The most amazing paws in the animal kingdom. Conditions of existence and distribution of terrestrial animals. How do fur seals differ from seals?
Pinnipeds- very, special and interesting animals that can live both on land and in water. Their paws turned into flippers, which is why these sea animals are called pinnipeds. They eat fish, squid and crustaceans.
How are fur seals different from seals?
Fur seals and seals are close relatives and very similar. But seals have ears, but seals don't. In addition, fur seals jump very deftly on their flippers, while seals crawl on their bellies.
Seals
Seals (Odobenidae)- wonderful hunters. They have well-developed vision because most of the time they are underwater, where the lighting is very poor. These animals are able to find food even in the dark. The body of pinnipeds, with the exception of the head, is covered with a layer of fat 10 cm thick, and in some - even more. Pinnipeds have the fattest milk among all mammals. Seals do not chew the fish at all, but swallow it whole. If the fish is very large, then the pinnipeds tear it into pieces. Seals can withstand temperatures down to -80C°.
Why do seals need flippers?
If there are fleas on the skin, a fur seal scratches with its back flippers, and a seal scratches with its front flippers. In the water, the seal paddles primarily with its front flippers, while the harbor seal paddles with its back flippers.
sea hare
photo: Már Höskuldsson’s
The most baleen among pinnipeds is the sea hare (Erignathus barbatus). His mustache is thick and curly. But in water they become straight and very long and help the seal find food on the seabed.
Elephant seals
photo by Jim Frazee
Elephant seals (Mirounga)- giants from the seal family. Their length is about 6 m, and their weight is more than 3 tons. These animals were named so not only because of their size, but also because of their nose, similar to a trunk, which hangs at the end of the muzzle of elephant seals. Its long trunk, up to 80 cm long, elephant seals used as a means of intimidation. In times of danger, the male raises his trunk upward and his menacing roar echoes over the sea. The sea giant is very clumsy on land, but it swims well and dives deeply. It is capable of diving to a depth of 1,400 meters for food.
harp seal
photo by Steve Arena
The claws of the harp seal (Pagophilus groenlandicus) are reliable protection against enemies. They are very sharp. The wounds inflicted by this animal do not heal for a long time.
Walrus
photo by Allan Hopkins
Walruses (Odobenus rosmarus) found in Arctic regions of the world. Today there are three subspecies. Pacific walruses(Odobenus roasmarus divergens) live mainly in the Bering Sea. During the warm summer months they can travel as far as the Beaufort Sea and the East Siberian Sea. Atlantic walruses(Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus) are found in the eastern and western Atlantic Ocean. Laptev walruses(Odobenus rosmarus laptevi) are found in the Laptev Sea. Walruses inhabit areas of the Arctic that are mostly composed of ice. Walruses prefer areas with shallow water so they can easily access food. This slow-moving marine mammal spends most of its time in or around the water.
The walrus is one of the largest pinnipeds. This animal is known for its massive tusks, which are actually just enlarged teeth. These fangs can break through 20 cm of ice. They can grow up to 90 cm, but the average size is approximately 50 cm. Males are larger than females, weighing up to 1200-1500 kg, and females - from 600 to 850 kg.
Leopard seal
photo V Maxi Rocchi
Leopard seal (Hydrurga leptonyx)- the most bloodthirsty predator among pinnipeds has a reputation as the most fierce and formidable seal, as it feeds not only on large fish and penguins, but also attacks other seals.
Crested seal
In a male crested fish (Cystophora cristata) there is a huge skin bag on the head. He knows how to inflate his tufted sac so much that sometimes even the animal’s head is not visible behind it.
Seals
Found in the World Ocean eight different species of fur seals (Arctocephalinae). Only one of these fur seal species is found in the northern hemisphere, while the other seven are found in the southern hemisphere. They spend most of their time swimming in the open ocean and hunting for food. Fur seals feed on fish and plankton, but also tend to hunt squid and eels. Often these pinnipeds become prey for large aquatic animals such as sharks, killer whales, sea lions, and sometimes adult leopard seals.
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The author, in love with his science - zoogeography, claims and proves that it is as interesting as everything connected with the life of animals in the wild. He talks surprisingly clearly about the biological properties of animals that help them exist in a certain environment, about the connections of fauna with plant formations, about the distribution of animals across to the globe and about the factors limiting their settlement, about the history of the development of fauna on various continents.
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Gloger's Law. Already in the last century, zoologists noted that terrestrial animals living in areas with a humid climate are darker in color than animals of the same or related species inhabiting arid areas. This phenomenon was scientifically analyzed and formulated as a zoogeographical rule by Konstantin Albert Gloger, who published the book “Changes in Birds Under the Influence of Climate” in 1833 in Wroclaw.
The noted pattern turned out to be common for both vertebrates and invertebrates. Laboratory experiments with field crickets (Gryllus campestris) showed that when crickets were kept in a room where relative humidity air 60–80%, they acquired a rich dark color.
Unwitting participants similar experience turned out to be birds - medium-sized grosbeaks (Munia flaviprymna), living in the desert interior of Australia. Several birds of this light-colored desert species were introduced to England and kept in captivity. After three years of living in the humid English climate, dark spots appeared on the birds' plumage, enhancing the similarity of this desert species with a dark-colored related species, the Grosbeak Munia castaneithorax, living in the humid coastal forests of Australia.
Later this pattern was confirmed by many examples. The simplest of them: variability of gastropods Arianta arbustorum And Succinea pfeifferi, living in Central and Eastern Europe, grass frog (Rana temporaria) and viviparous lizard (Lacerta vivipara). Interestingly, American moles Scapanus in the states of Washington and Oregon they have black fur, in Northern California, where the climate is drier, they are brownish, and in Southern California, where it is even drier, their fur is light, silver. This biogeographical pattern is called Gloger's law.
The color and intensity of the color of the outer integument of animals depend on the amount of pigment - melanin, and its formation is influenced not only by air humidity, but also by environmental temperature. Low temperature causes the color to lighten; high temperature, on the contrary, causes darkening. The combined effect on the animal’s body of both of these factors (environmental humidity and its temperature) gives exactly the resulting effect that we usually observe. In some cases, there are exceptions to Gloger's law caused by different combinations of humidity and air temperature. Thus, the fur of wolves from Belarus has a lighter, ashen color than that of wolves from the Pyrenees - rather dark, with a brownish tint.
Temperature. Ambient temperature is a powerful factor that influences and often determines the distribution of living organisms on earth. Temperature fluctuations on land, including soil surface temperature, have a very wide range - from +80° to -70 °C. And in the oceans it is almost 5 times less: from +30° to -2 C.
Temperature changes on land can sometimes be very rapid. Some natural areas are characterized by changes in ambient temperature by several tens of degrees during the day. The aquatic environment does not know such temperature contrasts.
In many cases, terrestrial animals have developed a deep differentiation of organisms according to their requirements for the thermal conditions of their living environment.
Animals are stenothermic and eurythermic. Each species of animal has its own range of temperatures that are most favorable for life, which is called the temperature optimum of a given species. This temperature range, that is, the limits of the temperature optimum, can be relatively wide in some species, while in others it covers only a few degrees. If the temperature optimum for a species is narrow and the normal functioning of the organism is disrupted when this temperature limit is exceeded, and also if the animal does not tolerate fluctuations in environmental temperature, then this species is called stenothermic.
On the contrary, animals that exist safely in a wide range of environmental temperatures, that is, having a wide variety of temperature optimums, are called eurythermal species. They usually do not die, even if they have to exist for some time in conditions beyond the temperature optimum.
There are relatively more stenothermic organisms in the ocean than on land. Among the stenothermic species, cold-loving or oligothermic ones stand out, such as the polar bear and the musk ox; heat-loving, or polythermic (giraffes, apes, termites, etc.), and animals that require a moderate but constant environmental temperature for their existence. In general there are not many of them.
Eurythermal species are most characteristic of temperate latitudes, where seasonal contrasts in living conditions are well expressed. Eurythermal organisms are characterized by a wide distribution. For example, the species range (geographical distribution area) of the common toad (Bufo bufo) extends from northern Africa in the south to Sweden in the north, where this amphibian is found even north of Stockholm. And on the North American continent there is another type of toad (Bufo terrestris) found from Florida to Hudson Bay. The wolf, weasel, ermine and many other mammals and birds living both in the tundra and in the steppes and hot deserts have a no less extensive range.
If at any time natural area If an isolated area with a special climatic regime appears, reminiscent of the conditions of another zone (for example, with a warmer microclimate), then such a place can be inhabited by animals not native to this zone. This is how “outposts” of the southern fauna arise, pushed to the north and reminiscent of “islands” of southern species, the temperature optimum of which does not correspond to the natural zone. Such an “island” of heat-loving fauna was discovered in Germany, in the vicinity of Freiburg, in the southwestern corner of the Black Forest. In Poland, there is a similar “island” in the vicinity of Krzyzanowice, in the Nida Valley.
Biological effects of high and low temperatures various. At a temperature of about 55 °C, proteins in the protoplasm of cells coagulate and most animals die. Low temperatures do not cause protein coagulation, so many animals have adapted to withstand low temperatures by hibernating or entering a deep anabiotic state, after which, when favorable conditions occur, they are able to return to active life.
The response to temperature differs significantly between so-called cold-blooded and warm-blooded animals.
Cold-blooded animals. The vast majority of animal species are cold-blooded, or, as scientists say, poikilothermic: all invertebrates and lower vertebrates, up to and including reptiles. The body temperature of cold-blooded animals is close to or equal to the ambient temperature and changes following changes in the latter. A cold snap occurs - and the body of a cold-blooded animal becomes colder. With warming, the body temperature rises. In deserts, maximum body temperatures close to 50 °C were recorded in young mantises (genus Mantis) and grasshoppers moving on sand, the temperature of which reached 50.8 °C.
In insects that winter in temperate climates (for example, in Poland or generally in Central and Eastern Europe), the body temperature (or pupae and eggs) is close to 0°.
Most cold-blooded animals prefer warm climates, and most of them live in the tropics. If we conditionally divide the earth into a cold zone, temperate and hot, then the number of arthropod species in them would correspond accordingly, as 1: 4: 18.
In cold-loving and heat-loving species of butterflies from the family Syntomidae these belts have even more expressive ratios - 1:3:63. This pattern is also characteristic of scorpions, spiders, centipedes and even reptiles. Thus, in Poland, on an area of 312 thousand square kilometers, eight species of reptiles live, and on the island of Java, with an area of only about 132 thousand square kilometers, 122 species are known.
This pattern is easy to understand. In a warm climate, cold-blooded animals lead an active life throughout the year, while as they move into colder areas, the time of manifestation of their active life is increasingly limited by a shortening of the season of favorable temperatures, and winter, early spring and late autumn become a period of long rest (hibernation, diapause, suspended animation).
The intensity of metabolism in an animal's body is complexly dependent on the ambient temperature. It is believed that the rate of biochemical processes increases 2–3 times with an increase in temperature by 10 °C. This refers, of course, to temperature changes in the range normal indicators, well tolerated by this species of animal. The dependence of the rate of metabolism (metabolism) on ambient temperature can be studied experimentally.
It has been established that the mealworm larva (mealworms) at an environmental temperature of 15 °C consumes 104 cubic centimeters of oxygen per hour per kilogram of body weight, at 25 °C - 300 cubic centimeters, and at 32.5 °C - 520 cubic centimeters.
Accelerating the metabolic process reduces the time the body goes through the stages of individual development and shortens the duration of the ontogenesis stage. Before metamorphosis begins, the larvae will need different time depending on the temperature at which they were kept before.
The speed at which the mealworm beetle passes through the pupal stage (from the moment of pupation until the adult beetle emerges from the pupae) depending on the ambient temperature is presented in the table:
| Temperature in degrees C | 13,5 | 17 | 21 | 27 | 33 |
| Time in hours | 1116 | 593 | 320 | 172 | 134 |
From this experiment it is clear that an increase in environmental temperature by approximately 20 °C caused a reduction in the duration of the pupal stage by more than 8 times, that is, development was significantly accelerated.
Under natural conditions in a temperate climate zone, the rate of individual development of many invertebrates is low; winter causes a long period of depression in vital activity, and as a result, the number of generations appearing in one year is small - often one or two.
In hot climates, the rate of individual development of invertebrates is often higher, periods of depression are shorter, or in some cases natural areas are completely absent, and accordingly, several, and in some species even more than ten, generations can be produced during the year.
To illustrate this pattern and to clearly imagine the potential reproduction capabilities of invertebrate animals in a hot climate, we will calculate the size of the offspring of some conventionally taken, even fictitious, insect species, for example, represented only by females that reproduce parthenogenetically, that is, without the participation of males. And such species exist in nature!
Developing in the most favorable conditions, in the optimum, which is located for cold-blooded animals between the tropics, they reach their highest large sizes. Tropical centipedes reach a length of 15 and even 20 centimeters and are as thick as a finger, while the largest centipede from temperate latitudes in Europe is no more than 4 centimeters in length. Scolopendras from equatorial countries are gigantic size, up to 27 centimeters long, and in Yugoslavia their maximum length is 8-10 centimeters, in Poland they are no longer found at all, there you can only find kissyaks (Lithobius).
And this is a direct influence of climatic conditions. The cold-blooded animals of the tropical regions of America, Africa and Asia are similar in size and appearance, although their species different continents usually different.
Here are some more examples of the same pattern. There are several species of scorpions found in Europe, but individuals of any of these species almost never exceed three centimeters in length. IN low latitudes lives more types scorpions, while the undisputed primacy among them in size belongs to the imperial scorpion (Pandinus imperator), covered with black armor and reaching 18 centimeters in length from the front edge of the shell to the poisonous spine at the end of the abdomen. Such “emperors” live in West Africa.
Remarkable examples of gigantism are given by tropical butterflies and beetles. Suffice it to recall Brazilian butterflies, many of which have a wingspan of more than 20 centimeters, the Hercules beetle (Dynastes hercules) 15 centimeters long or huge bugs from the family Belostoma, slightly similar in appearance to a water scorpion (Nepa), living in our European reservoirs, but 10 centimeters longer than it. The West African Goliath beetle makes no less a striking impression than the Hercules beetle. (Goliathus giganteus), although it reaches a length of only 10 centimeters. But it has terrible pincers the size of a third of the body length, formed from two horns: one on the head, and the other on the first segment of the cephalothorax.
In the tropics there are large gastropods from the family Achatina, having shells up to 17 centimeters long and weighing more than 500 grams.
Examples among cold-blooded animals are no less striking and abundant. Let us remember crocodiles, which inhabit mainly tropical waters, huge snakes- pythons, boa constrictors and anaconda. In the tropics there are often very large Poisonous snakes: For example, spectacled snakes- cobras (Naja) in Asia or terribly dangerous African vipers (Bitis arietans And Bitis gabonica).
Differ in larger sizes American iguanas(family Iguanidae), resembling our lizards, and monitor lizards (family Varanidae), inhabiting Africa and hot regions of Asia. The body length of many species of monitor lizards and iguanas often exceeds one and a half meters. The largest living monitor lizard is the Komodo dragon. (Varanus komodoensis), inhabiting two small islands in Indonesia between the islands of Sumbawa and Flores; These are real monsters, three meters long, with a heavy body and powerful limbs.
Warm-blooded animals. Only birds and mammals have warm blood. Complex physiological mechanisms allow them to maintain a constant and fairly high body temperature. Different species of birds and mammals have different body temperatures, but always generally within the range of 30 °C to 44 °C. In a healthy animal, temperature fluctuations usually do not exceed half a degree. The exceptions are the Australian platypus and echidnas, whose normal body temperature is lower than that of all other mammals and is only 3 °C. To many of the primitive features characteristic of these ancient mammals is added a certain dependence of their body temperature on the ambient temperature, which is expressed in a wider range of temperature fluctuations, reaching 4 °C both above and below the average norm, and which makes them similar to reptiles .
To maintain a high and constant body temperature, the animal’s body spends a large number of energy, which, in addition, is spent on thermal radiation. Consequently, warm-blooded animals must have an intense metabolism and lead an active lifestyle, that is, consume a lot of food and quickly absorb it, and these processes, in turn, are facilitated by high body temperature.
Warm-bloodedness is an invaluable property of animals, acquired in the process of organic evolution, which opened up for them to explore vast living spaces of temperate and polar latitudes and highlands, inaccessible to most species of cold-blooded animals. The polar margins of continents, Arctic islands and even floating ice floes serve as an arena of active life for birds and mammals.
IN temperate zones Both hemispheres of the Earth have snowy and cold winters, and during this harsh season for animals, warm-blooded animals literally reign here. They lead an active life, and some species, such as our crossbills, even reproduce and are able to feed their chicks, while cold-blooded animals experience a period of low temperatures, being in an inactive or even anabiotic state. That is why, in the fauna of areas with cold climates, birds and mammals make up a relatively higher percentage in terms of the number of species than in the tropics.
However, winter also turns out to be a difficult time of year for warm-blooded animals. Think about it, the difference between the body temperature of an animal and the environment, even in Central and Eastern Europe, for example in Poland, can sometimes reach 75 °C. This causes enormous heat loss in living organisms and turns into a “to be or not to be” problem.
In the system of thermoregulatory mechanisms of the body of warm-blooded animals, an important place belongs to the outer integument of the body, which has a heat-insulating function. It's easy to see this with your own eyes. Birds living in cold regions have a much more significant layer of warm, soft down under their covert feathers than those living in the south. In addition, in the north of our hemisphere you will not find birds with bare heads and necks, such as vultures, vultures and cassowaries. The coat of mammals also consists of two layers: guard hairs and a thick down under them. The density and thermal insulation properties of the down fluff are directly related to the characteristics of the environment and life. And here is an example that can be seen at the zoo. Take a closer look at the Himalayan (Helarctos tibetanus) and Malay (Helarctos malayanus) to bears. These are related species. They are similar in appearance too. But himalayan bear looks like a “stack of wool”, since it is a resident of the cold highlands, and the Malay has smooth, low, velvety hair, like many animals of the tropics.
The difference in the characteristics of the coat can be clearly expressed within the same species. The Ussuri tiger has to roam in deep snow, and its entire body is covered with long and fluffy hair, which is especially long on the nape and chest. A Bengal tiger overgrown with short, smooth hair, almost completely without down.
It is known that even the cost of furs (for example, foxes and skunks) is affected by the region from which they are obtained: the skin is more expensive the further north it is obtained.
Only in tropical zone In warm climates, there are animals covered with sparse hair or even hairless: hippos, rhinoceroses, elephants, and some types of buffalo.
Bergman's law. The coat of mammals, especially thick and lush in high latitudes, and the plumage and warm down of birds protect the animal’s body from hypothermia. However, the problem of thermoregulation is not completely solved only with the help of various adaptations of integumentary tissues.
In 1847, a study by the German zoologist Karl Bergman “On the connection between heat savings in animals and their size” was published in Göttingen. Carl Bergman drew attention to the fact that animals that live in cold climates are usually larger in size than individuals of the same species that live in warmer climates. This is not an accident, but the result of a vital adaptation of animals, based on a simple mathematical pattern. After all, heat loss occurs through the surface of the body, and the larger this surface is relative to the volume of the body, the greater the heat loss. And organisms that are larger in volume have a relatively smaller surface area per unit of weight (mass).
If, for example, we take a cube with a side of 1 centimeter, made of a substance with a specific gravity of 1 g cubic. cm, then the total surface area of all six faces will be 6 square centimeters, and the volume will be 1 cubic centimeter, that is, a mass of 1 gram. When calculating the surface of a cube per unit mass, we get 6 square centimeters/gram.
If you then take a cube with a side of 2 centimeters, that is, twice as large, then the surface of the six faces will be 24 square centimeters, and the volume will be 8 cubic centimeters and, accordingly, the mass will be 8 grams. When calculating the surface area per unit volume or mass, the result is 3 square centimeters/gram. So, a cube that is twice as large in volume has a relative surface area that is half as large.
In the language of a biologist, this pattern means that an animal with twice the size gives off half as much heat per unit of body mass (of course, all other things being equal). Consequently, a larger animal, giving off relatively less heat per unit weight, can consume relatively less feed than a smaller animal. This means that with limited food base A larger animal survives easier than a small one.
This pattern constitutes the essence of Bergmann's zoogeographical law. Examples confirming this are numerous in all parts of the world. For example, wild boars from Southern Spain have skulls with an average length of 32 centimeters, in Poland - about 41 centimeters, in Belarus - 46, and in Siberia there are huge wild boars with a skull length of 56 centimeters. A change in the size of animals in accordance with Bergmann's law can be observed in white hares, roe deer, foxes, wolves, bears and other species of mammals. In Europe, these animals become smaller towards the southwest and, on the contrary, increase towards the north and east in those areas where winters are harsher.
Geographic size variations in birds also follow the principles of Bergmann's law. For example, horned larks (Eremophylla alpestris), living in North America, clearly demonstrate this pattern, as can be judged by changes in wing length: larks from the shores of Hudson Bay have a wing length of 111 centimeters, birds from Nevada have a wing length of 102 centimeters, and on Santa Barbara Island, off the coast of California, only 97 centimeters. Subspecies of animals from cold regions usually exceed in size individuals of subspecies from lower latitudes with warm climate. For example, the European blue kingfisher (Alcedo atthis ispida), a beautiful bird widely distributed along small rivers, but not numerous everywhere, it turns out to be the largest in comparison with other subspecies of this kingfisher: Alcedo atthis pallida- the pale blue kingfisher inhabiting Syria and Palestine, and the Bengal Alcedo atthis bengalensis- the smallest of the blue kingfishers, living in India and Indonesia. Likewise, the European subspecies of oriole (Oriolus oriolus oriolus) noticeably larger than the eastern oriole (Oriolus oriolus kundoo) from Afghanistan and central India.
In the southern hemisphere of the Earth, on the contrary, the increase in the size of animals occurs in the direction of the South Pole, that is, also in accordance with the principle of Bergmann's law: the size of animals increases in colder climates. And here is an example from the southern hemisphere. On Galapagos Islands, V tropical zone, there lives a little penguin - Spheniscus mendiculus 49 centimeters tall, to the south, from the islands of Tristan da Cunha to Tierra del Fuego, that is, in a temperate oceanic climate, a larger penguin lives - Eudyptes cristatus, whose body length reaches 65 centimeters. Even further south, up to 60° south latitude, the penguin is widespread Pygoscelis raria, reaching 75–80 centimeters. On the coast of Antarctica there lives a huge emperor penguin - Aptenodytes forsteri height 120 centimeters and above.
If two relatively closely located territories have similar faunas, but differ in average temperatures, that is, one of them is colder, then it is on this territory that the average sizes of both mammals and birds will be larger. And here are examples of such fauna pairs. On the south coast of Australia the average annual temperature is 16 °C, and on the coast of Tasmania it is 11 °C. And this is already enough for all Tasmanian platypuses, echidnas and kangaroos to be larger than Australian ones. A similar picture can be observed in New Zealand. North Island New Zealand is warmer than the South. Average annual temperature in the North it is 16.6 °C, and in the South it is 10.4 °C. And accordingly, parrots and kiwis turn out to be larger on the South Island, and not on the North Island.
There are exceptions to the rule discovered by Bergman, which can be understood and explained in each specific case. On the one hand, this migratory birds, which, even if they nest in the north, in the northern hemisphere, still do not experience the influence of Arctic cold, since they quickly complete the breeding season and move to warmer climes. When migrating, they are always in more or less favorable conditions.
Another example is provided by small mammals: voles, mice, shrews, which spend most of their time in the specific microclimate of their burrows, more or less stable and often milder than the climate of the surrounding area. Active in winter under a layer of snow, they are in conditions significantly different from those that prevail above the snow-covered plain, since snow has a great thermal insulating effect. And in central Alaska, the temperature distribution at different altitudes and under snow was studied. The snow cover was relatively thin - 60 centimeters. It was severely frosty. The thermometer showed -50 °C, and under the layer of snow on the surface of the soil the frost did not even reach -7 °C. And under these conditions, gray voles (genus Mucrotus) They led an active life and moved freely in their snowy passages, although their fur coat was thin and their paws were not covered with hair at all. At the same time, the caribou had great difficulty surviving the severe cold. Thus, we can say that these two species of mammals, located in the same geographical point, existed in completely different climatic conditions, as if their habitats were separated by tens or hundreds of miles.
Laboratory experiments also confirm the pattern noted by K. Bergman. White mice kept from a very early age at a low temperature of only +6 °C grew significantly larger than those that were kept at an average normal temperature of +26 °C during the same period of time. The same experiment was carried out on chickens with no less success. And since then, the method of “cold raising” of chickens has become widely used in poultry farming to increase the industrial yield of meat products.
Allen's Law. For animals that live in cold regions of the Earth, it is advisable to reduce the surface area of the body relative to its mass. This is achieved in two ways: by increasing the overall size of the body and reducing the size of all prominent organs and parts of the body: ears, muzzle, legs, tail. Polar animals have shorter ears, tails, and muzzles than animals inhabiting areas with temperate and especially hot climates. Even the paws and necks are shorter and thinner in polar animals. This phenomenon is called Allen's law.
The most common example of Allen's law is the polar fox comparison (Alopex lagopus) with short ears and muzzle, short, with a small tail and our red fox (Vulpes vulpes), taller and more graceful. Exactly the same for the white hare (Lepus timidus), living in the north, the ears are shorter than those of the brown hare (Lepus europaeus), common to the south. It is worth comparing a reindeer with a red deer to make sure that the former has shorter ears and shorter legs.
Allen's rule is also confirmed in the laboratory, where mice kept in cold conditions had shorter ears and feet, and those raised at elevated temperatures had longer than normal ears. The length of the legs of chickens in the experiment also turned out to be dependent on the ambient temperature.
From Allen's law it logically follows that an animal with a particularly large relative body surface area should live only in low latitudes, in the tropics and subtropics. Long-eared fennec foxes live in hot climates. The long-legged giraffe lives in the savannas of Africa, no less famous for its exorbitant long neck, and the small graceful gerenuk antelope (Lithocranium walleri).
The same pattern is clearly visible in the example of bats. Flying dogs, or flying foxes, belong to the suborder of large fruit bats (Megachiroptera), have a huge wing surface, and they are common only in the tropical zone. A suborder of smaller fruit-eating bats, Microchiroptera, consists of 16 families. Representatives of 13 families live in tropical and subtropical zones, and only bats from the three remaining families were able to settle down to temperate latitudes. Horseshoe bats are the most common in Central Europe. (Rhinolophidae) and leather jackets (Vespertilionidae).
Minimum rule. In the fifties of the last century, the German chemist Justus Liebig became interested in plant life, fertilizers and laid the foundations of the science of agrochemistry. At the same time, he formulated a rule according to which the factor limiting the development of a plant is an element that is at a minimum, that is, one that the plant may lack. For example, if a plant is given the amount of nitrogen, phosphorus, iron and all other necessary elements necessary for its life, and even more, but at the same time one element, potassium, is given less than the required norm, then the plant will grow stunted and stunted. Its growth will be limited by a lack of potassium.
Liebig's minimum rule applies equally to plants and animals. If an animal or a person is given food without vitamin C, they will get scurvy, even if the food is plentiful, delicious and tasty. The condition of the body in this case is determined by a factor that is in a minimum or completely absent, like vitamin C mentioned in our example, and not by factors that are in excess. If a rat is kept on a protein-free diet, then it will grow poorly, remain small and frail, and will soon die, despite the fact that it will be given plenty of carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, and microelements.
Not only plant and animal organisms, but also animal groups, populations, species and biocenoses are subject to the minimum rule. Any environmental factor can limit the development of a population or any biocenotic connections if it is present at a minimum.
Knowledge of this rule allows you to effectively apply it in hunting and forestry.
The number of gray partridges is limited primarily by the lack of food in winter and the impact of predators on them. Therefore, to increase the number of partridges in the hunting sector, it is necessary not so much to limit their shooting and import dozens of individuals caught in other places, but to organize feeding of birds in winter and create plantings that include dense clumps of bushes in which partridges could hide from predators.
As for small insectivorous birds, then they are mainly provided with food in natural conditions. The factor limiting their numbers is often the lack of places suitable for making a nest. That is why, with the help of artificial nesting sites (loop houses and birdhouses) and planting artificial plantings, the number of useful songbirds can quickly increase.
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In 1847, Carl Gustav Bergmann, who worked at the University of Göttingen, formulated a rule that, in a simplified form, reads like this: “In a warmer climate, warm-blooded animals of the same or related species are smaller, and in a colder climate they are larger.”
At first, the conclusions of the German biologist, anatomist and physiologist were perceived by the scientific community with doubt, but over time it became obvious that Bergman could not have more accurately described one of the principles of evolution.
Indeed, such a pattern not only exists, but is also clearly visible. For example, an animal with one of the widest habitats is the wolf. The Arabian wolf, which lives in Oman, Israel and other countries of the Middle East, is a skinny, short creature weighing about 15 kilograms. Despite its size, it is ferocious predator, biblical symbol of anger and rage.
Wolf from northern forests and Egyptian wolf (below)
In Alaska and northern Canada, there are wolves twice as large and five times as heavy. The wolves from the north of India, who raised Mowgli, hardly reached a weight of a quarter of a centner, but the beast on which Ivan Tsarevich rode would have pulled, if it existed in reality, no less than 60 kilograms, like a seasoned wolf in the forest zone of Russia.
The situation is similar with the puma. The range in weight among individuals living on the equator and in the south of Canada or Argentina is from 60 to 110 and even, in exceptional cases, 120 kilograms.
Changes are noticeable as you climb the mountains. The higher and, accordingly, colder, the larger the animals. If we consider animals of similar species, then Bergman’s rule is even more obvious: the Malayan bear, whose average weight is 45 kilograms, is ten times inferior in weight to the average polar bear.
The polar bear is one of the largest terrestrial representatives of mammals of the order of carnivores. Its length reaches 3 m, weight up to 1 ton. It lives in the polar regions in the northern hemisphere of the Earth.
The Malayan bear is the smallest representative of the bear family: it does not exceed 1.5 m in length. It lives in India.
Want big differences? Please! Mentally place next to the smallest southern deer, the kanchila from Sumatra, and the largest northern one, the elk from Kamchatka or Alaska. The difference is simply fantastic: 25 centimeters at the withers and 1200 grams of weight for the first and almost 2.5 meters and 650 kilograms for the second. This comparison may not be very correct, but it is clear.
SAVE WARMTH
What is the secret why animals grow as the climate gets colder? It's all about thermoregulation. The colder it is, the more important it is to preserve body heat, to minimize heat transfer into environment. After all, maintaining a constant body temperature requires energy, that is, ultimately, food. It needs to be obtained, which means wasting energy. Why waste it again?
At first glance, the larger the surface of the body, the more heat it loses Living being. But it is pointless to consider heat losses in themselves - what is important is their relationship to heat production. Animals not only lose heat, but also produce it, and the larger the volume of the body, the more joules it emits into the atmosphere.
Tiny kanchile deer and moose from Alaska
As body size increases, the increase in volume outpaces the increase in surface area: an animal that becomes twice as wide, taller, and longer will have a fourfold increase in body area and an eightfold increase in volume.
Thus, the ratio of heat loss to its production will be twice as beneficial for a “grown” animal. In reality, of course, everything is not so mathematically precise, but that is the trend.
Of course, like any rule related to living nature - that is, to the most complex dynamic systems of many components - there are exceptions to Bergman's rule. Their reasons can be very diverse.
From the scarcity of food supply, which simply does not allow animals to “gain weight” and forces them to become smaller, to the dispersal of animals beyond their usual range. In such situations, the picture may not be “ideal” because not enough time has passed.
Animals that moved to the north or south have not yet had time to evolve, because, like most similar processes, in warm-blooded animals the change in size due to climate occurs quite quickly by paleontological standards, but slower than can be seen with the naked eye.
However, the largest animals - elephants, hippos, giraffes - live where it is very hot. And this does not contradict Bergman's rule. Such giants have access to extremely abundant food resources. And it would be strange not to use them - since you can eat up to a large size, which in itself is pleasant, and at the same time “remove” yourself from the threat of predators who cannot cope with the giants.
But these animals are constantly at risk of overheating, since their heat production is enormous - therefore, when solving problems of heat transfer, they have to resort to all sorts of tricks. For example, sitting most of the time in the water, like hippos, or growing huge ears, like elephants.
POLE CLOSER - EARS SMALLER
Bergmann's rule is rarely considered in isolation from another ecogeographical rule, authored by the American zoologist Joel Allen. In 1877, Allen published a work in which he drew the attention of specialists to the relationship between climate and the body structure of warm-blooded animals of related species: what colder climate, the smaller their protruding parts of the body are relative to its overall size.
Conversely, the warmer the climate, the longer ears, tails and legs. Again, you don’t have to look far for examples: fennec fox and arctic fox. The desert fox is famous for its huge sail-like ears, while the arctic fox has small ears that barely stick out from its thick fur in winter.
Arctic fox and fennec fox (below)
Indian and African elephants live in warm climates, while their relative the Siberian mammoth lived in a land of frost. The African elephant has huge ears, the Indian elephant has noticeably smaller ones, and the mammoth’s were completely undignified by elephant standards.
Patterns in the size of protruding body parts are also related to heat transfer. Active heat transfer occurs through the tails, ears and legs, so in the north or in the highlands it is advantageous to minimize their size. Moreover, we are talking here not only about wasted heat loss, but also about keeping the organ intact. Long tails and large ears can simply freeze so that tissue necrosis develops - this sometimes happens to dogs that city dwellers bring to the tundra from places with temperate climate. In such cases, the ears and tails of the unfortunate four-legged animals have to be amputated.
Indian elephant
And where it’s warm, the long-tailed and long-eared ones are the most suitable place. Since active heat loss occurs through these organs, they are not a burden here, but, on the contrary, a means of cooling the body, acting like a radiator on a computer cooler. Let's take the elephant as an example. His large ears, rich in blood vessels, receive blood.
Here it cools, giving off heat to the environment, and returns to the body. The same can be said about the processes in the trunk. We don’t know, but only guess, how energy-consuming it was for mammoths to own a trunk. What saved the ancient animals was that the trunk had a fairly solid layer of fat and, like the rest of the mammoth’s body, was covered with thick hair.
Are there any other rules describing the dependence of the appearance of animals on climate? In 1833, that is, before Bergman postulated his rule, the German ornithologist Konstantin Wilhelm Gloger, working in Breslau (present-day Wroclaw), noticed: in related species of birds (and, as further observations showed, in mammals and some insects too) pigmentation is more diverse and brighter in warm and humid climates than in cold and dry ones.
Those who were lucky enough to get into the storage room of the Zoological Museum of Moscow State University could see dozens of them hanging there one after another. wolf skins. Reddish-brown no more than a meter long, fawn a little longer, gray even longer and, finally, huge, human-sized, almost white with a slight admixture of gray and black hairs. Red southern and white northern wolves are an example of Gloger's rule.
Another example is the pink starling, a resident warm countries, and the common starling, dark with light specks. At first it was assumed that this distribution was due to the need for camouflage: among the bright greenery with multi-colored flower petals, it is easy to miss the bird of paradise with its riot of colors in its plumage, but the white partridge will be in full view.
Pink starling and common (below)
And the rainbow hummingbird will be just as uncomfortable in the tundra - and there is a high probability that even before it freezes, the bird will end up in someone’s teeth or claws. The camouflage version is not denied even now, but it turned out that another factor is at work here: in a warm and humid environment, the synthesis of pigments is more active.
There is an interesting exception to Gloger's rule. This is the so-called industrial melanism, first discovered in England and then in North America. An example of this is butterflies that live in places with developed industry. Factories emitted smoke and soot, birch trunks and lichens darkened. White butterflies became noticeable against their background, and birds ate them.
Those insects that, due to a random mutation, turned out to be melanistic (black) survived. Gradually, the number of black individuals in populations began to reach 90%, but once upon a time 99% were white.
Veniamin Shekhtman
DISCOVERY Magazine August 2014
Keeping warm is very important for those animals that live in cold climatic zones, therefore, many of them are marked by their physique adapted to such conditions.
Basic data:
Changing body shape. Many inhabitants of cold areas have a different body shape, size and proportions from the shape, size and body proportions of animals of the same species inhabiting warm areas. This body structure is a sign of better adaptability to the regulation of heat exchange. This fact is explained by the example of two rules.
Bergman's rule. It is obvious that animals that live in cold climatic zones, have a rounded body. According to Bergaman's rule, a round body shape helps retain heat better. An excellent example illustrating this rule is the cylindrical bodies of mammals living in cold water, in particular seals.
Bergaman's rule says that among animals of the same species living over a large range, the largest individuals are found in cold regions. The closer to the south, the smaller their sizes. For example, the most active tiger is the Amur tiger. Smaller - Bengali. And a very small one - a Javan tiger. So, according to the rules, large wolves must live in the Arctic.
Allen's rule. According to Allen's rule, animals inhabiting cold areas of their range have smaller protruding body parts (limbs, tail, ears) than representatives of the same family living in warm areas. The body size is reduced in order to reduce heat transfer and prevent unnecessary heat loss. Thus, the ordinary Arctic fox has a short body, limbs and tail, a convex forehead, and short ears and mouth. The red fox has a more elongated body, a long tail and the muzzle, as well as the ears, protrude strongly. And the steppe fox has long limbs and huge ears. Animals need large ears to improve heat transfer and to prevent their bodies from overheating.
OR DID YOU KNOW THAT...
Chinchillas have very thick fur because up to 40 hairs grow from one hair follicle.
During the winter thaw, it rains in Arctic latitudes, after which the wet wool of musk oxen often freezes, forming an ice shell that prevents the animal from moving.
1 cm2 of northern fur seal skin is covered with up to 50,000 hairs.
Reindeer often make long journeys in search of shelter from cold winds; they try to warm themselves by pressing their bodies against each other.
Mammals living in cold areas maintain a constant body temperature, thanks, first of all, to the air layer present in their fur. Many animal species have a thick layer of fat under their skin. Selected species They escape the cold with the help of a special body structure.
North of the Arctic Circle
Most cold part The range of mammals is the Arctic. With the exception of the polar bear, which lives even at the North Pole, most species live in the southern regions. Many Arctic residents have thick, long, and usually white fur. Their fur coats are designed on the principle of double window frames, between which there is air - a thermal protective layer. IN summer time The fur of most species is thinning. The polar bear wears a white outfit with shades of yellow throughout the year. Sun rays penetrate through the white hairs to the bear's skin and heat it. Bear fur consists of a thick undercoat, so the bear's skin remains dry even while swimming in icy water. In addition, a thick layer of subcutaneous fat protects it from the cold.
The wolverine also has very thick fur. Since ice crystals never form on the wolverine's fur, the Eskimos sew its skins into a backing for clothing. Other “frost-resistant” animals, musk oxen, have hair 50-70 cm long growing from their thick undercoat. Both layers have excellent heat retention properties and protect the animal even in the most severe frosts. The musk ox sheds during the short arctic summer.
Thermoregulation IN THE MOUNTAINS
In mountainous areas, night temperatures are usually much lower than daytime temperatures. Mammals living high in the mountains must adapt not only to seasonal temperature fluctuations, but also to daily ones. Wind, rain and snow in winter are not very pleasant phenomena, which is why most highland inhabitants, like those living in the Arctic, have thick fur. Chinchillas, Vicunas, guanacos, llamas and alpacas living in the Andes have very warm fur. People shear guanacos, llamas, Vicunas and alpacas for warm wool. In forested mountains, the difference between day and night temperatures is not so great. This is used by many species of mountain goats and sheep, which descend to these places from a higher altitude for the winter.
Thermoregulation IN WATER
Some marine mammals live near the Arctic and Southern Arctic Circles, while walruses are found only in the Arctic. Certain species of pinnipeds live off the coast of Antarctica, constantly being in icy water. The narwhal and beluga spend their entire lives here, and the gray, humpback and blue whales appear in these regions in the summer. In cold water, heat transfer is much more intense than in cold air. A person who finds himself in such conditions can only live for a few minutes. The cylindrical shape of whales and seals prevents them from generating excessive heat, and their thick layer of blubber helps them maintain a constant body temperature when they are in icy water. The thickness of the fat layer, depending on the type of animal, ranges from several centimeters to half a meter. In addition, pinnipeds have a special circulatory system- it acts as a heat exchanger. The principle of its operation is based on the fact that the vessel through which blood enters the limb is intertwined with a network of small vessels that carry blood from the limb. With established heat exchange between oppositely directed blood flows, minimal cooling of the blood that circulates inside the animal’s body is achieved.
COLD PROTECTION
With the onset of severe frosts, a layer of snow for many animals becomes an excellent shelter that retains heat. Small mammals such as lemmings dig complex underground corridors, topped with a thick layer of snow. The ermine also hides underground in winter. Giant Brown bear, living in Alaska, sleeps in a den in winter, and male polar bears hide under the snow only during snow storms, while pregnant females hibernate in a snowy den. A female polar bear climbs into a den and curls up into a ball. The den is covered with snow. In this case, the snow forms a kind of insulating layer. Wolves, reindeer and moose are not afraid of frost. Moose don't rush at hibernation, but take energy from fat reserves that they gained in the summer and autumn. They move very little and only in the very frost do they seek shelter in thickets of plants and other sheltered places. Chipmunks and many others small mammals in winter they hibernate.
In this post there will be scary, nasty, cute, kind, beautiful, incomprehensible animals.
Plus a short comment about each. They all really exist
Watch and be surprised
SNAP TOOTH- a mammal from the order of insectivores, divided into two main species: the Cuban slittooth and the Haitian. The animal is relatively large compared to other types of insectivores: its length is 32 centimeters, its tail is on average 25 cm, the weight of the animal is about 1 kilogram, and its body is dense. 
MANED WOLF. Lives in South America. The long legs of the wolf are the result of evolution in matters of adaptation to the habitat; they help the animal to overcome obstacles in the form of tall grass growing on the plains. 
AFRICAN CIVET- the only representative of the genus of the same name. These animals live in Africa open spaces with high grass from Senegal to Somalia, southern Namibia and in the eastern regions South Africa. The size of the animal can visually increase quite significantly when the civet raises its fur when excited. And her fur is thick and long, especially on the back closer to the tail. The paws, muzzle and tail end are completely black, most of the body is spotted. 
MUSKRAT. The animal is quite famous due to its sonorous name. It's just a good photo. 
PROCHIDNA. This miracle of nature usually weighs up to 10 kg, although larger specimens have also been observed. By the way, the length of the echidna’s body reaches 77 cm, and this is not counting their cute five to seven centimeter tail. Any description of this animal is based on comparison with the echidna: the legs of the echidna are higher, the claws are more powerful. Another feature of the echidna’s appearance is the spurs on the hind legs of males and the five-fingered hind limbs and three-fingered forelimbs. 
CAPIBARA. Semi-aquatic mammal, the largest of modern rodents. It is the only representative of the capybara family (Hydrochoeridae). There is a dwarf variety, Hydrochoerus isthmius, which is sometimes considered as a separate species (lesser capybara). 
SEA CUCUMBER. HOLOTHURIA. Sea capsules, sea cucumbers (Holothuroidea), a class of invertebrate animals such as echinoderms. Species eaten as food are commonly known as sea cucumbers. 
PANGOLIN. This post simply could not do without him. 
HELL VAMPIRE. Mollusk. Despite its obvious similarity with octopus and squid, scientists have identified this mollusk as a separate order Vampyromorphida (lat.), because it is characterized by retractable sensitive whip-shaped filaments. 
AARDVARK. In Africa, these mammals are called aardvark, which translated into Russian means “earthen pig.” In fact, the aardvark is very similar in appearance to a pig, only with an elongated snout. The structure of the ears of this amazing animal is very similar to that of a hare. There is also a muscular tail, which is very similar to the tail of an animal such as a kangaroo. 
JAPANESE GIANT SALAMANDER. Today it is the largest amphibian, which can reach 160 cm in length, weigh up to 180 kg and can live up to 150 years, although the officially registered maximum age giant salamander is 55 years old. 
BEARDED PIG. In different sources, the Bearded Pig species is divided into two or three subspecies. These are the curly bearded pig (Sus barbatus oi), which lives on the Malay Peninsula and the island of Sumatra, the Bornean bearded pig (Sus barbatus barbatus) and the Palawan bearded pig, which live, as the name suggests, on the islands of Borneo and Palawan, as well as on Java , Kalimantan and small islands of the Indonesian archipelago in Southeast Asia. 
SUMATRAN RHINO. They belong to the odd-toed ungulates of the rhinoceros family. This type Rhinoceroses are the smallest of the entire family. The body length of an adult Sumatran rhinoceros can reach 200–280 cm, and the height at the withers can vary from 100 to 150 cm. Such rhinoceroses can weigh up to 1000 kg. 
SULAWESI BEAR COUSCUS. An arboreal marsupial living in the upper tier of the plains tropical forests. The fur of the bear cuscus consists of a soft undercoat and coarse guard hairs. Coloration ranges from gray to brown, with a lighter belly and limbs, and varies depending on the geographic subspecies and age of the animal. The prehensile, non-haired tail is approximately half the length of the animal and serves as a fifth limb, making it easier to move through the dense tropical forest. The bear cuscus is the most primitive of all cuscus, retaining primitive tooth growth and structural features of the skull. 
GALAGO. Its large fluffy tail is clearly comparable to that of a squirrel. And his charming face and graceful movements, flexibility and insinuation, clearly reflect his cat-like traits. The amazing jumping ability, mobility, strength and incredible dexterity of this animal clearly show its nature as a funny cat and an elusive squirrel. Of course, there would be a place to use your talents, because a cramped cage is very poorly suited for this. But, if you give this animal a little freedom and sometimes allow him to walk around the apartment, then all his quirks and talents will come true. Many even compare it to a kangaroo. 
WOMBAT. Without a photograph of a wombat, it is generally impossible to talk about strange and rare animals. 
AMAZONIAN DOLPHIN. It is the largest river dolphin. Inia geoffrensis, as scientists call it, reaches 2.5 meters in length and weighs 2 quintals. Light gray juveniles become lighter with age. The Amazonian dolphin has a full body, with a thin tail and a narrow muzzle. A round forehead, a slightly curved beak and small eyes are the characteristics of this species of dolphin. The Amazonian dolphin is found in rivers and lakes Latin America. 
MOONFISH or MOLA-MOLA. This fish can be more than three meters long and weigh about one and a half tons. The largest specimen of the sunfish was caught in New Hampshire, USA. Its length was five and a half meters, there is no data on weight. The shape of the fish’s body resembles a disk; it was this feature that gave rise to the Latin name. The moon fish has thick skin. It is elastic, and its surface is covered with small bony projections. The larvae of fish of this species and young individuals swim in the usual way. Adult large fish swim on their sides, quietly moving their fins. They seem to lie on the surface of the water, where they are very easy to spot and catch. However, many experts believe that only sick fish swim this way. As an argument, they cite the fact that the stomach of fish caught on the surface is usually empty. 
TASMANIAN DEVIL. Being the largest of modern predatory marsupials, this black animal with white spots on the chest and rump, with a huge mouth and sharp teeth has a dense physique and a stern disposition, for which, in fact, it was called the devil. Emitting ominous screams at night, the massive and clumsy Tasmanian devil looks like a small bear: the front legs are slightly longer than the hind legs, the head is large, and the muzzle is blunt. 
LORI. Feature Loris have large eyes that may be bordered by dark circles; there is a white dividing stripe between the eyes. The face of a loris can be compared to a clown mask. This most likely explains the animal's name: Loeris means "clown". 
GAVIAL. Of course, one of the representatives of the crocodile order. With age, the gharial's muzzle becomes even narrower and longer. Due to the fact that the gharial feeds on fish, its teeth are long and sharp, located at a slight angle for ease of eating. 
OKAPI. FOREST GIRAFFE. Traveling through Central Africa, journalist and African explorer Henry Morton Stanley (1841-1904) more than once encountered local aborigines. Having once met an expedition equipped with horses, the natives of the Congo told the famous traveler that they had wild animals, very similar to his horses. The Englishman, who had seen a lot, was somewhat puzzled by this fact. After some negotiations in 1900, the British were finally able to purchase parts of the skin of the mysterious animal from the local population and send them to the Royal Zoological Society in London, where the unknown animal was given the name “Johnston's Horse” (Equus johnstoni), that is, it was assigned to the equine family . But imagine their surprise when a year later they managed to get a whole skin and two skulls of an unknown animal, and discovered that It looked more like a dwarf giraffe of the times ice age. Only in 1909 was it possible to catch a living specimen of Okapi. 
WALABI. TREE KANGAROO. The genus of Tree kangaroos - wallabies (Dendrolagus) includes 6 species. Of these, D. Inustus or the bear wallaby, D. Matschiei or Matchisha's wallaby, which has a subspecies D. Goodfellowi (Goodfellow's wallaby), D. Dorianus - the Doria wallaby, live in New Guinea. In Australian Queensland, there are D. Lumholtzi - Lumholtz's wallaby (bungari), D. Bennettianus - Bennett's wallaby, or tharibin. Their original habitat was New Guinea, but now wallabies are also found in Australia. Tree kangaroos live in tropical forests of mountainous regions, at altitudes from 450 to 3000m. above sea level. The body size of the animal is 52-81 cm, the tail is from 42 to 93 cm long. Wallabies weigh, depending on the species, from 7.7 to 10 kg for males and from 6.7 to 8.9 kg. females. 
WOLVERINE. Moves quickly and deftly. The animal has an elongated muzzle, a large head, with rounded ears. The jaws are powerful, the teeth are sharp. Wolverine is a “big-footed” animal; its feet are disproportionate to the body, but their size allows them to move freely through deep snow cover. Each paw has huge and curved claws. Wolverine climbs trees very well and has sharp vision. The voice is like a fox. 
FOSSA. The island of Madagascar has preserved animals that are not found not only in Africa itself, but also in the rest of the world. One of the rarest animals is the Fossa - the only representative of the genus Cryptoprocta and the largest carnivorous mammal, living on the island of Madagascar. Appearance The Fossa is a bit unusual: it is a cross between a civet and a small puma. Sometimes the fossa is also called the Madagascar lion, since the ancestors of this animal were much larger and reached the size of a lion. Fossa has a squat, massive and slightly elongated body, the length of which can reach up to 80 cm (on average it is 65-70 cm). The fossa's paws are long, but quite thick, with the hind paws being higher than the front paws. The tail is often equal to the length of the body and reaches up to 65 cm. 
MANUL approves of this post and is here only because he has to be. Everyone already knows him. 
PHENEC. STEPPE FOX. He assents to the manula and is present here insofar as. After all, everyone saw him. 
NAKED MORAVARY gives the Pallas's cat and fennec cat pluses in their karma and invites them to organize a club of the most fearful animals in RuNet. 
PALM THIEF. Representative of decapod crustaceans. The habitat of which is West Side Pacific Ocean and tropical islands of the Indian Ocean. This animal from the family of land crayfish is quite large for its species. The body of an adult reaches a size of up to 32 cm and a weight of up to 3-4 kg. For a long time it was mistakenly believed that with its claws it could even crack coconuts, which it then eats. To date, scientists have proven that crayfish can only feed on already split coconuts. They, being its main source of nutrition, gave it its name palm thief. Although he is not averse to eating other types of food - the fruits of Pandanus plants, organic substances from the soil, and even his own kind.
