#CRAZY PLATYPUS FACTS SKIN#
It has a retractable tail as long as the rest of its body, and a skin membrane called a patagium that extends from the neck to the tail on both sides of its body. Its huge eyes, which allow it to be nocturnal, protrude from its small head. The Sunda flying lemur or Malayan colugo, found mainly on the Malay Peninsula and the islands of Sumatra and Borneo, is a small, strictly arboreal mammal with a bizarre appearance. Sunda flying lemur ( Gaelopterus variegatus) What those early discoverers were not wrong about is that the fossa-despite its modest size, at almost two metres long from muzzle to the tip of the tail and weighing 12 kilograms-is indeed Madagascar’s top predator, with lemurs being its favourite prey thanks to its ability to climb trees. However, this difficulty in classification is not the reason for its scientific name, which describes the peculiar characteristic that the anus (“procta”) is hidden (“crypto”) behind a fold or anal sac. It is now accepted that the fossa constitutes a genus of its own ( Cryptoprocta ) within the Eupleridae family or the carnivores of Madagascar, which also includes the mongooses and civets endemic to the island. Despite not being a feline, it shares some characteristics with this family, such as their retractile claws.
In fact, for years its classification was a source of controversy among taxonomists. Subsequently, and despite its felid appearance and retractile claws-a typically feline characteristic-it would be classified as a new species of mongoose or civet, with which it also shares anatomical characteristics. The first European explorers who landed on Madagascar and discovered the animals that inhabited the island believed that the fossa was a feline and the top predator of its ecosystem. However, in our animal kingdom there also exist chimerical creatures that are so bizarre and difficult to fit into the taxonomic groups established by naturalists that they seem more like failed experiments or practical jokes from Mother Nature.
A chimera is an imaginary monster with the head of a lion, the belly of a goat and the tail of a dragon.
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