Cool Animals - Blog Posts

i held a corn snake today

im in love but my mom is scared of snakes 😿

Wow. Just wow. I’d heard about bees playing, but I didn’t know some of the other cool things mentioned in this video, like the fact that bees can learn by watching others. 💛🐝

This is why I don’t squash insects that happen to wander into the house. This is why I am against that sort of careless killing. Because we so drastically underestimate what insects are capable of. They are living beings, quite possibly each with their own desires and fears and inner lives. Many people forget that insects are animals. Many people forget that so are we.

honestly, the things that insects are capable of will never cease to amaze me

Behold the blue glaucus (Glaucus atlanticus), a tiny sea slug that packs a powerful punch! Growing only about 1.2 in (3 cm) long, it’s also known as the blue dragon, and it specializes in eating venomous siphonophores—like the Portuguese man o' war. It then repurposes the toxic chemicals from its prey as a defense for itself. The blue glaucus’ sting has been known to induce nausea, vomiting, and agonizing pain. Their venom can remain active even after death!

Photo: drmattnimbs, CC BY-NC 4.0, iNaturalist

Meet “the sheep of the Mesozoic,” Protoceratops andrewsi. This herbivore was a very common animal and is remarkably well-represented in the fossil record.

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Spookfish

Winteria telescopa

The Spookfish’s eyes act as a telescope and are designed to maximize light in the deep ocean. Its eyes contain rod cells that help distinguish between ambient light and bioluminescent light. This adaptation helps avoid predators and catch prey.  

Picture Credit: https://www.natureplprints.com/deep-sea/deep-sea-fish-winteria-telescopa-15230734.html

I love this species cuz I had an internship working with reptiles and the Mud Turtle was a cranky, fiesty finger-biter but that just just made her more fking adorable. Turtle Tsundere.

Eastern Mud Turtle (Kinosternon subrubrum)

Also known as the common mud turtle, the eastern mud turtle is a species of Kinosternid turtle which is native to the United States, where it occurs throughout the eastern and central portions. Like many other turtle species, eastern mud turtles will occupy a range of freshwater habitats like ponds and lakes, where they will feed on a range of invertebrates and small fish

Classification

Animalia-Chordata-Reptilia-Testudines-Kinosternidae-Kinosternon-K. subrubrum

Image: LA Dawson

Mexican Black Kingsnake Lampropeltis getula nigrita Source: Here

i was watching a deep sea documentary and these underwater cameras found a bigfin squid hovering ominously in the vast, crushing darkness. it was really fun hearing the scientists talk over the footage like “what’s that?” “o-oh looks like a squid haha” like with audible tension til they got a clearer shot. i could hear them trying to logic through and reason “surely that’s not something horrible” in real time in their voices. meanwhile the squid’s just hovering there like an evil marionette master

Green Shell Semi-Slug: the researchers who discovered this species originally wanted to name it "Ibycus felis," because it often rests with its tail curled around its body, which reminded them of a sleeping cat

The Latin name of this species is Ibycus rachelae, but it's also known as a green-shelled or long-tailed semi-slug. The species was first described in 2008, and it is found only in the montane forests of Sabah (Borneo) and Peninsular Malaysia.

The term "semi-slug" refers to an intermediate stage of evolution as a snail evolves into a slug. These snails still have shells that are at least partially visible, but they have been reduced to the point where the shell can no longer accommodate the snail's whole body. There are many different species of semi-slug, but most of them have a noticeably reduced, receding, and/or transparent shell that is partially concealed beneath the mantle.

This article describes another peculiar characteristic of semi-slugs (including Ibycus rachelae):

... semi-slugs don’t just look weird, they act weird, too. They employ sharp projectiles called love darts in their courtship rituals, by shooting several of them at a prospective mate. The mate, in turn, shoots several love darts right back.

Researchers have found that if semi-slugs are able to lodge love darts into one another, the subsequent copulation tends to be much more successful. It’s thought that the mucus distributed by the love dart ensures greater survivability of the sperm

This is what the "love darts" look like (when magnified under SEM):

The tiny, harpoon-like structures are made of calcium carbonate, and they transmit certain hormones (via mucus) that help to increase the likelihood of reproductive success. Semi-slugs are not the only gastropods that use "love darts," however; they are also used by some other land snails and slugs.

Sources & More Info:

World Wildlife Fund: Borneo's New World (PDF)

Basteria (Journal): The Slugs and Semislugs of Sabah, Malaysian Borneo (PDF)

Forest Research Institute Malaysia: Introduction to the Land Snails and Slugs of Malaysia (PDF)

Malay Peninsular Terrestrial Molluscs: Ibycus rachelae

Live Science: World's Longest Bug and 'Ninja' Slug Discovered in Borneo

Australian Geographic: Meet the Semi-Slug, a Snail without a Home