The Next Gargantuan

Wouldn't this be a great setup for the next Garangutuan-Destroys-Japan movie? Nautilutron has to fend off the evil Crabra to save Tokyo? Anybody with me?

As a side note, I have never felt so much sympathy for a crab. It's one thing to get tossed into boiling water and end up in the next crabfeed. It's quite another to fall prey to a nautilus for all the world to see.

Photo souce: Knuttz.net

Very Little Resemblance

I know that monkeys are supposed to be very close relatives to humans, but I'm seeing very little proof of that here.

Unless, of course, Don King got himself a grill with some fangs on it. Then I can see the resemblance. But I did specify human, not evil-boxing-promoter.

UPDATE: Zanna has identified this as a gelada monkey. Lovely.

Photo source: Knuttz.net

Could He Be Less Reverent?

This gorilla was posing for the Earth Day events at the Franklin Park Zoo in Boston. Has he no respect? Could he be less reverent?

I guess he could. But that would involve flinging feces...

Photo source: Yahoo!

Antilles Installment

Here is another installment from the Jade Walker files.

Below is an Antilles pinktoe tarantula - Avicularia versicolor. These beauties get to be about 4" across and are fairly docile. They are also one of the most desirable ones in the hobby due to their coloration.

The bottom photo is of a baby Antilles. I'll admit that for the first time, due to the colors, I considered getting a tarantula for a pet. But then I remembered that it is a spider and that I'm arachnophobic. That's a deal breaker.

But if any of you are interested, Jade does sell these...

Thanks for the photos, Jade.

You Can Do Better

The caption to this photo states only that this orangutan is resting in the Riyadh zoo, in Saudi Arabia.

Ya'll can come up with a better one, can't you? (that's an invitation to leave a comment...)

Photo source: Yahoo!

Stop Looking at Me

Both Aaron and Sandy sent me this link. It would seem that synchronicity exists even in the deep sea...

There are a bunch of spectacular photos of creatures that have never been seen on this blog, but I couldn't pass by this anglerfish. I love that it is labeled as 'unidentified'. That makes me feel better about my own lack of knowledge. This photo also makes me feel better about living on dry land.

I understand the snaggleteeth and the lure, but, really, does that eye need to be staring at me?

Photo source: Edith Widder via ReaDigg

Volcanic Vent Freak

Miss Cellania sent me this photo and it literally made me cringe from the computer--and I thought I was pretty hardened after almost a year and a half of posting on ugly critters...

You're looking into the mug of an annelid wom, found near a deep-sea volcanic vent. It looks like a muppet gone wrong. Perhaps Jim Hensen stayed up too late one night and forgot his coffee.

Photo source: Wired

Transmitter

Elephant seals are massive animals. There's a lot of surface area on which to plant a transmitter. I wonder why the researcher chose the head of all places as the best place to afix this one. Seems inconvenient to me, but what do I know? My transmitter was firmly planted on my rump years ago and it hasn't hindered me much at all.

Unless, of course, as Rasmus pointed out, the transmitter also functions as a mind control device. I can only imagine the power one would wield with a swarm (pod, herd, school, gaggle...) of elephant seals under one's control...

As a side note, how did the photographer manage to get both mommy and baby to look at the camera? I can't get my own kids to cooperate like that, and they don't weigh enough to smother me! Regardless, that transmitter makes this otherwise touching picture look eerie and incongruous.

Thanks for the link, Rasmus.

Photo source: Deep Sea News