Super-Species contest winners: where on Earth will you find these 10 outrageous creatures? In the imaginations of Science World readers! They're the winners of our "Design Your Own Super-Species" contest.In January, we invited students in grades 6 through 10 to combine traits from up to three existing animals to design one ultimate species. Thousands of drawings and essays poured in, and our team of 25 judges had a mind-boggling time narrowing down the crates of terrific entries to l0 winners. We would like to thank all participants for sharing their hard work with us. Each winner will receive a prize pack from Zoo Tycoon. The award-winning PC game puts players in command of creating the ultimate zoo. Besides providing great entertainment, it offers players of all ages a review of global ecosystems, and challenges them to flex research and critical-thinking skills to solve problems involving conservation, habitat building, and zoo management. GLAMINGO SCIENTIFIC NAME: Giraffa rubber ANCESTORS: Giraffe giraffe, African ruminant mammal, Giraffa camelopardalis, living in open savanna S of the Sahara. The tallest of animals, giraffes browse in treetops at heights inaccessible to other leaf-eaters. A male may be 18 ft (5.5 m) from hoof to crown. + Flamingo CREATOR: Jillian Fialko; Kings Junior High; Kings Mills, Ohio Kings Mills is an unincorporated community in the northeastern corner of Deerfield Township, Warren County, Ohio, United States, on the western shore of the Little Miami River. WINNING TRAITS: The glamingo uses strong legs to dart across Africa's grassy savannas. A pointed beak helps nab food like algae algae (ăl`jē) [plural of Lat. alga=seaweed], a large and diverse group of primarily aquatic plantlike organisms. These organisms were previously classified as a primitive subkingdom of the plant kingdom, the thallophytes (plants that , insect larvae Larvae, in Roman religion Larvae: see lemures. , and crustaceans. While the glamingo has predators like cheetahs, lions, and hyenas, its taste is hardly appealing to most animals. SWAIGERHOG SCIENTIFIC NAME: Cygnus tigris ANCESTORS: Swan + Hedgehog + Tiger CREATOR: Divya Gal; Countryside School; Champaign, Illinois WINNING TRAITS: An acute sense of hearing, night vision, sharp spines, and the ability to swim This article is about swimming in animals. For human swimming, see Swimming. Swimming is the ability to move through water's surface while partially or totally submerged in it. and fly make the swaigerhog almost invincible to predators. It feeds on fish and aquatic plants, and lives in groups of 5 to 10 in southeastern Russia. MACHEENO SCIENTIFIC NAME: Acinonyx hyacinthus didermocerus ANCESTORS: Rhino + Cheetah + Hyacinth macaw CREATOR: Heather Hartmann; Stanford Middle School; Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city located in southern Los Angeles County, California, USA, on the Pacific coast. It borders Orange County on its southeast edge. It is about 20 miles (30 km) south of downtown Los Angeles. WINNING TRAITS: The macheeno adapts quickly to new environments and can thrive anywhere. It has no predators because it's strong, fast, and ranks high on the food chain. It enjoys squawking loudly. CHEETUREA SCIENTIFIC NAME: Polaris bizarro This article is about the fictional character. For other uses, see bizarro (disambiguation). Bizarro is a fictional character, a doppelgänger of DC Comics’ Superman. ANCESTORS: Cheetah + Turtle + Eagle CREATOR: Giselle Resendez; Faulk Middle School; Brownsville, Texas WINNING TRAITS: Sharp eagle eyes and claws, along with lightning cheetah speed, make the cheeturea tops in catching prey. This omnivore omnivore: see carnivore. omnivore Animal that eats both plant and animal matter. Most omnivorous species do not have highly specialized food-processing structures or food-gathering behaviour. lives in South Africa and retreats into its turtle shell to sleep--so no predator can snack on it at night. RED-EYED SNEEL SCIENTIFIC NAME: Agalychnis viridis ANCESTORS: Frog + Snake + Eel CREATOR: Cailin Timm; NRHEG Middle School; Eliendale, Minnesota WINNING TRAITS: The red-eyed sneel is a "hoppin', hissin' critter with an attitude"! It lives in or near American and Mexican waters, eats mostly rodents, and zaps enemies with a shock. A colorful body warns other animals that it's pure poison to mess with! PORCATTURTLE SCIENTIFIC NAME: Spikius shelliflieus ANCESTORS: Porcupine porcupine, in zoology porcupine, member of either of two rodent families, characterized by having some of its hairs modified as bristles, spines, or quills. + Turtle + Bat CREATOR: Matthew Verch; Christ Lutheran School; Little Rock, Arkansas Little Rock, Arkansas required military intervention to desegregate schools (1957–1958). [Am. Hist.: Van Doren, 556–557] See : Bigotry WINNING TRAITS: The nocturnal omnivore lives mostly in the tree canopies of South America. A hard shell, quills, and camouflage protect it from predators. Near-transparent wings help the porcatturtle fly and scout prey. Added plus: a special enzyme to digest poison ivy. STARK SCIENTIFIC NAME Stark ish ANCESTORS: Starfish + Shark CREATOR: Lauren Teixeira; B. F. Brown Middle School; Fitchburg, Massachusetts WINNING TRAITS: The stark grows to the size of a watermelon watermelon, plant (Citrullus vulgaris) of the family Curcurbitaceae (gourd family) native to Africa and introduced to America by Africans transported as slaves. Watermelons are now extensively cultivated in the United States and are popular also in S Russia. and lives off the Florida coast. It behaves like a piranha--it's small, mean, and carnivorous. If a predator by chance bites off an arm--no problem. The stark grows it back. GOOLAPHRAM SCIENTIFIC NAME: Jelapi galepaguma ANCESTORS: Bighorn sheep Bighorn sheep a tall (up to 3 ft), heavy (up to 300 lb body weight) wild sheep that lives in inaccessible mountain country where it exercises its principal achievement of prodigious leaping and climbing. Called also Ovis canadensis. Several regional varieties, e.g. O. c. + Duck + Elephant CREATOR: Jeffrey Parks; Glendale Junior/Senior High School; Flinton, Pennsylvania WINNING TRAITS: The North American herbivore herbivore: see carnivore. herbivore Animal adapted to subsist solely on plant tissues. Herbivores range from insects (e.g., aphids) to large mammals (e.g., elephants), but the term is most often applied to ungulates. weighs one ton, stands 15 feet, and boasts a wingspan of 30 feet. Its size is usually enough to discourage predators like bears and wolves. SNISHKEY SCIENTIFIC NAME: Reptillia gorrilium ANCESTORS: Snake + Fish + Monkey CREATOR: Neelam Patel; Northern Middle School; Hagerstown, Maryland WINNING TRAITS: Fins on the snishkey's head help it swim, and gills allow it to breathe underwater. A snake's tongue provides a keen sense of smell, while a rattled tail scares off predators. Monkey arms allow it to swing swiftly among rainforest trees. BUCK-TOOTHED BEAVGOLEON SCIENTIFIC NAME: Castorus zealandensis ANCESTORS: Chameleon + Beaver + Mountain goat CREATOR: Dana Diehl; Loyalsock Middle School; Williamsport, Pennsylvania WINNING TRAITS: This New Zealander uses a sticky tongue to capture food from a safe distance. It's covered with water-repellant, color-changing fur for camouflage. |
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