Urechis unicintus

Urechis unicintus is a marine spoon worm popularly known as the fat innkeeper or the penis fish.  Because it's shaped like a thingy!

Emu War

The Emu War was a  wildlife management operation undertaken in Australia in 1932.  Although farmers were expected shoulder most of the responsibility for curbing the population, the military (armed with Lewis guns) was called in, thus the name.  The attempt to cull the population largely failed: farmers asked for military assistance again in 1934, 1943, and 1948.

The hoazin

The thing I learned today is the existence of the hoazin, also known as stinkbird, a bird found in swamp regions and forests of South America.  It is interesting because its young possess claws on their wingtips, and because it is primarily a folivore and has a digestive system similar to that of ruminants.  For this reason, some have posited the hoazin as an ancestor of the Archeopteryx.

The syrinx

The thing I learned today is that the syrinx is the avian equivalent to the mammalian larynx. It is forked and is set lower than the voice box, so birds can create a wider variety of sounds and appear to sing without taking a breath.

The oribi is a small antelope of sub-Sahran Africa. About 3-4 feet long and 2 feet high, it's known for the loud whistle it makes when alarmed.

Calvin Coolidge's pets

Calvin Coolidge kept a menagerie of exotic animals during his tenure at the White House, including a pygmy hippopotamus named Billy, a wallaby, lion cubs, and a raccoon. He also had several cats and dogs.

Firefox

The red panda is also known as the firefox in English.

Patagonian toothfish

The Patagonian toothfish is marketed as a food fish under the more palatable name Chilean Sea Bass. It is found off the coasts of Chile and Argentina and in the sub-Arctic waters of islands from that area to New Zealand.

Wagyu cattle, originally from Japan, are bred for producing beef with heavy marbling, making it high in unsaturated fats and omega fatty acids.

The liver bird is the symbol of Liverpool. Its name rhymes with "diver." Its species is not certain, but is generally regarded to be a cormorant.

Honey bees were brought to the Americas in the 1600s by European colonists. Native Americans supposedly called bees "the white man's fly."

Diadromous fishes

Diadromous fishes can travel between salt and fresh water. Pacific salmon are an example.

The CITES Treaty, an international agreement adopted in 1973, aimed to reduce harmful trade in animal and animal products, and accorded protection to individual species. CITES stands for Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of wild fauna and flora.

Aphids have an unusual reproductive system. In spring, the population is comprised entirely of parthenogenetic, viviparous females. Each female will have within her a daughter who is already parthenogenetically producing her own daughter at the same time. In layman's terms, the aphids can be said to be "born pregnant."

Beelzebufo was a prehistoric frog identified in 2007, and may have grown 16 inches long and weighed up to 10 pounds. Bufo is the Latin word for toad.

North Dakota's nickname is 'The Flickertail State,' after Richardson's Ground Squirrel, often called the flickertail or picket-pin.

Hominidae is the name of the family that humans and apes belong to in scientific classification.