explosionsoflife:

The spines of the short-beaked echidna, also called the spiny anteater (Tachyglossus aculeatus), are longer than the fur between them. Active both day and night, this echidna is solitary and can become torpid in very cold or hot weather, when its temperature falls from the normal 31–33°C to as low as 4°C. It eats a variety of ants, termites, grubs, and worms. These are detected by smell and perhaps by sensors on the long snout that detect electric signals.

Photo © James Wood

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sexyactionplanet:

Solomon Island Prehensile Tailed Skink is an arboreal species of skink endemic to the Solomon Islands. It is the largest known extant species of skink. Other common names for this species include the prehensile-tailed skink, monkey-tailed skink, giant skink, zebra skink, and monkey skink.

(via ody-ssea)

scinerds:

Elusive Sneezing Monkeys Photographed in a First

A group of monkeys whose nostrils are so upturned they are said to sneeze audibly when it rains has been discovered in China, say researchers, who have now snapped the first photographic evidence of the snub-nosed monkeys there.

The monkey species, Rhinopithecus strykeri, was first reported to exist in October 2010. With no photographic evidence of a live specimen that year, the researchers made a Photoshop reconstruction of it based on a Yunnan snub-nosed monkey and a carcass of the newly discovered species.

At the time, scientists thought the species was limited to the Kachin state of northeastern Myanmar.

rhamphotheca:

Some Important Facts About Moths :3

by Lindsay Konkel

The word “moth” may conjure up images of drab brown insects sticking to your screen door on a summer night. But there’s much more to these mostly-nocturnal fliers than meets the eye.

Not only are moths extraordinarily diverse in color, shape and size, said David Moskowitz, a New Jersey entomologist and organizer of the first annual National Moth Week (July 23-29), they also offer a huge array of ecological benefits, from pollinating plants to feeding birds, bats and even people around the globe.

Here, OurAmazingPlanet has rounded up seven fascinating facts about these misunderstood insects…

(read more: OurAmazingPlanet)     (photos: David Moskowitz)

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images: T - Royal Walnut Moth; BL - Luna Moth; BR - unidentified

flaregun:

Goose Barnacles.

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climateadaptation:

Still loving the live bear cam in Brooks Falls Alaska. I watched one yesterday casually shredding a large salmon yesterday. Gulped it down while chilling in the rapids.

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explosionsoflife:

Upside-down Jellyfish (Cassiopea xamachana)

Divers who find this jellyfish upside-down on the seabed often think they have found a dying specimen. However, the upside-down jellyfish lives like this, floating with its bell pointing downward and its eight large, branching mouth arms held upward. The mouth arms have elaborate fringes consisting of tiny bladders filled with minute single-celled algae called zooxanthellae. The algae need light to photosynthesize and the jellyfish behaves as it does in order to ensure its passengers can thrive. Excess food manufactured by the algae is used by the jellyfish, but it can also catch planktonic animals with stinging cells on the mouth arms. When it wants to move, the upside-down jellyfish turns the right way up with the bell uppermost, as pictured.

(via ody-ssea)

explosionsoflife:

Barrel Sponges (Xestospongia testudinaria, found in tropical waters of the western Pacific) grow large enough to fit a person inside. Their hard surface is deeply ridged, but their rim is thin and delicate. The barrel sponge belongs to the Demospongiae, the largest class of sponges, containing about 95% of sponge species. The skeleton of sponges in this class is made from both scattered spicules of silica and organic collagen called spongin. An almost identical barrel sponge, Xestospongia muta, occurs in the caribbean.

(via ody-ssea)

explosionsoflife:

In spring, as phytoplankton blooms begin to develop, zooplankton start multiplying. They follow the phytoplankton into the sunlit zone to feed. Most are herbivores that feed on phytoplankton; some are carnivores that hunt other zooplankton. Many are classed as meroplankton—the young of animals like crabs, lobsters, barnacles, and some fish—which have a planktonic larval stage and use the currents to spread. By taking advantage of the summer phytoplankton feast, they avoided competing for food with adults of their own kind. While plankton drift with the currents, many free-swimming animals (collectively called nekton) gather to feed on them: fish, squid, marine mammals, and turtles. These, in turn, are food for predatory fish and seabirds. Some larger animals, such as basking sharks, also feed on zooplankton and nekton.

Pictured are examples of meroplankton, such as a starfish, a sea urchin, and a sea cucumber in their larval stages.

(via ody-ssea)

magicalnaturetour:

“The Thinker ( Rodin )” by Mustafa Öztürk :)

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rhamphotheca:

Arctic Biologist Shares Astonishing Sea Creatures With the World     

by Pete Brook

There is no road to the White Sea Biological Station, which sits at latitude 66° N on the cusp of the Arctic Circle. Located on the shores of its namesake, the White Sea, the only way to get there is by boat in summer and snowmobile in winter since the waters of Kandalaksha Bay are frozen six months out of the year.

Inside the station is an unlikely photo studio where Alexander Semenov, 25, is sharing his stunning photographs of arctic sea creatures with the global online community.

“I’m trying to act like the Discovery channel, but as a single unit,” says Semenov.

A marine biologist, photographer and head of the WSBS deep-sea diving team, Semenov has been stationed at the WSBS since 2007. Over the years he’s developed a worldwide audience for his photography using Behance, Flickr and his personal blog and website.

“I think all the people in the world know how tigers and lions looks like, but only a few ever know about scyphozoan jellies…”

(read more: Wired Science)    

(photos: T - Alexander Semenov; BL - Semenov encountering a Giant Octopus, Octopus dofleini,; BM - Chirolophis japonicus; BR - Cyane capillata, up to 2 m in diameter and the tentacles can grow to 35 m)

rhamphotheca:

A Hydromedusan (Gonionemus vertens), photographed in the White Sea off the north coast of Russia, Arctic Ocean.

(photo: Alexander Semenov)     (via: Wired Science)

mothernaturenetwork:

Panners seek sapphires in Madagascar lemur haven
Panners hope to strike it rich on a seam of sapphires running through Madagascar’s newest national park created to protect the island’s rare lemurs.

(Source: clanarmstrong, via myheadisweak)