Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Campaign to saved "world's weirdest creatures"
The Zoological Society of London has launched a program to "protect some of the world’s most bizarre and unusual animals." These creatures are on the edge of extinction but are overlooked by many conservation groups because they aren't as charismatic as other endangered animals like gorillas and tigers.
LinkZSL is starting work to protect ten of the most unusual and threatened species this year, including:
1) Yangtze River dolphin
2) Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna (egg-laying mammal) 3) Hispaniolan solenodon (venomous shrew-like creature)
4) Bactrian camel
5) Pygmy hippopotamus
6) Slender Loris (a shy, nocturnal primate with gigantic eyes)
7) Hirola antelope (antelope known as “four-eye antelope”, as their preorbital glands look like a second set of eyes)
8) Golden-rumped elephant shrew (the size of a small rabbit; can run at speeds of up to 25km/h)
9) Bumblebee bat (possibly the world’s smallest mammal)
10) Long-eared jerboa (mouse-like animals with the largest ear to body ratio of any mammal)
posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 10:25:08 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments
