Animals in Odd Places
Tree Goats
These goats will do a lot for their favorite snacks-including climbing to the top of a 9-m-tall tree! Every summer the argan trees in southwest Morocco produce bitter-tasting fruit that the local goats can't resist. And these peckish goats are doing us humans a favour — when they spit (for sometimes poo!) out the indigestible nut inside the argan fruit, the nuts can be collected to make an oil that's used in hair products and food!
City Whales
They're not visiting the Empire State Building — they're on the lookout for food! Humpback whales are swimming back in the waters off the coast of New York City in the USA. Why? Years of cleanup efforts in the Hudson River — a tidal estuary where fresh and salt water meet — have brought back algae, zooplankton and fish. And the humpbacks, which are the ultimate foodie tourists, weren't far behind! So far this year there have been an incredible 377 sightings.
Forest Penguins
Fiordland crested penguins prefer the warm waters and misty rainforest of southwest New Zealand to the icy Antarctic! With smaller bodies than many cold-weather penguins (such as emperors), the flightless birds live in balmy 21℃. And their eggs stay toasty in this warmer habitat, too, tucked away in caves, bushes and tree stumps where males sit on the nests.
Ocean Sloths
Pygmy three-toed sloths might be slow climbers, but when they get into the water, they're powerful paddlers! These special sloths, which only live in the mangroves of a tiny island off the coast of Panama in Central America, plop into the sea when they want to move to a new tree. Their tummies are often filled with gas due to their leafy diet, so they stay afloat easily-and they can move three times faster in the water than they can on the ground. But since we're talking about sloths, that's really saying much!
