The World's Most: World's Most Extreme Animals

The World's Most: World's Most Extreme Animals — page 3
ASIA WEIRDEST TUSKS NORTH SULAWESI BABIRUSA It’s well-known that the tusks on elephants and rhinos and the antlers of deer and antelope are weapons used against predators and to spar against males of the same species canine teeth that grow out from the jaw and through the nose to curve back towards the forehead The lower canines of a male babirusa are also sharp and protruding There are four babirusa species all found in Indonesia The North Sulawesi species is the largest and can grow tusks to a length of more than 15 inches 40 cm which eventually repenetrate the skull But no one is quite sure about the purpose of the tusks on a male babirusa though they are thought to potentially protect their eyes These extraordinary features are actually upper FACT BOX USELESS WEAPONS Bubirusa tusks are so brittle that they break off easily making them useless as weapons or for any purpose other than display LONGEST GESTATION PERIOD WIDEST CRAB AMAZING POWERS OF 13 feet 4 m long REGENERATION ASIAN ELEPHANT All elephant species have an exceptionally long gestation period the full length of an average pregnancy Elephant moms are pregnant for 20.5 to 22 months which is nearly two years and longer than any other animal That’s more than twice as long as the human gestation period of 9 months Despite being smaller than its African relatives the average Asian elephant’s gestation period is just a little bit longer ahead by a few days JAPANESE SPIDER CRAB When it comes to width no crab is bigger than the Japanese spider crab which is found mostly in deep waters in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Japan Although the carapace the shell covering the main body of these crabs is usually no longer than about 15 inches 37 cm the leg span of adults can be massive as wide as 13 feet 4 m which is wider than a bus The Japanese spider crab can weigh up to 44 pounds 20 kg ZEBRAFISH Scientists are looking to the small freshwater zebrafish from the Himalayas to learn how to fix broken hearts Zebrafish are vertebrates with a heart a lot like ours But they have a very special and unique capability for regeneration When a zebrafish heart is wounded the site is quickly sealed off by a clot and the surrounding heart muscle slowly grows over it Soon the heart is almost as good as new and pumping just as strongly as ever 6