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The name of order Pholidota comes from Ancient Greek ϕολιδωτός – "clad in scales" [20] from φολίς pholís "scale". [21] The name "pangolin" comes from the Malay word pengguling meaning "one who rolls up" [22] from guling or giling "to roll"; it was used for the Sunda pangolin (Manis javanica). [23] However, the modern name is ...
In Central and East Asia a common calendar system consists of a twelve-year cycle, with each year represented as an animal. The eleventh animal of the twelve-year cycle is the dog. Often such animals are depicted as human figures with an animal head. Thus, the cynocephalic depiction of the eleventh zodiac animal is common (possibly with a tail).
Strongylocentrotus purpuratus, a well-armoured sea urchin. Armour is evident in numerous animal species from both current and prehistoric times. Dinosaurs such as Ankylosaurus, as well as other Thyreophora (armoured dinosaurs such as Ankylosauria and Stegosauria), grew thick plate-like armour on their bodies as well as offensive armour appendages such as the thagomizer or a tail club.
Scutes on a crocodile. Reptile skin is covered with scutes or scales which, along with many other characteristics, distinguish reptiles from animals of other classes. They are made of alpha and beta-keratin and are formed from the epidermis (contrary to fish, in which the scales are formed from the dermis).
Many had hypocercal tails in order to generate lift to increase ease of movement through the water for their armoured bodies, which were covered in dermal bone. They also had sucking mouth parts and some species may have lived in fresh water. The taxon contains the subgroups Heterostraci, Astraspida, Arandaspida. † Thelodonti (extinct)
Timotheus of Gaza (On Animals, 53) says that the catoblepas emits fire from its nostrils. Claudius Aelianus (On the Nature of Animals, 7.6) provided a fuller description: the creature was a mid-sized herbivore, about the size of a domestic bull, with a heavy mane, narrow, bloodshot eyes, a scaly back and shaggy eyebrows. The head was so heavy ...
In the mountains of Ecuador lurked a scaly creature with a white “collar” around its neck. For years, the distinctive animal had managed to go unnoticed or, when occasionally spotted ...
Heracles is on the left, wearing his lion-skin, fighting a three-bodied Geryon to the right. An Attic black-figure neck amphora, by the Swing Painter c. 550–500 BC (Cab. Med. 223), shows a two-headed Orthrus, at the feet of a three-bodied Geryon, with two arrows protruding through one of his heads, and a dog tail. [13]