The chameleon possesses a prehensile tongue adapted for rapidly striking prey that strays within striking distance. This remarkably long tongue can be twice the chameleon’s own body length and extends out faster than the human eye can follow, hitting prey in about 30 thousandths of a second. Usain Bolt, keep dreaming. The tip of this elastic tongue is a muscular, club-like structure covered in thick mucus that forms a suction cup. Once the tip sticks to a prey insect, the tongue is quickly drawn back into the mouth.

Instead of using their tongues to munch on prey, snakes use them to sniff prey out. Smell is a snake’s means of tracking its victims: its forked tongue is used to collect airborne particles that are then passed onto special organs in the mouth for analysis. It all sounds very scientific. The fork in the tongue gives the snake a sort of directional sense of both smell and taste, and by constantly keeping its tongue in motion, snakes can determine the presence of other animals in their local environment.

Another beast with a beast of a tongue, the giraffe can extend its 18 inch (45 cm) mouth muscle to clean off bugs from its face or to feed. The specially adapted tongue is extremely tough to cope with the vicious tree thorns that are part of the giraffe’s diet. When removed from their natural environment and kept in captivity, giraffes show abnormal behaviours due to instinctive tendencies towards suckling the milk of their mothers – hence their excessive tongue lolling and licking of nearby objects.

Giraffes spend many hours each day feeding and their long sticky, flexible tongues are exposed to the blistering African sun. Nature has given them a blue colouring to protect them from sunburn.

Cats use their tongues to clean their bodies, and seem to do a much better job  of it than dogs, which use theirs for the same purpose. The rows of hooked, backwards-facing spines on a cat’s tongue known as papillae act like the bristles of a hairbrush to help clean and detangle fur, so that licking means grooming. This probably makes a cat’s tongue far more vital to its wellbeing than ours are to us. When was the last time you used your tongue for that just-stepped-out-of-the-salon look? Don’t answer that.

A lion’s tongue is much rougher than a domestic cat’s. It is like very rough sandpaper and used for grooming.

A bee’s tongue is called a proboscis. This is extra long and used for sucking nectar from flowers. Different bees have different lengths of proboscis depending on where they feed. So what a bee really does inside a flower is suck up the nectar while collecting pollen on its legs.

I really don’t know how that big bear climbed on that bridge…

Also it is so nice that the people get there on time to save him with that huge net… This is a big lucky bear…

The big lucky bear it is looking so nice in that position… but it is dangerous…

The people are starting to save the bear…

And the lucky bear it is that huge net…

It is a funny picture with that bear in the net…

And the big bear it is free to walk now… What if he climbs again there?…

Eventually, Hachiko’s popularity grew to the point that a bronze statue was carved in his honour. He was even present at the unveiling in April 1934. It was melted down to aid in the war effort during World War II. But even this couldn’t diminish his fame. After the war, people petitioned for–and were granted–a new statue in Hachiko’s honour.
Hachiko died in 1935. But even today, over 75 years later, it’s no surpise that people choose to meet by the statue of the dog who would always be waiting for his master.

Based on the 1987 Japanese film Hachiko Monogatari, as well as on a true story, Hachiko: A Dog’s Story stars Richard Gere  as a college professor who finds an abandoned dog and takes the poor lost animal in. The film follows the two as the man and animal soon form a strong and unexplainable bond.
People seem to identify with Hachiko. He symbolizes so many different things to different people. Hachiko represents innocence, fear, hope, joy, loss and loneliness.”

Insects can be found almost everywhere — on the highest mountains and on the bottom of rushing streams, in the cold South Pole and in bubbling hot springs. They burrow through the ground, hop and sing in the trees, and dart and dance in the air. They come in many different colors and various shapes. Insects are extremely useful to humans, pollinating our crops as well as flowers in meadows, forests, deserts and other areas. But ticks and some insects, such as mosquitoes and fleas, can transmit disease.

Insects are vital to the immense cycle of life, furnishing food for other creatures and breaking down natural materials to chemicals and nutrients for recycling into new life. Whirling, buzzing, singing, chewing, vibrating with energy, they are all around us. We have only to open our eyes to watch and begin to understand them.

Ladybugs

Ladybugs, also called lady beetles or ladybird beetles, are a very beneficial group. They are natural enemies of many insects. They are small insects, ranging from 1 mm to 10 mm (0.04 to 0.4 inches), and are commonly yellow, orange, or scarlet with small black spots on their wing covers, with black legs, head and antennae.
Coccinellids are found worldwide, with over 5,000 species described, more than 450 native to North America alone.
A few species are pests in North America and Europe, but they are generally considered useful insects as many species feed on aphids or scale insects, which are pests in gardens, agricultural fields, orchards, and similar places. The Mall of America, for instance, releases thousands of ladybugs into its indoor park as a natural means of pest control for its gardens

Mantis

Mantodea or mantises is an order of insects that contains approximately 2,200 species in 9 families  worldwide in temperate and tropical habitats. Most of the species are in the family Mantidae. Historically, the term “mantid” was used to refer to any member of the order because for most of the past century, only one family was recognized within the order; technically, however, the term only refers to this one family, meaning the species in the other eight recently-established families are not mantids, by definition (i.e., they are empusids, or hymenopodids, etc.), and the term “mantises” should be used when referring to the entire order. A colloquial name for the order is “praying mantises”, because of the typical “prayer-like” stance, although the term is often misspelled as “preying mantis” since mantises are predatory.  The closest relatives of mantises are the orders Isoptera (termites) and Blattodea (cockroaches), and these three groups together are sometimes ranked as an order rather than a superorder. They are sometimes confused with phasmids (stick/leaf insects) and other elongated insects such as grasshoppers and crickets.

Beetles

Beetles are the group of insects with the largest number of known species. They are classified in the order Coleoptera  which contains more described species than in any other order in the animal kingdom, constituting about 25% of all known life-forms.
Beetles can be found in almost all habitats, but are not known to occur in the sea or in the polar regions. They interact with their ecosystems in several ways. They often feed on plants and fungi, break down animal and plant debris, and eat other invertebrates. Some species are prey of various animals including birds and mammals. Certain species are agricultural pests, such as the Colorado potato beetle Leptinotarsa decemlineata, the boll weevil Anthonomus grandis, the red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum, and the mungbean or cowpea beetle Callosobruchus maculatus, while other species of beetles are important controls of agricultural pests. For example, beetles in the family Coccinellidae (“ladybirds” or “ladybugs”) consume aphids, scale insects, thrips, and other plant-sucking insects that damage crops.

Dragonfly

A dragonfly is a type of insect belonging to the order Odonata, the suborder Epiprocta or, in the strict sense, the infraorder Anisoptera. It is characterized by large multifaceted eyes, two pairs of strong transparent wings, and an elongated body. Dragonflies are similar to damselflies, but the adults can be differentiated by the fact that the wings of most dragonflies are held away from, and perpendicular to, the body when at rest. Even though dragonflies possess 6 legs like any other insect, they are not capable of walking.
Dragonflies are valuable predators that eat mosquitoes, and other small insects like flies, bees, ants, and butterflies. They are usually found around lakes, ponds, streams and wetlands because their larvae, known as “nymphs”, are aquatic.

Rhino Beetle

The rhinoceros beetles or rhino beetle are a subfamily (Dynastinae) of beetles in the family of scarab beetles (Scarabaeidae). They are among the largest of beetles, and their common name refers to the characteristic horns borne by the males of most species in the group. The male beetles use their horns in mating battles against other males.

Their larval stage is long, several years in some species. The larvae feed on rotten wood while the adults feed on nectar, plant sap and fruit. Rhinoceros beetle larvae are sometimes fried and eaten as a bush delicacy.
Rhinoceros beetles are popular pets in Asia. They are clean, easy to maintain, and safe to handle. In Asian countries, male beetles are also used for gambling fights since they naturally compete for female beetles with the winner knocking the other off a log. Rhinoceros beetles are also one of the strongest animals on the planet in relation to their own size. They can lift up to 850 times their own weight.

Ants

Ants are social insects of the family Formicidae  and along with the related wasps and bees, they belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from wasp-like ancestors in the mid-Cretaceous period between 110 and 130 million years ago and diversified after the rise of flowering plants. Today, more than 12,500 species are classified with upper estimates of about 22,000 species. They are easily identified by their elbowed antennae and a distinctive node-like structure that forms a slender waist.
Ants form colonies that range in size from a few dozen predatory individuals living in small natural cavities to highly organised colonies which may occupy large territories and consist of millions of individuals. These larger colonies consist mostly of sterile wingless females forming castes of “workers”, “soldiers”, or other specialised groups. Nearly all ant colonies also have some fertile males called “drones” and one or more fertile females called “queens”. The colonies are sometimes described as superorganisms because the ants appear to operate as a unified entity, collectively working together to support the colony.

Butterfly

A butterfly is any of several groups of mainly day-flying insects of the order Lepidoptera, the butterflies and moths. Like other holometabolous insects, butterflies’ life cycle consists of four parts, egg, larva, pupa and adult. Most species are diurnal. Butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight.
Culturally, butterflies are a popular motif in the visual and literary arts.

larva

Bees

Bees are flying insects closely related to wasps and ants, and are known for their role in pollination and for producing honey and beeswax. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamily Apoidea, presently classified by the unranked taxon name Anthophila. There are nearly 20,000 known species of bees in seven to nine recognized families, though many are undescribed and the actual number is probably higher. They are found on every continent except Antarctica, in every habitat on the planet that contains insect-pollinated flowering plants.

Does the crush of relatives make your house feel  like a zoo? Is the gift rush making you feel like a bear? Are you sick of cookie-bingeing children monkeying-around? Instead of embracin your inner Scrooge, lighten up with our gallery of animals in the Christmas sprint. They’re adorable, fluffy and might even remind you of those uncivilized inlaws of yours.

Santa Claus his best fur-lined suit to feed a beluka at Hakkeijima Sea Paradise, an aquarium in Yokohama, Japan.

This meerkat at the London Zoo is eager to get to its mealworm treat, but has discovered that not having opposable thumbs makes that a challenge.

This snow-leopard cub, which lives in the Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens, might be adjusted to the warm Southern California weather, but it apparently hasn’t figured out that the cardboard gingerbread men aren’t as tasty as the real ones.

After the run of unwrapping presents comes the drudgery of cleaning up the wrapping paper as this glum-looking chimp at lion contry Safari in West Palm Beach.

This Kodiak bear apparently got exactly what it wanted for Christmas from the staff at Taronga Zoo.

One might imagine that an elephant would be a great asset in decking high and hard to reach places with Christmas decorations. The trick is to keep the pachyderms, like these two at Germany’s Rostock Zoo, from chowing down on a tasty pine-needle goodie.

Zoo keepers a Taronga Zoo apparently forgot to tell these young lions that it’s customary to remove the wrapping paper before devouring a Christmas treat. The kids are so cute on Christmas morning.

It’s important to make sure that the older folks feel included in holiday festivities, too. This zookeeper at Ueno Zoo is doing his part by giving this 76-year old tortoise, a Galapagos geezer, a Christmas snack.

Coati bear Diego, a resident of the Hanover Zoo in Germany.

These two Cape penguins at Hakkeijima Sea Paradise aquarium, though adorable in their holiday attire, demonstrate why Santa decided to locate his workshop at the North Pole rather than the South fewer fowl underfoot.