Slow Animals

Diplodocus carnegii

Diplodocus was one of the longest dinosaurs to ever walk the Earth, an enormous long-necked, long-tailed herbivore that roamed what is now western North America during the Late Jurassic period. Despite its massive length, it was relatively lightly built for its size, with a skeleton adapted to minimize weight while still supporting its huge frame.

Camelus dromedarius

The dromedary, or one-humped camel, is a large desert mammal domesticated thousands of years ago and superbly adapted to surviving extreme heat and long stretches without water.

Dugong dugon

The dugong is a large marine mammal closely related to manatees, spending its entire life grazing on seagrass meadows in the shallow coastal waters of the Indian and western Pacific Oceans. It is the only strictly herbivorous marine mammal that lives exclusively in the sea, unlike manatees, which sometimes venture into freshwater rivers.

Tridacna gigas

The giant clam is the largest living bivalve mollusk in the world, capable of growing shells over a meter across and living for a century or more anchored to the same spot on a coral reef. Rather than actively hunting for food, it hosts millions of photosynthetic algae within its colorful mantle tissue, drawing most of its energy from sugars the algae produce using sunlight.

Phascolarctos cinereus

The koala is a tree-dwelling marsupial native to Australia, spending nearly its entire life in eucalyptus trees on a diet that would be toxic to most other mammals.

Dermochelys coriacea

The leatherback is the largest sea turtle species in the world and the only one without a hard bony shell, ranging farther into cold water than any other reptile.

Aurelia aurita

The moon jellyfish is one of the most common and widely-distributed jellyfish species, drifting through coastal waters worldwide in large seasonal blooms.

Hippocampus kuda

The seahorse is one of the ocean's most distinctive fish, with an upright, horse-like body shape unlike almost any other fish species. Rather than swimming powerfully, it drifts through seagrass beds and coral reefs, anchoring itself in place with a flexible, prehensile tail wrapped around plant stems or coral.

Stegostoma tigrinum

The zebra shark is a docile, bottom-dwelling shark of the Indo-Pacific, named for the dark stripes seen in juveniles that fade into a spotted pattern as adults.