Are kangaroos nocturnal? No way! I’m watching them search for food and play around during the day on TV. You’re kidding me!
Be patient, My Impatient Friend! I’m not going to tell you that all the kangaroos are nocturnal, in fact, some are actually diurnal. However, if you refer to native Australian where the real Kangaroos are coming from, species such as the Red Kangaroo and Tree Kangaroo are mainly nocturnal whereas the Eastern and Western Grey Kangaroo are mainly diurnal. Well, I can say that most of you will have them nocturnal reside there.
8. Rabbit Rat style="width: 810px" class="wp-caption alignnone">
Nocturnal Animals List – Rabbit Rat. Photo via www.pbase.com
Well, it’s not kind of genetic engineering thing as you probably think why it has to have two names of animals on it. Rabbit rat is the real animal you can find on Australia, New Guinea and Melville Island.
It spends the daytime resting among the treetops and touching the ground at night to forage for food such as seeds, fruits, grass, and leaves.
9. Raccoons
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Nocturnal Animals List – Raccoons. Photo via www.lakehighlands.advocatemag.com
If your favorite movie genre is robbery, then you should adore these animals. Yes, raccoons are famous as an expert thief. Their skill is supported by their ability to see through the darkness. They are omnivores just like humans, eat almost anything.
10. Cat
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Nocturnal Animals List – Cat. Photo via coppercoast.sa.gov.au
Surprised?
The cat is (actually) nocturnal. Wildcats hunt during the night and sleeps in the daytime, including the domestic cats that you have as a pet now. They are nocturnal but their behavior is simply modified so they sleep during the day when there’s no one (quiet) and grow active as your house fills with activity at the end of the word or school day.
11. Owls11. Owls
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nocturnal animals – owls. image: pixabay.com
Everyone knows that owls are perfectly adapted to live as nocturnal animals. Have you noticed their large eyes? Owl’s eyes are disproportionately large compared to their skulls, giving them the ability to see in the darkness without depending on echolocation. Owls cannot move their eyes, but they have flexible necks, which they use to turn their heads to almost 270 degrees. They also have exceptional hearing, and they can flight noiselessly, which enable them to hunt at night.
12. Fireflies12. Fireflies
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nocturnal animals – Fireflies. image: youtube.com
Fireflies are the sources of those small, dancing lights you see above the grasses at night. They look like regular beetles at first glance, with abdomen colors such as yellow, pale red, or green. However, they have special organs in their lower abdomens that emit special enzymes, which create chemical reactions that result in the light. This process is called bioluminescence, and all fireflies show this phenomenon even when they are still larvae. They use the light to find mates or warn predators.
13. Hamsters13. Hamsters
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nocturnal animals – Hamsters. image: petscorner.co.uk
Do you know why your hamsters often cause noises in their cages at night? That’s because hamsters are nocturnal, just like mice and rats. Wild hamsters usually hide in the ground during the day, to avoid predators. This habit stays even after hamsters were bred as pets. Hamsters also have poor eyesight and rely on smell to find foods, but they have good hearing to compensate. Therefore, if you have hamsters, make sure you don’t stress them out by shouting or making loud noises around them.
14. Coyotes14. Coyotes
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nocturnal animals – Coyotes. image: kids.nationalgeographic.com
Nothing scarier than being outside at night and hearing coyotes howl in the distance. These native North American canines may be smaller than wolves, but they are feared as predators and pests. Coyotes are known as the potential carriers of diseases such as canine distemper, rabies, canine hepatitis, and equine encephalitis. Coyotes eat a wide range of animals, from amphibians to mammals, but they sometimes also eat plants such as blueberries, grasses, apples, pears, carrots, and corns.
15. Sugar Gliders15. Sugar Gliders
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nocturnal animals – Sugar Gliders. image: petcha.com
Sugar gliders may look like squirrels, but they are actually nocturnal possums. Their large eyes are perfect to see at night, and they have a special membrane that extends from forelegs to hind legs. They use this membrane to glide from one tree to another. Sugar glider got its “sugar” name from their habits of eating nectar and saps. They eat insects, fruits, seeds, and even small bird’s eggs. They are also marsupials, which means that the females have pouches to keep their babies.
16. Honey Badgers16. Honey Badgers
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nocturnal animals – Honey Badgers. image: howitworksdaily.com
You probably have seen those videos of honey badgers attacking poisonous snakes (and live). These cute, nocturnal weasels are real predators that hunt not only snakes, but also lizards, frogs, eggs, birds, rodents, and even turtles. They have strong jaws that can crack bones and turtle’s shell. They live in warm areas in sub-Saharan Africa, Iran, Turkmenistan, and India. They have even spotted digging through human remains that are left out in the open. Many poultry farmers consider them as pests.
17. Spectacled Bears17. Spectacled Bears
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nocturnal animals – Spectacled Bears. image: kidsbiology.com
No, these bears don’t actually wear spectacles. They have unique white shades on their face and neck, which earned them that name. Spectacled bears are the only native bear species of South America, and they are considered vulnerable. Their sizes range from 47 to 78.5 inches long (120 to 200 cm), and their diets consist of very little meat. They mostly eat fruits, palm nuts, cactus, (unopened) palm leaves and nuts, and bamboo hearts. Spectacled bears are reclusive and solitary, spending most of their times on the tree branches.
18. Hermit Crabs<18. Hermit Crabs
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nocturnal animals – Hermit Crabs. image: yourfishstore.com
Hermit crabs not only active at night, but they also love finding “homes” by scavenging empty shells and living in there. Once a hermit crab finds the perfect empty shell, it will defend it fiercely, and even fight other crabs for it. When the crab grows older and bigger, it will leave the shell and find a new, bigger one. While most species are small, the biggest species of these crabs can grow as big as coconuts!
19. Tasmanian Devil19. Tasmanian Devil
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nocturnal animals – Tasmanian Devil. image: treadright.org
No, this Tasmanian devil is not a cartoon character. This marsupial animal lives in Tasmania, and its diet is varied, depending on what’s available. Tasmanian devils usually eat lizards, frogs, birds, insects, and even some fruits. However, they often eat from carrions or dead animals, and even go near sheep to prey on the small or weak ones. The Tasmanian devil has a thick body, long tail, and forelegs that are longer than the hindlegs (unique in marsupial animals). Their coat is mostly black, with white markings on their chests.
20. Panamanian Night Monkey20. Panamanian Night Monkey
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nocturnal animals – Panamanian Night Monkey. image: pinterest.ca
You probably can guess that Panamanian night monkeys are nocturnal animals based on their names. However, do you know that these monkeys are more monogamous than other monkey species? After mating, the male monkey often carries the baby, unless when the baby needs feeding from the mother. Panamanian night monkey is small and only weighs 31.4 to 32.3 oz (889 to 916 g). Tourists in jungle tours often try to spot these monkeys, because they are reclusive and challenging to find.
Okay, those are twenty nocturnal animals that you may not know before. There are many of them, but we are sorry that we can cope all of them. But we promise you to have others on the next article. Have a good day!
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