Common ravens are actually rather remarkable animals. These sleek,
black birds are excellent and acrobatic fliers on par with falcons and
hawks. Such aerial skills are on display during breeding season, when
exciting mating rituals include an elaborate dance of chases, dives, and
rolls.
These intelligent birds were honored by Native Americans and often portrayed as sly pranksters for their playful nature.
Known
as scavengers, ravens are also effective hunters that sometimes use
cooperative techniques. Teams of ravens have been known to hunt down
game too large for a single bird. They also prey on eggs and nestlings
of other birds, such as coastal seabirds, as well as rodents, grains,
worms, and insects. Ravens do dine on carrion and sometimes on human
garbage.
In winter, common ravens may gather in flocks to forage
during the day and to roost at night. During the rest of the year, they
are often coupled, or in small groups. Ravens are believed to mate for
life. They build large, stick nests in which females lay three to seven
eggs each spring. Both parents care for their young, which remain
dependent for several months.
Common ravens typically vocalize with a croaking sound, but they boast a wider repertoire of calls.
Ravens
are the largest passerine (perching) birds in North America. They were
once exterminated as pests thought to constitute a threat to game birds
and domestic animals. Today, populations are expanding, and the birds
are a familiar sight across the Northern Hemisphere from the icy Arctic
to the Mediterranean and in urban areas as well.
The warty or great crested newt lives only in Europe. Females,
which are larger than males, can reach 7 inches (18 centimeters) in
length, making these stout-bodied amphibians the continent’s largest
newts.
True to its name, the warty newt has skin that is covered
in small bumps. The skin contains glands that secrete a milky,
acrid-smelling substance to dissuade predators. Its other common name
derives from the dramatic, jagged crest that males develop along their
backs during the spring breeding season.
These newts are generally
dark colored on top and orange or yellow with black spots underneath.
They also have white speckles on their flanks and a large, vertically
flattened tail that bears a white streak down the side.
Warty
newts are nocturnal and are voracious eaters, feeding on worms, slugs,
and insects on land, and tadpoles and mollusks in water. They are more
terrestrial than most newts, but must remain near bodies of fresh water
to keep their skin moist.
These newts spend a significant portion
of their lives in hibernation, usually from around October to March of
each year. On a rainy night in March, they awaken and trek back to the
pond where they hatched to mate.
Females lay from 200 to 300 eggs,
but only about half develop into tadpoles. Tadpoles emerge from their
eggs in about 21 days and feed on small insects like water fleas and
tiny worms. Warty newts are extremely long-lived, with some exceeding 16
years of age. Like all newts, they can regrow body parts if necessary,
but that ability diminishes as they age.
Warty newt populations
are in decline throughout their range, and they are considered an
endangered species. They and their habitats are protected under European
law.
The Ladybug
Many people are fond of ladybugs because of their colorful,
spotted appearance. But farmers love them for their appetite. Most
ladybugs voraciously consume plant-eating insects, such as aphids, and
in doing so they help to protect crops. Ladybugs lay hundreds of eggs in
the colonies of aphids and other plant-eating pests. When they hatch,
the ladybug larvae immediately begin to feed. By the end of its
three-to-six-week life, a ladybug may eat some 5,000 aphids.
Ladybugs
are also called lady beetles or, in Europe, ladybird beetles. There are
about 5,000 different species of these insects, and not all of them
have the same appetites. A few ladybugs prey not on plant-eaters but on
plants. The Mexican bean beetle and the squash beetle are destructive
pests that prey upon the crops mentioned in their names.
Ladybugs appear as half-spheres, tiny, spotted, round or oval-shaped domes. They have short legs and antennae.
Their
distinctive spots and attractive colors are meant to make them
unappealing to predators. Ladybugs can secrete a fluid from joints in
their legs which gives them a foul taste. Their coloring is likely a
reminder to any animals that have tried to eat their kind before: "I
taste awful." A threatened ladybug may both play dead and secrete the
unappetizing substance to protect itself.
The Electric Eel
Despite their serpentine appearance, electric eels are not
actually eels. Their scientific classification is closer to carp and
catfish.
These famous freshwater predators get their name from the
enormous electrical charge they can generate to stun prey and dissuade
predators. Their bodies contain electric organs with about 6,000
specialized cells called electrocytes that store power like tiny
batteries. When threatened or attacking prey, these cells will discharge
simultaneously, emitting a burst of at least 600 volts, five times the
power of a standard U.S. wall socket.
They live in the murky
streams and ponds of the Amazon and Orinoco basins of South America,
feeding mainly on fish, but also amphibians and even birds and small
mammals. As air-breathers, they must come to the surface frequently.
They also have poor eyesight, but can emit a low-level charge, less than
10 volts, which they use like radar to navigate and locate prey.
Electric
eels can reach huge proportions, exceeding 8 feet (2.5 meters) in
length and 44 pounds (20 kilograms) in weight. They have long,
cylindrical bodies and flattened heads and are generally dark green or
grayish on top with yellowish coloring underneath.
Human deaths
from electric eels are extremely rare. However, multiple shocks can
cause respiratory or heart failure, and people have been known to drown
in shallow water after a stunning jolt.
Electric eels are extremely common throughout their range.

The Common Octopus
The common octopus would be unique for its appearance alone, with its
massive bulbous head, large eyes, and eight distinctive arms. But by
far the most striking characteristic of the octopus is the wide array of
techniques it uses to avoid or thwart attackers.
Its first—and
most amazing—line of defense is its ability to hide in plain sight.
Using a network of pigment cells and specialized muscles in its skin,
the common octopus can almost instantaneously match the colors,
patterns, and even textures of its surroundings. Predators such as
sharks, eels, and dolphins swim by without even noticing it.
When
discovered, an octopus will release a cloud of black ink to obscure its
attacker's view, giving it time to swim away. The ink even contains a
substance that dulls a predator's sense of smell, making the fleeing
octopus harder to track. Fast swimmers, they can jet forward by
expelling water through their mantles. And their soft bodies can squeeze
into impossibly small cracks and crevices where predators can't follow.
If
all else fails, an octopus can lose an arm to escape a predator's grasp
and regrow it later with no permanent damage. They also have beaklike
jaws that can deliver a nasty bite, and venomous saliva, used mainly for
subduing prey.
Considered the most intelligent of all
invertebrates, the common octopus is found in the tropical and temperate
waters of the world’s oceans. They can grow to about 4.3 feet (1.3
meters) in length and weigh up to 22 pounds (10 kilograms), although
averages are much smaller. They prey on crabs, crayfish, and mollusks,
and will sometimes use their ink to disorient their victims before
attacking.