The content of the article
It is sometimes difficult to imagine how diverse nature can be, especially when you see such creatures as a star-carrier. In fact, it is a simple mole, which has a unique nose, framed by 22 special probes. Thanks to these probes (small tentacles), he has one of the most developed organs in the entire animal world. Under the ground, where the starfish lives, vision and hearing do not have much significance, but the sense of smell and touch have great potential. Anyone who is better able to smell and feel, gets a significant advantage over the others.
Basic information
The starfish inhabits for the most part in the territory of North America, and more precisely, under the territory of North America, its usual residence space is about half a meter underground. It has the dimensions of a typical mole and fits on a human palm. Stargazer belongs to the family of moles, and is an insectivorous mammal.
Appearance is similar to other moles: a small streamlined body with dark-colored fur, legs with claws located under the body, an elongated muzzle, small eyes, and the absence of auricles. On the forelimbs, the claws are larger, since it is with the forelimbs that he digs passages. The hind limbs have much smaller and shorter claws.
The animal lives in the system of tunnels created by himself, he breaks the passages with his forelimbs and pushes the earth to the surface. Therefore, the space of its dislocation is easily detected on the mounds of the earth. The total length of the moves that the animal makes for itself, the length of the body, which is about 10 centimeters, can reach 270 meters.
The activity of the animal continues throughout the day, they are not purely daytime or nocturnal animals. In addition, they are not prone to hibernation and continue to function throughout the year. Even in winter, they can easily move through the snow and dive under the ice into water bodies.
The body weight of the animal is about 50-70 grams. An interesting feature is the rather long tail, which is slightly shorter than the body itself, and up to 8 centimeters long. At the same time, the tail has an interesting function - it stores fat, if you look closely, then in winter the starfish has a thick and fat tail, which becomes like a keeper of additional calories, because these animals do not make any special reserves and do not have food stores in caves.
Stargazer and his nose
The receptors that are present at the nose of this animal are also sometimes called the Aimer organ. They are available in an amount of about 25 thousand and are pretty close to each other. If you imagine what the surface of the probe looks like, then there are a huge number of such small cylinders standing in tight rows.In the center of each such cylinder is a separate nerve ending that is connected with the brain. Any touch gives a signal from this ending to the brain.
In order to get an idea of the surface on which he dwells or to study small animals, which he mainly eats (insects, worms and the like), he applies his probes to the surface. Thanks to this, his brain receives a three-dimensional image of the surface and can actually see the space in front of it. It remains only to decide where to move on, and whether to eat the loot that he got.
Of course, such a feeling allows you to create a three-dimensional model, but after all, we are talking only about a small piece of land, since then the star-carrier moves in complete darkness? Such a question looks quite relevant and there is a corresponding answer. In fact, the stargazer makes his nose a lot of constant movements, with the probes he feels and feels, and thanks to this, he practically scans the entire surface on which he moves. Therefore, in fact, the stargazer sees, but not by sight. He uses the tactile sensations and smell that are transformed by his brain. Perhaps the difference between our vision and its is not so great, since the picture obtained through vision is also, in fact, no more than nerve impulses.
What is the starfish eating
He eats various underground living creatures, which are freely available. It prefers more than the rest of the earthworm, which is the most delicious treat, but in order to find such a worm, you need to feel it. Most of all, the stargazer focuses on hooks that are located on the surface of his body.
An interesting fact is the high-speed eating, which this animal is famous for. He can eat a larva or bug in 1/5 of a second, that is, incredibly fast. Such a feature is probably caused by evolutionary factors, since the starfish cannot see where the prey is moving, which runs away from it, because it only feels the surface. Therefore, if he "saw" something edible with his probes, then he immediately needed to eat this prey. Otherwise, he may simply be left without lunch.
Starbringer and Underwater Adventures
This mole can swim, and is very effective. From his underground minks, he sometimes has access to exits to various reservoirs and uses this fact to search for food and other things that he does. Oddly enough, but his body perfectly matches the requirements of underwater space:
- claws are comfortable fins;
- thick fur - wetsuit.
In order to navigate under water, he uses a rather interesting mechanism. First, an air bubble is blown over the object, which is then drawn back (but as if with particles of this object / surface) and makes it clear whether the object is edible, and what surface is under this bubble.
Starsman and social environment
These animals are quite social, for example, a remarkable fact is communication between heterosexual individuals outside the mating season. In addition, they tend to create unique colonies, although not stable, and up to 40 individuals can be settled on a hectare of land, which create such a colony. In general, something like a generic settlement of star-bearing stars, only such groups can change deform, in general, they experience different metamorphoses in composition and number.
Maturity occurs 40 weeks after birth, that is, by the next spring after birth, the starfish becomes active in the genital area and can itself participate in the process of creating offspring.
As a rule, in the colonies each has separate passages and recreation chambers, but the hunting space can be more or less general. Moreover, for example, the moles that formed a married couple do not compete on their lands, and this is a significant difference between star-carriers and many other animals. In general, they create unstable social groups, but they can get along with each other, and such a community is more productive than vice versa.
For this period, the population of these animals is not in danger. They are not commercial, but in nature the population is in harmony with other species.
Video: Starbringer (Condylura cristata)
Submit