ASIA MASSIVE MOLARS Giant panda Although giant pandas have a largely vegetarian diet and eat mostly bamboo they are actually classified scientifically as carnivores which are meat-eating animals As a result of their bamboo-chomping lifestyle pandas have evolved the biggest molar teeth of any carnivore These along with their strong jaws allow them to crush hard bamboo stems as big as 1.5 inches 4 cm wide FAST FACT Because bamboo has such low nutrient levels adult pandas need to each eat about 44 pounds 20 kg a day That can take them 16 hours to eat 4
LARGEST AMPHIBIAN EXTINCTION THREAT CHINESE GIANT SALAMANDER This huge relative of frogs and toads can grow to be almost 6 feet 1.8 m long But sadly there are very few left now and they are rarely seen at that size The Chinese giant salamander is critically endangered due partly to hunting for use in traditional Chinese medicine 1 foot 30 cm long GIANT HUNTSMAN SPIDER The famous goliath birdeater might be the largest spider when measured by weight but the giant huntsman spider takes the prize when it comes to sheer size This spider was only discovered in 2001 in a cave in the southeastern Asian country of Laos which lies north of Thailand If this slender spider species sat on a dinner plate its legs would stretch right across No other spider has such a leg span up to 1 foot 30 cm MOST EYES GIANT CLAM This creature is extreme in a number of ways but perhaps most bizarre are its eyes it’s thought to have more than any other animal The uppermost exposed part of a giant clam’s flesh is covered with them and a fully grown specimen can literally have hundreds of eyes And while these might not be the sort of complex BUMBLEBEE BAT This tiny furred creature weighs less than some insects In fact this species is about as small as a mammal can be as being warm blooded at this tiny size requires eyes humans have they can detect movement as well as light and dark On top of all that it's also the largest bivalve mollusk on the planet a huge amount of energy These bats weigh less than an ounce with a head and body length of only about 1 inch 25 mm SMALL SHREWS FACT BOX The bumblebee bat is the smallest mammal by absolute size but the Etruscan shrew happens to weigh a tiny bit less 5 LARGEST SPIDER SMALLEST MAMMAL
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
FASTEST FISH FASTEST PUNCH AND AMAZING EYESIGHT BLACK MARLIN The Indo-Pacific sailfish is at the top of the fastest fish list as it’s been recorded slicing through the tropical waters of the Indian and Pacific Oceans at speeds of more than 68 miles 110 km per hour in short bursts More recently however another fish has laid claim to the title of fastest fish Based on the rate at which hooked black marlins unwind fishing line from a reel scientists have estimated that this fish can reach a top speed of 80 miles 129 km per hour FAST FACT Peacock mantis shrimp have been known to punch and break the glass walls of tanks when kept in captivity LONGEST REPTILE RETICULATED PYTHON Southeast Asia’s reticulated python doesn’t get as heavy as South America’s anaconda but it certainly seems to grow longer There have been many reports of individuals longer than 19 feet 6 m and the longest officially documented individual was 25.1 feet 7.67 m In 2016 a specimen was caught on the Malaysian island of Penang that was estimated to be 26 feet 8 m 26 feet 8 m long PEACOCK MANTIS SHRIMP The other The peacock astounding mantis shrimp is a feature of peacock stunning-looking mantis shrimps creature that has is their eyesight two extreme claims They have highly to fame First this specialized eyes colorful crustacean that can see color has a dark side better than most it likes to punch animals including and it does so at a humans Even more startling 50 miles impressive is that 80 km per hour they can also detect faster than any several different other animal It has types of light two front claws including infrared specially adapted and ultraviolet light for punching and even a type of through the tough polarized light that shells of mollusks to no other animal is reach the soft tissue known to be able inside which it eats to detect 7
