#weird animal facts

[shadowpuppetteer]

Here are some more weird animal facts. Peacocks show off their feathers, walruses do battle, and turtles do jazz hands. I love how silly evolution is.

[hometoursandotherstuff]

[dumb-zombie-girl]

THIS POST IS KINDA NSFW ( talking about animal anatomy and dicks)

An interesting fact about male cats is that they have spines on their penises so since cat King is a male and is part cat does that mean he also has spines on his penis

This one is a little weird but I suddenly remember that fact about male cats and that got me thinking about if cat King also has them

[midnight-darkfrost]

Today I just discovered that there is a spider with the scientific name Hotwheels sisyphus. I am not making this up.

[digitalsatyr23]

Two things you should never ask me about if you value your free time.

[pansy-placebo]

Have any of you ever heard of the hummingbird moths we get in Britain?

So, I thought I saw a hummingbird last year. It was much bigger than a bug could be, I thought, and it hovered around flowers and looked like it had feathers.

I got pretty close but it was never still enough to see clearly. Then, when I told my parents they said "oh! it was probably a moth!" and I was baffled for a long time. Like, how could a moth look like and act so much like a hummingbird?

Until I googled "hummingbirds in the UK" and this fucker comes up:

Everyone, meet the hummingbird hawk-moth; one of the weirdest and coolest cases of convergent evolution on this planet.

This is the kinda thing I'd see in fiction and go "oooh cool, bug hummingbird! Wish we had those on earth!" But we do. We really do have them on earth!! Isn't that nuts?!?!?

[amnhnyc]

Sunshine State residents, do you recognize this little neighbor? It’s the Florida softshell turtle (Apalone ferox)! Unlike many turtles, you might find this critter darting about on land or swimming rapidly in water. Its hydrodynamic, flattened shell, and four strongly-webbed feet help it to move swiftly. Softshells stick mostly to water and have long necks and snouts that they poke above the surface, like a snorkel, to breathe. Juveniles have more contrasting color patterns than adults: their carapace, or shell, can be olive, tan, or light brown with spots and a yellow rim.

Photo: kimberry, CC BY-NC 4.0, iNaturalist

[mizzyislost]

youre interrupting them

[artifacts-and-arthropods]

The Camouflaged Looper: these caterpillars fashion their own camouflage by collecting flower petals/vegetation and using silk to "glue" the pieces onto their bodies

Often referred to as "camouflaged loopers," the caterpillars are the larvae of the wavy-lined emerald moth (Synchlora aerata).

Camouflaged loopers deploy a unique form of self-defense -- they snip off tiny pieces of the flowers upon which they feed, then use bits of silk to attach the vegetation to their backs. This provides them with a kind of camouflage, enabling them to blend in with the plants that they eat.

Some of them create little tufts that run along their backs, while others fashion a thicker camouflage that covers their backs completely. In some cases, the camouflaged loopers will even build much larger bundles that surround their entire bodies.

Their range includes most of North America (from southern Canada down through Texas) and they can feed upon an enormous variety of plants, so the disguises that these caterpillars build can come in countless colors, shapes, and sizes, incorporating many different flowers and other plants.

And this is what the fully-developed moth looks like:

Sources & More Info:

Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy: Wavy-Lined Emerald, Master of Disguise

Maryland Biodiversity Project: Wavy-Lined Emerald Moth (Synchlora aerata)

The Caterpillar Lab: Camouflaged Looper

University of Alberta Museums: Synchlora aerata

Missouri Department of Conservation: Wavy-Lined Emerald

Nebraskaland Magazine: The Amazing Camouflaged Looper

Lake County Forest Preserves: Camouflage Revealed

[sarahmackattack]

In my 4-week class, Mating Rituals of the Animal Kingdom, we'll cover things you never even THOUGHT to ask about animal mating.

INCLUDING:

-Spitballs, given as romantic gifts

-Spider Sex Percussionists™

-Bee perfumers

-Lemur Stink Fights

-Springtail females bench pressing males, who then Raccacoonie them to the pile of sperm the males prepared, so she then sits on it (God bless springtails)

-& MORE

Sign up here

I need 6 more people to sign up or Atlas Obscura won't run the course and this course is SO SILLY and SO FUN and you'll learn so much weird shit I can't even tell you. And JUST in time for VALENTINES day.

This class has no homework, and you can watch it live or later!

[markscherz]

My mother and I have two masters degrees between us and yet somehow we could not figure out if frogs have lungs or not.

Can you help settle the debate?

All frogs have lungs except one! The bizarre Barbourula kalimantanensis is the only known frog to lack lungs. It makes up for this by being heckin' flat, basically imitating the bizarre pipids.

[front-facing-pokemon]

[tainebot01]

Phoenix Wright is So Stupid Funny as a player POV character because you start off playing ace attorney thinking he's just your self insert Relatable Protag Man with an illogical haircut in a world full of crazy then as the games go on and/or you switch perspectives you slowly begin to realise he's always been just as buck wild if not a complete lunatic since day one. But in his own mind he's always just so convinced he's a Completely Regular Lawyerdude surrounded by a bunch of freaks. And I love him all the more for it. What is wrong with this man.

[jenfoundabug]

Dasymutilla vestita, a species of velvet ant, in southern New Mexico, US. Despite their name, velvet ants are actually wasps. The females, like the one in this picture, don't have wings and can inflict an extremely painful sting. However, they're non aggressive and will only sting in self defense. Males have wings and cannot sting.

[protectoursharks]

hi

what's this one cause I have questions

1; is it edible

2: fun facts about it

THAMK YOU

That is a flying gurnard (Dactylopterus volitans)!

To answer your first question, they are edible! They're steadily becoming a more popular food choice because they have a relatively low oil content.

The first thing you might notice about this species is their very large pectoral fins. It's believed that their primary use is to scare off predators. Often the fish rest on the seafloor with the large fins tucked in, only displaying them when threatened. Additionally, they have finger-like segments of their pectoral fins which they use to walk across the sea floor.

These fish can also make noises! Using their swim bladder and jaw, they can make a grunt-like sound believed be used to scare off predators or communicate with each other.

[party-gilmore]

speaking AS a millennial…

if you ever made charlie the unicorn a visceral part of your personality or sang along to “IM A BA-NAAAAA-NA!” or “Here’s a llama there’s a llama” or “WE LIKE THE MOOOOOOOON!”

you don’t get to make fun of The Kids Today for skibidi toilet