The Australian sundew plant uses its sticky “dewdrops” to attract and trap the
insects that are its food.

Photo by Helene Schmitz, March 2010 National Geographic

Tasmanian Tiger

 Thylacinus cynocephalus, Greek for "dog-headed pouched one", was the largest
 known carnivorous marsupial of modern times. It is commonly known as the
Tasmanian tiger (because of its striped back) or the Tasmanian wolf. Native to
continental Australia, Tasmania and New Guinea, it is thought to have become
extinct in the 20th century. It was the last extant member of its family, Thylacinidae;
specimens of other members of the family have been found in the fossil record
dating back to the early Miocene.

Despite its official classification as extinct, sightings are still reported, though none
has been conclusively proven. The thylacine was one of only two marsupials to have
a pouch in both sexes (the other being the water opossum). The male thylacine had
a pouch that acted as a protective sheath, covering the male's external reproductive
organs while he ran through thick brush. It has been described as a formidable predator
because of its ability to survive and hunt prey in extremely sparsely populated areas.
 
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thylacine

Plant Systematics Wall Chart Circa 1878

Polysiphonia Subulata (red algae genus)

This shows the freshwater green alga Volvox globator. Many individual cells
 live together forming a beautiful spherical colony. Some of them are specialized
for reproduction.

"Living nature is the best teacher and pedagogue; an artistic medium of
representation tries to replace nature and this can be possible in practice only
 if the images are true to natural objects."

Source: http://bibliodyssey.blogspot.com/

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.

Artwork by Ben Giles.

The Stem of a Pine Tree

Natural Selection Wins Again

A newly discovered Aphodiine Scarab from Cambodia is a stunning example
of how natural selection helps this termitophilic beetle adapt and find an easier
path to a meal.

The beetle not only tricks a colony of termites into granting it access to their
 stock pile of food by reproducing the scent of that food themselves, it also
 entices the termite to actually carry it directly to the food using the perfectly
sculpted handle on it's back.

X-ray of a Stingray

Hymenopus coronatus (Orchid Mantis)

The Orchid Mantis is a mantis from Malaysia, Indonesian, and Sumatran rain forests.

This species is characterized by brilliant and beautiful coloring and unusual structure; their four walking legs resemble flower petals, and the coloration of the bodies tends to match the environment in which they were raised.

Source: Wikipedia

Darwin’s Frog

The male Darwin’s frog broods tadpoles in its mouth. They tend to get frisky
as children often do. He carries them around until they develop into froglets
and hop out of his mouth.

Our Sun Erupts

On August 31, 2012 a long filament of solar material that had been hovering
in the sun’s atmosphere, the corona, erupted out into space at 4:36 p.m. EDT.
The coronal mass ejection, or CME, traveled at over 900 miles per second.
The CME did not travel directly toward Earth, but did connect with Earth’s
magnetic environment, or magnetosphere, causing aurora to appear on the night
 of Monday, September 3. The incredible image above is a lighten blended
version of the 304 and 171 angstrom wavelengths.

Source: Twisted Sifter

Willow the White Whale

 An extremely rare white humpback whale was spotted recently near Norway. 

Welsh maritime engineer Dan Fisher made the startling discovery off the coast

 of Norway in August.  Fisher has dubbed him Willow the White Whale. 

Website Life’s Little Mysteries states: this is only the second known adult white

 humpback whale on the planet. The first is Migaloo, a humpback who’s made 

numerous cameos off Australia’s east coast. The whale’s name means

 “white fella” in Aboriginal, and he’s usually spotted as he makes his annual 

migration to Antarctic waters during the southern spring. 

While Migaloo is thought to be affected by albinism, a genetic condition that 

stifles melanin pigmentation, it’s possible his Norwegian counterpart is not 

albino, but leucistic. Leucism can affect pigments other than melanin and it 

doesn’t result in the pink eyes characteristic of albinism. Leucism can also 

leave an animal with splotches of colour.

Source: Twisted Sifter

Proboscis Monkey

The proboscis monkey (Nasalis larvatus) or long-nosed monkey, known as the bekantan in Malay, is a reddish-brown arboreal Old World monkey that is endemic to the south-east Asian island of Borneo.

The monkey also goes by the Malay name monyet belanda ("Dutch monkey"), or even orang belanda ("Dutchman"), as Indonesians remarked that the Dutch colonisers often had a similarly large belly and nose.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proboscis_monkey

Finalists of Nikon's best microscope images of 2012

These recently hatched lynx spiders were imaged by Walter Piorkowski of South Beloit, Illinois.

Geir Drange from Norway captured this ant carrying its larva.

 More images found at: www.nikonsmallworld.com

Dinosaurs Developed Feathers To Attract Mates, Not Fly

 In news that shouldn't surprise anyone who finds them so irresistible, paleontologists are now claiming that the earliest dinosaurs to develop feathers did so for courtship purposes and not to soar like giant, sexy eagles.

"They may have initially evolved as a secondary sexual characteristic," says a paper published Thursday in the prestigious journal Science.

 "Because they're in these large dinosaurs, (wings) haven't evolved for flight," Zelenitsky says. "(And) because these wing-like structures develop later in life, that suggests they were used for purposes like display or courtship or egg-brooding."

Peacock in flight

Coconut Octopus

 Amphioctopus marginatus, also known as the "coconut octopus" or "veined octopus",
 is a medium-sized cephalopod belonging to the genus Amphioctopus. It is found in
tropical waters of the western Pacific Ocean. It commonly preys upon shrimp, crabs,
and clams, and displays unusual behaviour, including bipedal walking and gathering
and using coconut shells and seashells for shelter. Source: Wikipedia

The main body of the octopus is typically around 8 centimeters (3 in) in size, and, with
 arms, approximately 15 centimeters (6 in) long. In this amazing capture by photographer
 Mario Neumann, the contrast of the white suckers to the rest of the octopus and sea
floor makes it look like some kind of alien spaceship.

The defenceless newborns sitting under the vicious sting are the scorpion's own
offspring, tended by their mother until they are big enough to survive on their own.

Unlike most other arachnids they are viviparous: rather than laying eggs they give
birth to live young. The juveniles are unable to feed or defend themselves, or
regulate their moisture levels - they need their mother's protection.

Source: www.newscientist.com

Phyllodes Imperialis

The caterpillar of the Imperial Fruit Sucking Moth (Phyllodes imperialis). The moth is of the Noctuidae family. The species can be found in north-eastern Queensland to northern New South Wales, Papua New Guinea, Solomons, Vanuatu and New Caledonia.

 It's menacing head and intricate markings are meant to thwart would be predators. In it's adult incarnation, the moth has vibrant pink under-wings, but most significantly, an impressive cryptic design capacity to transform itself into a thoroughly convincing dead leaf.

"Fingal's Cave is a sea cave on the uninhabited island of Staffa, in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, part of a National Nature Reserve owned by the National Trust for Scotland. It is formed entirely from hexagonally jointed basalt columns within a Paleocene lava flow.

 Cooling on the upper and lower surfaces of the solidified lava resulted in contraction and fracturing, starting in a blocky tetragonal pattern and transitioning to a regular hexagonal fracture pattern with fractures perpendicular to the cooling surfaces. As cooling continued these cracks gradually extended toward the centre of the flow, forming the long hexagonal columns we see in the wave eroded cross-section today. Similar hexagonal fracture patterns are found in desiccation cracks in mud where contraction is due to loss of water instead of cooling."

From: Wikipedia.org

Lionesses in South Africa

Taken at the Motswari Private Game Reserve in South Africa, we see two lionesses having a drink at a watering hole. On the right is a rare white lion from the Xakubasa Pride. The photograph was taken by the park’s ranger Chad Cocking.

Open to the Kruger National Park and playing host to Africa’s Big Five, the family-owned and operated Motswari Private Game Reserve is one of South Africa’s jewels nestled within the Timbavati Nature Reserve.

Giant Leopard Moth

Bleeding Tooth Fungus

The Bleeding Tooth fungus, or Hydnellum pecki, is found in pine forests of the
American Pacific northwest and central Europe. It's also known by the names
'Devil's Tooth' or 'Strawberries and Creme'. Ironically, their oozing 'blood' actually
contains an anticoagulant called atromentrin.

Blue Footed Booby

 The Blue-footed Booby (Sula nebouxii) is a bird in the Sulidae family which comprises ten species of long-winged seabirds. The natural breeding habitat of the Blue-footed Booby is tropical and subtropical islands of the Pacific Ocean, most famously, the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador.

The courtship of the Blue-footed Booby consists of the male flaunting his blue feet and dancing to impress the female. During the dance, the male will spread his wings and stamp his feet on the ground.

Photo from: National Geographic

Lamps by the Great Mushrooming

Find more at: http://www.geocities.jp/youkeepon/

Brazillian Artist Henrique Oliveria

More of Henriques work here: http://www.henriqueoliveira.com

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

Wooly Bat and Carnivorous Plant Sybiosis

Professor Ulmar Grafe noticed that Hardwicke's woolly bats were regularly roosting in Nepenthes hemsleyana pitcher plants in Brunei (on the tropical island of Borneo).

 The benefits for the bats appears quite obvious, as this particular species of pitcher plant has a very low level of digestive fluid, meaning the bats can safely roost in an environment sheltered from predators and without fear of being eaten by enzymes.

Pitcher plants typically grow in areas where the soil is very nitrogen depleted, hence their reliance on a carnivorous life style.

Under further investigation Grafe found that the plants gained 33% of their nitrogen not from feeding on insects but from the droppings of the bats, showing strong evidence for an intriguing case of mutualism.

Source: Bat Conservation Intnl website www.batcon.org

Sand Magnified 250x

Photographer Laurent Seroussi

More of Laurent's work at http://www.laurentseroussi.com/

The Transparent Glass Frog

 
 'Glass frog' is the common name of frogs in the amphibian family Centrolenidae. There are many species, and they are found throughout Central and South America.

As you can probably guess. their name comes from the obvious fact that many of the members of this family have translucent skin. Many internal organs including the heart, liver and gastrointestinal tract are visible.

Chimera Peacock?

 Chimeraism is a condition in which two separate zygotes fuse together to form one organism. The resulting animal has two different sets of DNA (unless the zygotes that fused were identical twins). Occasionally, this causes mosaicism - when different phenotypes are expressed in different areas.

 The problem with chimerasism is that it's impossible to confirm without genetic testing, as is the case with the peacock pictured here. It's been doing the rounds on forums for years, and always causes a lot of debate. Some claim that it's a case of co-dominance, others argue that we're looking at a chimera. Without genetic tests, it's impossible to say for sure.

A common question that was asked on our last post on chimeraism was - are there any human chimeras around? The answer is a resounding yes - and it's a hell of a lot more common than you might think. Although you occasionally get some spectacular colour patterns on chimeras like those pictured, most of the time you'd never be able to tell by looking.

The British Medical Journal first reported a human chimera in 1953. A woman was found who had two different blood types - investigation found that this was the result of cells from her twin brother living within her body. A study published 1998 (available free online, found here: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.149.9001&rep=rep1&type=pdf found that this sort of blood group chimeraism is actually fairly common.

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

Lanscapes carved into books by Guy Laramee