Strange but true..

[Amber30]

The bark scorpion is the most venomous scorpion in North America, and its venom can cause severe pain (coupled with numbness and tingling) in adult humans, typically lasting between 24 to 72 hours.
Temporary dysfunction in the area stung is common; e.g. a hand or possibly arm can be immobilized or experience convulsions. It also may cause the loss of breath for a short period of time.
Due to the extreme pain induced, many victims describe sensations of electrical jolts after being stung.
Bark scorpions, like most other scorpions, will glow when exposed to a blacklight. This is particularly useful in scorpion detection, since bark scorpions are active during the night, and can be easily spotted using this method. Typical UV LED flashlights are able to readily detect scorpions at a distance of approximately 6 feet. Newly molted scorpions will not glow under UV light for a few days after moulting.
Bark scorpions, like most other scorpions, are incredibly resilient. Lab experiments have frozen the scorpions for weeks, and after being thawed, the scorpions emerged unharmed.

stonefish..

[DeborahLee]

* The major commercial significance of stonefish is as an aquarium pet. However, these fish are also sold in Hong Kong markets for their meat. Stonefish is also eaten in Japan, as sashimi.
* Stonefish is considered to be the most venomous fish in the world, with its venom consisting of proteins. When a stonefish bites a person, its venom can be partially denatured by the application of a very hot compress on the site of injury.
* Stonefish, usually, release their toxin when in danger. They have 13 spines on their back that inject the toxin when pressure is placed on them. For instance, when a larger fish attacks or a person steps on stonefish, the pressure leads to release of the venom.
* Stonefish are considered to be extremely good at camouflaging themselves. While looking for the prey, they stay still at a particular location, giving the appearance of a rock. This helps them to catch their prey unawares.
* The largest stonefish to have ever been recorded was 51 cm long. Mainly, these fish are found in mottled greenish to mostly brown color. Their skin color helps them in their ability to camouflage themselves among the rocks or many of the tropical reefs.
* A stonefish may produce a million eggs, of which only a small number survive till maturity. When the female stonefish releases its eggs into water, many of them fall prey to other fishes.
* Sharks and rays are among the major predators of stonefish. Researches at the Queensland Museum have put forward that stonefish have been found in the gut contents of large sharks, particularly tiger and white sharks.
* Stone fish can be found single or in a group under rocks and rubble. Sometimes, they also bury themselves with just their spines and fins visible.




Hummingbird

[Amber30]

Hummingbirds can hover in mid-air by rapidly flapping their wings 12–90 times per second (depending on the species).
They can also fly backwards, and are the only group of birds able to do so. Their English name derives from the characteristic hum made by their rapid wing beats.
They can fly at speeds exceeding 15 m/s (54 km/h, 34 mi/h)
With the exception of insects, hummingbirds while in flight have the highest metabolism of all animals, a necessity in order to support the rapid beating of their wings.
Their heart rate can reach as high as 1,260 beats per minute, a rate once measured in a Blue-throated Hummingbird.
They also consume more than their own weight in nectar each day, and to do so they must visit hundreds of flowers daily.
Hummingbirds are continuously hours away from starving to death, and are able to store just enough energy to survive overnight.

Horseshoe crab

[phattP]

Each spring during the high tides of the new and full moons, thousands of horseshoe crabs descend on the Delaware Bay shoreline to spawn.

Males, two-thirds the size of their mates, cluster along the water's edge as the females arrive. With glove-like claws on its first pair of legs, the male hangs on to the female's shell and is pulled up the beach to the high tide line.

The female pauses every few feet to dig a hole and deposit as many as 20,000 pearly green, birdshot-sized eggs. The male then fertilizes the eggs as he is pulled over the nest. After the spawning is complete, the crabs leave and the waves wash sand over the nest.
( way to go lol...)

seahorse..

[DeborahLee]

Seahorses are truly unique, and not just because of their unusual equine shape. Unlike most other fish, they are monogamous and mate for life. Rarer still, they are among the only animal species on Earth in which the male bears the unborn young.
Found in shallow tropical and temperate waters throughout the world, these upright-swimming relatives of the pipefish can range in size from 0.6 inches (1.5 centimeters) to 14 inches (35 centimeters) long.
Male seahorses are equipped with a brood pouch on their ventral, or front-facing, side. When mating, the female deposits her eggs into his pouch, and the male fertilizes them internally. He carries the eggs in his pouch until they hatch, then releases fully formed, miniature seahorses into the water.
Because of their body shape, seahorses are rather inept swimmers and can easily die of exhaustion when caught in storm-roiled seas. They propel themselves by using a small fin on their back that flutters up to 35 times per second. Even smaller pectoral fins located near the back of the head are used for steering.
They anchor themselves with their prehensile tails to sea grasses and corals, using their elongated snouts to suck in plankton and small crustaceans that drift by. Voracious eaters, they graze continually and can consume 3,000 or more brine shrimp per day.
Population data for most of the world’s 35 seahorse species is sparse. However, worldwide coastal habitat depletion, pollution, and rampant harvesting, mainly for use in Asian traditional medicine, have made several species vulnerable to extinction.

(you just beat me to the horseshoe crab phatt lol)


Ankylosaurus Magniventris

[Amber30]

Ankylosaurus magniventris existed between 68 to 65.5 million years ago.
The largest known skull of this animal was collected in Alberta by Charles M. Sternberg, in 1947 and is now housed at the Canadian Museum of Nature. Many other isolated bones, armor plates and teeth have been found over the years.
The name comes from the medical term Ankylosis and refers to the stiffness caused by the fusion of many bones in the skull and body.It translates as 'stiffened lizard'.

Pike..

[ASBO]

Pike are typical ambush predators; they lie in wait for prey, holding perfectly still for long periods and then exhibit remarkable acceleration as they strike.
Because of their cannibalistic nature, young pike need places where they can take shelter between plants so they are not eaten.
Pike normally live 5 to 15 years, but can be as old as 30.
Pike have a very typical hunting behavior, they are able to remain stationary in the water, by just moving the last fin rays of the dorsal fins and the breast fins. Before striking they bend their body and dash out to the prey using the large surface of tail fin, dorsal fin and anal fin to propel themselves.
The fish has a distinctive habit of catching its prey sideways in the mouth, immobilising it with its sharp backward pointing teeth, and then turning the prey headfirst to swallow it.
It eats mainly fish, but on occasion water voles and ducklings have also been known to fall prey to pike.
Young pike have been found dead from choking on a pike of a similar size.

Hippopotamus..

[Amber30]

Hippos have very thick skin, especially over the back and rump, the grayish-brown body is almost completely hairless, with only a few bristles around the mouth and the tip of the tail.
The hippo has neither sweat nor sebaceous glands but does have unique glands that produce a viscous red fluid, leading to the myth that hippos "sweat blood."
The hippo relies on water or mud to keep it cool, and the red fluid may have a similar function, but it is often produced in copious amounts when the animal is excited.
The hippo’s yawn is not a sign of sleepiness or boredom but is actually a threat gesture, displaying long, thick, razor-sharp canine teeth, or tusks, with which it is capable of biting a small boat in half.
Being fearlessly protective of their turf and young, hippos have killed hundreds of people in Africa – more than any other wild animal.


White Rhinoceros..

[Pocket_Ducks]

white rhinocerus

The front horn averages at 90 cm (35 in) in length and can reach 150 cm (59 in)...

...so it's safe to say, that's one horny mother Fer!

the lolcat

kwak

[Amber30]

The lolcat is very nearly extinct.Isolated survivors can sometimes be spotted on or around poker tables and occasionally in forums. The distinguishing feature of lolcats is their ability to mimic the behaviour of other lolcats. It has been observed that when 1 lolcat starts its characteristic mating call the others all follow suit until a chorus of lols can be seen all happening at the same time...
sorry there are no existing pics of a lolcat due to their elusive nature.

Red Kite...

[ASBO]

This magnificently graceful bird of prey is unmistakable with its reddish-brown body, angled wings and deeply forked tail.
It was saved from national extinction by one of the world's longest running protection programmes, and has now been successfully re-introduced to England and Scotland.
They have a wingspan of nearly two metres (about five-and-a-half-feet), but a relatively small body weight of 2 - 3 Ibs.
This means the bird is incredibly agile, and can stay in the air for many hours with hardly a beat of its wings.

Walrus..

[DeborahLee]

1. The walruses scientific name, 'Odobenus rosmarus', is Latin for 'tooth-walking sea-horse'. When the walrus uses its prominent tusks to pull its bulk from the ocean onto pack ice, the process looks like the walrus is walking on its tusks, hence the name.
2. A walrus can remain under water for up to 30 minutes before coming up for air.
3. The walrus' whiskers are not hairs, but actually extremely sensitive, tactile organs, much like a cat's whiskers. The walrus uses these whiskers to help find food.
4. The tusks of a full grown walrus can weigh over 3 pounds each.
5. Walruses live in the Arctic seas and on land.
6. The adult male walrus can weigh from 900kg to 1400kg (2000 to 3000lbs) and can grow to 12ft in length.
7. Walruses are extremely noisy and social, cramming onto beaches and ice floes by the thousands. They have very defined hierarchies - males, females and females with calves - and come to each other's rescue when they are attacked.
8. From afar, the walrus looks bald but its body is actually covered with a very thin layer of fur.
9. Every two or three years the cow (female) gives birth to a single calf in May or June. Newborns have a thin layer of blubber and are covered with a coat of short gray hairs which comes in handy since they are born on ice floes. The calves can swim at birth and usually stays with its mother for two to three years until it takes off on its own.
10. Walruses don't have very good eyesight, but their hearing and sense of smell is excellent. Touch is also an important sense in walrus communities as they seek physical contact with each other.




Saiga Antelope

[phattP]

The Saiga antelope (Saiga tatarica mongolica) is the most threatened and endemic ungulate species.
The horns have some value as Chinese traditional medicine and for that reason Saiga are now endangered by poaching.
The saiga is recognizable by an extremely unusual, over-sized, and flexible, nose structure. The nose is supposed to warm up the air in winter and filter out the dust in summer.

lightning bug..

[Amber30]

Lightning bugs are winged beetles also commonly called fireflies .
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.
Renaissance painters used a powder of dried fireflies to create a photosensitive mixture. Caravaggio may have used this powder in his uniquely lit paintings.

leaf cutter ants

[DeborahLee]

Leafcutter ants are species of ants that are fungus farmers -- they cultivate (grow) their own food, a type of fungus, in underground gardens.

Leafcutter ants travel in long lines far into the forest, in search of leaves; they leave a scent along the trail so they can find their way back home. They use their sharp mandibles (jaws) to cut leaves from plants, and then carry the large pieces of leaves over their back. A leafcutter ant can carry almost ten times its own weight - that is like a 200-pound adult weightlifter carrying a 2,000-pound car up in the air. The leafcutter ants carry the leaf pieces back to their underground nests where the leaves are chewed into a pulp. The decaying pulp is stored with ant feces and fungus spores, and strands of fungus eventually grow on the decomposing pulp. This fungus is the crop that these ants eat; the ants do not eat the leaves.
Leafcutter ants live in tropical rainforests and semi-tropical forests of Central and South America, and in parts of southern North America.




Snow Macaque

[ASBO]

The Japanese Macaque is a very intelligent species. It is the only animal other than humans and raccoons that is known to wash its food before eating it.
Researchers studying this species at Koshima island in Japan left sweet potatoes out on the beach for them to feed on, then witnessed one female, named Imo (Japanese for yam or potato), taking the food down to the sea to wash the sand off it.
After a while, others started to copy her behavior.
This trait was then passed on from generation to generation, until eventually, all except the very oldest members of the troop were washing their food and even seasoning their clean food in the sea.
She was similarly the first observed balling up wheat with air pockets, throwing it into the water, and waiting for it to float back up before picking it up and eating it free from dirt.

Indian elephant...

[DeborahLee]

BUMPING THIS THREAD....IT WAS ONE OF MY FAVOURITES

The Indian elephant is found throughout south-east Asia including Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, Laos, Peninsular Malaysia, Burma, Nepal, Pakistan, T hailand and Vietnam, and although spread out, the wild Indian elephant population is thought to be around just 20,000 individuals.
Indian elephants have been domesticated for hundreds of years for foresting and often battle. There are many places across south-east Asia where Indian elephants are kept for tourists to ride, and are often treated fairly badly. All Asian elephants are well known for their immense strength and friendliness towards humans.
The Indian elephant has smaller ears than the African elephant and the Indian elephant also has a more curved spine than the African elephant. Unlike the African elephants, the female Indian elephants very rarely have tusks, and if the female Indian elephant does have tusks, they are generally barely visible and can only be seen when the female Indian elephant opens her mouth.




Cuttlefish

[Amber30]

Cuttlefish are much more closely related to garden slugs and snails than they are to fish! They belong to the same group of animals as the octopuses, squid and nautilus and like a snail they are all molluscs.

Cuttlefish are unique within this group in that they have a gas filled bone within their bodies which allows them to be buoyant.

The bone is within the body part of the animal called the mantle and attached to the mantle is a head with eight arms and two feeding tentacles.
The cuttlefish is an ambush predator and a master of disguise. Its skin is covered with special cells that reflect light in many different colours enabling the cuttlefish to blend into its background almost perfectly. Some say it's like a chameleon but it is far superior in its ability to change colour and even the texture of its skin!

A cuttlefish will steadily, using its camouflage, sneak up on its prey. Their preferred diet is crabs or fish, and when it is close enough it opens apart its eight arms and out shoots two deceptively long feeding tentacles. On the end of each is a pad covered in suckers that grasp hold of the prey and quickly pull it close to the cuttlefish's mouth that looks like a parrot's beak.

Capybara..

[crinkle62]

so sweet





They feature big eyes, slender fingers, and large, sensitive ears. Aye-ayes have pointed claws on all their fingers and toes except for their opposable big toes, which enable them to dangle from branches.
Aye-ayes spend their lives in rain forest trees and avoid coming down to earth. They are nocturnal, and spend the day curled up in a ball-like nest of leaves and branches. The nests appear as closed spheres with single entry holes, situated in the forks of large trees.
While perched aloft, the aye-aye taps on trees with its long middle finger and listens for wood-boring insect larvae moving under the bark. It employs the same middle finger to fish them out. The digit is also useful for scooping the flesh out of coconuts and other fruits that supplement the animal's insect diet.
Many people native to Madagascar consider the aye-aye an omen of ill luck. For this reason they often have been killed on sight. Such hunting, coupled with habitat destruction, have made the aye-aye critically endangered. Today they are protected by law.
Aye-ayes are the only primates thought to use echolocation to find prey.