Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Grasslands


Grasslands are vast territories that have too little precipitation to support large trees. The biome is dominated by smaller plants that need to be adapted to long periods without rain. It is common for these biomes to have a dry season and a wet season. Organisms that live in these regions need amazing abilities to survive the long dry season. For example, many plants have large, horizontal root systems so they can draw water from as large an area as possible.

The following link shows one of the most amazing animal adaptations on the planet.

6 comments:

Narvalous said...

Holy cow! Or... holy lungfish! That was amazing. I was surprised how long the fish was. I also wondered how this fish got discovered.

Anonymous said...

Wow that thing was absolutly insane and creepy too.. I had no idea such a thing existed.

Anonymous said...

very cool i think i saw this befor

Anonymous said...

ok that wasn't Jeff Corwin or whoever....but that was both disgusting and cool. The fish totally look like a rock, so I’m wondering how the dude knew what it was so easily. And the thing looked more like and eel than a fish. That was defiantly one of those creatures who defy the laws of nature by both breathing in water and air.

Anonymous said...

I also think it looks more like an eel than a fish although it looks like a snake even more, but i was surprised about why it was called a lungfish and at it's amazing camuflauge abilities!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for all of the great comments. Laura, I had the same thought...how did he know where to dig...how did he know he actually found something...what if the shovel chopped the thing in half...etc. As far as the breathing of it goes, you can look it up, but what I found was that it breathes air by rising to the surface and sticking its snout out of the water. It's a little more complicated than that since it is still considered a fish, but that is the short story. Amazingly, these fish can hibernate in their mud cocoon for up to four years!