Weird Animals

https://ourblueplanet.bbcearth.com/blog/?article=incredible-sex-changing-fish-from-blue-planet

https://youtu.be/u7QXdlSBGGY

A Sometimes Tadpole.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2019/01/amazing-pictures-of-fish-other-freshwater-river-wildlife/?cmpid=org=ngp::mc=crm-email::src=ngp::cmp=editorial::add=sunstills_20190113::rid=29522540095#/river-life-oregonpacificlamprey_freshwaterlife_freshwatersillustrated.jpg

those photos are amazing... the one of the newts is like a bosch painting.

agreed; the whole spread is worth exploring. The lamprey though...

http://www.southernfriedscience.com/your-car-has-just-been-crushed-by-hagfish-frequently-asked-questions/

Hagfish Day is the third Wednesday in October.

http://mentalfloss.com/article/60129/11-fascinating-facts-about-frilled-shark

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2019/01/half-male-half-female-cardinal-pennsylvania/

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2019/02/unicorn-praying-mantis-discovered-atlantic-forest
photos deliver

The colors!

https://phys.org/news/2016-04-sexual-reproduction-rotifers-scavenge-genes.html

Sequencing a bdelloid rotifer genome produced a big surprise, as about 8% of the genes looked foreign. Some genes were typical of fungi or bacteria, and endowed the rotifer with handy new properties such as breaking down toxins or using new foodstuffs. This "horizontal transfer" between rotifers and other organisms is ancient and ongoing.

Foreign DNA is spread all over the rotifer genome. So how did it get there? It seems that dehydration makes holes in cell membranes that can suck up DNA. The rotifers' efficient mechanism for repairing double stranded DNA breaks in dehydrated animals is perfect for incorporating foreign DNA into the genome.

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2016-04-sexual-reproduction-rotifers-scavenge-genes.html#jCp

That's quite amazing!

Aww: https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/horizontal-gene-transfer-in-bdelloid-rotifers-questioned-64483

TLDR dirty test tubes may have contaminated the DNA sequencing, so the intraspecies horizontal gene transfer is still an open question.

Plants are weird too! https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/07/mystery-undead-tree-stump/594673/

With extra credit for this beautiful arrangement:

Underground, trees are intimately connected. The fungi on their roots can wire adjacent individuals to one another and ferry nutrients between them, creating what ecologists have come to call a “wood-wide web.”

Parasitic barnacles! https://youtu.be/B9_RUwR3RFU?t=375

Rapacious caterpillar!

https://youtu.be/2zfNDvT28rU

that thing looks delicious

spiders flying on electrostatic waves
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/07/the-electric-flight-of-spiders/564437/

Amazing!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cn7zl2zdLW0
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101784365
http://i.imgur.com/Mguk9Mv.png

Bat, no way, more like skeklek!

If wee bats are flying mice this is a flying capybara.

lol, bronx zoo just sent me an eblast; check out these d-holes
http://i.imgur.com/UX1xYlW.png

Who's a cute dhole?

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-10-17/paris-zoo-unveils-blob-organism-with-720-sexes/11610804

"We know for sure it is not a plant but we don't really know if it's an animal or a fungus," Mr David said. "It behaves very surprisingly for something that looks like a mushroom … it has the behaviour of an animal, it is able to learn."

Amazing!

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/21/science/loudest-bird-bellbird.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQlxGDNc2c8
http://static01.nyt.com/images/2019/10/21/science/21tb-loudbird/21tb-loudbird-jumbo.jpg

The white bellbird’s second song type is louder than a jackhammer, and approaches, “at its peak, the amplitude of a pile driver” — around 125 decibels, said Dr. Podos. That makes it three times more intense than the call of the screaming piha, the previous record-holder for loudness.

The researchers also discovered a trade-off between song length and amplitude — the more intense the song’s peak, the less time it lasted. “If sexual selection keeps pushing the song to be louder and louder, it’s going to become shorter and shorter,” said Dr. Podos.

One big mystery remains. The white bellbird sings its pile driver tune when a potential mate is nearby. It starts facing away from her, and then whips around to blast the loudest, record-setting note right into her face.

Is that its natural call? Crazy! (There's another bird that mimics human-made noises like jackhammers.)

fuuuuuuuuuuck
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QdiT3W6KAM

https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2019/10/24/rats-are-capable-driving-tiny-cars-researchers-found-it-eases-their-anxiety/

Dragonfly covered in morning dew. pic.twitter.com/XPgqxilJWe

— Land of cuteness (@landpsychology) November 7, 2019

Dragonfly covered in morning dew. pic.twitter.com/XPgqxilJWe

— Land of cuteness (@landpsychology) November 7, 2019

Some of the most interesting mimicry I’ve ever seen — the wings of this moth (Macrocilix maia) mimic two flies feasting on bird droppings. pic.twitter.com/RdYJOcqYoc

— Dorsa Amir (@DorsaAmir) November 9, 2019

very alexander mcqueen

i wish this was more clicky for more info but still fun:
https://neal.fun/deep-sea/

Big ups to the Emperor penguin as the furthest-diving bird, and the elephant seal as the deepest mammal (non-cetacean division).

And faceless fish is a worthy google.

To wit: https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/t9rvmtokynpcz7lvhdt2.png

https://www.nespmarine.edu.au/faceless-fish-looks-happier-and-heartier-it-did-1887

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eO8jNSdxyqI

http://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Anhima_cornuta/

Horned screamers are large, heavy bodied, fowl-like birds that are most recognizable by their two bone spurs at the bend of each wing and the 15 cm, yellowish-white horn-like projection at the top of their heads. The 2 to 5 cm long bone spurs are a result of fused carpel bones and are covered with keratin. The horn-like projection, which gives these birds their name, is composed of cartilage. When young are born they lack the horn but it slowly grows as they age. Horns seem to be ornamental as they do not have a defensive purpose. They are not firmly attached to the skull, swing back and forth as the birds’ heads move, and are easily broken off. After breaking off they will grow back over time.

Most of their bones are permeated with abundant air sacs that also exist in the subcutaneous tissue in the dermis of the skin. This construction results in a rumbling or crackling noise when these birds take off as the air sacs rapidly collapse. The presence of subcutaneous air sac diverticula allows horned screamers to regularly use soaring flight instead of using muscle energy to remain airborne. These air filled spaces may also act to facilitate pneumatic movement.

Horned screamers are less vocal than their relatives, southern screamers, but their vocalizations are very loud. There are three main vocalizations: “mo-coo-ca”, a honking “yoik-yok”, and the trumpet.

jesus fuck, that's nightmare fuel right there

Ed Thoreum
11 months ago
we are lucky to see this most perfect wonder.
Their lung or ribs have evolved to an advantage stage; the can fly, swim and ruN. Thank you!!

https://media.nature.com/lw800/magazine-assets/d41586-019-03839-z/d41586-019-03839-z_17507782.jpg

This image of a frog on a lotus leaf in Lalitpur, Nepal, is a stunning example of the ‘lotus effect’. This refers to self-cleaning properties of lotus leaves, which result from their water-repellent properties. Particles of dirt — or, in this case, a whole frog — are caught by droplets, which bead as a result of the surface’s nanostructure. Scientists first described the lotus effect in the 1970s, and it has since been used in many applications. For me, the image illustrates that, once again, mimicking nature is one of humankind’s best strategies for progress.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-03839-z

wow

Not weird per se but still an engrossing story! https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/07/how-a-guy-from-a-montana-trailer-park-upturned-150-years-of-biology/491702/

https://youtu.be/XFjoqyVRmOU

weird plants that look like animals
https://www.audubon.org/news/did-plant-evolve-look-bunch-hummingbirds

The links to the chick pretending to be a caterpillar and the caterpillar pretending to be a snake are also great.

Fluorescent pink slug

tongue on the loose