Giant Squid First Time on Film

Giant squid, like all squid, have sharp beaks, not unlike those of a parrot. They use them for biting into the fish and invertebrates that they eat. In the stomach of a Sperm whale, those beaks can accumulate. In fact, Sperm whales are often found to have thousands of the beaks in their stomachs!

But the sharp beaks irritate the stomach lining. As a reaction to the irritation of all the squid beaks, the whale produces in its intestines a cholesterol derivative which has come to be called ambergris. First discovered in ancient times as a substance of unknown origin which would wash ashore, it wasn't until the whaling era that the true source of the material was found.

When it is first removed from a whale, ambergris is a thick, black, foul-smelling liquid. Later, it hardens into a waxy aromatic substance. When heated, it produces a pleasant earthy aroma. It was used as a fixative in perfumes because it causes the scent of perfume to last much longer. The Greeks, Chinese, Japanese and Arabs have all held ambergris in high regard. Today we have synthetic substances which accomplish the same thing, so there is no need to hunt whales for it, and trade in ambergris is now banned worldwide by treaty. Yet, every once in a while a rare piece will still wash ashore somewhere.

Perth Zoo has managed to breed two baby echidnas (known as puggles). Only
24 puggles have been successfully born in captivity, and these new-borns
represent the first successful breeding of zoo born echidnas. Breeding echnidnas
is notoriously difficult so the information gathered from these infants as they
grow will be vital in learning more about the reproduction of this species.

X-ray of a Stingray

Hermit Crab Shells

The shells that hermit crabs seek are made by marine gastropods that secrete 

calcium carbonate from their mantel—the organ that covers their soft bodies. 

The shell is built up in deposits until the calcium carbonate becomes a crystalline

 structure held together via thin membranes of organic material. The univalve-type

 shells that hermit crabs prefer to adopt are spiral in shape. This formation 

affords the growing gastropod within the hard shell an ever-increasing area in

 which to expand.

 Hermit crabs are scavengers and often locate these borrowed dwellings by 

smell, when the original gastropod inhabitant dies and begins to decay. Once

 a hermit crab adopts a shell, it will keep it until the shell is outgrown, carrying 

it continuously as a shield, wherever it goes. In order to carry its home, one of 

the crab's front claws is completely dedicated to clutching the shell. This claw 

bends backward and holds on to the spool of calcium carbonate at the shell's 

center. In order to move, the animal must first use this claw to lift the shell and

 heave it onto its back. In spite of such difficulties, the drive to remain housed 

is so strong in this species that a typical hermit crab would rather be torn limb 

from limb than be pulled out of its shell. The only time that the animal will 

willingly leave its shell is a) if it locates another, more suitable one, or b) if it

 is shedding its exoskeleton—a process which can only be accomplished by 

fully exiting its dwelling just long enough to wriggle out of its own exfoliated 

shell casing.

When a hermit crab that has grown too large for its current home locates a new

 one, it determines the structure's suitability via a process called fondling. During

 this activity, the hermit crab will explore the shell's surface and its internal 

volume-to-weight ratio by rolling the shell over and gently rocking it back and

 forth. Since hermit crabs actually choose the shells that they inhabit, there is a 

large body of information concerning shell selection.

Source: www.cabinetmagazine.com

Satanic Leaf-tailed Gecko

 "The stunning image of the species was captured at the Andasibe-Mantadia National Park in Madagascar. Satanic leaf-tailed geckos (Uroplatus phantasticus) can reach a total of length of 9cm, and its range is in the central eastern side of the African island."

 Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

Gecko vs. Lizard:
 Lizards are reptiles of the order Squamata, normally possessing four legs, external ear openings and movable eyelids. Geckos are small to average sized lizards belonging to the family Gekkonidae which are found in warm climates throughout the world. Geckos differ from other lizards in terms of their living conditions, physical charateristics and their eating habits

Source:  www.diffen.com

Giant Squid Eyes

 


The giant squid sees the world with eyes the size of soccer balls. They’re at least 25 centimetres (10inches) across, making them the largest eyes on the planet.
Why does the giant squid have a champion eye that’s at least twice the size of the runner-up?

Dan-Eric Nilsson and Eric Warrant from Lund University, Sweden, suggest that the world’s biggest eyes evolved to spot one of the world’s biggest predators – the sperm whale.

Using a mathematical model, they found that in the deep ocean, eyes suffer from a law of diminishing returns. Small eyes can see dramatically further if they grow a bit bigger.

Using their model, Nilsson and Warrant found that enormous eyes have advantages over eyes that are merely large. Specifically, they’re much better at spotting other large objects that give off their own light, in water deeper than 500 metres. There’s one animal that fits those criteria, and it’s one that giant squids really need to see: the sperm whale.

But in the dark oceans, how could the squids see them? Nilsson and Warrant note that while sperm whales don’t produce their own light, they frequently disturb animals that do. When they dive, they knock tiny animals like jellyfish and crustaceans that flash in response.
These shimmering outlines would be too faint for most animals to see, but not the giant squid. Nilsson and Warrant showed that its huge eyes could pick up this light from 120 metres away, and they can scan a huge sphere of water for those tell-tale flashes.

From: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2012/03/15/giant-squid-what-big-eyes-you-have-all-the-better-to-spot-sperm-whales-with-my-dear/

The Amazing Mantis Shrimp

"Mantis shrimp or stomatopods are marine crustaceans, the members of the order Stomatopoda. Mantis shrimp sport powerful claws that they use to attack and kill prey by spearing, stunning or dismemberment. Although it happens rarely, some larger species of mantis shrimp are capable of breaking through aquarium glass with a single strike from this weapon."


"One species possess a developed club and rudimentary spear; the club is used to bludgeon and smash their meals apart. These two weapons are employed with blinding quickness, with an acceleration of a .22 calibre bullet."
The mantis shrimps' eyes can perceive both polarized light and hyperspectral colour vision. They are considered to be the most complex eyes in the animal kingdom.

Some species have at least 16 different photoreceptor types, which are divided into four classes (their spectral sensitivity is further tuned by colour filters in the retinas), 12 of them for colour analysis in the different wavelengths (including four which are sensitive to ultraviolet light) and four of them for analysing polarised light. By comparison, humans have only five visual pigments, four dedicated to see colour but the lens block ultraviolet light.

Baby Octopi

 "Shortly after being put on exhibit at the California Academy of Sciences, this Caribbean Octopus vulgaris took up residence inside a glass bottle, on full view for adoring fans. Just as quickly, it moved back under a rock and started denning, and laying eggs. While eggs being laid in captivity is generally an exciting event, this particular species, like many but not all octopus, stops eating after it lays eggs and dies soon after they hatch which tends to put a damper on the joyous occasion. The biologist responsible for their care, Richard Ross, caught the hatching of the eggs from start to finish on film, and describes it as a waterfall flowing upwards toward the water's surface. Now, Ross faces the difficult task of trying to support thousands of tiny hatchlings. This species is "small egged" meaning it produces large numbers of very small planktonic 'paralarvae' which are notoriously difficult to feed and raise. The adult female and hatchlings will be on display for as long as possible in the Staff Picks area of Steinhart Aquarium at the California Academy of Sciences." From www.zooborns.com

Mind-control Fungus

A stalk of the new fungus species Ophiocordyceps camponoti-balzani grows out of a "zombie" ant's head in a Brazilian rain forest. Originally thought to be a single species, called Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, the fungus is actually four distinct species—all of which can "mind control" ants, scientists announced in March. The fungus species can infect an ant producing compounds that affect the ant's brain and change its behaviour, and then kill the insect once the fungus moves to an ideal location for growing and spreading its spores.

Finger Pygmy Marmoset

Finger Sugar Glider