biology Santa Monica College Biology – Animal Spotlight Discussion

This week’s discussion was inspired by a student’s love for beetles (order Coleoptera) and another student’s love for spiders (order Araneae). I want to give students the opportunity to share here some facts about their favorite wild animal (whichever taxonomic group you want to use). If you don’t have a favorite wild animal, now’s a good time to pick one. 🙂 Please include (but do not limit yourself to):

• The taxonomic group you are referring to (e.g. “species” if you are talking about polar bears, “genus” if you are talking about bears in general);
• What interests you about them (some fun facts we can keep!);
• Where they can be found (their natural habitat and region of the world);
• The conservation status of a representative species within that group (e.g. if you are talking about beetles, you could pick the American burying beetle — Nicrophorus americanus — which is listed as “critically endangered” in the IUCN RedlistLinks to an external site..)