It is fifty times the size of the most familiar of one-celled animals, the paramecia, which constitute the dominant population (in numbers) of the invisible creation. It moves among the paramecia like a giant, flesh-eating dinosaur among humans. It is a cumbersome, slow-moving mass of protoplasm. Two or three get together and completely surround a large school of paramecia and these are divided as meals for the captors.
The creature was first described by the Swedish botanist Linnaeus in 1775. He called it Chaos chaos. It consists of a single cell, but differs from other one-celled animals in having three cell nuclei, instead of a single one. To reproduce, it splits in three parts, each a new animal.
Chaos chaos moves by stretching itself out into a ribbon-like form and proceeds, by a series of tugs of war, with one end or the other winning out. The animal supposedly is very rare and has been seen only about once every ten years. It may be a missing link between single-and multi-celled animals—or it may be on an entirely different evolutionary track.
The Sleeping Habits of Mammals
The tiny elephant shrew (its elongated nose gives it the appearance of a miniature elephant) apparently never closes its eyes. It is a desert animal, continually exposed to danger, and must “see” even when it is asleep.
Soundest sleepers are the burrowing animals, even when they take their naps above ground. They are conditioned through innumerable generations of safe slumber in their subterranean chambers. Sleeping pocket mice and hamsters can be picked up without being awakened.
Sleep habits appear to be well adjusted to the needs of each species. Most bats, for example, sleep hanging head downward, suspended by the nails of the hind feet. This places them in a good position for sudden flight at any alarm. They have only to let go with their toes and spread their wings.
Curious sleepers are the armadillos. They tremble almost continually in their sleep.
The Eerie Eyes of Animals at Night
Eerie lights shine in the silent blackness of the jungle night. There are red lights and green lights, orange lights and yellow lights. They are reflections from the eyes of all sorts of animals.