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Species you've never heard of before.

Discussion in 'General Zoo Discussion' started by jwer, 22 May 2008.

  1. jwer

    jwer Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    The Pel's Anomalure gave me the idea of this thread, but I've been thinking about it for quite some time. There's a load of animals I've never heared of before i joined the internet Zoo community, many of them with bizarre names and appearances. I'm always excited when i find out there's yet another animal around I've never seen or heared of.

    It's a bit like coming up with new "Weird creatures" for Nick Baker, but what exotic named/looking species you know that you think others might not have heared of. My list of exotic names/species i've learned only recently:

    - Desman (little carnivore native to the Pyrenees)
    - Yapok (marsupial water animal from South America)
    - Bilby (large eared desert marsupial from Australia)
    - Vu Quang Ox (ungulate from south-east asia)
    - Muriqui (aka woolly spider monkey)
    - Giant elephant shrew (like a mouse-deer with a huge nose)
    - Hoatzin (amazingly weird bird)
    - Baiji (now unfortunately getting well known, the chinese river dolphin)
    - Solenodon (weird island creatures from the caribbean)
    - Kaka, Takahe and kakapo (birds from New Zealand)

    Apparantly, there's also a bird species that can fly with their young tucked in pouches under their wings? Amazing behaviour.

    Then there's an orange pigeon, otter species I've never known existed and a lot of Langur, Saki and Uakari species that are very unusual...

    Anyways, what species do you think I've never heared about, i'm rather curious :)
     
  2. Pygathrix

    Pygathrix Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    I've never heard of that! I'd be very interested in more details...

    There are lots of little brown jobs in Australia which have local names such as boodie, woylie, marl, mernine, wambenger etc as well as boring English names eg mala which is rufous hare wallaby
     
  3. jwer

    jwer Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    Took me long enough to find it, but here it is:

    Sungrebe - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    Very little is known about it, apparantly...

    Found on this site, which is very interesting indeed:
    Queer Birds

    Cool huh?
     
  4. Sun Wukong

    Sun Wukong Well-Known Member

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    It's hard to believe, but the ones You mentioned are pretty "well-known" in regard to other species, especially tons of arthropods.
    And it's not just tiny invertebrates one is amazed to "discover":

    Ever heard of the Granada Hare? Blue-spotted Tree Monitor? Javan Warty Pig? Ethiopian Giant frog? Huemuls? Nurseryfish? Terror Skink? Sulawesi Naked Bats? New Guinea Harpy Eagle? Silver-backed chevrotain? One-/Two-/Three-Toed Amphiumas? Beira? Fiji Crested Iguana? Arabian leopard? Tasmanian giant freshwater crayfish? Taiwan high mountain least weasel? Ghostpipefish? Banggai Crow? Red-legged Sun Squirrel? Sabu Island Python? Dibatag? Kinabalu giant red leech? Yellow-headed Komodo Dragons?...

    That's the amazing and beautiful thing about biodiversity: You think You know it all and can't be surprised, but on the next occasional trip to the local aquaristic & reptile market, the Natural History museum or to Pilsen/Prague Zoo/Czech Zoo( ;) ), You encounter animals You have never seen, heard or read about before. You're speechless. You're awe-struck. You're embarassed by Your utter ignorance ("How could I miss that?") and equally, You're absolutely happy that there's so much more to learn and discover...;)

    If You're interested, I'd recommend You to join the ZGAP or at least try to get their magazines-they're crammed full with reports about species You often never read about before. Most of it is written in German, but the summaries are usually in English.

    Some male jacanas btw. show the mentioned behaviour, too. Nice link-thanks.
     
    Last edited: 22 May 2008
  5. ZooMania

    ZooMania Well-Known Member

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    I was wondering what a Pel's Anomalure was, but i didnt say anything as i didnt want to look totally stupid.
     
  6. kiang

    kiang Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    A new one to me was the hairy nosed otter of Sumatra
     
  7. Chlidonias

    Chlidonias Moderator Staff Member 15+ year member

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    I went looking for hairy-nosed otters in a peat swamp in southern Thailand in 2006. Didn't find any but I only had one day so I knew what the outcome would be before I even started :)
     
  8. Meaghan Edwards

    Meaghan Edwards Well-Known Member

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    This board is the first place I've heard about Hairy-nosed Otters :)
     
  9. jwer

    jwer Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    There's a few more otter species that are relatively unknown ;) Among them one that (mostly) lives in salt water, the marine otter... (which is not a sea otter, btw)
     
  10. NZ Jeremy

    NZ Jeremy Well-Known Member

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  11. stretchedandy

    stretchedandy Active Member

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    Heres a few that surprised me
    -Chinese alligator/Yangtze alligator
    -Philipine Cockatoo & Indonesian Cocktoo. Both are endangered. I only thought OZ had these.
    -Asian golden cat
    -Baiji. I had no idea about this one until i read about in the forums
    -Indus river dolphin. Found this one when I looked up what a Baiji was.
    -frilled shark. Google this its freaky.
    You could keep going all day with a list.
     
  12. ^Chris^

    ^Chris^ Well-Known Member

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    It's often said that Eurasian Woodcock will fly carrying their chicks between their legs. Its not quite as amazing as a kangaroo-style pouch but I still thinks it's fairly remarkable.

    I learnt of the Tamaraw thanks to this forum and I'd not heard of maroon langur either.
     
  13. Pertinax

    Pertinax Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    Yes, its still never been irrefutably proved (e.g. filmed), but there are enough reports of this happening to make it an accepted 'fact'. They are believed to return to the nest (if there is more than one chick) to carry each chick away from danger.

    Some lily trotters/jacanas will carry their young under their wings, but this form of transport may be accidental in that they pick up brooding chicks that have tucked themselves under the wings, and then walk along with them.
     
  14. Chris79

    Chris79 Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    I must admit that quite a few of the names in this thread are new to me, so thanks, it's been an education - credit goes to Wikipedia too ;). I've also learned about gymnures, rousettes and how to tell the difference between a falanouc and a fanaloka. :D

    Out of the species mentioned so far, I've been lucky enough to see huemuls, hoatzins and a Pyrenean desman all in the wild.
     
  15. PAT

    PAT Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    I saw a show just yesterday about bearded seals. I had never heard of them before that but they're not amazing or anything. Just another arctic seal with extra long whiskers.
     
  16. ^Chris^

    ^Chris^ Well-Known Member

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    There was one somewhere in UK waters not so long ago. Somewhere in Scotland I think.
     
  17. yangz

    yangz Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    How about Boardbill Kingfisher. You can google image for this animal. A very unique looking kingfisher.
     
  18. stretchedandy

    stretchedandy Active Member

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    Is it also known as a Rufous-backed Kingfisher. Because i googled Boardbill Kingfisher and got nothing, did you mean Broadbill? Post a pic if ya can please.
     
  19. yangz

    yangz Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    Sorry. It is shovel billed kingfisher ( clytoceyx rex ).
     
  20. jwer

    jwer Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    That looks like an aviculturist made a mistake when identifying this species and now they're trying to cover it up (no no, it really IS a kingfisher...).

    Unique animal :) (and new to me!)