Saturday, March 12, 2016

Tactile sense

Tactile sense

Tactile sense includes the obvious sense of contact with another object, but also incorporates a bird's ability to sense air flow over its wings and a fish's sensitivity to water movements. Some creatures, such as the yapok and the star-nosed mole, have a highly sensitive sense of touch through specialised organs that they use in situations where eyes are of no use.
 Close-up of star-nosed mole out of its burrow

Eurasian lynx

Eurasian lynx

The Eurasian lynx is the third largest predator in Europe after the brown bear and grey wolf. It is the largest of the four lynx species and a strict carnivore, consuming one or two kilograms of meat every day. This extremely efficient hunter uses fine-tuned stealth and pounce techniques to bring down animals four times its size, delivering a fatal bite to the neck or snout of an unsuspecting deer. During winter, its variably patterned coat is long and dense and large fur-covered paws help it move through deep snow. The Eurasian lynx is one of the widest ranging cats and is found in the forests of western Europe, Russia and central Asia.

 Eurasian lynx walking through snow
Scientific name: Lynx lynx
Rank: Species

Common names:

  • Common lynx,
  • European lynx,
  • Northern lynx,
  • Russian lynx

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