Image Credit: Maren Pedersen

Red-Bellied Newts(Taricha rivularis) are extremely poisonous. They excrete a toxic substance all over their skin that can kill a human if ingested or if it enters your body through open wounds. This neurotoxin is tetrodotoxin (TTX), the same toxin that is found in pufferfish. When threatened, they raise their head and tail to warn predators that they are poisonous.

Picture of this threat display under the cut!

Image Credit: Donovan Snell

The Ring-Tailed Vontsira(Galidia elegans) are definitely an unusual creature! For starters, while they are known for being ground dwellers, they also climb trees, swim(they have webbed paws!), and can dig, making it so they can adapt to any conditions.

Image Credit: Wikipedia*

The Spottail Sleeper Ray(Narke dipterygia) is Ovoviviparous, meaning the ray's eggs will develop and hatch within the mother, before eventually being born live.

Image Credit: Pauline Karlove

Reedfish(Erpetoichthys calabaricus) are adapted to live in low-oxygen environments, so they are one of the few fish that have lungs and can breathe atmospheric air! They can also breathe through their skin, like amphibians! Because of this air breathing ability, they will sometimes crawl or jump out onto the land to explore and sometimes even hunt. If you keep these as pets, you will absolutely need to block any way for them to get out of their tanks, as they are master escape artists!

Welcome to Animal of the Week!

I will be posting a new animal every week. The animal is selected through a random list with Latin family names and then I randomly pick the specific species! So if the animal has a Wikipedia page, then I will be able to post about it. This means almost any animal is able to be chosen!

Schedule:

Monday: Meet the animal! I will post an introduction of the animal this week

Tuesday: Conservation! I will post about the animal's conservation status and what might be threatening it or why it might be invasive, depending on the animal

Wednesday: Weirdness! Weirdest or coolest facts about the animal

Thursday: Info dump! This day will be packed with information so you can really start to understand this animal

Friday: Fun Fact! I will find a fun fact I haven't mentioned yet about the animal and post about it

Saturday: Support! I will find ways to either support conservation of the animal, ways you can show support, or if nothing else, I will find artists you can support who have made stickers/keychains/art about the animal

Sunday: Say goodbye! One last post about the animal for a final farewell

I want to do this weekly format to help you see these animals for the complex and beautiful creatures they are! I want everyone here to really get to know and love each animal I share.

I am anti-AI, so if you see that I accidentally used an AI generated image, please call me out on it and I will fix it right away

Note: Some of the animals I end up picking will be very obscure or not well researched. This means I could end up getting something wrong due to lack of information, or the known information around that animal can change as we understand it more, so don't blindly trust what I say

Regarding asks: I will take asks about anything animal related or personal questions! Want to show me a cool/your favorite animal? Go ahead! Want to show off your pets? Great! Have a question about an animal, how I run this blog, or things about me? I will try my best to answer! You can even send requests for another animal of the week!

Info about myself:

Call me Russet! She/her

I am an aspiring zoologist and I want to make a non profit rescue or sanctuary! As a busy student, I may occasionally miss a few days of posting, so please be patient!

Tags I will use: #animaloftheweek, #meetanimalmonday, #conservationtuesday, #weirdnesswednesday, #infodumpthursday, #funfactfriday, #supportsaturday, #saygoodbyesunday, #askanimaloftheweek, #aotw, #asksotw

Thank you everyone and have a good morning/day/night!!!!

Image Credit: David and Kathy Cook

Image Credit: Unknown

The West African Slender-Snouted Crocodiles(Mecistops cataphractus) have a lot of strange features, like their skinny jaws that are used for swiftly catching fish. They have even been observed using their jaws like tweezers to remove prey from hard to reach areas!

They also can "cry" like we do; not because of emotions, though, but instead to help clean or moisten their nictitating membranes(third eyelids). This is where the term "crocodile tears" comes from!

Image Credit: Unknown