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Join us as we explore the wilderness and share the beautiful scenery of nature! For all questions: @magellanvs
🦋 The Pine Processionary Caterpillar is a harmless-looking butterfly, but its larvae are deadly to pines and cedars in Central Asia, North Africa, and Southern Europe.
🌿 They have toxic hairs that fall off at the slightest touch, releasing a toxic liquid. Contact can cause skin irritation, conjunctivitis, and respiratory issues in humans.
🐶 These caterpillars pose a significant threat to pets, especially dogs. If a dog licks them, rinse its tongue with a soda solution and seek veterinary help immediately 🐕💉
🦎 The spotted leopard eublephar Eublepharis macularius sheds its old skin for a new one!
It's related to geckos, grows up to 25-30 cm long, and lives in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran.
They're nocturnal, social, and live in groups, with males defending their territory from others 🌃💡
The female manakin waits for suitors 🐦.
The first male in a red beret removes a dry leaf and the show begins! 🌟
After all have performed, she flies away in search of a better dancer 😏.
The lance-tailed manakin is a small bird found in Central and South America, eating fruits and insects 🍉🐜.
🐟 The cuckoo catfish is a unique fish that lays its eggs among other fish species.
🌊 In Lake Tanganyika, it sneaks up to mouthbrooding cichlids and drops its eggs, which then get collected by the cichlid.
🤯 The catfish eggs hatch first, giving them an evolutionary advantage to eat the cichlid's newborns.
🕷️ The royal jumping spider Phidippus regius grows up to 15-22 mm in length.
It's a peaceful creature that thrives in captivity.
Its venom is harmless to humans, and it usually can't pierce human skin.
🌟 They play a vital role in the ecosystem, controlling plant-eating insects, and are valued by farmers for protecting citrus and sugarcane crops from pests.
🌞 These spiders are active during the day, love warmth, and hunt visually, pouncing on their prey.
🦎 The Trioceros deremensis is a unique species found only in Tanzania 🌳
It has distinctive paired horns on its face and a single horn on the end of its snout 🤯
The chameleon's color changes depending on its mood, but it typically has a greenish-yellow base with dark spots 🌿
It inhabits mountainous areas with dense vegetation and a humid climate, feeding on insects and invertebrates 🐜
🦋 The Peacock Katydid was discovered in 2006 in the mountains of Guyana.
🌿 It uses two strategies to protect itself:
🍂 folding its wings to look like a fallen leaf
🦅 and raising its wings with eye-like patterns to mimic a giant bird's head, scaring off predators.
👀 Interestingly, its wing pattern is similar to the Peacock Eye butterfly's, used for the same defense mechanism.
The Spectacled Bear is the only bear species in South America 🐻. It's endangered and listed in the Red Book.
They have white or yellow rings around their eyes, resembling glasses 🕶️.
Interestingly, they're 95% herbivores, with a diet consisting of plants, fruits, and sugar cane 🍃. They even eat tree bark and corn, making them a bit of a pest in some areas 🌽.
Wait a few seconds for this bird to spread its wings 🌟
and you'll understand why it's called the sunbird! 🐦
The sunbird Eurypyga helias is found in Tropical America,
from Guatemala to Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.
It prefers dense tropical forests near water and swamps.
When threatened, it spreads its wings and hisses to scare off predators 😺
🦎 The Savannah monitor, a large lizard, can grow up to 1 meter in length.
🌍 Found in central Africa, from Senegal to Ethiopia and Somalia.
🌳 They inhabit open spaces, like steppes and savannas, and are also skilled tree climbers.
👀 Interestingly, they can catch prey on tree branches, despite not being very agile.
🦌 Thomson's gazelle inhabits Kenya and Tanzania, one of Africa's most elegant and beautiful antelopes.
It's small: 80-120 cm long, 55-80 cm tall, and weighs 15-35 kg.
🔥 They can run up to 80 km/h, but cheetahs are their main predators 🐯
🐦 The Kookaburra is a large kingfisher,
size of a crow, living in eucalyptus
forests. 🌳 It's famous for its unique
"laughing" call, sounding like human
laughter. 😂 They can live up to 20 years
in the wild and 50 in zoos. 🐧
🦉 The Buffy Fish Owl (Ketupa ketupu) is smaller than its relative.
Its body length is 38-48 cm, weighing 1-2 kg.
It inhabits forests near water sources, mangroves, and coasts, feeding on fish, amphibians, and reptiles 🐟🦎
🐨 The Potorous tridactylus, a unique marsupial, resembles a musky rat-kangaroo 🐭.
It has fully furred tails and kangaroo-like limbs 🦵.
They inhabit Australia and Tasmania, living in dry bushes and forests 🌳.
Nocturnal and herbivorous, they eat plants, fungi, and insects 🍄🐜.
✅ 🐨 The musk kangaroo rat is a prolific gardener. It buries fruits in the ground for future snacks and often forgets where they're hidden, thus planting new trees.
🌳 This animal is also known as the musk kangaroo, an evolutionary link between possums and kangaroos. It's quite common but hard to spot due to its secretive nature. 🌴 Found in Queensland, Australia.
🐦 Budgies, also known as Melopsittacus undulatus, are the most common birds in our homes.
They form huge flocks in their native Australia, searching for food and water.
These birds fly fast, covering long distances for seeds and water.
First introduced to Europe in 1840, they're now found in England, France, and more! 🌎💨
🌴 The Sooty Swift lives in tropical forests near waterfalls in South America, like Iguazu Falls.
🐦 In Brazil, these waterfalls are called "swallow waterfalls".
🌃 At night, hundreds of swifts gather behind waterfalls, flying in and out in a thrilling display 🌟
🦌 The muskox is one of the few Arctic mammals to survive the late Pleistocene extinction, along with bison and reindeer.
🌿 Their diet consists of grasses, willows, and other plants. They've adapted to the Arctic's scarce food sources, eating dry plants under the snow during the long winter. 🥶
🐕 The Dingo is a top-notch hunter 🌃. With excellent vision and hearing, they effortlessly track prey, preferring to hunt at night 🌃. They feed on mammals, reptiles, and insects 🐜. They can take down rabbits, kangaroos, and even sheep 🐑.
👀 Interestingly, kangaroos often put up a fierce fight, using claws to rip bellies or drown them in water 🌊. Dingos have short coats, perked-up ears, and distinct skull proportions 🐾. They weigh 20-30 kg and are found in most Australian regions 🌄.
🦎 The bearded agama burrows into sand and becomes almost invisible.
It's a large lizard, up to 65 cm long, found in forests and bushes.
🌟 Fun fact: it puffs out its throat and does push-ups when threatened! 🤯
The Eurasian Eagle Owl feeds its huge chick 🐥.
It has a massive body, loose feathers with reddish hues, bright orange eyes, and ear tufts 🦉.
This bird adapts to various habitats, hunting rabbits, rodents, and birds, and can even live near humans 🌆.
The Grey-throated Warbler lives in subtropical and tropical lowland wet and flooded forests.
🐦 But let's talk about its chicks! 🐤 They mimic toxic caterpillars with bright orange color and long hair-like feathers, moving their heads to resemble a crawling caterpillar 🌿💡
🐒 The Bald Uakari is a New World primate.
Its distinctive feature is a red, hairless face.
Body length: 50-55 cm, with a short tail (15-20 cm).
🌟 The red face indicates health, with sick animals having pale faces.
They eat fruits, seeds, flowers, leaves, and insects. 🍃🌿
Long-tailed widowbirds Euplectes progne live in southern Africa.
Males have a long tail, up to 60 cm, which they display in flight 🐦.
These small birds weigh 25-45 g and are 15-20 cm long.
In spring, males perform a courtship ritual, flying slowly over their territory with their tail feathers spread 🌟.
🐦 The Pink-Necked Green Pigeon inhabits Southeast Asia, found in Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines.
🌴 They live in tropical and subtropical forests and mangroves, gathering in small flocks by day and large flocks at night.
🍉 These birds eat various fruits and berries, and can become overweight if overfed. They require space to fly to stay healthy.
🐦 The Maltese pigeon is a quite old breed.
They originated from South Asia and were first bred in Italy, then spread to Austria and Germany.
In the US, a variation is bred, the American Maltese pigeon, weighing 550-700g and 40cm tall 🐤.
They require careful feeding to avoid obesity and related issues 🥗.
🐹 The cactus mouse Peromyscus eremicus looks like a mouse, but it doesn't smell like one.
They live in large groups, covering the floor of their enclosure, and are quite peaceful.
Their favorite food is insects, and when fed crickets or grasshoppers, it's hunting season! 🐜
🤩 Baby cactus mice cling to their mother's nipple and virtually live there, even as she moves around.
As they grow, they start to run after her, and even when fully grown, they still hold on tight! 💕
🐦 The Australian magpie is one of the most dangerous birds, especially during spring!
They attack to protect their young, with males defending a 100-150m radius around their nest.
🚴♂️ Most attacks occur in September and October, with cyclists being the most common target.
📊 A website tracks these attacks, showing that 2/3 of cases involve cyclists.
📹 Watch as a cyclist experiences an attack on this video! 😱
🌴 The giant papuan grasshopper Hyperhomala virescens is found on the island of New Guinea.
It feeds on leaves and fruits of tropical trees and shrubs.
This large insect can camouflage itself among green leaves 🌿.
Adult males are up to 15 cm long, females are even longer 🦋.
They have a unique appearance with a enlarged prothorax and toothed edges 🌟.
They are nocturnal, move slowly, and are poor fliers 🌃.
🦊 Rock hyraxes are small, cat-sized mammals, 30-60 cm long, weighing 1.5-4.5 kg.
🔍 They have a unique, rubber-like skin on their feet, with sweat glands, allowing them to climb steep rocks and trees with ease 🌳💨