Thorny Animals _ Alive Thorns!

Some of Thorny Animals of the World

In Animal kingdom, some of animals have protective arms for defense such as horn, venom, sharp nail, venomous spine & teeth, toxic saliva etc. Animals have many positive and alternative defense mechanisms by using protective arms against their predator & prey.

For example, the coast horned lizard, as a defense, the lizard can shoot high pressure streams of blood out of its eyes if threatened. The short-beaked echidna is covered in fur and spines, and has a distinctive snout and a specialized tongue, which it uses to catch its prey at a great speed. The porcupine fish having venom in their spikes, and bodies, which if ingested could paralyze a person or even cause death.

There are some living things that have inoculations that will preserve them from being endangered.

1. European Hedgehog

Hedgehogs are easily recognized by their spines, which are hollow hairs made stiff with keratin. Their spines are not poisonous or barbed and, unlike the quills of a porcupine, cannot easily be removed from the hedgehog. However, spines normally come out when a hedgehog sheds baby spines and replaces them with adult spines.

Hedgehogs are primarily nocturnal, although, depending on the species, they may be more or less active during the day. The hedgehog sleeps for a large portion of the daytime either under cover of bush, grass, rock or in a hole in the ground.

Again, different species can have slightly different habits, but in general hedgehogs dig dens for shelter. All wild hedgehogs can hibernate, although not all do; hibernation depends on temperature, species, and abundance of food.

The hedgehog uses its quills to protect itself from predators, using muscles which draw their quilled skin to cover their full body, and pulling in the parts of their bodies not covered, such as their head, feet, and belly. This form of defense is the hedgehog's most successful, but is usually their last resort.

Hedgehogs have many alternate defense mechanisms. In most situations a hedgehog will flee rather than confront a threat, rolled up in a ball or not. All hedgehogs possess the stamina to run. Many can make 4.5 miles per hour or better, and are particularly adept at climbing steep walls, trees, and fences and even swimming.

2. Thorny Devil

Thorny Devil is an Australian lizard. It is also known as the Thorny Dragon, Mountain Devil, Thorny Lizard, or the Moloch. It grows up to 20 cm (8 in) in length and can live up to 20 years, colored in camouflaging shades of desert browns and tans; these change from pale colors when warm to darker colors in cold. The species is entirely covered with conical spines that are mostly un-calcified.

It also features a spiny "false-head" on the back of the neck, the animal presents this to a potential predator by dipping its real head. Females are larger than males. The Thorny Devil's body is ridged in structure, and enables the animal to collect water from any part of its body, which is then channeled to the mouth.

An intimidating array of spikes covers the entire upper side of the body; these thorny scales are a defense mechanism against predators. Camouflage and deception may also be used to evade predation. It has an unusual gait, involving freezing and rocking, as it slowly moves in search of its preferred diet.

The thorny devil is covered in hard, somewhat sharp spines to dissuade predators by making it difficult to swallow. It also has a false head on its back: when it feels threatened it lowers its head between its front legs, and only the false head is visible.

The food that the devil mainly eats is ants. They can eat thousands of ants in one day. They collect moisture in the dry desert via night-time condensation of dew which forms on the skin and is channeled to the mouth in hygroscopic grooves between its spines. During rain events, capillary action allows the lizard to suck in water from all over its body.

3. Io Moth Caterpillars

The Io Moth caterpillars are gregarious in all their instars, many times traveling in single file processions all over the food plant. As the larvae develop, they will lose their orange color and will turn bright green and urticating, having many spines.

These stinging spines have very painful venom that is released with the slightest touch. The green caterpillars have two lateral stripes, the upper one being bright red and the lower one being white. When the caterpillars are ready, they spin a flimsy, valve less cocoon made from a dark, coarse silk.

 

The eggs have large micropyle rosettes that turn black as the fertile eggs develop. They are usually laid in clusters of more than twenty. From the eggs, orange larvae emerge, usually eating their egg shell soon after hatching. They go through 5 instars, each one being a little different.

This little caterpillar is very cute with its little yellow trees sticking out all over its body. You would probably want to pick it up to have a closer look. If you did, you would more than likely have either an itchy or a burning sensation or need medical assistance.

Those little yellow tree-like structures are spines that are attached to poison glands and are meant for predators. Their bodies are pale green with yellow and red stripes growing to about two inches. Even though they catch your eye and are interesting to look at, you had better look at them from afar. These caterpillars turn into the most beautiful butterflies you have ever seen.

4. Porcupine

Porcupines are rodents with a coat of sharp spines, or quills that defend or camouflage them from predators. They are indigenous to the Americas, southern Asia, and Africa. Porcupines are the third largest of the rodents, behind the capybara and the beaver.

Most porcupines are about 25–36 in (63–91 cm) long, with an 8–10 in (20–25 cm) long tail. Weighing between 12–35 lb (5.4–16 kg), they are rounded, large and slow. Porcupines come in various shades of brown, grey, and the unusual white. Porcupines' spiny protection resembles that of the unrelated hedgehogs and echidnas.

The common porcupine is an herbivore. It eats leaves, herbs, twigs and green plants like skunk cabbage and clover and in the winter it may eat bark. The North American porcupine often climbs trees to find food. The African porcupine is not a climber and forages on the ground.  It is mostly nocturnal, but will sometimes forage for food in the day. Porcupines have become a pest in Kenya and are eaten as a delicacy.

Porcupines occupy a short range of habitats in tropical and temperate parts of Asia, Southern Europe, Africa, and North and South America. Porcupines live in forests, deserts, rocky outcrops and hillsides. Some New World porcupines live in trees, but Old World porcupines stay on the rocks. Porcupines can be found on rocky areas up to 3,700 m (12,100 ft) high. Porcupines are generally nocturnal but are occasionally active during daylight.

5. Spiny Orb-Weaver

Spiny orb-weavers, they are also commonly called Spiny-backed orb-weavers, due to the prominent spines on their abdomen. These spiders can reach sizes of up to 30mm in diameter (measured from spike to spike). Although their shell is shaped like a crab shell with spikes, it is not to be confused with a crab spider. Orb-weaver's bites are generally harmless to humans.

 

Even though this little spider is noticeable because of its colors, it does not have anything strange or different going on with it otherwise. It does have a hard abdomen that can be white, orange, or yellow with red markings.

There are thorns coming out of this abdomen that supposedly protect it from predators, but the spider is so small no other animal can see it to eat it. Other than that, it is a typical spider that weaves flat webs to catch flying bugs for its dinner. They are harmless and only come indoors if someone or something brings them inside.

6. Coast Horned Lizard

The coast horned lizard can be found from Baja California north to California's Sacramento Valley. It is a widely divergent species with over 6 subspecies in their relatively small range. As a defense the lizard can shoot high pressure streams of blood out of its eyes if threatened.

The coast horned lizard appears rough and spiky but is actually smooth-skinned, although it has sharp spikes along its sides, back and head. It is a large species, and can reach 10 cm (4 inches) excluding the tail. It is less rounded than other horned lizards.

It has two large dark blotches behind its head, followed by three broad bands on its body, with several smaller bands along the tail. Its color can be various shades of brown, with cream 'accents' around the blotches and the outer fringe of its scales.

7. Short-beaked Echidna

The short-beaked Echidna, also known as the Spiny Ant Eater because of its diet of ants and termites. Echidna is covered in fur and spines, and has a distinctive snout and a specialized tongue, which it uses to catch its prey at a great speed. Short-beaked echidnas are typically 30 to 45 centimeters (12 to 18 in) in length, having a 75-millimetre (3 in) snout, and weigh between 2 and 5 kilograms (4.4 and 11 lb).

 

During the winter, it goes into deep torpor and hibernation to save energy and reduce metabolism, before emerging, as the temperature increases, to breed. Female echidnas only lay one egg a year, and the mating period is the only time the otherwise solitary animals meet one another; the male has no further contact with the female after mating.

After the young are born, they are only the size of a grape, but grow rapidly on the mothers' milk, which is very rich in nutrients. After a period, they are too large and spiky to stay in the pouch, and after around six months they leave the burrow and have no more contact with their mothers.

This echidna has extremely strong front limbs and claws due to its mechanical advantage, which allows it to burrow quickly with great power. As it needs to be able to survive underground, it has a great tolerance to high levels of carbon dioxide and a lack of oxygen. It has no weapons or fighting ability, and repels predators by curling into a ball and deterring opponent with its spines.

The echidna lacks the ability to sweat and cannot deal with heat well, so it tends to avoid daytime activity in hot weather; it can swim if needed. The snout has mechanical and electroreceptor’s that help it to detect what is around it, and it also has the ability to reason.

8. Lionfish

Lionfish or Pterois is a genus of venomous marine fish found mostly in the Indo-Pacific, known collectively as the lionfish. It’s characterized by red, white and black stripes, showy pectoral fins and venomous spiky fin rays. It’s range in size from 6.2 to 42.4 cm with typical adults measuring 38 cm and weighing an average of 480 g. They are well known for their ornate beauty, venomous spines and unique tentacles. 

 

Lionfish are known for their venomous fin rays, a feature that is uncommon among marine fish in the East Coast coral reefs. The potency of their venom makes them excellent predators and dangerous to fishermen and divers.

They can live from five to fifteen years and have complex courtship and mating behaviors. Females release two mucus-filled egg clusters frequently, which can contain as many as fifteen thousand eggs.

The lionfish is a predator native to the Indo-Pacific. It aggressively preys on small fish and invertebrates. They can be found around the seaward edge of reefs and coral, in lagoons, and on rocky surfaces to fifty meters. They show a preference for turbid inshore areas and in harbors. Lionfish have a generally hostile attitude and are territorial towards other reef fish.

9. Sea Urchin

Sea urchins or urchins are small, spiny, globular animals which, with their close kin, such as sand dollars, constitute the class Echinoidea of the echinoderm phylum. They inhabit all oceans. Their shell, or "test", is round and spiny, typically from 3 to 10 centimeters (1.2 to 3.9 in) across.

 

Common colors include black and dull shades of green, olive, brown, purple, and red. They move slowly, feeding mostly on algae. Sea otters, wolf eels, triggerfish, and other predators feed on them. Their "roe" (actually the gonads) is a delicacy in many cuisines. The sea urchin has hundreds of tiny tuber feet, which they use for traveling.

Sea urchins eat bits of plants and small animals by using their teeth. They grow five teeth in the middle of their backside, which they use to pull, tear and rip algae off rocks. They are about four inches and come in many different colors, purple and pink being the most common. The sea urchin can live and reproduce for up to 200 years.

10. Globe Fish

The Slender-Spined Porcupine fish or globefish, found in the waters of southern Australia, as far north as Port Jackson to Geraldton, Western Australia. It is most common in Port Phillip Bay and the coastal waters of Tasmania in shallow coastal waters and under manmade jetty’s.

It is one of the smallest members of the Porcupinefish family, growing up to a maximum length of 28cm and with slight differences in its markings. These interesting little swimmers are much like the puffer fish, only they have spines all over their skin.

The fish grows to be around four feet or larger and instead of having venom in their spikes, the porcupine fish have a poison in their bodies, which if ingested could paralyze a person or even cause death.

These fish have large beck-like teeth that never stop growing, so they like to live around coral to bite on and wear their teeth down. If they are threatened by another bigger fish, the porcupine will inflate its body, just like the puffer, and become too big for the predator to eat. These fish are great swimmers except, as you can imagine, when they are all puffed up.

11. Crown-of-Thorns Starfish

The crown-of-thorns starfish is a large nocturnal sea star that preys upon coral polyps. The crown-of-thorns receives its name from venomous thorn-like spines that cover its body. It is endemic to tropical coral reefs in the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean, and the Pacific Ocean.

As solitary animals, they feed alone and maintain constant distance between themselves and other members of their species. The crown-of-thorns is the second largest sea star in the world. Only the sunflower starfish is larger.

The crown-of-thorns starfish normally range in size from 25 to 35 cm. The sharp spines on the sides of the starfish's limbs resemble thorns and create a crown-like shape, giving the creature its name. The thorns are very sharp and are capable of piercing through standard wetsuits and other clothing. They are also venomous. When the crown-of-thorns feed, they release a chemical which is known to attract more starfish to the area. It is also has very vibrant colors.

The crown-of-thorns produces a neurotoxin which can be released through its spines. Not only are the wounds themselves serious, but the neurotoxin can cause a sharp stinging pain that can last for hours, as well as nausea and vomiting.

Frequently, the area around the wound turns a dark blue and begins to swell (edema), which may persist for weeks. The spine(s) themselves may break off and become embedded inside the skin. This can lead to infection, and increased toxicity.

12. Long-Horned Grasshoppers

The diet of Long-Horned Grasshoppers (Tettigoniids) includes leaves, flowers, bark, and seeds, but many species are exclusively predatory, feeding on other insects, snails or even small vertebrates such as snakes and lizards.

Some are also considered pests by commercial crop growers and are sprayed to limit growth. Large tettigoniids can inflict a painful bite or pinch if handled but seldom break the skin.

This is the craziest looking thing ever seen. It is related to the grasshopper and cricket, but this katydid must have been adopted. This insect is a bright beautiful green color with little thorns all over its body—even its legs.

If you would touch one of the thorns, it would easily cut through your skin. Its head is bigger than a grasshopper’s head, and it has what looks like a crown on the top of it made out of thorns with a reddish hue.

13. Thorny Skate

The thorny skate is mainly lives near the bottom of the coastline of North Atlantic Ocean in depths ranging from 20 to 1000 meters and temperatures from 1 to 10 degrees Celsius.

It was also located in Lake Melville, near Goose Bay, Labrador. Rivers empty into the lake and the lake bottom is mostly made up of sand. Thorny skates have been caught in this lake in the 1980s by ice fishermen when outside temperatures were -30 degrees C.



The length of its body and tail is generally slightly less than 1 meter and width is about half a meter. Its underside is smooth, but the upper side is, as the name suggest, very rough with many small thorns all over and 13-17 larger ones in line from the back of the head to end of the tail.

The top side is brown with possibly black spots and the underside is white. It has a hard, roughly triangular snout and a tail, which is shorter than its body. It eats crustaceans, small fishes and worms. It produces egg capsules, which are 3.4-8.9 cm long and 2.3-6.8 cm wide, which hatch outside the body.  Article Source: Wikipedia & web