by Rebecca Martin | Aug 1, 2023 | 2023, 08 August, Articles & Stories, Saltwater, Water Life, Wondernose
View the August 2023 Nature Friend Magazine Sea spider. Photo © Francesco Ricciardi/iStock.com. That’s almost too weird to be true, isn’t it, Wondernose? But we don’t make up these stories. Let me tell you why this animal has its stomach (and a few other organs as...
by Estella See | Jun 1, 2023 | 2023, 06 June Readers' Issue, Articles & Stories, Mammals, Primates, Wondernose
View the June 2023 Nature Friend Magazine Male mandrill. Photo © Freder/iStock.com. This sounds like a very fantastic creature, doesn’t it, Wondernose? It is one of the most brightly colored mammals in the world. The adult male has bare patches of skin on both the...
by Rebecca Martin | May 1, 2023 | 2023, 05 May Story Contest, Articles & Stories, Fish, Wondernose
View the May 2023 Nature Friend Magazine Bull shark. Photo © Willyambradberry/Dreamstime.com. Sounds like the kind of teeth you’d like to avoid, doesn’t it, ? Triangular, razor-sharp, with serrated edges—teeth like that should be quite effective.Fact is, these animals...
by Rebecca Martin | Apr 1, 2023 | 2023, 04 April, Articles & Stories, Mammals, Mustelids, Wondernose
View the April 2023 Nature Friend Magazine Oh, these little animals are quite the hunters! Mostly they are up and about at night. Weighing only from 2-10 ounces (60-280 g), these animals have long, slender bodies that enable them to slip through tiny crevices. They...
by Kevin Shank | Mar 1, 2023 | 2023, 03 March, Articles & Stories, Mammals, Wondernose
View the March 2023 Nature Friend Magazine Pig-deer (babyrousa). Photo © iStock.com. I couldn’t resist it. Having discussed an animal that is not a deer, yet is named after a deer and a mouse (November 2022), I thought we should take a look at this one too. It’s not a...
by Rebecca Martin | Jan 1, 2023 | 2023, 01 January, Articles & Stories, Mammals, Wondernose
View the January Nature Friend Magazine Fisher. Photo © Mikael Males/Dreamstime.com. You seem quite surprised, Wondernose. Apparently you didn’t know there’s an animal that isn’t deterred by a porcupine’s quills. Well, such an animal exists, though it has become a...
by Rebecca Martin | Dec 1, 2022 | 2022, 12 December, Articles & Stories, Birds, Owls, Wondernose
View the December 2022 Nature Friend Magazine Snowy Owl. Photo © Dogwood Ridge. So you think that’s an insult to your cat! You don’t consider your cat to be stupid. All right, let’s not focus on the “stupid” part. Our mystery animal looks cat-like because it has big...
by Rebecca Martin | Oct 1, 2022 | 2022, 10 October Bonus Readers' Issue, Articles & Stories, Mammals, Wondernose
Humpback whale. Photo © Dreamstime.com. Flippers. That makes you think of seals and sea lions. Is the answer to our riddle some kind of huge sea lion, you ask?No. Unlike the sea lion, our mammal never crawls out of the water. Its flippers (pectorals) are very helpful...
by Rebecca Martin | Sep 1, 2022 | 2022, 09 September, Articles & Stories, Birds, Wondernose
Coppersmith Barbets. Photo © Dreamstime.com. You might think our mystery bird’s name will start with the word “bearded”—as in “Bearded Warbler” or “Bearded Flycatcher.” But no, our bird’s name is actually the French word for beard. You protest, Wondernose, that you...
by Rebecca Martin | Aug 1, 2022 | 2022, 08 August, Articles & Stories, Crustaceans & Mollusks, Wondernose
Giant clam. Photo © Dreamstime.com. Mind you, Wondernose, not all the animals of this kind weigh a quarter of a ton. They can vary in size from a fraction of an inch to four feet across.But how, you wonder, will such an animal get around if it has no legs? The answer...
by Rebecca Martin | Jul 1, 2022 | 2022, 07 July, Articles & Stories, Mammals, Wondernose
Lechwe herd. Photo © iStock. Maybe this question comes as a surprise to you, Wondernose. When you think of antelope, you picture fleet-footed, horned mammals racing across Africa’s dry savannahs. That picture is correct for many antelope. But our mystery animal...
by Emma Lapp | Jun 3, 2022 | 2022, 06 June Readers' Issue, Articles & Stories, Mammals, Wondernose
African hunting dogs. Photo © Dreamstime.com. This mysterious animal stands about 3 feet (1 m) high and weighs about 35 to 50 pounds (16-23 kg). It has a great variation in color. Mostly it’s black, yellow, and white spotted or splotched. Often the face is rather...
by Rebecca Martin | May 1, 2022 | 2022, 05 May Story Contest, Articles & Stories, Crustaceans & Mollusks, Saltwater, Water Life, Wondernose
Barnacles on rock. Photo © iStockPhoto.com. You would have to be quite lively in order to eat in this manner, wouldn’t you, Wondernose? And maybe you would have to live in the water like our mystery animal. Also, if you really wanted to be like our mystery animal, you...
by Rebecca Martin | Apr 1, 2022 | 2022, 04 April, Articles & Stories, Insects & Arachnids, Wondernose
This is a real puzzler, Wondernose. To make our riddle even more puzzling, here are a few additional facts. Above all, our mystery animal likes to eat starchy things, such as flour or bread crumbs—or paste. Do you know where it will go to find lots of paste? Why, into...
by Kevin Shank | Mar 1, 2022 | 2022, 03 March, Articles & Stories, Mammals, Wondernose
“Elephant Seal!” you exclaim.Well, good for you, Wondernose, you have come quite close. However, I wouldn’t really call an elephant seal’s nose inflatable. Mainly it is a very large nose which is sometimes puffed up like a cushion and which hangs down over the mouth....
by Rebecca Martin | Feb 1, 2022 | 2022, 02 February, Articles & Stories, Birds, Hawks, Eagles, & Kites, Wondernose
Harpy Eagle. Photo © Dreamstime.com. Your first guess is vulture, because you know that vultures eat meat. However, vultures are not as big as our mystery bird. What’s more, vultures couldn’t actually capture a live sloth and kill it. This bird can. On its feet—which...
by Rebecca Martin | Jan 10, 2022 | 2022, 01 January, Articles & Stories, Mammals, Wondernose
Photo © Dreamstime.com. Here’s a big animal for you! The adult males grow to over 6 feet (2 m) high at the shoulders. They may weigh three-quarters of a ton.Buffalo? Good guess, Wondernose, but no. There are similarities, though. Both our mystery animal and the...
by Rebecca Martin | Mar 26, 2021 | 2021, 04, April, Articles & Stories, Reptiles & Amphibians, Wondernose
For a description of our mystery animal, we’ll start with its nose. It resembles the snout of a barnyard pig, because it’s slightly turned up at the end. The resemblance is so strong that “hognose” is part of the animal’s name. I suppose any further description will...
