Top 10 Cute Animals
- Leopard seal
The leopard seal, which is also known as the sea leopard, is the second largest seal population in the Antarctic. The Killer whale is the only known enemy. It feeds on a large array of prey including cephalopods, other pinnipeds, krill, birds and fish. They are the only species in the Hydrurga genus.
In the southern summer leopard seals are very vocal underwater. For several hours per day, the male seals make loud calls (153 to 177 dB re 1 μPa at 1 m). Hangs upside down while singing the song, and falls under the water from side to side. A back is bent, the thoracic area (chest) of the neck and cranial is swollen, and as they call a chest pulses. The male calls can be divided into two categories: vocalizing and silencing, where vocalizing happens when underwater noises are made, and silencing is noted as the air surface breathing time.
- Panda
The giant panda, also known as the panda bear or just the panda, is a bear native to central south China. It is marked by broad, black patches around the eyes, the ears, and the entire body. Occasionally the name “giant panda” is used to differentiate this from the red panda, a rival musteloid.
In central China, the giant panda lives in a few mountain ranges, mostly in Sichuan but also in neighboring Shaanxi and Gansu. The giant panda has been forced out of the lowland areas where it once lived as a result of farming, deforestation, and other development, and it is a endangered species that is dependent on conservation. A 2007 report showed 239 captive pandas living within China and 27 outside the country.
- Swan
Swans are the only surviving members of the Anatidae family of waterfowl and are one of the only flying birds. The largest species, including the mute swan, trumpeter swan, and whooper swan, can reach over 1.5 m (59 in.) in length and weigh over 15 kg (33 lb). Their wing-spans can exceed 3.1 m (10 ft). They are much bigger than the closely related gees and have proportionally larger feet and heads. Swans have “teeth,” which is very uncommon for birds-jagged parts of their bill which are used to capture and consume fish.
- Anteater
Anteater is a common name for the Vermilingua suborder’s four current mammal species generally known to eat ants and termites. In English and other languages the individual species have other names. They are in the order Pilosa, along with the sloths. The name “anteater” is often used colloquially for the unrelated Oecobiidae aardvark, numbat, echidnas, pangolins and some members.
- Tasmanian devil
The Tasmanian devil is a carnivorous marsupial from the Dasyuridae tribe. It was once native to mainland Australia, and is now found only on Tasmania’s island state in the wild, including the tiny east coast of Maria Island where there is a disease-free animal conservation project.
Following the extinction of thylacine in 1936, the size of a small dog, the Tasmanian devil, became the largest carnivorous marsupial in the world. It is connected to quolls and has a distant relation to thylacin. It is distinguished by its stubborn and muscular structure, black hair, pungent odor, incredibly loud and irritating screech, good sense of smell, and ferocity when feeding.
- Elephant
Elephants are members of the Elephantidae family and the largest known terrestrial species. There are currently three species recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant and the Asian elephant. The only living family of the order Proboscidea is Elephantidae; the extinct members include the mastodons.
African elephants are classified by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as vulnerable and Asian elephants endangered. The ivory trade is one of the greatest threats to elephant populations, since the species are poached for their ivory tusks. Certain threats to wild elephants include loss of habitats, and disputes with local citizens. Throughout Asia, elephants are used as farm animals.
- Pufferfish
The Tetraodontidae are a family of the order Tetraodontiformes, mainly marine and estuarine fish. There are several common species in the family that are called pufferfish, puffers, balloonfish, blowfish, blowies, bubblefish, globefish, swellfish, toadfish, toads, honey toads, sugar toads, and sea squab.
Some species of pufferfish are toxic, and others are among the world’s some poisonous vertebrates. For certain species, internal organs, such as the liver, and often their skin, contain tetrodotoxin and are highly poisonous when eaten to most animals; however, certain species’ meat is considered a delicacy for Japan, Korea, and China when cooked by specially trained chefs who know which part is safe to eat and in what quantity.
- Poison dart frog
Poison dart frog is the common name of a group of frogs native to tropical Central and South America in the Dendrobatidae family. These animals are diurnal and have bodies often brightly colored. This bright coloration is associated with the organisms’ toxicity and makes them aposematic.
Thanks to the ancestral use of their poisonous secretions by the Amerindians to poison the tips of blowdarts, these amphibians are also called “dart frogs” Nonetheless, only four of more than 170 species have been recorded as being used for this purpose (curar plants are more widely used), all of which come from the Phyllobates genus, which is distinguished by its members’ relatively large size and high toxicity rates.
- Dolphin
Dolphin is a common name for marine mammals within the Cetacea infra-order. Typically the word dolphin refers to the current Delphinidae, Platanistidae, Iniidae, and Pontoporiidae families and the extinct Lipotidae family. There are 40 species currently known as dolphins
While dolphins are common, most species prefer tropical tropical warmer waters but some prefer colder environments, such as the right whale dolphin. Dolphins feed mostly on fish and squid, but a few feed on large mammals, including whales, and the killer whale. Usually, male dolphins match several females each year but females match only every two to three years. Usually, calves are born in the spring and summer months and females are responsible for raising them.
- Slow loris
Slow lorises have a round head, a short snout, wide eyes and a number of distinctive patterns of coloration depending on the species. Their arms and legs are almost equal in weight, and their body is long and flexible, allowing them to twist and stretch to branches nearby. Slow lorise hands and feet have many adaptations that give them a pincer-like grip and allow them to hold branches for long periods of time. Slow lorises have a poisonous bark, a unusual mammalian characteristic and unique to primates. The toxin is produced by leaching a sex gland on their head, and by combining with saliva, the secretion is activated.
