Critter Facts That Tickle Your Toes
Whilst we try to keep it rather serious around here at Mammoth HQ, sometimes we are here to just have fun and educate you about some little critters that you can capture yourself ??.
Whilst they are kinda gross and slimy, they are also some of the cutest little guys around; with their mobile homes and eye stalks.
There are more types of snails than you think
There are more sea snails than the other freshwater and land snails
Similar to trees, the rings on a snail’s shell indicate its age.
Snails have the most teeth of any animal, despite being tiny snails can have up to 20,000 teeth depending on the species.
Snail Mucin is used in many cosmetics and was discover in the 1980’s
Snails are born with shells and cannot be replaced like Hermit crabs.
China has the smallest snail in the world from the soil of a cliffside in Guangxi. Known as the Angustopila Dominikae (Dominika), you will most likely need a microscope to? see it as it can fit through the eye of a needle. It was named after the wife of the scientist who discovered it (Barna Páll-Gerely).
The Giant Whelk is the largest snail, reaching up to 70cm in size and is in Australia, which dwarfs the next largest snail; the African Land snail, which is only a third of the Giant Whelks size.
Snails aren’t insects (but they are critters ;)).
Snails have one muscular foot that they use to move.
The Cone Snail (Conidae family) can kill humans with its venom and in fact has. It is also found in Australia… unsurprisingly
Snails can slip stream off another’s slime trail to go fast like sonic… snonic.
More commonly known as Roly-Polies or Pill bugs, Isopods are cute little friends who I remember finding under the rocks in my backyard as a kid.
Other common names are Woodlice, Pill bugs or Roly-Polies
Their job in the ecosystem is to break down organic matter and recycle nutrients back into the soil; in other words they’re detritivores and primarily feed on decaying organic matter, similar to many fungi! - terrestrial only
They’re crustaceans, and have a segmented exoskeleton - this allows them more manoeuvrability and to turn into a ball when threatened; which protects their vulnerable undersides
Live in various biomes from rainforests to deserts and even in deep-sea ecosystems
They breathe through specialised gills located on their abdominal segments
They have quite the range of colourations
They can regenerate lost limbs through their moulting process - similar to many other crustaceans; with crabs being the most well known
Researchers are looking into potential medicinal uses from isopods as they have some antimicrobial properties that could help us develop new antibiotics.
There are variety of feeding habits between different species, free-living predators (cirolanids), scavengers (Giant isopods), grazers (idotea spp.), detritus feeders as stated above and parasites (species from family cymonthoidae) also more commonly seen as the one that eats the tongue of fish and take its place. Yikes.
There are about 20 isopods species that are commonly known as Giant Isopods, due to their enormous size. These are abundant in the cold, deep waters of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans.
Helleria Brevicornis are considered to be some of the biggest terrestrial isopods that also curl into a ball for protection; they get as big as 27mm!
Platyarthrus hoffmannseggii is an example of one of the smaller species of isopods. They; along with many other “dwarf” species only get to around 5mm long
This particular species can be found around ant nests and tend to feed on the ant droppings or mildew; because of this they are blind, this may be due to primarily living within the ant nests and rarely reaching the surface
Arguably the scariest for our crittery friends, the spider is a formidable hunter and actually provides a lot of support to the environment and your home. Having a few spiders helps to keep the more pesky and annoying bugs at bay. Though with a common phobia and some deadly venom, it's best to keep your 8 legged roommates at a distance.
Some Male spiders want to be eaten
Some Jumping spiders specifically can see into spectrums that us humans cannot, with a few having proven to be able to see both UVA and UVB light!
Some new-world tarantulas can fling tiny irritating hairs to deter potential predators, similar to a porcupine using its quills as a defense
Most spiders are solitary creatures, some form communities, ranging into the thousands of members. They often work together to build large communal cobwebs, catch prey and then share their harvest.
Some spiders such as the ogre-faced spider will weave a net betweens its front legs and then waits till its prey passes underneath and then it scoops them up like they're using a fishing net. In similar fashion Bolas spiders create a lasso with a long line of silk with a spot of sticky glue at the end, where they fling it at nearby moths to catch them
Some spiders mimic ants (looks and pheromones) to help hide from predators, however some do it to help them prey on ants
The biggest spider by mass is the Goliath Birdeater, a type of tarantula that can be found in South America and is quite lovingly compared to the size of a small puppy. These spiders are ambush predators where it primarily eats worms, beetles, mice (and other rodents), snakes, frogs and lizards. It can and has been seen eating birds, however it lives in a burrow on the ground and therefore doesn’t run into many birds.
The Giant Huntsman, while not the biggest, has the longest legs and often appears bigger than the Goliath Birdeater. Currently it is only known to reside in a cave in Laos, but many other large Huntsmans can be found globally in any warm and temperate regions.
All potential options for the smallest spider are from the Symphytognathidae family.
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Sometimes these leggy guys make friends with frogs!
Quite cute and cuddly these little friends are quite colourful and found across the world. The loveliest of bugs and ladies combined we can only see that they are beautiful, except when you're a farmer and lose hundreds if not thousands of crops each year; rude.
There are approximately 5000 species of ladybugs or lady beetles across the world.
They are omnivores and eat both insects and vegetation.
Ladybugs are coloured to tell predators that they taste awful and will secrete a foal tasting oil when threatened.
The biggest ladybug is the large Leaf-eating ladybug (Henosepilachna guttatopustulata) and can get up to 7 - 9mm.
Most are quite small and only get up to 0.8 - 18mm on average.
Most are red with some who are orange or yellow. With the rare blue, pink, grey or white.
Most have black spots, some have coloured, some are striped and others have no markings at all.
They do sometimes play dead when they feel threatened.
Some quick honourary mentions from our developers!
Bees
Some bees have little saddlebags called either Pollen baskets or Corbiculae and as the bees get pollen across their bodies they push it to their little pockets? on their hind legs.
The internet has loving called them pollen pants ????
Weevils
Females will lay a single egg in a rolled up leaf.
They're just some funky guys.
Whelk, that's all we have for today folks, thanks for allowing us to share our love for the little and a little too big guys around the world!
References
Snails
Pill bugs
Spiders
Ladybugs
Bees
Weevils