The Cantor's GIANT SOFT-SHELLED Turtle

The Cantor's giant soft-shelled turtle (Pelochelys cantorii) is a species of fresh water turtle. The turtle has a broad head and small eyes close to the tip of its snout. The carapace is smooth and olive colored. Juveniles may have dark-spotted carapaces and heads, with yellow around the carapace.

Cantor's giant soft-shelled turtles can grow up to 6 feet (about 2 meters) in length. P. cantorii is an ambush predator and primarily carnivorous, feeding on crustaceans, mollusks and fish (although some aquatic plants may also be eaten).

The turtle spends 95 percent of its life buried and motionless, with only its eyes and mouth protruding from the sand. It surfaces only twice a day to take a breath, and lays 20-28 eggs (about 1.2 to 1.4 inches [3.0-3.5cm] in diameter) in February or March on riverbanks.


Distribution
The turtle is found primarily in inland, slow-moving fresh water rivers and streams. There is some evidence that its range extends to coastal areas as well.

The turtle was once distributed across India, Bangladesh, Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, the Philippines, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Sumatra, Borneo, and western Java.

The turtle is regarded as endangered, and has disappeared from much of its range. Until recently, it was last seen in Cambodia in 2003. A 2007 survey of one area of the Mekong River in Cambodia found the turtle in abundance along a short 30-mile (48 kilometer) stretch of the river.

The species is not found in New Guinea, while the two other members of the genus Pelochelys, P. bibroni and P. signifera are both restricted to New Guinea.

P. cantorii is relatively unstudied, and it is possible that the current species may actually be composed of several taxa. One recent scholarly study showed that what was once thought to be P. cantorii in New Guinea was actually Pelochelys bibroni, and that earlier studies of P. cantorii only described populations further to the west.

Despite reports that it can grow up to 1.8 metres (5.9 ft) in length and is the world's largest extant freshwater turtle, this maximum size and title is murky at best.  Apparently the largest specimen carapace length, 129 cm (51 in), known is considered suspect and the heaviest specimen known (weighing approximately 250 kg (550 lb) was actually a misidentified Yangtze giant softshell turtle. A more realistic range of carapace length for this species is reportedly 70 to 100 cm (28 to 39 in) and it is one of about a half-dozen giant softshell turtles from three genera that reach exceptionally large sizes, i.e. in excess of 100 kg (220 lb) in mass.

Source(s): Wikipedia                                                                      

The STAR NOSED Mole

The star-nosed mole (Condylura cristata) is a little North American mole found in wet low areas of eastern Canada and the north-eastern United States, with records extending along the Atlantic coast as far as extreme southeastern Georgia. It is the only member of the tribe Condylurini and the genus Condylura.

Star-nosed moles are easily identified by the eleven pairs of pink fleshy appendages ringing their snout which are used as a touch organ with more than 25,000 minute sensory receptors, known as Eimer’s organs, with which this hamster-sized mole feels its way around.


Appearance and Behavior

The star-nosed mole lives in wet lowland areas and eats small invertebrates, aquatic insects, worms and mollusks. It is a good swimmer and can forage along the bottoms of streams and ponds. Like other moles, this animal digs shallow surface tunnels for foraging; often, these tunnels exit underwater. It is active day and night and remains active in winter, when it has been observed tunnelling through the snow and swimming in ice-covered streams. Little is known about the social behavior of the species, but it is suspected that it is colonial.

The star-nosed mole is covered in thick blackish brown water-repellent fur and has large scaled feet and a long thick tail, which appears to function as a fat storage reserve for the spring breeding season. Adults are 15 to 20 cm in length, weigh about 55 g, and have 44 teeth. The mole's most distinctive feature is a circle of 22 mobile, pink, fleshy tentacles at the end of the snout, from which they derive their name. These are used to identify food by touch, such as worms, insects and crustaceans.

The star-nosed mole mates in late winter or early spring, and the female has one litter of typically 4 or 5 young in late spring or early summer. However, females are known to have a second litter if their first is unsuccessful. At birth, each offspring is about 5 cm long, hairless, and weighs about 1.5g. Their eyes, ears, and star are all sealed, only opening and becoming useful approximately 14 days after birth. They become independent after about 30 days, and are fully mature after 10 months. Predators include the Red-tailed Hawk, Great Horned Owl, various skunks and mustelids, and even large fish.


Nose

Star Nosed Mole close up 

- courtesy of Image Kenneth Catania

The incredibly sensitive nasal tentacles are covered with minute touch receptors known as Eimer's organs. The nose is approximately one centimeter in diameter with approximately 25,000 Eimer's organs distributed on 22 appendages. Eimer's organs were first described in the European mole in 1871 by German zoologist Theodor Eimer. Other mole species also possess Eimer's organs, though they are not as specialized or numerous as in the star-nosed mole. Because the star-nosed mole is functionally blind, it had long been suspected that the snout was used to detect electrical activity in prey animals,though there is little, if any, empirical support for this contention. It appears the nasal star and dentition of this species are primarily adapted to exploit extremely small prey items. A report in the journal Nature gives this animal the title of fastest-eating mammal, taking as short as 120 milliseconds (average: 227 milliseconds) to identify and consume individual food items. Its brain decides in the ultra short time of 8 ms if a prey is comestible or not. This speed is at the limit of the speed of neurons.
They also possess the ability to smell underwater. It is done by exhaling air bubbles onto objects or scent trails and then inhaling the bubbles to carry scents back through the nose.

Did You Know?...

• In the movie G-Force, one of the animals starring was a Star Nosed Mole called 'Speckles'. 
• In the movie The City of Ember, there is a Star Nosed Mole that has mutated to great size.
• In Suzanne Collins's The Underland Chronicles, a race of giant star-nosed moles called "diggers" attacks the human city of Regalia.
• In the Phineas and Ferb episode "At the Car Wash", Isabella and the fireside girls are raising money to save a Star-nosed Mole 

More on the Star Nosed Mole : naturalhistorymag

Source(s): Wikipedia