day 2 - velvet worm!

hiya!! welcome to my blog about super duper cool animals!! 

today is about velvet worms!! some of my favourite little guys! they got that :3 in them 

❤︎ they were once mistaken for a type of slug in 1826

❤︎ they grow up to just 10cm (4 inches)!

❤︎ they are from the phylum onychophora, which means "claw-bearers"! they were most likely given the name as their legs are clawed

❤︎ for the most part, they come in a blue-grey or brown colour, but some species which live in caves can be white

❤︎ their skin is made of papillae, with many overlapping scales, giving them their velvet looking appearance, most likely why they were given their common name!

❤︎ some species have only 14-16 pairs of legs, while others can have up to 43!

❤︎ behind their antennae, they have a small and simple pair of eyes, and also a pair of modified legs, which are also called oral tubes, and the tubes allows them to capture their prey!

❤︎ they are found in many places over the world, but australia has the most amount of different species!

❤︎ they are carnivorous, and like to eat small invertebrates

❤︎ they attack their prey with slime that they shoot out from their oral tubes, which quickly hardens to trap their pray in one spot!

❤︎ they have a mouth on the underside of their head, where there is a pair of toothed and sickle-shaped jaws which sit inside a fleshy pad

❤︎ they tend to hide away from any light, and prefer spots with high humidity, like in logs, soil or under leaf litter

thank you so much for reading!! see you in the next post!

websites i used!

https://australian.museum/learn/animals/worms/velvet-worm/