Species you've never heard of before.

J

jwer

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
The Pel's Anomalure gave me the idea of this thread, but I've been thinking about it for quite some time. There's a load of animals I've never heared of before i joined the internet Zoo community, many of them with bizarre names and appearances. I'm always excited when i find out there's yet another animal around I've never seen or heared of.

It's a bit like coming up with new "Weird creatures" for Nick Baker, but what exotic named/looking species you know that you think others might not have heared of. My list of exotic names/species i've learned only recently:

- Desman (little carnivore native to the Pyrenees)
- Yapok (marsupial water animal from South America)
- Bilby (large eared desert marsupial from Australia)
- Vu Quang Ox (ungulate from south-east asia)
- Muriqui (aka woolly spider monkey)
- Giant elephant shrew (like a mouse-deer with a huge nose)
- Hoatzin (amazingly weird bird)
- Baiji (now unfortunately getting well known, the chinese river dolphin)
- Solenodon (weird island creatures from the caribbean)
- Kaka, Takahe and kakapo (birds from New Zealand)

Apparantly, there's also a bird species that can fly with their young tucked in pouches under their wings? Amazing behaviour.

Then there's an orange pigeon, otter species I've never known existed and a lot of Langur, Saki and Uakari species that are very unusual...

Anyways, what species do you think I've never heared about, i'm rather curious :)
 
jwer said:
Apparantly, there's also a bird species that can fly with their young tucked in pouches under their wings? Amazing behaviour.
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I've never heard of that! I'd be very interested in more details...

There are lots of little brown jobs in Australia which have local names such as boodie, woylie, marl, mernine, wambenger etc as well as boring English names eg mala which is rufous hare wallaby
 
Took me long enough to find it, but here it is:

Sungrebe - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Very little is known about it, apparantly...

Equally extraordinary, and less known, are the details of the world's only known marsupial bird. "What," you cry in alarm! "This really is straining credulity!" Ahh, but truth is, indeed, stranger than fiction. Deep in the jungles of Central and South Am erica dwells a curious bird known as the Sungrebe (Heliornis fulica) 6. In 1833 the German ornithologist M. A. Wied 7 reported that this bird carried its young about in pouches under its wings. Subsequent generations of ornithologists viewed this report with, to say the least, 'skepticism.' However in 1969 Mexican ornithologist Miguel Alvarez del Toro 8 spent a summer in Chiapas observing a nesting pair of Sungrebes and stunned the ornithological world when he discovered that almost immediately after hatching the male places each of the two chicks in pouches under his wings and forthwith departs.

What happens subsequently is unknown but presumably the male cares for and feeds these naked, altricial chicks until they are ready to fend for themselves, all the while transporting them safely beneath his wings. Voila! Sitting duck problem at least fifty percent solved! By the way, there are two other species of Sungrebes, the Southeast-Asian, Masked Finfoot (H. personata) and the African Finfoot (Podica senagalensis). To the best of my knowledge no one has ever observed the breeding behaviour of these birds. Any takers? Could be some interesting discoveries waiting to be made!
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Found on this site, which is very interesting indeed:
Queer Birds

Cool huh?
 
It's hard to believe, but the ones You mentioned are pretty "well-known" in regard to other species, especially tons of arthropods.
And it's not just tiny invertebrates one is amazed to "discover":

Ever heard of the Granada Hare? Blue-spotted Tree Monitor? Javan Warty Pig? Ethiopian Giant frog? Huemuls? Nurseryfish? Terror Skink? Sulawesi Naked Bats? New Guinea Harpy Eagle? Silver-backed chevrotain? One-/Two-/Three-Toed Amphiumas? Beira? Fiji Crested Iguana? Arabian leopard? Tasmanian giant freshwater crayfish? Taiwan high mountain least weasel? Ghostpipefish? Banggai Crow? Red-legged Sun Squirrel? Sabu Island Python? Dibatag? Kinabalu giant red leech? Yellow-headed Komodo Dragons?...

That's the amazing and beautiful thing about biodiversity: You think You know it all and can't be surprised, but on the next occasional trip to the local aquaristic & reptile market, the Natural History museum or to Pilsen/Prague Zoo/Czech Zoo( ;) ), You encounter animals You have never seen, heard or read about before. You're speechless. You're awe-struck. You're embarassed by Your utter ignorance ("How could I miss that?") and equally, You're absolutely happy that there's so much more to learn and discover...;)

If You're interested, I'd recommend You to join the ZGAP or at least try to get their magazines-they're crammed full with reports about species You often never read about before. Most of it is written in German, but the summaries are usually in English.

Some male jacanas btw. show the mentioned behaviour, too. Nice link-thanks.
 
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I was wondering what a Pel's Anomalure was, but i didnt say anything as i didnt want to look totally stupid.
 
I went looking for hairy-nosed otters in a peat swamp in southern Thailand in 2006. Didn't find any but I only had one day so I knew what the outcome would be before I even started :-)
 
There's a few more otter species that are relatively unknown ;) Among them one that (mostly) lives in salt water, the marine otter... (which is not a sea otter, btw)
 
Heres a few that surprised me
-Chinese alligator/Yangtze alligator
-Philipine Cockatoo & Indonesian Cocktoo. Both are endangered. I only thought OZ had these.
-Asian golden cat
-Baiji. I had no idea about this one until i read about in the forums
-Indus river dolphin. Found this one when I looked up what a Baiji was.
-frilled shark. Google this its freaky.
You could keep going all day with a list.
 
jwer said:
Apparantly, there's also a bird species that can fly with their young tucked in pouches under their wings? Amazing behaviour.
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It's often said that Eurasian Woodcock will fly carrying their chicks between their legs. Its not quite as amazing as a kangaroo-style pouch but I still thinks it's fairly remarkable.

I learnt of the Tamaraw thanks to this forum and I'd not heard of maroon langur either.
 
^Chris^ said:
It's often said that Eurasian Woodcock will fly carrying their chicks between their legs. Its not quite as amazing as a kangaroo-style pouch but I still thinks it's fairly remarkable.
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Yes, its still never been irrefutably proved (e.g. filmed), but there are enough reports of this happening to make it an accepted 'fact'. They are believed to return to the nest (if there is more than one chick) to carry each chick away from danger.

Some lily trotters/jacanas will carry their young under their wings, but this form of transport may be accidental in that they pick up brooding chicks that have tucked themselves under the wings, and then walk along with them.
 
I must admit that quite a few of the names in this thread are new to me, so thanks, it's been an education - credit goes to Wikipedia too ;). I've also learned about gymnures, rousettes and how to tell the difference between a falanouc and a fanaloka. :D

Out of the species mentioned so far, I've been lucky enough to see huemuls, hoatzins and a Pyrenean desman all in the wild.
 
I saw a show just yesterday about bearded seals. I had never heard of them before that but they're not amazing or anything. Just another arctic seal with extra long whiskers.
 
PAT said:
I saw a show just yesterday about bearded seals. I had never heard of them before that but they're not amazing or anything. Just another arctic seal with extra long whiskers.
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There was one somewhere in UK waters not so long ago. Somewhere in Scotland I think.
 
How about Boardbill Kingfisher. You can google image for this animal. A very unique looking kingfisher.
 
yangz said:
How about Boardbill Kingfisher. You can google image for this animal. A very unique looking kingfisher.
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Is it also known as a Rufous-backed Kingfisher. Because i googled Boardbill Kingfisher and got nothing, did you mean Broadbill? Post a pic if ya can please.
 
yangz said:
Sorry. It is shovel billed kingfisher ( clytoceyx rex ).
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That looks like an aviculturist made a mistake when identifying this species and now they're trying to cover it up (no no, it really IS a kingfisher...).

Unique animal :) (and new to me!)
 
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