Critter Science
The Science of Animals
The double-crested cormorant is a waterbird that lives in water bodies which are able to provide enough fish for their needs. They have been known to roost and create breeding colonies on lagoons or ponds, and then travel around 40 miles to a desired feeding area. Cormorants typically float low on
The American coot is a sociable and noisy bird from the rail family. They are adaptable and tough waterbirds that, unlike rails, have no problem swimming out in the open. Males tend to be very aggressive towards each other and fight often for breeding rights and dominance. These critters prefer
It’s not a stork, it’s a heron. They are often confused with one another. There are 64 known species of herons that range in color, size, and habitat. These graceful birds can be found on every continent, sans Antarctica. They prefer swamps, wetlands, coastlines, ponds, rivers, and lakes. Since they
Getting their name from the way they clumsily walk on land, it’s the common loon. There are 4 known species of loon: Pacific loon, red-throated loon, Arctic loon and yellow-billed loon. They may look awkward on land, due to their legs being positioned too far to the rear of their bodies but they are
In the deep Arctic oceans lives a peculiar shark called the Greenland shark, aka grey shark, sleeper shark, gurry shark, or Eqalussuaq (Inuit name). These gentle giants are found in the north Atlantic Ocean near Norway, Iceland, Canada, and of course Greenland. They prefer
The alligator snapping turtle is the largest of all the freshwater turtles. It’s also the meanest. They can be found in canals, rivers, lakes, and swamps throughout the southeastern parts of North America. Laying motionless, they sit and wait for passing
One of the slimiest and possibly the most repulsive creature in the waters has to be the hagfish. These creatures are arguably the most disgusting critter in the world, sans maybe a botfly. From a super slimy and choking defense mechanism
The mata mata turtle originates from South America’s Amazon and Orinoco basins. With many names to its credit, the mata mata, which translates to “kill, kill” in Spanish, has been renamed 14 times over the last 200 years, with the most recent naming being in 1992. They
The Apache trout is Arizona’s state fish and was almost totally wiped out due to human interaction. The original distribution of Apache trout made up an estimated 800+ stream miles in the mountain watersheds of the White, Black, and Little Colorado Rivers at around 5,900 feet
There are approximately 200 known species of caecilian. However, you’ll be hard pressed to find one, as they spend their time underground or in the water. Caecilian is pronounced ‘seh-SILL-yun’. They are legless and lack arms. In most cases, their eyes are just grey bumps