During the breeding season, a female leatherback turtle will return to a sandy beach in the same region where she was born. At night, when the chances of predation are lowest, she will haul herself up onto the sand, dig a pit, and lay her eggs. She may lay up to nine clutches of over one hundred eggs, with nine days passing in between the laying of each clutch.
Nesting season is the only time adult leatherbacks will be found on the land, and the animals will consist only of females. Once a male leatherback has entered the sea, he will never leave it.
Say “hi” to the rhinoceros iguana (Cyclura cornuta)!
This large, heavy-bodied lizard can grow to be 4 feet (1.2 meters) long. As you might guess, its common name refers to the horn on its head, sported by both males and females. Bigger in males than females, horns may be useful in combat among males and in displays such as head-bobbing. This animal is found only on Hispaniola, the Caribbean island that’s home to Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Its diet consists of plants and insects, but it may occasionally feed on carrion.
A fan mussel among the seagrass it calls home (Arnaud Abadie on Flickr)
The fan mussels (Pinna nobilis) are a species of enormous mussel which live in seagrass beds of the Mediterranean Sea. They can grow to nearly 4 feet long (though most are 1-2 feet in size at maturity), and live with most of their bodies protruding straight up out of the sediment, anchored down into the sand with long…
