How_It_Works_Issue_99_2017

DID YOU KNOW? The gigantic shoebill bird’s Latin name is Balaeniceps rex, which translates into English as ‘king whalehead’
Shoebills
It’s an appropriate name, given the size of the
shoebill’s colossal beak! These curious birds can be
found roaming the swampy marshland of eastern
tropical Africa. They are solitary, tall birds, reaching
around 1.5 metres high, and that big old bill is used
for ambush hunting. Shoebills will tuck into anything
ranging from lungfish, snakes, eels and even baby
crocodiles! Their huge bill is tipped with a ferocious
nail-like hook, which, combined with the strength of
the beak, more than matches any flailing prey.
Despite being a heavy bird, shoebills can often be
found perching on floating vegetation. They prefer to
hunt in poorly oxygenated water, as this means that
their prey has to surface more often, providing ample
pickings for the shoebill to grab a snack.
These bizarre birds
get their name
from their
shoe-shaped beak
Tube-nosed bat
With a strange ‘smile’ and very weird tubular
nostrils protruding from its face, the tubenosed
bat is one of those animals that’s oddly
endearing. These medium-sized fruit bats of
varying species can be found in the lush
rainforests of Indonesia, Papua New Guinea
and Australia. Like most other fruit bats they
feed on fruit such as figs, as well as insects –
the dispersal of seeds in their droppings is an
important part of the forest ecosystem.
These mammals are usually solitary or roost
in small groups, and often make distinctive,
high-pitched calls to one another during
mating season. Like all bats, the tube-nosed
variety uses echolocation to navigate. They
emit specific noises by contracting their voice
box and then listen in order to analyse the
echoes to determine the space around them.
Olms
Nicknamed ‘the human fish’ thanks to its long
body and peachy, flesh coloured skin, the olm
(or proteus) is a weird salamander of the
underworld, and Europe’s only cave-adapted
vertebrate. The olm lives exclusively
underwater and lasts for an incredibly long
time – up to 100 years! These strange
creatures are blind and grow up to 30cm long.
They are the apex predator of their realm
and males are tenaciously territorial – the only
thing to eat an olm is another olm. Adapted to
live in total darkness, olms have developed
powerful senses – including electrosensitivity
– to help them find their prey of similarly blind
and pale cave crustaceans.
Egg-laying mammal
This spiny critter is the
long-beaked echidna. It’s the
world’s oldest mammal species.
The tube-nosed bat has been likened to Star Wars
character Yoda – it’s quite easy to see why!
© Alamy; Thinkstock; Art Agecny/Peter Scott
Olms are neotenous, which means they don’t
change into adult form, and sport external gills
Out of their shell
Soft-shelled turtles, as their
names suggest, lack the
characteristic hard, protective
carapace of their relatives.
WWW.HOWITWORKSDAILY.COM
How It Works | 033