Mexico has 200,000 different species and contains 10 ' 12% of the earth's biodiversity. This megadiverse country's ecosystems range from rainforests and deserts to marine and Chaparral. Mexico ranks second in the world for its number of ecosystems and fourth for overall species.
Sheltered in a northeastern Mexican forest is the only known colony of Flat-Headed Myotis. This 2.5 gram bat weighs about the same as two peanuts and has a hunting range smaller than Mexico City. Named for its distinctive flat forehead, scientists recently rediscovered eight members of this rare species that had been declared extinct.
Mexican islands are the endemic home for two rodents, the
Margarita Island Kangaroo Rat and the
San Jose Island Kangaroo Rat. Each rodent lives on the island for which it is named and no where else on the planet. Both are critically endangered because they exist on less than 100 km2 and their populations are declining.
The Mexican Caecilian is a legless-amphibian that lives in burrows and swallows its prey whole. It emerges from the ground at dusk and after light rainfalls to feed. The Caecilian's tiny eyes and retractable tentacles are used to search for food.
Axolotl, the Mexican walking fish, is an aquatic salamander that can regenerate most of its body parts. It is endemic to two lakes in central Mexico.
Mexico is the destination for two marathon migrations, the monarch butterfly and the
gray whale. Every year one billion monarch butterflies travel 2,500 miles to spend the winter in Michoac'n's pine and oyamel fir forest. The 36-ton gray whales migrate 6,000 miles to Baja peninsula to mate and give birth to their calves. This distance holds the record for the longest known mammal migration.
Mexico is home to some of the most interesting animals on earth.