| Brooke Bond | PG Tips | Incredible Creatures | Spaghoops.com |


	01 Giant Earthworm The longest known species of giant earthworm are found in South Africa - where they have an average size of nearly one and a half metres and a diameter of about 3 centimetres. In 1936 - one measuring an incredible 6.7 metres was found in the Transvaal. The worms swallow earth and digest all the edible matter they can get out of it. The earthworms are eaten by two main enemies: hammerkop birds and night adders.
	02 Etruscan Shrew With the exception of a few bats - the Etruscan shrew is the smallest living mammal in the world - measuring as little as 6 centimetres long - including its tail - and weighing only one or two grams. In fact - it is so small that it can run through the tunnels made by large earthworms! Also known as Savis white-toothed pygmy shrews - these animals live along the coasts of the northern Mediter-ranean and southwards to Cape Province in South Africa. Very little is known about them - other than from studies of owl pellets in which the animal's teeth - fur and bones have been found.
	03 Trapdoor Spider The most elusive of all the world's spiders are the trapdoor spiders of south-east Asia. They don't like getting wet - so dig waterproof tunnels made of silken tubes buried in the ground in which to hide. These tunnels are extremely difficult to find as the spiders build a special hinged trapdoor - which is beautifully camouflaged with plants - to secure the entrance. It then uses the trapdoor to catch unsuspecting prey as they pass by.
	04 Spiny Anteater Spiny anteaters - or echidnas - are very strange animals from Australia - closely related to the duck-billed platypus. Their bodies are covered with fur and spines - making them look a bit like giant hedgehogs - except for their long noses! They have no teeth but have a long - sticky tongue for catching termites and ants. Apart from being among the fastest burrowing animals in the world - the spiny anteater is famous because it is one of only a few mammals in the world which lay eggs.
	05 Naked Mole Rat As its name suggests - the naked mole rat has no hairs at all - making it one of the ugliest animals in the world. It spends its whole life under the ground and - since it doesn't need to be able to see - is virtually blind. It is not really a mole at all - but instead is related to rats and mice and has similar prominent teeth for gnawing. Naked mole rats live in East Africa - but are very rarely seen. Only the tiny craters formed on the surface above their burrows give away their presence.
	06 Pencil Lead Snake The very rare pencil lead snake - or thread snake - is so tiny that it could be threaded into the hole left by the lead in a pencil. The longest of them measure only just over 10 centimetres! Quite harmless - they are found only on the islands of Martinique - Barbados and St Lucia in the West Indies. The longest species of snake in the world is the reticulated python - which lives in south-east Asia - Indonesia and the Philippines. It often exceeds 6 metres in length-SO times as long as the largest of the pencil lead snakes.
	07 Leaf-Cutting Ants Leaf-cutting ants ingeniously grow their own food. They live in nests under the ground - in tropical and sub-tropical America - in which they have special 'gardens'. Most of the worker ants cut up leaves and flowers from different kinds of plants - carry them up to 100 metres to their nests - chew them up and then make a special kind of compost. They then use the compost to grow fungus - carefully weeding out any unwanted plants and parasites. The gardens of some leaf-cutting ants are so successful that well over a million of them can live together in one nest.
	08 Lungfish In some tropical countries - lungfish can survive periods of drought - when lakes and rivers dry up - by burying themselves in the mud. The mud soon becomes hard baked in the sun and they stay there - breathing through a tiny air passage to the outside world - until the next rains come. They can live in these pits in the mud for up to 4 years and are unable to move until the rains return - the ground gets muddy and the pit dissolves.
	09 Texas Blind Salamander Most Texas blind salamanders never see daylight from the day they are born to the day they die. They live only in deep wells and underground streams in a small number of caves in Hayes County - Texas. There is also an animal called the Texas blind snake - which lives in the dry prairies of the southern USA. Although they burrow in the ground or beneath rocks - they often crawl about outside in the early evening hours. They always disappear again after it becomes dark!
	10 Rabbit-Eared Bandicoot This weird-looking animal has been nicknamed the Mr. Spock of the animal kingdom - because its ears are so big and pointed! It lives in woodlands - savanna - shrub grassland and sparsely-vegetated deserts in Australia - but is very rarely seen and has been designated an en-dangered species. Bandicoots are powerful diggers and spend most of the daytime sleeping in their underground homes - with their ears folded forward over their eyes. At night they leave their burrows to search for insects - snails and other small animals on which they feed.
	11 Garden Eels Garden eels grow in special areas on the ocean bed known as 'gardens' They form spectacular sights - covering areas of up to 100 square metres. Up to 45 centimetres long - garden eels are true fish but they live in tubes in the sand. Thousands of them stick their heads up into the water and sway to and fro with the current like weeds - feeding on plank-tonic organisms carried to them in the water. If anything tries to eat them - they are able to dig deeper into their burrows with powerful movements of their tails.
	12 Deep-Sea JeUyfish Deep-sea jellyfish are tiny - beautiful creatures that look like miniature space-ships As the name suggests - they live at considerable depths under the sea - 10 kilometres or more below the surface - where it is completely dark and very cold. The deeper they live - the more brightly-coloured they are. Their umbrellas' - which are about 5 centi-metres across - can be bright blue - red - pink or any other colour. Very few people have been fortunate enough to see deep-sea jellyfish because they very rarely come near the surface.
	13 Deep-Sea Angler Fish There are about 120 different species of deep-sea angler fish - all living deep in the oceans at depths of up to 6 kilo-metres. They have many special adapta-tions to living in the freezing cold and the dark. For example - because it is so dark - the male and female angler fish have to make contact immediately after being born and then stay connected for life - otherwise they wouldn't be able to see one another! Some of them also have a fishing rod and line attached to the tops of their heads - with bait on the end which shines in the dark.
	14 Deep-Sea Scaly Dragonfish Deep down in the ocean depths there are a great many strange creatures - nothing like the ones most people see in a lifetime. One of the ugliest of these -certainly the strangest - is the deep-sea scaly dragonfish. It looks a bit like an eel - with sharp needle-like teeth and big - white eyes - but has a strange transparent and yellow appendage hanging from its throat. This is a special bait - made up of bacteria which glow bright yellow in the dark sea - which lures its prey within eating distance.
	15 Weedy Sea Dragon The weedy sea dragon is a very strange kind of sea horse from around the Australian coasts. To avoid being detected - it has cleverly camouflaged itself as a piece of seaweed - and often clings onto real seaweed to complete the disguise. As well as being the same colour as the plant - it also has long ribbons of skin growing from its body which are suitably branched and tat-tered. Sea horses are in fact fish - found in shallow seas all over the world.
	16 Giant Clam Over a metre long and weighing up to 450 kg - the giant clam is a frightening sight. It eats only microscopic organisms and is quite harmless. The valves close so slowly that stories about pearl-divers being trapped when they snap shut are quite untrue. The clams - which live in the Indian and Pacific Oceans - are often beautifully coloured - with spectacular patterns on their valves. These colours are caused by algae - which share the food of the clam and provide it with oxygen.
	17 Lion's Mane Jellyfish The lion's mane jellyfish looks nothing like a lion itself - but it does have about 150 long - yellow tentacles which vaguely resemble a lion's mane. It uses the ten-tacles - which are poisonous - like a net to surround and capture its unfortunate prey. This poison made the jellyfish famous when it was used in Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes story - 'Adven-tures with the Lion's Mane'. Lion's mane jellyfish live in the North Atlantic and Pacific Oceans - the North Sea and the Baltic and swarms of over a kilometre long have occasionally been sighted. They have a giant relative - - the Arctic Lion's mane - which can form a net nearly 500 metres square.
	18 Clown Shrimp About 5 centimetres long - the clown shrimp is a spectacular and colourful animal - which spends most of its day hiding behind coral rocks. At night it comes to life and wanders around the ocean bed searching for starfish. As soon as it finds one - it starts nibbling away at the base of one of the starfish's arms. Amazingly - the starfish takes no notice and lets the shrimp continue its meal for two or three days. Eventually - the arm drops off completely and the starfish moves off to grow another one - while the clown shrimp finishes its meal!
	19 Luminous Squid Squid often swim in large groups called 'schools' - and follow the shoals of fish on which they prey. They all have large and very efficient eyes and - in the dark seas - use light signals - produced by special light-producing organs on their bodies - for recognition. Each species has its own characteristic pattern. Squid are also interesting because they can swim either backwards or forwards - holding their tentacles out in front or trailing them behind.
	20 Cleaner Fish There are many different kinds of cleaner fish - and they are all extremely brave! It is their job to keep the mouths and gills of other fish free from parasites and to do this they have to swim in and out of their 'customer's' mouths. Cleaner fish work at special 'cleaning stations' under the sea - where fish of all different shapes - sizes and colours wait their turn to be cleaned. Although many of the customers normally prey on each other - and could easily eat one of the cleaner fish - they never do.
	21 Robber Crab The heaviest and the largest land crab in the world is the robber crab - or coconut crab - as it is often called. It can weigh up to 4 kilograms and have a leg span of nearly a metre. It is a strange animal from tropical Indo-Pacific islands and atolls. where it climbs to the top of coconut trees - in order to chew off its favourite food - coconuts. In contrast - the smallest crab in the world - which is found in British waters - is the pea crab - only about 6 millimetres in diameter.
	22 Arrow Poison Frog This beautiful frog is a bit like a wolf in sheep's clothing. Its skin contains a deadly poison which can paralyse the heart and nervous system of any animal which tries to eat it! In Central and South America - the local Indians catch the frogs and impale them on a stick over a fire until the poison oozes out. They then dip their wow-heads in it to use for hunting birds and monkeys. Arrow poison frogs don't live in proper ponds - but somehow survive in the tiny ponds of water that form in the leaves of jungle plants.
	23 Underground Elephant African elephants usually live in places like forests - savannahs - marshes and river valleys. One particular group in Kenya - however - at Mount Elgon - can often be found deep inside under-ground caves. Many animals visit the caves to lick or nibble the walls - because they contain salt which is an important part of their diet. Elephants cannot lick because of their tusks and trunk - so they strike the rock with their tusks - gouging off lumps which they then put in their mouths and swallow. The African elephant population has declined from 3 million in l970 to about 1.3 million today - because of poaching for their ivory.
	24 Bee Orchid The flowers of the bee orchid are designed to mimic female bees. They have developed false eyes - wings and even a similar perfume. They look so lifelike that the male bees are deceived into believing that the blossoms are female bees - and so attempt to mate with them. By doing this they accidentally collect pollen on their bodies and carry it to other bee orchids-which deceive them in the same way! Bee orchids live on chalk grassland - along woodland edges and scrubland but - in Britain - are usually only found in southern counties.
	25 Japanese Macaque The Japanese macaque is a very hardy kind of monkey that lives in the freezing cold northern forests of Japan. It is the largest of all macaques - made to look even bigger because of its thick - grey protective coat. The animals sleep in the trees but spend much of the day on the ground - eating leaves and roots. With the onset of winter - snow covers up much of their food and they have to search for the barely digestible leaves of the ever-green oak. They often sit in hot springs during snow storms in order to keep warm and can sometimes be seen with bright red - cold faces and snow on the tops of their heads!
	26 Spadefoot Tead Spadefoot toads live throughout the jungles of south-east Asia - in Europe - North America - Australia and other countries. Even though they can be quite big - they are rarely seen because they purposely try to avoid being detected and camouflage themselves in a variety of different ways. Some blend in with the background - others burrow into the sand and one particular species looks exactly like a dead leaf-but its so long and sensitive that it has to avoid rubbing it against anything because it hurts so much!
	27 Babirusa Wild Pig The babirusa is a very strange pig from a few islands in Indonesia. It has tusks which - according to a native legend - it uses to hang by from a branch in a tree at night. In fact these tusks - which grow through the top of the animal's head - are really for defending itself against enemies. The babirusa is a good swim-mer and will often bravely launch itself into the sea to reach nearby islands. It is mostly a nocturnal animal - but reveals its presence by low grunting moans - which can be heard along way off.
	28 Praying Mantis The extraordinary looking praying mantis is shaped like a twig and is often the same colour as the leaves and branches on which it lives - like the pink-coloured one from Malaysia which is shown in the picture. It will sit motionless for hours on end - in the prayer-like posture which gives it its name - and then strike with lightning speed at its prey. The unfortunate prey - such as a bee-fly - is seized in a deadly grasp in its saw-toothed forelegs and slowly eaten.
	29 Moon Rat The moon rat has a reputation for being the foulest smelling animal in the world! It smells a bit like rotting socks - or a combination of rotting onions and sweaty feet! Up to 75 centimetres long - including its tail - it lives in Malaysia - Sumatra and Borneo - usually in wet areas around streams and swamps. Moon rats often enter the water to hunt frogs - fish - insects and other animals. They generally live on their own and don't like the company of other moon rats. When they do meet - they hiss - puff and roar at one another.
	30 Wolf Spider The famous and dangerous tarantula is one of a group of spiders called the wolf spiders. They have no settled homes and instead of building intricate webs - spend their time wandering around hunting for their prey. The males have a vary strange courtship display - which involves a range of spectacular dancing steps and ener-getic waving at the females. It used to be believed that any one bitten by a tarantula started dancing - swinging and shaking themselves just like the spiders them-selves - but this isn't really true.
	31 Paradise Tree Snake The paradise tree snake is one of many different kinds of snake that live high up in the trees. Most of these tree-dwelling species hardly ever come down to the ground. They usually move around the branches very slowly but some - such as the paradise tree snake - are able to 'fly' or glide with great speed from branch to branch. This mode of transport is not true flight - because all they really do is fall through the air until they land on a branch underneath! Nevertheless - it is still quite an impressive feat - as they are never injured upon landing.
	32 Atlas Moth Many people mistake the spectacular Atlas moth for a bird when they first see it - because it is so big and because of the way it flies. Found in south-east Asia - it has a wingspan of up to 25 centimetres and is certainly a giant among moths. An even bigger species is known to live in Australia and New Guinea - where some people claim they grow up to 10 centimetres bigger than the Atlas moth. One individual - supposedly measuring 35.5 centimetres - was found near a post office in Queensland in 1948 - but scientists are still arguing about whether or not it really was that big!
	33 Secretary Bird In many parts of Africa there is an extra-ordinary-looking bird which strides majestically around the savannah - looking for lizards - grasshoppers and - its favourite prey - snakes. The secretary bird - which doesn't like flying but can if it really has to - is about a metre tall and has very long legs. It also has a strong kick - which it uses to stamp on snakes - often running away before cautiously coming back to see if they are dead! The secre-tary bird got its name from the long crest feathers on the top of its head - like the feathered pen which office workers used to keep behind their ears 100 years ago.
	34 False-Headed Butterfly Many insects have special techniques to reduce the chances of being eaten by their predators. Some butterflies - such as the little-known one in the picture - have developed a life-like false head on the back of their wings - complete with realistic eyespots - 'legs' and 'antennae. Attacking birds are completely baffled because the butterflies seem to be taking off backwards. Other species use camouflage to make themselves invisible in the vegetation or are very brightly coloured to warn attackers that they are poisonous or taste horrible. Some species that are not poisonous even pretend that they are by colouring themselves in the same way!
	35 Flying Squirrel There are a number of different kinds of flying squirrels in the world - living in China - Nepal - Japan - Indonesia - Siberia and several other countries. They all inhabit forests or rocky cliffs and are able to 'fly' using their furry wings. In fact - they don't have real wings- just fur-covered membranes between their legs and arms - and they cannot fly properly. So when a branch or a ledge is too far away for them to reach by an ordinary leap - they simply jump and glide (for as far as halt a kilometre) using their tails as stabilisers.
	36 Frog-Eating Bat The frog-eating bat - or Neotropical fringe-lipped bat as it is properly called - really does catch and eat frogs. It lives in southern Mexico and Central and South America and can actually identify which frogs are good to eat by their croaking calls! As the male frogs sing to attract female frogs - the bats listen carefully until they hear the right song - from the frog species that it likes to eat. They can also tell the difference between frogs and toads - which is important because toads are often deadly poisonous or taste horrible to bats from previous behavioural studies.
	37 Bumblebee Bat The very rare Kitti's hog-nosed bat - which lives in southern Thailand - is the smallest known mammal in the world. It is so small that it has been nicknamed the bumblebee bat! Weighing less than 2 grams - bumblebee bats have wings with a span of only about 16 centimetres. They live only in a few limestone caves and no-one knew they existed until a small colony was discovered in 1973 - hanging from the high ceilings. They are believed to feed on beetles - spiders and other small insects.
	38 Bee Hummingbird Very little is known about the bee hummingbird - which is the smallest bird in the world. With an average size of just over 5 centimetres from beak-tip to tail- tip - it is an astonishing 100000 times smaller than the ostrich! In fact - it is so tiny that it weighs less than a large sphinx moth and is only a quarter of the weight of the European wren. Bee humming-birds are only found on Cuba and the Isle of Pines. The smallest bird which breeds in Britain is the goldcrest - which is about 9 centi-metres long and weighs 4 grams.
	39 White-Bellied Go-Away Bird The white-bellied go-away bird is a familiar and very conspicuous sight in some parts of East Africa. It really does have a white belly and sometimes seems to be telling people to go away! It has a very loud - penetrating call that sounds like 'go awayaaaa. The white-bellied variety frequents dry bush country and belts of acacia trees along river banks. There are several other kinds of go-away birds - including the common go-away-bird and the bare-familyd go-away-bird.
	40 Weaver Bird Weaver birds are probably the most skilful nest builders of all birds - weaving and threading plant fibres into intricate and elaborate designs. It is so compli-cated that the young have to take ap-prenticeships to learn the art of weaving and threading! Each nest consists of a basket with two chambers and a layer of softer material lining the inside. Some species - such as the social weaver - may even pool their efforts to form huge communal nests which are so big that they are sometimes mistaken for native huts in the distance

"Why they call me it I do not know"
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