Collimatrix Posted June 19, 2016 Report Share Posted June 19, 2016 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scolopax Posted June 19, 2016 Report Share Posted June 19, 2016 I think that hand may just be rather small here, seeing as that looks to be a Ferruginous Hawk. Could just be a big bird too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Collimatrix Posted June 19, 2016 Report Share Posted June 19, 2016 It's a juvenile crowned eagle, and they're effing enormous. Ferrugies actually have petite little feet relative to the rest of the bird. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scolopax Posted June 19, 2016 Report Share Posted June 19, 2016 Ah, so it is. My mistake. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanagandr Posted July 30, 2016 Report Share Posted July 30, 2016 This is maybe the best place to put this. Maybe NSFW, (definitely NSFW if you don't mute the terrible music) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Collimatrix Posted August 15, 2016 Report Share Posted August 15, 2016 Belesarius and Lord_James 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Collimatrix Posted August 17, 2016 Report Share Posted August 17, 2016 The hairy frog - notable for a unique defence mechanism which involves forcing the bones of its fingers through the skin to produce makeshift claws. Darren Naish just did an article on these. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Priory_of_Sion Posted October 10, 2016 Report Share Posted October 10, 2016 Fish that lays eggs inside of crabs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Priory_of_Sion Posted October 26, 2016 Report Share Posted October 26, 2016 414 legs and 4 penises. No need to be jealous Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Priory_of_Sion Posted February 1, 2017 Report Share Posted February 1, 2017 Ambystomatids are a group of salamanders living in North America and are known collectively as Mole Salamanders because most of them live underground for the majority of their adult life. Some of the more well known members of this group are the Tiger Salamander and Mexico’s Axolotl which is known for not metamorphosizing. This paedomorphic state is actually not that uncommon among the ambystomatids as the common Mole Salamander can be found in a paedomorphic state retaining much of its larval characteristics but being sexually mature. However, all of these individuals that don’t metamorphosize can be induced to do so, including the Axolotl. This is not nearly the strangest aspect of this clade of salamanders though, it gets a hell of a lot stranger with a group of species around the Great Lakes. My sexy hand holding an adult paedomorphic Mole Salamander(ambystoma talpoideum) and some dumbass fucking bug The laterale-jeffersoniaum complex of mole salamanders includes within it numerous populations of unisexual salamanders that have are hybrids of up to 4 different species. Their method of reproduction is also unique from other unisexual tetrapods, as these salamanders all share an identical cytoplasm make up from a female ancestor dating back anywhere from 2.4 to 3.9 mya, but steal the genomes from males of the other relative salamander species in the area and incorporate their genome into their all female offspring. This has created a number of different combinations of diploid and polyploid unisexual ambystomids living around the Great Lakes, which were considered distinct species based on their morphologies(such as the Silvery salamander) until herpetologists realized that these fuckers aren’t really species but just a fucking car accident of genetic material that seems to be quite adaptive compared to other unisexual organisms which usually just have clonal offspring (which some of these ambystomids do as well after utilizing sperm to stimulate cell division without actually incorporating the male's genetic information at all). This is thought to explain the relatively old origin of these populations. This mode of "stealing" genomes has been termed kleptogenesis. Here's a phylogeny of this complex, and what's weird is that the unisexual ambystomids do not really incorporate the genome from the most closely related species the Streamside Salamander. LL and JJ represent good species, the laterale and jeffersonianum, but you also have some examples of some polyploid unisexual salamanders here that have combinations of the genomes from each of these species. They can also include genomes from texanum and tigrium. I still don't understand it either. LostCosmonaut, Xlucine, Jeeps_Guns_Tanks and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Collimatrix Posted February 1, 2017 Report Share Posted February 1, 2017 Oh wow, they're apparently polyploidal. That alone is fairly rare and bizarre. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scolopax Posted February 1, 2017 Report Share Posted February 1, 2017 I helped out with some graduate research last summer that was doing work with a few members of the genus and their life cyles. They had obtained a few individuals from all those they were growing that were of this paedomorphic state. While they were removed from the research, they were kept as something of novelties. If I recall right, they did try and get them to morph into proper adults, but without success. Pretty sure one of them was leucistic too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Priory_of_Sion Posted February 1, 2017 Report Share Posted February 1, 2017 Oh, I forgot to mention that the eggs of these guys contain a symbiotic algae too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Collimatrix Posted February 1, 2017 Report Share Posted February 1, 2017 1 minute ago, Priory_of_Sion said: Oh, I forgot to mention that the eggs of these guys contain a symbiotic algae too. What does the algae do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Priory_of_Sion Posted February 1, 2017 Report Share Posted February 1, 2017 17 minutes ago, Collimatrix said: What does the algae do? I believe it takes up excess carbon dioxide and provides oxygen in the often oxygen poor environments that these salamanders are found in. Here's a paper that goes a little more in depth about the relationship. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeeps_Guns_Tanks Posted February 2, 2017 Report Share Posted February 2, 2017 I love salamanders, you would be amazing how often they end up in swimming pools, and that was an interesting read. I only understood some of it though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toxn Posted April 25, 2017 Author Report Share Posted April 25, 2017 Taking the topic to new, literal, heights: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oedipus Wreckx-n-Effect Posted April 28, 2017 Report Share Posted April 28, 2017 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Collimatrix Posted May 8, 2017 Report Share Posted May 8, 2017 Toxn 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sturgeon Posted May 9, 2017 Report Share Posted May 9, 2017 Life was a mistake. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sturgeon Posted June 20, 2017 Report Share Posted June 20, 2017 Although they have cohabited with humans for well over ten millennia, cat domestication only began less than 1,000 years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oedipus Wreckx-n-Effect Posted July 2, 2017 Report Share Posted July 2, 2017 Here's a monkey with subcutaneous parasites being removed. Because fuck my appetite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oedipus Wreckx-n-Effect Posted July 2, 2017 Report Share Posted July 2, 2017 So this is apparently a rodent bot fly larvae. Actual name is Cuterebra. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scolopax Posted July 14, 2017 Report Share Posted July 14, 2017 Don't drop hagfish on highways. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xlucine Posted July 17, 2017 Report Share Posted July 17, 2017 Brain parasites! In mammals! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parelaphostrongylus_tenuis Another reason to not eat snails Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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