dirtydirtychai:

postmodernmulticoloredcloak:

flylittlekoala:

the first time EVER scientists managed to spot a pair of deep sea octopi mating it turned out to be 1. two males and 2. two males of different species 3. the much smaller octopus was clearly topping. neither of the octopi showed any sign of distress, so they clearly were into it, and octopi are too smart not to know what they were doing. source

the animal kingdom is a lot gayer than people want you to believe.

everything about this documentary is amazing 

dramatic zoom on the sexing octopuses 

“the little white male is trying to mate with an octopus over four times his size” something tells me straight octopus research scientists don’t get out to gay bars much 

narrator: this third arm is the male’s reproductive organ. 

*video of octopuses sexing it up* 

narrator: in these unique pictures, the smaller octopus is inserting his reproductive arm under the mantle of the larger octopus and attempting to copulate.

*video shows large octopus’ tentacle reaching up to caress the smaller white one* 

narrator: but why?

(via prettyprettypretties)

Source: youtu.be

typhlonectes: “ World Octopus and Squid Populations Are Booming by Patrick Monahan “ New research shows that human induced environmental changes to marine environments are leading to a surge of cephalopods, the invertebrate group that includes...
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typhlonectes:

World Octopus and Squid Populations Are Booming

by Patrick Monahan

New research shows that human induced environmental changes to marine environments are leading to a surge of cephalopods, the invertebrate group that includes octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish.

Scientists have noticed a growth in cephalopod catches around the world since the late 1990s. But drawing conclusions from national fisheries data can be tricky. Not only can catch numbers be misreported, but changes in catch amounts can also be influenced by factors that change the amount of time people spend fishing—like the price of fish and the cost of fuel—or by technological advances that allow fishers to catch more.

So an increase in cephalopod catch doesn’t necessarily mean there are more cephalopods in the ocean. To solve this problem, researchers looked for data that would allow them to calculate how much fishers catch over a given time period—a more reliable metric of actual cephalopod population numbers…

(read more: Science Magazine/AAAS)

photograph by Diliff | Wikipedia

Slovenia’s ultra-rare ‘dragon eggs’ are hatching as we speak

theexoticvet:

image

Strap on your birthday hats and break out the cake and candles, because a new ‘dragon’ just hatched inside Postojna Cave in southwestern Slovenia!

No, they’re not real dragons (we wish fire-breathing dragons were real just as much as you do) - they’re actually a species of blind, aquatic salamander called olms, which are nicknamed dragons because of their long, slender bodies.

But even if they aren’t the dragons from your favourite lore, these hatchlings are a huge deal, because olms only lay eggs once or twice a decade, despite their 100-year lifespans.

(Read More)

(via moreanimalia)

Source: theexoticvet