A few of our animals we have on the planet

Yes an easy one the Giraffe strange animals for all that I guess.



A familiar sight is the Elephant of course, a huge creature of remarkable intellect; it is said an Elephant never forgets.
They do converse with each other if you get a chance to watch them in their habitat and are sociable creatures especially when rearing their young.



Chippy the Chipmunk is next cute looking but a pest in gardens I was told by a friend of mine.





This little bloke is a Wombat an Australian animal I was told they looked like a Badger personally I can't see the similarity.
They are not so little either and get overweight in captivity.

Below here is an easily recognised animal often called the king of the Jungle






This is a male Orca and below are two Dolphins off the coast of New Zealand.





This polar bear crossing the Tundra near the Hudson Bay in Churchill, Manitoba which is a sign of global warming if you notice the Tundra and how barren it is.

Picture of a Galapagos Giant Tortoise, photographed
on the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador.
One huge animal and ancient I bet.

Below is an image of a Rhino in Zimbabwe built like a tank huh!

Some Sea life

Some wonders under the waves

Black Rockfish

Black rockfish are large, powerful swimmers. They, like other rockfish, suspend themselves in the Kelp's stipes so that smaller fish (prey species) can't see them.

A purple striped jellyfish -- Pelagia panopyra - possesses very potent stingers. This purple striped jellyfish is just one example of the many types of jellies that mysteriously appear and vanish throughout the year in the Sanctuary.
Some wonders we have underneath the sea some can be dangerous of course and others not so dangerous.

These Fellas are in a California sanctuary Seals and Sea lions.



A Townsend Angelfish (Queen & Blue mix) taken at Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary.


Not as big as the dinosaurs, but possibly as old, sharks first appeared 450 million years ago! As the largest predatory fish in the ocean, great white sharks are the top predators of the sea. Shortly after the release of “Jaws,” long behold, sharks had gotten a bad reputation as fearful, harmful, man-eating creatures. Of course, this concept is totally incorrect, as shark attacks on humans are rare.


Yeah these look weird I know Black-Necked Stilts

Black-necked Stilts rest in the shallow water of an estuary in the Gulf of the Farallones.


Orange Tessellated Blenny

An Orange Tessellated Blenny taken at Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary.


Next up is a School of RockFish

A mixed species school of rockfish hang mid water in the boundless blue ocean above Cordell Bank


One of my favourite sea Mammal's the Humpback Whale

Humpback whales engage in cooperative lunge feeding on krill-tiny crustaceans abundant over Cordell Bank. These baleen whales filter the tiny shrimp-like animals from the water column in big mouthfuls.



West Indian Manatee

The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary is visited by several marine mammal species, including the endangered West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus). Manatees are winter visitors, while species like the spotted dolphins and bottlenose dolphins can be seen throughout the year.Related to our Dugong


A strange one this The Four-Eye Butterflyfish

The four-eye butterflyfish (Chaetodon capistratus) is one of hundreds of fish species, which inhabit the reef environment of the Florida Keys. The butterflyfish mates for life and therefore you will often see two of them. If you can imagine two butterflyfish nose to nose, they look like a butterfly. It is easy to see how they got their name.


Elephant Seals on the Farallon Islands

The Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary is home to one fifth of California's harbour seals. These marine mammals rely on safe havens within the Sanctuary to haul-out, rest, and breed.We get quite a few seals and sea lions here also, also Walrus.. Penguin's etc yes and I bet you all thought it was hot here well it is but not all of the time.Beaut images huh all courtesy of live science.


Next is the Whale Dolphin off the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary.




A giant ocean sunfish, or mola mola, cruises slowly through the water column. At the surface these unusual-looking fish will sometimes be mistaken for a shark because of their tall dorsal fins.


The green sea Turtle (Chelonia mydas), also known as honu, is the most common sea turtle in Hawaiian waters. It feeds on marine plants in shallow coastal waters throughout the islands and can grow to 200 pounds or more. Sea turtles hold an important role in Hawaiian culture and were prominently represented in ancient Hawaiian mythology and petroglyphs




A small octopus hides amid the rocks in a shallow tide pool.


The Torpedo Ray

Torpedo rays (Torpedo californica) are identifiable by their flat gray bodies and black spots. Interestingly these animals catch their prey by stunning them with a jolt!



The Manta Ray (Manta birostris) which is an extremely large elasmobranch species that belongs to the family Mobulidae. This species has a widespread distribution and is found in all warm tropical seas. The name ‘manta’ means shawl in Spanish. It is easily recognised by the pair of fleshy cephalic fins or horns on either side of the mouth. The skin on the upper surface is extremely rough and is black in colour. A minute band of teeth occur only in the lower jaw and there is no spine present in the base of the tail. The underbody of the Manta Ray is generally all white with several dark spots.

The Manta Ray is known to feed on small fish and planktonic crustaceans which are filtered from the water by its modified gill apparatus. The cephalic fins/horns are used to guide larger forms of food into the mouth. They can be found on the open ocean where they are often encountered by boats whilst divers might be fortunate enough to see them on coral reefs. They often visit cleaning stations to have cleaner fish removes parasites from their body. Manta’s also have the ability to make spectacular leaps out of the water.

The Manta Ray can grow to an extremely large size weighing up to 2 tonnes with a wingspan of over 7 metres! this one was in NSW Australia.


Finally.
The Grey Nurse Shark an endangered species



I hope you enjoyed these wonders of the sea comments are most welcome