Nature's Weirdest Creatures
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here's another weird one.. it's a Lamprey
not a true fish because it is physiologically different from normal fish.. it has large eyes, one nostril on the top of the head and seven gills and has no jaw...
ths disturbing looking mouth fastens onto its victim and saws away until it reaches bodily fluids and blood of its victim which it feeds on...
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yucks geez almost puke out my lunch
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Originally posted by the Bear:
here's another weird one.. it's a Lamprey
not a true fish because it is physiologically different from normal fish.. it has large eyes, one nostril on the top of the head and seven gills and has no jaw...
ths disturbing looking mouth fastens onto its victim and saws away until it reaches bodily fluids and blood of its victim which it feeds on...
U looked like the Sand Worms in Dune...
Awesome looking...
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This snake must be really hungry...
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dun be a 2 headed snake in your current life....
if not... retribution will cum...
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this is a Bootlace Worm.. they mostly live in the seas
what makes them weird is that this horrid looking worm is capable of growing up to about 50m long!
the longest specimen ever recorded was washed up in Scotland in 1864.. and it was about 180ft or 55m long!
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Reminds me of this little robin I saw pecking on the bootlace of my guide's boot, thinking it was a worm. The robin was constantly hopping around the feet of my guide while he talked to us.
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this was a species of sea spider found in the antarctic...
not really spiders or anything, it's has a spear-like proboscis which it uses to suck out the juices of its prey, sponges and sea slugs
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I thought this is a really cool photo!
The hubby was climbing coconut tree on Pulau Hantu when he saw this! A centipede with its babies!
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ooooo.. the centipede pic is awesome!!
they're voracious hunters...
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and very dangerous too .....
I was told my great grand mother died of a centipede bite before I was born .....
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Originally posted by Fatum:
and very dangerous too .....
I was told my great grand mother died of a centipede bite before I was born .....
Ehhhhh....... people not supposed to die from centipede bites. It will cause great pain (and you will FEEL like u wanna die) but .... generally don't cause death.
Perhaps your great grandma had an allergy... but allergic reactions can mean death even from a common bee sting.
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Originally posted by ShrodingersCat:
Ehhhhh....... people not supposed to die from centipede bites. It will cause great pain (and you will FEEL like u wanna die) but .... generally don't cause death.
Perhaps your great grandma had an allergy... but allergic reactions can mean death even from a common bee sting.
apparently, the big red ones won't kill you ......
but the smaller, black ones could ....
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okay.. here's one which looks like a horrific experiment on cross breeding your worst nightmares gone bad... just imagine a scorpion and a giant spider bred...
the result would be a Whip Scorpion
it looks horrifically like a spider with pincers... or a long legged scorpion with no tail..
although it is an arachnid, it is neither a spider nor a scorpion.. called a whip scorpion because it usually has (but not always) a long whip-like tail...
it hunts insects and worms (and your dreams) with its pincer-like front arms....
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This is an ant lion.
Its larva is more interesting though. It backs itself into the sand and creates a steep pit, and waits at the bottom for a small insect to slide into its jaws.
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Originally posted by the Bear:
okay.. here's one which isn't that "weird" but requires a mention..
Coconut Crab
growing up to 6ft across and up to about 30lbs, it's the largest of the land crabs around.. strong enough to rip open a coconut with its claws (hence its name) it's cool as heck as it can climb trees to get at the coconuts..
eating things like coconuts, bananas and carrion, it's a formidable creature but there has been regional extinctions where they have been found after they were found to be surprisingly delicious...
let's hope they will be around for millennia to come
And you thought spider crabs were scary to look at.
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okay.. here's something cuter...
Spring Hare
looking like a cross between a rabbit and a kangaroo, it is not rabbit or kangaroo.. it was grouped with lots of other species until it was given a family all by itself..
living in the dry savannahs of Kenya and Tanzania, it eats the stems and roots of many types of plants..
it is called a spring hare because although pretty small at about 40cm (not including its tail which adds another 40cm), it can jump over 2m like a kangaroo...
the young are born furred and active...
cute critter, but strange in its way
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A rare animal called the Saola has been caught in Laos.
An extremely rare animal known as the "Asian unicorn" - in spite of having two horns - has been caught by villagers in Laos.
No biologist has ever reported seeing the rare Saola in the wild and there are none of them in captivity.
The animal was discovered in the forests of South-East Asia as recently as 1992.
There have only been a few photos of the Saola taken so far, by villagers and automatic camera traps.
The Saola - Pseudoryx nghetinhensis - is believed to inhabit the Annamite Mountains of Laos and Vietnam, and that is where villagers from Laos' central province of Bolikhamxay caught the unfortunate adult male earlier this August.
They brought the mammal back to the village.
Surprised by the odd-looking animal, the villagers took a few photos and notified the Lao authorities. But by the time a team from the Bolikhamxay Provincial Agriculture and Forestry Office reached the remote location, the Saola was dead.
"The death of this Saola is unfortunate," said a spokesperson of the provincial conservation unit of Bolikhamxay province.
"But at least it confirms an area where it still occurs and the government will immediately move to strengthen conservation efforts there."
In 1992, biologists declared the Saola a news species after analysis of its physical features and DNA.
It resembles the antelopes of North Africa, but is believed to be more closely related to wild cattle.
The Saola is listed as critically endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list of threatened species. Only a handful have reportedly been sighted, mainly by the local population.
"At best a few hundred survive, but it may be only a few dozen. The situation is critical," said Pierre Comizzoli, a veterinarian with the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and a member of the IUCN Saola Working Group.
The technical team took the carcass to the provincial capital Pakxan for further analysis.
"Our lack of knowledge of Saola biology is a major constraint to efforts to conserve it," noted Dr Comizzoli.
"This can be a major step forward in understanding this remarkable and mysterious species. It's clear that further awareness-raising efforts about the special status of Saola are needed but Saola doesn't have much time left."
The Lao authorities have urged villagers not to capture any Saola, and if they do, immediately release the animal.
"This incident highlights the importance of Laos to global wildlife conservation. Saola and several other rare endemic species are found almost nowhere else in the world," said Latsamay Sylavong, the national representative for the IUCN Lao programme.
"Our knowledge of them is limited, and in Laos we need to improve protection of both the ecosystems and the special species they hold, like the Saola. Much needs to be done."
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poor thing.. it just wanted to get away, live its life...
anyway, here's something irresistably cute.. remember the jerboa in the first page? here's the long earred cousin, the long earred jerboa
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here's another..
this is a viscacha... relative to the chinchilla but its face looks more rabbit-like... actually, it looks like a cross between a chinchilla and a rabbit... quite large, it grows to about 20lbs and lives in warrens of about 10 to 100
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today's installment is the Frigate Bird
kinda self-explanatory...
the make uses that big red sac to attract the females
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today's installment isn't weird but it's outright terrifying...
Japanese Giant Hornet
and yes, it is that big
not only that, it can spray flesh-melting acid at its victims.. and usually it's the victim's eyes... and if provoked, it'll also spray a pheromone for the rest of the hornets to come attack and sting you until you are dead...
be afraid.. be very afraid..
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Originally posted by the Bear:
today's installment isn't weird but it's outright terrifying...
Japanese Giant Hornet
and yes, it is that big
not only that, it can spray flesh-melting acid at its victims.. and usually it's the victim's eyes... and if provoked, it'll also spray a pheromone for the rest of the hornets to come attack and sting you until you are dead...
be afraid.. be very afraid..
And a handful of these can kill an entire hive of European honey bees.
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Wow interesting thread!!
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Originally posted by Kuali Baba:
And a handful of these can kill an entire hive of European honey bees.
well yeah... but similiarly, they will be killed by eh... ... ... I forgot wat is the method called but the bees will swarm them, until become like a ball then keep flapping the wings... it will cause temperature to rise alot... enuff to kill a hornet...