Well folks it’s that time of the week again. Time for part 2 in my series on amazing and unusual animals of the world. Last week we took a look at some of the animal stars that have been in the limelight. Some of those animals had either had their own TV shows or had special talents like painting. This week let’s go over some of the bizarre animals I’ve researched, it’s so interesting how Mother Nature can play tricks on the development of some of these animals.
Seeing Eye Dog for a Seeing Eye Dog
Here’s an interesting case of a seeing eye dog that goes blind. Graham Waspe of Suffolk, England had a seeing eye dog named Edward that helped him find his way for some six odd years. Then as fate would have it, Edward developed glaucoma and had to have both of his eyes removed. He was no longer able to assist Mr. Waspe so a new seeing eye dog named Opal was introduced into the family. Opal now helps lead both Mr. Waspe and his blind dog Edward in finding their way.
An Ape with a Vocabulary
Dr. Sue Savage-Rumbaugh of Des Moines, Iowa has worked hard in training her bonobo ape how to “speak”. The mature bonobo ape, named Kanzi, now has a vocabulary of around 450 words. Kanzi “speaks” by pointing at symbols that are shown on a computer.
High Speed Duck
In China’s Guangxi Province was born a duck with three legs and four feet. The duck had it’s normal two legs, then behind those the duckling had a third leg that had two extra feet on it. Although the true cause for this is unknown, it was probably due to some sort of genetic mutation.
The Sneezing Monkey
Scientists have discovered a monkey in the mountain forests of Burma that has an allergy to rain. This snub- nosed monkey is a newly discovered species to the animal kingdom that sneezes when ever it rains. They say when it’s raining, the monkey will hide it’s head between it’s knees in order to avoid getting rain water in it’s upturned snout.
Amazing Sheep Herder
Ali Taylor is the owner of Britain’s smallest sheep dog. Nancy, the sheep herding wonder, is a miniature Chihuahua that weighs in at a tiny 2.5 pounds. She can herd sheep that are gigantic in size compared to her. She learned how to herd sheep by watching border collies in action.
Two Heads is Better than One
An Albino Honduran Milk Snake was hatched by a Florida conservation group that is quite a rarity. But to trump that, it also has two heads, the odds of this are more than 10,000 to 1. Both heads are fully aware of the other and seem to work beautifully together.
Fastest Shark on the Planet
The fastest known shark is the shortfin mako. It holds a record speed in excess of 34.8 mph. To give you a comparison, a human may only swim at around 4.7 mph, so definitely not a good idea to get in the water with one of these bad boys. Not only is the shortfin mako a super fast swimmer, but it is also the world’s highest leaping shark. It can jump 19ft 8in out of water. They have even been known to jump into the boats of fishermen.
Well there you have it folks, my new discoveries for this week. Hope you enjoyed learning a few facts about these amazing creatures and don’t forget to check in next Friday for Amazing Animals of the World Pt. 3
If you missed the first part, you can find it in my post Amazing Animals of the World Pt. 1
Terrific article on strange animals, Robert. Better to concede the race to the short-finned mako and do your best to hit him in the snout (one proven method to discourage a shark).
Some very good defensive measures to know Gremlin. Shark attacks are no joke. Up until 2011, there were over 900 known shark attacks 37 of those ending in a fatality. Think I’ll keep swimming in a pool. 🙂