In some places early January is the most extreme time of the year. This is a time where mother nature really let's loose and prepares for the rest of the year, releasing temperatures that would freeze the bum of Old Man Jenkins.
In this drastic drop of temperatures, there are animals that have adapted to the weather.
Toughing it out in the most extreme of conditions..
Folks, these are the...
𝙀𝙭𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙚 𝘼𝙣𝙞𝙢𝙖𝙡𝙨
🄲🄾🄻🄳 🅅🄴🅁🅂🄸🄾🄽🧊🏔️❄️
Now my first animal on this list isn't really one you would expect
1. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐚𝐧 𝐉𝐮𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫 (𝐄𝐮𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐫𝐲𝐬 𝐨𝐦𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐬)
Now this animal is one that loves to live his life on the high side. Resulting in it's Latin name, "omnisuperstes" which means "highest of all". First discovered by TG. Longstaff on his expedition in 1922 at the height of 5,000 metres. It later gained popularity when also seen by Richard Hingston in his expedition on 1924 at 6,700 metres and Lawrence W. Swan at 5,500 metres in her joint expedition to Makalu in the year 1954 🏔️.
The Himalayan Jumping Spider is poisonous although it isn't dangerous to humans.
Like all ordinary jumping spiders, they have the same 4 large eyes on their face, which gives them sharp eyesight for hunting.
It helps to measure and guage distances for a nice effective jump between slopes to catch their prey.
They prey on springtails, flies and other small insects.
2. 𝙈𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙎𝙩𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙒ē𝙩ā (𝙃𝙚𝙢𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙖 𝙈𝙖𝙤𝙧𝙞)
I know a whole lot of people would be asking themselves right now..
What the hell is a wētā?
Well Thank God for Wikipedia 😂😂
Wētā (also spelt weta) is the common name for a group of about 100 insect species in the families Anostostomatidae and Rhaphidophoridae endemic to New Zealand. They are giant flightless crickets, and some are among the heaviest insects in the world. Generally nocturnal, most small species are carnivores and scavengers while the larger species are herbivorous. Wētā are preyed on by introduced mammals, and some species are now critically endangered. - Wiki
Well that's it for Wētā's. The Mountain Stone Wētā, is the one we would be looking at.
Native to New Zealand, this particular specie has evolved a way to deal with the chill in the Southern Alps. When the temperature drops below freezing, our ice cool Wētā friend would freeze too. Later when it thaws out, the Wētā follows and resumes life as an ice chill giant insect freezing machine🥶🧊
3. 𝙂𝙧𝙖𝙮 𝘾𝙧𝙤𝙬𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙍𝙤𝙨𝙮 𝙁𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙝 (𝙇𝙚𝙪𝙘𝙤𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙩𝙚 𝙩𝙚𝙥𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙘𝙤𝙩𝙞𝙨)
When your talking of extremely cool birds, you can't even hold the conversation without this crowned Ave.
The Gray-Crowned Rosy Finch is a sturdy bird whose natural habitats are the rocky tundra of Alaska down south to the mountain ranges including the Sierra Nevada.
While many cowards move downslope or migrate south in the winter, the rost finches are toughing it out on the Aleutian and Pribilof islands year-round.
Another extreme trait of the finches is the fact that it breeders higher than any other bird in North America as it nests on the slopes of 20,310 foot Mount Denali.
Cus, what's more appealing to a female than a male who lives his life on the edge?😏
4. 𝙎𝙞𝙗𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙣 𝙎𝙖𝙡𝙖𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧 (𝙎𝙖𝙡𝙖𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙖 𝙠𝙚𝙮𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙞𝙞)
The Siberian Salamander is another freezer organism. But Unlike the Wētā above who only freezes for short period of times, this salamander can go cold for years
Having a wide distribution from Northern Russia eastwards to Korea and Japan. It's the only amphibian far north of it's range.
When winter approaches, adult males may go to near moss ponds where they can breed in the coming spring.
Here, they can freeze without any fear of damage from ice crystals, as temperature drops to -22⁰ Fahrenheit. As temperature rises, the salamander rises and becomes active.
5. 𝙄𝙘𝙚 𝘾𝙧𝙖𝙬𝙡𝙚𝙧𝙨 (𝙂𝙧𝙮𝙡𝙡𝙤𝙗𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙚)
Surely no extremely cold list would be complete without the Ice walkers crawlers
These chill insects looks like a mix of a cricket and a cockroach, which in turn brings up it's Latin name. ( Cricket in Greek = gryll , Cockroach in Greek = blatta)
These omnivorous insects manage to eat by scouring glaciers and snow at unholy temperatures of freezing or even below freezing looking for dead insects. If the temperature rises above 50⁰ Fahrenheit, some species may die.
That's it for our extremely cool animals. Thanks for reading and if you liked don't forget...
Comment, upvote and reblog😍🔥
Till next blog🤗✨
For further reading on these cool animals, check out these links
- https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/807810-Euophrys-omnisuperstes
- https://www.latitudemagazine.co.nz/frozen-in-time-new-zealand-mountain-stone-weta
- https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Gray-crowned_Rosy-Finch/id
- https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/26851-Salamandrella-keyserlingii
- https://mygardenandgreenhouse.com/whats-this-bug/whats-this-bug-the-ice-crawler/
