This elephant seal's many double chins make it look as though it is smiling ear to ear! Oh wait, I don't see any ears. I...uh. Hmm, there's a trunk. Um.
Wowsies. banno8, Julia, Aaron, Andrea, and Sarah all emailed me this news story. Thanks, all, for keeping us informed!Cane toads were imported from South America during the 1930s in a failed attempt to control beetles on Australia's northern sugar cane plantations. The poisonous toads have proven fatal to Australia's delicate ecosystems, killing millions of native animals from snakes to the small crocodiles that eat them.But there is a silver lining to this amphibious and pesty cloud. The "Toad Buster" project, in which the Frogwatch conducts regular raids on local water holes, blinds the toads with bright lights then scoops them up by the dozen. "We kill them with carbon dioxide gas, stockpile them in a big freezer and then put them through a liquid fertilizer process" that renders the toads nontoxic. "It turns out to be sensational fertilizer."
... more idolomantis diabolica. 
Amphisbaenians are small but fierce predators capable of biting off pieces from any small animal that crosses their path, and then swallowing them with the help of their short and muscular tongues. They occasionally eat carrion, as well. Many don't hesitate to bite when handled and, although indeed their teeth are very sharp and their jaw muscles are enormously strong for their size, none except the largest species can inflict any serious pain on a human hand. All the same, even rather small species can draw some blood, delivering quite a pinch by fastening to a finger with bulldog-like tenacity, and then twisting their bodies around, seemingly with every intention of ripping off as big a chunk of flesh as possible.I'll never mock another worm snake as long as I live.
Here is a bonus post of simply gratuitous ugly, via Knuttz.net. Nothing terribly enlightening here.
It's been far too long since my last vulture post. These are among my favorite birds, so I am ashamed of myself (cue cyber tears...).
The ocean sunfish (mola mola) is the largest bony fish in the world. It is a unique pelagic fish, and specimens of ocean sunfish have been observed up to 3.3 m (11 ft) in length and weighing up to 2,300 kg (5,100 lb).Curiously, the Ocean Sunfish has a very small brain compared to its size: A 200 kg specimen may have a brain the size of a nut weighing only 4 g. It would explain their quiet behaviour and how often they get trapped into fisher nets.
...Giant sunfishes are an important menace for little ships. A collision at high speed can cause both injury to sailors and damage to yachts.
Finally, the flesh of the ocean sunfish contains neurotoxins similar to those of other poisonous tetraodontiformes, but it is considered a delicacy by some people.Photo from: Stranypotapecske.cz
Amphisbaenians have become one of my favorite guests on Ugly Overload. This two-legged variety is known as the baja worm lizard (bipes biporus) They are known as ajolote in their native Baja California, Mexico.
There is a legend among some of the locals that if a person sits on the ground, one of these may burrow up from the ground and enter his/her digestive tract via the...well, you get the idea. That puts kind of a dark spin on the family picnic. Stay on the benches kids. You wouldn't want an ajolote climbing up your culo.
Idolomantis Diabolica. Isn't that one of the coolest names ever? I like it so much I might name my next child that. I'll just have to have my wife buy into the whole latin thing. No one tell her what it means, though. That would kill the deal.
