10 most difficult zoology riddles

Scrapie is infectious and incurable. Recent studies suggest prions may be spread through urine and persist in the environment for decades. Scrapie occurs in Europe and North America, but to date, Australia and New Zealand (both major sheep-producing countries) are scrapie-free.

The indri also called the babakoto, is one of the largest living lemurs, with a head-and-body length of about 64–72 cm (25–28 in) and a weight of between 6 to 9.5 kg (13 to 21 lb). It is a diurnal tree-dweller related to the sifakas and, like all lemurs, it is native to Madagascar. It is revered by the Malagasy people and plays an important part in their myths and legends.

Throughout his conquests of Asia, Alexander the Great collected many plant and animal specimens for Aristotle’s research. This allowed Aristotle to develop in Athens the first zoo and botanical garden in existence.

Synapsids were the largest terrestrial vertebrates in the Permian period, 299 to 251 million years ago, although some of the larger pareiasaurs at the end of Permian could match them in size.

Balinese share the traits of the short-haired Siamese, and hence are notably social and playful cats with. They are reputed to have the highest intelligence of all the long-haired breeds. They are also reputed to be notably acrobatic, and to enjoy intimate contact with their owners.

At 190 tonnes in weight, blue whale is the largest known animal ever to have existed. The tallest and heaviest sauropod known from a complete skeleton weighed 23–37 tonnes. There were much larger sauropods, but they are known from only a few bones, and it is unlikely they matched a blue whale.

Almost all mammals have seven neck bones, including giraffes with long necks and whales with short necks. The few exceptions include manatees and two-toed sloths, which each have only six cervical vertebrae, and three-toed sloths with nine cervical vertebrae

The Exotic Shorthair is a breed of cat developed to be a short-haired version of the Persian. The Exotic is similar to the Persian in many ways, including temperament and conformation, a flat nose and face with the exceptions of the short dense coat. The fictional representative of this breed is Garfield - the protagonist of many comics and animated films.

Eel catfish is an airbreathing catfishes found in Africa. It grows up to about 33 centimeters. It lives in the muddy swamps of Congo and Angola. The main component of its diet are land beetles living on land. Scientists hope that the discovery of this fish will allow us to understand the evolution of sea fish to terrestrial animals in the Devonian period. Their hunting method is probably similar to the methods of early vertebrates.

The leatherback sea turtle, the only extant member of the family Dermochelyidae, is the largest of all living turtles and is the fourth largest modern reptile behind three crocodilians. In the Caribbean, the mean size of adults was reported at 384 kg (850 lb) in weight. The largest ever found weighed 916 kilograms (2,020 lb).