Animals of South America - list with photos and names

South America is home to a huge number of animals and plants. On the mainland you can find both glaciers and deserts. Different natural and climatic zones contribute to the placement of hundreds of thousands of species of flora and fauna. Due to the variety of weather conditions, the list of animals is also very extensive and impressive with their unique features. Thus, representatives of mammals, birds, fish, insects, amphibians and reptiles live in South America. The continent is considered one of the most important on the planet. The Andes mountain range is located here, preventing the penetration of westerly winds, increasing humidity and contributing to large amounts of precipitation.

Lions

The kings of beasts contain a lot of interesting things, namely:

Despite their courage and bravery, of all predators they have the smallest heart.
they sleep 20 hours a day .
The muzzle of these predators is unique; you cannot find two lions whose muzzle will be completely the same, although people do not always notice this.
They may look like formidable creatures, but in the circle of their pride they behave very affectionately, they love to rub their faces against each other.
Lions can begin to roar only after two years; before this time they simply do not know how to do it.
Lionesses feed not only their cubs with their mother's milk, but also all others in the pride.
Taking food from other predators is not the style of lions; they are disdainful of eating what jackals and hyenas have touched.
They don’t hunt just for fun, so even zebras can sleep peacefully next to a hungry lion.

Whale

The whale is the biggest animal in the world. He lives in the sea, swims in the water like a fish.

A whale will swim into the cold seas, where there is only ice and snow, and it will also swim to the south, where it is hot all year round, chasing schools of fish. Where the fish go, there he goes.

A whale will capture a whole school of fish along with water in its mouth, release the water, and the fish in its mouth will remain stuck in the whalebone. Just don't think that this is really a mustache. There are these plates in the whale's mouth, like a lattice, and these lattice is called whalebone.

Hippopotamus

The hippopotamus can barely walk on its stumpy legs. The fat on it is shaking. This fat glutton will drag himself to the field and devour the entire field, and what he hasn’t eaten will be crushed. And then he goes into the river to sleep; dozes and basks on the water, like on the softest feather bed. Get some sleep, rest and let's have fun. Here, in the water, he is not at all clumsy, but a very agile animal. It swims, dives, gets algae from the bottom, otherwise it opens its mouth, and it’s huge, like an open suitcase, and screams, as if ten horses neighed at once.

Specifics of the fauna of hot regions

Nature has protected animals living in extreme heat. So, many of them have thick, but relatively short hair that perfectly protects them from the sun's rays. Just look at cheetahs, giraffes, zebras and all the monkeys.

Important! However, unlike their counterparts from the northern regions, they do not have a thick undercoat that retains heat.

Others, such as hippopotamuses and camels, have a large layer of fat, which, if necessary, is converted into water and prevents dehydration.

Animals in warm regions do not hibernate because they do not have to wait for the warm season. They also do not require migration to hot countries.

Giraffes

Herbivorous giraffes are no less interesting.

If humans have unique patterns on their fingers, and lions have unique muzzles, then giraffes have a unique recognition mark using the heel on their skin.
Baby giraffes begin their lives with a difficult test: a fall from a two-meter height.
The maximum time this long animal sleeps per day is one hour, and more often twenty minutes. Moreover, this dream occurs in a standing position, one can only be surprised at how they do not fall at this moment.
The color of their tongue is black, and has an incredible length of 50 centimeters.
There is no order in herds of giraffes, no matter what gender or age they are, everyone is equal and free access to it is open to everyone.
Only the giraffe cannot yawn.
They sleep little, but eat a lot, up to 20 hours a day. We can say that food makes up the main part of the life of these amazing animals.

Crocodile

A crocodile lies in warm water in the very sun, warming itself. He closed his toothy mouth and did not move his combed tail. It’s like it’s just a rotten snag lying in the water, and not a living animal.

A crocodile lies in the water near the shore, waiting for prey. When a zebra or antelope comes to the river to drink water, he will hit the animal with his strong tail, knock him off his feet, grab him with his toothy mouth and drag him into the water, to the bottom.

Zebras

So black with white stripes or white with black? An eternal mystery.

Repeated studies have proven that the zebra is still black with white stripes.
Despite their love of cleanliness and constant crawling out of each other, zebras do not deny themselves dirty dust baths.
A zebra's mother's milk is not white, but soft pink.
Zebras are team animals; they coexist in herds and stand guard while their relatives rest.
In herds, everyone is divided into small families; family is generally the main distinguishing feature of these amazing animals.
Since ancient times, people have tried to make zebras domestic, to tame them, but even today no one succeeds. Zebras love freedom, although their coexistence cannot be called absolutely free.
Females carry their babies for a whole year before giving birth to them.
Zebras can sometimes mix with ponies, horses and even donkeys. The resulting hydroid individual is called a zebroid.

Walrus

The walrus is fat and heavy. Like a huge leather bag of fat.

Two huge white fangs protrude from his bristly mustache. Instead of legs, the walrus has flippers. He uses them, like oars, to rake water.

It will dive deep under the water and graze on the bottom of the sea, like a cow in a meadow. He chews algae, looks for shells, and when he has eaten enough, he swims up, leans on the edge of the ice floe or on the shore with his fangs, pulls himself up and crawls out of the water. He lies down on the stones and rests.

Reindeer

In the North there is snow and ice, and the summer is short and short. You can’t make hay there, you can’t feed a cow or a horse in winter. Only reindeer can live there. He shovels the snow with his hooves and takes out a lichen - moss.

Whose milk do people drink in the North? Deer. What does he drive? On a deer.

Whose meat does he eat? Deer.

A person cannot live without deer in those places.

Polar bear

The polar bear is a wandering animal. This tramp's fur coat is warm; the frost does not touch it. Thick fur does not get wet in water. He doesn’t care about frost, blizzard, wind, or icy water.

A polar bear walks and wanders on the ice and snow; he will catch his prey, a fish or a walrus, eat his fill and immediately fall asleep, right there on the ice.

And when he gets enough sleep, he wanders off again. He looks out, sniffs out someone to catch, something to fill his belly with again. He dives deftly, runs quickly, and swims easily. Such a person will not remain hungry for long; he will get food for himself.

a lion

Watch out, zebras are striped horses! Beware, fast antelopes! Beware, steep-horned wild buffalos!

The lion is out hunting!

It was as if thunder thundered and rolled through the bushes and thickets. This is a lion's roar, a lion's roar. And all the animals hid.

The lion is the strongest, the most terrible of all. His mane is thick, his claws are sharp, and his teeth are strong.

Who will he catch this night?

Penguins

These are absolutely amazing birds, unlike any other. They fly in water, not through the air. They dive and flap their short wings so hard, they fly so fast under water that they catch up with the fish. And penguins also walk in a special way, in their own way: in columns. From a distance it seems that this man is walking in a black jacket and white vest.

One day a ship sailed into unknown cold lands. The sailors wanted to land on the shore and suddenly they saw: a whole army lined up on the ice! We swam closer. And the army suddenly, as if on command, plunged headfirst into the water! It was only then that the sailors realized that these were not people, but birds.

Elephants

What if the elephant was a predator?! Then it would be difficult for many, because they are capable of killing with just their weight. But they are not predators, and on top of that they are very kind. Here's what else is interesting about them:

For two whole years, females carry their cubs, one can only hope that all this time they, as humans, are not tormented by terrible toxicosis.
Elephant calves at birth do not have teeth, like human cubs, they first develop milk teeth, and only then molars.
300 liters and 300 kilograms : only elephants can eat and drink so much in one knock.
Matriarchy reigns in elephant herds; mature and strong females become leaders.
Each individual elephant has its own unique ear rim.
Elephants cannot run at all; their fastest movement is fast walking.
They eat not only grass and leaves, berries, fruits and even tree bark - this is a real delicacy for them.
There are animals that weigh 6 kilograms, and there is the brain of an elephant, which weighs exactly the same. By the way, this affects their mental characteristics, because they are one of the most intelligent animals.

The animal world is very amazing, sometimes facts about them can delight you, and sometimes even frighten you. Our smaller brothers will surprise us more than once with newly revealed discoveries. In the meantime, here are some more amazing facts about animals from swelteringly hot countries:

The lion remains king exclusively within hot climates; in cold climates, he is defeated by another king - the polar bear.
Ostriches can safely be called single fathers; they mate with several females at the same time, and subsequently they lay their eggs in one nest and leave them in the care of their father.
Male monkeys are going bald.
In addition to tasty food, crocodiles also swallow stones, this helps them dive deep.
If gorillas are fed birth control pills, they will also not become pregnant during mating.
Elephants can draw.
One monkey received a medal and a military rank during the First World War, maybe they really are so similar to people?

Gorillas

What unusual is hidden behind an animal so similar to a human?

In fact, the relationship between humans and gorillas is scientifically substantiated, because the DNA is 98 percent the same, in addition, like people, they have 10 fingers on the lower and upper limbs and 32 teeth.
Females do not give birth to many cubs, like other wild animals, of which one offspring can reach 20 cubs. Most often, they have no more than three children in their entire life. Pregnancy lasts quite a long time. Approximately 8 months.
Gorillas know how to cry, but not with tears like people, but by making plaintive sounds.
Until the age of three, cubs are not able to exist without the help of their mother; she feeds them, carries them and protects them from danger.
These large primates do not like water, they try to hide from the rain, and get water from green leaves.
Gorillas live quite long for animals, up to 50 years.
At the age of 8 years, females have to leave their family and look for a new one, so they become adults and enter adulthood.