Five Animals You May Not Know Existed

Below are details of five animals that you may not have known existed.

Pangolin

The physical appearance of a pangolin is marked by large, hardened, overlapping plate-like scales, which are soft on newborn pangolins, but harden as the animal matures. They are made of keratin, the same material of which human fingernails and tetrapod claws are made. The pangolin's scaled body is comparable to a pine cone or globe artichoke

They are the only known mammals with this feature covered with scales.

They live in hollow trees or burrows, depending on the species .Are nocturnal, and their diet consists of mainly ants and termites which they capture using their long tongues. The root of the tongue is not attached to their hyoid bone, but is located in the thorax  between the sternum and the trachea and can be as long as 40cms.

They tend to be solitary animals, meeting only to mate. They are sexually dimorphic, meaning the genders differ wildly in weight. Most male pangolins are up to 50 per cent heavier than females. Gestation periods differ by species, ranging from roughly 70 to 140 days. African pangolin females usually give birth to a single offspring at a time, but the Asiatic species may give birth from one to three months of age, at which stage the young begin to eat insects in addition to nursing. At two years of age, the offspring are sexually mature and are abandoned by the mother.

Pangolins are threatened by hunting (for their meat and scales) and heavy deforestation of their natural habitats, and are the most trafficked mammals in the world with most shipped to China and Vietnam, where their meat and scales are sold.

Are listed as critically endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species.

It can curl up into a ball when threatened, with its overlapping scales acting as armor, while it protects its face by tucking it under its tail. The scales are sharp, providing extra defense from predators.

They can also emit a noxious-smelling chemical from glands near the anus.

They have short legs, with sharp claws which they use for burrowing into termite and ant mounds, as well as climbing.

Pangolins have a very poor sense of vision, so they rely heavily on smell and hearing. Pangolins also lack teeth, therefore they have evolved other physical characteristics to help them eat ants and termites.

Hirola Antelope

Found in north-east Kenya and south-west Somalia,it  is the world’s most endangered antelope.  The current population of the hirola is estimated at less than 500. 

The fawn colored antelope is a shy animal, with a long thin face and spectacled eyes.

The hirola is a rare medium size antelope that can weigh up to 118kg. It’s tawny or tan brown in colour and has long, sharp horns.

The hirola is the only surviving member of the genus Beatragus and there are none in captivity..

Firstly, hirola are a grassland species. Therefore, overgrazing by both livestock and other wildlife have led to a loss of food for the hirola in its native range.

The loss of elephants from hirola habitat, due to massive poaching, also contributed significantly to the encroachment of trees into grasslands and led to reduced grasses for them to eat. Elephants control forestation as they uproot, break or eat trees. In their absence, trees increase relative to grass cover.

Another key factor responsible for their low numbers is predation by carnivores. Lions, cheetahs, wild dogs and leopards pose a significant threat to the already diminishing hirola population.

Sitatunga

The sitatunga or marshbuck (Tragelaphus spekii) is a swamp-dwelling antelope found throughout central Africa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cameroon, parts of Southern Sudan, Ghana, Botswana, Zambia, Gabon, Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya.

Although they are confined to swampy and marshy habitats, they also spend time on the dry lands close to the swamps and are thus considered to be amphibians. Here they occur in tall and dense vegetation as well as seasonal swamps, marshy clearings in forests, riparian thickets and mangrove swamps.

Sitatunga are active mainly during the early hours after dawn, the last one or two hours before dusk, and night. They are not territorial. Females are sexually mature by one year of age, while males take one and a half years to mature. Gestation lasts for nearly eight months, after which generally a single calf is born and with a lifespan of about 23 years.

They are dimorphic with males considerably larger than females. Males typically weigh 76–119 kg while females weigh 24–57 kg. The have a good hearing and the ears are so structured that the animal can accurately determine the direction from where a sound has originated.

They are good swimmers, but limit themselves to water with profuse vegetation in order to escape crocodiles. When  pursued by predators, they can fully submerge themselves in the water except for the nose and the eyes, which they keep slightly above the water surface.

Aadrwolf

The aardwolf is in the same family as the hyena but unlike many of its relatives in the order Carnivora, the aardwolf does not hunt large animals. It eats insects, mainly termites – one aardwolf can eat about 250,000 termites during a single night, using its long, sticky tongue to capture them.

Their technique consists of licking them off the ground as opposed to the aardvark, which digs into the mound.They locate their food by sound and also from the scent secreted by the soldier termites.

They do not destroy the termite mound or consume the entire colony, thus ensuring that the termites can rebuild and provide a continuous supply of food. They often memorize the location of such nests and return to them every few months. They are also known to feed on other insects, larvae, eggs, and, some sources say, occasionally small mammals and birds, but these constitute a very small percentage of their total diet

 The aardwolf lives in the shrub lands of eastern and southern Africa – open lands covered with stunted trees and shrubs. It is nocturnal, resting in burrows during the day and emerging at night to seek food. Its diet consists mainly of termites and insect larvae.

They have a body size of about 55 to 80 cm long and  bushy tail, which is about 20–30 cm long. The front height is  about 40 to 50 cms and an adult  weight of  approximately 7–10 kg, sometimes reaching 15 kg.

They have scent glands on the forefoot and penile pad which help them mark near termite mounds within their territory every 20 minutes or so. If they are patrolling their territorial boundaries, the marking frequency increases drastically, to once every 50 m.

De Brazza’s monkey

De Brazza’s monkey is one of the most distinctive species of guenon, a collective name for members of a large group of African monkeys belonging to the genus Cercopithecus. The head is adorned with a striking orange-red crescent shaped patch on the brow, and the face has a white muzzle extending into a long, white beard.

They are generally shy and inconspicuous, only rarely announcing its presence with deep, booming group calls. This species is mostly arboreal, but unlike other guenons, which usually stay in the tree canopy, it is often found moving along the ground. The diet consists mainly of fruits and seeds, although leaves, mushrooms and small reptiles and insects may also be consumed. As foraging usually takes place in exposed areas, food is stored in cheek pouches, and only eaten when the monkeys return to a safe location.

They are largely polygamous although in certain regions, such as Gabon, they can be found in small, monogamous family groups, comprising a male-female pair and their offspring. Although groups maintain small territories that they mark out with saliva and scent, they do not appear to show any aggression towards other groups of De Brazza’s monkey that enter these areas. In contrast, when encroachment is made by a different species of monkey, De Brazza’s monkeys may become extremely hostile, with the entire group becoming involved in forcibly ejecting the intruder.

They breed throughout the year, with the female usually giving birth to a single infant after a gestation period of around 168 to 187 days. In order to reduce the risk of depredation, the vulnerable infant clings tightly to the mother's stomach. Weaning takes place after around one year, but the young begin to try solid food after about two months of age. At around age five or six they become sexually mature and may a life expectancy of up to 22 years in the wild.