Oriente knight anoles are among the largest of the nearly 400 anole species. Adults can grow up to seven and a half inches long and weigh about two ounces. Their body is covered with small green scales, including vertical dorsal scales, and they have pale blotches along their mouth. Like most anoles, males have a…
Leopard geckos are ground-dwelling lizards with dull yellow skin covered in black spots. Their skin is very durable, which provides protection from the rocky grassland terrain of their dry environment, and their dorsal side is covered with small bumps, which gives a rough texture and appearance. In the few days after shedding, their skin turns…
Kenya sand boas have alternating orange-and-brown speckled patterns running down the length of their back. They are sexually dimorphic, meaning males and females differ in appearance. Females can grow up to 32 inches long while males max out at 15 inches. They spend much of their time hiding beneath the sand, under stones, and in…
African rock pythons, Africa’s largest snakes, can measure up to 25 feet long (10 to 15 feet is more typical) and are covered in brown, olive, and yellow blotches. These snakes have a triangle-shaped head marked with a brown spear-head shape outlined in yellow. Although they spend most of their time on the ground, they…
Madagascar hissing cockroaches are large, wingless insects with a dark brown exoskeleton and orange markings on their abdomen. Males have large bumps or horns behind their head, while females have smaller bumps. Like most cockroaches, they are nocturnal insects, hiding under debris or in tree bark during the day. Madagascar hissing cockroaches consume rotting plants,…
Lake Malawi cichlids are highly diverse in size, coloration, behavior, and ecology. Their shape ranges from tubular to perch-like to disk-like. Cichlids have a single nostril on each side of their head, incomplete scales on their head, a well-developed dorsal fin, and distinctive pelvic fins. Their mating system also varies from monogamous to polygynous to…
Northern walkingsticks are wingless insects with a cylindrical, elongated body and a small, square-shaped head supporting long antennae. They can reach up to three and a half inches in lemgth. Males are brown, and females are green. Both sexes feed on tree and shrubbery foliage, with a preference for oak and hazelnut trees. Before winter,…
American beavers are brown, semiaquatic rodents that can weigh up to 71 pounds and reach up to three feet in length, not including their tail. Beavers, as a whole, are one of the few animals that can actively change an ecosystem. Well-known for their ability to build dams, they block waterways with trees and mud,…
