Animal Qualities
Step farther.
Animals grouped here express a similar quality through their behavior in nature. Each species still has its own principle, lesson, meaning, and field-guide page.
8 species
Species principle: Extension
Step farther.
One special feature can extend the world you are able to enter.
Black-necked Stilts have extremely long legs that let them wade through shallow wetlands while feeding on aquatic invertebrates and small prey.
Species principle: High Browsing
Reach the dry leaf.
A special place rewards the body shaped for its scarce food.
Dibatags are arid-land antelopes with long necks and legs, feeding on leaves and shoots in dry shrublands where food can be sparse and elevated.
Species principle: Standing Reach
Stand for the leaf.
A different posture can reveal food others never touch.
Gerenuks have long necks and often stand upright on their hind legs to browse leaves, shoots, and flowers above the reach of many other antelopes.
Species principle: Hidden Extension
Launch the jaw.
In strange depths, the unseen tool may be the one that reaches first.
Goblin Sharks have highly protrusible jaws that can project forward rapidly to capture prey in deep-sea environments.
Species principle: Color Utility
Use the rainbow.
A bright gift is strongest when it also does real work.
Keel-billed Toucans use large colorful bills to reach fruit, handle food, display, and help manage heat in tropical canopies.
Species principle: Tongue Reach
Reach with every part.
Odd tools become elegance when every part reaches the work.
Northern Tamanduas use strong claws to open insect nests, long sticky tongues to feed, and prehensile tails to climb and balance in trees.
Species principle: Crowned Reach
Grip the high forest.
Great reach means little without the grip to hold what it finds.
Philippine Eagles are large rainforest raptors with powerful talons and a shaggy crest, hunting monkeys, flying lemurs, birds, and other prey in forest canopy.
Species principle: Bill Reach
Reach with color.
An unusual gift becomes useful when it extends what the body can touch.
Toco Toucans use large lightweight bills to reach, pluck, toss, and handle fruit in the canopy; the bill also helps with display and heat exchange.
