We, Polar Bears, are Apex Predators

That have no other threat or competitors.

Take us out of the food chain 

And soon no more fish will remain.

The seal population will start to grow 

And the fish will reach an all-time low.

We, the saviors that were once there

Will not be seen anywhere.

We are strong, cunning, and vigilant creatures

Born to become exceptional leaders.

Our unpredictable hunting methods

Enable us to catch prey within seconds.

Blue whales, sea otters, macaws, we’ll eat them raw

With our strong vicious teeth and hunting claws.

Nothing is escaping us when we decide 

What we’ll eat as we’re filled with limitless pride. 

Bright white fur that matches with the snow

Allows us to camouflage on the glaring ice floe.

We are unstoppable with all our skills 

Step in our way and we’ll give you the chills.

We will win and there’s nothing you can do

Other than to join our very own crew.

Vote for us and we’ll show you the beginning

To what it feels like to be constantly winning.

If you want the total package you have come to the right place. Bonobos have the brains, bronze, beauty and heart to be the best animal you ever did see. Fasten your seat belts because we’re going on a ride. 

Our first stop is brain power. Bonobos have eidetic memory which is the ability to recall any image from memory after seeing it only once with high precision. They also have a keen sense of eyesight like humans, which helps them locate a food source from a distance, and since bonobos are a collaborative species they share their food with other members of their group to prevent starvation. That’s not all, even their poop has a purpose. Scientists found that seeds dispersed by bonobos have a 97% success rate because when they are pooped out they are left in a form that is great for them to start growing because they are covered in fertilizer. Another cool adaption is that bonobo sleep in nests made of branches, leaves and twigs to avoid being attacked by a predator. Speaking of predators let's move onto physical strength. 

Bonobos use their long arms to their advantage and can swing away or use their sharp teeth to bite the attacker if necessary. They can fight but mostly try to resolve all issues peacefully. Don’t let this fool you though, they can put up a pretty gruesome battle. Bonobos legs are also useful. On the ground they can walk on two feet just like humans. They also move in a special position called knuckle-walking. Another way they are similar to humans is their DNA. Bonobos share 98.7% of our DNA and are one of our closest relatives. They are so close to humans that five bonobos got covid vaccines because their DNA is so close to ours. Bonobos are smart, strong and human like but they are also beautiful. 

A bonobo named Camillo was named the most handsome ape in the world and is called “Brad Pitt” of apes. Talk about being a total package. And last but certainly not least we have their kind hearts. Bonobos are highly socially evolved and because of this they are able to intricate with respect and love. This behavioral adaptation also leads them to a female prominent society where ladies have the final say in making a decision, and thus are the leaders of their respective tribes.

 I know this is a lot to take but you have to admit that bonobos are pretty darn amazing. They are a well rounded species that definitely deserves to win. #Let’sGoBonobo  

Welcome back to round 4 everybody, hasn't it been a long journey and competition for the last few weeks...well maybe not for you, but hasn't it been for me. Anyways forgot that and let’s talk about why my animal (the Spix’s macaw) and why it is the best of all time, or as some people say GOAT (greatest of all time). First, let’s talk about the basics. My animal is a blue feathered bird with dull blue/faint greenish tinge on our chests, and also we come equipped with pale grey-bluish ear covers and a long dark blue tail. The ears-covers protect us from dust, sand, water, etc. And our long tails help us steer through tight gaps within trees and get in holes within trees. 

You're probably wondering, “that’s good and all but tell me something more interesting that I don’t know”, well here look we Spix’s macaws are very frugivores and granivores, what does this mean you ask? Well, it means that we only eat fruits and seeds, some examples of what we eat include fruits, seeds, flowers, leaves, nuts, insects, and snails. Sometimes if we are feeling like it, we may eat tree bark, so we can obtain some of those juicy minerals. 

Ya, ya, I know that’s amazing and all, but why am I truly the best animal here? Well the answer, quite simple and very obvious at this point, and that is...my rarity. The chances of you finding me in this day and age, are 1 in a 1000000, sike it’s pretty much impossible to find me today, and if you manage to find me, it would be a dream come true to many scientists and biologists. You're probably at this point, why are you so rare anyway? Well you see, I am the rarest animal in this competition because of 3 main reasons, and those are...hunting (as in by the indigenous peoples of Brazil), deforestation (loss of my beautiful home), and finally trapping activities (this is easily the most harmful cause of my extinction in the wild). These 3 reasons are the reason I am extinct in the wild now 😞. The last thing to say is that to vote for the animal that needs the most attention in the world right now and needs the most help.

The magnificent blue whales have such amazing streamlined bodies for efficient movement through waters. Their 6 foot flippers(arms) are used to help them steer left and right and their Gigantic 25 foot horizontal tail is used for them to move up/down. You may think that because a blue whale is so big and strong it is very slow for its size but you're wrong. A 170-ton beast can move up to 13km per hour. This may seem slow but at birds eye view, the size and speed of a blue whale is out of our league. Its body is not designed to move fast but to be built the best. Heat loss in water is almost 30 times greater than the same temperature on land. This activity demonstrates that the blue whale must adapt to cool ocean temperatures to avoid heat loss and stay normal. One way a blue whale stays warm is by their layer of blubber(body fat) under their skin to keep them warm and cozy. 

Because the blue whale is always warm, it can eat almost 4 tons a day. The blue whale doesn't have teeth to eat so in the day the blue whale dives down 100 feet to take massive gulps of krill. These gulps can fit over millions of krill at once and no other animal can eat that much in a day. When they do eat, water gets trapped in their mouths so they go back up the surface and blow out a fine mist spout(spray) through their blowholes. Their spout can be as high as a four story building. You can not lie, that's pretty amazing and I bet no other animal has the ability to do that. Sleeping for humans is important but not for a blue whale. 

The behavior of the blue whale is shocking. The way it sleeps is that they rest one half of their brain at one time then the other at another time. This way they will never get tired and always see what's going on around them.  When swimming in the ocean, they communicate with others by making loud sounds or flap their tail to make big splashes in the ocean. This way another blue whale can see or hear one another. The adaptations of a blue whale are priceless. They are such extraordinary mammals and rule the seas like the king of the world. 

I am the new silverback. My name: Harambe. The silverback before me was killed by a leopard, and the one before that was killed by the silverback before me. The one that was killed by another silverback, I viewed as a father figure. My mother fought a leopard to the death to protect me and the silverback let me sleep with him until I grew up. I promise to myself that I will be like him. 

  I hear a scream and snap back into reality. I turn around and get ready for a fight but it turns out some of the young were just play-fighting. I roar and join in by tackling them both. We fall on the ground and can’t help but start laughing uncontrollably. Soon the rest of the troop can’t help but let stupid grins onto their faces and begin to laugh too. While giggling I use my hand to motion that we are going to stop here for the night. As everyone calms down and goes to find things to make their beds with, I see someone reaching for something strange in a bush. I realize what it is and scream! Everyone stops dead and looks at me with shocked and scared faces to see what happened. I walk over to the bush and throw a stick in. Snap! If the gorilla beside me kept reaching, their hand would be ruined. Thankfully, I saw it in time. The gorilla embraces me and touches my nose with their nose to say thank you. We resume making our beds and once we do, we gather together for supper. Nearby, a large log is covering an ant hill. Ants are one of our favourite foods but they are pretty hard to come by. I walk over and use my strength that can lift up to 4000 pounds to move the log out of the way. Everyone joins me and we feast on the tiny insects. Afterwards, We burp and while the kids play around with each other, the adults hold hands and begin to sing. It’s an old song that we’ve sung many times, but it’s our favourite. Once we finish the song, I break away and start playing with the kids again. Soon after, we’ve exhausted ourselves and decide to go to bed. We don’t have to worry about getting cold during the night because of our thick fur.

  The next morning I wake up to a scream! My eyes snap open and I see that one of the gorillas in our troop has been tranquilized by some humans and their pets. I’m caught off guard by the pets, there's a blue whale, an orca, a bonobo, a polar bear, a peacock mantis shrimp, a sea otter, and a spix’s macaw. I’m confused as to why they chose to bring these pathetic animals and how they got them here. Either way though, they are attacking my troop so I lunge at them. On my way I step on the mantis shrimp and the sea otter, but I barely notice. I ram into the blue whale and try to pick it up. Unfortunately, it is way too fat but thankfully it also means that it can’t fight back. I poke its eyes with a sharpened stick I made and move on to the orca. It, too, is way too fat. I can’t do much to it either, so I poke it’s eyes too. The macaw is flying at me so I grab it and throw it away into the forest. The bonobo is on me but it can’t do much because of my armoured skin and it's weak arms. All the while the rest of my troop is throwing stones to try and help injure them. As I turn onto the polar bear I get hit by something and everything seems s l o w e r. 

W h a t h a p p e n e d t o m e? 

I fall unconscious. When I wake up, I see a concrete wall in front of me, I look up and see more humans! They’re staring at me, fascinated. I see a young human leaning a little too far over the edge of the wall. A new plaything? He falls. Meanwhile, somewhere else in the world a giant silverback gorilla named Kong fights a giant lizard.

Crabs, clams and other hard-bodied sea-life – be very afraid. Your shells can't save you now. I currently hold two world records: I am the fastest puncher of all living animals, delivering a punch so fast and deadly that the acceleration is 10 000 times greater than gravity and creates a pressure wave that boils the water around me.  I may be well-known for my record breaking punch but I also hold the world record for the most complex eyes in the world, whereas you humans only have three photoreceptors, red, green, and blue, I have between 12 and 16, giving me the most sophisticated eyes in the animal kingdom. On top of all of that, I can also be useful for detecting cancer. Because my extraordinary eyes can detect polarized light, scientists are attempting to replicate my complex vision to make cameras that could detect cancer cells, The reason this is possible is because some polarized light reflects differently between healthy and cancerous tissues. 

So why wouldn't you want to vote for an animal who can save human’s lives by detecting cancer? Are you really so selfish that you would ignore the amazing abilities of a peacock mantis shrimp? Imagine if you had cancer, wouldn't you want a mantis shrimp to be available so doctors can better visualize tumors during surgery and potentially save your life?

Photoreceptors: cells in the retina that respond to light

Retina: a thin layer of tissue that lines the back of the eye on the inside.

Polarized: to make light waves move in one direction only, or mainly in one direction

Polarized light:  polarized lenses help improve vision clarity in bright situations

Ok last round. This round is for me to just tell you about why I am better than my 7 other opponents. Well first off i can basically guarantee that i'm cuter than all of them. I mean look at them compared to me. I'm not the smallest or the biggest. I live in groups with the same gender and we all hold hands!!! We also love to cuddle. I have an amazing fur coat that's double layered. One layer gets wet and the other one is shorter and doesn't get wet. It helps keep me warm. Just being around me is amazing. Humans absolutely love me. I'm super important to my habitat and without me the kelp forests would be gone. Our pups are born with buoyant fur that does not let them sink so they float on the surface of the water. Until they are able to dive on their own. Did I say I'm really cute? Because trust me, I am. I have a really strong bite force that can break through shells and other things. I'm a really good swimmer. I mean I live in the water. If you try and fight me, me and my boys will pull up on you guys. We fight in numbers!! I'm really smart and can do a lot of things. Like I'll use tools to open my food such as rocks. I'll use rocks to bash open the shells of the sea urchins so I can eat them. And I'll use tools for other things. The female sea otters live for 15-20 years while the male ones live for 10-15 years.