.
Quokkas
It is illegal to keep quokka as a pet.
They are a protected species.