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It is sometimes difficult to imagine how diverse nature can be, especially when you see such creatures as a star-bearing star. In fact, he is a simple mole who has a unique nose, framed by 22 special probes. Thanks to these probes (small tentacles), it has one of the most developed organs in the entire animal world. Under the ground, where the star-bearing star dwells, sight and hearing do not really matter, but here the sense of smell and touch have great potential. Anyone who can smell and feel better gets a significant advantage over the others.
Basic information
The starfly lives for the most part in North America, and more specifically, under the territory of North America, its usual space of residence is about half a meter under the ground.It measures the size of a typical mole and fits on a human palm. Starfish belongs to the mole family, and is an insectivorous mammal.
Appearance is similar to other moles: a small streamlined body with dark-colored fur, legs with claws that are located under the body, an elongated muzzle, small eyes, no ears. On the front limbs the claws are larger, since it is the front limbs that it digs for. The hind limbs have much smaller and short claws.
The animal lives in the system of tunnels created by him, he breaks through the moves with his forelimbs and pushes the earth to the surface. Therefore, the space of its dislocation is easily detected on the mounds of the earth. The total length of the moves, which the animal makes for itself, the body length, which is about 10 centimeters, can reach 270 meters.
The activity of the animal continues throughout the day, they are not strictly daytime or nocturnal animals. In addition, they are not prone to hibernation and continue to function throughout the year. Even in winter, they can easily move through the snow and dive under the ice into the reservoirs.
The body weight of the animal is about 50-70 grams.An interesting feature is the rather long tail, which is slightly shorter than the body itself, and is up to 8 centimeters long. At the same time, the tail has an interesting function - it stores fat, if you take a closer look, then for winter the star-sparrow has a fat and greasy tail, which becomes like a keeper of additional calories, because these animals do not make special stores and do not have warehouses with food in the caverns.
Starfish and his nose
Receptors that are present in the nose of this animal are also sometimes called the Eimer's organ. They are in the amount of about 25 thousand and are quite tight to each other. If you imagine what the surface of the probe looks like, then there is a huge number of such small cylinders standing in dense rows. In the center of each cylinder is a separate nerve ending, which is connected with the brain. Any touch gives a signal from this end to the brain.
In order to get an idea of the surface on which he resides or to study small animals, which he mostly eats (insects, worms and the like), he applies his probes to the surface. Thanks to this, his brain receives a three-dimensional image of the surface and can actually see the space in front of it. It remains only to decide where to go next, and whether it is necessary to eat the prey it has got.
Of course, such feeling allows you to create a three-dimensional model, but after all we are talking only about a small piece of earth, since then the star-carrier moves in total darkness? Such a question looks quite relevant and there is an appropriate answer.In fact, the spider makes its nose a mass of incessant movements, it probes and probes with probes, and thanks to this it virtually scans the entire surface along which it moves. Therefore, in fact, the star-seeker sees, but not with sight. He uses tactile sensations and odors that are transformed by his brain. Perhaps the difference between our vision and itss is not so great, since the picture received through vision is also, in fact, nothing more than nerve impulses.
What eats starfish
He eats a variety of underground animals, which is in the public domain. Prefers more than all the rest of the earthworm, which is the most delicious delicacy, but in order to find such a worm, you need to feel it. Most of all, the star-bearer is focused on the hooks, which are located on the surface of its body.
An interesting fact is the speed eating, which this animal is famous for. He can eat a larva or bug in 1/5 second, that is, incredibly fast. Such a feature is probably due to evolutionary factors, since the star-spider cannot see where the prey is moving, which is escaping from it, because it only feels the surface.Therefore, if he "saw" something edible with his probes, then he immediately needs to eat this prey. Otherwise, he may simply be left without lunch.
Starfish and underwater adventure
This mole can swim, and is very effective. From his underground mink, he sometimes has access to exits to various reservoirs and uses this fact to search for food and other things in which he is engaged. Oddly enough, but his body perfectly meets the requirements of the underwater space:
- claws are comfortable fins;
- tight fur - wetsuit.
In order to navigate under the water, he uses a rather interesting mechanism. First, an air bubble is blown over the object, which then retracts back (but as if with particles of this object / surface) and makes it clear whether the object is edible and what surface under this bubble.
Stars and Social Environment
These animals are quite social, for example, a remarkable fact is the communication between heterosexual individuals outside the mating season. In addition, they tend to create peculiar colonies, although they are not stable, and up to 40 individuals can form a hectare of land, which create such a colony.In general, something like a generic settlement of star-bearing beasts, only such groups can vary, deform, in general, they experience different metamorphoses in composition and number.
Sexual maturity occurs 40 weeks after birth, that is, by the next spring after birth, the star-bearing spider becomes active in the sexual sphere and can itself participate in the process of creating offspring.
As a rule, in the colonies, each has separate passages and resting chambers, but the hunting space may be more or less common. And, for example, the moles that have formed a married couple do not compete on their own lands, and this is a significant difference between the star-bearing stars and many other animals. In general, they create social groups that are unstable, but they know how to get along with each other, and such a community is more productive than the other way around.
For the given period of population of these animals nothing threatens. They are not commercial, and in nature the population is in harmony with other species.
Video: starfish (Condylura cristata)
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