Animals

Thursday, 1 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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Hippopotamus
The culling of Escobar's hippos was considered but was opposed by the public.
Enrique Zerda Ordonez, a National University of Colombia biologist, believes that neutering these an ...
Malaysian trumpet snail
The red-rimmed melania living in the waters of Israel has usually darker shells, allowing them to camouflage better against the basalt rocks.
Alligator snapping turtle
There are two species of snapping turtles: alligator snapping turtle, and common snapping turtle.
Amur leopard
The average lifespan of the Amur leopard is 13 years.
In captivity, they can live up to 20 years.
Ball python
Female coils around the eggs for the whole incubation period.
It is unusual behavior for snakes.
Guinea pig
Commonly referred to as a guinea pig, it is a house cat (Cavia porcellus), a species of medium-sized domesticated rodent in the Caviidae family.
The caviidae family includes 6 genera with 20 species. Modern living representatives of the Caviidae ...
Basking shark
Basking sharks have a cigar-shaped body.
For this reason, they are often confused with the great white shark. However, they differ in the sha ...
Alligator snapping turtle
Their average lifespan ranges from 20 to 70 years in captivity.
In the wild, alligator snapping turtles are able to live for as long as 200 years, an average of 100.
Stingrays
Stingrays are ovoviviparous.
Young are hatched from eggs stored within the female’s body.
Spiders
Spiders are unable to bite their prey.
Most have a mouthpart equipped with a straw-like device that allows them to drink the dissolved tissues of their prey.