My Science School

Porcupine is a large rodent that lives in Africa Europe, Americas and Asia. It is known for the sharp quills that cover its body. There are over two dozen porcupine species and all of them have these quills. Some porcupines have up to 30,000 quills on their body.

It uses the quills as a defence. These quills typically lie flat until it is threatened. They rise up and deter predators. The quills are easily released when predators get in touch with it. Lost quills are replaced with new quills.

 It is a nocturnal animal, eating leaves, stem, bark and fruit. It lives in tree branches or tangles of roots, and rock crevices. Its home is called a den.

The largest porcupine is the North African crested porcupine. It grows up to 36 inches (90 centimeters) long. The smallest is the Bahia hairy dwarf porcupine. It grows up to 15 inches (38 cm) long. Porcupines weigh 2.5 to 77 lbs. (1.2 to 35 kilograms), depending on species, and their tails can grow up to 8 to 12 inches (20 to 30 cm), according to the San Diego Zoo. The length of quills varies by type. New World porcupines have small quills that are around 4 inches (10 cm) long, while Old World porcupines have quills that can grow up to 20 inches (51 cm) long, though there are some exceptions.

A typical mating ritual consists of two males fighting over a single female. The males are careful not to injure themselves during the fight, and the winner territorially urinates on the female so that she knows to move her tail aside for safe, quill-free mating.

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Octopus is a soft-bodied, eight-limbed molluscs of the order Octopoda. It lives in all the world's oceans. It has a bulbous head, eight arms with suction cups on the bottom and three hearts. The colour of its blood is blue because of the copper-based protein called hemocyanin in the blood.

 It squirts an ink-like liquid to deter predators. This will temporarily blind and confuse a potential attacker, giving him the time to swim away.

It can squeeze into (or out of) tight spaces in search of food and shelter. It diet includes clams, shrimps, lobsters, fish, and even sharks.

Females usually lay 200,000 to 400.000 eggs. They guard the eggs even without eating. Once the eggs hatch, the female octopus dies and so does male octopus within a few months.

Octopuses live in oceans all over the world. Most are pelagic, meaning they live near the water's surface in shells, reefs and crevices. Some species live on the floor of the ocean, making their homes out of caves. Octopuses tend to be solitary, though they do interact with other octopuses at times. Some species of octopuses hunt at night, while others only hunt at dusk and dawn. 

When scared, octopuses will shoot a dark liquid, sometimes called ink, at the thing that scared them. This will temporarily blind and confuse a potential attacker, giving the octopus time to swim away. The ink can also dull the attacker’s smelling and tasting abilities, according to the Smithsonian article.  

Octopuses can also change color to hide and match their surroundings. They can turn blue, gray, pink, brown or green. The mimic octopus can also flex its body to resemble more dangerous animals, such as eels and lionfish, according to the World Animal Foundation.

If an octopus does get caught — no problem. They can lose arms and regrow them, according to National Geographic. 

Octopuses are fast swimmers but they prefer to slowly crawl along the sea bottom. To swim, octopuses suck water into their bodies and shoot it out a tube called a siphon, according to the World Animal Foundation. This lets the octopus blast off, away from attackers. 

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Bongo is the largest and the heaviest African forest antelope. It has a chestnut coat with distinctive vertical whitish-yellow stripes running down its sides. Both males and females have spiral, lyre-shaped horns.

It is herbivorous and nocturnal. Its predators are lions, hyenas, leopards and pythons. It wallows in the mud to decrease its body temperature during the warmer periods of the year.

Bongos produce snorts, grunts and bleating noise when they are distressed. Females produce mooing calls for communication with their offspring. Mating season of bongos takes place between October and January.

Pregnancy in females lasts 9 months and ends with one baby. Female leaves the herd to give birth in secluded area. Baby remains hidden in dense vegetation during the first week of its life, before it becomes ready to join the herd with its mother. Young bongos grow quickly. Their horns start to develop at the age of 3 to 4 months. Bongos reach sexual maturity at the age of 2 to 2.5 years. Bongo can survive 10 to 18 years in the wild and up to 19 years in the captivity.

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Elephant shrew is a small insectivorous mammal native to Africa. It belongs to the group of animals called sengis.

It has an elongated, pointed head and a long, trunk-like nose (hence the name "elephant shrew"), large ears and eyes, long hind legs and a long, scaly tail. Though it resembles a shrew, it is not one. It can jump like a rabbit. Hence, it is also called a jumping shrew.

It is active during the day, but it is rarely spotted. It is good at camouflaging and dashing away from threats. It creates a series of pathways underground, which it uses to hunt its prey and also to escapes from predators. Its diet includes ants, termites, worms, grubs and spiders.

Elephant shrews live in pairs (that mate for a lifetime). They occupy territory of few acres, but spend most of the time alone (they gather only to mate).

Elephant shrews use scent glands under the tail to mark their trails and point out toward direction of food. They aggressively defend their territory against other elephant shrews (both males and females scream and fight with intruders).

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Lobster is an invertebrate that belongs to the crustacean family, living in the oceans across the world.

There are two kinds of lobsters - clawed and spiny. Clawed lobsters have claws and inhabit cold waters, while spiny lobsters have antennas instead of claws and inhabit tropical waters.

It has10 legs and a long tail with a fan-like tip. Its body is protected by a shell, which it sheds and grows periodically. Its diet includes fish, molluscs, worms, and crustaceans. Occasionally, it consumes algae and sea vegetation.

Lobsters eat voraciously after molting, and will often consume their own recently emptied shells. Eating the old shell replenishes lost calcium and hastens the hardening of the new shell.

 Lobsters were once considered poor man’s food. In Colonial times the crustaceans were so plentiful in the northeast that they were often used as fertilizer, feed for farm animals, and as fishing bait. Because they were so cheap, they were only eaten by poor people and served to prisoners and servants.

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Oxpecker is a bird that belongs to the family Buphagidae, and found only in Sub-Saharan Africa.

It inhabits open savannah and grassy plains. It has a light brown plumage. Depending on the colour of my bill, it is either a yellowbilled oxpecker, or a red-billed oxpecker.

It feeds on tick, flies, lice, and worms that are found on the bodies of cattle, rhinos, giraffes, and large antelopes. Though, in a way, it cleans the body of the cattle. It is known as a parasite because it also feed on the blood of the host. It is a social bird. It whistles and makes chattering sounds to communicate.

Oxpecker/mammal interactions are the subject of some debate and ongoing research. They were originally thought to be an example of mutualism, but recent evidence suggests that oxpeckers may be parasites instead. Oxpeckers do eat ticks, but often the ticks that have already fed on the ungulate host and there has been no proven statistically significant link between oxpecker presence and reduced ectoparasite load . However one study of impalas found that impalas which were used by oxpeckers spent less time grooming themselves suggesting they had fewer parasites. Oxpeckers have been seen opening new wounds and worsening existing ones in order to drink the blood of their perches. Oxpeckers also feed on the earwax and dandruffs of mammals, although less is known about the benefits of this to the mammal, it is suspected that this is also a parasitic behaviour. Some oxpecker hosts are intolerant of their presence. Elephants and some antelope will actively dislodge the oxpeckers when they land. 

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Blue jay is a songbird that belongs to the family of crows, and found in Central and Eastern parts of North America and South Canada.

Its face, throat and belly are white, while wings and tail are covered with white, black and blue plumage. It has a crest on top of the head.

It is known for being highly adaptable and intelligent. It makes an excellent imitation of several hawk calls to check if there are any hawks in the area.

It is an omnivore, eating seed, nuts, acorns, fruit, insects, eggs and young birds. Hawks, owls and cats prey on adult birds, while snakes, raccoons, squirrels, opossums and crows attack young birds and eggs.

This is a rare characteristic among birds, and it is called sexual monomorphism, meaning the males and females look the same. Other species of birds have males and females that look very different, which is called sexual dimorphism. With male and female Blue Jays having similar plumage, it’s difficult to tell them apart. However, male Blue Jays are slightly larger.

Seven US states claim the Northern Cardinal as their state bird, but the Blue Jay is not recognized as a state bird in any US state. However, they are the mascot of a Major League Baseball Team, the Toronto Blue Jays.

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Mangoose is a small predatory carnivore, found predominantly in Africa and some parts of South Asia. Most species have greyish or brown fur, while others have a striped coat and a ringed tail. It has a long body with short legs and a tapered snout.

It is a fast and agile creature, noted for my bold attacks on venomous snakes such as king cobra. It lives in abandoned burrows. Some of them are solitary, while others live in large groups.

It feeds on rodents, birds, reptiles, frogs, insects, and worms. Mongooses are mainly carnivorous, but they are known to supplement their diets with plant matter. Despite their defenses against venomous snakes like cobras, they often target smaller, simpler animals as prey.

Mongooses belong to the taxonomic family Herpestidae, which includes some 30 species across 20 genera. They are native to Africa, Asia, and southern Europe, but some species have also spread beyond their native range. They vary in size from the dwarf mongoose, which measures about 8 inches long and weighs less than a pound, to the white-tailed mongoose, which can grow up to 2.3 feet in length and weigh 9 pounds.

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Vicuna is a South American member of the camel family, Camelidae, that is closely related to the alpaca and llama.

It has large eyes, triangular ears, a small wedge shaped head, and a long neck and legs. Its body is covered with long, fine, soft, and lustrous coat that varies in colour from light cinnamon to pale white.

It grazes on low grasses and ruminates when resting. They live in family-based groups and use communal dung heaps to mark our territorial boundaries. . When in danger, it emits a high, clear whistle.

These animals are herbivores, which means they eat only plants. While their cousins to the south feed on both grasses and shrubbery, Vicunas only graze on grasses.

They have long teeth that grow continuously, much like those of the rodent family. These teeth allow them to crop short grasses without grinding their teeth down. This species also utilizes mineral deposits, like salt licks.

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Emu is a flightless bird endemic to Australia. It is the second largest bird after ostrich.

It has a long neck, sharp beak and small wings. Its body is covered with light-brown feathers. Each foot has three forward-facing toes that allow it to grip the ground while running. Also, it uses its legs for kicking the predators when faced with danger.

It feeds on fruits, seeds, plant shoots, small animals, animal droppings, and insects. It can survive long periods without food.

It swallows small rocks and pebbles to facilitate grinding of food and accelerate digestion. Females lay large, emerald-green eggs and males incubate the eggs for about seven weeks without drinking, feeding, defecating, or leaving the nest.

What they lack in wing size emus make up for with leg power. On top of the sheer size of their legs, a few special features help boost their strength. Emus are unique among all bird species, for example, in having a gastrocnemius. This powerful muscle, located on the back of the lower leg, forms part of what's known as the calf muscle in humans.

Emus have capitalized on the presence of people in Australia's inland, the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) explains. Farmers and ranchers set up water sources the birds can exploit, which has let emus expand into habitats that were once too dry. Fences can help fend off emus, but not all farmers want to keep emus away. Some farmers see the birds as beneficial because they eat the burrs that entangle sheep wool as well as caterpillars and grasshoppers.

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