There is a tremendous variety of habitats in the world, filled with animals of all shapes, sizes, and abilities.  every group of animals has its record breakers.  The appearance and extraordinary feats of some animals are often amusing, but there is usually a practical reason for them.  Many oddities are just extreme adaptations that allow animals to survive in their particular environments.

Giants an Miniatures: The blue whale, at up to 108 feet long and weighing about 177 ton, it is the worlds largest animal.  Its weight roughly equals that of 30 elephants.  Animals can grow to such huge sizes only in water, which supports their bodies.  On land, the whale would suffocate from its own weight forcing the air out of its lungs.  The plankton on which the whale feeds is made the whale feeds is made up of small plants and animals, some so small that it takes a microscope to see them.

At 350 pounds, the ostrich is the largest bird.  It is 11 times the mass of the heaviest flying bird, the Korea bustard, which weights 30 pounds. At this weight the bustard just manages to get air born.  The ostrich and other flightless birds cannot get off the ground and have almost no wings.  Instead they have strong legs to run very fast.

Beauty and the Beast: The anglerfish is ugly but fascinating. the female dangles a tiny "lantern" above her mouth to attract prey.  The warthog, with its stubby nose, curved tusks, and facial carbuncles, is not a pretty sight. Neither is the vulture, whose head is bald so feathers will not get matted with blood when the bird gorges on carcasses.  Many birds are extremely attractive.  Some birds, like the kingfisher, have exquisite colors.  Others, like the fairy tern, are remarkably, graceful. Many butterflies are quite beautiful Swallowtails vary is size and color, but all have elegant trailing hind wings.

Poisonous Animals:  Many animals families have poisonous species, but the tiny poison arrow frog of South America is the most lethal.  It produces enough poison to tip 50 arrowheads, and a fraction of an ounce could probably kill 100,00 people.  The frog's bright colors and markings warn predators to stay away.  many poisonous insects have similar warning marks.  Some insects acquire poison by eating toxic plants and pass the poison on to those who eat them.  The monarch butterfly is poisonous enough to kill a weak human if it is eaten.  Other animals use poison to catch their prey.  The centipede has a poisonous bite, but it i not always fatal. The bite of the north African fat tailed scorpion can kill a human within four hours.  One of the Brazilian wandering spiders, Phoneutria fera, is in the most toxic spider.  it bites the victim.

Some lizards are also poisonous. The large gila monster of the southwestern United States can produce enough venom in one bite to kill two adults.  But it usually uses it poison only to defend itself.  Marine life can be just as dangerous.  The blue ringed octopus, the cone shells, and the stone fish are all poisonous.  One species of sea snake produces 100 time more venom than any other snake.

Safety in Numbers? The largest known gathering of animals of the same species ws a swarm of krill (tiny shrimp) found in Antarctic waters.  The swarm was estimated to weigh 10 millions tons, and the number of individuals could not be counted.  A school of about 100.000 dolphins was once sighted in the Black Sea, but they are rare there now. In the nineteenth century a species of gazelle, called the springbok, migrated across the African plains in herds of about 10 million.  Today their number is greatly reduced, but the mass migration of the wildebeest is till an impressive sight.  At certain ties of the year, millions of tigers moths gather in a grotto on the island of Rhodes, off the cost of Greece covering trees and every available rock.  The annual migration of red crabs across Christmas island is the Indian Ocean involves so many individuals that it is impossible to walk anywhere without stepping on them.  flamingos from on e o the most spectacular flocks of birds, stalking the salty lakes of the African Rift Valley, trawling for shrimp. They often fly up in a hugh pink cloud, the land and resume marching minutes later.

The Champions:
Fastest land mammal: cheetah, which runs in short burst chasing prey at up to 53 MPH.
Slowest land mammal: three toed sloth, which moves long its branch at 0.07 mph
Tallest mammal: giraffe, which grows to nearly 20 feet.
Smallest mammal:  pygmy shrew; length: 1 1/2 in; weight: 0.052oz.
Largest invertebrate: giant squid; total length with tentacles is about 43 feet.
Longest gestation period:  Asiatic elephant, 608 days
Shortest gestation period:  American opossum, 12 days
Longest life span:  Marions tortoise, 150 years
Longest migration:  Arctic tern flies from the North Pole to the South Pole and back again echo year, a round trip of about 25,000 miles
Largest Fish eater: Kodak bear of North America
Faster Creature:  The peregrine falcon is the faster creature on earth.  It drops at 218 mph to catch prey.
Smallest flesh eater: Aptly names "lest weasel" is the world smallest flesh eater.
Longest horns: Indian water buffalo 13 ft for tip to tip.

Did you know:
The common toad has been found 5 miles up in the Himalayas Mountains and 1,115 ft down in a coal mine.
The common British click beetle, about 0.040 in long, throws itself up to 12 in. in the air to escape predators.
The tuatara, a New Zealand reptile, can survive up to an hour without taking a breath.
The our winged flying fish can stay airborne for 3,300 ft.
The spotty tern does not land or rest on water for its first three or four years.  It rests on warm air currents.
The individual man eating record is held by the Chapaurat tigress, which killed 438 people in eight years.
The largest animal ever swallow was probably a 130 lb. impala, which was swallowed by a 16 ft. long Africa rock python. Pythons dislocate their jaws to swallow large prey whole.
The smelliest animal in the world in the African gorilla, or striped polecat, which sprays a pungent fluid at its predator that can be detected almost a mile away.