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Did you know? Some species of sponges are among the oldest and longest-lived animals on Earth! Research has found that certain sponges can live for thousands of years.
There are more than 5,000 species of sponges (phylum Porifera) around the world. They come in many shapes and colors—and they have no true organs or tissues, just reproductive, feeding, and skeleton-building cells. They are hollow, taking water and tiny food particles in through small pores in the body and passing water out through a large central hole, the osculum.
Photo: Nhobgood Nick Hobgood, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons | Tube sponge (Callyspongia sp.) pictured
#dyk #NaturalHistory #nature #ocean #OceanLife #coral #CoralReef #MarineLife #MarineBiology #animals #AnimalFacts
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Meet the largest carnivore on Madagascar: the fossa (Cryptoprocta ferox). This close relative of the mongoose feeds on birds, reptiles, and even lemurs. It uses its long tail for balance when chasing prey through the trees. Don’t make this mammal angry: when aggravated, it releases a pungent odor from its scent glands. It also uses scent to mark its territory and possibly to signal reproductive status.
Photo: Cloudtail the Snow Leopard, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0, flickr
#AnimalFacts #fossa #animals #Madagascar #mammals #CoolAnimals #nature #dyk #FactOfTheDay
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Can you imagine a world without lions? For #WorldLionDay, let’s take a moment to appreciate these majestic but vulnerable animals.🦁
Considered the most social of cats, lions live in prides that consist of one or more males, several females, and cubs. While a male lion consumes an average of 5,500 pounds of meat a year—mostly wildebeest, zebra, and antelopes—females do most of the actual hunting.
Lions once roamed much of the African continent, but over the last century, they’ve disappeared from more than 80% of their historic range. Only about 20,000 are left in the wild. Those that remain are under threat from human encroachment, poaching for bushmeat that snares lions inadvertently, hunting for local and international traditional medicines, and trophy hunting. The disappearance of lions would have major implications for their ecosystems: these apex predators hunt weak or sick animals, keeping ungulate populations healthy and helping to maintain the conditions of the grasslands and forests where they live.
Photo: Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons#AnimalFacts #lions #conservation #nature #NaturalHistory #wildlife #lion #cats #BigCats #dyk #ApexPredators
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Get to know the blunt-headed burrowing frog (Glyphoglossus molossus)! This amphibian is also known as the balloon frog because of its spherical body shape.🎈🐸🎈
It lives in parts of Southeast Asia including Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand, where it inhabits forests and wetlands, spending much of its time underground. During breeding season, it comes to the surface and takes advantage of seasonal rain pools to release up to 300 eggs. Unfortunately, the species is threatened due in part to humans catching the frogs for consumption when they come out to breed.
Photo: Rushen, CC BY-SA 2.0, flickr
#frog #animalfacts #bluntheadedburrowingfrog #funfacts #dyk #amphibians #nature #weirdanimals #animalkingdom
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