Nature's Weirdest Creatures
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Originally posted by Chew Bakar:
The MalayanBox Tortoise. Used to be a common here but now being edged out by the introduced Red Eared Terrapins from pet trade.
That's because the red-earred sliders are out-competing them for food in the wild. Go figure out how they got there in the first place.
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Originally posted by Kuali Baba:
That's because the red-earred sliders are out-competing them for food in the wild. Go figure out how they got there in the first place.
Interesting to note why the aquaria trade use the red-earred slider instead of promoting our local box tortoise. Go figure.
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Originally posted by Chew Bakar:
Interesting to note why the aquaria trade use the red-earred slider instead of promoting our local box tortoise. Go figure.
Well, it's a hardy pet, it's not endangered, and it's the only reptile that AVA allows people to keep as a pet. Its hardiness makes it popular but when it gets abandoned by its owners in reservoirs and drains...
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Originally posted by Kuali Baba:
Well, it's a hardy pet, it's not endangered, and it's the only reptile that AVA allows people to keep as a pet.
Neither was the Malayan Box tortoise then when they introduce the red earred sliders. The reasons was the box tortoise was used for food. Nobody eat red-earred sliders as they are not indigenous in this region. Hence the proliferation when introduced.
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Maybe we should start eating them as well. I'm sure that they taste good.
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Good idea.
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Ok not really weird but I think it's cute :P
Bristly Bush Viper (Atheris hispida)
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Originally posted by elindra:
Ok not really weird but I think it's cute :P
Bristly Bush Viper (Atheris hispida)
Cute.
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Originally posted by elindra:
Ok not really weird but I think it's cute :P
Bristly Bush Viper (Atheris hispida)
It cute...But I dun think it's cute when it bites u...
But still I think it's still young so it's cute...
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Sanke eel.
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Sea slug surprise: It’s half-plant, half-animal
Scientists aren't yet sure how animals actually appropriate genes they need
A green sea slug appears to be part animal, part plant. It's the first critter discovered to produce the plant pigment chlorophyll.
The sneaky slugs seem to have stolen the genes that enable this skill from algae that they've eaten. With their contraband genes, the slugs can carry out photosynthesis — the process plants use to convert sunlight into energy.
"They can make their energy-containing molecules without having to eat anything," said Sidney Pierce, a biologist at the University of South Florida in Tampa.
Pierce has been studying the unique creatures, officially called Elysia chlorotica, for about 20 years. He presented his most recent findings Jan. 7 at the annual meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology in Seattle. The finding was first reported by Science News.
"This is the first time that multicellar animals have been able to produce chlorophyll," Pierce told LiveScience.
The sea slugs live in salt marshes in New England and Canada. In addition to burglarizing the genes needed to make the green pigment chlorophyll, the slugs also steal tiny cell parts called chloroplasts, which they use to conduct photosynthesis. The chloroplasts use the chlorophyl to convert sunlight into energy, just as plants do, eliminating the need to eat food to gain energy.
"We collect them and we keep them in aquaria for months," Pierce said. "As long as we shine a light on them for 12 hours a day, they can survive [without food]."
The researchers used a radioactive tracer to be sure that the slugs are actually producing the chlorophyll themselves, as opposed to just stealing the ready-made pigment from algae. In fact, the slugs incorporate the genetic material so well, they pass it on to further generations of slugs.
The babies of thieving slugs retain the ability to produce their own chlorophyll, though they can't carry out photosynthesis until they've eaten enough algae to steal the necessary chloroplasts, which they can't yet produce on their own.
The slugs accomplishment is quite a feat, and scientists aren't yet sure how the animals actually appropriate the genes they need.
"It certainly is possible that DNA from one species can get into another species, as these slugs have clearly shown," Pierce said. "But the mechanisms are still unknown."
© 2010 LiveScience.com. All rights reserved. -
Interesting. Animal with plant chlorophyll.
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okay.. time to update this..
Hooded Seal
the male of this species has this nasal sac thingy which it inflates to scare away rivals...
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Originally posted by the Bear:
okay.. time to update this..
Hooded Seal
the male of this species has this nasal sac thingy which it inflates to scare away rivals...
Hmmm... The hood reminds me of something else...... .... ... something found on a baboon >__>
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Interesting.
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I like the pygmy marmoset best, so small and cute XD
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I love the marmoset and axotyl! SO CUTE!! But really lah those animals are really very weird, especially that lizard faced freak with a long body and only 2 legs that looks like some worm -.-
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Originally posted by Schmike:
can?
Your PNT looks very very cute.
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Originally posted by Chew Bakar:
Neither was the Malayan Box tortoise then when they introduce the red earred sliders. The reasons was the box tortoise was used for food. Nobody eat red-earred sliders as they are not indigenous in this region. Hence the proliferation when introduced.
I don't understand how anyone can be so savage to eat the malayan box turtle. its the most gentle and docile turtle among all the turtles in the world, and it is VERY endangered. And its absolutely adorable.
Only those disgusting china man would do that. Low class and revolting china man who are worse than beasts. Why doesn't US just drop a couple of atomic bombs and bomb the hell out of em'
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Originally posted by Bagfag:
I don't understand how anyone can be so savage to eat the malayan box turtle. its the most gentle and docile turtle among all the turtles in the world, and it is VERY endangered. And its absolutely adorable.
Only those disgusting china man would do that. Low class and revolting china man who are worse than beasts. Why doesn't US just drop a couple of atomic bombs and bomb the hell out of em'
The PRCs are eating up all their Big Head Turtle too
I'm too lazy to find the pic now but it's this turtle with a giant head and yes it looks weird too
Oh ya and their Yang Tze River sturgeon is like going to be extinct right? One of my friends took a picture of one in one of their live seafood restaurants just last year. And yes the PRCs eat PNTs too
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Originally posted by Bagfag:
I don't understand how anyone can be so savage to eat the malayan box turtle. its the most gentle and docile turtle among all the turtles in the world, and it is VERY endangered. And its absolutely adorable.
Only those disgusting china man would do that. Low class and revolting china man who are worse than beasts. Why doesn't US just drop a couple of atomic bombs and bomb the hell out of em'
The Malayan box turtles were sold here back in the old days for food and pets.
It was a very common tortoise that you find in ponds and streams. And those ponds in Bright Hill temple and Kusu were full of them. Alas when the Red-earred terrapins were introduced, the population decline and are now almost decimated.
So its not so much on who eat those box tortoises but being replaced by careless introduction for this species here. The are still pretty common in Malaysia rural area or forest.
Yes, the PRC only care for showing the world they save the Giant Panda but ate the rest of the species to extinction. An irony of the WWF logo.
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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
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omg.. thats a huge crab..
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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
They are delicious but currently protected under the CITES.
In certain remote islands they are plentiful. Locals bait them with coconuts outsides their burrows during dusk..
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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
tat looks... ... ... ... delicious...
