Lot O' Slug

You're not looking at some screenshots from a poor man's version of The Abyss. You're looking at photos taken by Rachel and her fiance while on vacation at Marco Island, FL.

Rachel's best guess, and mine too, is that this beast (there were two of them) is a sea hare (a type of marine slug). If this guess is right, then these creatures (or their kin) might have the potential of reaching upwards of 4.4 lbs and two and a half feet in length. That makes them arguably the world's largest slug (a title they've stolen from an uncle of mine). That's a lot o' slug.

Thanks Rachel and fiance.

Side-Neck Turtle

Enjoy this side-necked turtle sent to us from Pamela. Imagine it coming after your toes as you swim across a placid stream...

Those Eyes

Monkey face, monkey hair, monkey hands. But those eyes. So human. He looks so pensive, so contemplative. I wonder what he's thinking about. His captivity? How nice it is not to have to worry about being eaten by a jungle cat? Bananas? Throwing his feces?

I don't know. But those eyes...

Photo source: Mark

Content Croc

This crocodile looks exactly like I do after I've had more than my share of pizza--content and pleased with himself. Of course, he also looks like the rocks around him, so I don't know what that says about me.

Photo source: Riverbank Outdoor Store

Intrepid Caterpillars

Scientists have discovered at least 12 species of moths whose caterpillars spend weeks at a time underwater. And no one knows how they do it.

The caterpillars don't have gills, and they don't have anything to cover their tracheae to stop them from drowning. When placed in still water they do drown, so they must need the oxygen rich waters of their fast-running streams. And so they bob along in the water, tethered by strands of silk as they cruise around for algae.

I wonder who that caterpillar was who first saw that scrap of algae just out of reach beneath the water's surface and decided to go in after it. I want to shake his hand. I respect any creature who will go to such lengths for a good meal.

Thanks for the article, Ida.

Photo source: University of Hawaii via LA Times

Vampire Feeding

Katie took these amazing photos in the night enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo. You get one guess as to what these vampires bats are drinking from the bowls.

There are three species of vampire bat, all of them native to the Americas. The average female can ingest 50% of her body weight in blood (1 ounce) in a 20-minute feeding. So, how do they talk off after gaining so much weight? They being urinating within 2-3 minutes of feeding (that's how quickly their kidneys work to process the blood). Then when it's time to actually take off, they've developed a crouch-and-fling method of launching themselves into the air.

Again, why do I post on my lunch break?

Photos courtesy Katie Kraushar

Uroplatus fimbriatus

Photo source: Nicolas Cegalerba
It's a stretch to call geckos, even these Uroplatus fimbriatus, flat-tailed geckos, ugly. But they are reptiles, and they do lick their own enormous eyeballs. That's a good start. Another test I run on any prospective ugly: would my daughters scream at seeing one clambering up their bedroom wall? Yes, they would.

Freshwater Fears

I've gone scuba diving in kelp forests, in the Red Triangle with 10-foot visibility and 5-foot surges, and in wrecks that were deep enough to give me nitrogen narcosis. But for some reason I freak out at the notion of getting into bodies of freshwater. Images like the one below don't help.

What we've got here is a Florida softshell turtle (Apalone ferox). As their name implies, they are turtle with soft shells that are native to Florida (and some nearby neighboring states). They're fast on land and on water, and prefer slow moving streams, lakes or ponds.

Photo source: Gloucester, A Bottled Spider

Once when I was diving in Monterey, California, I turned around and saw a seal watching me from five feet away. It made my year. But if I were in a lake and turned around to see this, it would ruin me. Why, again, I couldn't tell you. Maybe it goes back to when a softshell turtle ate my father.