Can you distinguish these very similar animals?

Technically, a turtle is a turtle – the latter is used as a generic term for the more than 200 species of the order Testudines, which include species of turtles, tortoises and terrapins. The main difference is that turtles live on land and are not equipped for water, hence the reason they have feet and not fins. Turtles also tend to have dome shaped shells while most turtles have contoured shells for swimming.

These mammals have quite a similar temperament, intelligence, and habitat, but they do. have physical differences! For example, dolphins are longer and leaner; they have an elongated snout, a large mouth and a curved dorsal fin. Porpoises are generally larger, beakless, with a smaller mouth and a small triangular dorsal fin – some porpoises don’t even have a fin!

Seals and sea lions are both pinnipeds – a suborder that includes species of true seals, fur seals, sea lions, and walruses – but they do. belong to different families and therefore have different physical features. Sea lions are usually brown in color and can walk on dry land using their large fins. They also have visible ears unlike real seals which only have earholes. Real seals (as above) also have smaller fins and tend to squirm on their stomachs on dry land. Fur seals are much closer to sea lions in appearance, but they have much thicker fur, are slightly smaller, and have shorter noses than sea lions.

In fact, it’s a scarlet tiger moth! Butterflies and butterflies at the same time belong to an incredibly diverse order called Lepidoptera. They are very similar and have a lot of overlapping physical features; the one thing most scientists agree on that is different about them is their antennae. Butterflies have club-shaped antennae often with a bulbous tip, while most moths have feathery or tapered antennae. Additionally, when at rest, butterflies usually fold their wings while butterflies rest them by their sides.

Hares, or hares, are classified in the same family like rabbits but have a few key differences. They are generally bigger and faster than rabbits, their legs are larger, and their black-tipped ears are slightly longer. Hares raise their young above the ground, so they are born with fur and can run almost immediately. Newborn rabbits are born blind without fur, so they are raised underground in burrows.

In fact, it’s a bee, which looks remarkably similar to the most common kinds of wasps – yellow jackets and hornets. However, bees have a small layer of fluffy hair on their upper body and are more rounded in shape, as opposed to the streamlined shape of the average predatory wasp.

These two animals are actually very different. Anteaters are of the order pilosa also including sloths, while aardvarks are the only living species in the order tubulidentata. The name anteater is sometimes colloquially applied to aardvarks due to their similar diet, but aardvarks are quite unique, having a pig-like muzzle, long ears, and constantly growing cylindrical-shaped teeth. Meanwhile, the anteaters are toothless, with an elongated skull and a huge bushy tail.

Although it is really hard to tell these two animals apart, they have some quite simple differences. Mature llamas are much larger than their camelid cousins, have large, curved ears, and their faces are longer and generally hairless. Alpacas have bushy, fluffy faces and triangular, stocky ears.

Even if they are both crocodilians, crocodiles generally have narrower V-shaped jaws, while an alligator’s muzzle is wider and U-shaped. Another reliable indicator to tell the difference between these cousins ​​is their teeth – the jaws of a crocodile are the same size, so their lower teeth stand up and visibly fit into their upper jaw when closed. The upper jaw of an alligator is wider than the lower jaw, so when they close their mouths their lower teeth are hidden.

These speckled big cats are virtually impossible to separate visually, but there are some distinctions to be made. In addition to inhabiting completely different continents, jaguars are actually bigger and bulkier than leopards, they have shorter tails, and most importantly, they have smaller spots inside the black rings of their fur. .

The infamous honey badger and wolverine belong to the same family of mustelids (weasels) and are the only extant species of their respective species, but they are easily distinguished. Wolverines are slightly larger with visible ears and a fleeting resemblance to bears, while the honey badger has rudimentary earholes and flat body with a broad white stripe running down the length – although some subspecies do not have this distinct markings.

Although both are macropods (a taxonomic family of marsupials) and native to Australasia, a wallaby differs from a kangaroo in that it is many smaller. Within the macropodidae family, a the kangaroo is one of the four largest species (measuring up to 2 meters high), and a wallaby is a generic term that covers pretty much everything else, including pademelons and quokkas, but not wallaroos. A nimble wallaby, like above, will only grow taller up to a maximum of 80 cm.

If you thought these names were synonymous with each other, you would be completely wrong! These nocturnal rodents are often kept as pets around the world, but hamsters are actually closer compared to voles and lemmings, while gerbils are more similar to mice and rats. You can tell them apart by the fact that hamsters are larger, as opposed to gerbils which are longer, with a pointed nose and tail visible like a rat.

Emus and ostriches both belong to the ratite group of flightless birds, but they actually belong to different taxonomic orders and are therefore very different. People always mix them up, but one key difference is that ostriches can grow up to 3 meters tall while emus reach 2 meters. Another major distinction is that emus have three toes and ostriches only have two.

It is actually an emerald boa. I will forgive you if you got it wrong as these guys are very hard to tell apart; In reality, pythons were once classified under the family of boidae (boa)! In addition to living on mutually exclusive continents, boas have less bones in their head and less teeth than a python. Pythons are also larger than boas on average, but both species are considered raw because they haven’t evolved much in a long time.

The echidna is a wonderfully strange creature which is often confused with its rodent doppelgänger the porcupine, but in truth they are quite distinct and the only superficial similarity is their spines. Echidnas are much smaller laying mammals (monotremes) similar to the platypus – in fact, these are the only two monotremes in existence, all other mammals give birth to live young! Unlike the porcupine, echidnas are toothless, have no nipples, and males even have a bizarre four-headed penis!