Seven Intriguing Animals That Start with The Letter V

A list of seven intriguing V animals you probably never heard of.

Verdin

photo link

The Verdin (Auriparus flaviceps) is a very small passerine bird. This tit is the only species in the genus Auriparus and the only North American member of the penduline-tit family (Remizidae). Unlike the tits, it has a medium-length tail and has a sharply pointed bill. Verdins have yellow faces and chestnut shoulder. It is called Baloncillo, Párido del desierto (Spanish) and Auripare verdin (French).

Other interesting facts:

Range: Southern and East Africa
Habitat: Bushy woodlands
Size: Length: 9–11 cm (3.5–4.3 in)
Weight: 5–8 g (0.2–0.3 oz)
Color: Adults have dull gray overall with darker shade on upperparts.
Diet: Omnivore
Prey: Leaves, Fruits, Insects
Lifestyle: Solitary
Conservation Status: Least Concern
Fun Fact: Builds roosting nests all year round.

Vervet

photo link

The Vervet Monkey (Chlorocebus pygerythrus), or simply vervet, is a medium-sized to large monkey of the family Cercopithecidae. There are five distinct subspecies of vervet monkey namely: Chlorocebus pygerythrus excubitor, Chlorocebus pygerythrus nesiotes, Chlorocebus pygerythrus hilgerti, Chlorocebus pygerythrus rufoviridis, and Chlorocebus pygerythrus pygerythrus.

Other interesting facts:

Range: United States and northern Mexico
Habitat: coastal forest, riverine woodland, and savanna
Size: Length: 46cm – 66cm (17.9in – 25.7in)
Weight: 3.5kg – 5kg (7lbs – 10lbs)
Color: overall body color is mostly grizzled-gray.
Most Distinctive Feature: Black face with white ear tufts
Diet: Omnivore
Prey: wide range of fruits, figs, leaves, seeds and flowers
Lifestyle: diurnal and social ; living in groups of up to 72
Age Of Sexual Maturity:2 – 5 years
Gestation Period: 163 days
Average Litter Size:1
Life Span: 12 – 24 years
Conservation Status: Least Concern
Fun Fact: Uses different calls upon detecting different types of predators

Vicuña

photo link

The Vicuña (Vicugna vicugna) or vicugna is the smallest of the six species of camel. The national animal of Peru, this intriguing animal produces a very expensive and extremely fine wool. The vicuña was almost hunted to extinction for its beautiful soft wool.

Other interesting facts:

Range: South America, primarily in the central Andes.
Habitat: Grasslands at elevations of 3,500-5,800 meters
Size:
Body Length: 138-151 cm / 4.6-5 ft.
Shoulder Height: 86-96 cm / 2.8-3.2 ft.
Tail Length: 23 cm / 9.2 in.
Weight: 45-55 kg / 99-121 lb.
Color: The overall color of the soft wooly coat is reddish brown with the underside of the head, and the belly being dirty white.
Distinctive Features: A pompon-like ‘mane’ of silky white hairs adorns the base of the neck
Round head, triangular ears, very long necks, and big, forward facing eyes
Diet: Omnivore
Prey: Grasses.
Lifestyle: diurnal and social; living in groups of 5-20 animals
Age Of Sexual Maturity: Around 24 months
Gestation Period: 330-350 days
Young per Birth: 1
Life Span: 20 – 24 years
Conservation Status: Threatened
Fun Fact: Very shy and constantly alert, vicuñas will flee at the slightest sign of danger.

Visayan Warty Pig

photo link

The Visayan Warty Pig (Sus cebifrons) is a small, forest-dwelling pig endemic to the Philippines. It gets its name from the three pairs of fleshy “warts” present on the pig’s face.

Range: Visayan islands of Negros and Panay in the Philippines
Habitat: Dense rain forest as well as grasslands
Size:
Head and body length: About 100 cm
Shoulder height: 58 to 63 cm (males)
Tail length: 23 cm
Adult weight: up to 80 kg (males)
Color: The overall color is dark gray
Distinctive Features: The body is sparsely covered with bristly hairs
A tuft of hair in between the ears
Distinctive white stripe which runs over the bridge of the nose behind the mouth.
Diet: Omnivorous; feeds mainly on fruits, roots, and tubers
Lifestyle: tend to live in groups of four to six
Age Of Sexual Maturity: As young as 12-14 months
Gestation Period: 118 days
Young per Birth: 2-4, with 3 being the average
Life Span: 10-15 years
Conservation Status: Critically endangered (2008)
Fun Fact: a Visayan Warty pig would grow manes, giving it a Mohawk façade

Vireo

photo link

The Vireos are small to medium-sized passerine birds confined to the New World. This intriguing animal derives its name from the Latin for “I am green”). The family comprises three distinct groups: The true vireos, the peppershrikes and shrike-vireos, and the greenlets. Most species are non-migratory.

Other interesting facts:

Range: Most species are found in found in northern South America, Central America or Mexico
Habitat: inhabit forest canopies, or mangrove swamps
Size: depending on species;
Length: 10 to 17 cm They range in size from the Choco Vireo, Dwarf Vireo and Lesser Greenlet, all at Weight: 8 to 40 grams
Color: Typically dull-plumaged and greenish in color
Diet: mainly on insects and other arthropods as well as some fruits
Lifestyle: occur in pairs or family groups
Conservation Status: Least Concern
Fun Fact: Males of most species are persistent singers

Vizcacha

photo link

Viscachas or vizcachas are are five extant species of medium-sized rat in the family Chinchillidae. These include: Plains viscacha (Lagostomus maximus), Northern viscacha (Lagidium peruanum), Mountain viscacha (Lagidium viscacia), Wolffsohn’s viscacha (Lagidium wolffsohni), and Lagidium ahuacaense.

Though they resemble rabbits, they are closely related to chinchillas.

Other interesting facts:

Range: endemic to Argentina
Habitat: inhabit rocky desert and arid environments
Size:
Length: 11 to 18 cm (4.3 to 7.1 in)
Weight: 85 to 121 grams (3.0 to 4.3 oz).
Color: has light brown fur with white underparts
Distinct Features: relatively long, bushy tail measuring about 12 to 16 cm (4.7 to 6.3 in) long
the presence of numerous whiskers on top of the mouth
Diet: herbivorous; feed on leaves, fruits and seeds as well as some fruits
Lifestyle: nocturnal and solitary

Vole

photo link

Voles are small rodents comprising more than 150 species. It resembles a mouse but with a solid body, a slightly rounder heads, and smaller eyes and ears. Some of the species of voles include: Southern red-backed voles (Clethrionomys gapperi), Long-tailed voles (Microtus longicaudus), Mexican voles (Microtus mexicanus), and Prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster).

Other interesting facts:

Range: Different vole species are found all over North America
Habitat: underground tunnels and burrows
Size:
Length: About 4 to 8.5 inches long
Weight: 0.8 to 3 ounces
Color: vary in color from brown to gray
Diet: barks, fruits, grasses, leaves, stems, Roots,
Lifestyle: are active day and night throughout the year
Age Of Sexual Maturity: 1 month
Gestation Period: 20 to 23 days
Young per Birth: 3-5 pups per litter
Life Span: 2-6 months
Fun Fact: A female vole can have 80 offspring in a year!

Check out the entire Animal Alphabet list here:
Amazing Animal Alphabet Series 1
Amazing Animal Alphabet Series 2

10 Animals with Extra-ordinary Senses

A list of 10 animals that have a sixth sense.

We all know that human has five normal senses, namely; sight, smell, taste, touch, and hearing. In some documented cases, a number of individuals possess a sixth sense – or what experts define as ESP. However, if we will talk about animals, then the list of senses might be much longer. Several animals have additional sensitive abilities that enable them to adapt to their surroundings. Here’s a list of 10 animals that has a sixth sense.

Spiders

photo link

Do you know what spiders have as their sixth sense? Well, their exoskeletons are well equipped with a mechanoreceptory organ known as slit sensilla. This small sensory organ allows spiders to detect sudden strains or activities occurring on their exoskeletons. Primarily, the slit sensilla reacts to mechanical stimuli such as acceleration, force, or displacements. In so doing, it enables spiders to gauge the size, weight, and on some cases – the type of prey captured in their webs.

Sea Turtles

photo link

The animal kingdom has numbers of remarkable feat it can brag about! One such feat is Sea turtles preference to lay their eggs on the very beach where they were born. Adult females ability to undertake vast distances to locate their nesting beach make the feat more remarkable! How do they do that? Sea turtles achieve this act by measuring the Earth’s magnetic field.

Homing Pigeons

photo link

Homing pigeons and many migratory birds are equipped with a sense they use for navigation. This sense is called magnetoreception. Homing pigeons accomplish this feat by using the Earth’s magnetic field as a compass to navigate great distances. Also, homing pigeon beaks have iron-containing structures enabling them to understand their geographical position.

Salmon

photo link

Much like sea turtles returning to their home beach, Salmon have the ability to locate their hometown rivers to spawn despite traveling thousands of miles in the open ocean. One of Science mysteries is how salmon achieve such remarkable feat? Two reasons have been pointed out; first, salmon have a sophisticated sense of smell enabling them to distinguish the smell of their home stream from any other. Second, many believe that salmon have the ability to pick up the Earth’s magnetic field utilizing ferromagnetic mineral deposits in their brains.

Bats

photo link

Many “Microbats” or those insect-eating bats use echolocation for navigation and for catching their prey. Echolocation is the biological sonar use by bats, where ultrasounds are emitted through their mouths or nose producing echoes. Their brains analyze the returning echoes and give them a detailed image of their surroundings. Thus, even in total darkness, echolocation aids bats in locating, estimating the distance, direction the object is moving, and even identifying the objects in their surroundings.

Pit Vipers

photo link

All Pit Vipers share one remarkable feature in common – a pair of deep “pits” located between the nostril and the eye. These pits are actually sensitive heat-detecting organs; in fact a sixth sense that allow them to locate prey in the dark. So remarkable this organ is, that it can estimate how far the prey is and the size of the prey!

Comb jellies

photo link

Comb Jellies have an extraordinary sense organ called statocysts (balance receptors), a fluid-filled sac containing stone-like elements (statoliths). This balance sensor helps comb jellies to facilitate movement on the ocean’s currents. Since most known species of comb jellies lack a centralized nervous system, they rely on statocysts to better orient the movements of their cilia in searching for food.

Dolphins

photo link

Most Dolphins have poor vision, they rely mainly in their sense of hearing (located in small ear openings on both sides of the head) for navigation. However, they maximize the use of their sixth sense – echolocation! Since sounds travel better in water than in air, these charismatic mammals are able to produce a three-dimensional picture of their environment based mainly on sound waves.

Using echolocation, dolphin emits steady pulses of ultrasonic sound which then bounce off objects in their surroundings; and is then reflected back to the dolphin. This process enables dolphins to determine how far is the object by measuring the time between emitting the clicks and the returning “echo”. By echolocation, dolphins can determine the direction of movement, shape and size, shape, of its prey.

Platypus

photo link

Like sharks, Platypus have an incredible sense of electroreception – the ability to distinguish electrical impulses. These electroreceptors are located in their bills, which sense tiny electrical currents produced when their prey contracts its muscles. By moving their head in a side-to-side motion, platypus are able to determine the distance of prey when hunting. Also, the platypus bill has mechanoreceptors, an acute sense of touch.

Weather loaches

photo link

Weatherfish, or weather loaches, have a cunning way to determine changes in pressure. They use their air-filled swim bladder (buoyancy organ) to check buoyancy underwater. Amazingly, this sixth sense enables weather loaches to “predict” the weather. If placed in an aquarium, these fish can predict if a storm is approaching! How? Since, air pressure drops rapidly as storm approaches, its swim bladder expands thus it’s harder for the fish to stay underwater. In this case, the fish will rise to the surface and swims like crazy.