Source: flickr.com
The sarcastic fringehead (Neoclinus blanchardi) is a footlong fish that lives off the Pacific coast of North America. When unthreatened, the fringehead’s visage is fairly unremarkable. But if a marine predator (or stray human hand) attempts to dislodge a fringehead from its crevasse, the fish will race into action, brandishing its frightening Predator-like mouth at the interloper.
And things get even stranger when two sarcastic fringeheads get embroiled in a turf war. How strange? Two words: “mouth wrestling.” Are you brave enough to behold the angriest make-out party in the animal kingdom?
via // [video source]
wow, “sarcastic fringehead” describes me pretty well. that’s a spot-on depiction of my make-out technique also.
(via noodle2thedoodle)
Source: underthevastblueseas
Indri indri, the Indri - the largest extant lemur species - in Andasibe National Park, eastern Madagascar.
(via markscherz)
Source: markscherz.com
part one: paul nicklen on the spring narwhal migration
“i have been traveling to northern baffin island for more than 12 years to try and get one underwater picture of a male narwhal. narwhals are very shy. they have a sensitive nature and excellent echolocation. you can see hundreds passing by the ice edge, but when you slip into the water, you may never see one.
"late one afternoon, i had been in the -1.7°C water for a couple of hours, and i was freezing so badly that my legs and arms were cramping up. i couldn’t feel my lips around my snorkel, so i just stared into the black 2,000-foot abyss trying not to think about how cold i was.
"then, out of the corner of my eye, i noticed something bright traveling through the murky water. i turned my head, and there they were: several male narwhals, swimming in beautiful formation. i put my frozen finger on the shutter and, as i was about to take the picture, the narwhal closest to me let out a stream of bubbles. i snapped the picture in what was the most incredible moment of the assignment."
of note, the tusk of the narwhal is actually a tooth that grows in a spiral, and is thought to have evolved from sexual selective pressures, not for defensive reasons.
part two: the narwhal hunt
(via moreanimalia)
Source: awkwardsituationist
Varecia rubra, Red- Ruffed Lemur
2013
Source: flickr.com
Lemur by PKK49
Day 198
avianawareness: BLEACHING AND PAINTING OF PARROTS
This brings me to tears. All because of greedy bastards and an uninformed bunch of consumers.
These parrots are seen in clandestine bird markets all over South and Central America. Many of the birds smuggled into the USA are likewise impaired.
All die
The process of bleaching is excessively cruel. The parrots’ head is literally dunked in chlorine. The same stuff that cleans your toilets or bleaches your hair. Besides bleaching the feathers it also damages the eyes, skin, lungs and digestive tract of the parrot, which, if not killed directly, will develop secondary problems which are eventually fatal.
The chemical dye that is successively used to produce the yellow colouring adds to this. Slowly poisoning the parrot every time it preens. The traders in these birds even induce this cruelty on unweaned babies as witnessed by the last bird in the image.
Few of the people that buy these birds are inclined to go to a specialised avian vet to treat the bird, if such a vet even exists in their country.
Veterinarian Dr. Pat Latas of the Arizona Bird Clinic produced these images. He finds these birds, smuggled from Mexico, for sale at swap meets and flea markets across the USA.Why dye an already beautiful parrot?
This question must come to mind. These parrots are already beautiful with their contrasting white, red and green markings. Why bestow such cruelty on them just to add yellow?
Popular folklore in South and Central America has it that Yellow-headed parrots are the best talkers: “Loro hablando". True, the Central American Yellow-headed Amazon parrot (Amazona oratrix) is known as one of the best mimics of the parrot family. But the Yellow-headed Amazon is almost extirpated by the constant onslaught of the wild bird trade. They are hard to come by thus very expensive.
By dyeing the head of other parrot species yellow they can be made to look like the good talking Yellow-headed parrots and be sold at a far better price. So much better as to compensate for the many birds lost in the procedure.
Trough this wasteful practice more species of parrot get threatened by the wild bird trade, species that traditionally were not targeted by the pet industry. White fronted amazons are naturally nervous birds with little pet potential. Now they too disappear from the Mexican countryside and turning up in the illegal trade in the USA and elsewhere because they are be made to look like other birds.
via cityparrots.orgI know this is tough to look at, but please be strong enough to spread information like this. Let the world be made aware, and possibly be able to do more to help prevent things like this. It just takes the right person, one spark to catch…
:I I’d say I’m surprised at the lengths some people will go to … but I’m not :(
(via moreanimalia)
Source: avianawareness
Spooky snaps that give a new meaning to “deadheading.“ Snapdragons make cute flowers, but when they die, they turn into macabre skulls. MORE: http://presurfer.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-dragons-skull-macabre-appearance-of.html [via Occupy the FDA, on Facebook]
(via jonesypuff)
Source: facebook.com
Lemurs by Steph.Seager on Flickr.
