Weird Animals

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.

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2014/07/09/placenta-evolution-and-a-sexual-cold-war/

Mammals only evolved placentas once. But the [fishy wishies] have evolved these organs on at least eight separate occasions, and in a very short span of time. “The placenta is a very complex organ. Imagine if the eye evolved several times in the hominids. It’s that kind of complexity,” says Bart Pollux from the University of California, Riverside.

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/02/the-blood-harvest/284078/

;_; Poor lil' dudes

Oy, yeah! I propose going back to rabbits.

Bleed 'em and eat 'em

i liked that new yorker piece:
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/04/14/blue-bloods

During my convalescence I'm getting acquainted with the charms of the Brain Scoop, which, granted isn't a weird animal per se.

Well that's a relief, I was picturing a giant earwig with a big grapefruit spoon for a tail.

Emily Brain Scoop is amazing!!! xp

I just saw a clip of her saying "amazing" three times in two minutes, maybe that's why

i dug the wolf skinning video. vicarious experience yay.

Wolf skinning/dismembering videos were great.

I accidentally wound up seeing pictures of a sea mouse. Looks like some kind of alien parasite disguised as a toupee.

http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/20253

what a rad lil dude
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhNGdnuFQYM

TINY!

Are those power sockets on the floor? Cause that'd make him a tiny dude

vent of some kind i think

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn25983-detergent-treatment-turns-a-mouse-seethrough.html#.U9p0RPldWSp

transparent mouse

http://i59.tinypic.com/167qpme.jpg

The picture at the link is potentially disturbing if you are disturbed by boneless, skinless, transparent mice.

This species of "Sir" Satanic leaf-tailed gecko just scratches the surface of awesome geckos:

http://www.wired.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/42-33052978.jpg

MOAR: http://www.wired.com/2014/07/absurd-creature-of-the-week-satanic-leaf-tailed-gecko/

http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/thousands-these-bizarre-blue-animals-wash-along-california-shores

http://i.imgur.com/Pa9tFRG.jpg

Flower hat jellyfish, maaaaaan:

http://deepseanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Screen-Shot-2014-07-18-at-12.11.31-PM.png

http://deepseanews.com/2014/07/outta-sight-jelly-babies-discovered-with-a-black-light/

We need some (non-naked mole rat) mammals up in here, so, whales with internal antlers: http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2014/07/31/do-beaked-whales-have-internal-antlers/

In UNWEIRD developments:

Melanocetus johnsonii, along with the four other anglerfish that make up genus Melanocetus, don’t have parasitic males. Males of this genus are still significantly smaller and lack lures, but they retain their free-swimming lifestyle into adulthood, occasionally biting into the side of a much larger female for a temporary coupling, where gametes and food are exchanged. This temporary coupling, in which no tissue fusion takes place, has been observed only three times: once during the filming of the BBC Blue Planet documentary; once off the coast of Japan; and once, confusingly between a male Melanocetus johnsonii and a completely different species, Centrophryne spinulosa. In none of these instances was the connection permanent, and no reduced males have even been found attached to a Melanocetus.

:(

HUEG PENGU: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/2014/08/12/extinct-mega-penguin-tall-as-person/

Pretty:

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/running-ponies/files/2014/08/young-boomslang.jpg

But don't get bitten by one: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/running-ponies/2014/08/10/this-snakes-venom-makes-you-bleed-from-every-orifice-until-you-die/

Interestingly, many bite victims report “seeing with a yellow tinge,” which may be due to bleeding inside the eyes.

<3

BOOMSLANG
this is a great DJ name too
first album could be "seeing with a yellow tinge"

Interestingly, many bite victims report “seeing with a yellow tinge,” which may be due to bleeding inside the eyes.
― OH MY GOD HE'S OOGLEEE (Leee), Monday, August 18, 2014 1:35 PM (9 hours ago) Bookmark

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xanthopsia

Blood in the retina usually looks dark, like a shadow, blood in the vitreous (the jellied eyeball itself) looks red.

Sodium channel blockade produces yellow vision by affecting cone function. Many neurotoxins produce this effect.

Famously (for doctors), digitalis / digoxin treatment, especially in overdose, can produce yellow vision.

Meanwhile Viagra can produce cyanopsia (blue-tinged or -haloed vision).

themoreyouknow.gif

Thanks for the correction, Plas!

https://31.media.tumblr.com/927b985287cd92d54558166776248eef/tumblr_nao4mxBFeC1qm9k25o2_500.gif

http://montereybayaquarium.tumblr.com/post/95559080028/plankton-of-the-world-beware-while-most

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qQcM9yytSI#t=30

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/2014/08/22/blackbird-unleashes-hell-golden-gate-park/

ha ha that bird got them good

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/octopus-chronicles/2014/08/27/dumbo-octopus-gives-rare-view-video-2/

♥

On mites:

The mites have this helpful habit where they… er… have no anus and never poo. Instead, they release a lifetime’s worth of waste when they die.

Face mites, to be specific.

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2014/08/27/you-almost-certainly-have-mites-on-your-face/

http://www.wired.com/2014/08/absurd-creature-of-the-week-the-bird-that-builds-nests-so-huge-they-pull-down-trees/?mbid=social_twitter

http://www.wired.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/172598779edit-660x439.jpg

For its size (and lack of opposable thumbs) though, Africa’s incredible social weaver surely comes close. These birds, about the size of the sparrows here in the States, come together in colonies of as many as 500 individuals to build by far the most enormous nests on Earth, at more than 2,000 pounds and 20 feet long by 13 feet wide by 7 feet thick. The structures are so big they can collapse the trees they’re built in, and so well-constructed they can last for a century, according to Gavin Leighton, a biologist at the University of Miami. Occupying as many as 100 chambers, these are quite possibly the biggest vertebrate societies centered around a single structure—outside of human beings and their skyscrapers, of course.