Beginning in 1990, an international environmental group called Conservation International discovered a number of new species. To showcase the results of 20 years of expeditions, the organization's researchers selected 20 of the latest animals discovered in 20 years.
Founded in 1987, Conservation International is a non-profit environmental organization whose mission is to protect the earth's remaining natural heritage and the world's biodiversity, and to prove that human society and nature can live in harmony. Since 1990, Conservation International has established the Rapid Assessment Project (RAP) team, which mainly examines rare organisms in some inaccessible areas in order to show the diversity of life on Earth. Over the past 20 years, the team has sent scientists around the world to discover thousands of new species.
To mark the 20th anniversary of the RAP group and to showcase its 20 years of research, conservation international experts selected 20 of the latest exotic animals from thousands of newly discovered species. These animals look very strange, and some even resemble alien life in science fiction movies. Because these animals live in very small territories and mostly live in inaccessible places, they have not been discovered for many years.
Although most of the areas inhabited by these novelty animals are uninhabited and few tourists harass them, the animals in them still live on the same earth as us, and various pollutants still pollute those areas with the atmosphere and water currents. Due to their limited habitat, they are much more sensitive to pollution than the average animal. Therefore, it is regrettable that many novel species were on the verge of extinction when researchers discovered them.
Let's take a closer look at this strange animal.
The "alien" salamander, whose head resembles an alien in a science fiction film, was discovered in Ecuador in 2009.
The "Pinocchio" frog, whose nose resembles the long nose of the fairy puppet Pinocchio, was discovered in Indonesia in 2008.
The "Pearl Eye" frog, which has a pair of large black pearl-like eyes, was discovered in Papua New Guinea in 2008.
The South American chinchilla, with a peculiar white stripe on its head, was found in Peru in 1997.
The tube-nosed bat, whose face resembles master Yoda from the science fiction film Star Wars, was discovered in Papua New Guinea in 2009.
The red-cheeked honey-sucking bird, with particularly prominent red hairs on its cheeks, was found in Indonesia in 2005.
Walking sharks, which can walk on fins on the bottom of the sea and of course swim, were discovered in Indonesia in 2006.
The emperor scorpion, with its blue body and frightening body of more than 20 centimeters long, was discovered in Ghana in 2006.
Suction catfish, whose mouth can be adsorbed to other marine animals or rocky surfaces for feeding, was discovered in Suriname in 2005.
The hooked ants, which have multiple hook-like spikes, were found in Cambodia in 2007.
The inverse curved finch, with yellow villi on the head and tail, was found in Guinea in 2003.
Honduran ghost bats
The Honduran white bat is the smallest vegetable-eating bat in the New World and is found from eastern Honduras to western Panama. This small animal generally inhabits woodland, resting in the central part of the leaves of the plantain or banana tree that they have bitten (the leaves of this plant are large and wide, curved from the center to the ends, and from the middle, they look like a small tent). White bats are found in the lowlands of Central America, including Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. The white bat in Honduras is definitely a small animal; 37-47 mm long, weighing about 5 grams, covered in a plush shiny white "coat", this beautiful coat is only slightly gray near the wings. The most notable feature of white bats is that their ears, legs and wings, including the face and nose, are all bright orange.
Tarsiers
This tarsier from the Philippines is only 10-12 centimeters long, not the size of an adult's palm. The endangered tarsier is the smallest primate in the world. The tarsier is the size of a rat, with a yellow-brown body, which at first glance looks like a brown rat. If calculated in terms of body proportions, tarsiers can win this title among primates: the largest eyes, the largest ears, and the longest phalanges. The most peculiar thing about tarsiers is their eyes. On the small face, there are two round and particularly large eyes, the diameter of the eyeballs can exceed 1 centimeter, which is very out of proportion to its small body, as if wearing a pair of extra-large old reading glasses. Therefore, people gave it a very vivid name: tarsier. In fact, each of its eyes weighs 3 grams, which is heavier than its brain. It has a keen sense of hearing and can rotate its neck almost 360 degrees.
Spiny Australian spiny lizard
The Australian spiny lizard is a desert lizard endemic to Australia , with many thorn-like spikes covering its body and tail. This makes him very easily recognizable. Despite its sinister name, the Australian spiny lizard is a completely harmless animal that buries its head between its two front legs when frightened. Or rely on changing its color to blend in with its surroundings in camouflage to ward off predators. In the harsh natural environment of the desert, the Australian spiny lizard obtains water in a very special way. When night fell on the desert, the desert became very cold, and the water vapor scattered in the air formed dew on the body of the spiny lizard, and thousands of tiny grooves on the skin of the spiny lizard spread the dew throughout the body very quickly, and finally sent directly into the mouth of the spiny lizard along the groove. Spiny lizards also have very strange ways of eating. The spiny lizard would sit at the edge of an ant nest for hours, gluing its mucus-filled tongue to feed on the ants. It is reported that this desert species can eat 45 ants in a minute.
chameleon
Chameleons are reptiles, very peculiar animals, with characteristics and behaviors suitable for arboreal life. It has a long, sensitive tongue that sticks out longer than it is, and there are glands on the tip of the tongue that secrete large amounts of mucus to stick insects. It has a pair of eyes that are very peculiar, the eye curtain is very thick, circular, the two eyeballs are prominent, left and right 180 degrees, up and down left and right rotation freely, the left and right eyes can move individually, incoordination, this phenomenon is rare in animals. The eyes are divided into front and back to gaze, which is conducive to predation and can find the enemy behind in time. Chameleons prey on long tongues are lightning-fast, taking only 1/25 second to complete, and their tongues are twice as long as their own bodies. The movement of walking and stopping in the trees makes predators mistakenly think that the leaves are blown by the wind.
Striped rabbit
On April 5, 2007, the IUCN said a camera installed in Balisan National Park in Indonesia captured two photographs of a Sumatran striped rabbit at night, showing a 0.5-meter-long striped rabbit nibbling on food in a bush. This is the third time in 35 years that the rabbit has been seen, the last time the rabbit was photographed was in 2000, and the last time scientists saw it with their own eyes was in 1972. Colin Pooler, head of the Wildlife Conservation Society's Asia region, said in a statement: "Sumatran striped rabbits are very rare and any evidence that proves its existence is good news and proves that protecting the rainforests of the Sumatra region is very important. In 1999, researchers found another species of rabbit in the Annam Mountains on the border between Laos and Vietnam, similar in appearance to the Sumatran rabbit, but genetic analysis showed that the two rabbit species, although related but completely different, began to divergent as early as 8 million years ago.
Gray-faced like a pointed rat
Scientists have discovered a new breed of mammal, grey-faced sengi, scientifically known as Rhynchocyon udzungwensis, in Tanzania, Africa. This elephant rat lives on the forest floor and survives by eating insects. This is the first new species of elephant shrew discovered in 127 years, and the gray-faced elephant pointed rat weighing only 18 ounces is considered to be the behemoth of the elephant shrew family. Somewhat like a shrew, this animal lives in the low forest of Tanzania, weighs about 500 grams, and uses insects as its main food source. At present, scientists are conducting further research.
Giant coconut crab
The coconut crab is large and has a hard shell, and with two strong and powerful giant claws, it looks fierce and brutal. It is also a master tree climber, especially good at climbing straight coconut trees, and it can peel off the hard coconut shell with a strong double claw and enjoy the sweet coconut meat inside. So it also has an internationally common name - coconut crab. This parasitic crab is the largest terrestrial arthropod in the world. They can live for more than 30 years and can grow to 1.5 meters long and weigh 9 pounds (4 kg).
Jerboa - a little jumper
The jerboa is born with a tall jump: strong long hind feet and a long tail that helps maintain balance in mid-air. But disappointingly, the most common jerboa only bounces between the grass under the low trees. However, the prairie jumper is worthy of its name, it can jump about 1.5 to 3 meters away. Jerboas live in North America and the northern part of Eurasia. In the winter, when the weather gets colder, they will find a hole to hide, build a nest, and hibernate. Jerboas hibernate for 6 to 9 months a year, but they wake up once every two weeks, possibly to urinate. During hibernation, the body temperature of the jerboa drops slightly above the freezing point (0 °C).
Mexican walking fish
The Mexican blunt-mouthed salamander (Ambystoma mexicanum), also known as the hexagonal dinosaur or Mexican walking fish or Mexican water monster, is found only in one lake in Mexico and is an amphibian with the order Cynodontidae. Famous for its peculiar cries, it is a popular amphibian and is also known as the "cutest animal in the world". Hexagonal dinosaurs are well-known "juvenile mature" species of amphibians (from birth to sexual maturity and spawning, all are juvenile form 0). The larvae live in the water all their lives and also lay eggs in the water. They have the ability to regenerate most of the limbs on the body, and their varied body color is also one of their charms, and it is said that there are more than 30 species in the world. Commonly seen are common body color, albino species (black eye), albino species (white eye), golden body color (white eye), and all-black individuals. It is currently facing extinction due to pollution and habitat destruction.