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From wolphins to ligers to beefalos, hybrid animals may not be true species yet, but they are still fascinating both biologically and visually. The Daily Beast has a great article featuring twelve such species with some cool photos to go along with them. Enjoy!
When it comes to “discovering” new species of animals, I think it’s more about having found where they’ve been hiding themselves from humanity and less about discovering brand new species.
I mean, most of the animals in this gallery look like the result of genetic evolution and adaptation, not some brand spanking new little critter.
But they are cute, and great fun to read about, considering that they’re so rare to see in nature. So take a look at this gallery and see what the animal guides were missing up until last year.
Link image credit: Indraneil Das
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Do you see anything strange in the picture above? Here’s a hint, it’s not just a tree… yup, there’s a spider in there too. Don’t miss the rest of the great camouflaged creatures in the gallery over at BuzzFeed.
From spiders who can live underwater for a whole day at a time to underwater rivers with their own wave systems, it’s simply amazing what can happen below the surface.
Wind, rain and waves can do some amazing things to rocks, which is precisely what made these amazing rock formations seen over at BuzzFeed. Be sure to click on the link, the formations are certainly all worth a view.
Let’s face it, humans can be just awful to animals, and it’s only a matter of time before critters come looking for a little payback. These rebellious heroes of the animal kingdom are out to show humanity that they’re not to be taken for granted.
–via Crenk
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I’ve lived by the ocean my whole life and have visited the ocean over and over, but I’ve never seen a wave from this angle or one that looks this amazing. Clark Little’s takes pictures like these inside of waves up to 40′ tall and the results are simply stunning. Don’t miss the link for more unbelievable shots.
So, you know how nature is absolutely terrifying? Finally there’s a blog that details all the terrible ways that mother earth wants to destroy you. Filled with terrifying animal pictures and short details of how terrifying any given animal actually is, Nature Wants To Eat You might not have much content yet (it’s still new), but what it does have is a whole lot of promise.
There’s something about these Care Bears that’s not quite right. Maybe it’s the massive fangs, or sharp claws, or the fact that the symbol on the bear’s stomach seems to be running. Something tells me these bears don’t want to hug and sing songs!
Parasites are raising an army of zombie wasp queens to do their bidding, and it’s a good thing that these parasites aren’t more ambitious, because they’d probably be well on their way to taking over the world by now!
The parasites cause common wasps to believe that they are queens, rejecting their normal caste and acting as self serving loners in wasp society:
Infected P. dominulus — better known as common European paper wasps — reject their genetically preordained roles, abandon their hives and embark on a long, macabre journey during which a few live for a time as queens, albeit murderous queens.
Read on about this fascinating example of parasitic mind control at the Wired link below, and pray these little critters don’t develop a taste for human blood!
Hermit crab homelessness is reaching critical levels, leaving many of these fine clawed fellows without a shell of their own.
Now, thanks to 3d printers and our tireless search for new things to print out, there’s a solution: custom printed hermit crab shells! The printed shells will last longer, look cooler and are sure to stir up feelings of jealousy among other hermit crabs. If only we could print houses for homeless humans!
This poor little guy wandered into a woman’s yard in Australia due to it being a particularly hot day, so the woman decided to let him drink from the hose. Apparently koalas don’t understand how hoses work, because he gets more water on his arm than he does in his mouth!
-via BuzzFeed
Previously: Sam gets a Drink
Dark Roasted Blend has a great article on turtles right now, complete with tons of great pictures and some interesting facts about the creatures. For example:
The rigid shell means turtles cannot breathe as other reptiles do, by changing the volume of their chest cavity via expansion and contraction of the ribs. Instead, turtles breathe in two ways. First, they employ buccal pumping, pulling air into their mouth, then pushing it into the lungs via oscillations of the floor of the throat. Secondly, by contracting the abdominal muscles that cover the posterior opening of the shell, the internal volume of the shell increases, drawing air into the lungs, allowing these muscles to function in much the same way as the mammalian diaphragm.
I don’t know about you guys, but this article makes me want to run off and adopt some new hard-shelled pets.
The feather starfish may be pretty just sitting there, but when it starts swimming, that’s when it’s true beauty shines. In fact, it’s downright hypnotic.
Via I Am Bored
I know you guys like tree houses based on how many of you comment every time we share links like this, so I’m really happy to get to share this great collection of tree houses with you guys. Which one is your favorite? I like the middle one on the bottom row of the pics above.
You probably already know about the devastating poaching trade in the Congo, but Environmental Graffiti has a great slideshow presenting a fascinating look at the tale from an entirely new point of view -that of the park rangers fighting the poachers on a day to day basis. Their jobs are deadly and the pay is practically nothing, but their love of animals keeps them working to stop the slaughter. Be warned, many of the images are extremely graphic.
I don’t know about you, but I’m a sucker for touching animal stories and this National Geographic article about the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust an elephant orphanage in Nairobi. The stories in the article are a must-read for any animal lover.
The nursery takes in orphan elephants from all over Kenya, many victims of poaching or human-wildlife conflict, and raises them until they are no longer milk dependent. Once healed and stabilized at the nursery, they are moved more than a hundred miles southeast to two holding centers in Tsavo National Park. There, at their own pace, which can be up to eight to ten years, they gradually make the transition back into the wild. The program is a cutting-edge experiment in cross-species empathy that only the worst extremes of human insensitivity could have necessitated.
Be sure to read the whole thing to learn all kinds of fascinating information about the group, the elephants and the amazing people working to improve the lives of these majestic creatures.
These frogs aren’t going to give up their legs lightly. Species of frog are rapidly evolving adaptations, such as the small fangs they’ve grown, on the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia, and scientists are amazed by how far they’ve come in such a short period of time. One reason is their lack of competition on the island, another reason being the frogs that live on the island all dwell within their own individual pocket, so as to avoid further rivalry over food. Nine species of frogs on Sulawesi have never been documented by scientist before, and thirteen species have developed the cute little choppers, making them look like something out of a Twilight-Muppets crossover. There’s lots more to read on the subject at PhysOrg.com.
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Humans might be one of the only animals to use tools as weapons, but Crack has a great list of animals born with weapons built right into their bodies -like the Giant Amazonian Centipede’s ninja skills, which allow him to catch and eat whole bats. Read about the rest at the link.
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Environmental Graffiti found ten oases in the middle of cities that provide a good dose of nature for urban dwellers. Some are big enough to have hiking trails, lakes, zoos, forests, gardens, and even observatories. These 26 pictures are a refreshing treat for the eyes! Pictured is the gorgeous Butchart Gardens on Vancouver Island in Victoria, B.C. Link
(Image credit: Flickr user WisDoc)
We’ve all heard about snakes eating food bigger than them, but this is just ridiculous. The black swallower eats fish that are 3 times larger than it by grabbing it by the tail and swallowing as the fish coils up inside the swallower’s stomach. The Proceedings of the Ever So Strange have more about this bizarre fish that has never been seen alive.
Up until now, only a few species of primates and birds have shown the ability to understand the concept of the future. But now, a type of weasel, the tayra, has shown it can plan for the future. The weasel has been observed gathering up unripe plantain bananas and hiding them away for later enjoyment when they are ripened. While plenty of critters hide food away for later, the tayra is special in that it selects bananas that are not ripe and returns when the fruit is ready.
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This World Wildlife Fund poster features a ton of hidden animals in the bushes.I know it’s hard to see at this size, but if you click on the link, you can enlarge the picture and try to see them all. How many can you find?
Who says you can’t go on a nature hike just because you’re in a big city? There’s plenty of edible plants growing right there in the streets of Washington, DC!
During two expeditions on Friday, adventurous eaters, amateur botanists, and a handful of curious locals descended on the Mt. Pleasant neighborhood of the Nation’s Capital in search of edible plants and wild foods with the renowned forager, ‘Wild Man’ Steve Brill. Our tour, co-hosted by Roadside Food Projects, Atlas Obscura, and Think Local First D.C., covered all of one block. But the number of foods we found, many of which were weeds you’d walk by without a second glance, didn’t even begin to scratch the surface of the available bounty growing between the city’s streets.
Read about the safari and the things they found at Atlas Obscura. Link
(Image credit: Dallas Lillich)
Greg In the Desert shot this photo of pier in Ohio where the water stains formed a sunset-styled western scene complete with a cowboy on his horse. Sometimes it’s amazing what coincidence can do.
Link Via BoingBoing
Dark Roasted Blend has an amazing collection of stunning and interesting trees right now, including the African tulip tree above, which is apparently very invasive. With a tree that pretty though, I don’t think I’d mind if it took over my whole neighborhood. How about you?
I know just as well as anyone else how easy it is to hate rats, mosquitoes and wasps, but like many other pests, these creatures are entirely necessary for our survival and for the ecosystems we call home. This great Cracked article explains why.
Warning: Some of the language is NSFW.
Nature has a frightening variety of toxins that humans have adapted for their own purposes: first to hunt prey for food, and also to kill their human enemies. For example, take the strychnos tree, from which we get strychnine.
Most of us have heard of strychnos owing to its use in rat poison – as well as the occasional murder! – but it has been used for centuries as an arrow poison in the jungles of Assam, Burma, Malaysia and Java. A chieftain of the Limba people of Sierra Leone is holding iron-tipped arrows dipped in strychnos poison in the image above. The seeds contain 1.5% strychnine, but the flowers and bark contain the poison too. People and animals exposed to the substance will suffer paralysis, severe convulsions and, finally, death. On the plus side, medical science has used it in minute doses to help people as well.
Read about seven of these traditional poisons at Environmental Graffiti. Link
(Image credit: Flickr member John Atherton)
When I was a kid I planted a tree that grew over the rooftop of my house. At the time I thought that was pretty cool, but now I have seen this great gallery of The Strangest Trees on Earth, which you will agree are pretty strange. See full gallery at the link.
Comments Off Last Father’s Day, we brought you a list of the world’s greatest animal dads, but now it’s time to thank the ladies for all their hard work. These matronly critters show just how much a mother’s love can mean to the success of her little one.
After a 22 month long pregnancy followed by delivery of the world’s largest babies (around 250 pounds), elephants deserve to be on this list even if they immediately abandoned their babes. But they don’t just say “thanks for all the stretch marks,” and get on their merry way, elephant mothers continue raising their babies. Baby elephants are born blind and completely dependant on their mother and the rest of the herd. While the baby is growing, they are fortunate enough to have a great support system consisting of multiple full-time babysitters, called “allmothers.” While the allmothers take care of the precious little one, the mother will work to eat as much as she can so she can make the most possible milk for her bundle of joy.
Image by Googie man [Wikipedia]
We don’t tend to think of cold-blooded animals as the most caring parents, but alligators certainly break that mold. The female alligator creates nests of rotting organic matter that not only self-incubates, but also determine the sex of the babies. Nests that are constructed with leaves are warmer than those made with wet marsh, and thus, produce more males than cooler nests.
Once mama gator has planned the sex of her litter, she will guard her nest from threats, including other alligators, who love to munch on baby gator nests. When the eggs hatch, she will load them into her mouth and then carry them into the water where she will continue to care for them for the following year, assuming they decide to stay near home.
Image via Catholic 85 [Wikipedia]
Female orangutans have to wait eight years between births (the longest interbirth time of any great ape), so they make sure their time with each baby counts. Infant orangutans are completely dependent on their mother for their first two years of life. In fact, during the first four months of a baby’s life, it will never break physical contact with its mother, clinging to her belly the whole time. Each night, the mother will make a nest and she and her baby will cuddle in bed during the duration of its infancy.
Even as they mature, they continue to stick close to mother and even breastfeed until they are five years old –making them the species with the longest dependence period. The girls stay with their mothers longer than the boys, sticking around to learn necessary baby rearing skills.
Image via JohnBurke [Flickr]
