A game of nature: round animals. Representatives of the fauna with a spherical body shape

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:55

In the process of evolutionary development of living organisms, a large number of the most unusual and bizarre body shapes have appeared. Note that the structural features of animals did not form on their own, they perform certain functions and are subject to a certain reason. We invite you to find out which animals are round and why they have a spherical body shape.

Hedgehogs

The common hedgehog is familiar to many, as it is found almost throughout Western Europe, the middle zone, and southern Siberia. This representative of insectivores prefers to settle on forest edges and light glades. It has a spherical body shape, does not have a clear division into the body, neck and head, while there is a small tail.

If the hedgehog curls up into a ball, it will acquire an almost perfectly even round shape. Let's get acquainted with some interesting facts:

• The total number of needles on the hedgehog's body is more than 10 thousand.
• These round animals communicate with each other by whistling.
• They can swim, although they are very afraid of water.

Despitesmall size, the hedgehog is able to cover a distance of more than 2 km per day.

Sea urchin

Another round animal lives in the water element and is called the sea urchin. This amazing creature belongs to the type of echinoderms, it prefers to live at a depth of no more than 5 meters and in water bodies with normal salinity. The color of animals can be very different, sometimes sea urchins, like chameleons, adjust to the color of the environment, the soil. For them, both the shape of the body and the features of its structure are necessary for protection.

The whole body of the creature is covered with a strong shell that protects against predators and damage, and an additional "shield" is long "thorns", needles, the average length of which is about 2-3 cm, however, on the seabed you can also find hedgehogs with long needles, up to 30 cm, often poisonous.

Hedgehog fish

The next round animal that I would like to talk about is a hedgehog fish, a resident of coral reefs. The unusualness of this creation of nature is that when danger arises, the fish seems to inflate - it takes on an even spherical shape. At the same time, the entire surface of her body is covered with sharp spikes, the injection of which is painful for humans.

The average body length of such a fish is about 30 cm, while the record length is 90 cm. These reef dwellers prefer to eat marine worms, mollusks and corals.

An interesting fact is that a slow-moving fish gives predators the deceptive impression of simple prey, but ifan underwater inhabitant fell into the mouth, for example, of a small shark, she swelled, turning into a ball, and poisonous spikes hit the predator, causing his death.

Jellyfish

The next round animal is a jellyfish that looks like an umbrella, the “dome” of which is distinguished by a spherical shape. Translated from Greek, the name "jellyfish" means "sea nettle", which is associated with the burning ability of the tentacles of an aquatic inhabitant.

The most dangerous representatives include the sea wasp, the length of the "legs" of which reaches 3 meters, and their touch for a couple of minutes can kill an adult.

Types of round animals are not diverse, for the most part they are marine inhabitants, for whom a similar shape allows the safety of the entire surface of the body.

However, funny situations are also possible, for example, any animal, well-fed cats, raccoons, rabbits, can sit down so compactly that they look like an even ball. Therefore, any pet can become a round animal.