Man and Mystery Vol 11 - Freaks of Nature (Rev06)

A collection of intriguing topics and fascinating stories
about the rare, the paranormal, and the strange

Volume 11

Discover natures weirdest and longest-lived creatures.
Jump into the world of lost civilizations and extinct animal kingdom.

Pablo C. Agsalud Jr.
Revision 6

Foreword

In the past, things like television, and words and
ideas like advertising, capitalism, microwave and
cancer all seemed too strange for the ordinary
man.

As man walks towards the future, overloaded with
information, more mysteries have been solved
through the wonders of science. Although some
things remained too odd for science to reproduce
or disprove, man had placed them in the gray
areas between truth and skepticism and labeled
them with terminologies fit for the modern age.

But the truth is, as long as the strange and
unexplainable cases keep piling up, the more likely
it would seem normal or natural. Answers are
always elusive and far too fewer than questions.
And yet, behind all the wonderful and frightening
phenomena around us, it is possible that what we
call mysterious today wont be too strange
tomorrow.

This book might encourage you to believe or refute
what lies beyond your own understanding.
Nonetheless, I hope it will keep you entertained
and astonished.

The content of this book remains believable for as
long as the sources and/or the references from the
specified sources exist and that the validity of the
information remains unchallenged.

Freaks of Nature

These plants and animals are REAL.

Unfortunately, most of them are either: UGLY, SCARY, or WEIRD.
And some have peculiarly UNIQUE abilities, too.

Angler Fish
Year 2000 Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia

Anglerfish is the common name for more than
200 species of marine fish families Lophiidae
(anglerfish), Antennariidae (frogfish), and
Ogcocephalidae (batfish) in the order
Lophiiformes. Anglerfish are named for their
method of fishing for prey, using a specialized
spiny ray above the snout that serves as rod
and lure. The ray is a modified portion of the
dorsal fin and is tipped with a baitlike plug of
flesh. The old name for anglerfish is Pediculati,
or "small foot," which refers to the footlike
pectoral fins. The frogfish are camouflaged for
seabed life with a variety of bumps, knobs, and
flaps of skin, so that the fish resemble
surrounding seaweed. Anglerfish are found at
all depths of tropical and temperate seas and
are classified in two broad groups, anglerfish
and deep-sea anglers.

The frogfish has the habit of lying among rocks or seaweed or moving slowly across the
bottom. When lying motionless on the bottom, the angler dangles and wiggles its lure until
prey is attracted. When the lure is touched, the enormous mouth gapes, creating a vacuum
that sucks the prey within range of its back-pointing teeth; these stoke the food into the belly.

The goosefish, or fishing frog,
Lophius piscatorius, is a bizarre,
short-bodied fish with a large
flattened head, an enormous mouth,
dorsally situated jaws, and eyes on
the top of its head. Its large mouth
and expandable stomach allow it to
swallow fish as big as itself.

The goosefish is common in cold,
shallow waters of Europe and North
America. It is often 1 m (3 ft) long
and can be as long as 1.5 m (5 ft)
and weigh up to 23 kg (51 lb). The
transparent eggs are laid in masses
of jelly 60-90 cm (24-35 in) broad
and up to 10 m (33 ft) long.

Deep-sea anglers, family Ceratiidae,
are small inhabitants of the middle
depths of the ocean (500-2,000
m/1,640-6,560 ft). The females rarely
grow larger than a man's fist; the
males are much smaller. Most of them
are jet black or dark brown. These
anglers cruise slowly in the dark, cold
waters, glowing with lighted lures in
front of them. The light in the lure is
supplied by luminous bacteria shining
through skin that has lost its pigment.
In some species the lure is complexly
branched and filamented.

Shortly after hatching, the male seeks out a female anglerfish and clamps onto her body with
his teeth. He retains this hold for the remainder of his life, his mouth becoming surrounded by
the tissue of the female. His sustenance is supplied by his mate through vascular connections.
The parasitic male is commonly one-tenth as long as the female.

Angora Rabbit
Wikipedia.org

The Angora rabbit (Turkish: Ankara tavan) is a variety of domestic rabbit bred for its long,
soft wool. The Angora is one of the oldest types of domestic rabbit, originating in Ankara
(historically known as Angora), Turkey, along with the Angora cat and Angora goat. The
rabbits were popular pets with French royalty in the mid 18th century, and spread to other
parts of Europe by the end of the century. They first appeared in the United States in the early
20th century. They are bred largely for their long Angora wool, which may be removed by
shearing, combing, or plucking. There are many individual breeds of Angora rabbits, four of
which are recognized by ARBA; English, French, Giant, and Satin. Other breeds include
German, Chinese, Swiss, and Finnish.

Coat and appearance

Angoras are bred mainly for their wool because it is silky and soft. At only 11microns in
diameter it is finer and softer than cashmere. They have a humorous appearance, as they
oddly resemble a fur ball with a face. Most are calm and docile, but should be handled
carefully. Grooming is necessary to prevent the fibre from matting and felting on the rabbit. A
condition, wool block, is common in Angora rabbits, and should be treated quickly. These
rabbits are shorn every three to four months throughout the year.

*Antelopus

Axolotl

Axolotls are salamanders that live
in ponds and lakes on the Mexican
plateau. They retain most of the
characteristics of larvae, such as
gills, throughout their lives (the
name comes from an Aztec word
meaning "water doll" or water
monster). Their reproductive
systems mature, however. The
axolotl is known scientifically as
Ambystoma mexicanum and is
classified in the family
Ambystomatidae, which inhabit
much of North America. Axolotls
occur at the lower end of the
geographic range of the family,
and it is suggested that the
relatively harsh conditions of the
Mexican plateau resulted in the
evolution of these permanently
larval forms. In less harsh environments some closely related species are known to
occasionally metamorphose into an adult stage. Axolotls are easy to raise in the laboratory
and have many genetic variations (including albinism); they are therefore used to test a
variety of genetic principles.

Strange Stories, Amazing Facts 2
Readers Digest

The axolotl is one of a number of creatures, including some other salamanders and several
species of newts, that retain their juvenile form in later life-a characteristic known as
neoteny. However, the axolotl advances one stage further than this: it develops sexual
organs so that it can reproduce. Scientists have labeled this phenomenon paedogenesis.
Aye-aye

The aye-aye, Daubentonia madagascariensis, is an odd primate native to Madagascar that
somewhat resembles the lemur. About the size of a small fox, it has a long, bushy tail,
moderately large eyes, thick fur, and a pair of enlarged front teeth resembling those of
rodents. It uses its teeth to break into termite-infested wood, whereupon it swiftly probes
through the termite galleries with its slender, elongated middle finger. The claw on the end of
this unusual finger is used to spear insects. Despite these special features, the internal
anatomy of the aye-aye closely resembles that of the more typical lemurs of Madagascar.

Basilisk

Taxonomy and etymology

This word derives from the Greek
basilskos () meaning "little
king". The specific epithet was given in
Carolus Linnaeus' 10th edition of Systema
Naturae.

Physiology

The basilisk has mackled blue spots and a
yellow iris, on average measures 70 to 75
mm (2.83.0 in), and weighs about 80
grams (3.2 oz). Its growth is perpetual,
fast when they are young and nonlinear for mature basilisks. Its long crest-like sails,
reinforced in three distinct points (head, back, and tail), confer the impression of creatures
such as Dimetrodon and Spinosaurus. Its skin is shed in pieces.

Running on water

The basilisk sometimes runs as a biped. Basilisks have the unique ability to "walk" on water
and, because of this; they have been dubbed as "The Jesus Christ lizard" in reference to the
biblical passage of Matthew 14:22-34. On water, the basilisk can run at a velocity of 1.5
meters (4.9 feet) per second for approximately 4.5 meters (14.8 feet) before sinking on all
fours and swimming. Flaps between their toes help support the basilisk, creating a larger
surface and a pocket of air. They can also sustain themselves on all fours while "water-
walking" to increase time above the surface by about 1.3 meters (4.3 feet).

Other defense mechanisms

When the basilisk detects danger, it can swim at fast speeds, using its crests as rudders. It
can also burrow into sand. A ring of muscles around both nostrils prevent sand from entering
the basilisk's nose.

Habitat

Abundant in the tropical rain forests of Central and South America, from southern Mexico to
Ecuador and Venezuela. Recently introduced to Florida, it has adapted to the colder winters by
burrowing into the leaf litter for warmth. Current reports sight the basilisk as far north as Fort
Pierce, on the state's East Coast, where small groups have crept up the North Fork of the
Saint Lucie River.

*Blobfish

*Cantor's Giant Soft Shelled Turtle

*Chinese Giant Salamander

*Coconut Crab

Duck-billed Platypus

Monotremes are mammals of the order Monotremata and include the duck-billed platypus
and the echidnas, or spiny anteater. The name of the order means "single opening" and refers
to the fact that in these mammals, as in birds and reptiles, the intestinal tract, the urinary
ducts, and the genital ducts all open into one chamber, the cloaca, which has a single opening
to the outside.

Monotremes are classified as mammals because they possess certain strictly mammalian
characteristics, including milk glands (but not teats or nipples) to nourish their young, warm-
bloodedness, a muscular diaphragm separating the lungs from the abdominal cavity, a single
bone making up each side of the lower jaw, three middle ear bones (auditory ossicles), and
hair. They are unique among mammals, however, because they possess so many reptilian
characteristics, perhaps the most notable being that they lay eggs rather than bear the young
alive. The eggssomewhat rounded and small, about 15 mm (0.6 in) in diameterare not
brittle, as are birds' eggs, but are covered with a leathery shell, as are the eggs of most
reptiles. Among other reptilian features are the presence in the shoulder girdle (front-limb
support) of well-developed coracoid bones and an interclavicle bone. In other mammals the
coracoids are reduced and fused to the shoulder blades (scapulas), and the interclavicle occurs
at most as a tiny vestige.

Monotremes are in the mammalian subclass Prototheria, which contains the families
Ornithorhynchidae (duck-billed platypuses, found in Australia) and Tachyglossidae (echidnas,
found in Australia and New Guinea). The earliest platypus fossil is about 62 million years old,
from South America, possibly related to a 20-million-year-old fossil from South Australia. Little
is known about the origins or evolution of this group.

*Dumbo Octopus

Strange as the Dumbo Octopus may be, some
people actually think it's pretty cute, hence the
Disney-inspired name, given for its two fins
which resemble ears. Dumbo's can be found in
the dark depths of any ocean on Earth and
grows up to 20cm in length. It swallows its
prey, made up of mostly worms and
crustaceans, whole.

*Fox Cat

Firefly

Lampyridae is a family of insects in the beetle order
Coleoptera. They are winged beetles, and commonly
called fireflies or lightning bugs for their conspicuous
crepuscular use of bioluminescence to attract mates or
prey. Fireflies produce a "cold light", with no infrared or
ultraviolet frequencies. This chemically-produced light
from the lower abdomen may be yellow, green, or pale-
red, with wavelengths from 510 to 670 nanometers.

About 2,000 species of firefly are found in temperate
and tropical environments. Many are in marshes or in
wet, wooded areas where their larvae have abundant
sources of food. These larvae emit light and are often called "glowworms", in particular, in
Eurasia. In the Americas, "glow worm" also refers to the related Phengodidae. In many
species, both male and female fireflies have the ability to fly, but in some species, females are
flightless.

Light and chemical production

Firefly (species unknown) captured in eastern Canada -
the top picture is taken with a flash, the bottom only
with the self-emitted light.
Fireflies in the woods near Nuremberg, Germany,
exposure time 30 seconds

Light production in fireflies is due to a type of chemical
reaction called bioluminescence. This process occurs in
specialised light-emitting organs, usually on a firefly's
lower abdomen. The enzyme luciferase acts on the
luciferin, in the presence of magnesium ions, ATP, and
oxygen to produce light. Genes coding for these
substances have been inserted into many different
organisms. Firefly luciferase is used in forensics, and
the enzyme has medical uses in particular, for
detecting the presence of ATP or magnesium. It has
been speculated that Baroque painter Caravaggio may
have prepared his canvases with a powder of dried
fireflies to create a photosensitive surface on which he
projected the image to be painted.

All fireflies glow as larvae. Bioluminescence serves a
different function in lampyrid larvae than it does in
adults. It appears to be a warning signal to predators, since many firefly larvae contain
chemicals that are distasteful or toxic.

Light in adult beetles was originally thought to used for similar warning purposes, but its
primary purpose is now thought to be used in mate selection. Fireflies are a classic example of
an organism that uses bioluminescence for sexual selection. They have evolved a variety of
ways to communicate with mates in courtships: steady glows, flashing, and the use of
chemical signals unrelated to photic systems.

Some species, especially lightning bugs of the genera Photinus, Photuris, and Pyractomena,
are distinguished by the unique courtship flash patterns emitted by flying males in search of
females. In general, females of the Photinus genus do not fly, but do give a flash response to
males of their own species.

Tropical fireflies, in particular, in Southeast Asia, routinely synchronise their flashes among
large groups. This phenomenon is explained as phase synchronization and spontaneous order.
At night along river banks in the Malaysian jungles (the most notable ones found near Kuala
Selangor), fireflies (kelip-kelip in the Malay language or Bahasa Malaysia) synchronise their
light emissions precisely. Current hypotheses about the causes of this behavior involve diet,
social interaction, and altitude. In the Philippines, thousands of fireflies can be seen all year-
round in the town of Donsol (called aninipot or totonbalagon in Bicol). In the United States,
one of the most famous sightings of fireflies blinking in unison occurs annually near Elkmont,
Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains during the first weeks of June. Congaree National
Park in South Carolina is another host to this phenomenon.

Female Photuris fireflies are known for mimicking the mating flashes of other "lightning bugs"
for the sole purpose of predation. Target males are attracted to what appears to be a suitable
mate, and are then eaten. For this reason the Photuris species are sometimes referred to as
"femme fatale fireflies."

Many fireflies do not produce light. Usually these species are diurnal, or day-flying, such as
those in the genus Ellychnia. A few diurnal fireflies that inhabit primarily shadowy places, such
as beneath tall plants or trees, are luminescent. One such genus is Lucidota. These fireflies
use pheromones to signal mates. This is supported by the fact that some basal groups do not
show bioluminescence and, rather, use chemical signaling. Phosphaenus hemipterus has
photic organs, yet is a diurnal firefly and displays large antennae and small eyes. These traits
strongly suggests pheromones are used for sexual selection, while photic organs are used for
warning signals. In controlled experiments, males coming from downwind arrived at females
first, thus male arrival was correlated with wind direction, indicating males' chemotaxis into a
pheromone plume. Males were also found to be able to find females without the use of visual
cues, when the sides of test Petri dishes were covered with black tape. This and the facts that
females do not light up at night and males are diurnal point to the conclusion that sexual
communication in P. hemipterus is entirely based on pheromones.

Flatfish

Moses sole (Pardachirus marmoratus)

The flatfish are an order (Pleuronectiformes) of
ray-finned fish, also called the Heterosomata,
sometimes classified as a suborder of Perciformes.
In many species, both eyes lie on one side of the
head, one or the other migrating through and
around the head during development. Some
species face their left side upward, some face their
right side upward, and others face either side
upward.

Many important food fish are in this order, including the flounders, soles, turbot, plaice, and
halibut. There are more than 400 species of this order. Some flatfish can camouflage
themselves on the ocean floor.

Scientific classification

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Pleuronectiformes

Families

Suborder Psettodoidei
Psettodidae (spiny turbots)
Suborder Pleuronectoidei
Citharidae
Scophthalmidae (turbots)
Bothidae (lefteye flounders)
Pleuronectidae (righteye flounders)
Paralichthyidae (large-tooth flounders)
Achiropsettidae (southern flounders)
Samaridae
Suborder Soleoidei
Soleidae (true soles)
Achiridae (American soles)
Cynoglossidae (tonguefishes)

Characteristics

Flatfish are asymmetrical, with both eyes lying on the same side
of the head

The turbot is a large left-eyed flatfish found in sandy shallow
coastal waters around Europe

The most obvious characteristic of the flatfish is their asymmetry, with both eyes lying on the
same side of the head in the adult fish. In some families, the eyes are always on the right side
of the body (dextral or right-eyed flatfish), and in others, they are always on the left (sinistral
or left-eyed flatfish). The primitive spiny turbots include equal numbers of right and left sided
individuals, and are generally less asymmetrical than the other families. Other distinguishing
features of the order are the presence of protrusible eyes, another adaptation to living on the
seabed (benthos), and the extension of the dorsal fin onto the head.

The surface of the fish facing away from the sea floor is pigmented, often serving to
camouflage the fish, but sometimes with striking coloured patterns. Some flatfish are also able
to change their pigmentation to match the background, in a manner similar to a chameleon.
The side of the body without the eyes, which faces the seabed, is usually colourless or very
pale.

The flounders and spiny turbots eat smaller fish, and have well-developed teeth. They
sometimes seek prey in the mid-water, away from the bottom, and show fewer extreme
adaptations than other families. The soles, by contrast, are almost exclusively bottom
dwellers, and feed on invertebrates. They show a more extreme asymmetry, and may lack
teeth on one side of the jaw.

Flatfish range in size from Tarphops oligolepis, measuring about 4.5 centimetres (1.8 in) in
length, and weighing 2 grams (0.071 oz), to the Atlantic halibut, at 2.5 metres (8.2 ft) and
316 kilograms (700 lb).

Reproduction

Flatfish lay eggs that hatch into larvae resembling typical, symmetrical, fish. These are initially
elongated, but quickly develop into a more rounded form. The larvae typically have protective
spines on the head, over the gills, and in the pelvic and pectoral fins. They also possess a
swim bladder, and do not dwell on the bottom, instead dispersing from their hatching grounds
as plankton.

The length of the planktonic stage varies between different types of flatfish, but eventually
they begin to metamorphose into the adult form. One of the eyes migrates across the top of
the head and onto the other side of the body, leaving the fish blind on one side. The larva also
loses its swim bladder and spines, and sinks to the bottom, laying its blind side on the
underlying surface.

Origins

Flatfish have been cited as dramatic examples of evolutionary adaptation. For example,
Richard Dawkins in The Blind Watchmaker, explains the flatfish's evolutionary history thus:

bony fish as a rule have a marked tendency to be flattened in a vertical
direction. It was natural, therefore, that when the ancestors of [flatfish] took to the
sea bottom, they should have lain on one side. But this raised the problem that one
eye was always looking down into the sand and was effectively useless. In evolution
this problem was solved by the lower eye moving round to the upper side.

In 2008, scientists discovered that "50-million-year-old fossils have revealed an intermediate
species between primitive flatfishes (with eyes on both sides of their heads) and the modern,
lopsided versions, which include sole, flounder, and halibut." The research concluded that "the
change happened gradually, in a way consistent with evolution via natural selectionnot
suddenly, as researchers once had little choice but to believe."

Flying Squirrel
Wikipedia.org

Flying squirrels, scientifically known as Pteromyini or
Petauristini, are a tribe of 44 species of squirrels (family
Sciuridae).

Description

Flying squirrels are not capable of powered flight like birds or bats; instead, they glide
between trees. They are capable of obtaining lift within the course of these flights, with flights
recorded to 90 meters (295 ft). The direction and speed of the animal in midair is varied by
changing the positions of its two arms and legs, largely
controlled by small cartilaginous wrist bones. This
changes the tautness of the patagium, a furry
parachute-like membrane that stretches from wrist to
ankle. It has a fluffy tail that stabilizes in flight. The tail
acts as an adjunct airfoil, working as an air brake before
landing on a tree trunk.

Northern flying squirrel (Glaucomys sabrinus)

The colugos, Petauridae, and Anomaluridae are gliding
mammals, which are similar to flying squirrels, because
of convergent evolution. A few mammals can glide
through the trees, but they do not actually fly (like birds and bats). They have a membrane of
skin on either side of their body.

Taxonomy

The largest of the species is the woolly flying squirrel (Eupetaurus cinereus). The two species
of the genus Glaucomys (Glaucomys sabrinus and Glaucomys volans) are native to North
America, and the Siberian flying squirrel is native to parts of northern Europe (Pteromys
volans).

Pliopetaurista
o Pliopetaurista kollmanni Daxner-Hck, 2004

Thorington and Hoffman (2005) recognize 15 genera of flying squirrels in two subtribes.

Tribe Pteromyini flying squirrels

Subtribe Glaucomyina

Genus Eoglaucomys
o Kashmir Flying Squirrel, Eoglaucomys fimbriatus
Genus Glaucomys New World flying squirrels (American flying squirrels), North
America
o Southern Flying Squirrel, Glaucomys volans
o Northern Flying Squirrel, Glaucomys sabrinus
Genus Hylopetes, southeast Asia
o Particolored Flying Squirrel, Hylopetes alboniger
o Afghan Flying Squirrel, Hylopetes baberi
o Bartel's Flying Squirrel, Hylopetes bartelsi
o Gray-cheeked Flying Squirrel, Hylopetes lepidus
o Palawan Flying Squirrel, Hylopetes nigripes
o Indochinese Flying Squirrel, Hylopetes phayrei
o Jentinks Flying Squirrel, Hylopetes platyurus
o Sipora Flying Squirrel, Hylopetes sipora
o Red-cheeked Flying Squirrel, Hylopetes spadiceus
o Sumatran Flying Squirrel, Hylopetes winstoni
Genus Iomys, Malaysia and Indonesia
o Javanese Flying Squirrel (Horsfield's Flying Squirrel), Iomys horsfieldi
o Mentawi Flying Squirrel, Iomys sipora
Genus Petaurillus pygmy flying squirrels, Borneo and Malaya
o Lesser Pygmy Flying Squirrel, Petaurillus emiliae
o Hose's Pygmy Flying Squirrel, Petaurillus hosei
o Selangor Pygmy Flying Squirrel, Petaurillus kinlochii
o Genus Petinomys, southeast Asia
o Basilan Flying Squirrel, Petinomys crinitus
o Travancore Flying Squirrel, Petinomys fuscocapillus
o Whiskered Flying Squirrel, Petinomys genibarbis
o Hagen's Flying Squirrel, Petinomys hageni
o Siberut Flying Squirrel, Petinomys lugens
o Mindanao Flying Squirrel, Petinomys mindanensis
o Arrow Flying Squirrel, Petinomys sagitta
o Temminck's Flying Squirrel, Petinomys setosus
o Vordermann's Flying Squirrel, Petinomys vordermanni

Subtribe Pteromyina

Genus Aeretes, northeast China
o Groove-toothed Flying Squirrel (North Chinese Flying Squirrel), Aeretes
melanopterus
Genus Aeromys large black flying squirrels, Thailand to Borneo
o Black Flying Squirrel, Aeromys tephromelas
o Thomas's Flying Squirrel, Aeromys thomasi
Genus Belomys, southeast Asia
o Hairy-footed Flying Squirrel, Belomys pearsonii
Genus Biswamoyopterus, India
o Namdapha Flying Squirrel, Biswamoyopterus biswasi
Genus Eupetaurus, Kashmir; rare
o Woolly Flying Squirrel, Eupetaurus cinereus
Genus Petaurista, southeast Asia
o Red And White Giant Flying Squirrel, Petaurista alborufus
o Spotted Giant Flying Squirrel, Petaurista elegans
o Hodgson's Giant Flying Squirrel, Petaurista magnificus
o Bhutan Giant Flying Squirrel, Petaurista nobilis
o Indian Giant Flying Squirrel, Petaurista philippensis
o Chinese Giant Flying Squirrel, Petaurista xanthotis
o Japanese Giant Flying Squirrel, Petaurista leucogenys
o Red Giant Flying Squirrel, Petaurista petaurista
Genus Pteromys Old World flying squirrel, Finland to Japan
o Siberian Flying Squirrel, Pteromys volans
o Japanese Dwarf Flying Squirrel, Pteromys momonga
Genus Pteromyscus, southern Thailand to Borneo
o Smoky Flying Squirrel, Pteromyscus pulverulentus
Genus Trogopterus, China
o Complex-toothed Flying Squirrel, Trogopterus xanthipes

Two new species have been recently added from northeastern Indian state of Arunachal
Pradesh. These are:

Mechuka Giant Flying Squirrel (Petaurista mechukaensis)
Mishmi Hills Giant Flying Squirrel (Petaurista mishmiensis)

Behavior
A Southern flying squirrel (Glaucomys volans) gliding

Though their life expectancy in the wild is six years, flying squirrels may live fifteen years in
captivity. This is due to these creatures being important prey animals. Predation mortality
rates in sub-adults are high. Predators include arboreal snakes, raccoons, nocturnal owls,
martens, fishers, coyotes, and the domestic cat. In the Pacific Northwest of North America, the
Northern Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis) is a well-known predator. Flying squirrels are
nocturnal, flying at night as they are not adept in escaping birds of prey that hunt during
daylight. Flying Squirrels eat according to how hungry they are and what type of environment
they are in. They eat whatever types of food they can find in their environment; if desperate
they will eat anything. Southern Flying Squirrels eat seeds, insects, gastropods such as slugs
and snails, spiders, tree shrubs, flowers, fungi and tree sap.

Reproduction

The mating season is between February to March. When young are born, the female squirrels
live with them in maternal nest sites; they nurture and protect them until they leave the nest.
The males do not participate in nurturing their offspring.

At birth, they are mostly hairless, apart from their whiskers, and most of their senses are not
present. The internal organs are visible through the skin, and their sex can be signified. By
week 5 of their life, they are almost fully furred and developed. At that point, they can
respond to their environment and start to develop a mind of their own. Through the upcoming
weeks of their lives, they practice leaping and gliding. After two and a half months, their
gliding skills are perfected, they are ready to leave their nest and are capable of independent
survival.

Diet

Flying squirrels can easily forage for food in the night, given their highly developed sense of
smell, where they harvest fruits, nuts, fungi, and bird eggs. Gliding conserves energy.

*Giant Isopod

If you're afraid of bugs, you're really not going to like the Giant Isopod. It resembles nothing
so much as a cockroach the size of a guinea pig, but it's actually a crustacean related to
shrimp and crabs. These scavengers roam the cold, dark sea floor from 560ft to 7,000ft below
the surface of the ocean, eating mostly dead whales, fish, and squid.

*Golden Fish in Taiwan

*Grazing Holothurians

Gulper Eel

Where the gulper eel lives way
down at the bottom of the ocean
there isn't exactly a buffet of
meal choices. Luckily, this creepy
creature has a gigantic jaw that
allows it to eat pretty much
anything it comes across,
regardless of size. At the end of
its very long, whip-like tail,
there's a light-producing organ
called a photophore that it uses
as a fishing lure to attract prey.

The gulper eel, Saccopharynx harrisoni, a deep sea relative of the common eel, lives at depths
of 3,000 m (10,000 ft). Its fragile, soft body grows up to 1.8 m (4 ft) long. Its jaws, capable
of an enveloping, seesaw motion, allow it to swallow fish larger than itself.

Hagfish

The Pacific Ocean Hagfish has a
disgusting way of defending itself. When
under attack, it oozes a suffocating
slime from its many pores that envelops
its predator in a fatal mass of fibrous
goo. The hagfish, unfortunately,
sometimes falls prey to its own defense
mechanism, but normally it twists itself
into knots to escape the gelatinous
goop.

The hagfish is a marine fish that belongs to the family Myxinidae, order Myxiniformes. It is the
most primitive of living vertebrates. Eellike in appearance, the hagfish lacks jaws, paired fins,
scales, and a bony skeleton, the body being supported by the notochord, which serves as a
backbone, and by cartilage. Its eyes are degenerate and not visible externally, and there is a
row of slime-producing pores on each side of the body. Hagfish, related to lampreys, are
brown in color and may reach 60 cm (2 ft) in length. The species are found in colder, deeper
waters, from 30 to 1,300 m (100 to 4,300 ft) in depth in temperate seas in many parts of the
world. Hagfish are bottom feeders and scavengers, commonly feeding on dead and dying
invertebrates and fish. This scavenging extends to attacking living fish caught in nets. The
hagfish bores into the body cavity of the fish by using its suctorial mouth and strong, rasplike
tongue.
*Horror Frog

It's called a "horror frog", but this amphibian isn't the star of a b-movie. It's so named
because of its ability to actively break its own bones to produce claws. Hairy and bizarre, the
horror frog also nicknamed the wolverine frog, after the comic book character can break its
bones so that they puncture its toe pads, producing extendable claws on demand when
threatened. This Cameroon native, which is often roasted and eaten, was discovered in 2008.

*Indian Gharia

Most of us have grown accustomed to the prehistoric appearance of alligators and crocodiles,
but for those unused to looking at it, the Indian gharial seems like something transported
straight from the age of dinosaurs. This severely threatened native of Indian rivers has a very
long, thin snout fitted with a row of sharp teeth. Scientists suspect that heavy metal pollution
in the rivers is causing debilitating gout and making gharials susceptible to infection.

Komondor Dog

Komondors are large, shaggy, working dogs native to Hungary and used as sheepdogs, as well
as police and guard dogs. As a herder, the komondor usually protects the flocks and herds,
while smaller dogs do much of the routine work. Komondors stand at least 59.7 cm (23.5 in)
at the shoulder. Their thick, woolly coats are pure white and naturally form into tasslelike
cords. Their ears hang down from the face, and their long tails are carried in a low curve.

*Lampreys

Livyatan melvillei
Wikipedia.org

Livyatan melvillei is an extinct species of physeteroid
whale, which lived during the Miocene epoch,
approximately 12-13 million years ago.

Reconstruction of Livyatan (left) and Cetotherium (right)

Discovery

In November 2008, fossil remains of Livyatan melvillei
were discovered in the sediments of Pisco formation at
Cerro Colorado, 35 kilometres (22 mi) south-southwest
of Ica, Peru. The remains include a partially preserved
skull with teeth and mandible.[2] Rotterdam Natural
History Museum researcher Klaas Post stumbled across
them on the final day of a field trip there in November
2008. Post was part of an international team of
researchers, led by Dr Christian de Muizon, director of
the Natural History Museum in Paris, and included other
palaeontologists from Utrecht University and the natural
history museums of Rotterdam, Museo storia naturale di
Pisa, the Museum of Natural History of the National University of San Marcos in Lima and
Brussels.

The fossils have been dated at 1213 million years old and were prepared in Lima, Peru, and
are now part of the collection of the Natural History Museum there.

Etymology and nomenclature

Researchers originally assigned the English name of the biblical monster (Leviathan) to this
prehistoric whale as Leviathan melvillei, dedicating the discovery to Herman Melville, author of
Moby-Dickthe researchers behind the excavation of L. melvillei were all fans of this novel.
However, the scientific name Leviathan was a junior homonym of Leviathan Koch, 1841 for a
genus of mastodon (see Leviathan). Junior homonyms need to be replaced with new names,
except under certain special circumstances (ICZN 1999 Article 60). In August 2010, the
authors rectified this situation by coining a new genus name for the whale, Livyatan, from the
original Hebrew spelling.

Morphology and habitat

Livyatan melvillei had a body length of 13.5 to 17.5 metres (4457 ft), about the same as a
modern adult male sperm whale. The skull of Livyatan melvillei is 3 metres (10 ft) long. Unlike
the modern sperm whale, Physeter macrocephalus, L. melvillei had functional teeth in both its
jaws. The jaws of L. melvillei were robust and its temporal fossa was also considerably larger
than in the modern-age sperm whale. L. melvillei is one of the largest raptorial predators yet
known, with whale experts using the phrase "the biggest tetrapod bite ever found" to explain
their find. The teeth of L. melvillei are up to 36 centimetres (1.18 ft) long and are claimed to
be the largest of any animal yet known. Larger 'teeth' (tusks) are known, such as walrus and
elephant tusks, but these are not used directly in eating.
Skull structure

The fossil skull of L. melvillei has a curved basin which suggests it might have had a large
spermaceti organ, a series of oil and wax reservoirs separated by connective tissue. This
organ is thought to help modern sperm whales to dive deeply to feed. However, L. melvillei is
likely to have hunted large prey near the surface, so it appears that this organ would have had
other functions. Possible suggestions include echolocation, acoustic displays (with the
spermaceti organ acting as a resonance chamber) or aggressive headbutting, possibly used
against competing males in mating contests or to batter prey.

Diet

Fossil remains of many other animalsincluding baleen whales, beaked whales, dolphins,
porpoises, sharks, sea turtles, seals and sea birdshave been found at the same site where
the remains of L. melvillei have been excavated.

L. melvillei would have been a top predator of its time along with the giant shark, C.
megalodon, which was contemporaneous with L. melvillei in the same region, and the whale
probably had a profound impact on the structuring of Miocene marine communities. The
appearance of gigantic raptorial sperm whales in the fossil record coincides with a phase of
diversification and size-range increase of the baleen-bearing mysticetes in the Miocene.

L. melvillei is likely to have preyed upon 710 metres (2333 ft) baleen whales, seals and
dolphins.

Size estimation

Two physeterids have been chosen by whale experts for comparison to estimate the size of L.
melvillei. The anatomy of Physeter macrocephalus yielded a total length (TL) of 13.5 m (=
44.3 feet) for L. melvillei, and that of Zygophyseter varolai yielded a TL of 17.5 m (= 57.5
feet) for L. melvillei.

Long-beaked Echidna

The long-nosed echidna, Zaglossus, is confined to New Guinea. it attains 66 cm (26 in) in
length, plus tail, and 10 kg (22 lb) in weight.

The long-beaked echidna is a rare egg-laying mammal found in Papua New Guinea. This
nocturnal critter is a relative of the platypus, but lives underground where it uses its tube-like
snout to search for invertebrate prey like insect larvae and worms. It has to eat soft foods,
because it doesn't have any teeth. Hatchlings are known as puggles, and they reside in a
sticky pouch to receive milk from mammary patches on the mother's body.

Spiny anteaters, or echidnas, are egg-laying mammals making up the family
Tachyglossidae, in the order Monotremata. They have compact, muscular bodies and short
legs with broad feet and large claws that they use for digging up food in the form of termites,
ants, and worms. The echidna's body is covered with coarse hair and barbless spines, and it
has small ears, a stubby tail, and a long, toothless snout. The female lays a single, leathery
egg, which is placed in a temporary pouch formed on her abdomen. The egg hatches in 7 to
10 days, and the young feeds on thick, yellowish milk that flows from the mammary glands
along several tufts of hair into the pouch. Young stay inside the pouch for 6 to 8 weeks until a
spine develops. They become sexually mature after one year.

Long-eared Jerboa

Shaped somewhat like a tiny kangaroo, the nocturnal mouse-like Long-eared Jerboa uses its
elongated tail and hind legs for jumping. The endangered rodent, found in the Gobi desert of
Mongolia, has ears that are about a third larger than its head and eats mostly insects. It's so
extraordinary that it's the only species of its genus.

Midshipman fish
Wikipedia.org

The midshipman fishes are the genus Porichthys of
toadfishes. They are distinguished by having
photophores (which they use to attract prey and
after which they are named, reminding some of a
naval uniform's buttons) and four lateral lines.
Typical midshipman fishes, such as the Plainfin
Midshipman, are nocturnal and bury themselves in
sand or mud of the intertidal zone during the day.
At night they float just above the seabed. Some
species are armed with venomous dorsal spines and
are capable of inflicting serious injuries if handled.

Mating in midshipman fishes depends on auditory
communication; males during the breeding season
broadcast a sound usually described as a hum,
generated by rapid contractions of the muscles in
the swim bladder. The sound can be kept up for up
to an hour, and is loud enough to be heard by (and
to puzzle) people on nearby land and houseboats;
the hulls of the boats tend to amplify the sound to
sleep-disrupting levels. Reproductive females
develop a selective sensitivity to this sound, and
respond by laying eggs in the rock nest of a singing
male.

Researchers from the University of Washington and Cornell University have recently
demonstrated that the increase in sensitivity associated with female reproductive status can
be duplicated in non-reproductive females of the Plainfin Midshipman (Porichthys notatus) by
boosting hormone levels, and that this acts on the fish's inner-ear to produce the change in
sensitivity. An increase in levels of the hormones testosterone and estradiol triggers changes
that result in increased sensitivity to higher sound frequencies.

Strange Stories, Amazing Facts 2
Readers Digest

In September 1985, houseboat residents in the exclusive Richardson Bay area across from
San Francisco began to suffer from a mysterious complaint. Many could not sleep at night;
others developed chronic headaches. All complained about a persistent humming, anoise that
occurred only at night.

What kept them awake was a singing toadfish, the plainfin midshipman. Why the toadfish
makes this noise is not fully understood. But we do know that only the male sings. The call,
which it makes only between September and April, is believed to be part of the courtship ritual
and may serve to warn off other males as well. When threatened r frightened, the fish also
emits loud grunts or burping sounds.

The plainfin midshipman is not alone in these abilities:

The male oyster toadfish produces a characteristic whistle
The electric catfish hisses
The horse mackerel grunts like a pig
The trunkfishes and puffers growl like dogs
The family of fish known as drums creak, hum, pur and whistle
Mudskippers
Wikipedia.org

Mudskippers are members of the
subfamily Oxudercinae (tribe
Periophthalmini), within the family
Gobiidae (Gobies). They are
completely amphibious fish, fish
that can use their pectoral fins to
walk on land. Being amphibious,
they are uniquely adapted to
intertidal habitats, unlike most fish
in such habitats which survive the
retreat of the tide by hiding under
wet seaweed or in tidal pools.
Mudskippers are quite active when
out of water, feeding and
interacting with one another, for
example to defend their territories.
They are found in tropical,
subtropical and temperate regions,
including the Indo-Pacific and the Atlantic coast of Africa.

Adaptations

Compared with fully aquatic gobies, these fish present a range of peculiar behavioural and
physiological adaptations to an amphibious lifestyle. These include:

Anatomical and behavioural adaptations that allow them to move effectively on land as
well as in the water. As their name implies, these fish use their fins to move around in
a series of skips. They can also flip their muscular body to catapult themselves up to 2
feet (60 cm) into the air.

The ability to breathe through their skin and the lining of their mouth (the mucosa)
and throat (the pharynx). This is only possible when the mudskipper is wet, limiting
mudskippers to humid habitats and requiring that they keep themselves moist. This
mode of breathing, similar to that employed by amphibians, is known as cutaneous air
breathing. Another important adaptation that aids breathing while out of water are
their enlarged gill chambers, where they retain a bubble of air. These large gill
chambers close tightly when the fish is above water, keeping the gills moist, and
allowing them to function. They act like a scuba diver's cylinders, and supply oxygen
for respiration also while on land.

Digging deep burrows in soft sediments allow the fish to thermoregulate, avoid marine
predators during the high tide when the fish and burrow are submerged, and for laying
their eggs.

Even when their burrow is submerged, mudskippers maintain an air pocket inside it, which
allows them to breathe in conditions of very low oxygen concentration.

Naked Mole Rat

Its wrinkled pink skin, piggish nose and protruding teeth don't exactly make the naked mole
rat the cutest animal around. Colonies of these hairless rodents live in underground palaces
led by one dominant rat the queen, which is the only female to breed and bear young. As with
bees, naked mole rats have roles in the colony, including workers that dig the tunnels and
gather food. Most naked mole rats are found in the sandy deserts of sub-Saharan Africa.

*Pink Fairy Armadillo

*Proboscis Monkey

*Purple Bear

*Pygmy Marmoset

Rafflesia

Rafflesias are about 12
species of parasitic plants
constituting the genus
Rafflesia in the family
Rafflesiaceae. Native to
the Malaysian archipelago,
the plants are parasitic on
the roots and stems of
plants of the grape family,
Vitaceae, particularly
shrubs of the genus
Cissus. Rafflesias produce
huge, fleshy flowers but
no stems or leaves; the
plant body consists almost
wholly of fine, funguslike
filaments buried within the
tissues of the host plant.
The flowers are pollinated
by flies attracted to their rotting-meat smell. Rafflesia arnoldii produces the largest flowers
in the world, reputed to reach 1 m (3 ft) across and up to 11 kg (24 lb) in weight.

Interesting Facts About the Rafflesia

Rafflesia is the National Flower of Indonesia
Rafflesia Arnoldii is the world's largest flower
You can find this flower mostly in Thailand and Philippine in Indonesia
This flower got its name as Sir Thomas Stanford Raffles has discovered in 1818.
This plant has no stem or roots, it is a parasite depending on other plants
Rafflesia can be as large as 100 cms in diameter
Rafflesia can weigh upto 10 kgs
Rafflesia has soothing fragrance while it is a bud
It smells horrible like a rotten meat when it becomes flower

Origin of Name

LEFT: Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles

Rafflesia is a large parasitic plant discovered in
the lush tropical rain forest of Indonesia by an
Indonesian guide working for Dr. Joseph Arnold
in 1818, and named it after Sir Thomas Stamford
Raffles, founder of the British colony of
Singapore, and leader of the expedition. The
discovery eventually led to more discovery of 27
species in southeastern Asia, on the Malay
Peninsula, Borneo, Sumatra, and in the
Philippines.

LEFT: Rafflesia Arnoldii of
Indonesia

Rafflesia is the world's
largest, the heaviest, the
rarest and the one of the
most stinkiest flowers in
the world. It grows to 1
meter wide and weighs
about 10 kgs.

The plant has no stems,
leaves or roots, and does
not have chlorophyll. It
has only nutrient-
absorbing threads to
absorb nutrients from the
host on which it lives. It is
an endoparasite of vines
in the genus Tetrastigma (Vitaceae), spreading its root-like haustoria inside the tissue of the
vine. The only part of the plant that can be seen outside the host vine is the five-petaled
flower. After 9 months of maturation, Rafflesia plant opens into a cabbage-sized bud. The
sexual organs are located beneath the rim of the disk. The vile smell that the flower emits
attracts insects such as flies and carrion beetles, which then pollinate the rare plant. Rafflesia
is an official state flower of Indonesia, also Sabah state in Malaysia, as well as for the Surat
Thani Province, Thailand.

Species in the Philippines

Maragusans Rafflesia Mira is
the fourth rafflesia species
identified in the Philippines,
along with Rafflesia Speciosa
in Antique, and Rafflesia
Manillana in Samar and
Luzon. A Rafflesia Mira in
bloom measures 45-60 cm in
diameter, approximately the
same size as Rafflesia
Speciosa's 45-56 cm, but
larger than Luzons Rafflesia
Manillanas 14-20 cm
diameter.

One other species, Rafflesia Schadenbergiana was last recorded in 1882 in Mount Apo in
Davao and was widely believed to have been extinct until buds of the same species were
rediscovered in South Cotabato in 1994.

In 2007, Dr. Julie Barcelona, an international Filipino botanist from the Philippine National
Museum, confirmed the discovery of yet another population of Rafflesia Schadenbergiana in
Bukidnon. Rafflesia Schadenbergiana, known as b-o to the Bagobo tribe and kolon busaw
to the Higaonon tribe of Bukidnon, has the largest flower among the Rafflesia species found in
the Philippines with a diameter ranging from 52 to 80 centimeters. It has also the second
largest flower in the genus after Rafflesia Arnoldii of Indonesia which measures up to one
meter and can weigh up to nine kilograms.

Other recorded Rafflesia species in the Philippines are the Rafflesia lobata discovered in 2005
in Mount Igtuog and Mount Sakpaw in Central Panay mountain range; the Rafflesia Baletei in
the Mount Isarog and Mount Iriga range of Camarines Sur which was initially collected by
botanist Danilo Balete in 1991; the Rafflesia Banahawensis of Mount Banahaw which Dr.
Barcelona later renamed Rafflesia Philippensis Blanco after her investigation found that the
species was first named by a Spanish plant collector in 1845; the Rafflesia Panchoana of
Mount Makiling, a new species discovered in 2007 by scientist D. A. Madulid and co-authors on
the rafflesia known originally as Rafflesia Manillana yielded the description of the new species;
Rafflesia Leonardi of Sitio Kinapawan in the coastal town of Lal-lo in Cagayan Valley
discovered in 2008; and Rafflesia Aurantis discovered in 2009 in the Quirino Protected
Landscape, Quirino Province, Luzon.

Rafflesia Mira of Maragusan, Davao

Rafflesia Speciosa of Antique

Rafflesia Manillana of Samar and Luzon

Rafflesia Schadenbergiana of Davao

Rafflesia lobata
Discovered in 2005 in Mount Igtuog and Mount
Sakpaw in Central Panay

Rafflesia Baletei
Discovered in 1991 in Mount Isarog and Mount
Iriga range of Camarines Sur

Rafflesia Banahawensis of Mt Banahaw
Later renamed Rafflesia Philippensis Blanco

Rafflesia Panchoana of Mt Makiling
Discovered in 2007 in Laguna

Rafflesia Leonardi
Sitio of Kinapawan in the coastal town of Lal-lo
in Cagayan Valley discovered in 2008

Rafflesia Aurantis
Discovered in 2009 in the Quirino Protected
Landscape, Quirino Province, Luzon

Study

Dr. Julie Barcelona

Dr. Daniel Nickrent

Two international plant scientists are currently pressing for a massive information and
education campaign to raise awareness about the Rafflesia Mira. Dr. Daniel Nickrent, professor
from Southern Illinois, United States, and Dr. Julie Barcelona, believe that the population in all
the 11 sites he has visited belonges to the same Rafflesia Mira species. Dr. Nickrent explained
that the genus Rafflesia Mira, with known 15 species, is endemic to Thailand, Malaysia,
Indonesia, and the Philippines, and ranks among the rarest and most endangered flowers in
South-East Asia. Ten of these species are found in the Philippines. Maragusans Rafflesia Mira
was discovered by Filipino scientists led by Dr. Edwino Fernando and Dr. Perry Ong in the
foothill village of New Albay in Maragusan.

Scientists say more than 1.3 acres of forest disappear from the Earths surface every second
or 75 acres in one minute. This is equivalent to 108,000 acres daily, and more than 40 million
acres a year. Tropical rainforests are home to more than 50% of the worlds plant and animal
species including the Rafflesia.

Dr. Nickrent explained that the rare Rafflesia species is a barometer of the health of the
ecosystem. Once gone, he said, it would mean mans source of food and other sustenance is
either dead or dying.

Up Close

The diaphragm showing the floral opening

The perigone lobe showing the
pattern

The two anthers with pollen in a sticky fluid

View from inside the flower

Flower bud in a later stage of opening

Flower bud with scales still unexpanded

Side view of the disk from a dissected
flower

Top view of the disk showing the
processes

Protection

Section 27 of Republic Act 9147 prohibits the collection, possession, transport and trading of
all Rafflesia species listed as a critically endangered species under Department of Environment
and Natural Resources (DENR) Administrative Order # 2007-01 on pain of 6 to 12 years
imprisonment, or a fine of 100,000 to 1M pesos.

Sand bubbler crab
Wikipedia.org

Sand bubbler crabs (or sand-bubblers) are crabs of the
genera Scopimera and Dotilla in the family Dotillidae.
They are small crabs that live on sandy beaches in the
tropical Indo-Pacific; during the low tide, they form
inflated sand pellets which are destroyed by the
incoming high tide.

Description

Sand bubbler crabs are small crabs, around 1 cm (0.4
in) across the carapace, and they are characterised by
the presence of "gas windows" on the merus of the legs;
in Dotilla, these windows are also present on the
thoracic sternites. A similar system has evolved in
parallel in the porcelain crab genus Petrolisthes.

Distribution

Sand bubbler crabs are widespread across the Indo-Pacific region, where they occur
abundantly on sandy beaches in the tropics and sub-tropics.

Ecology and behaviour

Scopimera globosa and the sand pellets it has made

Sand bubbler crabs live in burrows in the sand, where
they remain during high tide. When the tide is out, they
emerge on to the surface of the sand, and scour the
sand for food, forming it into inflated pellets, which
cover the sand. The crabs work radially from the
entrance to their burrow, which they re-enter as the
tide rises and destroys the pellets. The material
consumed by sand bubbler crabs has a very low concentration of organic matter, which is
concentrated by egestion of indigestible material.

Sea Pig

With its pallid pink flesh, the scotoplane known as a sea pig resembles some kind of tumorous
growth that was just excised from somebody's abdomen. But, this strange creature is actually
a type of sea cucumber. Sea pigs look and act sort of like slugs, feeding on organic materials
that settle on the ocean floor.
Sheepgoat chimera
Wikipedia.org

A sheepgoat chimera (sometimes called a
geep in popular media) is a chimera
produced by combining the embryos of a
goat and a sheep; the resulting animal has
cells of both sheep and goat origin. A
sheep-goat chimera should not be
confused with a sheep-goat hybrid, which
can result when a goat mates with a
sheep.

History

The first sheep-goat chimeras were
created by researchers at the Institute of
Animal Physiology in Cambridge, England
by combining sheep embryos with goat
embryos. They reported their results in 1984. The successful chimeras were a mosaic of goat
and sheep tissue. The parts that grew from the sheep embryo were woolly. Those that grew
from the goat embryo were hairy.

Characteristics

In a chimera, each set of cells (germ line) keeps its own species' identity instead of being
intermediate in type between the parental species. Because the chimera contains cells from
two different genetic individuals, and each of these arose by normal mating, it has four
parents. In contrast, a hybrid has only two parents.

A sheep-goat chimera may be fertile, but it passes on either sheep or goat genes, depending
on whether its reproductive organs were formed from the goat embryo or from the sheep
embryo (i.e., whichever germ-line formed the ovaries or testes).

The term shoat is sometimes used for sheep-goat hybrids and chimeras, but more
conventionally means a young piglet).

*Sloth

*Snake with clawed-foot in China

*Snipe Eel

*Snake (largest)

*Spider Crab

*Star-nosed Mole

*Sucker-footed Bat

*Sun Bare

*Tapir

Tardigrade
Wikipedia.org

Tardigrades (commonly known as waterbears or
moss piglets) are small, water-dwelling,
segmented animals with eight legs.

Hypsibius dujardini imaged with a scanning
electron microscope

Tardigrades are notable for being one of the most
complex of all known polyextremophiles. (An
extremophile is an organism that can thrive in a
physically or geochemically extreme condition that
would be detrimental to most life on Earth.) For
example, tardigrades can withstand temperatures
from just above absolute zero to well above the
boiling point of water, pressures about 6 times
stronger than pressures found in the deepest ocean trenches, ionizing radiation at doses
hundreds of times higher than would kill a person, and the vacuum of outer space. They can
go without food or water for nearly 120 years, drying out to the point where they are 3% or
less water, only to rehydrate, forage, and reproduce.

Usually, tardigrades are 1 millimetre (0.039 in) long when they are fully grown. They are short
and plump with 4 pairs of legs, each with 4-8 claws also known as "disks." The animals are
prevalent in moss and lichen and, when collected, may be viewed under a very low-power
microscope, making them accessible to the student or amateur scientist as well as the
professional.

Tardigrades form the phylum Tardigrada, part of the superphylum Ecdysozoa. It is an ancient
group, with fossils dating from 530 million years ago, in the Cambrian period. The first
tardigrades were discovered by Johann August Ephraim Goeze in 1773. Since 1778, over 500
tardigrade species have been found.
Description

Johann August Ephraim Goeze originally named the Tardigrade kleiner Wasserbr (Brtierchen
today), meaning 'little water bear' in German. The name Tardigrada means "slow walker" and
was given by Lazzaro Spallanzani in 1773. The name water bear comes from the way they
walk, reminiscent of a bear's gait. The biggest adults may reach a body length of 1.5
millimetres (0.059 in), the smallest below 0.1 mm. Freshly hatched tardigrades may be
smaller than 0.05 mm.

About 1,150 species of tardigrades have been described. Tardigrades occur throughout the
world, from the Himalayas (above 6,000 metres (20,000 ft)), to the deep sea (below 4,000
metres (13,000 ft)) and from the polar regions to the equator.

The most convenient place to find tardigrades is on lichens and mosses. Other environments
are dunes, beaches, soil, and marine or freshwater sediments, where they may occur quite
frequently (up to 25,000 animals per liter). Tardigrades often can be found by soaking a piece
of moss in spring water.

Reproduction

Although some species are parthenogenetic, both males and females are usually present, each
with a single gonad located above the intestine. Two ducts run from the testis in males,
opening through a single pore in front of the anus. In contrast, females have a single duct
opening either just above the anus or directly into the rectum, which thus forms a cloaca.

Tardigrades are oviparous, and fertilization is usually external. Mating occurs during the molt
with the eggs being laid inside the shed cuticle of the female and then covered with sperm. A
few species have internal fertilization, with mating occurring before the female fully sheds her
cuticle. In most cases, the eggs are left inside the shed cuticle to develop, but some attach
them to nearby substrate.

The eggs hatch after no more than fourteen days, with the young already possessing their full
complement of adult cells. Growth to the adult size therefore occurs by enlargement of the
individual cells (hypertrophy), rather than by cell division. Tardigrades may moult up to twelve
times.

Ecology and life history

Most tardigrades are phytophagous (plant eaters) or bacteriophagous (bacteria eaters), but
some are predatory (e.g., Milnesium tardigradum).

Physiology

Scientists have reported tardigrades in hot springs, on top of the Himalayas, under layers of
solid ice and in ocean sediments. Many species can be found in a milder environment like
lakes, ponds and meadows, while others can be found in stone walls and roofs. Tardigrades
are most common in moist environments, but can stay active wherever they can retain at
least some moisture.

Tardigrades are one of the few groups of species that are capable of reversibly suspending
their metabolism and going into a state of cryptobiosis. Several species regularly survive in a
dehydrated state for nearly ten years. Depending on the environment they may enter this
state via anhydrobiosis, cryobiosis, osmobiosis or anoxybiosis. While in this state their
metabolism lowers to less than 0.01% of normal and their water content can drop to 1% of
normal. Their ability to remain desiccated for such a long period is largely dependent on the
high levels of the non-reducing sugar, trehalose, which protects their membranes. In this
cryptobiotic state the tardigrade is known as a tun.

Tardigrades are able to survive in extreme environments that would kill almost any other
animal. The following are extremes states Tradigrades can survive:

Temperature Tardigrades can survive being heated for a few minutes to 151 C
(424 K or 304 F), or being chilled for days at 200 C (73 K or -328 F), or some can
survive temperatures for a few minutes at 273 C (~1 degree above absolute zero/0
Kelvin or -458 F).
Pressure they can withstand the extremely low pressure of a vacuum and also very
high pressures, more than 1,200 times atmospheric pressure. Tardigrades can survive
the vacuum of open space and solar radiation combined for at least 10 days. Some
species can also withstand pressure of 6,000 atmospheres, which is nearly six times
the pressure of water in the deepest ocean trench, the Mariana trench.
Dehydration although there is one report of a leg movement in a 120-year-old
specimen from dried moss, this is not generally considered "survival", and the longest
tardigrades have been shown to survive in a dry state is nearly 10 years. When
exposed to extremely low temperatures, their body composition goes from 85% water
to only 3%. As water expands upon freezing, dehydration ensures the tardigrades do
not get ripped apart by the freezing ice.
Radiation tardigrades can withstand 1,000 times more radiation than other
animals, median lethal doses of 5,000 Gy (of gamma-rays) and 6,200 Gy (of heavy
ions) in hydrated animals (5 to 10 Gy could be fatal to a human). The only explanation
found in earlier experiments for this ability was that their lowered water state provides
fewer reactants for the ionizing radiation. However, subsequent research found that
tardigrades, when hydrated, still remain highly resistant to shortwave UV radiation in
comparison to other animals, and that one factor for this is their ability to efficiently
repair damage to their DNA resulting from that exposure.

Environmental toxins tardigrades can undergo chemobiosisa cryptobiotic
response to high levels of environmental toxins. However, these laboratory results
have yet to be verified.
Outer space Tardigrades are the first known animal to survive in Space. Since
September 2007, Tardigrades were taken into low Earth orbit on the FOTON-M3
mission and for 10 days were exposed to the vacuum of space from which they
returned alive. After being rehydrated back on Earth, over 68% of the subjects
protected from high-energy UV radiation survived and many of these produced viable
embryos, and a handful had survived full exposure to solar radiation. In May 2011,
Italian scientists sent tardigrades into space along with other extremophiles on STS-
134, the final flight of Space Shuttle Endeavour. Their conclusion was that
microgravity and cosmic radiation "did not significantly affect survival of tardigrades in
flight, confirming that tardigrades represent a useful animal for space research." In
November 2011, they were among the organisms to be sent by the US-based
Planetary Society on the Russian Fobos-Grunt mission's Living Interplanetary Flight
Experiment to Phobos; however, the launch failed.

*Tasmanian Tiger

Tetraodontidae
Wikipedia.org

Blackspotted puffer, Arothron nigropunctatus

Tetraodontidae is a family of primarily marine and
estuarine fish of the Tetraodontiformes order. The
family includes many familiar species which are
variously called pufferfish, balloonfish, blowfish,
bubblefish, globefish, swellfish, toadfish, toadies, honey
toads, sugar toads, and sea squab. They are
morphologically similar to the closely related
porcupinefish, which have large external spines (unlike
the thinner, hidden spines of Tetraodontidae, which are
only visible when the fish has puffed up). The scientific
name refers to the four large teeth, fused into an upper and lower plate, which are used for
crushing the shells of crustaceans and mollusks, their natural prey.

(Maple) Puffer fish are generally believed to be the secondmost poisonous vertebrate in the
world, after the Golden Poison Frog. Certain internal organs, such as liver, and sometimes
their skin are highly toxic to most animals when eaten, but nevertheless the meat of some
species is considered a delicacy in Japan (as , pronounced as fugu), Korea (as bok), and
China when prepared by chefs who know which part is safe to eat and in what quantity.

The tetraodontidae contains at least 189 species of puffers in 19 genera. They are most
diverse in the tropics and relatively uncommon in the temperate zone and completely absent
from cold waters. They are typically small to medium in size, although a few species can reach
lengths of greater than 100 centimetres (39 in).

Natural defenses

A puffer fish pressing its mouth against a camera lens at
Big Island of Hawaii

The puffer's unique and distinctive natural defenses help
compensate for their slow locomotion. Puffers move by
combining pectoral, dorsal, anal, and caudal fins. This
makes them highly maneuverable but very slow, and
therefore comparatively easy predation targets. Their
tail fin is mainly used as a rudder, but it can be used for
a sudden evasive burst of speed that shows none of the
care and precision of their usual movements. The
puffer's excellent eyesight combined with this speed
burst is the first and most important defense against
predators. Their back up defense mechanism, used if
they are successfully pursued, is to fill their extremely elastic stomachs with water (or air
when outside the water) until they are much larger and almost spherical in shape. Even if they
are not visible when the puffer is not inflated, all puffers have pointed spines, so a hungry
predator may suddenly find itself facing an unpalatable pointy ball rather than a slow, tasty
fish. Predators which don't heed this warning (or who are "lucky" enough to catch the puffer
suddenly, before or during inflation) may die from choking, and predators that do manage to
swallow the puffer may find their stomachs full of tetrodotoxin, making puffers an unpleasant,
possibly lethal, choice of prey. This neurotoxin is found primarily in the ovaries and liver,
although smaller amounts exist in the intestines and skin, as well as trace amounts in muscle.
It does not always have a lethal effect on large predators, such as sharks, but it can kill
humans.

Not all puffers are necessarily poisonous; Takifugu oblongus, for example, is a fugu puffer that
is not poisonous, and toxin level varies wildly even in fish that are. A puffer's neurotoxin is not
necessarily as toxic to other animals as it is to humans, and puffers are eaten routinely by
some species of fish, such as lizardfish and tiger sharks. Also, Japanese fish farmers have
grown nonpoisonous puffers by controlling their diet.

Puffers are able to move their eyes independently, and many species can change the color or
intensity of their patterns in response to environmental changes. In these respects they are
somewhat similar to the terrestrial chameleon. Although most puffers are drab, many have
bright colors and distinctive markings and make no attempt to hide from predators. This is
likely an example of aposematism.

*Tripod Fish

Underground Orchid

Western Australia's Incredible
Underground Orchid
http://www.sciencedaily.com/
ScienceDaily (Feb. 9, 2011)

Rhizanthella gardneri is a cute, quirky and
critically endangered orchid that lives all
its life underground. It even blooms
underground, making it virtually unique
amongst plants.

Last year, using radioactive tracers, scientists at The University of Western Australia showed
that the orchid gets all its nutrients by parasitising fungi associated with the roots of broom
bush, a woody shrub of the WA outback.

Now, with less than 50 individuals left in the wild, scientists have made a timely and
remarkable discovery about its genome.

Despite the fact that this fully subterranean orchid cannot photosynthesise and has no green
parts at all, it still retains chloroplasts -- the site of photosynthesis in plants.

"We found that compared with normal plants, 70
percent of the genes in the chloroplast have been
lost," said Dr Etienne Delannoy, of the ARC Centre
for Excellence in Plant Energy Biology, the lead
researcher of a study published in Molecular Biology
and Evolution. "With only 37 genes, this makes it
the smallest of all known plant chloroplast
genomes."

"The chloroplast genome was known to code for
functions other than photosynthesis, but in normal
plants, these functions are hard to study," said ARC
Centre Director Professor Ian Small.

"In Rhizanthella, everything that isn't essential for
its parasitic lifestyle has gone. We discovered that it
has retained a chloroplast genome to make only
four crucial proteins. Our results are relevant to understanding gene loss in other parasites,
for example, the Plasmodium parasite that causes malaria."

Associate Professor Mark Brundrett from the Wheatbelt Orchid Rescue Project describes
Rhizanthella as one of the most beautiful, strange and iconic orchids in the world.

"Combining on-the-ground conservation efforts with cutting edge laboratory technologies has
led to a great discovery with impacts for both science and conservation. The genome sequence
is a very valuable resource, as it makes it possible to estimate the genetic diversity of this
Declared Rare plant."

Professor Brundrett has been working with the Department of Environment and Conservation
and volunteers from the West Australian Native Orchid Study and Conservation Group to
locate these unique orchids.

"We needed all the help we could get since it often took hours of searching under shrubs on
hands and knees to find just one underground orchid!"

Venus Flytrap
Wikipedia.org

The Venus Flytrap (also Venus's Flytrap or Venus'
Flytrap), Dionaea muscipula, is a carnivorous plant
that catches and digests animal preymostly insects
and arachnids. Its trapping structure is formed by the
terminal portion of each of the plant's leaves and is
triggered by tiny hairs on their inner surfaces. When
an insect or spider crawling along the leaves contacts
a hair, the trap closes if a different hair is contacted
within twenty seconds of the first strike. The
requirement of redundant triggering in this
mechanism serves as a safeguard against a waste of
energy in trapping objects with no nutritional value.

Dionaea is a monotypic genus closely related to the
waterwheel plant and sundews.

Description

The Venus Flytrap is a small plant whose structure can be
described as a rosette of four to seven leaves, which arise from a
short subterranean stem that is actually a bulb-like object. Each
stem reaches a maximum size of about three to ten centimeters,
depending on the time of year; longer leaves with robust traps
are usually formed after flowering. Flytraps that have more than 7
leaves are colonies formed by rosettes that have divided beneath
the ground.

Illustration of the Venus Flytrap from Curtis's Botanical Magazine
by William Curtis (17461799)

The leaf blade is divided into two regions: a flat, heart-shaped
photosynthesis-capable petiole, and a pair of terminal lobes
hinged at the midrib, forming the trap which is the true leaf. The
upper surface of these lobes contains red anthocyanin pigments
and its edges secrete mucilage. The lobes exhibit rapid plant
movements, snapping shut when stimulated by prey. The trapping
mechanism is tripped when prey contacts one of the three hair-like trichomes that are found
on the upper surface of each of the lobes. The trapping mechanism is so specialized that it can
distinguish between living prey and non-prey stimuli such as falling raindrops; two trigger
hairs must be touched in succession within 20 seconds of each other or one hair touched twice
in rapid succession, whereupon the lobes of the trap will snap shut in about 0.1 seconds. The
edges of the lobes are fringed by stiff hair-like protrusions or cilia, which mesh together and
prevent large prey from escaping. (These protrusions, and the trigger hairs, also known as
sensitive hairs, are probably homologous with the tentacles found in this plants close
relatives, the sundews.) Scientists are currently unsure about the evolutionary history of the
Venus flytrap; however scientists have made hypotheses that the flytrap evolved from Drosera
(sundews).

The holes in the meshwork allow small prey to escape, presumably because the benefit that
would be obtained from them would be less than the cost of digesting them. If the prey is too
small and escapes, the trap will reopen within 12 hours. If the prey moves around in the trap,
it tightens and digestion begins more quickly.

Speed of closing can vary depending on the amount of humidity, light, size of prey, and
general growing conditions. The speed with which traps close can be used as an indicator of a
plant's general health. Venus Flytraps are not as humidity-dependent as are some other
carnivorous plants, such as Nepenthes, Cephalotus, most Heliamphora, and some Drosera.

The Venus Flytrap exhibits variations in petiole shape and length and whether the leaf lies flat
on the ground or extends up at an angle of about 4060 degrees. The four major forms are:
'typica', the most common, with broad decumbent petioles; 'erecta', with leaves at a 45-
degree angle; 'linearis', with narrow petioles and leaves at 45 degrees; and 'filiformis', with
extremely narrow or linear petioles. Except for 'filiformis', all of these can be stages in leaf
production of any plant depending on season (decumbent in summer versus short versus
semi-erect in spring), length of photoperiod (long petioles in spring versus short in summer),
and intensity of light (wide petioles in low light intensity versus narrow in brighter light).

When grown from seed, plants take around four to five years to reach maturity and will live for
20 to 30 years if cultivated in the right conditions.

Etymology

The plant's common name refers to Venus, the Roman goddess of love. The genus name,
Dionaea ("daughter of Dione"), refers to the Greek goddess Aphrodite, while the species
name, muscipula is Latin for "mousetrap".

Historically, the plant was also known by the slang term "tipitiwitchet" or "tippity twitchet",
possibly an oblique reference to the plant's resemblance to human female genitalia.

Carnivory
Prey selectivity

Most carnivorous plants selectively feed on specific prey. This selection is due to the available
prey and the type of trap used by the organism. With the Venus Flytrap, prey is limited to
beetles, spiders and arthropods. In fact, the Dionaea diet is 33% ants, 30% spiders, 10%
beetles, and 10% grasshoppers, with fewer than 5% flying insects. Given that Dionaea
evolved from an ancestral form of Drosera (carnivorous plants that use a sticky trap instead of
a snap trap) the reason for this evolutionary branching becomes clear. Whilst Drosera
consume smaller, aerial insects, Dionaea consume larger terrestrial bugs. From these larger
bugs, Dionaea are able to extract more nutrients. This gives Dionaea an evolutionary
advantage over their ancestral sticky trap form.

Mechanism of trapping

The Venus Flytrap is one of a very small group of plants
capable of rapid movement, such as Mimosa, the
Telegraph plant, sundews and bladderworts.

The mechanism by which the trap snaps shut involves a
complex interaction between elasticity, turgor and
growth. In the open, untripped state, the lobes are
convex (bent outwards), but in the closed state, the
lobes are concave (forming a cavity). It is the rapid
flipping of this bistable state that closes the trap, but
the mechanism by which this occurs is still poorly
understood. When the trigger hairs are stimulated, an
action potential (mostly involving calcium ionssee calcium in biology) is generated, which
propagates across the lobes and stimulates cells in the lobes and in the midrib between them.
Exactly what this stimulation does is still debated. The acid growth theory states that
individual cells in the outer layers of the lobes and midrib rapidly move 1H+ (hydrogen ions)
into their cell walls, lowering the pH and loosening the extracellular components, which allows
them to swell rapidly by osmosis, thus elongating and changing the shape of the trap lobe.
Alternatively, cells in the inner layers of the lobes and midrib may rapidly secrete other ions,
allowing water to follow by osmosis, and the cells to collapse. Both of these mechanisms may
play a role and have some experimental evidence to support them.
Digestion

If the prey is unable to escape, it will continue to stimulate the inner surface of the lobes, and
this causes a further growth response that forces the edges of the lobes together, eventually
sealing the trap hermetically and forming a 'stomach' in which digestion occurs. Digestion is
catalysed by enzymes secreted by glands in the lobes.

Oxidative protein modification is likely to be a predigestive mechanism of the Dionaea
muscipula. Aqueous leaf extracts have been found to contain quinones such as the
naphthoquinone plumbagin that couples to different NADH-dependent diaphorases to produce
superoxide and hydrogen peroxide upon autoxidation. Such oxidative modification could
rupture animal cell membranes. Plumbagin is known to induce apoptosis, associated with the
regulation of Bcl-2 family of proteins. When the Dionaea extracts were preincubated with
diaphorases and NADH in the presence of serum albumin (SA), subsequent tryptic digestion of
SA was facilitated. Since the secretory glands of Droseraceae contain proteases and possibly
other degradative enzymes, it may be that the presence of oxygen-activating redox cofactors
function as extracellular predigestive oxidants to render membrane-bound proteins of the prey
(insects) more susceptible to proteolytic attacks.

Digestion takes about ten days, after which the prey is reduced to a husk of chitin. The trap
then reopens, and is ready for reuse.

Habitat

The Venus Flytrap is found in nitrogen and phosphorus-poor environments, such as bogs and
wet savannahs. Small in stature and slow growing, the Venus flytrap tolerates fire well, and
depends on periodic burning to suppress its competition. Fire suppression threatens its future
in the wild. It survives in wet sandy and peaty soils. Although it has been successfully
transplanted and grown in many locales around the world, it is found natively only in North
and South Carolina in the United States, specifically within a 60-mile radius of Wilmington,
North Carolina. One such place is North Carolina's Green Swamp. There also appears to be a
naturalized population of Venus Flytraps in northern Florida as well as populations in the New
Jersey Pine Barrens. The nutritional poverty of the soil is the reason that the plant relies on
such elaborate traps: insect prey provide the nitrogen for protein formation that the soil
cannot. The Venus Flytrap is not a tropical plant and can tolerate mild winters. In fact, Venus
Flytraps that do not go through a period of winter dormancy will weaken and die after a period
of time.

Cultivation

The 'Dentate' cultivar of the venus fly trap in cultivation

Venus flytraps are popular as cultivated plants, but have
a reputation for being difficult to grow. Successfully
growing these specialized plants requires recreating a
close approximation to the plant's natural habitat.

Healthy Venus flytraps will produce scapes of white
flowers in spring, however, many growers remove the
flowering stem early (23 inches), as flowering consumes some of the plant's energy, and
reduces the rate of trap production. If healthy plants are allowed to flower, successful
pollination will result in the production of dozens of small, shiny black seeds.

Plants can be propagated by seed, although seedlings take several years to mature. More
commonly, they are propagated by division in spring or summer.

Cultivars

Venus flytraps are, by far, the most commonly recognized and cultivated carnivorous plant.
They are sold as houseplants and are often found at florists, hardware stores and
supermarkets. During the past ten years or so large quantities of cultivars have come into the
market through tissue culture of select genetic mutations. It is through tissue culture that
great quantities of plants are raised for commercial markets.

The registered cultivars (cultivated varieties) include (name of originator in braces):

Dionaea muscipula 'Akai Ryu'{Ron Gagliardo}
Dionaea muscipula 'B52' {Henning Von Schmeling}
Dionaea muscipula 'Big Mouth' {Tony Camilleri}
Dionaea muscipula 'Bohemian Garnet' {Miroslav Srba}
Dionaea muscipula 'Clayton's Red Sunset' {Colin Clayton}
Dionaea muscipula 'Cupped Trap' {Staff at Agri-Starts III Inc, Eustis, FL.}
Dionaea muscipula 'Clumping Cultivar' {Peter D'Amato}
Dionaea muscipula 'Dentate' {Peter D'Amato}
Dionaea muscipula 'Dentate Traps' {Barry Meyers-Rice}
Dionaea muscipula 'Dente' {Peter D'Amato}
Dionaea muscipula 'Fondue' {Guillaume Bily}
Dionaea muscipula 'Fused Tooth' {Peter D'Amato}
Dionaea muscipula 'Green Dragon' {Unknown}
Dionaea muscipula 'Holland Red' {Commercial breeder in the Netherlands}
Dionaea muscipula 'Jaws' {Leo Song Jr.}
Dionaea muscipula 'Justina Davis' {Unknown}
Dionaea muscipula 'Kinchyaku' {Katsuhiko Kondo}
Dionaea muscipula 'Korean Melody Shark' {Jang Gi-Won & Wook Hyon (Max) Yoon}
Dionaea muscipula 'Korrigans' {Guillaume Bily}
Dionaea muscipula 'Louchapates' {Romuald Anfraix}
Dionaea muscipula 'Microdent' {Gayl Quenon}
Dionaea muscipula 'Mirror' {Dieter Blancquaert}
Dionaea muscipula 'Perlite Dragon' {Unknown}
Dionaea muscipula 'Red Burgundy' {Unknown}
Dionaea muscipula 'Red Piranha' {Ed Read}
Dionaea muscipula 'Red Rosetted' {Peter D'Amato}
Dionaea muscipula 'Royal Red' {AUPBR 464}
Dionaea muscipula 'Sawtooth' {Barry Meyers-Rice}
Dionaea muscipula 'Scarlet Bristle' {Real Keehn Concepts}
Dionaea muscipula 'Wacky Traps' {Cresco Nursery, Netherlands}

An unofficial list includes many more names, with more added annually. None of these
"variation names" are officially recognized unless the name is properly documented, registered
and accepted by the International Registration Authority for carnivorous plant cultivars, the
International Carnivorous Plant Society.

Conservation

Currently, there are estimated to be more than 36 million plants in cultivation compared to
only 35,800 plants remaining in nature. Several prominent plant conservationists suggest the
plant be labeled as Vulnerable. Precise data on the distribution of population sizes in 1992
from the Office of Plant Protection suggests a more dire state for the species. Every size class
in red is slated for eventual extinction with the green ones persisting longer. Smaller
populations may go extinct for stochastic reasons and, since small population are more
numerous in nature now and contribute more to the total number of plants remaining in the
species, most of this unique and remarkable carnivorous plant species may be going extinct
soon. Note that the figure of 35,800 plants in 1992 is over 15 years old and may not
accurately reflect the current situation.

*Viper Fish

The depths of the ocean are literally swimming with creatures straight out of your weirdest
nightmares, and the Viper Fish is among the scariest. This grotesque-looking creature has
teeth so large, they don't fit in its mouth. It swims at high speed toward its victims and
impales them upon its sharp teeth.

*White-faced Saki Monkey

*Yeti Crab

*Bamboo

A stalk can grow as much as nearly four feet in 24 hours.
Most bamboos puts out flowers only at extremely long intervals between 20 to 120 years
apart. But when a plant does burst into flower, every bamboo of that species, wherever it is in
the world, flowers at the same time. How and why this happens is still one of natures great
unsolved mysteries.

Takeshi Yamadas Collection

Takeshi Yamada
Takeshi Yamada is a Japanese-American artist and
rogue taxidermist.

Yamada was born Osaka, Japan, in 1960. He began
painting at the age of 12, and decided to become an
artist at 16. He was an international exchange student
at the Osaka University of Arts before moving to the
United States in 1983. He studied art at the California
College of the Arts and the Maryland Institute College of
Art, obtaining his Bachelor of Fine Art degree in 1985.
In 1987, he obtained his Master of Fine Art from the University of Michigan School of Art &
Design. He had exhibitions at the Neville-Sargent Gallery in Chicago in 1988 and 1991. In
1990, a series of 48 paintings entitled "Divine Comedy: New Orleans Mardi Gras" by Yamada
were displayed in the Louisiana State Museum, and later some of them were shown in the
Meguro Museum of Art, Tokyo. In 1993, he had a solo exhibition at the Lauren Rogers
Museum of Art. He moved to New York City in 2000.

Yamada is a rogue taxidermist, creating fake creatures out of organic and inorganic materials.
Some of his works have been displayed at the Coney Island Library.

Skulls and Skeletal Samples

Three-eyed Skull Alien Skull

Hand with six fingers Alien Skull

Alien Skull

Weird Babies

Potato-head Baby Two-headed Baby

Penguin Baby Two-faced baby

Weird Babies

Lizard Baby Lobster Baby

Mermaid Baby Octopus Baby

Sea Creatures

Carnivorous Snail Chupacabra Snail

Pacific Ammonite Human-faced Fish

Whip-tailed Tree Octopus Four-armed Tree Starfish

Mermaids

Fiji Mermaid Blue Merman
Dragons

Sugar Dragon Marsh Dragon
Insects

Human-faced Ant St. Helena Giant Earwig

Animals and Insects

Giant Horseshoe Crab Giant Earwig

Vampire Monkey Asian Long-horned Beetle
Fossils

Fossilized Giant Cockroach Fossilized Fairy
Insects

Giant Tailed Stag Beetle Giant Serpent Bug

Giant Stag Beetle Tarantula Beetle

Giant Subway Bugs

Unknown Land Dwellers

Unknown

Unknown Sea Creatures

Unknown fish

[Possibly a fake creature made by a taxidermist]

Unknown triggerfish with human-like teeth and lips.

Unknown fish

Unknown fish

Unknown ugly fish

Unknown fish

Unknown fish

Unknown fish

Unknown shark

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Man and Mystery Vol 11 - Freaks of Nature (Rev06)

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A collection of intriguing topics and fascinating stories

about the rare, the paranormal, and the strange

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