animals-animals-animals: Kinabalu Crested Dragon (Hypsicalotes kinabaluensis)
- Endemic to Mt. Kinabalu in Borneo
(photo by berniedup)
White Orca spotted for the first time off coastal Russia. Nick-named “Iceberg.”
“Iceberg seems to be fully socialised; we know that these fish-eating orcas stay with their mothers for life, and as far as we can see he’s right behind his mother with presumably his brothers next to him,” said Dr Hoyt.
The cause of his unusual pigmentation is not known. The captive white orca, Chima, suffered from Chediak-Higashi syndrome, a genetic condition that causes partial albinism as well as a number of medical complications.
Click for story and video via BBC.
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Octopuses Mimic Specific Objects To Foil Predators
by Jennifer Welsh
Instead of blending in with the background, octopuses hide from predators by taking on the shape and color of specific objects in their environment, new research suggests.
“Octopuses are considered to be the master of camouflage. An octopus can change its color, pattern and texture of its skin in an instant,” study researcher Noam Josef, of Ben-Gurion University in Israel, told LiveScience.
“By reproducing key features of well-chosen objects, the octopus can produce an effective camouflage that may fool a wide range of potential predators,” Josef and colleagues write online today (May 23) in the journal PLoS ONE.
There are a few different ways that animals use camouflage to hide. Some adopt the color or texture of their surroundings, taking in the environment as a whole like, say, a mouse that evolves to have a lighter color because it lives on the beach...
(read more: Live Science) (photo: Keren Levi)
The Side-striped Palm Pit-viper (Bothriechis lateralis) is a venomous pitviper species found in the mountains of Costa Rica and western Panama. Adult specimens may exceed 100 cm, but are usually less than 80 cm in length. These are relatively slender snakes and have a prehensile tail. This is an arboreal species that spends its time in the thick foliage of forest trees and shrubbery. It is often found at the base of palm fronds. These snakes prefer to remain coiled and still, relying on their camouflage to avoid detection… (read more: Wikipedia)
(photos: Patrick Gijsbers)
Solomon Island Prehensile-tailed Skink (Corucia zebrata), I love you.
(photo: Jesse V’s Photography)
This is the best thing I’ve seen all day.
Akinobu makes architectural models for a living in Tokyo, but in his spare time he creates small objects in bottles. These pinky sized dinosaur skeletons are especially awesome. (via)
Geographic Treefrog (Hypsiboas geographicus)
This species is widely distributed east of the Andes from northern of Venezuela to southern Brazil.
This photograph is part of the book “Sapos”: www.puce.edu.ec/zoologia/sron/sapos/index.html
(photo/text: Santiago Ron)
