BA - The Club - Animals native to one place: can you guess where?

Mystery location #1

What country am I in? The big-eyed, small-eared, long-tailed kangaroo rat (of the genus Dipodomys) lives a short but fulfilled nocturnal life in the arid desert. It can survive without drinking water, getting moisture from its seed diet. Despite its name, it’s not a marsupial. Its cheek pouches are used for carrying seeds back to its burrow, while its spring-loaded back legs enable it to leap around two metres in order to escape predators – of whom there are many. Other tactics for deterring aggressors include stamping its feet crossly and kicking sand in their face.

Mystery location #2

What country am I in? Neither quite monkeys nor apes, lemurs are prosimian primates (and also Hollywood stars, thanks to the DreamWorks movie franchise). Despite the fact that they’re only found in one small place on Earth, there are some 105 species, ranging from the giant indri to the weeny Madame Berthe’s mouse lemur. Given their variety, their habitats range from rainforests to mountains to marshland, but what they have in common is their sociability, living in troops and using alarm calls to alert the others to predators (and film crews).

Mystery location #3

What country am I in? This dragon-like lizard may not look very appetising, but the thorny devil (Moloch horridus) has an awesome bag of tricks up its sleeve to deter anything thinking about eating it, should its spikes not be sufficiently offputting. It can puff up its chest to seem bigger, it can change colour throughout the day, and it has a silly walk – all jerks and musical statues – all of which confuses predators. Perhaps best of all, it has a false head ‘knob’, so it can tuck the real one away in emergencies. And it only eats ants. What’s not to like?

Mystery location #4

What country am I in? While only around 3cm in length, the Golfo Dulce poison dart frog (Phyllobates vittatus) uses its sticky, retractable tongue to catch and consume a mammoth 75 insects per day, and it’s thought to acquire its toxic secretions from these. This shy, diurnal amphibian of the Osa Peninsula has distinctive orange stripes that serve as an early warning system to those looking for a free lunch. Although it’s only the fourth most toxic frog in its genus (top gong goes to the golden poison frog), its common name comes from the days when Amerindians would dip the tips of blowdarts into its lethal goo.

Mystery location #5

What country am I in? Known as the ‘ghost of the forest’ for its stealth and speed, Matschie’s tree kangaroo, aka Dendrolagus matshiei, is a plush reddish-brown marsupial with a creamy face and golden paws, tummy and tail that spends most of its life in the cloud forest canopy of the Huon Peninsula dining on leaves, vines, ferns and orchids. Its long, sharp claws and powerful limbs give it Spider-Man-like climbing dexterity and it can leap 18 metres to the ground without injury, which is just as well, as it’s an endangered species.

Mystery location #6

What country am I in? One of the most colourful birds on the planet, the male Wilson’s bird of paradise (Cicinnurus respublica) steps out on the Raja Ampat catwalk in a turquoise skull cap teamed with a yellow cowl, crimson red cape, blue legs and moustachioed tail feathers. His exotic plumage is a huge plus in his courtship of the dowdy brown female. While she perches on top of a vertical branch, he performs a pole dance below her on the ground, puffing out his chest into an iridescent emerald-green ruff that can only be fully appreciated by his inamorata from above.

Mystery location #7

What country am I in? The pebble toad (Oreophrynella nigra) may not look particularly heroic (yes, it looks like a pebble), but its way of evading danger is totally rock and roll. Endemic to the Guyana Highlands, the toad can’t swim very well and it can’t hop – but it can drop, hurling itself out of danger by effectively turning itself into a rubber ball that bounces downwards off rocks until it reaches sanctuary below (watch it escape a toad-feeding tarantula here). Happily, the whole process is pain-free because the little critter weighs practically nothing.

Mystery location #8

What country am I in? Humans aside, the gelada (Theropithecus gelada) is the world’s most terrestrial primate. This grass-eating grazer lives in African mountain meadows and is an ace free climber, although it prefers to spend most of its time sitting idly on its well-cushioned bottom. Also known as ‘bleeding-heart monkeys’ due to the red hourglass-like shapes on their chests, geladas live in unusually large hierarchical herds of up to 1,200 individuals, and have stubby fingers and amazing Rod Stewart hairdos.

Mystery location #9

What country am I in? The Formosan rock macaque is the only native primate of this country in East Asia and has had a bit of a bad rep, as it’s been known to raid farms and houses for food such as radishes, sweet potatoes and peanuts. It has that classic ‘see no evil, hear no evil’ monkey appearance and the unusual addition of cheek pouches, which means it can store a large amount of seeds, leaves and insects away for later consumption. Although a protected species, the Formosan rock macaque is deemed of ‘Least Concern’ by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which we think is a bit harsh.

Mystery location #10

What country am I in? More than 152,000 Aldabra giant tortoises (Aldabrachelys gigantea) live on a remote atoll that’s been declared a World Heritage Site to ensure their protection. This ancient land-dwelling herbivore can weigh more than 400kg, grow to be more than a metre long, and tends to take its time about most things (it reaches sexual maturity at 30). While the average lifespan is between 80 and 120 years, the current record for the oldest animal in the world is held by an 188-year-old Aldabra tortoise, Jonathan, who emigrated to the island of Saint Helena back in 1882.

Animals native to one place: can you guess where?

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