Off the coast of South Africa, in the south Atlantic Ocean, you’ll find an island that is very hard to get to. Photo credit: atwicke on VisualHunt / CC BY Inaccessible Island rail - Inaccessible Island They can grow to be 29mm which is small enough to fit on the tip of your finger! The world’s tiniest chameleon was discovered in 2012 on an island off the coast of Madagascar called Nosy Hara. Photo credit: Simply Viola ( Busy +off-on ) on / CC BY-NC-SA Unlike other monkeys that hang out in trees, geladas spend most of their time on the ground eating grass, seeds, roots and sometimes insects. These pink-chested monkeys live in the highlands of the African country of Ethiopia. Photo credit: shaylib on Visual hunt / CC BY-NC-ND The glands in their noses causes them to sneeze out the salt they take in from the ocean water and algae! They can hold their breath underwater for up to an hour. They have flattened tails to help them move through the water and dive deep to feed on algae. The Galápagos Islands are the only place where you’ll find iguanas that swim. Photo credit: Valerie Hukalo on Visual Hunt / CC BY-NC-SA Marine Iguana - Galápagos Islands, Ecuador This species is important in the area’s ecosystem because they help plants grow without even knowing it! They bury plant seeds to eat later but sometimes forget about the seeds, so the plants grow instead! This bouncy, long-tailed rat can only be found in the sandhills of Santa Cruz, California. Photo credit: PeroMHC on Visualhunt / CC BY-NC-SA Kangaroo Rat - Santa Cruz, California, USA There were only 24 of them left but now there are many more in zoos around the world. Once thought to be extinct on Lord Howe Island off the coast of Australia, they were rediscovered on a nearby tiny islet called Ball’s Pyramid in 2001. Not actually lobsters, these giant stick insects are considered to be the rarest insect in the world. Tree Lobsters - Ball’s Pyramid, Australia They live in burrows, eat only plants and hibernate for about 210 days a year - that’s more than half of a year! Marmots are members of the squirrel family. This large marmot is only found in the mountains of Vancouver Island in British Columbia. Photo credit: BC Gov Photos on Visual Hunt / CC BY-NC-ND Vancouver Island Marmot - Vancouver Island, Canada Let’s take a look at 10 of these rare creatures! You could also say that these are endemic species, meaning that they don’t exist anywhere else in the world outside of their natural habitat (except maybe in zoos). There are some species of animals that only live in one tiny area of the planet.

Galapagos islands video for kids