Results: Crazy Critters!!!

Alabama: Red Hills salamander. This official state amphibian is a long lean mean burrowing machine! Much larger than its other lung-less salamander peers at 11 inches, the Red Hills salamander breathes through its moist skin. It's on the U.S. Fish & Wildlife endangered species list because much of the 60,000 acres of suitable habitat (i.e., the steep slopes and moist ravines of hardwood forests) are threatened by logging and deforestation. Would you pick up a salamander?

Alaska: Ice worm. This relative of common earthworms and leeches makes its home inside glaciers and adjacent snowfields, moving through densely packed ice crystals with ease thanks to small bristles on the outside of their bodies. Its Latin name, Solifugus, meaning sun avoider, is basically a warning to the annelids (segmented worms that belong to the phylum Annelida) who thrive best at zero degrees Celsius. According to the Alaska Centers public lands guide, when heated to 40 degrees Fahrenheit, an ice worm's insides liquefy until it literally melts to death. Ouch! Have you ever heard of this crazy critter?

Arizona: Javelina. Javelinas, also known as a collared peccary, are often confused for wild pigs thanks to their stumpy legs, porcine-like snouts, and tendency to communicate in snorts. But according to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, these "new world" herbivores/frugivores (fruit eaters) are distinguished from their "old world" lookalikes by numerous physical features including a scent gland in their rump that they rub on rocks and stumps to mark territory and on each other for identification. Pigs, on the other hand, lack scent glands. Have you ever seen a wild pig?

Arkansas: Ozark cavefish. These endangered and nearly translucent cave dwellers live most or all of their lives in total darkness. But they're blind because they lack eyes altogether and therefore use sense organs to detect movement in the water and find food. Very little is known about their reproductive habits, but the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the Missouri Department of Conservation suspect that spring floods get them in the mood for making whoopee. Have you ever been spelunking (cave exploring)?