An armadillo lizard

The Armadillo Lizard (Cordylus cataphractus) is a spiny-tailed lizard endemic to desert areas of southern Africa. It is also known as the “Typical Gridled Lizard”, Armadillo Girdled Lizard or the Armadillo Spiny-tailed Lizard. They can be a light brown to dark brown in coloration depending on the subspecies, and are sometimes referred to with the common name of golden armadillo lizard. The underbelly is yellow with a blackish pattern, especially under the chin.This lizard has a distinctive defensive posture, in which it grabs its tail and curls into a ring. Its size ranges from 16 to 21 cm (6½ to 8½ in) in length. In South Africa, trade in Armadillo Lizards is illegal. This lizard is very difficult to find for sale in the pet trade for this reason. However, due to breeding, they are becoming more and more available in the pet trades of North America and Europe.

A show rabbit

Rabbit breeds are notably different varieties of domestic rabbit created through selective breeding or natural selection. Breeds recognized by organizations such as the American Rabbit Breeders’ Association may be exhibited and judged in rabbit shows. Breeders attempt to emulate the breed standard by which each breed is judged. This breed listing is compiled by using the American names provided in the ARBA guide book, Raising Better Rabbits & Cavies. Some non-ARBA accepted commercial or foreign breeds are also listed using their most common name .

Giant leaf-tailed gecko

Uroplatus is a genus of geckos commonly referred to as Flat or Leaf-tailed Geckos. All of the species of this genus are found in primary and secondary forests on the island of Madagascar, and some on islands off Madagascar, such as Nosy Be. They are endemic to Madagascar, and found nowhere else on earth.

Leafy sea dragon

The leafy sea dragon, Phycodurus eques, is a marine fish in the family Syngnathidae, which also includes the seahorses. It is the only member of the genus Phycodurus. It is found along the southern and western coasts of Australia. The name is derived from the appearance, with long leaf-like protrusions coming from all over the body. These protrusions are not used for propulsion; they serve only as camouflage. The leafy sea dragon propels itself by means of a pectoral fin on the ridge of its neck and a dorsal fin on its back closer to the tail end. These small fins are almost completely transparent and difficult to see as they undulate minutely to move the creature sedately through the water, completing the illusion of floating seaweed.

Long-eared jerboa

The Long-eared Jerboa, Euchoreutes naso, is a nocturnal mouse-like rodent with a long tail, long hind legs for jumping, and exceptionally large ears. It is distinct enough that authorities consider it to be the only member of both its genus, Euchoreutes, and subfamily, Euchoreutinae.

It has been reported in China and in ten localities in desert habitats of Trans Altai Govi Desert and the Gobi Desert in Mongolia. A large part of the species is believed to occur in Mongolia within protected areas. Very little is known about the species.

Monkfish

Monkfish (or Headfish) is the English name of a number of types of fish in the northwest Atlantic, most notably the species of the anglerfish genus Lophius and the angelshark genus Squatina. The term is also occasionally used for a European sea monster more often called a sea monk.

Pangolin

A pangolin, also scaly anteater or trenggiling, is a mammal of the order Pholidota. There is only one extant family (Manidae) and one genus (Manis) of pangolins, comprising eight species. There are also a number of extinct taxa. Pangolins have large keratin scales covering their skin and are the only mammals with this adaptation.

Red-lipped batfish

The red-lipped batfish (Ogcocephalus darwini) is an unusual looking fish found on the the Galapagos Islands. Red-lipped batfish are closely related to rosy-lipped batfish (Ogcocephalus porrectus), which are found near Cocos Island off the coast of Costa Rica. Both fish species look and behave very similarly to one another.

Batfish are not good swimmers; they use their pectoral fins to “walk” on the ocean floor. When the batfish reaches adulthood, its dorsal fin becomes a single spine-like projection that lures prey.

Scorpion fish

Scorpaenidae, the scorpionfish, are a family of mostly marine fish that includes many of the world’s most venomous species. As the name suggests, scorpionfish have a type of “sting” in the form of sharp spines coated with venomous mucus. The family is a large one, with hundreds of members.

The African naked mole rat

The naked mole rat (Heterocephalus glaber), also known as the sand puppy, or desert mole rat is a burrowing rodent native to parts of East Africa and the only species currently classified in genus Heterocephalus. It is one of only two known eusocial mammals (the other being the Damaraland mole rat) and has a highly unusual set of physical traits that enables it to thrive in a harsh, underground environment, including a lack of pain sensation in its skin and a very low metabolism.

The aye-aye

The Aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis) is a lemur, a strepsirrhine primate native to Madagascar that combines rodent-like teeth with a long, thin middle finger to fill the same ecological niche as a woodpecker. It is the world’s largest nocturnal primate, and is characterized by its unusual method of finding food; it taps on trees to find grubs, then gnaws holes in the wood and inserts its elongated middle finger to pull the grubs out. The only other animals known to find food in this way is the Striped Possum.

The prehistoric African pterosaur

Rhamphorhynchus, “beak snout”, is a genus of long-tailed pterosaurs in the Jurassic period. Less specialized than contemporary, short-tailed pterodactyloid pterosaurs such as Pterodactylus, it had a long tail, stiffened with ligaments, which ended in a characteristic diamond-shaped vane. The jaws of Rhamphorhynchus housed needle-like teeth, which were angled forward, with a curved, sharp, beak-like tip lacking teeth, indicating a diet mainly of fish and insects.

The prehistoric whorl-tooth shark, or Helicoprion

Helicoprion (“Spiral Saw”) was a long-lived genus of shark-like cartilaginous fish that first arose in the oceans of the late Carboniferous 280 million years ago, survived the Permian-Triassic Extinction Event, and eventually went extinct during the early Triassic some 225 million years ago. The only fossils known are the teeth, which were arranged in a fantastic “tooth-whorl” strongly reminiscent of a circular saw. It was not until the discovery of the skull of a relative, Ornithoprion, that it was realized that the tooth-whorl was in the lower jaw. The tooth-whorl represented all of the teeth produced by that individual in the lower jaw, in that as the individual grew, with the older, smaller teeth being moved into the center of the whorl by the appearance of larger, newer teeth. Comparisons with other eugenodontids suggest that Helicoprion may have grown up to 10-15 ft long.

The sloth

The living sloths comprise six species of medium-sized mammals belonging to the families Megalonychidae and Bradypodidae, part of the order Pilosa. They are arboreal residents of the rainforests of Central and South America. The sloth’s taxonomic suborder is Folivora, while some call it Phyllophaga. Both names mean “leaf-eaters”; the first is derived from Latin, the second from Greek. Names for the animals used by tribes in Ecuador include Ritto, Rit and Ridette, mostly forms of the word “sleep”, “eat” and “dirty” from Tagaeri tribe of Huaorani.

The star-nosed mole

The star-nosed mole (Condylura cristata) is a little North American mole found in wet low areas of eastern Canada and the north-eastern United States, with recerds extending along the Atlantic coast as far as extreme southeastern Georgia. It is the only member of the tribe Condylurini and the genus Condylura.

Star-nosed moles are easily identified by the eleven pairs of pink fleshy appendages ringing their snout which are used as a touch organ with more than 25,000 minute sensory receptors, known as Eimer’s organs, with which this hamster-sized mole feels its way around.

The wild turkey

The Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) is native to North America and is the heaviest member of the Galliformes. It is one of two species of turkey, the other being the Ocellated Turkey, found in Central America.