🌄 Africa's Kalahari Desert is home to the red-billed quelea and the armored bush cricket.
🦋 This insect has powerful jaws that can inflict painful bites on humans, feeding on dry grass and carrion, even practicing cannibalism.
🌵 The harsh desert environment supports only a few adapted species, making survival a challenge.

🐨 The numbat, a unique Australian marsupial, feeds almost exclusively on termites and ants.
🌟 It can eat up to 20,000 termites daily.
🔍 Numbats use their keen sense of smell to find food, then use their claws and sticky tongues to catch termites.

🦉 The Elf Owl (Micrathene whitneyi) is one of the smallest owl species,
with a body length of 12-14 cm and a weight of around 44g.
They inhabit the southwest US and Mexico.
🌵 They nest in giant cacti, like the saguaro, and feed on insects.
📹 Watch as the male brings food to the female incubating eggs.
🌳 They also nest in trees like mesquite, oak, and pine.

We've had many cats, but we always find new ones! 🐱
The Andean cat is extremely rare, with limited scientific knowledge due to its remote habitat. 🏔️
It's 70cm long, with a 45cm tail, and weighs 4-7kg. Its long fur protects it from cold. ❄️
Found in Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina, it lives at high altitudes, feeding on shinchillas and viscachas. 🐰
Its population is very small, making it a protected species, banned from trade. 🚫

🐸 The Southern African Breviceps adspersus leads a underground life,
emerging only to feed and mate during rainy season.
It digs burrows up to 50cm deep with its hind legs.
When threatened, it inflates like a porcupine fish,
securing itself inside the burrow 🌟

The Eastern Bald Ibis 🐦 lives in Africa's tropical forests.
It has a long tail, black beak, and strong legs.
They eat insects, mollusks, and small animals.
These birds are monogamous, forming pairs for life 🐤.
Their nests are made of clay and attached to rocky walls 🏰.

🐻 Olinguito: the smallest of all raccoons.
Its body is 32-40 cm long, plus a tail of the same length, weighing 750-1100 g.
🌫️ The species' Latin name "neblina" means mist, given due to its habitat in misty mountain forests.
🍃 It mainly eats fruits and leaves, similar to pandas.
🌃 Olinguito leads a nocturnal, solitary life in tree tops, rarely descending to the ground. 🐻

🐠 The Stonefish (Synanceia verrucosa) is considered the most venomous fish in the world.
It lives on the bottom of coral reefs, disguising itself as a stone.
🚨 Its spiny dorsal fin releases a toxic toxin, causing severe pain, shock, and tissue death.
👣 Be careful, as it can pierce human skin and shoes with its sharp spines! 💉 Medical help is crucial within hours to prevent fatal outcomes.

🦎 The flat-tailed gecko Uroplatus sikorae is the king of disguise!
Only its tongue, moistening a dry eye, reveals its presence 🤫

🌴 The Ribbon-tailed Astrapia is a species of bird of paradise, discovered last among its kind. It's endemic to Papua-New Guinea.
🐦 The male has a black body with olive-green and bronze plumage, and decorative "ball-like" feathers.
🌟 Its tail feathers are the longest, over 3 times its body length, making it one of the most impressive birds! 😮

🐻 Kinkajou (Potos flavus) is a cat-sized mammal.
Initially, zoologists thought it was a primate due to its prehensile tail and love for fruits.
It's actually an omnivore from the raccoon family, found in Central and South America.
🌳 They have a round head, big eyes, and round ears. Their strong tail acts as a balance and safety rope.
🌴 These animals are arboreal, rarely coming down to the ground. They sleep in tree holes or on branches during the day.

Meet the Wilson's bird of paradise, also known as the magnificent bird of paradise 🐦.
It grows up to 16 cm in length and lives on two islands.
Interestingly, this bird is a neat freak 🙃, it even cleans up leaves to prepare for its mating dance, where it shows off its stunning plumage 🌟.
The female chooses her partner based on how well he cleans and prepares the scene 💃.

The Montezuma Oropendola is a songbird found in Central America.
It's named after the Aztec emperor Montezuma II.
Watch its amazing tricks in normal and slow motion 🐦💨

🐜 Termites, also known as white ants, are social insects that live in large families with a division of labor.
They feed on dead wood, breaking down cellulose with the help of microorganisms in their gut.
In tropical and subtropical regions, they play a crucial role in soil formation. Some species even consider them a delicacy! 🍴

🐦 The Great Crested Grebe is found almost everywhere.
Its brown back and white front make it unique 🌟.
They have long necks and red-orange feathers on their heads 🌿.
They eat fish up to 25cm long, like carp and pike 🐟.

🌞 American pikas (Certhia americana) collect hay every summer to stock up on food before the cold weather.
They are the smallest relatives of rabbits, about 20 cm in size.
🏔️ Pikas live in colonies, are diurnal, and eat grasses, storing food for winter in 50 cm high grass stacks.
🌻 They don't hibernate, so they need these hay reserves to survive until spring. 😊

The Long-tailed Widowbird Euplectes progne is found in Southern Africa.
Males have a long tail that opens in flight 🐦.
They're small: males 16-19 cm (up to 60 cm with tail), females 12-14 cm.
Here, we see their courtship dance: the female chooses the one that jumps higher and longer 💃.

🕷️ The Caribena versicolor is a popular pet spider, easy to breed and care for.
🌴 Native to Martinique, it inhabits tree cavities, spinning a web nest with two exits.
👍 It's calm, non-aggressive, and its venom is harmless to humans.
🐜 Feed them insects smaller than their abdomen, 3-4 times a week for young ones, 1-2 times for adults.

🦋 Meet the Giraffe Weevil, a large beetle species.
It's found only in Madagascar's rainforests, like Ranomaafana National Park.
🌟 This 2.5cm long beetle has a unique neck, used to fight other males for a mate.
🙅‍♂️ It's harmless to humans and doesn't bite or sting.

🐦 The Scissor-tailed Flycatcher inhabits open shrublands in the south-central US.
🌄 They migrate in flocks of up to 1000 birds.
👀 Males have a distinctive 38cm long, forked tail, while females' tails are 30% shorter.
🍴 They feed on insects, catching them in mid-air, and occasionally eat berries. 🐦

🦌 European roe deer are elegant animals with a blunt snout and short tail.
Their coat is uniform, golden-red in summer and gray in winter.
🔍 Interestingly, their eyes glow red-yellow at night.
They feed on grass, berries, and mushrooms, and love acorns 🌳