New and/or Different

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Permalink Reply by Catman on January 19, 2009 at 8:21am

The Heteropoda maxima (shown here) is one of more than 1,000 new species discovered around the Mekong River in southeast Asia over the past 10 years, according to a new report by conservation group World Wildlife Fund. With a legspan of up to 11.8 inches, the species is the largest huntsman spider in the world.

Permalink Reply by Catman on January 19, 2009 at 8:25am

An Axolotl salamander, or Ambystoma mexicanum, swims in a tank at the Chapultepec Zoo in Mexico City. Scientists warn that the roughly foot-long amphibian is a few years away from extinction, a victim of the draining of its lake habitat, deteriorating water quality and what is perhaps the final stake in its heart: the invasion of nonnative fish species that eat its eggs and larvae, and compete with it for food.

Permalink Reply by Catman on January 19, 2009 at 8:28am

Pictured here in the Sanbona Game Reserve is one of four white lions recently released into the Sanbona Game Reserve in South Africa. The white lions were taken into captivity decades ago to protect them from poachers. Under a multimillion dollar conservation project, the lions are now being reintroduced to the wild.

Permalink Reply by Catman on January 19, 2009 at 8:30am

Two conjoined Nile tilapia fish, dubbed "Siamese twin," swim in a small aquarium in Bangkok, Thailand, Oct. 3, 2008. They are both 8 months old and share part of their skin. The bigger fish tends to protect the smaller one from harm while the smaller one looks for food at the bottom of the aquarium.

Permalink Reply by Jodi on January 19, 2009 at 9:09am

These guys are really neat, but they are in a heap of trouble. They're found in lakes next to Mexico City, so I'm sure you can imagine the water quality issues.

Catman said:

An Axolotl salamander, or Ambystoma mexicanum, swims in a tank at the Chapultepec Zoo in Mexico City. Scientists warn that the roughly foot-long amphibian is a few years away from extinction, a victim of the draining of its lake habitat, deteriorating water quality and what is perhaps the final stake in its heart: the invasion of nonnative fish species that eat its eggs and larvae, and compete with it for food.

Permalink Reply by Catman on February 11, 2009 at 12:41pm

This male cat in China's Shanxi province has two wings on his back. The wings started as bumps and then grew into two 10-centimeter-long wings.

Permalink Reply by Catman on February 11, 2009 at 12:48pm

A male weedy seadragon carries eggs on his tail at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, Thursday, June 11, 2008. For only the third time ever in a U.S. aquarium, one of the endangered creatures is pregnant.

Permalink Reply by Catman on February 11, 2009 at 12:55pm

The zebra and horse crossbreed, Eclyse, puts its best face on during its public presentation in Schloss Holte, Germany.The father of Eclyse is a horse from Italy, where the crossbreed filly was born in 2006. Her mother is a zebra from the Safari park.

Permalink Reply by Ronda on March 20, 2009 at 9:43am

The dugong is a cousin of the manatee and is closely related to the elephant. The dugong is unique in that it has a split (whale-like) tail and will “perch” underwater on its tail in order to keep its head above water. The dugong is thought to have inspired ancient myths about mermaids. The dugong is threatened by poachers who hunt the animal for its meat, oil, skin and bones. It is extremely endangered.

Permalink Reply by Ronda on March 20, 2009 at 9:47am

The purple frog is really purple. But its brilliant hue is not the strange thing about it. The purple frog spends much of the year living 13 feet below ground. Also called the pignose for its snubbed nose, this western Indian-dwelling frog was only discovered in 2003, in Kerala. Locals had known about the purple frog for years, but scientists were skeptical. Part of the reason purple frogs were difficult to find was simply due to the fact that they only come up for air for two weeks during monsoon season in order to mate.

Permalink Reply by Ronda on March 20, 2009 at 9:48am

Kakapo This is not only the rarest, but the strangest parrot in the world. Imagine a rather portly nocturnal bird that never flies, preferring to hike through hilly forest for miles every night. It weighs in as the heaviest parrot in the world at 8 pounds. Imagine this and you have the very real (but virtually extinct) kakapo. A resident of New Zealand, which is home to a number of rare birds, there are only 62 kakapos remaining on earth. (Bonus fact: New Zealand is full of unusual creatures. It originally had no native land mammals, so its many unique birds evolved in unusual ways - which unfortunately has made them very vulnerable to mammals that were brought in during European colonization.)

Permalink Reply by Ronda on March 20, 2009 at 10:00am

The hairy frog or “horror frog” intentionally breaks its own bones to turn out a wicked set of cat-like claws. Like Wolverwine, only slimy and a lot more terrifying because it’s a freaking frog. Scientists don’t know if the claw is able to retract once it pierces through the skin. According to New Scientist: “Trichobatrachus robustus actively breaks its own bones to produce claws that puncture their way out of the frog’s toe pads, probably when it is threatened.” Also, it is apparently hairy. This doesn’t stop Cameroon locals from spearing and roasting hairy frogs as a tasty snack.