[Music] weird animals hello animal lovers we are going to learn about weird animals today if you want to follow along with us head over to learn.org to download this lesson plan let's start off with our friend the Axel what is an axel is it a lizard is it a fish an axel is one of the most unique amphibians in the whole world it is a type of salamander but unlike other salamanders axolot spend their entire lives in the water they are often referred to as Mexican walking fish because of a rare condition called neodon the adult Axel remains aquatic in the water and gild instead of going through a normal amphibian cycle as a result the adults keep the features of tadpoles with feathery gills and long Dorsal fins what do Axel eat axolot are carnivores they primarily eat worms insects Crustaceans and small fish axels were at the top of the food chain in their environment for a long time still with the introduction of invasive species like perch and tilapia they're no longer at the top a other interesting facts axotal can regenerate almost any of their body parts for example if the leg of an axel lottle is wounded or cut off it will form a blood clot like a scab and regrow a new leg and scientists have also found that the Axel lottle can even regenerate part of its brain if it gets damaged why are axolot essential to the environment sadly Axel are critically endangered meaning their numbers are in sharp decline there's a real threat that they may become extinct but this only applies to Wild aelott they thrive in captivity so there are now more Axel in captivity than in the wild II what is an i i the i i is the world's largest nocturnal primate it's spends 80% of the night foraging for food I eyes are about 16 in long and CED in coarse dark brown or black fur their fur acts as camouflage in the dense forest they have bulging eyes giant ears and a large bushy tail their large ears help them listen for the movement of grubs and larvae to eat and their large eyes have a reflective layer on the back to improve their night vision eye eyes have teeth like rodents their inser teeth grow perpetually which means they never stop growing throughout their lives they use their Insider ERS to burrow through hard bark exposing grubs and insect larvae ey eyes also use their teeth to pry open hard shells of coconuts and other fruits and nuts what do I eyes eat I eyes have a unique thin middle finger they use it to find food for example they tap on trees and carefully listen for the hollow sound of the Grub's channels Through the Wood when they hear the right sound they use their incisors to create a small hole in the tree and then insert their specialized finger to extract or pull out the insects the I I also uses this middle finger to dig the pulp out of fruit other interesting facts when moving on the ground eye eyes raise their clawed fingers that way they don't damage their fingers which they use to eat because of this they have a strange clumsy gate people think the name I I came from their high high vocalization when fleeing danger and I eyes were originally scientifically classified as rodents because their incizors grow perpetually why are ey eyes important to the environment I eyes are important to the environment because they help disperse fruit tree seeds throughout their territory this helps regenerate forests they are also important because they eat wood boring beetle larvae which could overtake the woods without a natural Predator blobfish what is a blobfish outside of the water blob fish can look quite strange but they look much like regular fish in the ocean's depths at 2,000 to 3,900 ft below however a block fish is much different from your typical fish it does not use a gas bladder as other fish do to create buoyancy buoyancy is the ability to float in a liquid a block fish can float like a balloon because it is made up of a gelatinous mass with a lower density than water the Blobfish also lacks any muscle what do blobfish eat since blobfish remain almost if not entirely still they have been called the sloth of the sea because of this they're often referred to as a lion weight Predator this means the blob fish will hang around with its mouth open and wait until anything edible floats in into its jaws then they suck it in other interesting facts the Blobfish has no Predators they live so far down in the ocean that the water pressure is too intense for most Predators so they can spend their entire life peacefully sitting on the sea floor and humans don't eat them either chefs don't like to cook blob fish because they don't have muscles and Bones like other fish also the gelatinous flesh isn't easy to cook but those those who have eaten them say they taste like lobster why are blobfish important to the environment blobfish are an endangered species even though these fish lay thousands of Eggs only a few of their young survive to adulthood this low survival rate plus over fishing and deep sea troling have caused the Blobfish population to decline quickly nevertheless blobfish are essential because they are a bottom feeder and help balance the plant matter and mesk population wow we have learned some cool facts about some strange animals let's review why are Axel no longer at the top of the food chain because invasive species like to eat them choose the word the author would say best describes these three animals a defenseless B venomous C unique D endangered e Predator if you said c unique you are correct true or false blobfish have many predators if you said false that's correct great job friends remember if you enjoyed reading along with us today check out learn.org for even more interesting lesson plans hope you had fun learning with us visit us at learn.org for thousands of free resources and TurnKey solutions for teachers and [Music] homeschoolers