Weird Animals

http://i.imgur.com/JbVtUfi.jpg

"Five minutes to showtime Ms Henderson"

Jesus. Help.

http://www.purocoffee.com/tl_files/puro_2012/news/potoo_baby2.jpg

Half gecko half owl half god's greatest mistake.

http://i57.tinypic.com/2h6d0xw.jpg

god apparently actually quite proud of the potoo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9J_KCYajUU

Thought that was going to be about this at first: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potoooooooo

But can that is one word bird, half gecko half owl is perfect description.

should really be pot-9-o, no?

http://www.treehugger.com/natural-sciences/cthulhus-pet-giant-isopod-25-feet-found-attached-to-underwater-robot.html

Isopods make me >_<;;

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/mutant-chicken-grows-alli/

holy shit at megaisopod

http://news.discovery.com/animals/sea-snake-dries-to-a-crisp-before-rehydrating-140318.htm

megaisopod slightly disappointing after seeing that url.

http://news.discovery.com/animals/sea-snake-dries-to-a-crisp-before-rehydrating-140318.htm

― 龜, Wednesday, April 2, 2014 6:13 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Nice! The yellow-bellied sea snakes is v v pretty.

Adventures in mosquito research:

Only female mosquitoes drink blood, and they use proteins in their meals to make the shells of their eggs. But they also need mating partners, and A. dirus are as finicky about sex as they are about food. Andolina used to have to force-mate them.

To begin: decapitate a male, and anaesthetise a female with ether. Next, unite the two by inserting the male’s still-protruding genitals into his unconscious partner. Get it right and the two insects (or one-and-a-half insects) lock together, sperm is transferred, and the female becomes pregnant. Andolina first learned to do this without a microscope. It took steady hands.

http://snakesarelong.blogspot.com/2014/03/why-do-snakes-have-two-penises.html?m=1

(Post features all the snake penis photos you could possibly want.)

Are you tired of mere static images of oarfish? And dead oarfish at that? Then behold video footage of live oarfish!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xWaQ5E07yk

honestly never seen a live one so that's pretty dope.

URL sez it all: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/2014/04/17/in-brazilian-cave-insects-females-have-the-penis/

The, ehhem, nut grafs:

When Neotrogla get busy, the female climbs on top of the male and inserts her penis-like structure, called a gynosome, into the male in order to receive sperm capsules. Once the pair is locked together, they’ll copulate for a marathon baby-making session of 40 to 70 hours.

However, the act is about more than just reproduction. Food is scarce in the caves that Neotrogla call home, and male sperm capsules double as a nutritious meal for females. Researchers believe females compete with each other to literally capture males and steal their seminal gifts.

And capture is an accurate way to describe Neotrogla intercourse. Once inside the male, the female’s gynosome inflates and spiky structures on the organ anchor the two creatures together. When researchers once attempted to pry apart a mating pair, the male’s abdomen was ripped from the thorax, but the genital coupling remained intact.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1FoOa8VA0c

Mammals -- and their genitalia -- can be weird too!

http://scientopia.org/blogs/scicurious/2009/09/25/friday-weird-science-the-hyena-mating-game/

FLOATING OOD HEAD:

https://24.media.tumblr.com/58ce8e7f63173af56b4bff0b6eb6e945/tumblr_n4wn7aHyPW1qm9k25o2_500.jpg

AKA Japetella octopus: http://montereybayaquarium.tumblr.com/post/84435959998/now-on-exhibit-two-rare-deep-sea-cephalopods-we

Two species that aren't weird in themselves -- more like one in the other:

http://www.nbcnews.com/science/weird-science/last-supper-centipede-dies-eating-way-out-snake-belly-n80071

Happy Monday:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mktMxLrU8rA&noredirect=1

(Leaving that unembedded because.)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2639831/The-alien-backyard-Researchers-sea-creature-unique-brain-regrow-four-days.html

Nice!

In other convergent evolution news: http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2014/05/22/the-surprising-closest-relative-of-the-huge-elephant-birds/

And a nice bookend to a subthread from this thread's early days.

http://i58.tinypic.com/23tsccm.jpg
Snake!?

http://i61.tinypic.com/zk04sk.jpg
Caterpillar!

http://www.grindtv.com/outdoor/nature/post/caterpillar-appears-snake-camouflage/

Wow, A+.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_kwUPi41Mc
bonus monkey island ii music

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJwGpZ38JHE

Strong Clark Ashton Smith vibes.

Was thinking it was a shower curtain and then it started to light up.

Octopus ghost? Potential shoggoth?

http://deepseanews.com/2012/05/solving-the-mystery-of-the-placental-jellyfish/

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2014/06/10/the-barnacle-that-eats-glowing-sharks/

Aw man that is the best and also the cutest

Hoopoe nestlings can defend themselves by squirting streams of faeces at intruders and, unlike other birds, they don’t clean their waste from their nests.

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2014/06/27/the-bird-that-paints-its-eggs-with-bacteria/

Disgusting but fascinating.

In what might be considered a mixed message outside of the ichthyology world, scientists have named a new species of cavefish after the Indiana University Hoosiers. It’s blind, has its anus behind its head, and distinguishes itself from its nearest relative by being a little fatter.

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/inkfish/2014/06/03/scientist-names-newly-discovered-blind-fish-with-neck-anus-after-his-alma-mater/#.U43KkxaCtbw

Not so much weird animal as idiot human: http://dangerousminds.net/comments/man_who_thought_he_was_slapping_an_opossum_actually_slapped_a_porcupine

To fully appreciate how bizarre Hydra is, put yourself in its shoes. Imagine you’re a Hydra, and you’re slowly being torn apart. Cell by tiny cell you are disassembled, and in the end nothing is left of you but a soup of your own bits, smeared on the bottom of a bowl. But you’re not dead, and you’re not going to be.

http://deepseanews.com/2014/06/this-animal-can-be-torn-apart-and-will-come-back-together-again/

You're doing god's work here, Leee.'

Wonder how Hydra compares and contrasts with other self-organizing collectives (coral, ants, bees).

http://images.dangerousminds.net/uploads/images/slapsdfsdfsdfsdfdsf.jpg

Are Brazilian porcupines usually bright yellow or did they dye this one to match the Seleção?

a hydra irl:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6iEuULff44

Thanks, Plas! I love this stuff, not a bit of work.

re: Hydras, the link explains that individuals actually share living tissue with each other (not just physically connected, but also sharing the same stomach), whereas individuals in ant superorganisms are of course not connected to each other.

Cursory GIS for Brazilian porcupines suggests that they're not bright yellow.

Principles of Hydra self-organization remind me a bit of organogenesis in embryology. A few chief cells gradually organizing a much larger pool of pluripotent cells. In humans, it's the loss of pluripotency that prevents regrowth (but allows quite a bit wider range of developmental targets than in Hydra).

Googling shows me others have made the same point: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0012160606014308

Also found another recent example of someone attacked by yellow Brazilian porcupine quills (add "yellow" to the GIS):

http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1568646/thumbs/o-SANDRA-NABUCCO-PORCUPINE-QUILLS-IN-HEAD-570.jpg
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/01/17/porcupine-embeds-brazilian-woman-sandra-nabuccos-head-with-200-quills-pictures_n_4616922.html

And wiki has this porcupine quill headband, made by the indigenous Witoto people of southern Colombia and northern Peru:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c3/Headband%2C_porcupine_quills%2C_Witoto_people_-_South_American_objects_in_the_American_Museum_of_Natural_History_-_DSC06070.JPG/320px-Headband%2C_porcupine_quills%2C_Witoto_people_-_South_American_objects_in_the_American_Museum_of_Natural_History_-_DSC06070.JPG

Then there's someone on Etsy dying porcupine quills canary yellow: https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/129943063/premieum-canary-yellow-porcupine-quills

And a "Awesome Black and Yellow Tanned Porcupine,Ready for mounting": http://www.taxidermy.net/forum/index.php?topic=302001.0

I don't know what to think anymore.

http://i62.tinypic.com/2195r2r.jpg

Red phase African Bush Viper.

Or a red dragon hatchling. Your choice.